XV

Chaz repeated the news for Preacher and Greystone. Rider ordered the ship demon to proceed toward the Golden Crescent at speed, for the fishing boat was near the limit of the web. He had to get the vessel in sight first or lose it among a hundred others.

"I think I've been outmaneuvered," he said.

"How's that?" Chaz asked.

"The boat is leaving the web. To follow we'll have to keep it in sight. Which means they'll be able to see us, too."

"How about an invisibility spell?"

"Wouldn't hide something this big."

"What about an angel?" Su-Cha asked. Already he had shed his shirt and sprouted wings.

Rider understood immediately. "An albatross or eagle would be less flashy."

"Dig out some of those mirrors and flares," Su-Cha told Chaz. Already his head was avian.

"A shape to go with his brain," Chaz said, ransacking the packs. He produced signal mirrors and four small flares, which he placed in a pouch the imp grew among his ventral feathers. Su-Cha retained rudimentary hands beneath his wings.

Rider spread a maritime chart. "The ship is here, now, and headed so. If there are others around, watch the one that is in a hurry. They're making all the speed they can."

Su-Cha squawked and plunged through a hatch Preacher opened. In a moment he was headed out over the strait on long white wings.

Greystone looked over Rider's shoulder. "They headed for the Hurm Islands?"

"Maybe. They could shift course once they're sure they're clear of the web."

"How soon?"

"I've lost them already."

"Signal from Su-Cha," Chaz said. "He has them."

Rider peered out the window. Far away, a mirror flashed.

"Keeping their heading," Chaz read.

"Tell him not to get too close," Rider replied. "What do you know about the Hurm Islands, Greystone?"

"Not much to know. Uninhabited and considered uninhabitable. Except for the biggest, Radhorn Island, they're little more than marshy places off the mouth of the Claytyne River." The Claytyne emptied into the Bridge of the World from its southern, Saverne side. "Long ago, before the seas were ours alone, there were naval fortifications on Radhorn. Earlier still, pirates nested there, lying in wait for ships headed west."

Rider nodded. "And these days it's suspected of being a hideout for smugglers. The ruins of the fortifications would provide a good hiding place for a pirate airship."

"But Odehnal said Polybos House," Preacher protested.

"Let's forget that for the moment. Chaz. Can you make out Su-Cha?"

"Only when he flashes an all right."

"Maybe we ought to call for an all-out raid," Preacher said. "Half a dozen airships and a company of air marines. Could be anything waiting out there."

"If it becomes necessary." Rider spoke to the propulsive demon. The ship surged forward.

"Chaz. We're going down channel and crossing over. Tell Su-Cha." He began shedding altitude.

The airship crossed the Bridge of the World just yards above the waves. It was seen by several merchantmen and fishing vessels, but Su-Cha reported none steering near the Hurm Islands. Rider took the airship up into the southern hills, finally grounded in a side canyon leading down to the Claytyne River.

"Now what?" Chaz asked. He was working his sword with a whetstone.

"We wait for darkness. And for Su-Cha."

Su-Cha arrived first, but not by much. "They stuck Soup and Spud in a basement under the old ruins, then headed back for the north shore."

"They just dumped them?" Chaz asked. "Didn't leave any guards or anything?"

"Oh, there's guards. Fifteen or twenty smugglers and runaway slaves and such, that they paid to watch them."

Chaz said, "Something's wrong here, Rider. Either it's a trap or we've been snookered into leaving town."

"No trap," Su-Cha said. "I looked the place over good."

"Perhaps Shai Khe has fallen victim to his own arrogance."

"Well, at least we could have followed the fishing boat if the runt hadn't ... "

Su-Cha was grinning his biggest grin.

"What instructions were the smugglers given as to the care of our friends?" Rider asked.

"They're to treat them well. Till they hear otherwise. The men from the boat—they were all orientals—paid the smugglers for two weeks."

"And did you do what I suspect you did with your flares?"

"Yep." Su-Cha grinned again.

"And your mirrors?"

"Right up on the masthead. Nobody pays attention to a bird."

"Or a birdbrain," Chaz mumbled.

Rider said, "Let's get flying, then. Soup and Spud are safe for the moment."

"You just going to leave them there?" Chaz asked.

"If we don't mess with them, Shai Khe will think we're off the trail," Su-Cha said.

Rider took the airship back along the reverse of his approach route, but midway across the Bridge of the World he lifted into the normal air lane from Kaizherion. "Take over, Chaz."

He busied himself in the rear of the cabin for several minutes. In time he brought forward a plate of frosted violet glass. He handed this to Su-Cha. The imp held it at eye level, extended, in both hands. "Ready when you are."

Rider spoke one Word of Command. Su-Cha turned rapidly, staring through the glass. "There!"

Rider marked the direction. "Charts, Greystone. Not the direction I expected."

"Thought they would head for the city?" Su-Cha asked.

"Yes."

The boat was bound westward.

Rider examined the chart. "They're hugging the coast. Trying to slip past the patrol in the Narrows. Go down, Chaz. Let's see if we can't raise the guardship."

Finding the Narrows sentinel was simple. The trireme was showing her lights. There were no challengers on Shasesserre's seas.

Rider went down the rope ladder, spoke with the vessel's commander. When he returned, he said,

"All set."

Su-Cha squealed maliciously, then spoke the Word of Command that ignited the flares aboard the fishing boat.

The trireme was headed north already, cadence drum pounding. "They'll make it look like a rescue," Rider said. "But then they'll stay on station till they're relieved. Shai Khe will have to do without those men for a while."

"We could use a few for a truth-drawing." Chaz opined.

"The captain will turn them in as suspected smugglers. They'll be available."

"There she goes!" Su-Cha crowed.

A growing fire illuminated the strait.

"Pity we couldn't follow them," Chaz said.

Rider mused, "I don't think they would have led us anywhere. I suspect their function was to draw us away." He shrugged. "We'll see. Meantime, Shai Khe is short even more of his resources.

Those can't be infinite."

XVI

Rider used the ladder to deposit Chaz and Su-Cha atop the Citadel, then returned the airship to its cradle. It was near dawn when he reached his laboratory. Chaz opened the door grinning.

"Good news?"

"Good and bad," Chaz said. "The good is we had visitors. They're still here."

"The woman?"

"How did you know?"

"It seemed reasonable. She saw a ring used to open the door. I assume that is how she got inside?"

Chaz nodded. "She used Soup's. The guy used Spud's."

"Guy?"

"Look him over. He wants to play hard boy. Wouldn't talk to us."

"All right. What's the bad news?"

"Two kinds of it. Somebody let out the prisoners you took this afternoon. People are claiming it was all a mixup and misunderstanding, but a couple City Guards got themselves killed. And Kentan Rubios is dead. The King wants to see you about that."

"He was murdered?"

"Belledon thinks he was. I already talked to the physician. Says he didn't find anything suspicious."

Rider checked to see if there had been disturbances in the web while he was out of touch. None were evident. Shai Khe was playing a careful game where the web was concerned. Perhaps he had come in contact with it before and been burned by Jehrke.