A Bait of Dreams (10 page)

He slapped idly at the water. “Naturally.”

She ran her stiffening hands through her hair, grimacing at the oily feel. “A little soap would be nice though.”

“Greedy.”

A hand touched her leg. She suppressed her start and looked down. The seaborn's body was a shadow by her feet, barely visible in the deepening twilight. She stretched and yawned. “Shounach, my love, come help me scrub my back.”

The Juggler splashed over to her. “What is it?” he muttered, lips barely moving. “Be careful. Sound carries over water.” He scooped up a handful of sand and began rubbing at the material pulled tight over her shoulders.

“That feels good.” She sighed, moving her back muscles under his hand. “I never asked. You speak seaborn tongue?”

“I speak a lot of languages. Why?”

“Look down.”

Keeping their bodies between him and the shore, Tetaki slid his head out of the water. “How you doin'?”

“They work us.” She patted his cheek. “Forget parsi, Tetaki-my-brother. The sea-talk's better here. Besides you have trouble setting your mouth around some of our sounds.” She switched languages and said. “Any trouble about this morning?”

“The Keeper asked some questions. By the way, he knows sea-talk. So watch it. I said you were my adopted sister. You lost your parents when you were a baby and my family took you in. Thought you ought to know what I told him. Asked me about our father, how he stood among the seafolk. You been bragging?”

She sighed. “Some.”

“Stupid.”

“I've heard enough of that.” She glanced around at Shounach who was rubbing lazily at her back.

“Think next time.” Shounach straightened, stretched and took a look at the guard. “Our friend is starting to twitch.”

Tetaki grinned. “Telling Gleia to think's a waste of time. Her mouth runs faster than her head.”

“Fish!”

Shounach pinched her ear. “Shut up, Gleia. Tetaki, how much is left in the ship?”

“Hard to say. We've been bringing these things up for the past seventeen days. Looks like quite a bit left.”

“Mmh. What about weapons?”

“I'd say they got those out themselves. First thing.” He wobbled as he changed position slightly. “I'm getting stiff. Anyway, I've got no idea what half that stuff we pulled up is used for. Talking about ideas, if you can figure a way for getting at the Keeper, Jevat's not collared.”

Gleia looked at Shounach. His eyes were bright with amusement. “Great idea, Tetaki,” he said.

The seaborn looked from one grinning face to the other. “A bit late, I see. You figured out how we can reach him?”

“Sorry. You?”

“Not a glimmer.” Tetaki scowled. “He's always surrounded by dozens of thissik.”

The guard's shrill hysterical summons brought Gleia to her feet. “Watch yourself, brother, and keep Jevati safe,” she whispered.

His dagger teeth gleamed briefly then he slid beneath the water and faded away, a shadow lost amid shadows.

Shounach strolled into the middle of the room and stood looking around. When Gleia started to speak, he shook his head and put a finger to his lips.

She watched, bewildered, as he dug in his bag, pulled out a faceted yellow crystal and began tossing it idly in the air as he moved about the room. In one corner a deep basin was filled with clear salt water from the bay. It was about two meters wide and three long. He stopped beside it. “What's this?”

She crossed to him and looked thoughtfully at the slowly rippling surface of the water. She knelt, pushed up her sleeve and thrust her arm into the water up to the elbow. A gentle current tugged at her arm and she pulled it out, shaking the sleeve back down. “They must have fixed the windpumps.” She settled back on her heels and watched his face. “It's a bed.”

He raised an eyebrow then walked away, whistling softly, tossing the crystal up and down, watching the play of moonlight on its facets. Gleia sniffed. “Big man.”

He laughed and finished his circuit of the room then moved past her to the barred windows in the end wall. He slipped the crystal on the ledge of one of them and came back to her.

“What was that about?” she said.

He dropped beside her. “Checking to see if the thissik planted an ear or an eye on us.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Any idea where the Keeper might sleep?”

