Suddenly Bolutu rose to his feet. Everyone tensed: the black man's lips were pressed tight together, and his eyes were almost closed. He raised the notebook, squeezing it as though demanding some last service from its tattered pages.

'He wants something hard to write on,' said Big Skip.

Bolutu closed his hand, crushing the notebook in his fist. 'No, he doesn't.' He tossed the notebook down with a smack. 'Jathod ! He doesn't want to write another word.' He doesn't want to write another word.'

There were gasps. Big Skip made the sign of the Tree. 'You can talk!' said Fiffengurt.

'And you can hear,' rasped Bolutu. His voice was dry, and his words distorted, as though he had almost forgotten how to speak. Then he opened his mouth wide, and showed them a pink and perfect tongue.

'Black spellcraft!' hissed Druffle, edging away. 'You're a conjurer! A hoojee hexman from the Griib!'

'That's ugly, Mr Druffle,' said Marila. But in fact they were all in shock. Bolutu had grown a new tongue.

Say something, Pazel! cried Diadrelu. cried Diadrelu. Khalmet has his hand on his sword ! Khalmet has his hand on his sword !

'Listen to me!' Pazel blurted. 'Whoever he is, he risked his life to save me from Arunis!'

'That's right, that's right,' babbled Fiffengurt. 'And if you are a hex-man, Bolutu - well, that's just fine with us. So long as you're our our hex-man, he he.' hex-man, he he.'

'I am neither hoojee hoojee nor nor hexman hexman, whatever those may be,' said Bolutu quietly. 'Nor am I a Slevran, as I was forced to claim.'

'Told you!' said Neeps. 'I told you he was a Noonfirther ! Didn't I?'

Bolutu shook his head. "I am not.'

A hint of panic entered the room. Neeps, trying gamely to contain the situation, forced out a laugh. 'Fine then, I got it wrong. Let's not get excited. We're all human beings.'

'I am not,' said Bolutu.

Everyone leaped up; Khalmet's sword was out in a flash; Druffle bared his cutla.s.s, and even Fiffengurt whipped the blackjack from his pocket. Bolutu wisely raised his hands in surrender. For a moment they heard only their own breath and the slosh of the bilgewater. Then Pazel stepped in front of Bolutu, his heart pounding. Courage, courage! Courage, courage! said Diadrelu from above. said Diadrelu from above.

Trembling, Pazel extended his hand. 'Elaya,' he said.

'Elaya chol ! ' replied a delighted Bolutu, shaking his hand. 'And where did you learn Nemmocian, Mr Pathkendle?' ' replied a delighted Bolutu, shaking his hand. 'And where did you learn Nemmocian, Mr Pathkendle?'

'On Bramian,' said Pathkendle. 'From a sc.r.a.p of paper in Ott's hand. I've never heard it spoken before this minute. And . . . it's not your native tongue, is it?'

Bolutu shook his head. 'Indeed, I barely speak Nemmocian, though I read it well. Can you guess why?'

'Not if my life depended on it,' said Pazel.

'What in Rin's name is happening, here?' demanded Khalmet. 'Who is this lunatic, who says he is not human?'

Suddenly Thasha gasped. 'It was you!' she said. 'It was you you I was sensing, not Ramachni at all! But you're with him, aren't you? You're his friend!' I was sensing, not Ramachni at all! But you're with him, aren't you? You're his friend!'

'Friend?' Bolutu smiled at her in turn. 'Admirer might be a better word. I have the honour to know and revere him, but I have seen Ramachni only once in the past twenty years: at the battle of the Straits of Simja, the day he put out the coal Arunis placed in my mouth.' might be a better word. I have the honour to know and revere him, but I have seen Ramachni only once in the past twenty years: at the battle of the Straits of Simja, the day he put out the coal Arunis placed in my mouth.'

He looked at the ring of startled faces. 'Don't fear me, please. I am your ally still, and will hide the truth from you no longer. My name is Belesar Bolutu Malineko Urstorch. I am a dlomu. And I must hasten to inform you that the battle we are engaged in is larger than you have ever suspected.'

No one moved. Khalmet and Druffle kept their weapons raised. Pazel realised suddenly that he and Bolutu were still holding hands. Releasing the man, he stuttered, 'A dluh. A dloh--'

'Dlomu,' said Bolutu gently. 'Just one of the million, and if you let me live a few more days you will see for yourself what we truly look like, for now I know that my disguise-enchantment is at last starting to break. My new tongue proves it. We dlomu can regrow parts of our bodies, over time. Fingers, hands, even whole limbs if we rest properly. This tongue started growing just days after the sorcerer maimed me.' He probed the tongue with his fingers. 'Gagh. It is whole at last.'

