'Who says he's chasing you?' said Yen Olass. 'He might only be after the pirates. He might have turned round and gone back home.’
'He came up the Hollern River hunting me,' said Haveros. 'And it's me he's after now. He knows I'm here. The Melski never caught him, so we can guarantee he caught some Melski. He'll have found out where we went. He's good.’
Haveros seemed positively proud of his enemy.
'A pity we don't have more people on our side,' said Mellicks, trying to shift the grey disk at the centre of the oval strips, in case it was a trapdoor to a treasure dungeon.
'We've got Lord Alagrace on our side,' said Haveros. 'When he gets back from Skua, he'll bring Chonjara to heel. You can't go whoring through the forest with a thousand men, not to settle a personal feud – not when you've got a siege to fight. With any luck, Alagrace will take his head.’
'From what I've heard,' said Mellicks, 'your Lord Alagrace doesn't sound like the world's greatest gift to leadership.’
'He'll get reinforcements from Skua who haven't been tainted by mutiny,' said Haveros, watching Mellicks kicking the grey disk in disgust. 'Officers, too. By now, Chonjara's people will be finding out the fun's over. Not many women up in this neck of the woods – unless you fancy a Melski bitch.’
'It's been known,' said Mellicks, sagely.
He stepped onto the grey metal disk, and the oval horse-length metal strips folded up into a flower-bud, trapping him before he could scream.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
'Mellicks!' shouted Toyd.
Draven swore, Haveros drew his sword and Quenerain screamed. Everyone crowded round the metal bud. Except for Yen Olass, who fled to the doorway, terrified, thinking that any moment the stars would go out and some drop-door or sliding stone would block all chance of escape.
To her relief, she reached the open air safely. She squatted down just outside the doorway, while the others thumped on the steel bud, hacked at it, tried to pry the metal petals open, and shouted words of hope and encouragement in case Mellicks could hear them. Then, slowly, they gave up, and drifted outside: Resbit first, then Jalamex, the boys Shant and Mation, the deserter Saquarius, then the pirates Toyd and Draven.
Only Haveros, with Quenerain kneeling at his feet, remained to watch the steel bud.
'We're not going to get him out,' said Draven. 'We'll have to leave him.’
'Leave all of them, that's what I think,' said Toyd. 'We can travel faster on our own.’
'We'll do better with Haveros.’
'What? Mucking through the jungle till we fiddle our way through to his darling Lord Alagrace? What kind of law will they give us then? A close shave with the knife, that's my bet.’
'Haveros guarantees our safety,' said Draven.
'Ay, so you say.’
'I've lived with these people.’
'Yes, when your shipmates died. How did that happen?' 'As I've told you,' said Draven.
'Ay. As you've told. As I've heard. Wait till we get to the Greater Teeth. You'll be telling some more then.’
'The truth makes the best story,' said Draven. 'That's why I'm sticking to it.’
Yen Olass, listening, wondered exactly what Draven had told his comrades. She remembered the interview with Khmar: one pirate dying at the hands of the Lord Emperor himself, a second killed by bodyguards, then a third knifed by Draven.
Toyd seemed in a mood to start a quarrel. And no wonder. They were all hungry, on edge and short-tempered. Tramping up this river on the shortest of all possible rations, with pursuit behind and no certain prospect of escape, they were not the happiest of travelling companions.
But before Toyd and Draven could fray each other's tempers further, Haveros called them all inside.
The bud was beginning to open.
None of them would have been surprised if a dead man had been inside. Instead, there stood Mellicks. He blinked, then yawned. The central disk he was standing on glowed bright yellow. As the metal petals folded flat against the floor, the disk turned grey again. Mellicks stepped clear.
'What happened?' said Haveros.
'A… call it a dream,' said Mellicks. 'But
'But what?’
'I can see. As clearly as anything!’
The pirate was positively radiant. Joyful. Since Orfus pirates were not by nature the happiest bunch of people you could hope to meet, Haveros was suspicious.
'What do you mean, you can see?’
'You. Her. Everything. Polished. Sharp. I've always… I've always wanted to see properly.’
'What is this?' said Draven. 'Miracle magic?’
'I suppose you could call it that,' said Mellicks.
'A wish machine!' said Quenerain. 'You could wish for-’
'Your eyes are yellow,' said Haveros abruptly. 'Mine?' said the princess.
'Mellicks! Your eyes are yellow.' 'Are they?' said Mellicks. They were.’
Everyone stared at these bright yellow eyes. They were a yellow as bright and glossy as buttercups.
'What of it?' said Mellicks. 'I can see. The voices told me.’
'Voices?' said Haveros.
'Try it for yourself,' said Mellicks, a little truculent now, because he did not like the way the others were reacting to his excellent eyes.
Haveros persisted.
'What kind of voices?’
'Faint,' said Mellicks. 'And very far away.’
'How did you understand them? You've got no truch-man's skills yourself.’
'They spoke as I speak,' said Mellicks. 'If you want to know more, ask them yourself.’
'I wouldn't go near anything so dangerous,' said Draven.
'I'm alive,' said Mellicks.
'Yes,' said Draven. 'And the shark doesn't always bite the first time.’
'I don't think it's a shark,' said Quenerain, touching Haveros lightly on the shoulder. 'I think it's here to grant… what we desire. You're not afraid, are you, dear?’
'No,' said Haveros. 'I'm not.’
And, deciding suddenly, he laid down his sword and stepped onto the grey metal disk. The bud closed around him; when the petals eventually opened again, he stood there holding a sword, and smiling. He had what he had wanted for a long time; a blade of the fabled firelight steel from the distant southern island kingdom of Stokos.
'Your face!' said.the Princess Quenerain.
'What about it?' said Haveros, stepping forward.
A yellow stain, like a birthmark, sprawled down one side of his face, but he could not see it. He listened impassively as they told him about it.
'I'll live,' said Haveros.
And while the others were still wondering over the sword and the yellow stain, Yen Olass Ampadara, who knew exactly what she wanted, stepped onto the grey metal disk.
'Yen Olass!' shouted Haveros.
But it was too late.
The metal petals closed up. Yen Olass was enfolded in darkness, and there, in a dark space filled with stars, she listened to the voices.
– What are you doing with a piece of ourselves? 'What piece?' said Yen Olass.
