Master of furies, p.26
Master of Furies, page 26
Immediately Hatu felt the organization of the energy lines take place at what he now considered the speed of thought. He merely located a thread, and within seconds he could see the location of where he had caused the rockfall.
‘Fascinating,’ said Nathan. ‘You didn’t even think about allowing me to see through your eyes, and now I’m seeing what you’re seeing.’
‘I assumed you wanted to.’
‘You were correct in that assumption.’
‘What now?’
‘Turn your attention to the farthest point you can see down into the canyon.’
Hatu did and cast his gaze beyond the rockslide. The fallen dead below the boulders and rocks had succumbed to scavengers, so that only bones and a few shreds of flesh could be seen. He panned across to a large outcropping of rock in the right wall of the canyon, one that was noticeable as it was almost white in colour. ‘I see something in the distance.’
‘See if you can move there, reposition your perspective from that point.’
Hatu paused, considering how he’d ‘moved’ his perspective before, then just willed his vision over to the rock outcropping.
‘Well done,’ said Nathan. ‘We may not know all there is to know about what you can do, but it’s clear that once you’ve mastered a trick, it becomes effortless.’
‘Not entirely,’ replied Hatu. ‘I can feel the beginning of a headache.’
‘Then let us continue. How far down the canyon can you see?’
Hatushaly focused his attention to the limit of what he had seen previously when aiding Declan, then looked farther down the escarpment, and after a moment said, ‘There is a trail, and it intersects a clearing.’
‘Move there,’ instructed Nathan.
Instantly, Hatu complied and they found themselves at a place near where the two game trails connected, the boundary of the mercenary camp. ‘Can you keep moving ahead?’ asked Nathan.
‘Yes,’ said Hatu and he picked a feature and moved his mind there. He repeated this several times then saw the wall of the eaters’ compound.
Both Hatu and Nathan paused, and finally Hatu said, ‘What are those … things on the wall?’
‘Bones of no creature natural to this world,’ said Nathan, his tone revealing concern. ‘Move past it.’
Hatu ignored the tone lacking any hint of request, but rather being an order, and did as he was asked. Quickly they moved through what appeared to be a large camp, or small village, and then past crude gardens, where whatever was grown was hardly tended.
Then they came to the centre of this settlement, and against the southwest-facing cliff face, from deep within the Wound, they could see a massive pit. Without much thought, Hatu moved his vision to the precipice of the pit.
‘Stop!’ Nathan commanded.
Hatu froze his position in his mind, his anger rising at being commanded. ‘What?’ he said in his mind and it sounded like a shout.
‘Do not gaze into that pit.’
‘Why? What’s down there?’
‘Something I fear more than simple death itself.’
‘You don’t want me to see it?’
‘No,’ said Nathan, ‘I don’t want it to see you.’
Suddenly they were back in the library, and Hatu released his grip on Nathan’s shoulders. As he stepped back, he saw an expression on Nathan’s face he could never have imagined before: terror.
HAVA HAD ALWAYS ANCHORED THE Queen of Storms on the other side of the island when visiting Elsobas, but as the trading ship she commanded was so nondescript and had no name painted on the bow or stern, it was hardly likely to be noticed should any Azhante be around. She had a small gig lowered and two of her crew rowed her the short distance from the ship’s anchorage to the dockside. She quickly climbed the ladder and walked towards the small building closest to the landing.
Catharian sat before the cantina, sipping a mug of fruit-flavoured wine as Hava returned.
‘Any joy?’
‘Shechal,’ she said.
Catharian closed his eyes as if in pain, slowly shook his head, and said, ‘That pesthole?’
She nodded.
‘You’re playing find the criminals, aren’t you?’
‘You have a good bit of skill in being a spy, Catharian,’ Hava said, ‘but you have absolutely no idea how to be a criminal.
‘If you want to go somewhere the people living there don’t want you to go, you find smugglers.’
‘Smugglers?’ His eyebrows rose slightly as his expression turned appreciative.
Hava chuckled. ‘I don’t care where you look, if there are profits to be made, someone will work out how to sneak past the authorities.’
