Black Spice (Book 3) (9 page)

“I
believe it will be allowed,” said Ubtarune.  He cocked his head at Jascenda. 
“Do not worry.  It will be good.  And besides, there is a great task I must ask
of you.  I would do this myself, but I must go to Gavdi.”

Tonah
shifted on his mat, glancing over at Caleem.

“I
have looked into Caleem’s heart,” Ubtarune continued, “and have seen the poison
that lies there.  His soul has been captured and his true self locked away.  He
must be freed.  He must be taken to the island of the fountain, where his blood
and his spirit may be purified.”

Aiyan
lifted his head.  “I’m sorry, but you are mistaken.  The death of Soth Garo is
the only way to free him.”

Ilara
raised the feathered crest.  “That is not so.  The island of the fountain is
one of the first lands of this world.  It has stood unchanged since before
dragons and firebirds were born.  The island remains as it was created — pure,
and with an essence it can bestow on any who come to that place.  The essence
of the dawn will purify the prince.  It will banish the black blood and restore
him.”

“Elistar’s
breath,” mumbled Aiyan.

“But
what if it’s true?” Kyric whispered urgently.

“Surely
Master Zahaias would know.”  Aiyan shook his head to banish a troubling
thought.  “How could he not know?”

“It
is a greater task than you suppose,” Jascenda said to Ubtarune.  “Timarru has
been enraged, and I feel that it is because Soth Garo sailed through his
waters.  It may not be possible to cross the Sunrise Sea.”

“Can
he not be placated by your whale singers?”

“Possibly,”
she said, “but I would never risk them in a confrontation with Timarru.  And I
would certainly never take them across the deep ocean in search of an island of
the eldest powers — one that has not been sighted by my people in generations.”

Ubtarune
sat down and straightened his cape of feathers.  He looked sidelong at Jascenda. 
“The girl Dinala.  Isn’t she old enough to decide for herself?”

“You
would be taking advantage of her youth and optimism,” Jascenda said.  “You know
that she would do it if you asked her.”  She turned to Perrua.  “Mother, please
tell him that he may not ask her.  It would be too dangerous for her to go.”

Aiyan
signaled Mahai to come join them.  “What is this Timarru, a big whale?”

“He
is a whale, and he is a serpent.  He is the spawn of Rakkakul, the sea dragon
who mated with a great white whale.  He could quite easily destroy Captain
Ellec’s big ship, or even the Baskillian carrack.”

Perrua
considered the question before answering.  “I will ask Dinala myself.  I will
explain the dangers and her obligation to her family before allowing her to
answer.”

Jascenda
didn’t look happy.  “I could refuse to go, but they would only go without me. 
And they would be in greater danger for it.”

“Worse
than that, without you they would never find the island.”  She touched her
forehead in the same way Jascenda would sometimes touch the little starfish on
her headband.  “We have already mixed cassia with cardamom  We must help.”

Kyric
turned to Aiyan.  “I need to go with them.”

“Why
is that?”

“To
begin with, they’ll need me to tell them whether it worked or not for Caleem. 
But more than that, I think I need to be, well, purified too.  Even though the
black knight who gave me his blood is dead, I can still feel it somewhere
inside me.  Worse, I think that Cauldin can feel it as well.  He stalks me in
the dream world, and he is getting closer.  I try not to dream in that way, but
some nights I can’t help it.  If this magical island can really make my blood
pure, maybe he will no longer be able to find me.  In any case, we should
discover the truth of this place.  I need to know.  And I think the Order of
the Flaming Blade needs to know.”

Aiyan
fell quiet.  Kyric had learned to recognize his way of looking inward and
inviting the whisper of the Unknowable.  When he looked up again he said, “Do
you feel any truth to what they say about this place?”

“Yes. 
I feel that there is something there for me.”

“Then
do what you must.  I admit, I would like to see this island myself.  I’m
reminded of the scroll of Odminx.”

Kyric
shook his head.  “I don’t know it.”

“The
only existing copy is in the Palace of the Old Kings.  Odminx was a sorcerer
that sailed beyond the farthest east.  He used his power to bend the curve of
the world, coming to a dream sea where lay a magic archipelago.”

“Then
you’ll come along?”

