The Ocean of the Dead: Ship Kings 4 Read online

  Nell shook her head in bafflement. ‘Certainty? What are you talking about? There is no certainty in any of this. Even if we survive the Doldrums, there may not even be land in the southern world. An emperor, by all that floats? Yes, I truly do think you’ve lost your wits!’

  Diego sat back, and a flash of superiority in his smile made him seem like his old smug self again, just for a moment. ‘Of course, there is a thing you don’t yet know . . . and someone you haven’t met.’

  He nodded now to the guards by the doors, and one of them went to a smaller door that opened forward off the Great Cabin. The marine knocked upon it and called, ‘His Highness is ready for you now, Scapegoat.’

  Dow and Nell had turned to watch in curiosity. A scapegoat? But then of course, Dow reminded himself, this was a proper Ship Kings vessel and by rule must indeed have a scapegoat of its own . . .

  Then he was staring in disbelief, for the door had been thrown back, and now from the shadows within a gliding shape emerged. It was a wheeled chair pushed by an attendant, the seat framed by a canopy draped in black gauze long curtains which revealed only a hint of whoever sat within, suggestion merely of a torso and limbs, oddly disturbing in their form.

  No. It was impossible. This could not be Axay, scapegoat of the long lost Twelfth Kingdom and seer to the long deceased Sea Lord Ibanez. Axay was dead, had died even before Ibanez himself. Killed.

  So how— ?

  ‘Allow me to introduce the New World’s scapegoat,’ said Diego, amused at Dow and Nell’s patent discomfiture, ‘and my own personal advisor and sage. Uyal, the last true seer known to the world.’

  Uyal? Dow gazed at the shape, so familiar and chilling. Not Axay after all, but another being of similar deformity and ability? Could it be?

  ‘It is true,’ came a voice from behind the curtain as the wheeled chair was pushed up to the table. ‘I need no special sight to read the question in your minds, Dow Amber and Ignella of the Cave. But I am indeed as Axay was, afflicted with the same condition, and with the same powers.’

  Dow marvelled. The voice could almost have been Axay’s as he remembered it, with the same childlike lightness and anonymity of sex, and the same otherworldly air of knowledge; yet it wasn’t an exact match, its accent was slightly different, its intonations. This was not Axay.

  ‘But how can this be?’ Nell demanded. ‘Axay was the last. Ibanez himself told me on the day the Twelfth Kingdom burned. After Axay was murdered, no other such seer could be found – the line was broken.’

  ‘And yet here I am,’ said the voice, mocking in its simplicity, vague limbs moving behind the curtain. And Dow wondered in dread fascination – as he had all those years ago in the Sea Lord’s high chamber – what manner of creature was it, hidden within the canopy?

  Diego was still leaning back in his chair. ‘My late uncle, King Carrasco, was not, as you might recall, Nell, all that scrupulous about obeying protocols – not when it came to forwarding the interests of Valdez, at least. Carrasco was certainly not one to give away a precious thing to old Ibanez, just because tradition called for it. So when Uyal was born in Valdez to dismayed parents, some twenty years ago now, my uncle saw no need to tell anyone of the fact, especially not the Sea Lord. Uyal was a subject of Valdez, and Uyal’s talents would be used in the service of Valdez, no one else.’

  ‘You kept such a one hidden?’ Nell accused, shocked. ‘Even after Axay was killed and the search went out through the kingdoms for a successor?’

  ‘Not I, Nell. It was Carrasco’s doing, and his alone. Not even his old ally King Ferdinand knew anything about it. I myself didn’t hear of it until my cousin assumed the throne and took me into his confidence as crown prince. And by then . . . well, the thing was done. Enrique certainly saw no point in handing Uyal over at this late stage. So he kept Uyal as his own advisor, just as Carrasco had done.’

  ‘And yet you have Uyal now.’

  ‘Well, yes,’ Diego admitted. ‘And as you have guessed, I did not sail, or take Uyal, with my cousin’s permission. He would have denied both, had I asked. So I was forced to depart by stealth. But I did not steal anything or anyone from Enrique. My crew are volunteers all. And Uyal came by free will.’

  Nell took a shaky breath and addressed the curtained shape in the wheeled chair directly for the first time. ‘Are all these things true that he says?’

