Voyage of the Fox Rider (56 page)

As the pod of dolphin slowly swam a circular path, stopping every now and again to turn a dark eye to the proceedings, Alamar searched his mind for the tongue he had learned long past, for unlike his daughter, he could not simply say a and
know
a language.

[“Yes, it was I,”] he said. Alamar drew back his sleeve and turned his wrist so that the bracelet glittered in the angling sunlight.

The Child to the fore cocked his head to the side, his slitted pupils expanding slightly. Then he smiled, his wide mouth showing a row of pointed white teeth. [“You are a Friend?”]

[“Yes. I was given this by Sinthe, she whom I saved at the Isle of Faro.”]

[“Faro?”]

[“Yes. It is in the…hm…it is a small island in what are called the Twilight Waters, there on the edge of the Bright Sea. It has a tower on it: Lady Katlaw’s tower.”]

Now the swimmers looked at one another and smiled, and the one to the fore turned back to Alamar and said, [“Ah, Lady Katlaw. Another Friend.”]

One of the Merfolk swam ‘round the leader and said. [“I would see this bracelet of yours.”]

Alamar grunted down to one knee on the water and held out his wrist. Timidly, the one came forward and reached up a slender finger to the circlet, gently touching the red coral inset. Now through the pellucid water Alamar could see that she was female, somewhat like Sinthe, with her small breasts and sleek form, the cartilaginous gill slits along her rib cage now closed since she was breathing air. She turned her exotic face to his and smiled, and Alamar felt his heart clench, she was so strangely beautiful.

[“I am Rania”]—liquid as silk, she turned and gestured toward the others—[“this is Nalin, and that is Imro beyond.”] Rania faced Alamar once again. [“And you are…?”]

[“Alamar. I am a Mage.”]

Rania wafted backwards and looked at him kneeling on the water and laughed. [“That, Mage Alamar, we deduced, given where you now stand. What we didn’t know was whether you were the Friend who called. Your bracelet, though, answers that question.”]

Imro surged forward. [“‘That ship”]—he raised a hand and pointed a finger toward the
Eroean
, a talon unsheathing, indicating his displeasure—[“you came aboard it?”]

[“Yes,”] responded Alamar, grunting back to his feet.

[“You are accounted a Friend, yet you bring others with you? Those who are not Friends? Destroyers?”] Now a full set of talons sprang forth from the tips of Imro’s fingers, and the web down the length of his arm spread stiffly wide, with evenly spaced, wickedly sharp spines jutting out the full of its length.

Alamar glared at Imro, but before he could reply, Nalin spoke: [“We know that ship, Imro. Long has it plied the Mother Waters, never to the harm of the”]—Nalin thumped himself on the chest—[“
¡Nat!io
…nor to the”]—he swept his arm toward the encircling ring of dolphin—
[“A!miî
. Imro, I think this vessel no threat, even though it bears those we ordinarily name destroyers.”]

Rania added, [“Imro, you know that there has ever been a Friend aboard that ship. I can feel the token he bears even now.”]

Alamar smiled at the female. [“His name is Aravan. He has always been master of the
Eroean
.”]

Nalin drifted back and grinned. [“Ah, so that is his name: Aravan. —And her name, too. We
¡Nat!io
call her
Silver Bottom
. Long has she plied the Mother Waters. She is swift, through not as swift as we.”] His voice took on a tinge of pride. [“When she comes through our demesne at night, at times we race before her bow…along with the
A!miî
.”]

As Imro’s claws slowly retracted and his arm fins relaxed, he faced Alamar again. [“Why are you here and why have you called us? Especially, why have you called us to this foul place?”]

[“Ha!”] barked Alamar. [“So you name it a foul place, too.”]

Rania took up a tendril of green weed, holding it out of the water. [“Long ago it was a place of great bounty, and we hunted and frolicked within. But now we like it not, and we were far from here when you summoned, else we would have come sooner.”]

[“You have not answered my questions,”] said Imro impatiently.

Alamar glanced over from Rania to Imro, and his eyes narrowed as he readied a retort, but Rania interrupted, [“Why have you called us, Friend?”]