“No,”
Aiyan said.  “I will stay and try to kill Soth Garo when he invades the Manutu,
for that is surely his next move.  Perhaps I can ambush him in the confusion. 
If I could find a really good place — “

“Then
I shouldn’t go on the boat.  You’ll need help.”

Aiyan
shook his head.  “For this, it’s best I go alone.  A companion would only be in
peril, and he would increase my chance of getting caught.”

Kyric
turned to Jascenda.  “How long does it take to sail to the island of the fountain?”

“It
is said that the voyage there lasts many days.”  She touched the starfish on
her headband.  “But it is possible to return in a single night.”

When
the meeting ended, Ellec returned to
Calico
at once, calling all the
watches on deck and preparing the ship to depart on the morning tide.  Dinala
agreed to sail with Jascenda, as everyone knew she would.  Meithu wanted to go
as well, but no one even considered it.  With Kyric able to watch Caleem during
the voyage, Mahai and Nakoa decided to stay and help Witaan.  He would try to
convince the Manutu to fall back and join the army that had assembled around
Tiah.  Aiyan was the only one to wisely get some sleep that night.

Kyric
stood with Lerica on the dock as the sky began to lighten.  He had already
moved his gear to a guest house.

“Those
big Silasese boats may feel safe in coastal waters,” Lerica said, “but out on
the open sea it will be more like riding a raft.  One good storm and it will be
smashed into driftwood.  I wish you wouldn’t go.”

Kyric
shrugged.  “I wish you wouldn’t go either.  You’re bumbling off with nothing to
guide you but a wind-burned priest.”

“At
least he’s been there before.  He says it’s only five or six days to the
southwest.”

“Oh,
I forgot,” Kyric said with a bit of sarcasm.  “There’s a Baskillian ship out
there waiting to sink you.”

“Shut
up,” Lerica said weakly, leaning close and laying her head on his shoulder. 
She whispered into his ear.  “If you don’t come back I’ll kill you.”

“That
goes double for you.”

She
pulled her face back to look him in the eye.  “One more thing.  That girl
Dinala, she’s very beautiful.”

Kyric
laughed.  “You have to be kidding me.”

“I’ve
seen how she looks at you.”

“How
does she look at me?”

“Like
you’re her hero.”

Kyric
grinned in surprise.  Lerica was being silly.  “We’ll be in an open boat,” he
reminded her.

“Sorry,” she said.  “You’ve given me no reason
to doubt you.  It’s just that things can happen on the open sea that can’t
happen on land, even if you don’t want them to.  You know it’s true.  So be
careful.”

The
boat skipped across the quiet waters of the inlet, Jascenda singing to the huge
triangular sail.  They passed the headland with its bird totems, turned north
and veered toward the open sea.  It wasn’t the same boat they had used in their
escape.  It was larger — much wider with a tall mast and a heavy sail, and a different
crew as well.  The skipper was a woman in her late twenties name Chasha.  She
had a hard, chiseled face, and seemed too young to have the five-mile stare. 
The sail handlers were two girls a little younger than Chasha, named Brui and
Leil, and a man nearly as old as Jascenda.  Along with Kyric came a big strong
Tialuccan whose only job was to serve as ballast and help watch Caleem.

“The
more Caleem believes that you can free him from Soth Garo,” Aiyan had told Kyric
as they said their goodbyes, “the more desperate he will become.  If you reach
the island, he will certainly try to kill himself.  There was one poor fellow
once.  We had him tied to a chair for questioning, but he was somehow able to
swallow his own tongue.  Keep a close eye on the prince and don’t take anything
for granted.”

Kyric
had tied Caleem’s ankle to a thwart in the forward section, at first wishing
that he had kept a set of Colonel Thurlun’s manacles, then shaking his head at
himself and wondering if he could do that to anyone, even to save his life.

Jascenda
hadn’t been ready to go before noon, so when the time came for
Calico
to
depart, Kyric had stood on the dock and watched her inch her way out of the
inlet on little puffs of wind, her sails filling then going slack.  He watched
until she reached the harbor entrance, then a fresh breeze rose and she jibbed
to the southwest and was gone.

