'She's brought her own triremes, I see.' Dev squinted at the lithe vessels with their upcurved sterns and prows anchored in the open water of the lagoon.

'We can hardly take offence at that,' said Kheda reluctantly. 'Chazen waters haven't been overly safe of late.'

Is that why Rekha's here, rather than Janne Daish? Second wife rather than first wouldn't be quite suck an ominous loss, Though the loss of Rekha's acumen would be a grievous blow to Daish. What is she seeking that she reckons worth the risk of this voyage? What has she brought here in those capacious holds and what might she be looking to take away in them'!

The Mist Dove lurched gently as the trireme eased into her berth and those rowers taking a rest from their oars to act as the sail crew hurried to secure the mooring ropes.

'So what's the plan when we're ashore?' Dev watched islanders ashore throw ropes to enable the trireme's crew to haul a floating walkway alongside.

'I'll go and read the immediate auguries from the obser- vatory while you see what Itrac's come up with by way of suitable finery for me.' Kheda nodded at the modest tower rising three storeys high beyond a low pavilion set alone on the most easterly islet. He grimaced. 'Then I will greet my present lady wife and we'll discuss how best to deal with my former spouse.'

'Do you think there'll be a cat-fight for your favours?' Dev chuckled unsympathetically. 'Are you sure you wouldn't rather sail straight for the western isles and some open, honest warfare?'

'Just keep your mouth shut and your eyes open,' said Kheda brusquely.

I'd gag you if I thought I could get away with it. You may make a convincing enough show as a body slave when it comes to fetching and carrying and exploiting all the feuds and alliances of a household butyou're not going to be much use in these skirmishes, barbarian. I can't send you to practise your sword skills with Rekha's slave; Andit would know you for a fraud before you'd even drawn your blades. So there's no chance of discreet backhand communications to temper what might be said in public for reasons of dignity or deception.

Will Itrac be inclined to share whatever she might learn through her Jevin's not-so-casual conversations?

Though he's as green as she is, both of them out of their depth when it comes to dealing with a seasoned traveller like Rekha. What wouldn't I give for just one slave as astute and experienced as Telouet?

'My thanks once again, Shipmaster Shaiam, to you and all your crew. Now, my final order is that you celebrate your new year with all the feasting and merriment that this place can offer you!' Kheda waved towards a long sand bar in the midst of the anchorage where bonfires and torches were being lit. The pipers from a handful of ships were already playing for a circle of girls dancing between trestle tables being stacked high with platters of meat and steaming cook pots. As the Mist Dove's crew turned to the prospect with an approving cheer, the warlord vaulted over the trireme's stern rail without further ceremony.

Dev hit the planks behind him with a solid thump and a jingle of chain mail. 'I don't know about you, my lord,' he said fervently, 'but I will be truly glad to get out of this armour.'

'Indeed.' Kheda strode on ahead to solid ground, taking a fork in the path of raked sand that led towards the observatory tower. Maidservants were coming the other way, all clothed in simple white dresses with embroidery echoing the patterns of the reef fish or the brilliant birds twittering in the trees and shrubs.

One carried a basket laden with green leaves wrapped around tiny blue flower spikes, the next a bushel of yellow zera shoots, black earth still clinging to their red roots.

As the girls bowed and withdrew to the sides of the path, Kheda smiled at them. 'We'll be greeting the year's new stars with a fine feast, I see.'

'Absolutely, my lord,' one replied, the girls dipping in demure obeisance.

Two men behind hesitated. They carried a turtle between them in a plaited rope sling, its scaled flippers tied tight to the brown and grey shell as long as a man's leg.

'We'll go around you.' Kheda raised a hand and suited his actions to his words before the turtle hunters could demur. Off the path the ground was sandy, sparse grass soft beneath his feet.

'Turtle meat's such a rare luxury in the north,' Dev observed wryly. 'I never thought to tire of it, but if you could find a sack of pearls for a side of beef, I'd be truly grateful.'

Kheda spared him a glance as they crossed the swaying walkway to the next small island. 'I wouldn't mind a decent-sized deer to roast.'

But I'll look ver carefully for the snare that comes with it if Rekha offers me one.

Clusters of palm saplings surrounded the pavilion on the furthest island, each one sheltering carefully tended seedlings of red cane and vizail. Servants and slaves hovered on the steps, smiles ingratiating, all dressed alike in cerulean blue, trousers and tunics spotless. Gold and silver clasps shone brightly at wrists and ankles and the men all had hair and beards neatly trimmed and dressed with oil. The women wore fresh flowers woven into their braids or tucked behind turtleshell combs holding flowing black locks away from their round, smiling faces.

