Something hit me on the head and bounced into the water. I jerked with surprise. Another object landed on the whale's back in front of me. It was a fish. Fish were falling from the sky. Many dead fish.

'Makes a change from cats and dogs,' Royston mumbled. I did not understand him. I was more concerned about the fish. If this tornado had sucked the very fish out of the water, what chance did we have?

I uncovered the whale's eye but even as the animal began to change course I knew the truth. The whale was so close to death I don't think it could have swum faster than a floating stick. Its breath was coming more and more slowly, and was almost entirely blood-filled now. Both Royston and I looked as if we had been slaughtering tribal enemies for a nine-day.

And then it happened. With a final wheeze, a feeble muttering of clicks and pops, the whale glided to a halt and turned belly up. By the time I freed Royston from the ropes that had secured him to the fin, the storm was upon us.

We floated beside the whale's carca.s.s and tried to breathe. The cloud sucked the air from around us. It sucked spray off the water and turned the surface into choppy hillocks around us. It was raining upwards. The sky was entirely black overhead now, though I could see blue sky and the gleam of sunlight at either horizon. But that might have been a world away for all our chances of reaching it.

And now the sea itself was curving upward, away from us, but dragging us with it, up the lower slopes of the hill beneath the whirling cloud. Breathing was even more difficult.

I grabbed Royston. 'We must dive. Try to swim away from it.'

Royston did not even have the strength to reply. It was all he could do to cling to the whale's carca.s.s to keep from drowning. Not that that would do him any good for much longer: the amount of water being sucked into the air meant we would drown just as surely above the surface as below it.

Unless...

Perhaps the whale could save us again, even though it was dead.

Even as I thought this, I saw a black shape carried further up the column of water. It was a shark that had been following us, attracted by the whale's blood. Now it was carried thrashing into the sky, where I lost sight of it among the clouds.

If we wanted to live we had to move now.

Grabbing Royston, I dragged him around to the head of the whale.

The huge mouth was gaping wide, flapping open and closed in the currents of water, the lower jaw dragged upward repeatedly by the suck of the wind. Timing my actions, I shoved Royston into the mouth.

Another shark surged past me as I did so. Absurdly it seemed to be swimming backwards. The water was becoming steeper and getting breath was almost impossible. The whale was beginning to move up the hill now, sucked ever higher by the greedy currents.

I dragged myself into the whale's mouth. There were no teeth but the gums were hard and the tongue - a limp ma.s.s of flesh rocking from side to side with the motion of the dead animal - was heavy enough to crush or smother either of us. I felt around for Royston, hoping he had not already been crushed or smothered or drowned, and tried to avoid the heavy tongue. I found Royston and grabbed him tightly. I hoped enough air would filter in so that we could breathe.

Even though we were now inside the whale I could feel the current dragging us even further upward. And then the battering from the water stopped and we began to spin. The mouth flapped open and shut with terrible force. I wanted to close my eyes but found I could not. I locked my arms around the whale's strange teeth and prayed to the G.o.ds of the Place of Land that I would live through this nightmare.

'Collision alert, collision alert,'

'Prim sys fail reroute aux pow to gray null sys.'

I repeated the Prayer of Landing until my throat screamed in protest.

Beyond the whale's flapping mouth I could see glimpses of sky and sun, cloud and sea. None of them were in the right places. We were flying.

Through the air. I remembered the shark dragged upwards by the sky and the rain of fish that had fallen upon us, and prayed even harder.

'Lock standby sys lock cry uni sys lock all sys and,'

'Strap in this is going to hurt like a bas '

Then my stomach lurched. I was flattened against the whale's cheek, the tongue came down upon me with crushing force and I knew that, like the G.o.ds before me, we were falling towards a new Place of Land.

14.

Nemesis

I awoke freezing cold and paralysed. My first thought was that someone had stabbed me with a Janis thorn and now I was waiting to die. Then I realised the sensation was different. I could move, I was just restrained.

Tied up. The cold pressure at my chest was water. A tide. The foul smell and sc.u.mmy water told me exactly where I was: in a sewer running beneath the harbour.

Beside me in the darkness I heard a muttered curse. I recognised the voice instantly. 'Royston,' I said, 'when I get out of here I am going to make a present of your innards for the gulls.'

'I think it highly doubtful that any of us will see the tomorrow's dawn, let alone live beyond it.'

The second voice was familiar too. 'Stockwood, are you all right?'

'No, my dear, I have a terrible headache, caused no doubt by the fellow who coshed me.'

'A dock worker?'

'Yes.'

'Red hair?'

'Yes.'

I nodded, forgetting for a moment that I was tied up and banging the back of my head against the slimy wooden post. 'The same man who captured me.'

'Who captured all of us.' I wriggled around in the darkness. The Doctor! 'I'm afraid we've all been rather slow tonight.'

I felt for my knife. I could not even tell if it was sheathed at my side or had been taken. The water was so cold my skin was beginning to tingle.

Now Royston said in an angry voice, 'Do I understand that you blame me for what has happened here tonight?'

'If it were not for you the Cryuni would not have sent Fennel to steal the rongo-rongo rongo-rongo and Stockwood's life! You killed Fennel to conceal your involvement.' and Stockwood's life! You killed Fennel to conceal your involvement.'

'My good woman, I said I knew nothing of that d.a.m.n butler's involvement and I told you the truth!'

'With your words. But not with your body!'

'If you think that, you are quite mad. I pray you seek help before you cause injury to yourself or others.'

'I will injure you if I can just get out of these ropes!'

'Leela.' The single word from the Doctor was quiet, only just rising above the sound of the waves. It had a calming effect on me. I struggled hard and kept my temper in check. The Doctor was right. Anger wasted on futile gestures would help no one.

