Part 24 (2/2)

She sensed movement nearby and shrank back as a hugely muscled man stepped past her, without as much as a glance in her direction. He was naked to the waist, his skin inked with hundreds of numerals and concentric circles, all st.i.tched together with copper wire. He stood motionless, his fists resting on his hips and his teeth set as he glared up at the approaching serpent. One of those fists held a ma.s.sive iron ring. An Unmer Brutalist. A An Unmer Brutalist. A combat sorcerer. combat sorcerer.

'Conquillas,' he yelled.

The dragon opened its maw and vented a spume of liquid fire.

The Brutalist abruptly dropped to one knee and raised the ring above his head. A sphere of green light bloomed from this object, encircling him instantly in a tremulous haze. Black sparks raced across the s.h.i.+mmering surface, accompanied by a series of frantic snapping sounds and the steadily building howl of gales as smoke rushed inwards towards the globe. The air itself was being consumed, driven out of existence. Ianthe realized that the iron ring was amplifying the sorcerer's own innate ability. And then came sounds, like the clattering of iron-shod hooves. Through the s.h.i.+fting curtains of radiance and shadow Ianthe caught a glimpse of the Brutalist's face grim and determined, his eyes fixed in concentration. His lips moved as he chanted words she could not hear.

Dragonfire burst across the s.h.i.+p, exploding through the struts of the tower and cascading down over the deck in blazing streams and drips. Incredibly, for a moment the Unmer sailors withstood the onslaught. Black fire erupted from their own flesh as they struggled to banish the heat and flames to non-existence. But the vacuums they were creating around themselves merely served to suck in more fire. It was too much. They were quickly overwhelmed, and man after man began to fall all around Ianthe, their screams filling the air. Ianthe cried out in terror as the liquid fire engulfed her and it took twenty rapid heartbeats before she realized she felt no heat at all. She wasn't really here. A ghost, a ghost, a ghost. A ghost, a ghost, a ghost. The fire washed up against the bulwark and broke and surged in waves to aft and stern. She found herself chanting the words over and over in her head, but it didn't lessen her fear. The fire washed up against the bulwark and broke and surged in waves to aft and stern. She found herself chanting the words over and over in her head, but it didn't lessen her fear.

The whole s.h.i.+p was burning. The tower crackled and spat and roared like an enormous pyre. Unmer sailors howled and rolled on the deck, consumed by fire, white-toothed grimaces visible in their scorched, b.l.o.o.d.y faces. The dragon rushed by overhead, a ma.s.sive silver shape that whipped the flames in its wake.

The big man stood up.

Incredibly, the fire had not touched him at all. A circle of deck around him remained unblemished.

'Conquillas!' he yelled. 'Nash, nagir seen awar, Conquillas!'

And then he turned and looked directly at Ianthe.

Darkness.

Ianthe struggled against some unseen force. Someone was holding her tightly. She let her mind slip into the void and saw lights of people all around her. She was still surrounded, but she could no longer see by whom. She chose the nearest mind and hurled her consciousness into it.

She was still on the s.h.i.+p, but now it had returned to its former decrepit state. Warped iron, ash, the blackened, rusted tower. But these men . . . ? Warped iron, ash, the blackened, rusted tower. But these men . . . ? She had returned to the present, and these sailors standing around her were not Unmer, but Maskelyne's own crew. From this borrowed viewpoint she spied the first officer, Mellor, gripping her in his arms, while another sailor pa.s.sed her spectacles over to Maskelyne himself. Four other men looked on. She had returned to the present, and these sailors standing around her were not Unmer, but Maskelyne's own crew. From this borrowed viewpoint she spied the first officer, Mellor, gripping her in his arms, while another sailor pa.s.sed her spectacles over to Maskelyne himself. Four other men looked on.

Maskelyne put the spectacles on and stood for a long moment, gazing around him. Finally he took them off again and stared down at them grimly. 'Unmer memories,' he said. 'How long have you been wearing these? Do you even understand the danger?'

'Give them back,' she yelled.

Maskelyne just looked at her. 'They don't belong to you, young lady.'

Ianthe held her tongue.

Maskelyne studied her for a while longer, as if weighing something up in his mind. At last he said, 'You've been trying to harm my son.'

Ianthe snorted. 'What?'

'Scheming,' he went on. 'Ever since you've been aboard, you've been scheming, planning the murder of a child.'

'You killed my mother!'

Maskelyne's brow's rose. And then he frowned. 'Who told you that, Ianthe? It's not true.'

'Liar.'

Maskelyne glanced at Officer Mellor, who just shrugged. 'What do you want me to do?' he sighed. 'Over the side with her, I suppose?'

'She's too valuable,' Maskelyne replied. He sighed and tapped the spectacles against his leg. 'Do you suppose Roberts could fas.h.i.+on some stocks from the packing crates?'

'Stocks, sir?'

'Head and wrists. You know the sort of thing.'

Mellor nodded.

'Strip her,' Maskelyne said. 'Put her in the stocks, and let each of the men have their way with her. G.o.d knows, we could all use something to lighten the mood a bit round here.' He looked wearily at the spectacles in his hand. 'Clean her up once they're done and lock her in her cabin.'

Mellor hesitated. 'Sir?'

Maskelyne's expression darkened. 'I gave you an order, First Officer.'

