Tortured metal screamed as Raunen Song cut through another half-dozen bars of the portcullis.
'Cut your way through if you wish,' said Hearst. 'There's four of us and one of you.'
'Yes,' said Ohio, stepping forward. 'And whoever you are, my blade will be happy enough to bargain for your head.' 'Bargain.' said Alish, slowly, tasting the word. 'We could bargain, you know. Morgan, I can be gone from here any time I want.'
'He's lying!' said Miphon. 'There's no way out. If he starts down a drop-hole, the forces at work in the shaft will tear him from the walls and spit him out at the other end.'
Alish picked up the red bottle that was lying at his feet.
T can do it, Morgan. I've found ropes and chains. I can lower this bottle down a drop-shaft. Then use this ring on my finger here to get inside the red bottle. Then use the ring again – and I'll be outside the red bottle, at the bottom of the drop-shaft.'
'Can he do it?' said Hearst, turning to Miphon.
'What do you think?' said Miphon.
'From there I'll have to climb,' said Alish. 'I'll be under the overhang of one of the wizard towers that rise from the walls of Castle Vaunting. It won't be easy, but I can do it.'
'You'd have done it already if you could,' said Hearst.
'No, Morgan. It would be death. The mad-jewel still commands Castle Vaunting; I lost the red charm that wards against it. When summer comes, a full year will have gone by. Then I can leave safely.'
'You'll never know when it's summer,' said Miphon. i count my sleeps,' said Alish. 'There may be an error, small or large, but if I err on the side of safety I'll survive. So you see, Morgan, I can leave before many months have passed. It's best that you give me the ring. Kill the wizard. Take it!'
'No,' said Hearst.
'Then give me the red charm from around your neck. Throw it to me. Then I can leave, now.'
'No,' said Hearst. 'We're going to Castle Vaunting. We'll set the flame trench ablaze so you'd burn if you tried to climb the castle walls. We'll keep it burning for a thousand years if we have to. There'll be no way out of the bottle for you.'
'So you are a traitor.' said Alish. 'Argan is Rovac's rightful heritage – yet you deny your own people. What about you. stranger? Once I get out of here I can rule the world. Take your sword. Kill Hearst, and I can offer you – anything!* 'You're raving,' said Ohio.
'So rot you then,' said Alish. ill get out of here, whether you help me or not. You'll see.'
Turning on his heel, Elkor Alish strode away. He went to the stairs that led downwards, closing the hatch after him.
The travellers searched for the mechanism that would raise the portcullis. At last Ohio found it, but even once the portcullis had been lifted, they still had to cut their way through a hatchway bolted against them. They went down the stairs cautiously in case Alish was waiting to ambush them.
In the big green room that had furniture set against the walls, they found one drop-hole with ropes and chains descending into it. Below, hanging in the open air, was a man-sized rope basket. They saw how Alish had escaped: the ring to get him into the red bottle, the ring again to get him out of it. the rope basket to catch him. He could have commanded the death-stone in the few moments before the mad-jewel overwhelmed him. The death-stone would soon destroy the mad-jewel, returning Alish to sanity.
'He had it all ready,' said Miphon.
'He must have been waiting for me,' said Hearst, his voice sombre. 'He wanted to win the green bottle too, if he could. He must have thought I would betray you.'
'What? After what he did in Stronghold Handfast?' 'His dreams are living his life for him,' said Hearst. They hauled up the basket, with some difficulty, for the forces operating in the drop-shaft made it very heavy. Once it was inside the bottle, however, it proved to be very light; the ropes, woven together close enough to trap a stone egg, were grey and incredibly strong. it's stronger than woven steel,' said Miphon. it's from Ashmolea. It's arachnid silk.' 'What do you need to make that?' said Hearst.
'Patience,' said Ohio. 'And a lot of spiders.'
Ohio, examining the rope basket, found a few nodules of stone.
'Stone,' he said.
'Yes,' said Blackwood. 'When Alish used the death-stone, parts of the basket must have been just outside the protected circle.'
'So what's this death-stone?' said Ohio. 'And who is Alish?'
'Later,' said Hearst. 'Let's find some food first.' i wonder where Prince Comedo is,' said Miphon.
'Probably in the red bottle,' said Hearst. 'That's where I'd have kept him. He couldn't be trusted on the loose – he'd catch you asleep and open a smile in your throat.'
'Who's Prince Comedo?' said Ohio.
'A minor corpse-rapist of no particular importance,' said Hearst carelessly.
The legends of Argan held that it was the Noble Families of the Favoured Blood who had ended the tyranny of the Empire of Wizards, and that only these benefactors of humanity and their descendants were fit to rule in Argan; disaster would devastate any kingdom not governed by the Favoured Blood. Elkor Alish might well find Comedo a useful figurehead, if he was seriously bent on conquest.
'Look,' said Hearst, opening a jar. 'Pickles! They're still good.'
'So they should be,' said Miphon. 'They've not yet been here a year.'
Hearst took a pickle then offered the jar to Miphon, to Blackwood, then to Ohio.
'Thanks,' said Ohio. 'This place is amazing. I've heard of nothing like it, not in all my wanderings. It must be worth… well…' 'Do you want to buy it?' said Hearst.
'What will you sell it for?'
'What can you offer? It's worth at least a small kingdom.'
'I had a small kingdom once,' said Ohio.
'Did you now?' said Hearst, opening ajar of jam. He scooped it out with his fingers. Strawberry jam. Sweet, sweet.
'Yes,' said Ohio. 'A nice little kingdom.' 'Where was it?' said Hearst. 'East of Ork? South of Brine?'
'No,' said Ohio. 'It was in the west. It was the kingdom of Talajar which lies in the Ravlish Lands.'
'I've heard of it,' said Hearst. 'There's a trading route by sea from there to Chi-ash-lan, in the Cold West.'
'You know it well,' said Ohio, greeding into another pickle.
'Yes,' said Hearst, 'I've done my own share of wandering.'
'This kingdom,' said Miphon. 'Were you born to it or did you acquire it?'
'Truth is, I acquired it,' said Ohio. 'Not alone – my brother Menator helped me, first to gain it, then to rule it. But we had a falling out. A quarrel over a woman. It ended with war.'
'And?'
'Our battles were interrupted by an invasion from the north, which pushed us both to the sea. Taking what ships we could, we sailed east to Argan. Menator sailed on down the coast, going south, while I chose the Eastern Ocean.'
'Where's Menator now?' said Hearst.
'I can't say,' said Ohio. 'But it's a small enough world. I'll find him.'
'When you lost your kingdom, did you ever think of going back to your own people?' said Miphon.
'What kind of woman's talk is that?' said Hearst.
Ohio laughed.
'Not so fierce, friend Hearst, not so fierce. Our own people? No, we couldn't have gone back. They were Galish merchants, so they could be anywhere on the Salt Road between Chi'ash-lan and the Castle of Controlling Power. But even if I could find them, that's no life for me. Always dickering-bartering with narrow-eyed sharpers, the rain wet, the hail cold, then the souther you get the hotter – dust, sweat, stink and muddy water-holes.'
'A pirate's life is hard,' said Miphon.
'You're fierce for the truth,' said Ohio. 'Well, it's a simple story: some of us were born for battle, and I'm one of them. That's my story told – but yours, I warrant, is rather more fancy.'
'Yes,' said Miphon. 'But it would take some telling.'
'We've got time,' said Ohio. 'The Collosnon know we must be hiding somewhere. They'll wait. A day, perhaps –
