The Red Wolf Conspiracy Part 17

As darkness fell the captain sent word to Elkstem to turn the ship south, out into the Nelu Peren. The east wind that had borne them quickly to Etherhorde now forced them to cut sharply away from the city to avoid the great peril of drifting sidelong against the sh.o.r.e. The lamps of a fishing village dimmed, then vanished altogether. Minutes later the coastline melted into the gray-black seam where sky and water met.

Dinner that night was a grand affair, with the captain and the amba.s.sador joining the wealthy pa.s.sengers in the first-cla.s.s dining hall, which had the largest table aboard. Lamb and roast partridge, pepper vodka, mints. After drinking rather more than she was allowed at home, Lady Lapadolma's niece stood up and belted out one of her aunt's poems:

Regal traveler on the waves, over heroes' watery graves, Peaceful palace of old wood, whither sails thy country's brood?

No answer gives she, yet we hear, as in a sh.e.l.l against the ear, A thousand voices, living, lost, whispering their only trust: "Over sea and under stars, n.o.ble Chathrand' Chathrand's fate is ours!"

"Drivel!" escaped from someone, but he was elbowed sharply and drowned out by claps and cheers.

In a box-like room on the orlop deck, the steerage pa.s.sengers lined up for soup and bread. The soup had generous salt, if little else; the bread was hard but wormless. They ate with quiet concentration and left not a crumb.

The bells rang on the half hour, the watches changed, the cries of "Steady-on-the-fore" and "Two-points-off-the-lee" ricocheted from mast to mast. By midnight the last gentlemen in the smoking salon departed, surrendering their pipes and matches as they went--fire was such a danger that open flames were not permitted outside that room--and bit by bit the Chathrand Chathrand fell asleep. fell asleep.

Only then did Sandor Ott leave his cabin. He moved silently along the row of officers' berths (Mr. Fiffengurt snored like a laboring cow), climbed the aft ladderway and crossed the main deck. A moment later he knocked softly at the captain's door.

The door opened a crack, and a nervous, bloodshot eye peered out. Swellows, the bosun. His breath stank of garlic and rum. Ott disliked the man, Rose's most loyal bootlicker, a partner in the old rogue's career of swindling and lies. Swellows (his spies informed him) wore a necklace of ixchel skulls: fifteen or twenty little bird-sized bones, strung through the eye sockets on a greasy string. Good luck, some said--but luck was a thing Ott disdained. He put his shoulder to the door.

Swellows fell back with a whimper: "Quietly, sir, quietly!"

Rose's cabin was dark: black curtains shut out the stars. No one sat at the desk or dining table; but along the port wall, as far from the door as possible, figures huddled around a dim red lamp on a smaller table. Swellows beckoned, but Ott did not wait to be led: he crossed the dark cabin in four strides and rested his hands on the back of the one empty chair.

"You're late, Commander Nagan," said Rose, looking him over.

"I think you may call me Ott here, Captain," said the spy. "Men have killed to learn my true name, others to help me hide it. But in this room it is the least of the secrets we must swear to guard."

"You're still late."

Ott smiled, offering no explanation. He took in the others at a glance: Oggosk the witch, smirking and mumbling as ever. First Mate Uskins, terrified, sweating profusely at the captain's elbow. Beside him, a savage-looking man with small, cruel eyes, his white hair pulled back in a braid. Ott knew him well: Sergeant Drellarek, "the Throatcutter" in military circles, head of the elite Turach warriors brought aboard to guard the Emperor's gold. Drellarek nodded to him: the slow nod of a pit viper coiled to strike. Ott took pleasure in the man as he would in a fine blade or hammer, any tool worn by use to smooth perfection.

There were two others: Aken and Thyne. Neat little men with the soft skin of children and the nervous twitches of a pair of squirrels. Loose paper before them on the table, quill pens in their hands. They were agents of the Trading Family.

"Put those away," said Ott, pointing at the quills. "We want no records here."

Aken, the quieter of the two, wrapped his pen hastily and hid it away. Thyne merely set his on the table, beside a jar of ink.

"We do want answers, however, Mr. Ott," he said. "Now that you've deigned to join us, perhaps we'll get a few. Won't you be seated?"

Ott remained standing, hands on the back of his chair. "We have not met, Mr. Thyne, Mr. Aken," he said. "Still, I believe you know the essence of our plan. The Mzithrinis have a rebellion on their hands, and we shall profit by it. The followers of the Mad King, the s.h.a.ggat Ness, have risen on Gurishal, where they were driven by the other Kings forty years ago, after the s.h.a.ggat died at sea.

