'Just as long as her magic doesn't just bring a dragon down on us.' Risala took the earthenware pot and bent to tend the scratches on her legs, shedding her makeshift loincloth. Straightening up, she handed the pot back to Kheda.

Kheda carefully replaced the empty salve jar in his physic chest. 'Any dragon will go after the two of them before it bothers with you or me,' he said quietly.

Though what would we do then, alone on a hostile shore without hope of magical aid? Was I too easily seduced by Velindre's promises that her powers would make everything simple?

Standing up with new resolution, he stripped off the loincloth he'd made of his trousers. 'We'll track these savages to their lair and the wizards can watch them for a few days.' Pulling fresh clothing from the bundle of worn cottons he had been sharing with Velindre, he dressed rapidly. 'Then Velindre can use her magic to take us to some northern backwater and we'll make our way to Shek Kul's domain.'

'Word of the two dragons seen in Chazen will have reached him.' Risala nodded her understanding. 'He'll have been searching all the northern lore he can get his

hands on for anything that the warlords of ages past used to keep barbarian mages out of their waters.'

'Velindre found lore we could use against the dragons before. I'll humble myself before Shek Kul if that's what it takes for him to share such knowledge.' Kheda took rags and a metal vial from one of the nets nailed against the wooden walls to hold oddments and necessities. 'Chazen's safety is more important than my pride, and at least I'll be able to tell him what we'll be facing, if they come again, by way of trade.'

Risala picked up the soiled sword. 'Shek Kul's no fool—'

The Zaise lurched violently. Risala dropped the blade and Kheda wrapped her in his arms, both of them fighting to keep their balance. The scrape of rock reverberated through the hull. Kheda kissed Risala's hair as the ship settled to an even keel. She tightened her arms around his chest as much as she dared given all their various contusions.

'Sorry about that.' Naldeth appeared in the doorway, the daylight dimming around him. 'Oh, forgive me.' Seeing Risala half-dressed in Kheda's arms, he retreated bashfully.

Kheda grinned and gave Risala's naked rump a fond squeeze before releasing her and handing over a pair of sturdy trousers. 'I think good stout cottons are called for hereabouts.'

'As well as footwear.' Risala reached for a sack slung on a peg. 'It would be foolish to come all this way and die from a festering thorn.'

'And we'll all carry blades, wizards or not.' Kheda picked up his sword and the cleaning materials and went out onto the deck.

The Zaise was edging into a contorted cave reaching deep into the cliff. Seawater slopped over angular ledges

as the walls loomed high on either side, and the harsh sound echoed back and forth. Gooseflesh rose on Kheda's arms as they moved out of the sun into the gloomy chill. A faint nimbus of green magelight ran along the Zaise\ rails.

Like the cold fire that is a mariner's most potent omen out of sight of land. And I am in a land where creatures of portent stalk the earth as well as the heavens. Yet I have nothing to guide me to the wisest course of action, because I have lost all faith in such signs.

'Can we get back out of here?' Beside him, Risala hugged herself, looking at the fragment of open sky painfully bright against the darkness surrounding them.

'Whatever the tide.' From her vantage point on the stern platform, Velindre anticipated the question on the tip of Kheda's tongue. 'And without any magic strong enough to be felt above the natural turmoil of these waters.'

'See that cleft?' Naldeth pointed into the cold darkness beyond the Zaise's prow.

'No.' Kheda stifled a shiver as Velindre's green wizardry dripped from the ship's rails and faded into the deck planking, leaving an iridescence like the sheen inside a mussel shell.

'It runs nearly all the way up to the top of this cliff.' The youthful wizard raised a hand and white flames flickered on his fingertips to cast hard-edged shadows onto the deck. 'I can make us a way through.'

'Let's make sure we have a ship to come back to.' Kheda set down his sword and helped Risala fetch out the closely woven fenders stowed beneath the Zaise's rails.

Velindre brought the Zaise alongside a rocky ledge where wetness caught the light filtering in from the entrance. The fenders rustled and rasped as they were crushed between stone and hull. Stuffed with the silky fibres found inside

tandra tree seed pods, their oily scent filled Kheda with an unexpected rush of desire for recognizable trees populated by readily identifiable birds.

'We must all carry blades.' He left the fenders and collected his sword, opening the vial to tip the scouring mixture of fine sand and vinegar onto a rag. Risala slipped back into the stern cabin.

'Don't worry about mooring ropes.' Velindre slid down the ladder as the Zaise froze in the midst of the jolting waters. 'Our bird's not going anywhere.'

'So, Kheda, what's it like ashore?' Naldeth asked with keen interest.

'Every leaf is edged like a razor or studded with thorns.' Risala reappeared and tossed a pair of sturdy leather sandals with nailed soles over to the magewoman, dumping an armful of other gear on the deck. 'And there are birds big enough to bite a man's arm clean through.'

Naldeth turned from looking ahead into the featureless darkness, his mouth half-open. 'Shall I take a sword?'

Kheda began wiping the grime from his blade with an oiled rag. 'Do you know how to use one?'

'Not as such—' the young mage began defensively.

'Then no.' Perversely amused by the disappointment on Naldeth's face, Kheda relented a little. 'You'll find a hacking blade will serve if you have to fight with it and it'll be more use against the scrub's teeth around here.'

'We should all carry water flasks, and something to eat.' Risala handed Naldeth a brass water flask on a braided st rap almost identical to her own as well as a leather pouch to sling over his other shoulder. 'We don't want to have to go foraging.'

'No,' Kheda agreed, scrubbing hard to be sure he was ridding his blade of every smear.

/ haven't come all this way just to have my skull crushed by some savage's club because my sword sticks in its scabbard.

'Make sure you don't lose this.' Risala offered the young wizard a square-ended blade as broad as his palm and as long as his forearm, protected by a wood and leather scabbard. The varnished handle was almost as long as the blade.

'Here, let me show you.' Kheda took a long leather belt from the pile of gear in front of Risala and looped it twice around Naldeth's hips. Kheda's foot brushed against the cold metal of the youth's toeless foot and he looked down. 'How much magic do you use to keep yourself walking?'

Velindre answered for the young mage. 'Not enough to stir the elements beyond arm's length.' She sat down to pull on stout sandals and used the laces to bind her loose trousers tight around her ankles.

/ suppose I shall just have to take your word for that.

Kheda looked at Risala. She shrugged at him, her expression unreadable in the dim light. The straps of a water flask and a light leather sack crisscrossed her chest, and she held her hacking blade in both hands, dagger ready at her belt.

'Show us the way out of here, Naldeth,' Kheda said.

The young wizard stood upright and squared his shoulders. He climbed over the Zaise's rail and walked cautiously along a ledge deeper into the gloom. A muted red glow leaked from the joints and rivets of his metal leg.

'I'll bring up the rear.' Velindre's face was more angular and androgynous than ever in the meagre light filtering through the cave. 'Just in case.'