Part 5 (1/2)

'He's just Trallo,' she said. 'Nothing more than Trallo. And you'd better watch him, Bella. He's a rogue.'

Trallo's easy smile neither confirmed nor denied it.

When Che returned to their lodgings that night, she found Praeda out on the balcony, a silent figure against the raucous background noise of Mannerly Gorget and at least two Solarnese strumpets. The Collegiate woman could almost have been one of the Vekken, and engaged in their silent communion. They had not sufficient funds for a view of the lake, and so Praeda was staring blankly at the buildings just across the street. Che would have gone straight to her own bed and tried for some sleep, save that there was something uncharacteristic about the way Praeda was standing there.

'What are you doing out here, Miss Rakespear?' she asked, joining the woman in the open air. Fly-kinden buzzed overhead, either messengers or just late in going home.

'Not stabbing Manny,' Praeda said flatly, keeping her face turned away from Che.

'He didn't-?'

'He decided to subject me to another broadside of his affection,' Praeda snapped. 'And I do mean broadside.'

'Drunk, I suppose ...' said Che and then caught herself. 'Meaning no reflection on you, save that he always seems to be.'

Praeda's shoulders shook, just briefly, hunching forward about her feelings. Che suddenly felt horribly awkward.

'I know what they say,' the other woman said. 'Don't think I haven't heard. I'd hoped to get away from ... that kind of talk, save that wretched Gorget has brought it with him. Che ...' But she killed the thought, the reaching hand s.n.a.t.c.hed away. 'I apologize, Miss Maker. I will soon be myself again.'

'Cheerwell, please. In fact, I'd prefer Che,' Che told her. 'And can I-?'

'Praeda, please,' Praeda confirmed. 'Thank you.' She turned, valiantly, and Che could see the redness round her eyes. 'It's been a long journey and I'm tired,' she said with dignity, at which Che could only nod.

'It's a three-stage business, the road to Khanaphes,' Trallo explained. Despite the warnings about him, he had been working hard for his money in making arrangements. 'We may as well fly to Ostrander. There's a regular run of airs.h.i.+ps making the jaunt there. From Ostrander we'll fall in with a larger caravan, hiring pack animals and porters. There's always a pool of villains there waiting for work. We go overland to Porta Rabi, almost the longest part of the journey.' He had taken Che to a Fly-kinden chocolate house overlooking the water, and ostentatiously insisted on paying for everything. She was not sure whether this was business as usual for a Solarnese caravan master or whether he was trying to impress her.

'Why not fly straight to this Porta Rabi?' she asked.

Trallo laughed unkindly. 'You're a foreigner, so perhaps you don't know about our neighbours in Princep Exilla.'

'The Dragonflies you mean air pirates?'

'Any airs.h.i.+p near Princep is fair game. So we go overland, and in company, since it's not the safest of roads. From Porta Rabi we find a s.h.i.+p heading for Khanaphes: there'll be one every few tendays.' He shook his head. He had met Master Gripshod and the rest earlier that day and not seemed much impressed. 'They don't like questions in Khanaphes, Bella Cheerwell, so I hope you know what you're doing.'

'So do I.' Here in Solarno, such a long way from home, all of Stenwold's plans and Drillen's ambitions seemed weak and hazy.

'Tell your boffins that we'll take s.h.i.+p in three days,' Trallo continued. He had not met the Vekken yet, which was probably for the best.

'They'll be ready. They're keen to investigate new ground. Solarno has been the talk of Collegium for months.' She hoped that was true for all of them, since Manny had shown a particular liking for the seamier side of this city.

Trallo stood up with a flick of his wings, then changed his mind and sat down again, abruptly waving to a servant for another bowl of chocolate.

'I don't know this place you come from,' he said. 'So I asked around what's this College place like, I ask them. Nice, they tell me. Busy, hard-working. A bit fond of the pomp and gravitas. They don't tell me about the politics.' His voice had lowered.

'Politics?' Che felt something uncomfortable stir inside her.

'People here are taking an interest. n.o.body's been so cra.s.s as to offer me money yet, but I'm almost waiting for it. You're being watched, and it's not just cos you're new in town. Anything particular I should know, is there?'

She shook her head slowly. 'I don't think that can be from back home. It's too far, surely. Who ...?' She stared at him for a long time. 'Tell me, does the Wasp Empire keep any ... people in Solarno?'

'Oh there's an emba.s.sy, an amba.s.sador,' he replied lightly, but he was looking straight into her eyes and nodding. 'I don't mind, but it may cost extra, and it's only right I should know.'

She shook her head. 'It must just be because of the war. They probably still keep tabs on every Lowlander in Solarno.' He was looking doubtful, though, and she hardly believed it herself.

'Change the arrangements at the last minute,' she suggested. 'Make it two days, not three. I'll pay for any inconvenience. If someone's interested, let's surprise them.'

Trallo nodded, already making the changes in his head. 'Wise,' he muttered. 'Very wise.'