Alamar looked back down at her. [“We pursue an evildoer, one who caused great harm long past and is like to cause even more. We think he sometimes comes to the Great Swirl, here to the clutches of the weed. His ship…although we are not certain, we deem to be a
galley
.”]

[“G-¡g!alley?”]
Nalin had trouble pronouncing the
Common word and he added tick-lock clicks to it. He cocked his head. [“What is a
¡g!alley?
“]

[“A ship of many oars, long and sweeping, propelled by rowers. Sails, too.”]

Rania sucked air through her sharp teeth and backed water and said, [“It is black, with evil aboard. Vile destroyers. We give it wide berth.”]

Alamar demanded, [“You have seen it?”]

All three nodded, ringlets spreading outward, Imro adding, [“And this one you hunt, you say he is aboard?”]

[“Yes,”] gritted Alamar. [“Do you know where it is, the black
galley?
”]

The three looked at one another and shook their heads.

“Damnation!” spat Alamar in Common. Puffing his cheeks, he blew out his breath, then said, [“We think there might be an island somewhere in the weed. Do you know of any?”]

Rania’s cat-eyes widened. [“Yes. But it is an evil place now. We do not go there.”]

[“Will you lead us there?”]

Startled, Imro sounded a harsh clattering clack, and the ring of dolphin disappeared, diving under. [“You do not hear well, Mage,”] snapped Imro. [“Rania said that we never go there.”]

[“Listen to me, you stupid minnow,”] shouted Alamar, [“I’ve had about enough of your suspicions, your gall. We came to rid the world of an evil, and you keep—“]

A piercing shrill note came from the throat of Rania. She spun toward Imro. [“Imro, he is a Friend!”] she declared. Then she rounded on Alamar. [“And you, Alamar, you must remember that we are Friends, too!”] A subdued quiet fell upon the sea.

Imro submerged and emitted a clicking clatter of chirps. Of a sudden the dolphin reappeared, once again forming a ring.

Nalin’s exotic features were sunk in thought as he drifted. At last he said, [“If those on the
Silver Bottom
rid the island of the evil, and rid the Mother Waters of the black
¡g!alley
as well, then perhaps the weed will become ours again.”]

[“Exactly!”] proclaimed Alamar. [“If that
Child
”]—he
pointed a finger at Imro—[“had only listened long enough before getting uppity—”]

Rania’s warning voice cut sharply through Alamar’s tirade: [“Friend, remember my words.”]

Alamar spluttered to silence.

Nalin looked at the others. [“I say we go.”]

Imro asked sourly, [“Go where?”]

[“Show them the way.”]

Rania again sharply sucked air in through her pointed teeth. [“Go to the island? Shouldn’t we put this to the
Grex?
“]

Nalin shook his head. [“Those elders? It would take them a spawning season to make up their minds.”]

Rania nodded grudgingly, sunlight sparkling off the ripples of her movement. [“What about the weed? On the surface it becomes impassable, or nearly so.”]

Imro scowled. [“It’s a stupid plan. They will never be able to get
Silver Bottom
through.”]

[“Ha!”] barked Alamar. [“We don’t plan on taking the
Eroean
any farther. We have flat-hulled boats for that task. All we need to know is where to go.”]

Imro yet scowled.
[“We
can pass the weed by swimming far under, down where it does not reach. But then how will the
A!miî
go? They need to breathe air, and they cannot swim up through the thick weed from below. They are faithful protectors, and I would not wish to leave them behind while we go alone into the dangerous weed. And these destroyers, they breathe air as well. They, too, cannot go under…which means if we are to guide them, then we must do it by swimming on the surface, through the weed, which will only grow thicker the farther inward we go. And so, Nalin, just how do you propose that we and the
A!miî
pass the weed?”]

[“Simple,”] replied Nalin, [“we will call a
¡th!rix
. We will let
it
clear the way.”]

Rania shook her head. [“We cannot ask a gentle
¡th!rix
to go to the island. That would be wicked.”]

Now it was Alamar who scowled. [“What is this—this
¡th!rix?
“]

[“Besides,”] added Rania, [“
I
will not go all the way to the island. It is an evil place.”]

