'Take us back to the realm of men,' Phoebe said. 'Then return and find Astron and Nimbia as-'
A sudden wave bigger than any before raced under the raft. Kestrel tipped forward, just barely managing to grab Phoebe before she fell. The water lapped over the edge of the logs and spilled into the fire. In a flash of smoke, the flame was instantly doused and Camonel was gone.
Kestrel tried staggering back to his feet, but the agitation of the sea increased. Stunned by what had happened, he looked out in the growing blackness toward Myra's ship and heard the aleator calling out over the bulwark.
'The first is spent but it has done its job. See the increased agitation of the surf. A great wave is coming and their luck does not ward it away. Pull them back aboard and we will slip offshore a league or so until the disturbance passes. Then on the morrow we will set sail as the glib one has directed. Keep them in bondage. If I can think of no new amusement during our journey, then certainly they can serve as shields on the floor of the casino.'
Almost in a daze, Kestrel pulled Phoebe to him and held her tight. He looked at the last wisps of smoke from the doused fire and cursed his luck, what little there was of it. Now they would have to travel to the casino. There would be no chance that Myra would be persuaded to light a fire again. Yes, to the casino and hope that Astron would somehow be there as well. He kicked the sextant overboard and then gave the almanac a shove-devices of the manipulator, the one behind the merging realms and the riddle as well. There might indeed be something of significance to them, he thought, but it would take someone like Astron to discover what it was. Now, until they dropped anchor, he had to focus all his attention on keeping Myra's thoughts away from more testing with her swinging blade.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
ASTRON peered out from the cover of the brush at the line of the crest. Leaves of deep green scattered tiny droplets of dew as he pushed them aside. Behind him, buzzing insects filled the interior slopes of the island with a blur of sound. No one had yet stirred from either of Myra's ships lying at anchor in the bay below. But in only a few moments more, Byron's force sneaking down the hillside would inevitably be discovered.
From the look of the anxious faces of those who had followed the tall swordsman, not everyone was as convinced as he about their rфle in his destiny. Armed only with blade and shield, they would be no match for aleators with necks ringed by talismans. But surely at least some would survive long enough, Astron thought. Long enough to bolt and flee back up the slope along the wide path that ran by his hiding place. And just as surely, some of Myra's aleators would follow.
Astron tightened his grip on the rope of twisted vines that ran from his hand down onto the wide path past the bush. There was every chance that it would break or even come untied from the base of the tree across the way, but he could think of nothing better to try.
He glanced at Nimbia, kneeling at his side, a sword of steel dangling from her hip. 'The words you had me say to Byron about my prowess in battle felt most uncomfortable,' he said. 'I am a cataloguer, not a hewer of men.'
'I saw how you led the reticulates at more than a single node,' Nimbia answered. 'Do not be concerned about the discomfort, demon, though the modesty is becoming.'
Astron wrinkled his nose. He should have felt pleasure in Nimbia's words, but he did not. Somehow the aid he offered to Byron increased her stature, rather than his own.
'Nevertheless,' he growled, 'too much time has been wasted in my translation of fluffs of conversation back and forth. It is better spent in observation of the realm, collecting facts that later can be used to advantage.'
Nimbia smiled. 'I do not consider the exchange of information a waste,' she said. 'You are serving me well. Without the facility of your tongue, I would know nothing of Byron beyond grunts and stares.' She stopped and lowered her eyes. 'And just as important, he would know as little of me.'
Astron felt his annoyance grow. He did not care for the way that Byron stared at her when she was distracted elsewhere. When in Byron's presence, she behaved like a human female from the sagas. Her interest in the aleator went beyond the needs of their riddle-quest or even wresting some anvilwood from the grand casino. More than once she had laughed when he translated Byron's words and shook her head at the chastisement he suggested as a reply.
'Byron has made clear more than once that his destiny is his primary focus.' Astron pulled tentatively on the rope. 'Everything else is of little concern.'
'A secondary position would not be so bad.' Nimbia shrugged. 'I have not fared nearly so well in the realm of the fey.' She flipped golden curls over her shoulder. 'He is comely enough so that no one would whisper when we are seen together. Among his own, he commands a station of respect, one that fittingly links with a hillsovereign.'
Nimbia stopped and looked Astron in the eye. 'Besides, when all is done and you return to your own realm, what then is to happen to me?'
The wrinkle in Astron's nose deepened, but Nimbia did not seem to notice as she rushed on.
'I can tell that he is interested,' she said. 'Constantly he devours me with his eyes. His boldness is far better than the hesitant glances and turned-away faces that were the features of most when I was the one who held sway. Yes, he has great interest; and yet, at the same time, he shows measured restraint. Unlike the others who become victims of their own lust and interpret each gentle hesitation as a stunning rebuke or a sure indication that there is someone else, he is game for the chase.'
'You have special qualities as well.' Astron stumbled. 'Your creations were as much for your minions as yourself. No prince have I seen display such concern. You would have earned your diadem, even if it were not given by default. And a wizard besides-only ones of that ilk can a djinn ever truly respect. You shielded me in the tree when-'
'Enough.' Nimbia laughed. She reached out and touched Astron on the cheek. 'You need not sing of my virtues, demon. Your place in my retinue is secure. It is rather I that should list the praises so that you are encouraged to even greater glories for your queen.'
Astron started to reply, but then quickly snapped shut his mouth. He halted the idle flexing of his grip about the rope and froze dead still. Without moving, he looked at Nimbia expectantly.
Nimbia's face clouded in puzzlement. 'Demon?' she said. 'What is the matter? Did something happen in that stembrain of yours?'
'I am waiting,' Astron said simply. 'Waiting to hear the list.'
Nimbia threw back her head and laughed. Her voice tinkled like a shower of golden brandels tossed against a shield, 'Very well,' she said after a moment. 'You deserve no less.'
Nimbia eyed Astron critically and then touched her index finger to the palm of her other hand. 'First, there is the keenness of mind,' she said. 'In no other of your realm have I observed such an ability for deduction.'
'Palodad and other princes that rule-' Astron blurted out, suddenly uncomfortable, as he had been before. But Nimbia put her finger to his lips for silence and then placed another beside the first.
'Secondly, there is the dedication to your quest,' she said. 'Despite the hindrances and dangers, you pursue the goal with an unrelenting intensity. Surely I have seen it matched in none of the mighty djinns with their easily distracted flitter of thought. And, now that I think of it, none in the realm of the fey would have persisted as long as have you.'
Astron felt the beginning of a smile appear on his face, despite the discomfort. Other delicious feelings began to stir underneath. He wanted again to protest the sweep of her hyperbole, but thought better of it as Nimbia retracted her hand and began to say even more.
'Last, and perhaps most important, demon,' she said, 'is the comfort that you bring when we are together. I do not have to worry about somehow breaking through an impenetrable shyness or warding off a self-image that never can be satisfied. I do not have to remember that I am a woman and you are a man.'
The seductive sweetness bubbling up inside Astron suddenly turned sour. Somehow Nimbia's words of praise