If Bolutu meant to allay their fears, he did not succeed. Intelligent beings other than humans were not unheard of in Alifros: nearly everyone had seen the squid-eyed nunekkam, cooking on the decks of their houseboats, or playing their flutes at nightfall in some field or garden, their hairless children tumbling at their feet. A smaller number had seen ixchel sprinting for their lives along an alley, or flikkermen haggling in the flesh markets, or augrongs or bristle-backed stoors lumbering over the hills. A rare few had met with murths. But Pazel had never heard of dlomu dlomu, and by their faces he saw that none of the others had either. Marila stared at Bolutu like a frightened animal. Thasha's face glowed with a mix of rapture and fear. Big Skip Sunderling looked as though he had stepped into a madhouse and forgotten where the exit lay. Flinching, he whet his lips and whispered, 'A million million?'

'Perhaps slightly more,' said Bolutu, 'spread out across the Empire.'

'The man's raving,' said Druffle with a shaky laugh. 'A million - things, running around the Empire, and no one claps eyes on you? What, do you all live buried in caves?'

'I don't think he's talking about the Empire of Arqual,' said Pazel.

'Right again,' said Bolutu. 'Arqual is but a little realm compared to Bali Adro, our vast and glorious kingdom in the South. Almost half of us are dlomu, including our Emperor and his court. Slightly less than a third are human, but their numbers are growing quickly. The remainder are a hotchpotch of other races, mostly unknown in the north. Such wonders in Bali Adro! Had we a month of council meetings I could scarcely attempt their description. And great as it is, Bali Adro comprises but a third of the mighty southern lands.'

Khalmet's look was hard and suspicious. 'You're asking us to believe . . . that you come from beyond beyond the Nelluroq?' the Nelluroq?'

'Exactly, Lieutenant. Now sheathe your sword, I pray you.'

'What do you really look like?' asked Marila.

Bolutu studied his hands, as if they might have changed in the last few minutes. 'Nothing terrible,' he said. 'We are blacker than the blackest humans. Our eyes have two lids, and shine in a way yours never can, like the eyes of night creatures. Our skin is smooth and tight; it would crack before it wrinkled. Such are the visible visible differences. differences.

'As for this body, I am quite aware that I am too short and thick-chested to be a Noonfirther. That was to be the ident.i.ty I a.s.sumed, and the metamorph-spell our wizards wrapped me in seemed perfect at first: when they finished I looked every bit the well-heeled gentleman from Pol. Scores of us agreed to such changes, trading our dlomic bodies for human ones.

'But twenty years ago, as we came north across the Nelluroq, something happened. I still do not understand it. We pa.s.sed through a kind of soundless storm, a storm not of wind but of light. It blinded us, and when our eyesight returned days later we found that we had changed again. Some of my comrades had reverted completely to their dlomic bodies, and could play no part in our mission. Others still appeared human, but had reverted in one respect or another to themselves. I had regained my old height and weight. No longer able to pa.s.s for a Noonfirther, I chose to be a Slevran - the only other possible explanation for my skin colour.'

'But what in Pitfire are you doing doing here?' said Thasha. 'If you went to so much trouble to seem human and journey to the north, why are you on a boat heading south? Are you just trying to get home?' here?' said Thasha. 'If you went to so much trouble to seem human and journey to the north, why are you on a boat heading south? Are you just trying to get home?'

Startled, Bolutu turned to her. 'You . . . want me to tell them?' he said 'What are you talking about?' Thasha demanded. 'I want you to tell me.' me.'

Bolutu's eyes darted nervously from face to face. 'Yes,' he said at last. 'I see now that I must.'

'Then be quick about it, for Rin's sake,' said Fiffengurt.

