Ghost of the Well of Souls

and worked the same as well, and, to her astonishment, launched themselves into the air.

Until now, she’d never been convinced that creatures with such wings could truly fly, but clearly they could and did, and quite well, too, although they used a great deal of energy flapping those wings in order to get away from the influence of the ship and into updrafts. Once there, however, they needed just a little correction now and then, and otherwise were sailing with the birds.

She hadn’t realized until then how much she wanted to do that, as well, but it was unlikely she’d get the chance where they were heading now. She watched them circle the ship once, gaining altitude and then setting off due south, the same direction the ship was traveling, until they were quickly out of even her best telescoping sight.

It didn’t take a genius to know where they were going now that they had indeed left. Going ahead to this Alkazar, probably getting there hours ahead of the ship, and thus beginning the process of arranging passage through the mysterious place.

She wondered what it must be like, this Alkazar, that could maintain a major port and had all of these high- tech luxuries yet sounded like such a sad and perhaps evil place.

Perhaps those luxuries, those machines that could do things better than people could, were good for the body but not the soul, she thought. Maybe they were the corruptors. She didn’t have enough experience to know for sure, but she had the feeling that she’d find out soon enough.

After a fine meal and a walk and stretch on the deck, she still couldn’t see land, but there were more than just birds now to tell her that they were coming in.

Now there were boats. Small ones, generally, although a couple looked elaborate and even had smokestacks. All seemed to be engaged in fishing at some level, indicating that whoever lived in Magid was more likely on the bottom of the sea than near the top, and that these waters were filled with wildlife from that ocean.

The boats varied in design, and she noticed that almost all of them were crewed by single race crews, not the polyglot that staffed the Bay of Vessali. Most were strange to her, although she recognized a few sleek, smooth, black vessels as being from Pyron. The strange creatures that seemed both giant snakes and men were hard to miss.

Others included creatures with shells, creatures with lots of tentacles, creatures that seemed to ooze up and down masts and in and out of the water, tall creatures with big snouts, floppy ears, and black noses, and even two that were clearly Ixthansan. She stared at each of those as they passed, wondering if Eggy or someone affiliated with him was on either, but she knew that was unlikely. To be here, Eggy would have had to travel the same distance as she, and through that storm or the long way around it. Still, if that race was allied with Core’s group, then one or both of these small fishing vessels might well be more than it appeared.

She was still standing there, staring at them, and noticing that they were often staring at her, too, if they spotted her, when the purser found her.

“Pardon, missy. Got radio message for Madam Jaysu, yep yep.”

She frowned. “What is a radio?”

“Thing that sends talk or code through the air. Easy way to get messages, other stuff, when in high-tech areas, yep yep. Since both Magid and Alkazar are high-tech, can get messages back and forth, no problem, nope nope.” He held out a small tray with an envelope on it.

She took the envelope and opened it, but then sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I do not know how to read this.”

The little creature seemed almost embarrassed to hear that. “Sorry. Give. With your permission, I’ll read?”

“Please do,” she invited him. She had no bad feelings about being illiterate, contrary to what the purser thought. She couldn’t see much use for it anyway.

“It is from the Pyron consul in Kolznar Colony. That’s where we’re going. Big port of Alkazar.”

“The Pyron council?”

“Nope nope. Consul. Like junior ambassador. Ambassadors all in Zone, but sometimes have consuls in other countries where business is done. Faster.”

“Well, what does this consul say?”

“Says you will not have to stay on ship to Pyron. Consul has arranged for passage to your destination from Kolznar. Says you will be met at pier when we dock. Warns you not to fly to or in Alkazar. Can be big trouble, yep yep.”

That was both good news and bad news. The good news was that she was actually going to get off this thing and hit land! But the instructions not to fly—that was almost crushing. It was inside her, something she had to continually fight not doing even now. To still be a groundling even on land was not something she’d thought would happen.

“Purser?”

“Madam?”

“How is it that you read the writings of Pyron? Do you read all the tongues of the people you transport?”

“Nope nope. Only read Kuall and Commercand. Commercand is language used by all who travel and trade between hexes. Simple, direct, but all the same no matter what tongue you think in. Makes trade possible. Also used in diplomacy, yep yep. That’s what this note is in. If somebody can write it, odds are there will always be somebody else where you are who can read it.”

“How long until we get in?”

“About two hours, no more, yep yep,” the purser responded, ripping up the note into little pieces and then putting the pieces back into the envelope. She thought it an interesting custom. “May take a little while to dock the ship, though. They’re always busy and it’s tricky. We’ll get pilot in about an hour, yep yep. Then it’s in their hands.”

“Indeed? What is a pilot?”

“Captain with no ship but knows the harbors. Pilot takes over to dock ships in big ports and get them out. Otherwise we crash into things. Very convenient, yep yep.”

She had to agree with that, although the job never would have occurred to her.

She wondered about the little horrors who’d taken off and flown into this Kolznar the previous night. If she could not fly, then why could they?

She decided to go back up to her cabin and get together the few things she had with her, put them in the waist pack, and then watch the landing. It would even be interesting to see this pilot creature; he, she, or it was unlikely to be of Magid, considering, and so would almost certainly be Alkazarian.

She walked back, unlocked the door, and walked in. Almost immediately she sensed a wrongness about it, although she was more curious than afraid, considering how long she’d been aboard and that she knew just about everybody.

The door shut behind her, and she realized that the lamp was out. This wasn’t unusual in a high-tech hex, but normally there was a kind of glowing bar that went on that allowed you to see well enough for the basics. Now, suddenly, it was pitch-black.

She knew she was not alone.

She could have sensed it before, but had not been thinking about such things. Now, though, all her senses were on full alert because of the darkness, and she knew not only that someone else was there, but who it was, and that was a shock.

“That is far enough,” said a familiar voice. “I have in my hands a weapon that can fry you like a roasted bird in an instant, and I see just fine in the infrared, so I can see you as clearly as if we were on deck.”

“Then why do you not use it and kill me? That is what you came in here for,” Jaysu responded, oddly calm and sounding not at all terrified. She realized then that she should have known from the beginning that Algensor, the Kehudan, was not on the up and up. Nobody took a ship to return to their home hex. You just went through a Zone Gate. Some detective she was!

“I need to know who sent you the message you just received, and what it said,” the Kehudan told her, becoming unnerved by Jaysu’s lack of panic.

“I do not believe that concerns you,” she told the agent calmly. Her heightened senses located the creature