Itrac's doing her best to show Rekha Daish that we of Chazen are no paupers.

Kheda smiled in return and paused to hand Dev his helmet, then unbuckled his swords. 'Take this inside, all of it.' He unlaced the neck of his hauberk and, ducking his head with practised suddenness, shook the chain mail down over his body and outstretched arms. As the weight of the metal pulled the armour to the ground with a rattling thump, Kheda stood upright with a heartfelt sigh of relief and ripped off the sweat-stained padded tunic that had protected him from the bruising rings. He relished the touch of the evening breeze on his sweaty skin, then wrinkled his nose at his own odour.

'Get a bath ready, Dev, while I look for any immediate auguries relating to our return. Send a message to my lady Itrac to say I'll call on her shortly. Find out if we're dining with Rekha Daish. Oh, and put the talismans we collected on the voyage in the observatory.'

Ignoring the uncertain glances the resident slaves were exchanging among themselves, he headed for theobservatory clad only in his worn and crumpled trousers.

Of course I could just strip off and swim in the sea. No, better not set everyone fretting about how I fail to conduct myself with all the decorum of a warlord. There are always so many eyes on me here. And Daish eyes, too, today. What do they see, now I'm no longer their lord?

Because I am Chazen's warlord. I chose to seize this domain rather than fight Sirket for the one I was born to. Let's start this new year remembering that, as I read the skies when the stars align to mark the return of the heavenly compass. But what are the immediate portents for our return? The lowest level of the observatory was a broad circular building roofed with the same turquoise tiles as the pavilion. The tower rose in the centre, a white pillar with its uppermost level open to the sky. Kheda pushed open the door and, ignoring the arches opening to wide half-circular halls on either side, he took the spiral stairs up the core of the tower. The upper floor of glazed black tiles was marked with curling ochre patterns within each quarter of the compass. The carvings on the waist-high balustrade divided each quarter into three.

Kheda had no need to read the lyrical script scrolling along the wooden rail, detailing the wisdom of generations in divining the omens that would arise in each arc of the heavenly and earthly compasses. He turned to the east, his expression hard.

Is it significant that it's customary to look first to the arc of marriage, when I'm about to dine with one former, doubtless angry wife and one quite likely still resentful at being forced into wedding me?

The eastern sky was unhelpfully blank. Kheda dropped his gaze to the lavender-tinted sea below. There was nothing to see; no birds in flight, no ripple running against the flow of the waters. There was nothing cast up on the white sand of a distant barren reef or on the narrow shore below him.

But there is always a portent. Daish Reik told you that. You just need the wit to see it and the skill to read it. Are you still stained by magic, unable to read the signs that tie you to past and future?

He swung around in an impatient arc, scanning the horizon. The setting sun dazzled him. Kheda raised an involuntary hand to shield his eyes.

This is where I should be reading the sky, where the new-year stars, brightest in the sky, rise in direct opposition to the coming dawn. This is where our futures will be seen, my own and the domain's together. For our futures are as one from now on, aren't they?

Well, you can't do that till the sun has set, so what else can you learn from the skies?

Slowly, he turned back to look at the darkening east. Even with the augural constellations barely visible, Kheda knew exactly where they lay. It took him but a moment to calculate where the vibrant jewels that traversed the heavens would appear as the night deepened.

There's nothing to see in the arc that governs marriage beyond the stars of the Yora Hawk that signify adversaries to hand. I hardly need the skies to tell me that. What I don't see is any clue as to what lies ahead for me in my dealings with Itrac and Rekha both.

No such confusion clouds the arc of death, next around the compass. The Lesser Moon, the Pearl of the heavens, is a mere nail-paring. With the Pearl the most potent talisman for the Daish domain, is that the final sign for me at the close of the year, that I am truly dead to Daish? The Amethyst shines there, too, gem to counsel reflection and humility in accepting one's fate.

But even in the arc of death omens, the Sailfish swims through the deep distances of the sky. That's a symbol of good fortune when it coincides with either moon, and of life, like the sailfish in the sea rising to spawn in the moonlight.

Kheda turned abruptly to look to the arc of the compass opposite the faint sickle of the Lesser Moon and the dimly seen Amethyst.

I should have sought guidance from the heavens before now. There are potent conjunctions in this sky for all who rule. The Diamond will shine there before much longer, gem of clarity of mind, of warding against corruption, talisman for all warlords. It rises in the arc of wealth, both material possessions and those intangible things that a wise man values: peace, health and goodwill. That's where the Sapphire rides, too, slowest of the heavenly gems tracing through the sky, patient counsellor reminding us to trust our intuition.