She shook her head. “These houses are built to shelter a lot of people. Given Jaydugar's winters, it's better to build one big house, not a lot of little ones. At least when the people living there have some kind of ties. The seacoast cities on the mainland don't count. Too many strangers.” After a minute's silence, she said, “You seem to know something about the thissik. I saw the Keeper recognized you. That should give you more of an idea where he could be than any knowledge of seaborn architecture.”

“Good point.” He scratched at his chin and stared thoughtfully past her shoulder. “Trouble is, what I know doesn't fit this …”

The door slammed open. Two thissik walked in. One approached Shounach and both carefully did not look at Gleia. “You are required, Fox. Come.” He turned and walked out, the other following.

Gleia trailed Shounach to the door. “Luck,” she said finally, not knowing what else to say.

He looked amused, his changeable eyes twinkling as he smiled into her anxious face. “Don't worry,” he said. He pulled the door shut behind him. She heard the bar chunk home then the staccato clicks of his boots moving crisply down the corridor outside. She scuffed across the room and pressed her face against a windowgrill that let her see a short section of the pathway. After several minutes she saw the two thissik and Shounach heading for the Endhouse. She stayed at the window a while after they passed out of sight, then moved restlessly about the shadowy room, kicking at the hem of the still soggy cafta.

She stripped the cafta off. There were three windows in the back wall; the glass of one was broken and a stream of cooling air was pouring through it. The window grills had a series of stubbs at the top. She hung the cafta over a stub, spreading it out over the broken window so the air coming in would dry it a little faster. Trailing her fingers over the fitted stone, she moved slowly along the wall to the third window. The two moons were still behind the houseridge, but they were beginning to lighten the gloom outside. In the west above the bit of Endhouse roofs she could see a halo of red coming through the kala-shell roofing over the Day Court. She stood watching the steady glow as the Crow slid into view and arced toward the western horizon. She shivered and moved slowly along the wall, stopping at the cafta to squeeze the cloth between thumb and forefinger. It was still wet. She looked about the room. It was filled with shadow, soft dark shadow hanging still and comfortable. In the corner the rippling water surface painted a net of reflected light on wall and ceiling while fragments of moonlight danced across it. She sighed and lowered herself into the water. The lightweb danced wildly on the wall and lines of light rippled in arcs around her body.

She lifted her head as the door opened and Shounach came in. He walked briskly to the center of the room, looked briefly at her. “You're talkative tonight,” she said. He shrugged the bag off his shoulder and lowered it to the floor, then dropped the dark bundle under his arm on top of it.

She moved and the water danced. She watched the light-web settle again then said, “What did he want?”

He squatted beside the bundle and began working knots loose. “Clothes for you. A veil. Some blankets.” He began tossing things aside. “And someone stole the Ranga Eye from your Empty Man.” Thrusting his hand into his mysterious bag, he began pulling out glassy blue spheres and a number of small rods.

“What's that for?”

“Bath's over. Climb out of there.”

“Don't want to.” She paddled to the side and propped herself up on crossed arms, watching him fit small rods together into a latticed pyramid.

“Shy?” He sounded amused.

Gleia sniffed. “Comfortable,” she snapped.

“Too bad. I need you to bang on the door and get the two guards in here.”

“Why?”

“You'll see.”

“Do it yourself.” Then she sighed. “Never mind, I'll do it.” She rolled up onto the floor and shook out the thissik dress. Long. Black. Soft. She ran fingers over the material, enjoying the silken feel. “Nice. What is it?”

“Later. Get them in here. I want to try something.”

As she slid the dress over her head, she saw him touch the point of the pyramid. When her head came through the neck opening, red and yellow light was cycling upward. The Juggler had settled himself behind the pyramid and was spreading an opaque white paint on his face.

She smoothed the dress down, excitement itching at her. Eyes sparkling, heart banging in her throat, she ran across the tiles and slammed her heel at the door, screaming for the guards. When they stood in the narrow opening, she swept a hand around, pointing at the Juggler. “He wants you.

Red and yellow light rose and fell at the Juggler's feet. Glowing blue balls circled the white mask, their changing blues flickering across the heavy paint.

