Marila looked from one to the other. "Hopeless," she sighed.

Neeps turned back to Pazel. "Hercol must be in on it," he said. "But why are they doing it, and why won't they tell you? That's what you have to figure out."

"Right," said Pazel. But Neeps could see that his heart had gone out of it. Marila's argument had struck home; he was at last considering the possibility that Thasha's change of heart was real.

All at once he seemed to reach a decision. "Get up, you two," he said. "You've wasted almost your whole hour on me. Go and eat something, walk around. And wash off that blood, mate. Go on, right now. I mean it."

Neeps felt like a heel, but his guilt at keeping Marila from enjoying any of her furlough was gnawing him, and Pazel was unyielding. All three got to their feet. Pazel linked hands with them through the bars.

"Every other time, she trusted me," he blurted. "Even when she was scared or ashamed. Why would she start hiding things now?"

Marila looked Pazel in the eye. You had to know her well to realize how much sympathy she felt. "That's my point, Pazel. She wouldn't, and she's not."

But as they walked away Pazel was still shaking his head.

The ten-minute bell clanged its strident warning. In the stateroom, Neeps and Marila jumped up from the table, and the little feast their friends had a.s.sembled. Hercol and Bolutu rose as well. Neeps looked across the room and stifled a growl.

It just kept getting worse. Thasha and Fulbreech were standing by the windows, close together. She had brought him through the invisible wall. Since its sudden appearance three months ago they had found that Thasha alone controlled access to the stateroom, merely by commanding the wall to admit chosen friends. Uskins had marked it with a red line of paint on the deck; it ran from port to starboard, straight down the middle of a cross-pa.s.sage twenty feet from the stateroom door. No one but those Thasha named could cross that line. They had no idea where the wall had come from, or why it answered only to Thasha, but they were all glad of its protection. Now without consulting anyone she had added Fulbreech to their circle.

She had tried to make peace between them. Fulbreech had been willing; but Neeps had turned his head with a bitter laugh, and Marila's look made Jorl and Suzyt whimper deep in their throats. After a moment Fulbreech had simply withdrawn to the other end of the stateroom. Thasha had tried to talk to them-about the attack of the dlomic army, the council meeting, the fruitless search for Arunis. Hercol and Bolutu had urged them to eat. Felthrup, in nervous agony, had babbled like a soul possessed, now and then stopping to chew his stumpy tail. At last he had burst into tears and fled into Admiral Isiq's old quarters. Hercol had followed him inside, and emerged minutes later, shaking his head.

"Are you sure it was wise, Thasha, to indulge his request?"

"I'm not sure of much these days," she responded, her voice suddenly hardening as she glanced at Hercol.

"What are you talking about?" said Marila. "What request?"

Thasha sighed. "Felthrup believes that he's accomplishing something vital-in his sleep. You know he used to have those terrible nightmares, the ones he'd wake up from squealing and shaking? Well, they've stopped, thank Rin. But he has an idea that they weren't normal dreams at all. He thinks they were sent by Arunis."

"What?" said Fulbreech, touching her elbow. "Your rat friend thinks the sorcerer was attacking him through dreams?"

"That's his suspicion," said Thasha, "although he's never been able to remember any details. When the nightmares were happening he was so afraid that he stopped sleeping at all-for ages ages. I think it nearly killed him. And now he's just obsessed. He's been reading about sleep and dreams and trances in the Polylex- Polylex-you know, my particular particular copy-" copy-"

"Right," said Marila quickly as Fulbreech raised his eyes with sudden interest.

She's cracked! thought Neeps. thought Neeps. She practically just told that slimy bloke that she's got a thirteenth edition! Why doesn't Hercol put a stop to this? She practically just told that slimy bloke that she's got a thirteenth edition! Why doesn't Hercol put a stop to this?

"He wanted a place to sleep in the daytime," Thasha continued. "He asked for a dark nest, and I provided it-found an old hatbox, lined it with scarves, placed it with the open side facing the back of the closet. Then I hung a curtain over the closet door to keep light from leaking in. With all of Father's uniforms and Syrarys' dresses still hanging in there, I guess it's about as dark and quiet as anyplace on the ship."

"He retreats to that nest for hours at a time," said Bolutu, "and when he emerges, he is strange and preoccupied, but he never tells us why."

"I don't like this at all," said Neeps.

"Nor do I," said Hercol, "but I have come to trust that rat's intuition almost as much as my own. He often senses far more than he understands. But we must be off, my friends. The hour is ending, and it is a long walk to the forecastle house."

