Robert Redick - The Rats and the Ruling sea

She stumbled. Her shoulder met the cliff's edge, and then she was falling, spinning, the boiling waves rushing towards her. She closed her eyes and extended her arms, thrust her hands into the wing-bone gauntletsAnd soared.

'What do you mean, refuses?' said Neeps.

'I mean he refuses — he flat-out won't come near her,' said Fiffengurt with a significant look at Thasha's cabin. She had retreated there well before sunrise, with Felthrup and her dogs, and had only responded to their knocking with irritated grunts. Felthrup's muffled voice went on and on, however, as if the rat were delivering an endless speech.

The quartermaster entered the stateroom and closed the door behind him. He looked worried and morose. 'As a matter of fact, Pathkendle doesn't want to see any of you. He's asked for his hammock to be brought to the midship compartment on the berth deck. He says he'll be as safe there as he would in the stateroom, because there's always hundreds of sailors around. And of course no woman may set foot there. I don't think he's in his right mind, Undrabust, if you want the truth. He says Alyash is a Mzithrini! And he says he watched Drellarek get eaten.'

'Did Pazel get bumped on the head, maybe?' asked Marila sensibly.

Fiffengurt shook his head. 'He looks like he's been wrestling snakes in the bottom of the Pits. And there's more, by Rin.' He lowered his voice, although they were quite alone. 'Pathkendle says Rose has got a wolf burned into his forearm. How d'ye like that development, lad? Rose carries the same mark as you and Pathkendle and Thasha and Mr Hercol. Does that mean what I think, now — that the captain's going to help us?'

Neeps' eyes widened in disbelief. 'Pazel must be wrong,' he said. 'He saw some other scar on Rose's arm, and got carried away.'

'I'm sure you're right, Undrabust,' said Fiffengurt uneasily.

'Hang that fool, he's impossible!' Neeps exploded. 'Gone for three days of Rin-knows-what on Bramian, and he can't even bring himself to say, "Hello, I survived? " '

'Obviously not,' said Marila.

Neeps glared at her. 'Anything else obvious to you?'

Marila nodded firmly. She began to count on her fingers.

'Pazel won't actually be safe on the berth deck, because it's full of violent men. And all that chatter from Felthrup — it's just like the night before last. He's reading to her from the Polylex, Neeps. And Thasha must have asked him to, because who could put up with it otherwise? And Rose hasn't imprisoned you yet because he thinks you'll be useful to him, just like Pazel must have been on Bramian.'

'Finished?' Neeps demanded.

'No,' said Marila. 'It's also obvious that you and Pazel had a fight before he left — you get angry whenever he's mentioned. And one more thing: since Ramachni left we haven't won any battles, unless you count what happened on Dhola's Rib. Mostly we've been fighting just to stay alive. We're… lost, and our enemies are stronger than ever.'

Fiffengurt sighed and worried his beard. 'That last part's certain,' he said. 'But they did take one hit on Bramian: Sergeant Drellarek met his death, in some horrid way no one wants to explain.'

Thasha's door creaked open. There she stood, bedraggled and wild-eyed between her dogs.

'Where is Pazel?'

Awkward silence. Neeps and Fiffengurt glanced sidelong at each other, as if each was hoping the other would speak first.

Marila came to their rescue. 'He's annoyed with us — with the two of you, anyway. He and Neeps got into a fight-'

'What?' cried Thasha.

'-and Pazel's mad at you for kissing Fulbreech-'

'What? ' shouted Neeps. 'Thasha, you kissed that snake-tongued stooge? That palace bootlick?'

Thasha looked ready to smack him. 'You don't know a thing about Greysan. He's no more a bootlick than you, he's worked for what he's got-'

'Aye,' laughed Neeps acidly. 'I've no doubt he earns his wages. Just didn't imagine you'd be paying 'em.'

'You pig!' Thasha took a step towards Neeps. 'Did you try to strangle Pazel too?'

'Are you both touched in the head?' cried Fiffengurt, stepping between them. 'I've never seen such a pair of beasts! Enough, enough, or by the Night Gods you can have done with any help from this old man!'