"I say followers followers, but worshippers worshippers is closer to the truth, for the s.h.a.ggat took the Old Faith of the Mzithrin and hammered it into a weapon. The Five Mzithrin Kings, as you know, each guard a fragment of the Black Casket: the stone coffin wherein, ages ago, devils from the Nine Pits were burned to ashes, cleansing the people of their darkest sins. The Book of the Old Faith tells how those devils had to be lured into the Casket, and how at last the Great Devil guessed the trick and fought to escape, and the Casket broke asunder in his death-throes. is closer to the truth, for the s.h.a.ggat took the Old Faith of the Mzithrin and hammered it into a weapon. The Five Mzithrin Kings, as you know, each guard a fragment of the Black Casket: the stone coffin wherein, ages ago, devils from the Nine Pits were burned to ashes, cleansing the people of their darkest sins. The Book of the Old Faith tells how those devils had to be lured into the Casket, and how at last the Great Devil guessed the trick and fought to escape, and the Casket broke asunder in his death-throes.

"The Kings took the shards of the Casket to their palaces and set them in high towers, to keep the remaining devils from their lands. Under their shadow the five dynasties have ruled together for a thousand years.

"But forty years ago something changed. One of the Kings went mad--or became a G.o.d, if you ask his believers. He named himself s.h.a.ggat s.h.a.ggat, G.o.d-King, and declared that the hour had come to drive all devils from the hearts of the Mzithrini people--to make them perfect, as it were. He alone could do it, he said, for in a vision he had come upon a rope ladder dropped from heaven, and he climbed it and learned the tongues of the G.o.ds, and many secrets, including how the Black Casket might be rebuilt."

"Nonsense! Lunacy!" hissed Thyne.

"But of course, sir," said Ott dryly.

Rose leaned back in his chair, frowning. Oggosk twisted her rings.

"And a history lecture, to boot," Thyne went on irritably. "The dead history of a lunatic cult. What of it? I find it hard to believe that we have gathered here, gentlemen, for this review of the heathen myths and squabbles of our enemies."

"But we are here," said Drellarek, glancing sidelong at Thyne. "Let him speak."

Thyne looked at the sergeant and decided to close his mouth.

Ott continued, "Lunacy or not, the s.h.a.ggat persuaded tens of thousands to his cause. The other Kings named him Enemy of the Faith, but he had already vowed to sweep them aside. And now I will tell you something that does not not appear in the history books: Arqual owes its very survival to that madman. Do you understand, Mr. Thyne? We were losing the Second Sea War. The bulk of the Nelu Peren was already under the Mzithrini flag. The whole Empire might have been conquered within the year, and Etherhorde burned, and Magad's head hoisted on a stake, if the s.h.a.ggat Ness had not appeared. Soon the Kings were too busy fighting him to win the war against us. appear in the history books: Arqual owes its very survival to that madman. Do you understand, Mr. Thyne? We were losing the Second Sea War. The bulk of the Nelu Peren was already under the Mzithrini flag. The whole Empire might have been conquered within the year, and Etherhorde burned, and Magad's head hoisted on a stake, if the s.h.a.ggat Ness had not appeared. Soon the Kings were too busy fighting him to win the war against us. That That is why His Supremacy rules the greatest spread of territories on earth. Because of one holy madman in the west." is why His Supremacy rules the greatest spread of territories on earth. Because of one holy madman in the west."

Thyne snorted, as if he did not believe a word.

Rose stood up from the table. "I will bring wine," he said.

"The Mzithrin," Ott went on, "could not win two wars at once. Wisely, they chose to defeat the s.h.a.ggat, but to do so they had to pull all their forces back from the Inner Lands. We chased them west, island by island, ship by ship. And meanwhile the Four Faithful Kings crushed the army of the s.h.a.ggat in a terrible battle that laid waste to the Mang-Mzn and the Cities of the Jomm. But the s.h.a.ggat escaped."

"We know all this," said Aken, the other Company man. "He fled the Mzithrin in a fast ship--he and his sons, and the sorcerer Arunis. The so-called Horrid Four. But their flight from the Mzithrin brought them straight into the path of our fleet. We cut that ship to ribbons--the Lythra Lythra, wasn't it?--and she sank with all hands."

"Not all," said Sandor Ott.

Silence: the low slap of waves suddenly audible, and the oil lamp sputtering. Thyne looked startled, even afraid; Uskins gaped like a fish. Motionless between them, Aken looked like a man who has just realized, very soberly, that he is seated among ghouls and vampires.

A grin spread over Drellarek's face.

Thyne rose from his chair, steadying himself with a hand on the table. "What are you saying?" he whispered.

"He did not drown, Mr. Thyne," said Ott. "We plucked him from the wreckage. And he awaits us on His Supremacy's prison isle of Licherog."