What do those jewels signify in collaboration with the Sea Serpent's writhing stars? That's a sign of mysteries, of hidden forces and conundrums that will be resolved in time. Is that what I must do, bide my time and value what I have, trusting that all will be well?The hairs on Kheda's neck bristled as a cool breeze brushed across his back.

But there are calls to action elsewhere in the sky. The Greater Moon, Opal talisman for harmony and truth, shines beside the Hoe that reminds us how a man must toil in nurturing the land that supports us all.

Constellation and gem are both in the arc of travel. Is this where my journey has brought me, to a future working for Chazen?

What of the arc of duty? The Ruby calls for courage and shines among the stars of the Spear that reminds all men, rulers most of all, of the need for determination in meeting any challenge. And the Ruby is talisman against fire. With the Emerald there as talisman of valour for all those taking up arms to secure peace. The Topaz that takes a full year to traverse each separate arc of the sky will move into the arc of foes directly opposite, tomorrow when the stars are aligned. Topaz, talisman gem for all who seek wisdom. My path is clear, surely? Let's start the new year sailing west to put an end to these invaders once and for all.

Kheda looked across the observatory. A line drawn between the Emerald and Ruby and the Diamond and Sapphire cut across one-third of the circle.

The last corner of that triangle should offer a potent sign in the arc of the compass governing honour and ambition. What stars are there? The Canthira Tree, symbol of death and rebirth, whose seeds need the fire that consumes the parent before they can sprout anew.

Can you doubt it any longer, that Chazen is where your future lies, where you must make your mark as man and warlord alike?

Why does such incontrovertible testimony bring no relief but rather an ever heavier sense of burden?

Footsteps in the halls below caught Kheda's ear. He turned his back on the sky and hurried down the stairs. 'Dev? Is my bath ready? Oh, Rekha-'

His erstwhile wife was standing in the archway that led to the west-facing hall on the ground floor of the observatory. Leaning casually against the plastered stone painted with flowering vines, Rekha Daish was long-limbed and effortlessly elegant. The merest sheen of silver highlighted her dark eyes and a gloss of red softened her tempting lips. Her sleeveless travelling gown was a simple affair of fine rose silk, the lustrous colour flattering the warm brown of her flawless skin. The dress was fastened on each shoulder with a pair of simple silver brooches, her long earrings fashioned to match. A necklace in the same design nestled at the base of her throat and Kheda noted how the low-cut neck of the gown exposed the firm swell of her breasts. A belt of broad silver links emphasised her slender waist and as she took a step forward, he glimpsed the smoothness of her thigh through the side-slit skirt.

'Kheda.' Half-smiling, she brushed back a lock of her lustrous black hair that had escaped the confines of an array of silver combs. Silver bangles whispered musically down her arm.

'Rekha Daish.' Kheda made a formal bow and laid just the faintest emphasis on her domain name. 'I didn't expect to see you at this residence at such a time, never mind in my personal halls. Where's Andit?'

he asked with scant ; courtesy.

'Seeing to my unpacking in the guest pavilion on the central isle. I never knew that Chazen Saril collected star circles,' Rekha mused, with an inconsequential wave towards the westerly hall where lamplight shone on an array of bronze and copper discs hanging on the walls. Then she took a pace forward and laid one slender hand on his bare chest. 'You look well, Kheda, for a man we all thought dead and lost to us.

Forgive my lack of etiquette, but I had to see you for myself, just the two of us.'

His skin tensed at her touch. Her perfume was attar of roses, subtle and intoxicating and powerfully reminiscent of the pale golden blooms, ruby-hearted, that grew only in the compound of the Daish rainy season residence, nowhere else in the entire domain. Kheda looked down at Rekha's hand, her long fingers tipped with silver-varnished almond-shaped nails.

Beautifully manicured. Just as Dev predicted.

'It can never just be the two of us.' Kheda took Rekha's hand off his chest and stepped away. 'It never was.''No,' she agreed warmly, moving closer once more. 'We shared our children-'

'You misunderstand me, my lady of Daish,' Kheda said sharply. 'Far more things divide us now, you and me, than ever tied us together. That was your choice, yours and my lady Janne's.'

'What of your choice, Kheda, to leave us all mourning you as dead?' Rekha's fine features hardened slightly, the tip of her aquiline nose thinning. 'To set Sirket the challenge of establishing himself as warlord, with him barely grown and in a time of unprecedented upheaval?'

'Unprecedented upheaval and attack from beyond the Archipelago, with magic no less, something not seen in these southerly reaches for time out of mind.' Kheda spoke with biting precision. 'When far from uniting against this appalling threat, our neighbouring domains could only bicker among themselves. Ulla Safar even tried to kill me for his own selfish purposes, you know that.' He paused to swallow his rising ire.