Still uneasy, Bolutu began: 'I came north over the Ruling Sea as a youth. That was two decades ago, as I told you. Oh yes, there are ships as great as Chathrand Chathrand in the south: not many, but enough. Ours was a mission of justice, m'lady - justice and retribution. We were forty hunters: thirty humans, and ten others, mostly dlomu like myself, in magical disguise. We had sworn to each other and our monarch that we would find and slay the criminal Arunis Wytterscorm, also known as the Blood Mage. This sorcerer's meddling in the affairs of kings had left many a nation at war with its neighbours, and the whole of the mighty South was the poorer for his ravages. When I left, twenty years ago, Bali Adro was still healing, and I doubt that she is finished yet. Catastrophe is the mage's calling. And what he did to our realm, he has for the last sixty years been struggling to inflict on your own.' in the south: not many, but enough. Ours was a mission of justice, m'lady - justice and retribution. We were forty hunters: thirty humans, and ten others, mostly dlomu like myself, in magical disguise. We had sworn to each other and our monarch that we would find and slay the criminal Arunis Wytterscorm, also known as the Blood Mage. This sorcerer's meddling in the affairs of kings had left many a nation at war with its neighbours, and the whole of the mighty South was the poorer for his ravages. When I left, twenty years ago, Bali Adro was still healing, and I doubt that she is finished yet. Catastrophe is the mage's calling. And what he did to our realm, he has for the last sixty years been struggling to inflict on your own.'

Bolutu sat down once more on his crate. The others glanced at each other, and warily followed suit. 'Arunis has played this game for centuries: seeking power in one land, reaching too far, destroying what he sought to rule. And later, moving on to some place where his name and crimes are unknown. He has crossed the Nelluroq many times in his long life. He profits greatly by our forgetting.'

'You make him sound worse than all the devils in the Pits rolled together,' said Fiffengurt. 'Is he that that strong?' strong?'

'No,' said Bolutu, 'and that is why he runs. He lacks the strength to conquer any land outright; his ruinous talent has been to set us at each others' throats. But should he find a way to use the Nilstone, he will command a power more terrible than the Worldstorm. Then I fear he will not only bleed the nations of Alifros, but begin to exterminate them.'

Bolutu sighed, and rubbed his face. 'Now to the worst part of my story.'

'It gets worse?' asked Dastu, incredulous.

'More shameful, anyway. Arunis, you see, did not simply choose to a.s.sault your northern lands. He was sent. Dispatched, as it were, by a league of criminals in my country, to steal something from yours.'

Aya Rin, hissed Diadrelu. hissed Diadrelu. Now I see. Now I see.

'Of course,' said Bolutu, 'I am speaking of the Nilstone. And the league of which I speak - known as the Ravens, for they grow fat on death - has wanted it for nine hundred years. When your--'

He checked himself, as if he had almost spoken amiss. Then, taking a deep breath, he continued: 'When your great wizardess, Erithusme, set out to rid herself of the Nilstone, she found to her horror that she was less its owner than its slave. First she tried to bury it within the h.o.a.rd of Eplendrus the Glacier-Worm, but the Stone only drove the creature mad, so that he took his own life, and left the h.o.a.rd unguarded. She came next to our lands, where our mages met and questioned her.'

'They wouldn't take the Stone,' said Thasha. 'I know that part of the story. They made her carry it away.'

'So they did,' said Bolutu, 'but not before the mighty of Bali Adro had seen the miracles she could work with it: a river turned backwards, a forest made to bloom in winter, a tower reduced to a termite mound. Erithusme was, after all, the only only being able to wield the Nilstone since the time of the Fell Princes. She knew that it would one day kill her too, if she did not relinquish it, but meanwhile it gave her powers beyond reason. She had no peer in Alifros. She was the master of the world.' being able to wield the Nilstone since the time of the Fell Princes. She knew that it would one day kill her too, if she did not relinquish it, but meanwhile it gave her powers beyond reason. She had no peer in Alifros. She was the master of the world.'

'But she never wanted to rule it,' said Thasha. 'Unless my Polylex Polylex has it wrong.' has it wrong.'

Bolutu shook his head. 'I said master master, my lady, not tyrant tyrant. No, she did not wish to rule the world. And she certainly did not wish to force the Stone on anyone. So she departed again, this time to a secret place, and there she laboured alone. Her goal was to pierce the very fabric of the world, and cast the Stone through the aperture, into the dark realm from whence it came. Never had she attempted anything so difficult; all her might as a wizardess she poured into the task. The effort nearly killed her - and failed, for in the end she could not use the power of the Stone against the Stone itself.

'When she returned to the northern world, she had lost the better part of her strength. The Mzithrin Kings gave her shelter, and Erithusme was forced to plead with them for a safe place - any safe place - to leave the Stone until such time as she could recover, and try again.'

'Aha,' said Fiffengurt. 'Then it was was the Sizzies who made the Red Wolf.' the Sizzies who made the Red Wolf.'

