understood that Rik was against him. He shrugged his shoulders, like a merchant making one final resolution to try and sway a reluctant customer.
“Legions or regiments, the words are unimportant. What is important is their strength, and ours is infinitely greater than Talorea’s.”
“That has yet to be proven.”
“It will be. Not even Talorea can fight a war on two fronts and hope to win. Not if Koth himself commanded its armies.”
Rik considered Malkior’s words. They could mean only one thing. “You have made a pact with the King of Valon.”
“In the spring he will attack Talorea’s western borders. We shall attack its Eastern ones. No help will be forthcoming from Selenea against its traditional enemies.”
“Because the Quan will stop them.”
“I see Asea has given you a more than basic education in the geography and politics of our time.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I would prefer to have you on my side. I have sentimental reasons for that. I have never had a son.”
The force of the words was like a knife driven into Rik’s ribs. He looked at the Terrarch standing in front of him, wondering what to say. One thing sprang immediately into his mind.
“Did you kill my mother?” The words were nasty, his tone more so.
“This is not the place to talk about such things,” said Malkior.
“I cannot think of a better one at the moment,” said Rik. He had no intention of going anywhere with the Terrarch if he could help it. Malkior shook his head as he would at a self-indulgent child. He reached out and touched Rik’s hand. An explosive shock of pain passed up Rik’s arm. He had never felt anything like it, agony so great that he could not open his mouth, could not scream. It was as if the marrow of his bones had caught fire and his blood had become filled with burning brimstone.
He collapsed face forward into the cold snow. The last thing he heard was Malkior calling for a sedan chair and a doctor to come and help the man who had collapsed.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sardec stood by the dockside, wondering how it had come to this. He did not like their situation at all, did not like to think they were trapped and that their only option was to run. He found that he rather liked Harven, and would have liked to spend more time in the place. He wished that Rena was here. This was a place where he felt the two of them might be happy together, where Terrarch prejudices meant less, and humans meant more. He was surprised to find himself in sympathy with that attitude. His father certainly would not have been. He forced himself to concentrate on the matter at hand.
Another large ship was being towed into the crowded harbour. It flew the flag of Talorea. A few hours earlier he would have felt sure that its master would help him if asked, and if paid enough; now he was far from certain. At every ship, at every agent’s office, he had heard the same thing. There were no ships available. The tides were wrong. Storms were expected in the Bay of Whales. No cargoes were being sent in that direction right now. The ship’s master was sick. There had been an outbreak of pestilence on board and no man was allowed ashore because of the quarantine. The extent and originality of the excuses had been really rather impressive. Without ever quite spelling it out, the merchants and captains had let him know that no ship was likely to become available no matter who his patron was or how much he was prepared to pay. Sardec was beginning to lose his patience.
The man in front of him now seemed frightened even by his very presence. He was an agent for a Talorean shipping company, a small man but wealthy looking, recommended by Ambassador Valefor, and for that reason the last Sardec had approached.
“I am sorry, Lieutenant,” he said. “All our outbound ships are heading for Selenea. And none of them have room for passengers.”
“Why?”
“They are simply too small.”
“That is not what I meant.”
“I am sorry, Lieutenant. I’m afraid I don’t understand you.”
“Why will you not aid an officer of your own nation?”
“I would if I could but as I have already explained…”
“Let me explain something,” said Sardec. “If you do not help us I will see to it that you die.”
“Are you threatening me, Lieutenant?” Sardec gestured in the direction of Weasel and the Barbarian.
“Those men there will cut your throat if I order them to.”
“The watch would have them…”
“I assure you they are capable of doing it at a time and place where the watch will not catch them. They could make your death particularly unpleasant if I asked them to.”
The merchant stared at the pair. He took Sardec’s assessment at face value. “If it were up to me,” he said at last, “I would find you a ship, but even if I did, no captain would take you.”
“Why?”
“Word has gone around that any ship that carries you will encounter the Shipbreakers.”
“Who has spread such rumours?”
“They are not rumours. The word has come through the Intercessors.”
“Lady Asea is an accomplished sorceress. She can protect any ship.”
“The Light preserve her, at sea the Quan are supreme. If they decide a ship will sink, it will sink. I have seen it happen.”
“You have seen it?”
“In my youth, when I sailed with the Summer Fleet there was a captain who took it into his head to blaspheme in their Temple. He was a bold man, an Ilimarian, and he feared nothing. For a bet he went to Temple and pissed in the sacred pool. For a week thereafter he wandered around the city, drunk and boasting how nothing had happened to him despite his actions.”
“And?”
“When the Summer Fleet set sail for the Middle Sea we were no sooner out of harbour than his ship was destroyed. One minute it was there, a triple-masted forty gunner; the next it was gone.”
“It hit a rock?”
“In the open sea round Harven? It’s clear that you are not a sailor, Lieutenant. No — it was pulled down. I saw it with my own eyes. Massive tentacles, covered in suckers with leech-like mouths, emerged from the sea. Each was the size of a tower. They wrapped themselves round the ship and pulled it below, shattering it to splinters. No man survived.”
“Some must. They could have swum clear.”
The merchant smiled coldly and shook his head. “There were things in the water, Lieutenant, that made sure that when a man went down he never came back up. There were no survivors. Not a man-jack of the crew ever saw port again. It was a lesson to everybody, and everybody learned from it. You don’t defy the Quan and sail the Northern Seas, Lieutenant. And when the Intercessors say something is not to be done, it will not happen in Harven. The Quan don’t interfere here often, but when they do, they are obeyed. They are the real rulers of this city, Lieutenant, and that’s a fact. You could threaten to kill and torture every captain in this harbour, and they still would not take you, and do you know why, Lieutenant?”
“I suspect you are going to tell me.”
“You can only kill a man, Lieutenant, but the Quan, and that’s what those things were in the water that day, they will eat your soul.”
The merchant’s manner left Sardec in no doubt that he believed every word he said. He knew then that they were not going to be able to get out of Harven by ship.