'I read the omens and saw the signs telling me I had to go in search of some means to counter these savage sorceries. I couldn't do that with every eye following me, with the pomp of a warlord weighing me down and hindering my progress through every domain. And I didn't feign my own death; I merely let people believe that Ulla Safar had finally succeeded in murdering me. Desperate times call for desperate courses, Rekha. I wish I hadn't had to do it, but isn't our victory over the savages proof that I was following the right path?'

Though I still have to extricate myself from the mire I've landed myself in as a consequence. Where are the signs to show me a way out of this?

'But what of us - your wives, your heartbroken, grieving sons and daughters?' Rekha's dark eyes searched Kheda's face.

'I would have come back to you and made all amends I could,' Kheda said with low fury. 'It was Janne Daish who made that impossible for me. Go and seek answers from her.'

Neither of them spoke for a long, still moment, then Rekha shifted her gaze to the archway behind Kheda with a shake of her head that sent her long black hair rippling to her waist. The familiar gesture teased Kheda's memory.

She shakes her head like that when she's unsure of herself, not that that happens much more often than a moonless night. Or unsure of me - she did that a lot when we were first married.

'You assuredly saved the Chazen domain from calamity.' Rekha's tone was more conciliatory. 'And it was only right that you should claim these isles with Chazen Saril dead. You certainly earned such a reward with your sacrifices. And don't blame Janne for doing all she could be sure Daish Sirket was able to continue his rule unchallenged as his reward for securing the domain in such a time of fear and peril.

You could only have returned by taking up arms against your own son and none of us would have wanted that.'

'I'm sure Sirket and I could have settled matters between us, if Janne Daish hadn't set herself so implacably against my return,' Kheda said coldly.

And fed Chazen Saril a meal of poisoned shellfish to leave him dead at my feet, to force me into a choice between fighting with my own son to reclaim my birthright or turning to secure this masterless domain before some other of my rivals or enemies did so. Where would Daish have been then? 'You would never guess what devastation had been done nere.' Rekha was looking all around the hallway, her face admiring. She smiled, this time conspiratorial. 'I would dearly love to know just how you defeated those wild mages, my husband.'

'That is a Chazen secret, my lady of Daish,' Kheda replied, unmoved. 'And I am most assuredly no longer your husband, nor you my wife.'

'From all I hear, Itrac Chazen is a wife in name only and you've taken no concubines or slaves to your bed.' As she spoke, Rekha's swift steps closed the gap between them. She laid her elegant hand on Kheda's chest again, fingertips caressing. 'You must be having a long, dry season.' She raised her eyes to his, running the tip of her tongue along her luscious lips. 'As, of course, am I. We can none of us marry again, me or Janne or Sain, without being forced to choose betweenabandoning the children we've borne to Daish or running the risk of bringing a man to the domain who might rise to challenge Sirket.'

Kheda laughed out loud in sheer surprise. 'You're inviting me to your bed, Rekha? Or what, to lay you down on these bare tiles and quench my thirst between your thighs?' He shook his head, pretending more amusement than he felt. 'Forgive me, but of all we shared when we were married, lusts of the flesh came a long way down the list. Be honest, Rekha, you only invited me to your bed under the stars you favoured for getting pregnant and you were always swift to call a halt to such pleasures once you had quickened.'

'You don't think I might regret such hardhearted practicality?' She raised one perfectly shaped brow. 'Or desire what I have lost?'

She pressed against him, so close that he could feel her warmth through the fine silk of her dress, her soft breasts against his bare chest. Perfidious memory reminded him of her nakedness, clad only in the unbound midnight of her hair scented with roses.

Her voice trembled. 'I wept for you, Kheda, until I had no more tears to shed.'

'I never thought you hardhearted, Rekha.' Kheda fought a rising desire to take her in his arms and kiss her. That wasn't the only thing rising and he backed away, hoping she had not felt his body's treacherous urgency. 'I thought you the most clear-headed woman born to any domain I knew and that's what I prized in you above all else. No warlord's lady ever served her domain better in her trading. I take it that's what's brought you here? But surely you could have waited to see in the new year back in Daish before bringing your proposals for Itrac's consideration?'