‘At the risk of death?’
Hava took his mug and drank it down, then put it back in front of him. ‘Nobody ever said criminals were the smartest people around. Go get us another round of wine and we’ll talk about the next leg of this journey.’
Catharian scowled, then rose and took the now-empty mug to the open window where orders were taken. He returned a moment later with two full mugs of fruit-infused wine.
After taking another deep drink, Hava wiped her face with the back of her sleeve, and said, ‘I could get used to this sweet wine, Catharian.’
He laughed. ‘It is a lovely choice on a hot day if you don’t mind being unconscious under a tree by sundown.’
‘Like all vices, if a little is good, a lot may not be your best choice.’
Catharian again laughed and said, ‘When did you get so smart, youngster?’
She gave him a scowl. ‘Where I grew up, lessons were harsh and failure to learn could mean death.’
He nodded. ‘So, next?’
‘Two things: first we travel to Shechal, learn as much as we can about how to reach the city of Akena, and along the way I need to teach you as much of the language used by the Azhante as possible.’
He sat motionless for a moment and said, ‘I think more wine is needed.’
• CHAPTER SIXTEEN •
More Discoveries and Redemption
Declan and Sixto stood on the docks, in the same position as in the dark the night before, and a faint glint appeared slightly above the water. ‘There,’ said Sixto, pointing.
‘I saw it,’ Declan replied. ‘What would I give for one of those spyglass tube devices.’
‘Don’t waste time wishing for toys,’ said Sixto. ‘I’m wishing for a full stomach.’
‘We’ll see what Tobias and Benruf turn up. Right now, I’m curious about that ship. Last night, none of us had the wits to think, let alone scan the harbour for ships that might have crew aboard.’ Declan nodded his appreciation.
The ship was lying low in the water, apparently because it held a heavy cargo. But the crew had taken down the masts and used the sails to block light from reaching the shore. It was far enough offshore that it would have been difficult to see any details even if the sails hadn’t been used as a cloak.
‘What do you think she is?’ he asked.
‘Two masts, seventy, eighty feet maybe,’ Sixto surmised. ‘Hard to judge with nothing around her and she’s far enough away to make judging distance difficult.’
‘I think we might have to go out and pay her a visit,’ Declan said.
‘Why is she just sitting there?’ wondered Sixto. ‘Someone’s aboard, going by the smoke we smelled last night, but they’re trying to hide.’
‘My guess,’ said Declan, ‘is that during the raid some of the crew got caught ashore, and there were enough men left to hide her, but not enough to sail her.’
‘Probably,’ agreed Sixto. ‘Can’t see the horsemen from the grasslands bothering to send boats out if a bunch of them are already raising anchor and dropping sails.’
Turning away from the view of the sea, Declan said, ‘We need to find food.’
Sixto pointed up the street. ‘There’s Tobias and Benruf.’
When Tobias and Benruf drew near, Declan called, ‘Any luck?’
‘A little,’ Tobias replied, lifting a large sack off his shoulder. Coming closer, he put the sack down. ‘Found a market a few streets up where some traders were haggling. Men with knives and gold were persuading them to not drive too hard a bargain.’
‘You didn’t rob them, did you?’ asked Declan, trying not to laugh.
‘Hell, no!’ said Tobias. ‘It was your gold.’
Sixto laughed at that. ‘Let’s see what you have.’
Tobias opened the sack, and they peered in to see a cooking pot and some kitchen tools as well as a few vegetables.
‘We passed an abandoned inn back that way,’ said Benruf. ‘It may have a working kitchen.’
‘Go get the others,’ Declan said to Sixto, ‘and fetch them to the inn.’ Benruf quickly told Sixto its location and Sixto headed back to the plaza where the men were resting. Declan followed Benruf and Tobias as they returned the way they had come.
Five doors past the next street, they came to the abandoned inn, and Declan turned and said to Benruf, ‘Stay out here to show the others where we are in case Sixto gets lost.’
Declan followed Tobias into the abandoned inn. A few chairs and tables were still intact, though they had been overturned and damaged. Shattered wood littered the floor, and Declan said, ‘At least we have fuel for a stove if there is one.’