'No, sir; that was Erithusme's own work. The Mzithrin Kings built the Citadel around it, and more importantly, an armour of legends that wound the Nilstone up with their own fear of devils and corruption, lest anyone should be tempted to use it. They were fine guardians, until the s.h.a.ggat came.'

Pazel leaned back against the wall. 'It never stops,' he said, his voice full of weary bitterness. 'First we think we're at the start of a Great Peace. Then we find that Ott's using the treaty to bring the s.h.a.ggat back to power and start a war. Then we learn that Arunis is using Ott and his war-scheme to get the Nilstone, and make his precious s.h.a.ggat invincible. And now now you're telling us that men from your country are using Arunis--' you're telling us that men from your country are using Arunis--'

'Using that d.a.m.nable mage?' said Druffle. 'What for?'

'Have you heard nothing?' said Khalmet. 'To bring them back the Nilstone! They saw how powerful it was, and now they want it back!'

'Exactly,' said Bolutu. 'You have been afraid of war between Arqual and the Mzithrin, and rightly so. But another, unfinished war was simmering across the Nelluroq, and one party to that conflict, the Ravens, looked north and saw an opportunity. These Jackals included mages and men of great wealth. They were united by illusions about their own ancestry - claims that they were descended from the heroes of the ancient world - and by a certainty that they too would one day reign supreme in Alifros. No tactic was too ruthless if it increased their power.

'Fortunately they never grew strong enough to threaten the Bali Adros, our Imperial family. That is why the sorcerers among them began to dream of possessing the Nilstone. They have never forgotten it, and now they think they can master the Stone and use it as a weapon of war. Of course that is madness.'

'It's worse than madness,' said Pazel. 'It's like--'

'Being caught in a whirlpool,' said Thasha, and something in her voice made them shudder.

Bolutu turned to face her, and cleared his throat. 'Do you remember what Ramachni told Arunis, Thasha, after Pazel turned the s.h.a.ggat to stone?'

Thasha nodded slowly. 'I don't suppose I'll ever forget it. "We are never long the masters of the violence we unleash. In the end it always masters us." "We are never long the masters of the violence we unleash. In the end it always masters us." But where does it end, Mr Bolutu? Those Jackals, the men who sent Arunis to fetch the Nilstone. Are they just puppets too? Is someone using But where does it end, Mr Bolutu? Those Jackals, the men who sent Arunis to fetch the Nilstone. Are they just puppets too? Is someone using them them?'

'I do not think so,' said Bolutu, 'and in any case, it has been nearly a century since they could truly threaten the Empire of Bali Adro. Our Empire is vast and strong - and justly governed, as you shall see. Arunis was its most vile outlaw. When it came out that the Ravens were using him, and indeed had given him a ship and helped him to flee the Crown's justice, our Emperor ordered their immediate arrest. True, some managed to flee the Empire - there is a great deal of room in the South - but most were captured and imprisoned. And we were sent north to deal with the Blood Mage.'

'Pardon me for saying so,' said Fiffengurt, 'but you've made a fishhead stew of that that job. Arunis went north sixty years ago, you say? But you waited another job. Arunis went north sixty years ago, you say? But you waited another forty forty to take up the chase? What took you so long?' to take up the chase? What took you so long?'

'Lies, first of all,' said Bolutu. 'No one knew where Arunis had gone, and the Ravens gave one false confession after another. But in a deeper sense, it's true: the fault is ours. For when at last one of the Ravens told us where Arunis had gone - and what he was sent there to find - no one believed it. We did not wish to believe. We hoped Arunis had simply fled, to harm some distant land perhaps - but not ours, never again. It was a senseless hope, but we clung to it. And so lost precious years.'

Pazel heard Diadrelu heave a sigh. Denial is death Denial is death, he thought.

'It was only when Ramachni himself visited the north, and returned with the news that one of the Mzithrin Kings had gone mad, and seized the Red Wolf, and that a dark wizard stood at his side - only then did we face the truth. By your calendar it would have been the spring of 913. We mounted an expedition to find Arunis as quickly as possible. Too quickly, perhaps, for the ship was never heard from again, and surely perished in the crossing of the Nelluroq. My elder brother was aboard.'

Bolutu dropped his gaze a moment. Then he gave a small laugh. 'He was the ship's veterinarian. It's our family trade.'

'You're not a mage, then?' asked Thasha. 'Or . . . trying to be one?'

