‘I know what you’re doing, Elenya,’ said Va. He launched the bucket of water at the sail and went back for a second fill. ‘Don’t. You mustn’t boast of things that were a sin.’

‘You saved Novy Rostov. You saved me.’

‘I lost two armies: my own and the Caliphate’s. I emptied the countryside and filled the tombs. That’s nothing to be proud of. Just stop. Please.’

Elenya pulled at the strand of hair that had caught in her mouth and turned away. Va wet the sail again and took stock of the other boat.

‘macShiel. The boat: it follows, yes?’

macShiel checked for himself. ‘Yes. I don’t know whether we can make it to land in time. Our problems won’t end there either.’

‘Better than caliph,’ said Va emphatically.

‘You’re probably right. I much prefer being the master of my own destiny,’ said macShiel, ‘and that ship is moving faster than we are. Right about now is where we ought to throw things overboard to lighten the load.’

They looked at each other. Aside from themselves, there was nothing to get rid of.

‘You need me,’ reminded Akisi. ‘I know what’s happened to the other book. I can even take you to Great Nairobi.’

‘If it was up to me,’ said macShiel, ‘you’d be fish food. It’s the monk and Elenya you need to convince. Are you worth the risk of getting captured by their mortal enemies?’

‘Yes.’

Elenya told Va: ‘The choice is this: throw Akisi over the side and give ourselves a better chance.’

‘Or?’

‘Or not. Can we find the second book without him?’

‘Of course we can. We found this one. It’ll make it difficult, but not impossible.’ Va put his hand down on the book. ‘But I won’t allow it.’

‘Even with the Caliphate breathing down our neck? Look.’ Elenya waved her hand with a flourish. The triangular sails of the other boat were much larger than they had been.

Va pointed ahead. He could make out hills and valleys among the shadowed land. ‘We might make it.’

‘Va,’ added Elenya, ‘what happens if it is the Caliphate? What will Akisi do then, but sell his skills to them. You want to see their army with An Cobh’s weaponry? Better for everyone if he goes.’

‘I can’t be party to this,’ hissed Va. ‘I won’t have his blood on my hands.’

‘Then I’ll do it. You’re right: I’ve no particular wish to end up in a harem and raped repeatedly. I didn’t when they were outside the walls of my city and I haven’t changed my mind.’ Elenya slipped her knife out. ‘Me or the fish, Akisi. You have a choice, which is more than you gave the priest you killed or Cormac’s men.’

Akisi backed away as best he could. ‘For God’s sake, woman. I can’t swim!’

Va struggled to the stern and stood between the two.

‘Will everybody just shut up and sit down!’ shouted macShiel. ‘You want whoever it is to pull us out of the sea like drowning rats? Then keep on jumping around like madmen. Even if I kicked you all out, we wouldn’t stand a chance. That ship is going twice our speed, or hasn’t a little thing like the plain truth broken into your argument?’

They all sat, subdued.

‘What do we do?’ asked Elenya.

‘Furl the sail. Wait and see what happens.’ macShiel undid the jib rope and let the sail flutter aimlessly.

‘I know what I’m going to do,’ said Va, and ducked under the jib. He reached for the book and shook it out of its cloth wrapping. He put it on the gunwale and heaved it over the side.

‘No!’ Akisi lunged for him, his fingers brushing the metal cover and somehow pinning it to the outside of the hull. The book’s weight slid it down until it was underwater. A wave came up, slapped Akisi full in the face, and as he gasped, the book slipped away.

‘If I could bear the sight of you following it, then you would,’ said Va.

Akisi clawed at the expanding circle of wavelets. The book glinted once, then vanished.

‘How could you? It’s lost. The knowledge. The wisdom. Gone.’ His face contorted, his voice cracked.

‘Nothing is lost for ever,’ said Elenya, ‘and we have more immediate problems.’

The larger boat was coming up fast, its prow lost in breaking waves. The crew climbed spider-like up the rigging and started to stow the taut, wind-filled sails they had unfurled for the chase.

As it came alongside, it dwarfed macShiel’s little fishing boat. A rope fell to the deck, and they looked up. A row of grinning dark faces peered down at them.

macShiel tied the rope off, and they bumped against the vessel’s hull. Va swayed. ‘It’s the Caliphate.’

‘It might not be,’ said Elenya. She called up in her best Turkic, ‘Is this one of the caliph’s ships?’

The answer came not in Turkic, but in something else. Then two of the sailors were elbowed aside and a man wearing a black turban leaned out. ‘Who’s this that greets us in the name of our enemy?’

‘Me,’ shouted Elenya. ‘The caliph is our enemy too. We thought you were his men.’

‘May Allah pluck out my living entrails and feed them to the vultures if that was true. I spit on the caliph and his sons.’

‘You know Turkic though.’

‘So do you. Come up. We can discuss terms.’ The turbaned captain ordered his men to throw down a net, and Elenya climbed the side of the ship, followed by Akisi.

Va and macShiel looked at each other. ‘You first,’ said Va.

‘My boat. You first.’

Va stared at the sea. He might make it to shore, but probably not. It was still a very long way, and once there, he’d have to contend with the incurably violent Sasans. Could it be that this boatload of foreign devil-worshippers was being used by God to His ineffable ends? He had to trust the Almighty’s plans, not second-guess Him – or worse, assume he knew better.

God was God. If Va believed anything, it was that he was a servant, and servants did not question their master’s orders. He climbed up the net. Rough brown hands helped him over to the deck.

macShiel followed Va. ‘What type of ship is this, and who are its crew?’

‘I think they are Mahgrebi,’ said Va. ‘Slavers.’

‘I’ll not be taken,’ said macShiel. ‘I’d rather die first.’ He backed to the gunwale and looked at the drop.

Va laid hold of him. ‘Do nothing. Keep quiet. Trust God.’

Elenya broke off her Turkic discussions. ‘Listen to him, Rory. There’s a way through this that might mean we stay free, but you need to keep your nerve. If you don’t want to trust Va’s invisible friend, trust me instead.’

She carried on talking to the captain in the one language they had in common, the language of their shared enemy. Akisi gnawed at his knuckles. Va kept a tight grip on macShiel’s arm and, for his part, muttered his way through a prayer of deliverance.

The sailors stood around them in a loose semicircle, hands on their short swords and clubs, which dangled from sashes around their waists. Their interest and intent was clear. They only held back because their captain hadn’t given the order to subdue the captives.

Then the captain and Elenya slid their palms together. A deal was done, and the order finally given.

Va and macShiel stiffened as the sailors rushed them, but only Akisi went down under a barrage of blows. He was dragged, heels scraping along the deck, to one of the hatches.

‘What? What have you done, you witch? You’ve tricked me. You can’t treat one of the emperor’s subjects like this. I appeal to the emperor himself for justice!’

He was pushed into the hold, and the sailors swarmed after him.

‘You can stop hanging onto each other like frightened girls,’ said Elenya. ‘I’ve made a devil’s pact, but it’s bought us some time.’

‘What did you say? And what’s happened to Akisi?’ asked Va.

‘I told Captain Haida that we were agents of His Imperial Majesty, the Kenyan emperor, escorting a prisoner back to Great Nairobi to be tried by the emperor himself.’

‘And he believed you?’

‘No. But neither can he take the risk of not believing me. If he’s wrong, he’ll lose his ship, his liberty and probably his life. What he’s going to do is dump us at the nearest friendly port in the Maghreb and let the local Kenyan ambassador sort it out. We’re not slaves, and if we play this right, we can get passage all the way to Kenya.’