  ‘They are true.’ The voice sounded amused, and perversely, for all its childlike qualities, older somehow than someone who was – by Diego’s account – only twenty years of age. ‘I left my king of my own free choice. I am, here and now, exactly where fortune needs me to be.’

  ‘Why would fortune need you here?’

  ‘Where else would a seer want to be,’ answered Diego smoothly, ‘other than in the service of one who is destined for greatness? Especially when it is the same seer who has foretold that greatness.’

  Nell stared to the curtain again. ‘You’ve given a prophecy regarding Diego? You’ve put this dream in his head, that he will somehow be lord and emperor of a new realm in the southern world?’

  ‘A prophecy I have made,’ agreed the voice, ‘but not just any prophecy. I have seen what even my forebears never saw as clearly. I speak of a Great Prophecy, the most profound foretelling that perhaps the world has ever known. And it is this: a new realm there will be in the southern globe one day, and this realm will be vaster and richer than all of the northern realms combined. Indeed, the future of all mankind rests in the south, and all of history to date has been but preparation for the day that the Barrier is breached, and the New World begun. Great shall be the name of he who is that New World’s founder – but here we come to it. His Highness Diego believes that he is the one fated to be so. But in fact, in all my vision, I have never seen the face or the name of he who will rule in the south – only that it will happen.’

  Listening on, Dow’s head swam for an instant: so, it was destined. If a seer the likes of Axay had spoken it so directly, then the New World really would come to be. But he sobered quickly, aware of Diego’s gaze on Nell, still composed, still superior, as if it was of no importance that she and Dow were hearing all this.

  Nell must have shared the thought, for she shook her head, and gave a hard stare to the wheeled chair. ‘No, even that’s not enough to explain it. Great Prophecy or not, Diego wouldn’t give up so much without being sure that he was going to be the one. He wouldn’t just hope for it. There must be something more, something else you’ve told him, that you haven’t told us.’

  The figure behind the curtains shifted in what might have been a gesture of appreciation. ‘You know the prince well, I see. And indeed, though I know not the name nor the face of he who will be the founder of the New World, I do know the manner of his ascension. I have seen the one thing that he must do to claim his place in history, and I have revealed that act to Prince Diego. Perhaps that is why he is so confident.’

  ‘And that act is?’

  Laughter came from behind the gauze. ‘Come now. His Highness Diego is my lord and master – not you, Ignella of the Cave.’

  Diego was smiling easily now. ‘Uyal answers to me, Nell, and Uyal’s secrets are my secrets. I allowed this much to be revealed only so that you will understand what it is I’m doing here – to prove that I am committed. If you are going to cross the Doldrums, then so am I. In fact, I propose that we join forces to do it. But be assured, at the end, I will rule there, no one else.’

  Dow spoke. ‘Why not just kill us?’

  Diego looked at him finally in surprise. ‘What?’

  ‘If you want the New World for yourself, why bother with us at all? You could sink the Chloe right now and go on alone. For that matter, you could have sailed straight for the southern world by your own route and ignored us completely. But you haven’t done either of those things. Instead you’ve come sneaking along behind us, and now you want to join forces. But why? Why do you need us? And also, what are doing here with only one ship? You had an entire f
leet at your disposal. Supposedly you’re on your way to found a new empire, and yet you’ve brought only a single vessel! Why is that?’

  For the first time the prince’s polished urbanity seemed to falter, giving way to an air of frustration. ‘I can’t kill you, New Islander – though don’t mistake me, I’d like to. But I’m not permitted the pleasure. Not yet, anyway.’ He glanced with a trace of petulance to the wheeled chair. ‘Go on, tell him what you’ve seen of his role in this – little sense though it makes.’

  A sigh came from behind the veil. ‘Yes, it seems a contradiction. But strange are the ways of foresight. Nothing is revealed in plain view by fortune, always the future is only half glimpsed, shadows in a shadowed mist, or truths wrapped in riddles and paradoxes that are quite unsolvable even by the seer, until long after the events themselves have unfolded.’

  ‘You’ve seen something of my future?’ Dow pressed.

