“As she did what?”
“She led us to people, places, to an understanding of what was happening. We have certain drylanders who act as our agents. They offer rewards for information, bait for people who will tell us things. This woman wanted power, so we promised her power in return for something we knew she could never find. We said, ‘Find Ghastain’s miraculous amulet, or anything like it, and we will give you power.’ ”
Xulai turned, her anger momentarily forgotten. “What was it? Where was it?”
The Sea King’s great body shook, and Abasio realized he was laughing. “Ghastain’s amulet was a piece of wood with an invitation carved into it. It was from Clan Do-Lok and from the Sea King—I should say Sea Ruler, for at that time it was a female—an invitation to come to Tingawa and talk over the future of all human people. The Sea Ruler sent it by a messenger, or, probably, a whole chain of them. Unfortunately, the Sea Ruler of that time had the message written in Tingawan and did not think to send anyone to translate the message for Ghastain. She did not consider that Ghastain had never lived near the sea, that he would not recognize Tingawan writing. He thought the carved words were magic.”
“But . . . all Ghastain’s victories? His unconquerable army?”
“He had victories, true. And he had failures, also. His victories took him even into the center of the continent where Huold or Huold’s sons begat sons and daughters and where Abasio later lived. And his failures ended his life when his unconquerable army got onto ships and set out for Tingawa. He got as far as he did because he had some good luck and a particularly fine tactician in Huold, who, by the way, strongly advised Ghastain against that armada thing. We could not allow all those ships!”
“It was arrogant,” said Abasio, watching Xulai carefully.
“It was stupid,” Xulai agreed.
The Sea King could not quite nod, but the flexible tentacles marvelously expressed his feeling of agreement. “Ghastain was clever but he was not really intelligent. When Huold got to Ghost Isle—people say riding on a fish, which is not true; half a dozen dolphins and a whale saved him, none of them fish, really—and when he showed the amulet to the people there, someone told him the words were Tingawan. Huold was intelligent, and he found a word book! A Tingawan-Norland dictionary! Below the sea we are now developing a word book! Cephalo-drylander! Ha. No drylander will be able to say the words, but they can hear them if they stick their heads in the water! Huold struggled to work out the meaning. He spent several days sitting on the beach there at Krakenhold. Our stories say he was toasting sausages, writing, eating a sausage, pondering, then writing again. All that time, the Sea Ruler was lying in the fjord, watching and listening.
“The she-kraken saw that Huold could not believe what it said. Over and over he went back to the book, shaking his head as you drylanders do when you are confused. When Huold finally understood, he started laughing and went on laughing until he was weak and had to lie down on the sand. Then, when he recovered, he broke the amulet into pieces and threw them in the sea.”
“Where did he go?”
“He traveled to the mountains above Marish and left his servant there. He himself went down to Marish. Nobody knew who he was. There was a ship readying to sail to Tingawa. Before it sailed he told the people of Marish there was a man lost up on the mountain. When they found the man, he told them the story Huold had given him to tell, that Huold was lost in the mountains. Huold wasn’t lost at all; when he reached Tingawa, he was adopted into Clan Do-Lok. Justinian is also a descendant of that family through Lythany, Huold’s daughter, who began Woldsgard. That’s why the genetics worked out so well.”
Xulai rose, shaking her head, trembling. “I can’t believe this. It’s so . . . it’s not probable! That my father would have said nothing about this! Nothing at all, not a hint. That the princess, my mother, that she wouldn’t have said anything. I don’t suppose anyone else would have known. Not even Precious Wind?”
“Precious Wind knew only a part,” said the Sea King. “Your mother knew a part. Your father, standing behind you so quietly now, is hearing it for the first time. Everyone would have known all about it a generation ago if it had not been for that . . . creature. Precious Wind has already told you the history of the creature. We knew that whenever Tingawan people went into Norland, something dreadful followed them, sometimes killed them. Despite all our protections, it killed your mother. We could not risk it happening to you. Secrecy was absolutely necessary, to protect you. If we could have completed our plan without Tingawans going to Norland, it would have been easier, but we could not. As it was, we took all kinds of precautions against the monster, but we didn’t know he’d created assistants! Just as we did not know about the women he spawned. Just as we did not know of the devices the creature had from the Before Time. We did not know what he was capable of!”
They sat silent for a moment. Xulai moved restlessly. “I still don’t understand about this ‘ability’ you’ve mentioned. I think I understand about the genetics, but not at all about this changing. How is it we change?”
“Come here,” he said. “Come close.”
The words were gentle but they were still a command. Something tiny within her struggled, only for a moment, before she went toward him, the great buttress of him lying there near the waters’ edge, his tentacles spiraling among the stones, his great