‘Through that door,’ Declan instructed, pointing to the door to the right of a long bar.
Going through, they saw before them a respectable kitchen: a stone stove with an open oven for roasting, a grill top, and above, a large spit.
‘My mouth is watering thinking of a haunch of beef or mutton on that spit,’ said Tobias. He put down the sack with a sigh.
Declan inspected the kitchen and as he had expected almost every implement used for cooking – skewers, pots, long forks, and especially knives – had long since been carried off. ‘We can get a fire going easily enough,’ he said, ‘but without more implements, cooking will prove difficult.’ He motioned for Tobias to open his sack. ‘Let me see that pot.’
Tobias opened the bag. He held up a good-sized iron pot and handed it to Declan.
The former smith inspected it and nodded. ‘Good. No cracks, but we’ll be handing out soup a mug at a time … if we had mugs.’
A few minutes later Benruf entered, with Sixto and the others following him. Hearing Declan’s last remark as he entered, Benruf said, ‘Tell me what you need, and I’ll take some lads and we’ll go scavenging.’
‘Use your imagination,’ said Declan. ‘We have thirty-eight mouths to feed, so cups, bowls, forks, knives, spoons, mugs, whatever else you can find.’ Then he turned to Tobias. ‘What else did that tinker have?’
‘Some more of what you’re looking for, but I spent all the gold you gave me.’
‘You’re going to make that tinker rich,’ said Declan. He reached into a pocket and pulled out another pair of gold coins, and a half-dozen silver coins.
‘Pots, pans, cups, and the rest,’ said Tobias.
‘Go with him,’ Declan said to Tobias. ‘Cooking gear first, like tongs and long forks. You’re far less likely to find those than bowls and mugs.’
Tobias handed the bag to Sixto and he and Benruf left together.
Sixto removed the rest of the contents from the bag. ‘Real onions, not those tiny bites they’ve been eating for years, and real carrots.’
Declan nodded his approval.
‘Turnips, and peppers!’ Sixto held up a pair of large peppers, and sniffed. ‘And they’re fresh!’
Declan poked around in the cabinet near the stove and said, ‘Gods! Spices! Real spices. Whoever stripped this place didn’t carry off everything.’ Then a thought struck him and he said to Sixto, ‘Come with me.’
Sixto followed Declan to the far end of the kitchen where a door hung half-open with one hinge broken. Declan pushed it aside and looked around. The rear yard, which was used to unload supply wagons, had a well directly behind the kitchen, to the right of where Declan stood. Hurrying over, he found that where there should have been a bucket hanging, the rope had been cut.
‘Let’s get that bucket from the well in the square and get down there to see if this water is any good. We’ll have water either way, but here will be a lot easier.’
Sixto said, ‘You’ve got good at this giving-orders business, Declan.’
‘If it wasn’t me, it’d be you,’ Declan answered.
‘Maybe, but you have a knack I don’t think I have, and I don’t mind. Bogartis trusted me with many things, but I don’t think he ever considered me his second.’
‘Either way, this is what it is, right?’
‘Right.’
Declan looked around. A heroic amount of rubbish filled the delivery yard. He pointed to the farthest corner on the left and said, ‘What’s left of the privy will be under all that. It’s as far from the well as they could dig.’
‘I’ll have some of the boys clear the debris away,’ said Sixto.
Declan nodded, and said, ‘If we can’t find anything like a bath house or even a big tub we can haul here, at least we can wash a little in the harbour, then rinse the salt off.’
Sixto chuckled. ‘We’re getting seriously civilized.’
Declan glanced about the yard once more then moved to the area to the left of the door. He pushed some of the debris around.
‘What are you looking for?’ Sixto asked.
‘A door, maybe flat in the ground, or slanted with a couple of steps.’ Declan continued to move things around. ‘An inn or tavern in a land this hot either gets a new delivery every other day, or it has a cold cellar.’
Sixto joined in the search. After a few minutes, they found a cellar door between the kitchen and the well and moved broken boxes, bits of furniture, tree palms, and many rocks out of the way. Once the debris had been cleared, Declan could try the door, but it was warped and stuck firmly.