"Awaits us?" cried Thyne suddenly. "The s.h.a.ggat Ness, that murdering thing, that ... creature, alive?"

"And his sons."

"But we told the world they drowned!"

"Lower your voice, Thyne," rumbled Rose, closing the wine cabinet.

Thyne did not seem to hear him. "Mr. Ott! Mr. Ott!" he cried. "The s.h.a.ggat was an animal, a beast!"

"He is that," said Ott. "And much more. In the eyes of ninety thousand rebel Mzithrini, he is a G.o.d, descended to Alifros to lead them to glory. They They have never believed him dead. Forty years they have fought the other Kings, and prayed for his return. Exactly when they expect that miracle to occur is a great secret, and one still unknown to the Mzithrin Kings. Shall I tell you, gentlemen? Oh yes, I know their prophecy. I wrote it, you see. My spies have whispered it in Gurishal these four decades, spread it like a sweet pox of the mind. He shall return, they all now believe, have never believed him dead. Forty years they have fought the other Kings, and prayed for his return. Exactly when they expect that miracle to occur is a great secret, and one still unknown to the Mzithrin Kings. Shall I tell you, gentlemen? Oh yes, I know their prophecy. I wrote it, you see. My spies have whispered it in Gurishal these four decades, spread it like a sweet pox of the mind. He shall return, they all now believe, when a Mzithrin lord marries his enemy." when a Mzithrin lord marries his enemy."

"Rin's blood!" blurted Uskins. "You arranged it! The admiral's daughter and the Sizzy prince! You set the whole thing up!"

"Very good, Mr. Uskins," said Ott. "And now you will appreciate just how vital it is that word of our plans never reaches Lady Thasha's father. For when the Mzithrin Kings grasp that young bride's place in the prophecy, they will kill her in a heartbeat. Of course, by then it will be too late. Is it not beautiful, gentlemen? Ninety thousand rebels still worship the s.h.a.ggat as a G.o.d. And we have a chance to prove them right. We shall raise him from the dead."

"This is monstrous!" said Thyne.

"It is genius," said Drellarek. He rose and bowed to Sandor Ott. "A weapon forty years in the smithing. My compliments, sir, on the tactic of a lifetime."

"Except," said Aken, "that the entire White Fleet lies between us and the s.h.a.ggat's worshippers. How do you mean to get him to Gurishal, on the far side of the Mzithrin lands?"

"Wait and see," said Ott.

"They put a new King on the s.h.a.ggat's throne, didn't they?" asked Drellarek.

"Right after the war," said Ott with a nod. "But the fanatics of Gurishal made so many attempts on his life that the Pentarchy changed the seat of that kingdom to North Urlanx. Both moves only served to deepen the hatred of the Nessarim for the rest of the Mzithrini peoples. Gurishal may be contained by the armies of the Five Kings, but it is primed to explode."

"And what of the s.h.a.ggat's mage, Arunis?" demanded Thyne. "Did he too escape the wreck of the Lythra? Lythra? Is Is he he imprisoned on Licherog?" imprisoned on Licherog?"

"No longer," said Ott. "Arunis was indeed pulled from the Gulf of Thol and imprisoned, but he met a curious fate. It appears he tried sorcery on his guards and nearly escaped the island. But one guard regained his senses and shot an arrow into the arm of the fleeing mage. It was but a scratch, but it bled, and by the spoor of blood Arunis was tracked down by dogs, recaptured--and hanged. The guard paid a high price for his valor, though. Arunis flung a curse at him with his last breath, and within weeks the guard began to lose his mind, convinced that he he was the one dangling from a rope. He ended up in a madhouse on Opalt." was the one dangling from a rope. He ended up in a madhouse on Opalt."

Rose limped back across the floor. Mr. Uskins, rigid with fear but with a new gleam in his eye, leaned forward. "And the gold we're carrying? What are we to do with all that gold?"

"Can't you guess?" snapped Ott. "The s.h.a.ggat is the blood enemy of the remaining Mzithrin Kings. We're sending him into battle, and battles require soldiers and horses, catapults and cannon and ships. Thanks to us he will have them. We are financing his war.

"But this war will be different. This time Arqual will be innocent, a spectator--and not a war-crippled spectator, either. As the Mzithrinis retreat, fighting themselves once again, we shall move in force to take their place--permanently. And why not? Why should men of the Crownless Lands buy their boots and coal and weapons from savages who drink one another's blood? Our boots fit. Our coal burns as hot. That business, those millions in profits, should be Arqual's--will be Arqual's, in due time. And naturally, ships full of valuable goods must be protected." be Arqual's, in due time. And naturally, ships full of valuable goods must be protected."