They
were split apart now.  And as twilight fell, the double-outrigger pushed into
the open ocean, leaving the north end of the island behind.  Kyric felt more
alone than he had in some time.  He missed the feeling of security he had with
Aiyan.  Maybe the slave camp had proved that the feeling was false, but he still
felt like Aiyan could bring him safely through anything.  And he missed Lerica
and the confidence she gave him.  When he was with her, it was effortless for
him to give his best in all things.  With her, he was the man he wanted to be.

“Haiyee,”
came the cry from the front of the boat.  Jascenda had begun to doze.  Brui and
Leil had gone forward to a get a bigger sail for the gentle night breeze.  Kyric
looked up at the cry to see them hauling a fury of arms and legs out of the
sail locker by his thick curly hair.  It was Meithu.

“What
are you doing here?” Brui said, nearly screaming at him.

Chasha
handed the steering oar over to the old man and came forward.  “Do we turn
back?” she asked Jascenda.

 “You
were wrong to disobey your parents and elders and stow away as you did,” Jascenda
said sternly.  “Tell me, Meithu, why did you do it?”

He
answered without the slightest hesitation.  “Because no whale singer has ever
sung alone.”

“That
is true,” Dinala said.

Jascenda
went back to her sleeping mat.  “We’ll continue on,” she told Chasha.

They
offered food and water to Meithu, but he didn’t need any — he had brought
enough for days.  He hadn’t planned to reveal himself until they were far out
to sea.  Dinala was clearly glad to have him there, and no one seemed irritated
about it besides the skipper, least of all Jascenda.  That surprised Kyric,
since she had been angry about this whole voyage from the beginning.

Her
demeanor, in fact, became more calm as they steered into the sunrise, days and
nights passing in the rise and fall of the swells.  The boat felt smaller the
farther they sailed, the waves looming over Kyric as he lay beneath an awning
next to Caleem.  When a storm came at them head-on, Jascenda twirled her amulet
— Kyric had begun thinking of it as a wind lure —and pushed it aside.

Caleem
had been unusually docile.  He said little, ate little, and didn’t attempt to
escape.  It was like he had just given up.  This worried Kyric, for he had
expected trouble.

On
the morning of the fourth day out, they sighted an island.  “Desolation Island,”
Jascenda said.  “The island of farthest east.”

Kyric
turned to her.  “I thought the island of the fountain was the farthest east.”

“No. 
It is beyond direction and measurement.  Its place in the world is not fixed,
yet it lies in the heart of the Sunrise Sea.”

No
sooner than they were past it, Caleem suddenly started, looking up with bright
eyes.  “I’m free!” he called out.  “Soth Garo has been killed.  Your friend,”
he said to Kyric with a broad smile, “the warrior Aiyan, must have been
successful.  I have been returned to my true self.”

Kyric
would have laughed had it not been so pitiable.  The signs of the lie were all
over Caleem.  Kyric was glad his gift had returned, but he didn’t need it for
this ruse.  He remembered how he had felt in the ruins of Karta, how the others
had reacted when Aiyan killed the captain.

“Can
this be so?” Jascenda said.

“He
lies,” Kyric told her.  “This is not how a servant of the black blood acts when
his master is killed.  Believe me, I know.”

Caleem
finally tried to escape his bonds that night, but Yanah, the big Tialuccan,
caught him before he could finish untying himself.  Kyric wondered what he
would do if he got loose.  Would he throw himself over the side, or would he try
for a weapon?

Kyric
and Yanah decided to keep a continuous rotating watch, with Meithu helping
during the day.  Kyric made sure his watches included the hour of dawn.  There
was nothing like a sunrise at sea.

Dinala
began waking early, and would come forward to talk with Kyric and wait for morning
to break.  As Jascenda became more serene each day, so Dinala had become more
quiet and more watchful, and at times a little jumpy.  But she would talk with
Kyric in the dark until the stars in the east began to close their eyes, and
then they would watch in silence.

One
morning she came forward hours before dawn.  She sat quietly for a long time,
her hands clasped together.

“I
can feel him nearby,” she said to Kyric.  “He isn’t like the gentle creatures
that come to Whale Home Bay.  I feel the whale heart in him, but something
chaotic is there too.  He thrashes and stirs the waters.”

