‘The priestess.’

‘What of her?’ Sheraptus asked.

‘Did you not sense something awry last night on your ship? A strength you have not tasted before?’

‘I did … on the beach, as well. Her?’

‘She possesses something not yet seen in nethra. Perhaps you are interested?’

‘Passingly. In her, though …’

‘She attracts your ire?’

‘We were interrupted. She did not scream for me.’

‘I see. I can show you how to find her. I can show you how to harness her power for your own ends.’

‘And in return?’

‘The tome.’

‘As you wish. The Screamer is out seeking its whereabouts right now. I suspect Those Other Green Things that sank my ship will be involved.’

‘The Shen are powerful. It may take many females to wrench it from their grasp.’

‘I have many females.’

‘And the artifact,’ the Grey One That Grins said, ‘you returned it from Port Yonder?’

‘Yldus arrived not long ago. I hardly see what you want with a pile of bones, though.’

‘It will become clear, in time.’

‘You say that often, I note.’

‘I have little time to explain. My presence is needed elsewhere.’

‘Of course. Vashnear will tend to your needs.’

He heard the Grey One That Grins turn on his heels and begin to walk away. Without turning around, Sheraptus called after him.

‘This power she has … and how to harness it …’

‘It will be a long process,’ his companion said. ‘Long … and slow.’

And without a word, Sheraptus smiled, returning his gaze to the island below. The sikkhuns fed. The ships bobbed in the surf as supplies were loaded onto them. And the females were joyous.

So many steps, Mahalar thought as he climbed down. Were there always this many?

Not for the first time, he thought about turning around, returning to the top and sleeping for a few more hours. But his people were waiting for him below. They had requested his guidance.

He found the Shen gathered in a throng at the bottom of the massive stone staircase; he felt their yellow eyes upon him, heard the quiet hiss of their breath. At the fore of them, he recognised Shalake, heard the towering Shen’s breath louder and angrier than the rest.

He bowed his scaly head to them as he was about to ask what they had summoned him for. That reason became clear as he recognised another presence amongst them: small, kneeling, quivering with fear.

Human, he recognised. Humans here … with Shalake.

His heart sank. He knew what usually came next.

‘Mahalar,’ Shalake said. ‘We found this one outside the reef. We await your wisdom.’

Of course, Mahalar thought with a sigh. ‘ Wisdom’ is not often needed to sentence terrified humans to death. All the same …

He came before the human, smelled his frightened breath, the salt on his skin, heard the quaver in his voice.

‘Your name?’ he asked.

‘S-Sebast,’ the human replied. ‘Of the Riptide, under the captaincy of one Argaol-’

‘Sebast,’ Mahalar repeated. ‘What is it you’ve come seeking?’

‘Our m-men,’ the human stammered. ‘Three men, two women, one … thing. They disembarked weeks ago. We were supposed to pick them up weeks ago. But our crew … dead … slaughtered. And now, me …’

He let that thought hang, unfinished, in the air, clearly hoping for a denial, a shake of Mahalar’s scaly, wrinkled head, anything that might suggest he would walk away from this.

Mahalar simply pulled a pipe from his robe and lit it, taking a few deep, long puffs.

‘Where were you to meet them?’ Mahalar asked.

‘T-Teji, sir. It’s supposed to be a trading post not far from-’

‘We know what Teji is, human,’ Shalake hissed. ‘But apparently youdo not. These waters are forbidden to humans.’

‘We didn’t know!’ Sebast squealed. ‘We didn’t know, I swear! Let me go and I’ll take my men away from here and never return.’

Mahalar looked to Shalake. ‘His men?’

‘Dead,’ Shalake answered.

‘W-what?’ Sebast stammered.

‘It is our way, unfortunately,’ Mahalar said. ‘We stand atop sacred ground, Sebast. Our charge sleeps deeply, and we take care that no one disturbs her.’

‘Your charge?’

‘It takes a long time to explain,’ Mahalar said. ‘A longer time to convince you. But we have been convinced for a long, long time. This is our charge. These are our oaths.’ He shook his head. ‘We break them for no one, Sebast.’

He glanced to Shalake, nodded. He felt the wind break as the great Shen’s club rose into the air. He felt the air stand silent as the great Shen’s voice followed.

‘ SHENKO-SA!’

‘No! PLEASE!’

He heard the sound of a melon splitting, a sack of fruits hitting the earth. He smelled blood on the air and sighed.

‘I am sorry, Sebast.’

‘We do as we have to,’ Shalake said. ‘If he found those humans he sought …’

‘I know,’ Mahalar said. ‘But I was told you sent warriors to deal with them.’

‘Yaike says that they are dead.’

‘And who told Yaike?’

‘Togu.’

‘Then be on your guard. Togu has forgotten much in his time away.’

‘We have not,’ Shalake said. ‘If they still live, we will kill them. The longfaces have been sunk, continue to sink as we find them. The demons …’

‘Are coming,’ Mahalar said.

‘You can sense them?’

‘As easily as I can sense you.’

‘How long?’

‘Not very.’

‘Why now?’

‘They are called.’

Mahalar turned to stare up the great stone staircase. He could feel the mountain towering above him, smell the rain clouds that hung about its peak. And deep within its stone heart, he could hear a sound, fainter, but growing louder.

A heart, beating.

‘She,’ he whispered softly, ‘is stirring.’