She went into the cabin. Fyn-Mah stood by the window hole, an aperture normally covered by a piece of canvas, watching the crystal. Fumes of quicksilver were deadly in a confined space, so everyone had to sleep outside in the bitter wind. Any change?' said Irisis. 'No.' 'What if they've already been taken? Is there any way to tell?'
'No.'
'So by following the crystal, we could be heading into a trap.'
'Yes.'
Irisis tried to meet her eyes but Fyn-Mah looked away. She was in one of her moods and nothing would be gained by talking to her. Irisis went to her sleeping pouch, in a hammock strung on the port deck, and swayed there all night. Every movement swung her out over the rail. If the rope broke she would go flying over the side to her death. Her feet were freezing and sleep would not come. Further back, Flangers tossed in his hammock, no more at peace than she was. On the starboard side, Muss was snoring gently. Nothing affected his repose.
The sun rose to reveal the same bleak sky and slaty, misty sea. To their left, the narrow peninsula of Karints stretched into the unfathomable distance. Ahead were hundreds of islands and thousands of reefs, the bane of many a mariner. Irisis stamped her feet in a vain attempt to get warm.
'Hoy!' shouted Fyn-Mah. 'You're shaking the bowl.'
Irisis took up the perquisitor's spyglass and scanned the horizon.
'Anything?' Flangers appeared beside her, rubbing blue fingers.
'No' 'Cup of hot ginger tea?'
'Thanks,' she said. That'd be lovely.'
They warmed their fingers on the wooden bowls, feeling no need to talk. It was not until the middle of the day that she saw the first sail, dead ahead.
'That's a bad sign,' said Muss. 'Either the scrutators are heading directly for him, or …'
'Or they already have him,' Fyn-Mah finished bleakly. 'If we hadn't spent a day and a half getting the quicksilver —’
'We might still be looking,' said Flangers.
In half an hour Ghorr's fleet was spread out across a great arc of sea. The air-floater, following the crystal, was still heading directly towards the first ship.
'What's ahead?' asked Fyn-Mah.
'A scatter of islands, in that bank of mist,' Irisis replied without consulting the map.
'The ship's going to get there first. Pilot!' she shouted. 'Can't you go any faster?'
Inouye did not answer, though the sound of the rotor rose slightly. It didn't seem to make any difference.
'The headwind's too strong,' said Irisis. 'The harder we go the more it resists us.'
'Go lower,' said Muss. 'The wind won't be as strong near the sea.'
They angled down. The sails disappeared back over the horizon and the race continued. The mist clung about a handful of low, round islands, scattered like potatoes hurled from a bucket. There were about twenty of them, most just uninhabitable wet brown rock.
'How long has it been since the shipwreck?' asked Fyn-Mah.
'Nine days.'
Fyn-Mah shivered. 'I wouldn't last two days down there. I'm going back to the watch bowl. Keep an eye out for smoke.'
'They'd have the fire out now,' said Irisis. 'If they had one.'
'From sea level they wouldn't be able to see the fleet.'
'But they could see us,' said Irisis. 'We're still not going fast enough.'
Go right down,' the perquisitor said to Inouye. 'Just skim the waves.'
Inouye turned her head, and her eyes seemed to take up half her small face. 'If a gust drops us into the water, it'll tear the cabin off.'
'As low as is safe.' Fyn-Mah went back to the scrying basin.
Irisis followed her into the cabin. 'Can you tell which island it is?'
'No.'
Irisis couldn't stand the inactivity. She went back and stood next to the pilot. They did seem to be making more headway this altitude. Shortly Flangers appeared, relaying a minute change of course. Inouye moved the steering arm slightly and checked the heading against her lodestone.
'Which island are we heading for?' Irisis asked. This low, they could see nothing but mist.
A group of three in a line,' Inouye said softly, ducking her head to avoid Irisis's eye. She moved to her left, opening the space between them.
What was it about the little pilot? She was agonisingly shy and kept everyone at a distance. And doubtless she's afraid of me, Irisis decided. I've got powerful friends; I can choose. She has to do what she's told. It's taken her away from friends, family, man and children, and she'll probably never see them again. They may have been killed simply because Inouye had obeyed Fyn-Mah's orders, and she could do nothing about it.
'How many children do you have?' Irisis said.
'Two!' Inouye whispered.
'How old are they?'
'Sann is three and a half. Mya will be two . . , next week.' She looked away, gripping the steering arm so hard that her hand shook.
Irisis did not know what to say.
The sails appeared on the horizon, two ships close together. 'Do thev have him?' said Irisis.
No one answered. It was impossible to tell.
'Go up a trifle, Inouye,' Irisis went on. 'Flangers, run back to Fyn-Mah.’
The first island grew swiftly. It was shaped like a bean with a bite out of it. Beyond it lay another, like a grey dishrag crumpled on a floor; then the third, an oval plate piled high in the middle. The two ships were passing the third island.
'They're gone past without stopping,' said Muss. 'Curve round towards the second island and the crystal will tell us which one it is.'
'It'll be the middle one, of course,' said Irisis.
So it proved to be. By the time they approached the island, which was at best a third of a league across, the vessels had dropped anchor outside the reefs and were launching boats through a gap for the shore. Other sails converged on them, though Irisis judged they would be too late to play any part in this drama.
'We've still got the advantage,' said Fyn-Mah, abandoning the scrying bowl. 'We can search the island from the air before they get to shore.'
'I doubt if we can do it before they reach us!' Irisis pointed.
A pair of air-floaters had appeared in the north-east quarter, rising from a group of islands a few leagues away. Signal mirrors flashed between ships and air-floaters, which turned in their direction.
Fyn-Mah snatched her spyglass out of Flangers's hand and began to sweep it back and forth across the second island. 'I can't see anyone. But Flydd's got to be there.'
'Perhaps the crystal is picking up some other kind of signal, or even a node,' Irisis speculated.
'Don't!' the perquisitor said savagely.
They soared over the dishrag hump in the middle of the island, a ragged hill some hundred spans high. The exposed rock was bare of anything taller than moss, though the sheltered gullies on the leeward side contained scrub.
'That's where they'll be,' said Flangers. 'Somewhere in that gully. Look out for smoke.'
They went over the top and drifted down the valley. The scrub was grey and wind-twisted. There was nothing so grand as a tree, the tallest plants being bushy and only a couple of spans high.
Two boats have landed,' Muss called. 'The third is coming pound the point. If Flydd and Nish are here, they'd better show themselves quickly.'
They could be hiding from us,' Flangers observed, 'thinking that we're part of Ghorr's force. Irisis, why don't you stand at the front — he'll recognise you.'
She did so, letting her yellow hair stream out in the wind. They went all the way down the gully to the shore. Nothing. Irisis had to climb down, for her nose and cheeks had gone numb. She warmed them with her palms.