Drellarek looked at him sharply. "You're speaking of the Imperial navy," he said. "But would the Crownless Lands ever agree to let our ships back in their waters?"

"Dear sergeant!" said Ott. "With the s.h.a.ggat returned, and civil war to the west? They will beg us on bended knees."

"But Sizzies are Pit-fiends in a fight!" whispered Swellows, over Ott's shoulder. "Tough, and cruel, and wicked--even to their own kind."

"We need them to be wicked, fool," said Ott. "Every misery the other Kings inflict on their people makes the s.h.a.ggat that much dearer to his followers, and costly to destroy."

"What if they can't destroy him?" Swellows pressed. "Will he turn on us us?"

A silence. "They'll destroy him," said Ott finally. "No doubt about that. But oh, gentlemen--how it will cost them! They will be Kings of rubble when it's done! In five years' time, Arqual will own the Quiet Sea."

"And in ten years?" asked Aken. "What of your further plans, Mr. Ott?"

For the briefest instant Ott looked surprised. Then he said, smoothly: "Nothing further. I am sworn to defend Arqual from the Mzithrin horde. That is enough."

Thyne gathered up his papers. "Defend it with another ship, Spy-master," he said. "You have exceeded your mandate. The Lady La-padolma never authorized such a mission for the Chathrand Chathrand, nor would she. We are businessfolk, not butchers."

Suddenly Oggosk laughed. The others jumped: they had all but forgotten her.

"What's the difference?" she said gleefully. "Your darling Lady buys the bones of six thousand men and horses a year from the old Ipulia battlefields, grinds and sells them to eastern farmers to enrich their soils. She takes furs by the shipload from Idhe barons who set fire to trappers who don't catch enough mink. She buys ore mined by Ulluprid slaves, sells it to Etherhorde ironsmiths and sails back to the Ulluprids with spears and arrows for the slavemasters."

"That is different," said Thyne. "That is buying and selling, commerce among free men."

"Well then, so is our plan," said Ott. "We are buying a little room for Arqual and her manufacturers, and selling a G.o.d."

"Madness!" repeated Thyne. "There will be no profit in this for the Company, only the loss of her good reputation--"

Oggosk cackled again.

"--and this very ship, her flagship, the pride of the seas." He looked at his companion, and his voice grew shrill. "Aken, why do you just sit there? Speak up, man!"

"I can't think what to say," said Aken.

"Well, I can," said Thyne. "Take your war games elsewhere, Ott. As Company Overseer for this trading trading voyage, I hereby revoke your lease on the voyage, I hereby revoke your lease on the Chathrand Chathrand. You all know I have that power under the Sailing Code, section nine, article four: Gross Misstatement of Mission."

As Thyne finished speaking, the spymaster turned to Drellarek and gave a small nod. Thyne saw the look and grasped its meaning instantly. "Wait, wait!" he cried, springing backward. But Drellarek's eyes had glazed over, and a knife had appeared in his hand.

Then Rose moved. With one lurch he seized Aken by the lapels, wrenched him from the chair and clubbed him brutally across the face. The small man fell like a sack of grain at Drellarek's feet.

Thyne stumbled back from the table, his mouth agape. Rose waved Drellarek off.

"Don't harm him," said the captain. "He will see reason yet. Aken here is the dangerous one, who would have betrayed us at the first chance. He sat quiet while that ninny prattled and whined. But I could hear the wheels turning in his head."

Speechless, the others watched Rose drag the unconscious man to the gallery windows. "Shutter that lamp, Uskins," he said.

Uskins closed the lamp's iron shade, plunging the cabin into darkness. The men at the table heard curtains rustle, and the squeak of a hinge. A cold finger of sea wind probed the room. Then, far away, so faint they could deny it to themselves, they heard a splash. "Leave my cabin, all of you," said Rose in the darkness. "We shall talk again in Uturphe, weather permitting."

Indiscretions

12 Vaqrin 941

Was he awake or dreaming? Had the fit marooned him somewhere in between?

Pazel lay on his back at the foot of a plump, lacy bed. Still aboard Chathrand, for his limbs knew her gentle rocking, and the bed's feet were nailed down. He smelled lavender and talc.u.m powder, and thought suddenly of Neda's room, at home in Ormael. Under his head (which still hurt and spun badly) was the softest pillow he had ever touched. And on the edge of the bed, looking down at him, was a small, strange animal. It was rather like a weasel, but jet-black, with huge, dark eyes that froze him with their gaze.

"How's this?" it said cheerfully. "A tarboy on the floor!"

"What!" croaked Pazel (his mouth was very dry).

"They are all gone away and left you," said the creature. "And I must leave you as well. Can you really understand my words?"