She smiled and nodded.
Several healthy swigs of brandy mellowed them both.
'Talking of Serapheim,' Coilla said, relaxing, 'do you ever question why he sent us on this assignment?'
'We know why. To help fellow orcs and for revenge on Jennesta.'
'Think about it. Why should he care about orcs? And Jennesta's his own daughter, don't forget.'
'Being his flesh and blood might be more reason for wanting to punish her. He feels disgraced by her evil, and wants to atone for it by taking away the life he sired.'
'And us orcs?'
'He said he was ashamed of what his race was doing to ours in Acurial.'
'Ah, so the nasty humans can act nobly.'
Stryke said nothing. He had another drink.
She went on, 'There's something about all this, Stryke… I don't know; it doesn't ring true somehow. I mean, his servant turning up in Ceragan with a knife in his back; what was that about? Who killed him? Why? Come to that, how did Serapheim himself survive the collapse of the ice palace in Ilex?'
'That's an awful lot of questions.'
'Here's another one. How come Jennesta's still alive after going through the… What did they call it? The vortex. Not only didn't die but ends up helping to run a human empire. How did that happen?'
'I don't know, Coilla. And I do dwell on these things. But sometimes I think there are some mysteries we'll never solve.'
'Perhaps.'
He stood. 'I need to check on Jup.'
'What's he doing?'
'Trying to use his farsight. Remember that big life force he detected? I thought it'd be a good idea to have some warning if we're going to run into it.'
'Has he seen anything?'
'Not so far. But Haskeer's been needling him again, and it throws him off. That's what I need to check on.'
'All right. I'll be with the kelpies if you want me.' She nodded to the far end of the deck where the sea horses were herded together. A bunch of grunts with buckets on ropes were hauling up water to douse them with.
He finished by telling her, 'You remember what I said about Pepperdyne.' Then he turned and walked away.
He passed a stack of chests stowed nearby. What he didn't notice was Standeven sitting on the deck behind them, chin resting on raised knees, listening.
The rest of that day and most of the next passed without incident.
They were into the afternoon when land was spotted. The kelpies grew excited in their rather stately way, and the band prepared to disembark.
When they were close enough to see the island in detail, the old kelpie who had first befriended them was puzzled.
'My folk are on the beach,' he rumbled.
'What's strange about that?' Stryke asked.
'You don't understand. My kin shouldn't be cavorting openly in the sea, and certainly not in the daytime, for fear of the Gatherers.'
'Could they have come and gone?' Jup wanted to know, his heart sinking.
'If they had, you can be sure kelpies wouldn't be enjoying themselves in broad daylight.'
As they nosed in and dropped anchor, things became clearer. The kelpies on the beach were joined by a group of two-legged beings, waving frantically.
'They're… dwarfs,' Jup whispered, not daring to get his hopes up.
He didn't wait for the gangplank. Tossing a length of rope over the side he agilely shinned down it. Splashing knee-high through water, then onto the flaxen sand, he saw someone running towards him.
Spurral flew into his arms.
The following hours were filled with explanations and renewed camaraderie, for orcs and kelpies alike. At one point, Haskeer marched up to the couple, slapped Spurral heartily on the back and bellowed, 'Well done! Always knew we'd find you.'
Jup watched open-mouthed as he swaggered past.
'Maybe he's not so bad after all,' Spurral said.
Haskeer barged his way to Stryke and asked, ' Now can we get out of this place?'
'Soon as we can.'
'Good. Ceragan's starting to look really good compared to some of the places we've been.'
'Yeah, well, hold on. The stars didn't get us there last time we tried. We have to work that problem out.'
'That must have been something you did wrong, Stryke.'
'If I did, I did it wrong a lot of times.'
'So how we going to sort that one?'
'I don't know. Maybe — '
'Excuse me,' Spurral interrupted, 'but what about these dwarf survivors?' She waved a hand in their direction. They were sitting morosely by themselves further along the beach.
'What about 'em?' Haskeer said.
'We've got to take them home. Back to their island.'
'Shit, can't somebody else do that?'
'Who? The kelpies aren't a seafaring race.'
Coilla nodded. 'She's right.'
'Yes,' Stryke agreed. 'We take them back. Then we'll think about the stars.'
'But we won't think about them tonight,' Spurral announced. 'The kelpies are laying on a celebration for everybody, and they're keen on celebrations, I can tell you.'
'And to spice it up a bit,' Coilla added, 'I've got a little something here I found in a cabin on the goblins' ship. Didn't mention it before; thought it might be a surprise.' She took out a small black pouch, loosened its strings and poured some of the contents into her hand.
The others crowded round and instantly recognised the heap of tiny pinkish crystals.
'Pellucid,' Haskeer all but drooled.
Coilla clamped her hand shut. 'But only with the permission of our captain, of course.'
'What do you say, Stryke?' Spurral wanted to know. 'Do we deserve a little relaxation after all we've been through?'
'There were a couple of times when crystal led us to some bad outcomes,' he replied, stern-faced. A smile cracked it. 'But I don't think this is going to be one of them.'
25
The celebration was good. It must have been, because most of those present would never be able to remember it.
There was drinking, feasting, boasting and inane giggling. The latter was due to the pellucid, which bathed the proceedings in a dreamy, kaleidoscopic haze.
A high point, for Wheam if no one else, came when the tyro, sober and without the benefit of crystal at that juncture, came to them excitedly. He was holding something.
'Look what I found on the ship!' he exclaimed.
'What'd ya say?' Haskeer mumbled, his eyes red pinpoints.
'I thought that if Coilla found that crystal lightning on the ship there might be other things of value. And I found this!' Beaming, he held up the object.