'Trying?' Once more Bolutu looked at her in confusion. 'My dear lady, no sane person would try try to become a mage. Would you try to drown yourself, to learn what fishes think and feel? Trying to be a mage! What one gains in power and wisdom is taken away tenfold in other ways! Do you really mean to say you don't know?' to become a mage. Would you try to drown yourself, to learn what fishes think and feel? Trying to be a mage! What one gains in power and wisdom is taken away tenfold in other ways! Do you really mean to say you don't know?'

Thasha closed her eyes, remembering. 'Felthrup read me something from the Polylex Polylex, about a mage from Auxlei City, who talked to his followers before he died. The only questions he refused to answer were about his childhood. He said, "My first life" - that's what he called it - "is my own. It is the only thing that was ever mine, and it was over before I knew I could lose it." '

'Many wizards say as much,' said Bolutu. 'if they say a word about themselves. No, I do not long to be a mage. It is hard enough being the object object of an enchantment. Wouldn't you agree, Mr Pathkendle?' of an enchantment. Wouldn't you agree, Mr Pathkendle?'

Pazel looked at him uncomfortably. 'When it's bad, it's pretty bad,' he murmured.

'Bad or good, alteration by magic is for ever for ever,' said Bolutu. 'When my disguise-spell breaks, will I look like a proper dlomu again, or will something of this face remain? Will women find me hideously human? Will children scream at me in the streets?'

'G.o.ds below,' said Druffle, 'and you say being a mage is worse worse?'

'Different,' said Bolutu, 'more painful. But if I am called to the mystic order, I will serve. That is the way of things. It is not a matter of choice.'

'And Ramachni ?' asked Thasha.

A hint of pride entered Bolutu's voice. 'Lord Ramachni saw the potential potential mage in me. He came to Bali Adro in my youth, and identified a handful of us. Some became mages, others did not. But all of us have tried to prepare ourselves for the possibility - for example, by studying Nemmocian, the language of spellcraft.' mage in me. He came to Bali Adro in my youth, and identified a handful of us. Some became mages, others did not. But all of us have tried to prepare ourselves for the possibility - for example, by studying Nemmocian, the language of spellcraft.'

'Listen!' said Fiffengurt suddenly.

The sound came from eighty feet overhead, but they heard it plainly: ten sharp notes from the Chathrand Chathrand 's bell. 's bell.

Time to go, Pazel, said Diadrelu.

It was time for everyone to go; men inspected the hold every morning as part of the dawn watch. The circle shifted nervously. The council had provided no answers, only frightening questions.

Once again it was Thasha who took the lead. 'All right, listen. One part of the plan hasn't changed, despite--' She gestured helplessly at Bolutu. '--what we've learned. We're still just ten people, against eight hundred. We can't wait any longer to build up our numbers. And at the same time, we can't make any any mistakes. Remember, you only have to choose mistakes. Remember, you only have to choose one new person to trust one new person to trust. So choose well.'

'Twenty people, crammed in here?' said Dastu, worried.

'Sure, mate,' said Neeps. 'It can't be worse than dinner shift.'

'Dinner shift is loud loud,' said Marila.

'It will be the last time we all meet here, that's for sure,' said Pazel, glancing around the vault. 'Right, Mr Fiffengurt?'

'Here or anywhere else,' said Fiffengurt. 'It'd be suicide, even on this monster of a boat, to bring forty forty mutineers together. Somebody would hear us, or chance by. We'd be strung up by our heels in no time.' mutineers together. Somebody would hear us, or chance by. We'd be strung up by our heels in no time.'

'Then our first task when next we meet,' said Khalmet, 'should be to decide a means of communicating without without coming together. A way to pa.s.s messages, and spread the word.' coming together. A way to pa.s.s messages, and spread the word.'

Hercol is the one to ask about that, said Diadrelu.

Marila gave Thasha's arm a gentle squeeze, a reminder of the hour. 'Right,' said Thasha. 'Mr Fiffengurt, if you'll just remind us?'

'We'll leave in pairs, just as we came,' said Fiffengurt. 'Two minutes between each pair, so that we don't stumble on top of each other in the dark. Khalmet and Big Skip will go first; they're the most likely to be missed up above. Go your separate ways at the top of the scuttle - one forwards past the smoke cellar; the other off to starboard. And for Rin's sake don't use the top step - it groans like a bull with a bellyache.'

Khalmet and Big Skip rose to their feet.

'We meet in eight days,' said Thasha. 'Moon or no moon.'