Across the mirror of the Exalsee, the glitter and dance of an aerial duel was takng place. Che leant on the rail, fascinated. She could just make out the combatants. The match was something peculiar to this region, uniquely uneven: a dragonfly-rider from Princep Exilla was flying against a mechanical orthopter. The insect was vastly nimbler in the air, hovering and darting in circles about the machine. Its rider had only a bow and throwing spears. Barring the luckiest shot, he would merely waste his arrows. If the orthopter's rotating piercers found their prey then it would be over in a moment but the machine, sleek and deadly as it was, seemed to lumber through the air. Eventually it would run short of fuel and the pilot would have to break off from the contest. The Dragonfly would count that as a win.

Trallo joined her, stretching theatrically. Their current transport was a more utilitarian beast than Captain Parrols's piece of luxury. The Fighting Craidhen Fighting Craidhen ran pa.s.sengers and light cargo in short, quick hops around the Exalsee. Aside from the impressive engines, which stank of a mineral oil that made Che feel queasy, there was no spare weight or needless decoration in the airs.h.i.+p's design. ran pa.s.sengers and light cargo in short, quick hops around the Exalsee. Aside from the impressive engines, which stank of a mineral oil that made Che feel queasy, there was no spare weight or needless decoration in the airs.h.i.+p's design.

'Here.' Trallo handed her a spygla.s.s. She took it, abruptly glum, and even looked into it. She saw only blurs and smudges wheeling and dancing at the lens's far end. It made her think of Trallo's little people.

'Your kinden ...' It was an awkward thing to ask. 'Some of you are Inapt, yes?' She already knew it was so. She had even seen Fly seers in Tharn.

'Hardly,' Trallo said, nevertheless. 'What use would they be?'

In Solarno things are different. Still, she stared at him until he shrugged. Still, she stared at him until he shrugged.

'Oh a few,' he admitted. 'A few are born each generation. Less and less, I'd guess. They have a blasted hard time of it, I'd guess.'

'Quite.' She handed back the spygla.s.s to him.

The Fighting Craidhen Fighting Craidhen flew on through the night, and the academics were given nothing but some blankets thrown over the bare boards of the hold on which to sleep. Che made it plain she had no time for their complaints. She had not explained to them why they had left Solarno so precipitately. When Praeda questioned the wisdom of hiring Trallo, she had likewise not been drawn into debate. To her astonishment, her fiat on such matters was grudgingly accepted. flew on through the night, and the academics were given nothing but some blankets thrown over the bare boards of the hold on which to sleep. Che made it plain she had no time for their complaints. She had not explained to them why they had left Solarno so precipitately. When Praeda questioned the wisdom of hiring Trallo, she had likewise not been drawn into debate. To her astonishment, her fiat on such matters was grudgingly accepted. They all think I know what I'm doing! They all think I know what I'm doing! She could have laughed. She could have laughed. I'm making it up as I go along. I'm making it up as I go along. She knew that Stenwold would have done better. She knew that Stenwold would have done better.

Trallo came to shake her by the shoulder, a very little after dawn. She twitched awake suddenly, reaching instinctively across the hard floor for a slight man who was not there. For a moment she felt disoriented. Surely Achaeos had been kneeling beside her only now. Where was she, and where had he gone?

The avalanche of a year's history brought her back, trading happy fantasy for hard fact. 'Oh,' she said. 'Oh, yes. What is it?'

The Fly-kinden tugged his beard, which she recognized by now as a sign of good humour. Leaving the academics to bicker, and the Vekken to their stony silence, she had been spending most of her time with the caravan master. His cheerful talk reminded her of Taki. There was an open flamboyance to these Solarnese Fly-kinden that their Lowlands brethren lacked.

'You should see this from the air,' he said. 'We're coming up on the place now.'

Blearily she stumbled up on deck. Dawn had done little to s.h.i.+ft the night's gloom, but she could see that beneath them the water was giving way to solid ground. Trallo had reached the bow rail with a flicker of his wings, while she trod heavily after him.

'What am I looking for?' she asked him. After a pause, she changed that to, 'What am I looking at?'

It was a mountain, only it was too narrow, altogether too smooth. She could see the cl.u.s.ter of buildings at its base: a walled enclosure of huts and houses built in its shadow. It cut into the sky like a knife blade, looming bigger and bigger as the Craidhen Craidhen neared it. neared it.

Che shook her head. 'I give up,' she said. 'What?'

Trallo was grinning. 'There's a fellow I once met who went deep into the Forest Aleth that's all the green stuff south of the Exalsee. He went real deep, said that these things were all over there, just rising up from the canopy, big as you like, with some kind of albino Ant-kinden just building them up from the ground. Anyway, that's one of them. Been abandoned for a long time by whoever did make it, but it's like a castle. There's rooms and pa.s.sages and all sorts inside, and even more underground. A tribe of the Alethi live there now, won't let much anyone in. I hear they're only using a tiny portion of it, though.'

More light struck the vast dagger of earth and stone, turning it the colour of honey. It was a hundred feet high, perhaps more, for the scale of the buildings in its shadow was hard to guess. Che had a strange feeling in her stomach at the sight which, after some hesitation, she identified as excitement.