Rekha was making a considerable business of taking out and replacing one of her silver combs. When she looked at Kheda again, her face was calm, her voice composed. 'Itrac is a dear girl and we are very fond of her, Janne and me, having sheltered her through the crisis that overwhelmed her domain last year. We wouldn't dream of seeking to take advantage of her in trade, any more than we would one of our own daughters. Ask her yourself.' Rekha gestured vaguely at the ceiling of the entrance hall with its ornate paintwork. 'Mirrel Ulla would never have let the tiles to reroof these buildings leave her craftsmen if she had known where they would end up. It was Janne and me who persuaded Taisia Ritsem to act as go-between. Now Itrac has her home restored, as was her heart's desire.' She sounded genuinely pleased.

'I'm sure she will be properly grateful for a long time to come,' agreed Kheda. 'But I'm still curious to know what brings you here at the turn of the year.'

Rekha folded her arms and looked frankly at him. 'Every warlord will be reading the omens for trade in the new-year stars and the wives of every domain will be sending the order to ready their fleets. No one will sail with the Greater Moon waning but by the time it's back to the full, the sea lanes will be thronged with galleys.' 'So you're looking to get ahead of the tide?' Kheda queried sceptically.

'Precious few will be Voming here,' said Rekha bluntly. 'Not to islands stormed by savage magic, where the seas ran red with the blood of slaughtered islanders.'

'A stain cleansed by the blood of those invaders as soon as I made it safe for Daish and Ritsem to attack without fear,' Kheda retorted.

Rekha nodded with a regretful moue. 'Most domains honour you for that, but they still won't risk their ships and goods in these waters. Not when we are all still unsure how deep the taint of magic runs in Chazen. Not when there are still the remnants of those unspeakable savages lurking in your westernmost isles.'

'Then I'll offer you valuable news to take north with you,' Kheda said curtly. 'I will be sailing to put the last of them to sword and cleansing fire just as soon as the new-year festivities are done.''How long will that take, Kheda? Even one fugitive can lead a hunting party a merry chase and you dare not leave the smallest of islands until you are sure beyond doubt that not a single savage remains.' Rekha shook her head. 'Merchants won't be sailing this far south, not till word spreads that it's truly safe and that won't be soon enough to save your trade this year. And you need trade to restore this domain. You need tools and seasoned wood to rebuild, pots and cloth and so much else to refurnish your people's homes.

But merchants need not risk your waters. They have plenty of other places to trade their wares. And none of the neighbouring domains' ladies will risk their standing with their people by ordering reluctant vessels south.'

Her tone became ominous. 'You need ships and swords in case these invaders return. You need food to see you all through the end of the dry season, until the rains bring your next round of crops to harvest.

You need full storehouses so your young men can be spared to train with those swords, rather than spending all their time with their hoes and their hunting dogs just to keep everyone fed.'

'Itrac Chazen is fully mindful of her responsibilities and I of mine,' interrupted Kheda.

'We don't want to see Itrac fail, Janne and I.' Rekha moved to stand silhouetted against the evening light falling through the doorway. The silk of her dress was sheer enough that her slender nakedness beneath was clearly outlined. 'We don't want to see her rebuffed and humiliated if she tries dealing with the other domains herself. We want to help. We can make the trades for her. We can pass off Chazen pearls as our own.'

Did you think I would miss that calculating glint in your eye, Rekha, if I was satiated with the pleasures of your flesh! Do you think I have forgotten that your body has always been a commodity you trade when it suits you? No harm in that and you've often done well by Daish as a consequence. Not this time, though, and I am no longer Daish to admire you for trying.

'All such matters are Itrac Chazen's concern.' Kheda skirted around Rekha to reach the door. 'She is this domain's first wife.'

'First wife?' Rekha called after him. 'When she had been third wife and barely wed a year to Chazen Saril, who chose her for her charms far more than her brains, Why shouldn't he, when there was no reason to expect she'd have such burdens thrust upon her?'

She shook her head, so vehemently that her earrings jingled. 'Which was all very well, Kheda, but now she has burdens beyond her strength to shoulder. How is she to fulfil all the duties of a warlord's wives on her own; Shouldn't you be looking to your posterity by now!

There's no sign of her being with child and there's no chance she will quicken any time soon with you spending all your time apart, each busy about your own duties round the domain and seldom in the same residence inside the same phase of either moon.'

'Is this why you're here?' Kheda rounded angrily on Rekha. 'What are you hoping for? That I'd plough your furrow for old times' sake and if you should prove fertile ground, I'd invite you to quit Daish for Chazen? Of course, as mother of this domain's only child, you would naturally become first wife. Is that it? Are you finally tired of standing in Janne's shadow?'

Or is Janne's shadow falling between us here? This smells far more of her perfume than yours, Rekha.

Andjanne would know what I have been missing through this long, solitary season. She was the one who first taught me the delights of the marriage bed, when I was just a callow youth and she the sophisticated beauty in her glorious prime.