"Thank you all," said Neeps. "You're first-rate, I mean it."

Thasha came forward, her eyes bright, and took his hand in both of hers. "We miss you," she said.

"Yeah," said Neeps, glancing around, as though for someone who wasn't there.

"We'll go with you, of course," she said. Then she added awkwardly, "Greysan's going to stay here."

A difficult silence. Marila turned to look at the Simjan. "Alone?" she said.

"Yes, alone," said Thasha, a bit sharply. "Why shouldn't he?"

Neeps took a deep breath, and held it. Because it's insane, that's why. Because you're out of your mind if you let him poke around in the stateroom Because it's insane, that's why. Because you're out of your mind if you let him poke around in the stateroom. The magical Polylex Polylex was here, and so was Mr. Fiffengurt's secret journal, and the letters he'd written to his unborn child. There were also Bolutu's notebooks, and Thasha's own, and even some jottings Pazel had made in the back of an old logbook. was here, and so was Mr. Fiffengurt's secret journal, and the letters he'd written to his unborn child. There were also Bolutu's notebooks, and Thasha's own, and even some jottings Pazel had made in the back of an old logbook.

"We'll go back by ourselves," said Marila suddenly. "You can all stay here."

Neeps quickly agreed: it was as if Marila had read his mind. The others protested, but he and Marila stood firm. Wishing their friends a last hasty goodbye, they bolted from the stateroom.

What occurred next shocked them both. Just beyond the red line that traced the invisible wall they found Rose waiting, terribly tense, fingering something in his pocket. "What kept you?" he barked. "Come along, quickly!"

"We have to get back, Captain," said Neeps. "I can already feel the pain beginning."

"Save your breath," said Rose. "Come with me, that's an order."

He plunged across the upper gun deck, not looking back, confident of being obeyed. Neeps and Marila stood rooted to the spot.

"He's going the right direction," said Neeps at last. "We can start off following him, and break for the topdeck if things get strange."

"Things already are," said Marila.

Nonetheless they followed the captain as he barreled past the startled carpenters and gun-repair teams, around the tonnage hatch and into the starboard lateral pa.s.sage. "He's still aiming for the forecastle house," whispered Neeps. "In fact we'll probably get there sooner this way. No crowds to slow us down. But would it hurt him to-"

Rose stopped dead. Neeps and Marila skidded to a halt behind him, and both cried out in amazement. Just ahead, a pa.s.sage intersected their own, and at its center was a huge red cat. It crouched for an instant, startled by their voices, and then with a twitch of serpentine tail it vanished down the right-hand pa.s.sage.

"That's Sniraga!" said Neeps. "She survived the blary rats! How did she manage, where has she been?"

"Nothing can kill that animal," said Rose. "It will never leave off, never cease to plague me, until I answer for its wounds."

He was trembling, hoa.r.s.e with fear. Then he shook himself back to life and pounded on. The Holy Stair was just ahead, and it was with immense relief that they watched Rose enter the ladderway and start to climb. He moved swiftly, raising himself by the handholds as much as the steep steps.

But one flight below the topdeck he stopped again. "Have a look at these," he said, bending down.

They leaned around his elbows. Beside the wall, a bra.s.s speaking-tube cut through the ladderway, emerging from a hole in a step and vanishing through the ceiling. And on the step beside the pipe sat a small canvas bag. Rose lifted it, and Neeps heard the clink of metal.

"What's that, sir?" he asked warily. "Coins?"

Rose smiled curiously. "Not coins. Payment, yes, but not coins."

Suddenly he grabbed Neeps by the arm. There was a flash of iron, a sharp click click, and suddenly Neeps found himself handcuffed to the speaking-tube. He shouted and kicked at Rose. Marila screamed and struck at the captain's face. Rose cursed, trying to catch her arms. Marila was quick and slippery: if she had obeyed Neeps (who begged her to Run, please, run away! Run, please, run away!) she might have escaped up the stairs. But she didn't try, and in a moment the captain overpowered her and clipped a second cuff about her slender wrist. He dragged her to the bra.s.s pipe and snapped the other cuff in place around it.

Then he stepped back, out of range of their blows.

Neeps screamed at him: "You mad b.a.s.t.a.r.d! What in the Pits are you doing?"

Rose leaned back against the wall. Neeps threw himself downward, wrenching his arm, but the pipe did not even shake. Marila twisted her arm in the iron cuff, but it was too tight for her hand to slip through. Overhead, the ship's bell began to peal again, urgently.