Ianthe's heart was thumping. Her limbs felt numb. She wanted to cry, but no tears came. Mellor started to drag her away, and for a moment she lost sight of herself.

Not one of Maskelyne's men was looking at her.

Granger looked out of the port window. The Ethugran pursuit s.h.i.+ps were little more than a smudge of smoke on the western horizon. None of them had been able to match the Excelsior Excelsior's speed across open water. Granger himself had scarcely been able to believe the rate of knots she'd accomplished. He turned his attention to the s.h.i.+mmering sea ahead. Maskelyne's fortress sat atop Scythe Island's quartz cliffs like a crown. A faint mauve aura surrounded it, as though it had been built from whispergla.s.s. Below the sheer rocky drop at its base, a private wharf extended from a sparkling crescent of beach. The industrial harbour and dredging operation would be tucked into the shadows just around the headland, momentarily out of sight.

Air exposure had dried out and toughened Granger's skin. His hair had fallen out, and his eyes smouldered like embers in the grey wasteland of his face. Occasionally he'd catch a glimpse of himself in the chromic sheen of a chronograph or some other s.h.i.+p's instrument, and it seemed to him that he looked like a man clad entirely in old leather armour. At other times he perceived himself as some hideous golem, a thing sp.a.w.ned from the depths of the earth itself. His own flesh creaked when he moved. His joints continued to throb dully and remained stiff enough to impede his movement. But he didn't care. He was alive. His muscles still worked. His brain still worked. And Maskelyne wasn't yet dead.

There was no way to approach the island without being seen, so Granger set a direct course. He slid he throttle forward again, and the emperor's yacht responded with a powerful surge of her engines.

As he took the Excelsior Excelsior around the headland, the island's main deepwater docks, whale-oil factory and s.h.i.+pyard came into view. Two iron dredgers waited in their berths in the shadowy harbour. One of four dock cranes unloaded crates of goods from one, the operation managed by a team of stevedores. Gas welding torches flickered on the deck of the second s.h.i.+p, while another crane s.h.i.+fted enormous metal plates from the quayside over to the workers. Yellow-brown smoke rose from one of the whale-oil factory's three chimneys and bruised the sky above. Several labourers stopped to stare in Granger's direction, but none of them paused for long. around the headland, the island's main deepwater docks, whale-oil factory and s.h.i.+pyard came into view. Two iron dredgers waited in their berths in the shadowy harbour. One of four dock cranes unloaded crates of goods from one, the operation managed by a team of stevedores. Gas welding torches flickered on the deck of the second s.h.i.+p, while another crane s.h.i.+fted enormous metal plates from the quayside over to the workers. Yellow-brown smoke rose from one of the whale-oil factory's three chimneys and bruised the sky above. Several labourers stopped to stare in Granger's direction, but none of them paused for long.

The Excelsior Excelsior was an Imperial vessel, after all. was an Imperial vessel, after all.

He took the yacht alongside the private quay and disengaged her engines. Without any crew present to fix the bow and stern lines, he'd have to do the work himself.

Securing the s.h.i.+p took longer than he'd hoped. He pitched out the fenders along the port side, then threw one of the heavy bow lines across a quayside cleat and used the forward steam winch to draw it tighter, but he was forced to return to the bridge and use the engines to counter stern drift. When everything was finally fast, he lowered the gangway and stepped onto the quayside.

The sun beat down on him from a clear blue sky. There was n.o.body about, no sign of life in the fortress up there on the cliffs, no sounds but the rush of waves on the beach and the distant banging from the s.h.i.+pyards. Granger walked up the quay.

When he drew near the beach, he stopped in surprise. This slender crescent that stretched away on both sides of the quay wasn't composed of sand or gravel as he'd expected, but rather of countless keys: iron keys, rusted keys, but mostly of keys that glinted in the sun like silver, forcing him to squint against the glare.

What were they doing here?

The question troubled him, although he couldn't say exactly why.

There must have been a thousand steps leading up the cliff to Maskelyne's fortress. By the time Granger reached the top, he was panting and dizzy with the heat. His dry grey skin felt as hot and dusty to the touch as the stones around the path. He paused for a minute and gazed out at the view. The Mare Lux stretched as far as he could see, the waves s.h.i.+ning like chamfered copper. Ethugra crouched against the horizon in a watery haze, a single island of prison blocks rising from the curve of the earth. Four or five s.h.i.+ps were approaching from that direction, but they wouldn't reach Scythe Island for several hours. Granger noted that the Haurstaf man-o'-war was not among them. He scanned the seas to the north and noticed a flash of white sail. Could that be her? Had Briana Marks abandoned her search for Ianthe? Or had she received some other intelligence?

Granger turned and surveyed the castle above him.

It had been constructed from blocks of amethyst quarried from the island's spine. Light bled through translucent purple edges and angles, so that the whole structure seemed to radiate an internal glow, like a jellyfish. Two fluted pillars flanked an open doorway leading into the cool, plum-coloured interior of a barbican. Scalloped machicolations overhung the outer walls, but these were bereft of arrow loops and must surely have been designed for decoration. Private Banks would have been able to tell Granger more; it was the sort of place the young soldier had once enthused over. He looked up inside the barbican for murder holes, but saw none. The place appeared to be deserted.

Granger strolled inside.

The barbican inner door was closed, but there was a bell pull. Granger yanked the cord and heard a faint chime.

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