He and Sixto found some rags and cobbled them together to form a small rope which they tied to the door’s sturdy-looking wooden handle. Declan pulled it just enough that Sixto was able to stick a rock under it to wedge it open. Then the two men caught their breath, stood side by side, and heaved the door open. A stench from within rose and caused both men to gag.
‘What died?’ Sixto asked.
‘How long were we gone?’ asked Declan.
‘I lost track,’ said Sixto.
‘Whatever meat was stored in here is long turned. Hold your breath and let’s find whatever is still good.’
‘We’ll need a light,’ said Sixto.
Declan said, ‘Let’s start a fire in the stove.’
A small box of flint still stood behind a corner of the stove, so it was brightly burning with flaming kindling within a few minutes. Once it was going, Declan lit a broken chair leg and carried the makeshift brand out to the steps leading down to the cold cellar. Sixto and the boy Billy Jay followed.
The reek had subsided somewhat, but the stench still made the three men cover their faces by pulling up the fronts of their tunics. By the light of the brand, Declan could see the barrel of fish from which the worst of the stink was emanating. Sixto and Billy Jay both grabbed the barrel, lugged it up and out of the cellar and dumped it in the farthest corner of the yard.
Returning to the cellar, Sixto said, ‘Between a hot sun and scavenger birds, that’ll be gone by sundown.’
A small haunch of beef hung from a hook, and Declan said, ‘This doesn’t look rotten but it’s halfway to being jerky. Maybe if we slice it and let it go all the way?’
‘We’re going to need salt.’
Declan said, ‘If we can’t find a bag here, we can use brine. It won’t taste like much, but some of us haven’t had beef in years.’
Declan opened the lid of the barrel in front of him. ‘Dried fruit,’ he said, pleased, then he quickly inspected the other barrel. He made a sweeping hand gesture. ‘That’s a good supply of rice, beans …’ He opened the tie on a large sack and exclaimed, ‘… and best of all, nuts!’
The sack in the corner contained pounds of salted almonds, and Sixto smiled.
‘They won’t last long,’ he said.
‘This will keep us going two, maybe three days,’ said Declan.
Billy Jay asked, ‘Why salted almonds?’
‘Some inns put bowls of them out at the bar,’ answered Sixto.
‘Or other types – pecans, peanuts – but always salted,’ Declan added. ‘Makes you thirsty, so you drink more.’
‘Oh,’ Billy Jay said.
‘Most of this is still good.’ Declan pointed to a stack of flour bags. ‘We can make flatbreads and if we can find a little salt and with those spices in the kitchen, even make them tasty.’
Sixto nodded and before Billy Jay could ask, Declan said, ‘My wife grew up in an inn, and I helped out a lot while courting her.’ Thinking about Gwen turned his mind to a dark place where he didn’t want to go, so he pushed that thought away. To Sixto he said, ‘We have a few coins left, but we need more, so unless we turn to banditry, we have to find whatever we can to trade.’
‘A pair of horses would be welcome so that we could head up the coast a bit and see whatever else is left,’ said Sixto.
‘Take some men and work your way through the city, and then head up the coast. If there are loose animals, they’re going to be near grazing and water, places they are more likely to know.’
Sixto nodded and left the cellar. Declan said to Billy Jay, ‘Let’s start hauling some of this up and into the kitchen.’
The boy agreed and shouldered a big flour sack. Watching him exit, Declan remembered when he was that age, still mastering the smith’s craft. He had saved these men and now they were scrambling to get organized enough to head back to Marquenet, and for a brief moment Declan felt a sense of accomplishment. Then that vanished almost instantly as he acknowledged they still had a very long way to go.
BODAI AND HATU SAT REVIEWING their list of books, manuscripts, and the other contents of the library and Hatu said, ‘This list is getting very long, and the piles are getting very high.’
Bodai put down the book he was examining. ‘We could bring in a couple of lads and get them started stacking the books in some sort of order, using the numbers we give them. I can number each shelf, and we have already numbered the books, so a list should be straightforward enough to compile.’