"You can't kill us!" cried Neeps.

"Can I not?"

"You could lose the s.h.a.ggat! You will will lose him! Marila's the spell-keeper, do you hear me? If she dies-" lose him! Marila's the spell-keeper, do you hear me? If she dies-"

"Undrabust," said Rose, "you may be gifted at detecting lies, but in telling them you have no skill at all. Lady Oggosk determined weeks ago that no one in the forecastle house carries Ramachni's spell. Given the tension in that chamber, and the presence of Sandor Ott, I decided to keep her discovery to myself."

"They're calling for us," said Marila.

And indeed men were shouting overhead: Where are they? Captain Rose! Undrabust! Miss Marila! Your hour's up! Hurry, hurry, for the love of Rin! Where are they? Captain Rose! Undrabust! Miss Marila! Your hour's up! Hurry, hurry, for the love of Rin! The voices of the ixchel, furious and confused, piped above the rest. The voices of the ixchel, furious and confused, piped above the rest.

Neeps and Marila pulled together. Rose shook his head. "Those fittings have lasted centuries. They'll not give way now."

The youths began to shout for help. Overhead, someone caught their cries and exclaimed, "The Holy Stair! The Holy Stair!" Boots pounded toward the ladderway.

Then Rose took the strangest step of all. Wading into their blows again, he pulled a third set of handcuffs from the bag and locked himself to the pipe.

"You're insane!" shouted Neeps. "If you want to die, at least let us go!"

Now they were close enough for Neeps to sense the terror in Rose's flesh. His teeth were locked in a grimace, his fists were clenched. "Out of time, out of time," he murmured.

The boots smashed nearer, and then a crowd of sailors, led by Big Skip and the doughy-faced Mr. Teggatz, appeared and all but stumbled over them.

"Milk of Heaven's Blessed Tree, shipmates, our captain's a suicide!" cried Teggatz-easily the longest utterance Neeps had ever heard from the cook.

"He's a murderer!" shouted Marila. "Get these cuffs off, get us away away from him!" from him!"

The sailors tried to do just that. Big Skip put his lumberjack's arms to the task of breaking the pipe, while Swift the tarboy ran for a hacksaw. Teggatz spat on Marila's hand and tried to ease it through the iron cuff, but only managed to bruise and b.l.o.o.d.y her. Neeps, who had felt the icy stab of the ixchel's poison whenever the door swung open or the fire ebbed, wondered that he was still drawing breath. The hour had pa.s.sed. They were living on borrowed time.

When Swift returned with the hacksaw, Rose s.n.a.t.c.hed it from his hand and broke the blade over his knee. Big Skip growled in mystified rage. He wrenched at the pipe with all his strength. Other hands shoved in close beside him, and Neeps and Marila joined too. The pipe bowed, and its housing popped loose from the timber.

"Help us, Captain, you crazy old loon!" cried Big Skip.

"I already am," said Rose.

It was a good eight minutes before the tugging, combined with the work of a second hacksaw (kept well out of the captain's reach), at last succeeded in breaking the pipe. Instantly many hands lifted Marila and Neeps and slid them, cuffs still trailing, to freedom. But even as they made to dash up the Holy Stair, they heard Rose began to laugh.

"It's permanent, you witless whelps," he said. "Haven't you guessed yet? The crawlies blundered. They gave us the same pills they gave Haddismal and Swift. You're cured. Go back in there and you'll start the poison cycle all over again."

Teggatz, blubbering, tried to push the youths up the stairs. "He's mad! Oh, misery! Run!"

"Aye, run!" said Big Skip. "If he ain't mad, he's lying! Get to safety, you two!"

But Neeps didn't move. "We should have died ten minutes ago. He's not lying. We're free." He looked at Rose, who was still shaking with mirth. "But you are are crazy, and vicious as a snake. Why didn't you crazy, and vicious as a snake. Why didn't you tell tell us?" us?"

"First, because you're an irritating brat and a mutineer," said Rose. "Second, because you'd never have believed it. You'd have run straight back into the chamber, just to be on the safe side." He took a small key from his pocket and unlatched the cuff on his wrist. Then he held out the key to Neeps. "Admit it, Undrabust. You owe me for this. You may even owe me your life."