She
took his hand and turned to face him, her eyes wide and dark.  “I am afraid.  I
am afraid that Timarru will not hear our song.  And if we fail, even Jascenda
cannot save us.”

He
gave her hand a little squeeze and tried to smile reassuringly.  “You don’t
know that.”

She
shook her head.  “I do know it.  If he does not hear our song he will tear the
boat apart and leave us to drown, unless you can stop him.  You are a great
warrior with a mighty bow.  You will protect us, won’t you?”

“I’m
not, uh, really, ah,” he stammered.  It was hard for him to force an air of
confidence, for he too felt lost and alone and outside the confines of his
life.  He had left behind all that had anchored him.

At
last he said, “I will do my best to see that no one comes to harm.”

She
scooted down and slipped under his arm, laying her head on his shoulder. 
“Thank you.  I knew that you would.”  She raised her head and kissed him on the
cheek.  She didn’t pull back far.  Her lip were parted and within easy reached. 
And she was so beautiful.  Her body pressed against his, and suddenly he wanted
her.

She
whispered into his ear, “I do not wish to be a virgin any longer.”

He
wanted her as much as anything.  An awning screened the forward section of the
boat from the others, and there was hardly any moon.  No one could see them.

Oh
gods, Lerica had been right
.  How had it come to this?  And how was he going to
stop himself, because his lust was beginning to overwhelm him and he would soon
lose control.

All
battles are battles of the spirit
.  He sought emptiness, but what he
found was the loneliness of his youth.  Instead of driving him toward her, it
drove him deeper into himself.  It was easy to fall back into that fortress,
easy to remember how the thought of touching a girl was unimaginable.  Yes, his
monastic upbringing would serve him well for once.  He quickly became himself
again.

He
pulled away from her.  “That’s not true.  You only say that because you’re
afraid.  If you lose your virginity, then you are no longer a whale singer, and
that takes you off the hook.  You’re trying to run because you feel responsible
for everyone’s safety, and you think you cannot bear that.  You have a special
power and it seems like it all depends on you.  I understand how that feels,
but what you must understand is that you’re not alone.  Jascenda, Chasha,
myself — the whole crew, in fact — and Meithu as well, we all share the
burden.”

What
had Aiyan said to them?
 “If we hold to our spirit and trust one another, we
will get through this.”

Lerica
stood on the deck of
Calico
, wiping the lens of her spyglass and raising
it again to stare at the smudge on the horizon.  She couldn’t decide if it was
land or just a cloud.  But then Ubtarune leapt up from where he sat on the
bowsprit, holding his arms out like a seagull in flight.

“Gavdi,”
he announced.

He
had spent the last five days sitting astride on the bowsprit in nothing more
than shorts and a straw hat.  From time to time he would raise one arm to
indicate a course correction.  He even sat there at night.

For
an old man, he could sure take a lot of abuse, Lerica thought. 
Didn’t he
ever sleep?

She
hadn’t been sleeping well herself.  She had thought she would enjoy sleeping
alone again, not cramped against the bulkhead, able to flop from side to side
freely, and cooler without his warmth on these hot nights, but apparently she
had got used to Kyric being there.

She
had wanted him for a shipboard fling from the first, thinking that with his
rugged good-looks and sculpted body he would make a fine part-time lover.  But
the slave camp had changed everything, and it had ended up being so much more
than that.  After the slave camp she had gone numb.  She could hide any feeling
she had from anyone, even Uncle Ellec, but feeling nothing at all was worse
than the torture.  And then Kyric was there with his damn eternal moment.  She
had wished for something to make her feel alive again.  Well, she had gotten
it.

She
went to her uncle’s cabin and rapped on the door.  “He says we’re there.  No
hurry.  We’re still two hours out.”

By
the time she came back on deck, Ubtarune had fetched his bundle and unwrapped
it.  It contained his feathered cloak and a skullcap with a small feathered
crest, a diaphanous yellow under-robe, and a finely stitched vest and skirt. 
He whistled softly as he dressed, at last taking up a wand carved in the shape
of a feathered serpent, a tiny basket on the headpiece holding a pungent
mixture of spices.  He already cut a figure of mystery in his full ceremonial
dress, then his eyes narrowed, and he wasn’t a funny old man anymore.