The Thief's Gamble

'Shiv,' I began nervously. 'Just what are we doing here?'

He looked up at me from a letter he was scribbling. 'Oh, I'd never intended taking this ship right inshore; I think it would be better to land unseen and spy out the land before we decide just what to do. This is a bit further out than I'd planned to take to the row-boat but that won't be a problem.'

'I'm really not sure about this.' His calm reassurance was having entirely the contradictory effect on me. 'How are we supposed to get home? This lot will be heading west before we've got the oars out.'

'I'll get us home. If we can get a boat, it'll be easy. If worst comes to worst, I can translocate us, like I did for you in Inglis.'

I gaped at him. Out through one stone wall and a half a street away is one thing, but how many leagues was he talking about here?

A sudden thought distracted me. 'You mean you can do this sort of trip by magic? I needn't have been heaving up my guts like that after all?'

Shiv shook his head as he sealed his parchment and addressed it to Planir. 'Sorry, I can only take us somewhere I've already been. I'll be no use to anyone for a full day afterwards either. A complex spell like that really wipes you out.'

I cast about for another objection to stop Shiv abandoning this suddenly charming boat and its delightful crew in the middle of the ocean. To my intense annoyance, I couldn't come up with anything I didn't feel he would be able to set aside with similar ease. I remembered this was one of the many reasons that I preferred to avoid dealing with wizards.

So off we set in the cockleshell of a row-boat which put me entirely too close to the water for my peace of mind. At least Ryshad and Aiten were looking nervous as well, though this was down to the fact they had decided to wear their armour in case of trouble when we landed. This meant they would be able to swim with all the efficiency of a sack of corn, but at least that would mean I had company if we all went over. With Vanam about as far from any seas as you can get, I've never got round to learning to swim.

At least we didn't have to row. Shiv sat in the prow of the boat and trailed one hand in the water, intense concentration on his face. The vessel slid quietly through the waves and I soon saw the grey shapes on the horizon take on colour and substance. Dull green hills above slate-coloured shores looked completely uninviting. We glided noiselessly into a flat gravelly bay and sat for a moment looking at each other, suddenly unsure what to do next.

'Come on.' Ryshad stood up decisively and stepped out of the boat. 'We came to get some answers; let's go looking.'

Aiten insisted we pull the boat up above the tide mark and secure it with some rocks. If I had any choice, we'd be going home the fast way and Shiv could sleep it off for however long he needed. I didn't say anything though; we were all too nervous to risk starting an argument. Still, it felt good to have solid ground under my feet and a task to turn my mind to.

'So what now?' I asked as we found a sheltered hollow in the banks of shingle and cached our supplies.

'We need to get a feel for the place before we can make any plans,' Ryshad asserted. 'Let's see how these people live then perhaps we can identify who's in charge.'

This was more to my liking. 'If we can find his house, I'll go in and see what I can find out.'

'I'm not sure we should split up…' Shiv began uncertainly.

Ryshad waved him to silence. 'We'll discuss that when the time comes.'

He led the way through the shingle banks and we crossed an uncomfortably exposed stretch of scrubby grassland. I looked around and frowned.

'There's precious little cover here, Rysh.' The few trees were sparse, twisted down by the winds; they might just have hidden an undernourished pig.

He didn't waste time answering and led us towards a long ridge of broken rock which, while hard going, was at least more concealing. After a lengthy hike, smoke ahead indicated people. We moved with greater caution.

'Dung fires.' Aiten wrinkled his nose at the smell but I just shrugged. What else were they going to burn here?

From a vantage point high on a crag, we looked down on a small settlement clinging to the rugged shoreline. People were working all around beached boats. Something else which I couldn't make out lay immense and black on the grey sands.

Ryshad got out his spy-glass and couldn't restrain an exclamation. 'Dast's teeth; it's a fish.'

'May I?' Shiv took the glass. 'No, it's a whale, a sea-beast.'

'Like a dragon?' I asked nervously; at least I hadn't thought to worry about that while we were still on the boat.

'No. They're built like fish but they're animals, red-blooded. They suckle their young.' Shiv passed me the glass and I was able to see a group of blond-haired people busy stripping skin and flesh from a massive bloody carcass. My stomach was feeling none too strong so I turned the glass to see what else was going on. The place was a hive of activity; meat from the whale was drying on racks, children were digging for something in the sands beyond the village, adults mended nets, gutted fish, sorted out ropes.

Shiv reached for the glass and I surrendered it reluctantly.

'Azazir was right when he said they bred like rats; there must be three times the population of that place we sailed from,' I commented.

Aiten was keeping watch in the other direction. He looked back over his shoulder. 'Come and see this.'

I moved to look down the coast and saw men and women busy on rocks exposed by the low tide. Some were gathering shellfish while the rest were filling baskets with seaweed for others to lug inland, where still more people dug it into mean fields terraced into the hillsides with grey stone walls.

'They move like slaves,' Aiten murmured. 'It's like Aldabreshi.'

'Apart from not being boiling hot and covered in jungle, you mean?' I said, half-teasing.

Ryshad joined us. 'They're not slaves,' he said slowly. 'There are no overseers, are there? No one with a whip or a staff. They're doing this because they want to.'

I looked round at the barren landscape and shivered in the continuous chill breeze from the sea. 'They're doing it because if they don't they'll starve. Misaen, what a place to choose to live.'

'It's not a question of choice.' Shiv spoke up as he passed Ryshad back his spy-glass. 'There's no way off these islands without magic to beat those currents and winds.'

So we sat and watched the grim-faced people going about their tedious tasks. The arrival of a flotilla of small one-man boats created a flurry of activity and excitement; nets strung between the craft were laden with fish. A couple of larger two- and four-man vessels came in soon afterwards and I couldn't restrain an exclamation as I spotted what looked horridly like bodies strapped to them. Ryshad reassured me they were seals, explaining something similar lived off the southern Tormalin coast. I decided I disliked having my ignorance of the seas and their animals exposed every time something new appeared; I'd keep my mouth shut from now on and work things out as we went.

'Where do they get the wood for the boats?' Aiten mused to himself as we watched the craft being hauled up the shore and secured in long, low buildings.

Ryshad was peering through his eye-glass again; I decided I really must get one for myself.

'I don't think they use wood,' he said after a while, snapping the glass shut. 'Those boats are leather over bone frames.'

We looked at the carcass of the whale, now reduced to a bloody framework of massive ribs.

'They do make use of everything, don't they?' Shiv's admiration was tinged with concern and I could understand why. These people had little enough but made the best possible use of it. Poverty and ingenuity is a dangerous combination. We moved stealthily into the shelter of a grey crag. Getting out of the wind was a relief, but we were still cold; if it started to rain we would be in trouble.