'I'll try,' Casuel said through gritted teeth. The image moved slowly, harsh rocks, bleak screes, cowering houses defying the bitter weather, the scrying rising gradually to reveal more of the surrounding land.
'Do you suppose they're watching that?' Camarl reached to point at the house.
'Don't touch the water,' Casuel said with some effort and the Esquire pulled his hand back hurriedly.
Darni hissed through his teeth, thinking. 'I wonder if Geris is in there. If they get him out, they need a way off those rocks and soon. Saedrin, this is so frustrating!'
'Can't you bespeak them?' Allin asked hesitantly.
'Not with this spell, not at this distance,' Casuel said shortly; sweat was beginning to glisten on his forehead.
Darni muttered something under his breath but the others all caught the word 'useless'.
'Would you like to try doing this yourself?' Casuel snapped, the light of the spell flickering and dimming.
'It is certainly remarkable,' Esquire Camarl interjected smoothly. 'I've never had occasion to employ a wizard and I had no idea you could perform such wonders.'
Casuel lifted his chin and shot Darni a look of triumph mixed with contempt before bending his will to the enchantment again.
'Can you show us any more of these islands?' Camarl began to make notes on a scrap of parchment. 'For when we land.'
'We?' Darni looked enquiringly at the young nobleman, who grinned back.
'I feel I should represent D'Olbriot interests when you reach these islands. Messire will be expecting me to look for any opportunities that the family might exploit in this situation.'
'The idea is to rescue our friends, not to make your Prince even richer,' Darni scowled.
'The two aims are not incompatible,' Camarl replied firmly. 'The seas are obviously fertile, there might be other resources.'
'Is anybody watching this?' Casuel demanded crossly and everyone hastily returned their attention to the image in the water.
An ice-clad mountain fell away, its sides hidden in snow. Below that, long screes of broken rock stretched into bleak valleys with a threadbare covering of scrub and poor grassland. A scatter of lights was virtually all that distinguished a small settlement from the surrounding rocks in the deepening dusk. Any people and animals were out of sight and out of reach of the frost already glistening on the bare faces of the cliffs. Faint tracks were scratched around a patchwork of ragged fields spreading down towards the shoreline where the cold grey sea lapped on the shingle.
'We need to get an ocean boat inshore.' Camarl frowned.
Casuel took a shaky breath and the image began to slide along the coast. An inlet appeared, a long bank of stones protecting a lagoon. A second island came into view, a headland and a narrow strait with a chain of little eyots.
'That's not rock, that's fortification,' Darni pointed. 'Look, that must be a patrol.'
They watched as a file of tiny figures crossed a causeway over the shallows and disappeared into the irregular precincts of the little watchtower.
'What are they so keen to defend, I wonder?' Camarl mused. 'Esquire Devoir, could you follow that strait?'
Casuel nodded silently, now taking short, abrupt breaths. The sea shimmered beneath the moons but the grey land was increasingly indistinct as the twilight deepened to night.
'Look, shipyards!' Camarl exclaimed suddenly.
They peered down at the enclave fenced in on the shore; timber stacked around long low huts, a square mast-pond at one end, tiny dots of light bobbing along, suggesting patrolling guards. A clutch of tall ships lay moored at the end of a long jetty.
The two men looked at each other. 'Where are they getting the wood for ships that size?' they asked at the same moment.
'Gidesta or Dalasor?' Darni's lips narrowed.
'Are they taking it or buying it?' Camarl wondered grimly. 'Just what sort of foothold have they got over here?'
The image wavered suddenly as Casuel carried it high up the side of a cliff. An ice-field shone beneath them, and a reddish glow began to lift the gloom.
'Fire-mountains!' breathed Darni.
'Like the Archipelago.' Casuel wiped his forehead with a shaking hand.
The land sped beneath them until it fell away into a boiling sea. Great gouts of steam rose from the margin of land and water as a river of fire belched molten rock into the seething foam. A little further out to sea, an islet rose up, the graceful symmetry of its cone in stark contrast to the chaos of the waters around its base.
'Misaen's still busy here,' Camarl commented.
'I can feel the power of the earth coming back to me through the spell.' Casuel blinked sweat out of his eyes. 'This place is alive with raw elements, the fire, the seas, all of it.'
Darni stared. 'Is there no way you can translocate me there, Cas?'
'You know full well a mage can only translocate to places he's physically visited,' Casuel snapped, the light of the spell beginning to dim inexorably.
'Otrick's combined it with scrying,' Darni objected, hands hovering in impotent exasperation.
Casuel shook his head and the water was suddenly empty. 'How Otrick hasn't killed himself yet is one of the great unsolved mysteries of modern magic.' He cupped trembling hands around his tisane and drained it.
'At least they look safe enough at the moment.' Darni's face was twisted with frustration.
'You're just annoyed that they got there ahead of you,' Casuel said spitefully.
'That's not the point and you know it,' Darni replied furiously.
'Surely—' Esquire Camarl raised his voice to speak over them both. 'Surely the important thing is that we find a means of making sure assistance is at hand, when they need it.'
Darni and Casuel looked at him. 'How?' they said almost in unison.
Camarl looked thoughtful. 'Just at present, I'm afraid I have no idea.'
The Islands of the Elietimm,
1st of For-Winter
Dusk drew in and the guards on the gate changed. A new contingent marched out from a barracks on the near side of the compound, which I made a note to avoid. As the officers exchanged what I guessed might be the keys, one hapless soldier was stripped, marched over to a wooden frame and tied to it. I winced as the crack of the lash echoed around the hollow in the hills. Even without Ryshad's spy-glass, we could see the blood streaming from the lad's back. When they finally left him, he was hanging with a stillness that spoke more of death than simple unconsciousness.
'And you still reckon this isn't like Aldabreshi?' Aiten muttered grimly.
Ryshad shook his head. 'Flogging troops is discipline, however brutal. Flogging the locals would be more like the repression the Warlords go in for and there's no sign of that. If you're thinking we might get help from the peasants here, I reckon you can forget it.'
This reminder of our isolation and the danger we could find ourselves in silenced us all and we sat and watched glumly as the night deepened around us. It grew colder and colder and I began to worry about how I would go about picking locks with such stiff, icy fingers.
'Here.' Shiv passed me a small rock and I was surprised to feel it warm my hands.
He grinned at me. 'I'm not much good at earth magic but I can do a few tricks.'
I peered up at the stars and moons; Halcarion's crown was in a different part of the sky but I watched it carefully. When I judged we were well after midnight, I got slowly to my feet, grimacing as I stretched the stiffness out of my limbs, and changed my boots for soft leather shoes.
'I don't want you scrying after me in case it alerts someone,' I whispered to Shiv, 'but can you enhance your hearing at all?'
He nodded and I gave a sigh of relief. 'If I get caught, I'll scream the place down. If you hear me, get me out of there fast.'