  ‘What have I not seen? You Dow Amber – and Ignella with you – stand at the crux of a thousand paths of history. But from that crux all roads lead only into the mist again, I cannot see their ends. Nevertheless, this much is clear. If the New World is to be reached in our era, you must be there to witness it. Without you, the hope fails.’

  Dow drew a breath. ‘Me and Nell both, you said.’

  The voice took on a tone of regret. ‘Nell stands at the crux of history with you, yes. But does she stand at your side at the discovery of the New World? That is dark to me. I do not know the answer.’

  That is dark to me. Dow glanced at Nell, as if to refute even the implication, but her gaze would not meet his.

  ‘But heed this,’ Uyal continued. ‘I do not say for certain that any of us will make it through. Fate is deceitful, we well know. In dangling this lure to us, it may only seek our deaths in the Barrier, and the New World may be discovered in some other age, and by some other folk, entirely. But this much is sure: if we are to pass through, then you, Dow Amber, must be there. And not merely as a prisoner locked in the hold of this ship – as my prince Diego would prefer. No, you must be free yet, and your own master. That is the true reason you have not been harmed up to this point, nor your vessel fired upon.’

  ‘And that is also,’ added Diego sourly, ‘why I brought but a single ship. Uyal made it plain that there was no use in bringing more, for according to the Great Prophecy only one vessel will endure through the Doldrums and reach the New World. One ship alone. To bring a fleet even of twenty would merely be to consign nineteen vessels and their crews to disaster. And behold, your own second vessel has already met exactly that fate.’

  Nell glanced palely at Uyal. ‘But we are two ships again. So another will be lost?’

  ‘Aye,’ was the voice’s answer. ‘In my foresight, only one will survive – but do not ask me which. Fate teases me no less than it teases any being.’

  Diego nodded briskly. ‘Needless to say, however, I intend the surviving ship to be the New World. After all, the Chloe is half a wreck already. But Dow may keep it for now, even as captain – he is no threat to me regardless. For though his presence is necessary if the New World is to be gained, Uyal has assured me that this in no way means it is he who is destined to rule there.’

  ‘Indeed not,’ said Uyal. ‘Only on the very day of discovery will the founder be identified.’

  ‘And only I and Uyal,’ said Diego in satisfaction, ‘know how.’

  A long silence held in the cabin.

  Nell shook her head at last. ‘You place much faith, Diego, in the hints and promises of a prophet whose abilities lie wholly unproven.’

  ‘Unproven! Hardly. Do not doubt my scapegoat, Nell. Uyal is a true seer. You haven’t wondered, for instance, how it was that I found you here amid so much wasteland of sea? It was not by following behind you. No, I came by another route entirely, and a far more pleasant one, to judge by the sorry state of the Chloe.’

  Dow straightened. Another route?

  Laughter sounded light from behind the gauze. ‘It was my doing, of course. My prince did not have to trail or search for you blindly, I could tell him exactly where he needed to be, and when, and the safe way to get here, avoiding many needless hazards.’

  Nell’s shock was profound. ‘You . . . you can see the future, the present even, so exactly, so clearly, as to chart courses at sea?’

  ‘Not quite that. Even I cannot merely pluck the location of a ship from my head across all the miles of the ocean. No, for this I needed a particular link between my prince’s vessel and yours, something that connected him in fate with you especially, so that I could draw a line in my mind between you both.’

  Nell stiffened suddenly. ‘The cameo!’

  Dow stared at her. The cameo?

  She turned to him, stricken. ‘I remember now, it was one of my visions, I saw it in the Miasma. I dreamed of the cameo. That was the link, that was how they knew where we were . . . Oh Dow, I told you to throw it away. But you wouldn’t, would you? You wouldn’t.’

  Dow’s head sank. The locket. He had all but forgotten its existence, yet it sat still in the bottom of his sea chest, where he had left it.

  ‘It was the cameo indeed,’ confirmed Uyal. ‘Linked to you, because it was your mother’s, and linked to Diego, because it bore your likeness, and he had cherished it ever since finding it. Once that small thing was placed on board the Chloe, it was no great feat for me to draw Diego to your presence, wherever you might be.’ But now the shape behind the curtain seemed to lean forward with new interest. ‘Yet tell me, Ignella of the Cave. You speak of visions. Is it true, then? As my predecessor Axay once foretold, have you become finally a genuine scapegoat and seer, you who came so falsely to the role?’

