Sorgrad led the way up the narrow and deliberately disorienting stair. I followed Ryshad, so glad to be leaving this eerie charnel house I had to hold back from shoving him along as he deliberately placed his boots noiselessly on each slab. That reminded me we weren’t safe till we were well clear of all the Elietimm with their mysterious powers and intrigues. Until then, we needed to watch our every step. No one ever got hung for being too cautious.

Mind you; no one ever got rich, either. I wondered privately just what kind of reward the Sieur D’Alsennin might be inclined to give us. With Halice to lead his troops, Temar should win enough booty from the pirates to remedy Kellarin’s woeful lack of coin. I’d need a reasonable coffer to get myself launched into the wine trade, after all.

Ahead of me, Ryshad stopped, bringing me rudely back to the here and now. He bent beneath the stone slab, braced to lift it. Sorgrad had a dagger in each hand. He nodded and Ryshad heaved the solid slab up to drop it with a thud.

They were both out of the hole together. Ryshad swung round to his offside, alert for anything unexpected. Sorgrad met him coming the other way.

“All clear.”

“No one here.”

That was enough for me and I scrambled out. It was well into morning up top, the light painfully bright for the first few moments. The sky was pale blue with improbably fluffy clouds rising in serried ranks from the west. The breeze was cool and refreshing on my face after the hushed stillness of the hargeard chamber. Then the acrid sharpness of burnt timber caught me by the throat and I coughed uncontrollably. I tried to stop but only succeeded in half choking myself.

Ryshad caught me by one arm. “Watch your step.”

Blinking through tears, I saw the top of the mound was strewn with fragments of shattered stone and burnt, splintered timber.

“That’s a good job done, I’d say,” remarked Sorgrad with pride.

“Definitely,” Shiv agreed wryly.

“Has anyone got any food?” ’Gren walked cautiously to the edge of the mound, shielding himself behind the broken stump of a sarsen.

I got my coughing under control. “Not me.”

Ryshad shrugged. “Sorry.”

“Save the day in a ballad and your hero gets a banquet and a willing princess,” ’Gren grumbled. “Let’s see if we can get back in time to help Halice fight the pirates.”

“The faster we let them know what’s happened, the better,” Ryshad allowed.

“Do I work the spell here?” Shiv looked at him.

“Time’s pressing,” I pointed out.

Ryshad shrugged. “Let’s see what happens.”

“I’ll work the spell with as much finesse as I can.” Shiv dug in his pack for his silver salver and then swore. “I’ve no candles.”

Sorgrad picked up a dewed fragment of blackened wood. “Try this.”

“I’ll do my best.” Shiv managed to summon a subdued flicker of scarlet from the brand. “Usara?”

We all waited expectantly. Nothing happened. Shiv frowned and snuffed out his flame with a workaday gesture. “He must be asleep.” Squaring his shoulders, he brought renewed fire to the wood. “Allin? Allin, it’s me, Shiv.”

The shining silver stayed obstinately blank. We all looked at Shiv and I wasn’t reassured to see his face mirror my own confusion.

“Do you want something else shiny?” ’Gren reached for his pack’s buckle.

Shiv frowned. “That won’t make a difference.”

“What would?” Ryshad asked bluntly.

Shiv didn’t answer, lifting the salver again and focusing all his attention on it. “Larissa?” The wood burned with a ferocious crimson. “Curse it!” Shiv swept the brand through the air to kill the flame, relighting it in the next breath. “Darni!”

“They can’t all be asleep, surely?” I heard concern catch in my voice.

“Is there some aetheric hindrance?” Ryshad asked, perplexed

“There’s no power here any more.” Sorgrad spoke up as Shiv shook his head. “It’s like the Shernasekke hargeard; nothing to react to the magic.” He walked round in a slow circle. “We’d have heard that bell sound if there was.”

Ryshad’s thoughts were long leagues away. “We have to let Temar and Halice know they can attack the pirates. Shiv, what else can you do? Livak, do you have any Artifice to contact Guinalle?”

“I’m afraid not.” I was sorry to have to disappoint him.

“Let’s see what scrying can show us.” Shiv cast aside the blackened wood and knelt on the damp grass. He laid the salver flat and dew sparkled briefly as it rolled across the turf, oozing over the metal to form a thickening emerald skin. Ryshad handed over his pot of ink and Shiv let a single drop fall from the stopper.

We crowded round. It took me a moment to realise the green mists had dissipated because initially all we saw were green leaves of almost exactly the same hue. Shiv drew the vision along the shore until we saw the camp laid out before us, neat campfires with people busy about them.

“That looks orderly enough.” I held both relief and worry firmly in check. There were more campfires than I expected but nowhere near enough people.

Ryshad was seeing the same as me. “Where’s Halice? Temar?”

Shiv wasn’t listening. He betrayed a sigh of release as the scrying found Pered standing outside the hut the pirates had left us, deep in conversation with someone I didn’t recognise. Whoever he was, someone had given him the worst beating I’d seen outside a mercenary camp.

I held my peace, counting a silent handful of heartbeats so Shiv could be sure his beloved was fine.

’Gren had no such delicacy. ”Where’s Halice, curse you!”

“Give me a moment.” Pered’s face faded and the water dulled to a stagnant jade before new magic suffused the water with verdant brilliance.

“There she is,” said Shiv with fervent relief.

I squinted at the image confined in the silver platter. “Where?”

“They’ve taken the Suthyfer landing,” exclaimed Ryshad.

“They have?” Sorgrad abandoned his thoughtful circuit of the mound to join us.

“We’re totally after the fair.” ’Gren was seriously displeased. ”No one to fight and no chance of any share in the loot.”

Shiv was still intent on his spell. “What do you suppose happened here?” The scrying showed us the burnt-out remnants of the pirates’ stockade, a group of mercenaries getting filthy tearing it down.

“Looks like you’re not the only ones who got carried away with your fire starting.” I smiled at Sorgrad who was studying the scene with interest.

“How did Halice know they could attack and be safe from the enchanters?” Shiv wondered aloud.

“Good question.” But Ryshad was well enough satisfied. “Still, the fight’s done and we won.”

“It can’t have been an easy fight, even without the Elietimm,” I pointed out. “If ’Sar and the others were using all their wits and wizardry, they’re probably still sleeping.”

There was no doubt our friends were masters of the landing. Like those miniature ships that sailors too old to be hired like to sell, we saw the Dulse and the Fire Minnow riding blithely at safe anchor. Solitary watchmen paced their decks with none of the fearful urgency of men expecting attack. Halice’s troops were reclaiming Kellarin’s cargoes from the ramshackle remnants of the pirates’ encampments, sentries circling with the same desultory stroll.

“Rosarn, Vaspret, Minare.” I ticked off faces I recognised on my fingers before chewing my lip as Shiv’s roving spell swept across callously piled bodies. Those had to be pirates. Our dead would be treated with far more respect lest Ostrin turn up in one of his legendary disguises to ask the reason why.

“No mages, nor Guinalle,” observed Ryshad.

“They’ll be sitting down to a rich breakfast aboard ship,” said ’Gren scornfully. “Noble born pay mercenaries to sit and eat their gruel on the cold ground.”

“Shiv, can you see inside the cabins?”

Not without—” The wizard froze and I heard a most unwelcome sound carried by the questing breeze.