Neeps s.n.a.t.c.hed the key from his hand. When he and Marila had shed their cuffs, he turned to Big Skip and the others. "I thank you, you," he said pointedly. Then he turned to Rose again. He was about to lacerate the man with every choice Sollochi insult he could summon when Marila laid a hand on his arm. Her face was anxious, and Neeps understood at once. Rose was free; he would be taking charge again; there would be consequences for every word that escaped their mouths. And if he really knew that neither he nor Marila was the spell-keeper, he could even carry out the suspended executions.

Marila took his hand and pulled. "Let's just get out of here," she whispered.

Neeps let himself be persuaded. But he would not go back to the stateroom: his anger at Thasha burned too bright. Hercol Hercol, he thought. Alone Alone. The swordsman had some answering to do. He knew better than to trust Greysan Fulbreech. How could he have stood by as the older youth swept Thasha off her feet?

He followed Marila to the topdeck. The moment they emerged a great cheer went up from the a.s.sembled sailors. Cries and rumors had preceded them. Now here was the proof: two of their number had beaten the ixchel at their own game. Men crowded forward, clapping their backs and almost hugging them, bellowing good wishes, howling derision at the inept.i.tude of crawlies. The ixchel on deck merely watched. They were furious, but little had really changed. They still had twelve hostages to bargain with.

Neeps caught a glimpse of the forecastle window. Half a dozen faces were pressed to the gla.s.s-Ott, Saroo, Chadfallow, Elkstem-even Lady Oggosk had claimed a spot. Our good luck is their bad Our good luck is their bad, he realized. The ixchel will never hand out any more pills The ixchel will never hand out any more pills.

Thasha appeared in the crowd. She was making her way toward him, and her eyes were beseeching. She shouted over the din.

"-tell you something-what you think-believe me-"

Neeps began to turn away, but Marila caught his arm. "Listen to her," she shouted in his ear. "Just once. You owe her that much."

Thasha reached them. She was alone; there was pain in her eyes. Neeps stood his ground, fuming, gazing furiously at her. "Well?" he said at last.

Thasha had no time to answer, for at that moment Rose climbed out from the hatch, and the cheering doubled. Hysteria Hysteria, thought Neeps. Most of them don't even like him Most of them don't even like him. Rose twitched irritably at the commotion, but no one quite believed he was angry. The men chanted his name, brandishing weapons and tools above their heads. Plapps and Burnscoves cheered shoulder to shoulder. Somewhere the stomp-stomp-clap, stomp-stomp-hey! stomp-stomp-clap, stomp-stomp-hey! of an Etherhorde flagball game began, and soon nearly everyone on deck had joined in. The men wanted something to celebrate, some victory of will over reason. For the moment Rose was it. of an Etherhorde flagball game began, and soon nearly everyone on deck had joined in. The men wanted something to celebrate, some victory of will over reason. For the moment Rose was it.

They would have lifted him onto their shoulders if he had not suddenly lurched forward. His face changed; all at once his outrage was very sincere indeed. Shoving his way through a dozen men, Rose pointed at a figure some thirty yards away by the No. 2 hatch.

"Who in the entrails of the blackest blary fiend is that that?" he exploded.

"Him, Captain?" laughed a joyful Mr. Fegin. "Why that's just Mr. Bolutu, he-Oh Pitfire!"

It was not Bolutu. The cheers turned to roars of challenge. The figure was quite obviously a dlomu, as tall and strong as any of those who had attacked the ship. He stood straight and proud, although he wore only tattered breeches, a white shirt missing all its b.u.t.tons and a fortnight's beard. His thick hair hung in tangles to his elbows. He had a lean face and a hawk-like nose, and his eyes were full of bright intelligence. As the sailors charged he raised his hands in surrender.

The men were less than calm. They fell on him, howling threats and curses, and dragged him all the way to the gunwale. There they lifted him half over the rail, so that his torso dangled above the sea.

"Hold!" shouted Rose, lumbering forward.

"On your guard, Captain, there may be more!" cried Alyash.

"There are," said the strange dlomu.

"Knew it!" said Alyash. "They're on the lower decks with the crawlies! They must be!"

"Your knife, Mr. Fegin." Rose squeezed in among his men. Burying his hand in the stranger's hair, he pulled downward, until the man was looking right at the sun. The dlomu winced and closed his eyes. Rose laid the edge of Fegin's knife against his throat.

"How many?" he said.

"Six or eight, I should say."

"You should should say exactly. You say exactly. You should should give me a reason to spare your life." give me a reason to spare your life."

"They are not my comrades," said the stranger. "Indeed, they wish to kill me. I have been running from them this last month and more."

"You're the fugitive? The one those madmen attacked us for?"