Aila gave a wry smile. ‘You have quite a low bar for hospitality.’
‘Is Maxin alright?’ said Kelsey.
‘Why?’ said Amalia. ‘Are you going to pretend to be concerned for his welfare, after you clubbed him with a hammer?’ She seethed for a moment, then tried to smile. ‘Listen, come back to my apartment, and we can talk things over. What do you want? I’m sure we can reach a compromise.’
‘Forget it,’ said Aila. ‘If you think I’d trust you after what you did to us, you must think I’m a bigger idiot than Marcus.’
Amalia’s face changed and she leapt to her feet. ‘If I could use my powers, I’d kill you now!’ she yelled, pointing her finger in Aila’s face. ‘I’d level this stupid town in minutes and slaughter everyone. Have you forgotten who I am? I am the mighty God-Queen, and I’m sick of pandering to mortals who should be on their knees before me. You dare to talk about Marcus?’ She picked up a knife from the array of cutlery on the table. ‘I should cut your eyes out and gut you, you miserable, ungrateful wretch…’
Her words were cut off as two burly men grabbed her arms. One forced the knife from her hand.
‘I’ll kill you too, you stupid mortals! I’ll kill you all!’ Amalia cried, as she was hauled back and bundled to the ground. She tried to touch one of the guards with her fingers, but her wrists were pulled behind her by gloved hands.
The barman ran over. ‘I’ve called for the town guard,’ he cried. ‘No one threatens my customers.’
Amalia spat at him. ‘Insect! You loathsome beasts; do you know who I am?’
‘No, and I don’t care,’ said the barman, wiping the spittle from his face. He nodded to the two men holding her. ‘Take her to the warden’s office; they can deal with her.’
The two men pulled the former God-Queen to her feet, and dragged her out of the tavern as she struggled in their grip.
The barman turned to Aila and Kelsey. ‘Sorry about that, ladies. Do you know that woman?’
‘We’ve never seen her before in our lives,’ said Aila. ‘She just walked over to our table and sat down.’
‘What a strange woman,’ said Kelsey. ‘And we were just minding our own business. She was probably drunk.’
‘I was starting to get a bit worried,’ said Aila. ‘Thanks for intervening.’
The barman nodded. ‘Well, the meal and drinks are on the house, by way of an apology. A night in the town cells should sober her up.’
‘Thanks,’ said Kelsey.
‘No problem,’ he said, then turned and walked back to the bar.
Aila smiled.
‘I hope the town cells are within a hundred yards of here,’ said Kelsey, ‘otherwise the wardens are in for a bit of a shock.’
‘It’s a small town,’ said Aila; ‘we should be safe for the night.’
‘And tomorrow?’
Aila sipped her ale. ‘Tomorrow, before the sun is up, we head south.’
Chapter 7
Going Nowhere
K in Dai, Kinell, Eastern Khatanax – 2nd Luddinch 5252
‘We’re never going to find them, are we?’ said Corthie.
Van glanced across the galley table at him. ‘We can’t give up.’
‘I’m not saying we should give up, only that it’s pointless. It’s simple – my sister’s powers are blocking Naxor’s searches.’
‘Yes,’ said Sohul, ‘but she’ll be blocking the Ascendants as well.’
Corthie shook his head. ‘We’re wasting our time.’
‘Then what should we do?’ said Van. ‘I’m open to suggestions.’
‘There’s nothing we can do,’ said Corthie. ‘Everything is hopeless.’
He reached for the bottle of spirits and filled his mug as the others glanced at him.
‘I fail to understand why you keep buying him alcohol,’ said Naxor.
Van shrugged. ‘If I didn’t, then he’d only go into the city to drink there. This way, at least we can contain him.’
‘Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,’ said Corthie.
‘You know,’ said Van, ‘we’re not even certain that the Ascendants are still on Lostwell. They have the Sextant, yeah? If they were following their plan, then they might already have invaded the salve world. Naxor, could you check Alea Tanton from here? That might give us a better idea of what we’re dealing with.’
‘No,’ said the demigod; ‘it’s too far away for me to reach. Maybe we should follow Vana’s example, and get a boat. We could go back to Capston in the Southern Cape, and renew our search from there.’
‘It’s too risky,’ said Van. ‘All it would take is for one sailor to talk about seeing Corthie, and the authorities would be all over us.’
‘Then perhaps I should go alone?’ said Naxor.
Corthie almost choked on the spirits. ‘Forget it. With everything you’ve done, what makes you think we’d trust you?’
‘Because, if I’m caught, the Ascendants would kill me. If there were any benefit in running away, I would have left with Vana, believe me.’
‘We’ll have to leave at some point,’ said Sohul. ‘We can’t stay in Kin Dai forever.’
Van glanced at Corthie. ‘How’s your battle-vision?’
Corthie thought for a moment. He had checked his powers that morning, as he always did, and it was true that they were stronger than at any time since leaving Yoneath. His health in other regards had also been slowly improving; he was sick less often, and sometimes an hour would go by without any stomach cramps. His appetite had also made fitful improvements, but he was still a shadow of his former self, mentally and physically.
‘A little better,’ he said at last, ‘but not enough.’
‘Then we stay,’ said Van. ‘We have no choice. Based on recent evidence, I now believe that Corthie is starting to recover, but we’ll need him at his best if we’re going to stand any chance.’
Naxor frowned as he watched Corthie drain his mug. ‘That might take a while if he keeps drinking like that.’
‘You lost the right to criticise me when you tried to snatch Amalia’s Quadrant.’
‘I was trying to stop her fleeing.’
‘No, you weren’t,’ he said. ‘You were being the same old Naxor, looking out for yourself.’
Naxor smirked. ‘You know, Amalia’s arm will have