His rage shamed them all to silence. Fiffengurt took a deep breath. 'That's much better. Now then-'

A terrified squeal cut him off. It was Felthrup, still in Thasha's cabin. They rushed into the chamber and saw the rat upon her bed, eyes riveted on the single porthole, which stood ajar. Collapsed on the sash was what they first took for an injured bird. But then the bird rose on shaky human legs.

'It's Diadrelu!' cried Thasha, leaping to her side. 'She's been stabbed!'

She lifted the ixchel woman gently from the sill. 'The coat, don't harm the coat!' Diadrelu gasped.

'Devil take the coat!' said Felthrup. 'Where is your wound, Diadrelu?'

'Lord Rin!' said Fiffengurt. 'That thing's a crawly!'

Dri looked up at him, copper eyes sharp.

'Put it down, Thasha!' cried Fiffengurt. 'They're worse than scorpions! Trust me, I know!'

'Will he talk?' said Diadrelu quietly.

'Will I talk?' cried Fiffengurt. 'You can bet your ship-sinking blood I'll talk!'

'No you won't!' shouted Neeps and Thasha together.

Fiffengurt looked from one to the other, like a man being circled by strangers in an alley. 'You don't understand,' he whispered. 'That's a crawly.'

'We've no time for this,' husked Diadrelu.

'It's your back that's cut, isn't it?' said Neeps, trying to peel the coat away from the bloody spot. Dri dug her nails into his thumb.

'You're under attack,' she said.

The warning spilled from her, even as her blood soaked Thasha's arm: the old priest on the island, Sathek's Sceptre, the Jistrolloq tearing east with a full spread of sail. The humans stood gaping. Once more Thasha was the first to reach a decision.

'Take her, Marila.'

Gingerly she passed Diadrelu to the Tholjassan girl. 'What are you doing, Thasha?' Felthrup asked.

'Alerting Rose,' she said. 'It has to be me, don't you understand?'

Without waiting for an answer, she flew from the stateroom. They heard her shouting from the passage: 'Turachs! Rose wanted me captured, right? Here I am, take me! I surrender!'

Neeps started to run after her, but a glance at Fiffengurt's tortured expression stopped him dead.

'Listen,' Neeps said, 'we owe our lives to this crawly. She saved me and Pazel in the Crab Fens. And she was the one who guessed the right moment to turn the Shaggat to stone.'

'Then she's using you, Undrabust — exploiting your good nature.'

'Oh come on,' said Neeps. 'My what?'

Marila had put Diadrelu on the bed and was easing her out of the feather-coat. 'We'll need a doctor,' she said.

'No!' said Diadrelu. 'I told you, the wound is not deep. Give me your knife, Mr Fiffengurt.'

'You know who I am!'

Diadrelu sighed. 'I also know that the Jistrolloq will make short work of this vessel, if her other officers move half as slowly as you do. Come then, do it yourself — cut this shirt from me.'

No room for modesty in her manner: she was a soldier in need of aid. 'Do it!' shrilled Felthrup, pawing at the quartermaster's leg. Stunned, Fiffengurt drew his skipper's knife. He slid it under the bloodsoaked shirt, and cut it with a quick upward slash.

Like any sailor worthy of the name, Fiffengurt kept his blade very sharp. The cloth parted neatly, and Diadrelu stood bare to the waist. The quartermaster blinked and dropped his eyes. He had never seen a more beautiful woman — not a woman, a crawly, damn it all. She twisted to examine herself: her back was crimson. A long diagonal gash crossed her shoulder.

'Bruch,' she swore, 'I can't fly like this. Hear me, I beg you. We have just two swallow-suits, and my nephew is wearing the other. He and three of our people are on Sandplume. They cannot escape the isle except by relaying both suits back and forth — carrying an empty suit back to the isle after each trip, you understand? — and this must happen before the Chathrand escapes the harbour. We cannot fly more than a half-mile without rest. Someone from my clan must take this suit back to Sandplume, immediately.'