Only once was there anything resembling a side-street. She peered up it, to see a fraction of the dome-roofed building staring back down at her. That it was different made her want to explore it, which was probably reason enough to leave it alone. She had a destination: better she stuck to it than get distracted.
She worked her way down the road, past yet more anonymous compounds, paying full attention to all the details, until she reached the right-angled turn. Between her and the river, all the way to the narrow entrance of the ravine, were the terraced fields. Above the road, buildings.
And at the point of the turn, a track that ran down the slope to the river itself, where there were stepping stones, and on the other side, the steep stairs she’d seen the wood-carriers descend. There was one building, all on its own, next to the water’s edge. Like the rest of the White City, it was a block made out of smaller blocks, and as welcoming as a gun emplacement, but she assumed that was her destination.
A few of the fields were under cultivation: there were backs bent over neat rows of green leaves, and feet in the thin soil. But the majority were wild, and the terraces were breaking down, spilling stones and earth downhill into the river and away.
She eyed the decay. It was reminiscent of Crows’ castle, before she’d moved in, even if everything here had to be maintained by hand, not by magic. Things were falling apart, and for the same reason: not enough people to keep it running.
The track ended. The stepping stones across the river were tall pillars, thinner than she expected. To cross would require both confidence and skill to avoid pitching into the running river below. She looked across and up to where Down started again, at the top of the cliff. It would be easy to grab the maps and scale the cliff, but everyone seemed so sure that the answers were here. Now that she’d seen it for herself, she wasn’t so convinced.
But she was still going to have to chance it. She turned her gaze down to the building next to her. No windows in the ground floor again. It struck her that there had to be something to be afraid of, to design it like that.
There was only one door◦– she checked by walking all the way around the outside◦– so she reached up and rapped hard on it with her knuckles. If this was the wrong decision, she was going to look a right idiot.
She waited, long enough to think she was going to have to knock again. Doors which presented a blank face to her made her feel like she was in a cell, even when she was outside. It was worrying, and made her wonder if what lay on the other side was better◦– safer◦– than where she stood. She’d spent half her life looking over her shoulder.
Just as she was going to pound again, she heard noises from inside. She stepped back, and the door swung open towards her.
‘What?’ said the woman who wore a face that simultaneously startled and intrigued Mary.
‘What do you mean, what?’
‘Why are you here?’
‘Fucked if I know. Some bloke back there told me that the door I was going to knock on was going to get me killed or something, and that I should try this one instead.’ Mary shrugged. ‘Was he telling me the truth? Is this somewhere I should be?’
The woman folded her arms in a way that reminded her of Mama. ‘What have you got?’
‘Depends what you’re offering. That’s how it works, right? I have to decide how much I think it’s worth, then we argue about it, then shake on a deal.’ She was guessing, but she’d done this on market stalls and street corners for years. All she was doing was letting the other woman know she wasn’t about to be taken for a ride.
The woman leaned around the door, and saw that Mary was alone. ‘You’d better come inside,’ she said. Her voice was no less distrustful than before. ‘We’ll talk.’
‘I’d rather eat, then talk.’
‘We’ll see.’ She stood aside, and Mary slipped into the cool darkness beyond.
18
The coast became a line in the distance, and still Simeon fixed all his attention on it. Dalip couldn’t bear it any longer, and worked his way along the deck until he stood at the prow.
‘I’m sorry, but how? I know you told me, but I just don’t believe you.’
Simeon unplugged his eye from the telescope. ‘Can’t you just trust your captain?’
‘You said there was no magic on board.’
‘Nor is there. Filthy stuff.’ He held out the telescope to Dalip. ‘See for yourself.’
Dalip took the instrument and examined it. It seemed a perfectly normal ship’s telescope, not that he’d ever handled one before. ‘Where did this come from?’
‘That’s lost in the mists of time. It was handed to me by the last captain. I’ll pass it on when the time comes. Along with the hat.’ Simeon went to take it back, but Dalip needed one last favour.
‘Do you mind if I look through it?’
‘Will you keep quiet about what you see?’ Simeon asked, whispering.
Dalip nodded, and Simeon opened his hands to indicate the wide sea and sky were his.
At first, he could see nothing, but that was because he couldn’t make his sight lines work. Then, when he’d got flashes of waves and wood, he couldn’t hold it still long enough to focus on anything.
He braced himself against the side of the ship, and trained the telescope on the coast. The black line moved out of sight upwards, then downwards. He compensated for the movement of the boat, and finally got it under some sort of control.
He could make out some of the taller headlands, which presumably Simeon knew and could use to navigate the inshore waters. It still didn’t explain how he steered a straight course when there was no land in sight. It was just a regular telescope, a lens at either end of a collapsible tube.
He lowered it and inspected it again. He didn’t want to give it back, either, because he knew he was missing something. But he had no excuse not to, and he reluctantly gave it up.
‘What did you see?’
‘Down.’
‘Nothing else?’
Dalip pursed his lips and shook his head.
‘It’s all in the eye of the beholder, Singh.’ He gave the end of the telescope a little twist. ‘Why don’t you try again?’
He was suspicious now. What had Simeon done? He braced himself again, and raised the telescope up. A wash of colour startled him, and when he looked again, he could see that the colours, brighter than any rainbow, were arranged in broad stripes across the sky. He turned, and he moved from red through to blue. He turned back, and the colours cycled the other way.
‘Polarising filters. You’ve got polarising filters on this.’
Simeon took the telescope away and leaned in. ‘I don’t know how it works. All I know is that I can lay a course even on the cloudiest day, at twilight, and sometimes at night when the moon is full. Midday is difficult, but not impossible.’
‘Whoever made that…’
‘Knew what they were doing? Yes, by Jove. Without it we’d be reduced to following the coast all the time, and part of the beauty of being on the ship is being able to head out beyond the horizon and lie low for a while.’ He hooked his arm over the prow. ‘I could teach you. What d’you say?’
‘Yes?’
‘When we can, then. First, I have to find the right bay and the right beach. Which isn’t, I hasten to add, the damnable Bay of Bones. Horrid place. Some say it’s cursed. Some also say it’s the only way to get to the White City, but they are most definitely wrong.’
Simeon tweaked the telescope again and concentrated on the dark line ahead. Then without taking his eye off the coast, raised his hand and made a couple of gestures to the steersman.
‘Ready to come about,’ came the call.
‘Slightly to the west, but not bad, all things considered.’ Simeon’s mouth twitched into a satisfied smirk. ‘Get yourself ready, Singh. We’re going ashore.’