Two balls

then four

doubling doubling again they were a circle of blue glowing a blue halo shimmering blue pale bright dark up and over never stopping never sometimes many sometimes melting away to two always changing

and the black rings around the Juggler's eyes

narrowed widened and the dark mouth

curving up

curving down

a blue ball unfolded

was a shimmering golden dragon swooping the circle

and was gone and another

was a jewel-bright dancer

and was gone and another was a

and was gone and another was

and was gone

and was

and

Gleia blinked. The two thissik were glassy-eyed, rigid. Shounach caught the balls that remained and set them carefully aside.

“Thissik.” His voice was gentle, musical. “Put your weapons on the floor.”

To Gleia's open-mouthed wonder, the guards bent stiffly and placed their rod-weapons on the floor.

“Pick them up.” The whisper came hastily. Gleia saw Shounach frowning as he seemed to struggle against an invisible pull. The thissik opened with the same jerky movements. “Return to your posts and forget what has happened.” He waited tensely until the door was shut again, then he started breathing again.

“Why'd you send them away?” Gleia sat on the floor watching him as he began cleaning the white from hands and face.

A corner of his mouth curled up. “Tough little creatures. Hope I got them out in time.” He fingered the collar and his smile broadened. “How close would you want to get to them?”

She grimaced. “Point taken. Now tell me what all that was about.”

“Information. Possibilities.” He yawned. “You want a blanket over you tonight, you'll have to share these.” He touched the bundle with his toe. “Since we're supposed to be paired. Trust me?”

Gleia shrugged. “It's that or shiver.”

Gleia woke shivering. She had rolled out of the blankets onto the tiled floor. Icy drafts from the broken window circled along the tiles. She jumped up and rubbed hands over her arms trying to warm them a little. Shounach was deeply asleep, traces of white visible along the line of his jaw. She wrinkled her nose at him and began pacing about the room, toes curled, walking on the sides of her feet.

Picking at the dead skin poking up from the broken blisters in her palms, she crossed the room and stood looking out the end window, the one with all its glass. Outside, the night was still and dark. Both moons had set. The Crouching Cat was low in the west, the two brilliant eyestars floating just above the horizon.
Late,
she thought. She pressed her face against the bars and glanced toward the Endhouse. There was a red glow shimmering above the roof.

Trembling with excitement, she ran to Shounach, went down on her knees and began shaking him awake. In one swift surge he was up, awake, frowning. “What is it?”

She sat back on her heels. “There's something I want to show you.” Grinning at the expression on his face she jumped up and fled back to the window. The red glow was still there. “Shounach!”

Yawning, wrapping the blanket about his long lean body, he came across to stand beside her. “What is it?” he repeated.

“Look.”

He leaned past her. “At what?”

“No. I want to know if it means the same thing to you. Look!” She knew the moment he realized what the glow could mean. He stiffened and his fingers closed around the bars, one hand on each side of her head. “I see.”

“Finally.” She ducked under his arm and ran across to the blanket still on the floor. Sitting down on it, she rubbed her feet and watched Shounach's back. After a minute his hands came down and turned to face her. “He's always tired,” she said. In the faint light from the stars she could see his mouth twitch into a smile. He crossed the tiles with three quick strides and dropped on the blanket beside her.

“You think the Keeper's still working.” He unwound the blanket. “Come here before you freeze.”

She stretched out beside him, beginning to feel warm again as his body heat reached her through the thissik dress. With the blanket beneath them and one tucked around them, the cold air was a pleasant nip rather than a bone-shaking chill. “I think it's the best chance we've got.”

He tugged at a curl. “Well?”

“They've got the windpumps working.”

“That doesn't explain much.”

“That means they're using the underways. Remember the pool in the Day Court?” His eyes narrowed then he nodded. “There's a conduit that runs from there straight to the bay. A big one.”

His eyes darkened; in the dim light she couldn't see color but the change meant he was feeling amused. “Leave me something to do, love, or I'll start feeling useless.” His voice was filled with laughter.