  Nell started. She had not, Dow realised, intended to reveal the fact of the Miasma’s effect upon her. Not in this company.

  ‘Falsely to the role?’ Diego enquired in puzzlement. ‘What do you mean by that, Uyal? Do you accuse her of something?’

  ‘Hush, Your Highness. The past is of no matter here. Ignella of the Cave, tell me – these visions, what have they revealed to you of the future?’

  She shrank away. ‘Nothing . . . I mean . . . nothing I understand . . .’

  ‘You lie. A shadow of foreknowledge is upon you, I recognise that now.’ The child voice swelled somehow. ‘Tell me what you have seen!’

  Nell shook her head, eyes wide, but the command appeared to render her helpless. ‘I saw . . . islands . . . weeds . . . all choking . . . a black sky . . .’

  ‘Yes. And where was this?’

  Sweat pricked on her brow, but she could not seem to look away from the chair. ‘The inner Barrier, I think . . . it’s terrible . . . and something will happen . . . something awful . . . to us . . . to me . . .’ She was gazing in horror now at some unseen thing. ‘I’ll be trapped there . . . the ship may pass, but not me . . . I’ll be left . . . he’ll have to choose . . . and I’ll be left behind!’

  The ghastly litany ceased. Nell’s eyes had shut tight. Dow and Diego both only stared at her, each too dumbfounded a moment to speak.

  Uyal sighed sadly. ‘It is as I feared, then. Truly, there is no joy in knowing what is to come. I of all people understand. But I welcome you anyway to the ranks of the foresighted, sister scapegoat.’

  Diego finally threw off the spell. ‘Foresighted? Nonsense, Uyal. This sounds no more to me than a bad dream, brought on by fear of what lies ahead of us – fears any of us might share.’

  Dow too straightened. ‘Nell, no one will be left behind!’

  She might not have heard. She opened her eyes and glared at the wheeled chair, trembling. ‘I am no sister to you. There is no kinship. How could there be, when you are . . . whatever it is that you are, under there.’

  The voice held a note of warning. ‘Beware, Ignella of the Cave, unless one day you are granted a sight of me that you do not want. You would not enjoy the experience, be assured. Akin to me though you are.’

  ‘Are you even human?’ Nell breathed in loat
hing.

  ‘I was born to human parents,’ was the dry reply. ‘Can I therefore be anything but human? But high is the price of foresight given to the likes of myself and Axay. Human we are, but set apart by our terrible deformities. Human – but who knows the full meaning of that word, or the entire history of mankind and his shape back through the ages of time, and across the wide seas? Can you tell me? Don’t be so quick then to disgust, you who walk easily on two legs, with no more than a few shallow scars to boast as the price paid for your gifts.’

  Nell lowered her gaze, her skin flushed.

  Diego had been fuming through all this. ‘Enough, Uyal. It’s not your heritage we’re here to discuss.’

  ‘As you will, Your Highness.’

  The prince looked to Dow. ‘I think we understand each other, and how the situation lies. So – is the Chloe fit to get underway? I’m keen to move on from here, and will give the order soon to resume towing.’

  Dow blinked, the reality striking him that he was no longer in charge, no longer captain of the great enterprise. Diego would give the order. And a vast weariness sagged within him – for he had thought he was rid of the Old World and all its plots and devices, and rid too of Diego, and yet none of it was true. Even if they made it through to the New World now, Diego would still be there, grasping for control. It was never-ending.

  ‘Fit to get underway?’ he echoed bitterly. ‘No, the Chloe is not. In fact, at the moment you appeared, my crew were in mutiny, and were about to turn the ship for home. They will not want to go forward.’

  Diego was serene. ‘That, of course, can’t be allowed. There’ll be no turning for home, not on this ship nor on yours. When you return to the Chloe tell your crew this: they go forward, or I will sink them.’

  Dow almost laughed. If not for the New World’s arrival, the Chloe might even now be retreating north under Magliore’s sway. But who would ever have thought that Diego would be the one to save the expedition? ‘I’ll tell them. But there are still repairs to make, and then boats to be readied. It’ll take some hours.’