Three soldiers were also on deck – Brild, Lurghen and Supping. Good men, true, but all they knew of the sea was that it was wet and that boats could float on it.'Easy,' said Drake to Drake.
And he eased the tiller over so the sails almost lost the wind. Nobody noticed. Drake closed his eyes. He was very tired. He began to sleep, a snatch at a time – dreaming, between waves, of a fragment of a voice or a vision. Each time he woke he flicked his eyes open, ajusted the tiller, then was asleep as fast as he had woken.
By the time Miphon had finished his Meditations, the enemy boats were much closer. So was the north-east tip of Anvil: granite battlements shattering the sundering seas.
'The wind's getting up,' said Miphon, steadying himself on the lurching deck.
Drake altered the angle of the tiller so the wind filled the sails properly, for if he continued playing his games then the wizard might notice what the soldiers had not.
'It's not the wind we have to be worrying about,' said Drake. 'It's the pursuit.'
'Grief,' said Miphon, peering north, 'they're close. How did they catch up so?'
'It's been one of those days,' said Drake. 'The wind's been giving different chances to every patch of the sea. They've had the luck.'
Miphon glanced at the sails, the sea, the pursuit boats, the cliffs they were closing with.'And we've had no luck?' he said.
'Aye,' said Drake, grimly. 'We've had none. So things look ill for us. How about using your precious death- stone?'
'What, and turn our boat to rock? No, you'd better do something, and fast.'
Drake gazed at the shatter-cliffs of Anvil where white water exploded against gash-toothed rocks. Veils of mist rose high to the heavens, as if the very sea was boiling. A flash of white gleamed amidst spray as a sea-mew slipped through the air at the base of the cliffs. Look up! Yes, it was there, as he remembered it – a small tower standing against the sky.'See the tower?' said Drake. 'At the top of the cliffs?''I see it,' said Miphon. 'Who lives there?'
'Nobody, man,' said Drake. 'There's nothing within but old feathers and dried-up pigeon shit. But we'll be there ourselves before nightfall.''How so?' said Miphon.
'We'll fly, man. Aye, yes. My grandmother told me a special recipe for flight. We have to chop up the heart of a wizard then mix it with clippings from his toenails. So bare your chest, man, so we can start the cutting.'
'Enough of your nonsense,' said Miphon. 'What's your plan?'
'You're not much fun today,' said Drake. 'Ah well. . . the plan, that's simple. There's a cove at the base of the cliffs, aye, below the tower. I've been there, yes.'
True. There was a cove, which Drake had visited on a fishing expedition when he was resident in the Greaters.'There's lots of rocks,' said Miphon, doubtfully.
'Courage, man!' said Drake. T can steer us in safe. The enemy will never dare to follow.'
This was also true, as far as it went. Drake could have steered them in safe.'Take us in, then,' said Miphon.'Your wish,' said Drake, 'is my command.'
He guided the boat toward the cove. And, shortly, made just the smallest mistake necessary. Rocks ripped open the good ship
'Enough of that woman's talk!' said Drake. 'There's a path. See?'
Indeed, a steep path led upwards from the beach. They took that path, arriving at length at the ruinous pharos, the clifftop tower they had seen from the sea. Meanwhile, the enemy boats stayed well clear of the shore.
'They'll not chance to wreck themselves here,' said Drake. 'They'd never make it up the path if they did. We could hurl down stones and hold off an army forever.'
'But once we leave,' said Miphon, 'they can chance the cove just as we did.'
'The wind's still rising,' said Drake. 'Soon enough, the wind will wreck all chance of a landing. We'll not leave till it does. Gather wood, boys! Aye, and rocks. Heap rocks here by the cliff, in case they're fool enough to invade.'
Men hacked with weapons at the clifftop vegetation, which was mostly isolated clumps of gorse, and soon had a fire burning inside the pharos. Some sheltered in the red bottle, but others stayed without to keep watch, alternately warming themselves by the fire or huddling outside in the wind at a place where they had a clear view of the cove.
For a long time they watched from the clifftop as the enemy boats tacked and tacked again, often passing very close to each other. Then those boats split up. Two sailed west, following the sun; the other three went withershins.'Where go they?' said the soldier Scouse.
'They search a landing,' said Drake. 'But they'll find none such. Or, rather – any place they find will be in the possession of pirates.'
'If they find anything,' said Blackwood, 'it'll be a wrecking. This is a perilous coast.''In truth,' said the soldier Lurghen. 'As likely as not they'll be wrecked. Or carried south beyond all hope. Everything to south is in the possession of the Swarms.'
He was wrong. Stokos, while it had been attacked several times by the Swarms, was still free. And Drake was sure that Yot, if he could not force a landing on Anvil, would make for Stokos. Well. So be it. They would have a settling of accounts on Stokos.
'Never mind about Sully Yot and his mob of professional fish-rapists,' said Drake. 'Let's mind about us. We're stuck on a pirate island. Aye, Anvil by name. Some right weird people live here, believe you me. Wealth will tempt them, aye, while honesty will drive them near insane with anger. So let's not come to them wealthy, or honest.''Then how?' said Blackwood.
'Okay,' said Drake, 'this is our story. We were a bandit gang living sweet in Estar, until we got driven out, aye, by the terrible Morgan Hearst, the ruthless Blackwood, and the evil wizard Miphon.''Why is this wizard Miphon always evil?' said Miphon.
'Man, because magic isn't natural,' said Drake. 'Now, mind nobody says nothing about death-stones, or magic bottles, for pirates will kill for such in less than a tricing. Everyone got that straight? Right then. Let's march.'
Drake guessed it was about thirty leagues from the pharos to Chastity Bay, site of the largest pirate settlement on Anvil. At Chastity, dozens of sea-caves pierced the cliffs, many big enough to hold ships. Drake thought they would need three days for the thirty-league march. He was not far wrong. At mid-morning on the fourth day they reached a landmark he recognized: a gibbet standing beside a big nose-shaped rock.
'Let's go careful now,' said Drake, 'for we're but a league from Chastity Bay.'
They made a final disposition of their forces. Those who would venture to Chastity were Drake, Blackwood, Miphon, and the soldiers Scouse and Lurghen. Everyone else, including Zanya, would be hidden in the red bottle, which would be swaddled in rags, in case some pirate knew what it was. Miphon would wear the ring which commanded that bottle; he would knot the ring to a cord then wear the cord around his neck.'Goodbye, dearest treasure snake,' said Zanya.
'Goodbye, most glorious princess of the thousand bearskins,' said Drake.
The lovers kissed. Then parted. Miphon took all those who were to remain in hiding into the red bottle. Then rematerialized. And the small band of heroes advanced upon Chastity Bay.After half a league, Drake said:
'Look! See where that toweris?That'sTunnel Mouth, or was. There, steps descend to caves below. Big caves, aye, some half sea, half air. Ships entire shelter within some of those caves. But that tower – that worries me. There was none such when I was here last.'
'Were you last here before the Swarms?' said Blackwood.'Oh, long before,' said Drake.
'Then that explains the tower,' said Blackwood. 'Those living here have been forced to fortify their door against the Swarms. The Neversh can fly to the Greater Teeth from the mainland, surely, with little trouble.'
'Then we've been walking in danger for more than three days!' said Drake.
'Whatever danger we've lived through,' said Miphon, 'we've survived. So let's worry no more about it, but advance.'
And so they did.
They were met short of the tunnel by a dog. Now the dog is the favourite animal of pirates, for it will tear the throats of human beings, and will fight its own kind to win bets for brutal masters, and will roll in dung, and will eat
