'What do you reckon to the damage on the other boat?' he asked Pepperdyne.
'Hard to say without actually being over there. But it doesn't look too bad from here. It's not been holed, that's the main thing. We should be able to patch it up soon as we get the chance.'
'Good enough.'
Throughout the whole episode Standeven had done exactly what they expected of him: he kept low and cowered. Now he rose and gingerly made his way to Stryke and Pepperdyne.
Seeing him approach, Stryke said sarcastically, 'Come to help, have you?'
'No,' the human replied soberly, as though it were a genuine question. 'I wondered…'
'Spit it out.'
'I wanted to be sure the instrumentalities were safe.'
Stryke glared at him. 'What?'
'They're secure, right?'
'What the hell's that got to do with you?'
'It concerns all of us. They're our only way to — '
'They're just fine.' Despite himself, Stryke's hand instinctively went to the pouch.
'You're sure that they — '
'Why the interest? What business is it of yours?'
'Like I said — '
'Ignore him, Stryke,' Pepperdyne intervened. 'It's just his weak-minded fear talking.'
Standeven shot him a venomous look.
'Well, he can keep his fears to himself in future and let me look after the stars.'
'Of course, Captain,' Standeven said, oozing with sycophancy. 'I wouldn't have it any other way.' He turned and picked his way back to his seat.
Stryke glanced at Pepperdyne. The human didn't meet his gaze.
21
Jennesta enjoyed few things more than a spot of mayhem and arson.
Having relished the former, she brought about the latter.
The surprise attack, using overwhelming forces and aided by her magic, had succeeded. Now the settlement burned. Some of the creatures fought on, as she had fully expected their kind to do, but the pockets of resistance were isolated. And as the camp was on the small side there were few of them to defend it; even she might have hesitated before venturing into one of their more densely populated regions.
She had given strict orders about which of the creatures her followers were to search for, and that they were on all accounts to be taken alive. The rest she had no concern for.
But now she was growing impatient. The ones she sought had not yet been found. Her underlings would rue the day if she had to take a hand herself. It was true that many of them were unnerved by the crossing, but that just made them weaklings in her eyes, not needy. She filled her time with some creative thinking about the form punishments would take.
Her reverie was broken by the arrival of a nervous officer. In the best tradition of those who wish to keep their heads, he broke the good news first. Their principal quarry had been caught, albeit at the cost of several of Jennesta's followers' lives and only by the use of an awe-inspiring number of troops. The less-than-good news was that the two other targets, the younger ones, had got away.
She expressed her anger at the less than perfect outcome, but it was really just a matter of giving the officer what he expected of her. In truth she was content. She had the important one.
The prisoner was brought to her. It was chained and well attended, yet still needed several of her undead guardians, including Hacher, to keep it in check. The creature was haughty, and when Jennesta approached, it spat at her face. She had it beaten for that.
Once the beast was further secured, and as fire and bloodshed held sway outside, Jennesta set to work.
Spurral was right. The Gatherer prisoners had seen the futility of not cooperating and helped the dwarfs with the ship, though they weren't allowed any leeway that might permit them to cause trouble. No one doubted that the prisoners agreed in the hope of lenient treatment. But the boost to the dwarfs' confidence in having their tormentors in their power was considerable. Relations between the surviving Gatherers and their onetime captives were hardly cordial, but so far there had been no serious discord.
As the ship headed back to the dwarfs' island, something like normality was imposed.
Spurral and Kalgeck stood on the bridge, watching dwarfs and Gatherers trim the sails.
'But why do we have to slow down?' Spurral asked, irritated at the prospect of delay.
'Because of what the Gatherers told us,' Kalgeck explained, 'backed up by these.' He slapped his hand on Vant's charts spread out before them. 'Right now we're in deep water. Very deep. But soon it gets shallow. There's a reef or something down there, and we have to steer a careful path through it.'
'Why can't we just go round?'
'That really would add to the journey, and we'd have to pass through waters with treacherous currents.'
'Great,' she sighed. 'So what do we do, exactly?'
'Slow to a crawl and measure the depth. Look.' He pointed down at the deck.
A group of dwarfs were at the rail. They had a large coil of rope with a lead weight at its end. Knots in the rope marked out the fathoms.
When the ship was little more than drifting, the measuring line was lowered over the side. They played out almost its entire length before bottom was reached.
'How deep's that?' Spurral asked.
'Getting on for fifty fathoms,' Kalgeck replied. 'No danger to us there.'
The ship crept on as the sun made its lazy way across the azure sky. Measurements were taken at regular intervals, but showed practically no variation.
Spurral grew more impatient at the sluggish progress. 'Are we ever going to get to this shallow patch, Kalgeck?'
'According to the chart, we're already in it.'
'Somebody should tell the sea.'
'These maps aren't always exact. Least, that's what the Gatherers say.'
'Well, I hope we're going to see some — '
There were shouts from the measuring team.
'Now what?' Kalgeck wondered.
'Let's see,' Spurral said, heading for the ladder that led to the deck.
When they reached the measurers, one of the dwarfs held up the end of the rope. It was severed and the weight was gone.
'What did it?' Spurral asked.
'Don't know,' the young dwarf with the rope told her. 'But whatever it was happened at about twelve fathoms.'
Kalgeck examined the rope. 'Looks like it was cut, or…'
'Or what?' Spurral said.
'It probably just got caught on something down there.'
'So let's try again.'
They brought another coil of knotted rope and fitted a new weight. It was fed overboard, and a dwarf was set the task of calling its progress.
'One fathom… two…'
'This should sort it out,' Kalgeck offered.
'Yeah, most likely,' Spurral replied, though there was a jot of uncertainty in her voice.
'… Four fathoms… five… six…'