Stockwood spluttered nearby. 'How long do you think we have before the tide comes in?'

'Captain Stuart told us that Tweed Tweed was due to sail on the midnight tide. We've probably got less than half an hour until high tide.' was due to sail on the midnight tide. We've probably got less than half an hour until high tide.'

I looked around, allowing my eyes to collect what little light filtered beneath the pier. 'There are watermarks here. The weed grows high above my head.'

'That's it then' Stockwood's voice was weary. 'I cannot possibly free myself. If none of you can either we will be dead in less than half an hour.'

His words were interrupted by more splashes as he tried to keep his head above water. I felt the waves lapping gently around my own chin.

One wave splashed my face and made me gasp.

'What can we do?' No one replied. 'Doctor?'

'I'm thinking.'

'I'm drowning!' That was Royston, the anger in his voice giving the lie to his frightened words.

The Doctor said, still quietly 'No you're not. Now be quiet. I'm concentrating on a little trick I know.'

I felt a sullen silence from Royston, and promised myself I would teach him some manners at the first possible opportunity - before we died if I could, but afterwards if not.

'I don't wish to criticise, Doctor, but the present moment hardly seems appropriate for tricks.'

'Oh, you'll like this one, Horace. It's a little trick I learnt from... my old friend Harry Houdini. A matter of concentrating on the muscles...

controlling the flow of blood to the tendons... changing the shape of the limb by dislocation until it can slip through the restraints... Of course, Harry always worked with handcuffs, not wet ropes - and he did maintain that this trick was the most painful of his repertoire... though I never really understood why until now Of course, I have an advantage over him... I can place chemical blocks at my synaptic gaps... prevent the conduction of specific nerve impulses... I can stop the pain Harry felt every time he performed this trick... Of course, I haven't actually done it for a while... so it's not quite... one hundred per cent...

effective... Nonetheless, I think... I'm... almost... Nonetheless, I think... I'm... almost... there!' there!' His last word was punctuated by the cracking of muscle, a triumphant gasp and a splash of foul-smelling water. His last word was punctuated by the cracking of muscle, a triumphant gasp and a splash of foul-smelling water.

By now the water was up to my lips. I tilted my head back, trying to get a clear channel to the air. Stockwood hadn't said anything for some moments. I hoped he hadn't drowned.

Royston said, 'So you have one arm free. Can you untie yourself?'

The Doctor's voice was filled with embarra.s.sment. 'I can't reach the knots.'

By now the rope holding my arms was contracting in the water, biting tighter into my skin. I relaxed, letting it tighten even further. When I felt it was tight enough, I flexed my arms against the post. I was very strong.

The rope now had little or no play in it. If there was even the slightest flaw in the cord, I would be able to break it.

Waves splashed into my face. I closed my eyes, tilting my head back as far as possible for air. I pressed my heels and shoulders against the post and (the post was a web-tree spinner which caught me while hunting because I had been arrogant and stupid and now I was trapped because I had been arrogant and stupid and now I was trapped between its web and its tree waiting to die but I would not die between its web and its tree waiting to die but I would not die because if I died then my sister's death would have been for nothing because if I died then my sister's death would have been for nothing and I would not waste her death so I) and I would not waste her death so I) set my mind against the pain and set my mind against the pain and (arched my back against the web and shouted my defiance and) (arched my back against the web and shouted my defiance and) pushed and pushed and (screamed my refusal to bow to nature and) ignored the water splashing into ignored the water splashing into (the stinging web filling) my mouth and (pushed and) screamed but (the web held and) the rope held (and I knew) I was going to die.

(I was going to die!) That was the moment when, like the tree in my youth, part of the post I was tied to broke, and I found there was enough room to wriggle free.

I trod water for a moment, trying to ignore the pain that coursed through my body.

Impatient words mixed with wet spluttering noises from Royston brought me to my senses. 'Here. Over here!' I pushed my way towards him, found a lump of wood that might have been a chair or table leg floating on the water. 'Be careful!' He was right. Pieces of thick window gla.s.s were embedded in the wood. 'Wreckage from the bar fight,' he said. I ignored him, grabbed the wood, swam to Stockwood, who still hadn't spoken a word, and slashed at the ropes binding him to the wooden post.

He was alive. I left him clinging to the post and freed the Doctor. By now, Royston was forced to keep his mouth shut because of the water level.

I trod water beside the Doctor. 'What do we do now?'

'Free Royston,' he suggested pointedly.

'He is in league with Cryuni,' I said simply.

The Doctor sighed, treading water with both legs while he used one hand to realign the joints in his other arm. 'Cryuni is a construct invented by your shamans. It's a linguistic corruption, like Sevateem or Tesh. Cryuni is a corrupted version of cryogenic units.'

'I don't understand.'

'Your people came to the Place of Land in a starship. The journey was many lifetimes long. Cryogenic suspension kept your ancestors alive - but asleep - during the voyage.'

'Alive?'

'Yes.'

'Asleep?'

'Yes. You should be calling Cryuni the giver of life, not the taker of it.

Now, are you going to release Royston before he drowns or would you rather become a servant of your own death icon?'

I freed Royston, not being particularly careful to spare his flesh when I cut the ropes that bound him He burst to the surface, too near death even to show the anger I knew he felt. I did not care. He could do nothing to me. If he tried I would kill him The Doctor might be right. I would have to think about that. In the meantime, I knew what I knew.

And I still did not trust Royston.

The Doctor unravelled his scarf and handed it to me. 'My arm's still a little tender,' he said with a rueful smile. 'I wonder if you'd be kind enough to throw that over the pier supports. Then we can all climb out of here.'

'Why not just swim ash.o.r.e?' Royston asked. There was a roughness to his voice caused by his near-drowning which made me smile.