‘Kratia,’ replied the Tseni who had done all the talking. She shared a moment with her fellows. ‘It appears we have not been correct in the manner of approaching our grievance,’ she said. ‘You will understand we are not much used to dealing with other kinden.’
The bald lie drew grudging respect from Stenwold. Used enough to sail all the way here in a Spider ship. Used enough to throw my kinden’s thoughts about Ants back in my face. ‘What do you want with young Gainer, Officer Kratia…’ Again there was that unexpected ghost of an expression that led him to correct himself. ‘Commander Kratia, then?’
She nodded curtly. Stenwold was reclassifying her and her companions already, not soldiers but spies, agents: the sort of people he had been dealing with most of his life.
‘This one is in possession of mechanical secrets belonging to our city,’ she said, ‘and that cannot be tolerated. As its former allies against the Empire, we are sure Collegium will make proper restitution.’
And I reckon the Vekken are lucky you’re not here to stir up a war against them, Stenwold thought. ‘Gainer, does this make any sense to you?’ he asked, mainly to give himself more time to think.
‘Master Maker, they want to take the Tseitan,’ Gainer replied. ‘All the plans and everything! Ten years of work!’
‘Our work-’ Kratia started, but Stenwold held a hand up.
‘Enough. Jodry?’
The Assembly’s new Speaker bustled forward. ‘Here.’
‘It is clearly an issue of considerable weight that has brought these three women so far. Therefore think of it as your first proper diplomatic spat.’
To his surprise Jodry made no complaint, or perhaps he was just trying to display solidarity before the Ants. ‘I’ll take it from here, Sten. It’s obviously nothing to do with the… with your friends. Thank you for your help. Good sailing, or whatever one says in such situations.’
Stenwold went home, and managed to finish off his packing whilst arguing once again with Arianna. She wanted to know why he couldn’t take her, and towards the end of the dispute he realized that it was not that he couldn’t, exactly, but that he wouldn’t. He could have talked her past Tomasso and his crew, and he was not expecting so much trouble during his absence that he needed her in Collegium. When he dug deep enough in his heart to find the real reason, it left him sad, and ashamed of himself.
And is having a young Spider mistress not enough to make me feel young, but I have to go mimicking the misadventures of my youth, charging about with nothing but a sword and my wits to rely on? Am I getting so old, in truth, that I have to prove my vigour even to myself? He had no answer to that, but he stuck to his position, leaving Arianna angry and unhappy behind him.
The Tidenfree had nudged its way in between merchantmen, sitting openly in Collegium’s harbour. It bore no overt sign of being a pirate ship and, in truth, it was not the Bloodfly of recent legend, instead a graceful single-masted slender thing that would have done a Spider proud as a yacht.
It was only as he set foot on board that the name ‘Tseitan’ abruptly made sense to him. Not a word he had heard before, but one derived from a name he should have remembered. The artificer Tseitus, who had died in the Vekken siege of Collegium; the Ant-kinden Tseitus, with his blue-white skin like Plius, like Kratia. Tseitus, whose submersible craft had sunk the Vekken flagship, and for whom the new model – Gainer’s improved prototype – was named.
Eight
‘Boats are like the kinden that make them,’ Tomasso expounded. Around them, the crew of the Tidenfree was casting off. From below decks the surprising sound of a solid little engine was thudding, dragging the ship backwards out of dock, whilst a half-dozen Fly-kinden had fluttered aloft, ready to bring out sail. A remarkably stocky woman was ordering them about in a voice that would have done credit to a leadshotter.
Stenwold nodded politely, sensing that Tomasso’s metaphor was about to give his people a rough time.
‘Beetle boats,’ Tomasso continued, sure enough, ‘are fat and solid and slow, begging your pardon.’ He grinned a glint of gold Stenwold’s way. ‘Spider ships are pretty and they move well, but they’re far too clever and they can never go anywhere the straight way. Mantis boats are quick and vicious, and it’s impossible to steer them anywhere.’
That brought a bark of unmeant laughter from Stenwold, although he felt guilty about it afterwards. Tomasso’s smile widened.
‘And what about Fly-kinden ships, Master Tomasso?’ Stenwold asked him. ‘Tell me about those, will you not?’
‘Oh, they’re fast, Master Maker, and they’re good for any seas, and they’ll make use of any trick to get where they’re going.’
Stenwold looked astern, seeing the Collegium harbour receding. This was the first time he had ever gone to sea. His travelling had been towards the Empire, always.
‘If you plan on killing or kidnapping me, now’s the time,’ he said evenly.
Tomasso roared with laughter that was twice as big as he was. ‘Oh, surely, Master Maker, surely, but we’re as good as our word. You can give us something that only a high-up of Collegium can, and it’s something that we can’t steal. In return we can get you to places that only a third-generation villain knows about. Now, come.’ He strutted across the deck, beckoning Stenwold to follow. The swell was building, now that they were beyond the sea wall, and the Beetle had to reach out for his balance a little before he was able to proceed. He heard a little smirking from the crew.
‘People you should know,’ Tomasso called back to him. ‘At the tiller is our sailing master, Gude.’ He indicated the broad Fly woman, who gave Stenwold a stony nod. ‘If she ever tells you to do anything aboard this ship, then you do it. I may be the head of the family, but once we’re under sail, her voice overrules mine.’ Gude’s stern demeanour made Stenwold believe it.
‘You’ve met Despard, of course. She’s below at the moment with the engine, and that’s her doman. Your other chaperone is…’ Tomasso glanced about, and then bellowed, ‘Laszlo! Get your backside on deck!’
‘Right behind you, chief.’ The young Fly dropped from the rigging without warning, making Tomasso’s hand twitch for his knife-hilt.
‘You, you troublemaker, can look after our guest, and make sure he doesn’t end up over the rail. Laszlo’s our factor, Master Maker. He buys and sells ashore. While we’re on board, though, he might as well look after you, so ask him for anything you need.’
‘Thank you.’
‘And I meant it about the rail. This ship wasn’t designed with your kinden in mind.’ Tomasso’s gaze took in a railing that would come up to Stenwold’s knee.
A ship designed for people half my size who can fly. He made the requisite mental adjustments.
‘Oh, and you should meet Fernaea as well, to make sense of some answers I’ll give to some questions you’ll certainly ask a little later,’ the bearded Fly continued, dragging Stenwold, and Laszlo, back towards the bows again, where stood the grey-robed Fly girl who had been tending to the sleeping old man on the Floating Game. ‘Fern, this is Master Stenwold Maker, magnate of Collegium.’
She nodded at him, as reserved and close-faced as her Moth-kinden name suggested.
‘She’s… a seer,’ Stenwold guessed.
‘Oh, well done. You’re a man of uncommon experience, then, for a Beetle?’
‘You might say so,’ agreed Stenwold. Fernaea was staring at him, defensive and tense, and he wondered what mischance had brought a Moth-trained magician into the ragged crew of a pirate ship. Nothing happy, that was certain.
‘What about your…?’
‘My uncle, you mean. Himself,’ Tomasso finished. ‘Isseleema’s an old friend, which means that, when she’s accepted a hefty purse to look after Himself, I can be reasonably sure that’s just what she’ll do.’ His cheer vanished abruptly. ‘Time, Master Maker, it’s just a myth to a lout like Laszlo here, but you and I are old enough to hear its wings on the air. Himself… Himself has time sitting, counting by his bedside, and there’s no magic nor artifice on all the wide seas that can do anything about that.’