Nalin drifted over to Rania. [“We will only ask the
¡th!rix
to take us to where the island can be seen, guiding
Friend Alamar and his companions through the weed. Then we will turn back, riding the
¡th!rix
out.”]

Alamar threw up his hands. [“Would one of you young
jackfools
tell me what a
¡th!rix
is?”]

Nalin looked at Rania and Imro. [“Well, shall we do it?”]

Rania glanced back and forth between the two. [“And none of us goes to the island—neither you, Nalin, nor Imro nor I…nor the
¡th!rix
, right?”] At Nalin’s nod she inclined her head,
Yes
.

Imro stared long at the
Eroean
, then at Alamar, and finally he nodded, too.

Nalin spun to Alamar. [“We will take you to within sight of the isle.”]

Alamar stood glaring at the sky, his arms folded tightly, his chin jutting out stubbornly, his foot tapping the water, ringlets rippling outward. [“I am not going anywhere until someone tells me just what this blasted
¡th!rix
is!”]

Rania laughed up at him, her voice liquid silver. [“You will see, Friend Alamar. Oh yes indeed, you will see.”]

At the sound of her voice, Alamar looked down at her incredible elfin face and could do nought but smile.

“Oh, oh, look, there they go,” cried Jinnarin. “Oh my!”

In the distance the Children of the Sea rolled a surface dive, the silver-haired Merfolk speeding down and away, and some of the crew at the rail cried out that the Children had the tails of fish, claiming that they had glimpsed them, though it was not so. As the Merfolk dived, the ring of dolphin broke, and leaping and plunging alongside one another they swiftly sped away.

Alamar turned toward the
Eroean
, gesturing wearily, and the crew in the dinghy below pushed off and began rowing out toward him. When they reached him, aided by two sailors Alamar clambered over the side and in. The crew then turned about and rowed back to the
Eroean
. Davit ropes were lowered and affixed, and the dinghy was winched upward. As the boat was swung aboard, Aylis looked at the drawn face of her father—he was weary yet strangely flushed. Aravan helped him to
climb out, and Jinnarin, bouncing and jiggling on the balls of her feet in excitement, asked, “Well, Alamar, what happened out there?”

Alamar looked down at her, a beatific smile on his face. “What happened? Out there? I’ll tell you what happened, Pysk: I fell in love again, that’s what.”

“Oh, lordy, he’s been charmed by a Mermaid,” declared Artus, standing nearby.

“Pish tush!” poo pooed Jamie. “There ain’t no such thing as Mermaids.”

Artus turned and pointed out to the sea where Alamar had stood. “Then tell me, Mister Smarty, what do you call those we just saw dive under if not Mermaids?”

“Is it true?” asked Jinnarin. “Were you charmed by a Mermaid, Alamar?”

“Of course not, Pysk,” snapped Alamar, but Aylis looked at her father and wondered if his denial hadn’t come a bit too swiftly.

Bokar cut through the chitchat. “Is there an island, Mage Alamar? If so, where?”

“Island? Yes.” Alamar nodded. “Where? They did not say. Inwards, is all.”

“If you did not discover where lies the island,” growled Bokar, “then how are we to find it?”

Alamar drew himself up, peering down his nose at the armsmaster. “They will guide us, that’s how. Dawn tomorrow they return to do so, bringing with them a
¡th!rix
to clear the way.”

“A
th-th
,” stuttered Jinnarin, unable to cope with the clicks. “Hmm, whatever you said, Alamar—what is it?”

Alamar threw up his hands in delayed frustration and snapped. “They wouldn’t tell me!”

“Bah!” burst out Bokar, his own frustration mounting. “Tell me, Mage, just what
did
you find out?”

Alamar glared at the armsmaster. “What I found out,
Dwarf
, is that Durlok plies a black galley in these waters.”

“Aha!” crowed Jinnarin. “The black ship! So then we were right!”

Aylis looked down at the Pysk. “Oh, Jinnarin, then this must truly be the pale green sea.”

Jinnarin nodded vigorously, then turned to Alamar. “What about the crystal castle? Is it on this island?”

A stricken look came over the elder’s face, but then his jaw jutted out and he said, “I didn’t ask.”