Eye of the Labyrinth (18 page)

Chapter 32

Dirk watched the eastern horizon nervously as the
Makuan
sailed toward Elcast, watching for any hint of yellow or blue staining the sky. He was not sure how long it was until the first sun would set. While the sky was red, while there was still no sign of the second sun rising, he could still pretend he had another day. He could still imagine it was not too late; still convince himself that they might make it to Yerl in time to save his mother.

“You’re going to wear a hole in the deck if you keep pacing like that,” Tia remarked, turning from watching the smudge in the distance that was the southern tip of Elcast.

“What time is it?”

“About five minutes since you asked me the last time.” She glanced at the eastern horizon. “We’ve got an hour, maybe less, until second sunrise.”

“We’re not going to make it,” he concluded grimly.

“We might,” she shrugged. “Don’t be such a doomsayer.”

Dirk didn’t answer her. Tia’s sudden decision to take his side in this dangerous enterprise was vaguely unsettling, but he was too familiar with her mercurial mood swings to question it closely. He didn’t know what drove Tia to do anything, and had long ago given up imagining that he ever would.

“Have you seen Eryk?” he asked instead. He hadn’t seen the boy since the night Kirsh was beaten, and was a little concerned. They had departed Nova in such haste that at least two crewman he knew of had been left behind.

She shook her head. “Kurt probably knows where he is. Why?”

Dirk glanced back over his shoulder toward the stern where the first mate was standing behind the helmsman, yelling orders to the men clambering over the rigging. Since he saw him work Kirsh over so efficiently, Dirk had little inclination to even acknowledge the mate’s existence, let alone get into a conversation with him.

“I want to explain to Eryk what’s happening. I don’t want him hearing it from anyone else.”

“The chances are he knows by now, Dirk,” Tia reasoned. “It’s the worst kept secret on the ship. Everyone knows why we’re so unexpectedly rushing off to Elcast.”

She was right, Dirk knew. There was not a man aboard who had not somehow discerned the reason for Porl Isingrin’s sudden decision to depart Nova and sail for Yerl, an insignificant port they rarely visited in the normal course of events. He wondered how many of the crew thought as Tia did. None of them, he guessed, had any particular affection for Morna Provin, but they were all quite happy to be doing something that might result in someone being saved from the sacrificial fires of Landfall.

The wind was brisk and the ship cut through the choppy straits between Grannon Rock and Elcast bathed in the red sunlight of the first sun. Gripping the railing as he walked, Dirk headed toward the stern, sidestepping the sailors who scrambled to obey Kurt’s bellowed instructions. The
Makuan
was a tightly run ship, and there was little effort wasted as the sailors went about their duties.

Kurt glanced up and saw Dirk. He was not a particularly tall man. His eyes were brown, like most Dhevynians, but his hair was so blond it was almost white, which made him appear much older than his thirty-five years.

“We’re already doing eight knots,” Kurt informed Dirk as he approached. “Which is faster than I thought this bucket could move. Don’t waste my time asking if we can go any faster.”

“I was looking for Eryk, actually.”

“He’s working. You can socialize with him when he’s finished his watch.”

Dirk was a little taken aback by Kurt’s brusque retort. “I just wanted to check that he got back to the ship ...”

“He’s fine, Dirk. He looked so happy when he came on board I thought he must have got laid. Now, unless you have something useful to tell me, I’m busy trying to get this lumbering bitch to pretend she’s the
Calliope
.”

Feeling rather chastened, Dirk returned to the bow.

Tia grinned when she saw his frown. “Did I forget to mention that Kurt’s in a foul mood?”

“Why?”

“He has a sister on Nova who’s about to have a baby. This desperate dash to Morna Provin’s rescue has seriously interfered with his plans to be there for the child’s birth.”

He glanced back at the first mate, suddenly feeling a little guilty. “I didn’t realize ...”

“You never do, Dirk,” she shrugged. “Like most of your kind, you think the world begins and ends with
your
problems.”

“My
kind
?” Dirk stared at her, wondering what he had done in the few minutes it had taken him to walk to the stern and back that would make her turn on him again.

“The highborn. You’re all the same. You think an accident of birth makes you better than the rest of us.”

“That’s ridiculous. Anyway, what’s this ‘better than the rest of us’ nonsense? Your mother was highborn. Even worse, you were born of Senetian nobility, right in the Hall of Shadows itself! If you want to start keeping score on who’s got the most dubious ancestry, Tia Veran, you might want to take that into account.”

Tia didn’t look pleased at the reminder. “It’s not the same thing. I was raised in Mil.”

He nodded in understanding. “Ah . . . I see. And in your eyes, that makes you better than me, doesn’t it?”

“No, Dirk,” she said, meeting his eye defiantly. “I didn’t kill my own father.
That’s
what makes me better than you.”

She pushed past him and headed aft, leaving him staring after her, wondering what it would take for Tia to ever forgive him. Then another thought occurred to him. Why did he care anyway? It was not as if he needed her forgiveness. The truth was, even if she got down on her knees and
thanked
him for killing Johan Thorn, it made no difference.

Dirk would never forgive himself.

It made the urgency of his present mission even more pressing. He had been able to do nothing to save his father. Dirk was fairly certain he would not be able to live with himself if he did not at least try to save his mother.

The second sun was rapidly overtaking its companion before they were close enough to Yerl to lower the longboat. Dirk was chafing at the delay, but did his best not to let it show. He knew Porl Isingrin and his crew had worked miracles to get them to Elcast as fast as they had, and he would achieve absolutely nothing by complaining that it still had not been fast enough.

Kurt relented and sent Eryk to say good-bye to Dirk as he was waiting for the sailors to winch the longboat down to the water. The boy looked tanned and fit, and much happier than when Dirk had seen him last. Perhaps Reithan had been right. Left alone to find his place in the crew, he was starting to settle into his new life.

“Kurt said you wanted to th— see me, Lord Dirk,” Eryk said, consciously correcting himself as he came up behind him.

Dirk sighed as he turned around. He had given up trying to break Eryk of the annoying habit of referring to him as “Lord Dirk” a long time ago. He studied the boy closely for a moment, but he seemed none the worse for his time as a sailor. “I just wanted to see how you were doing, Eryk.”

The boy shrugged. “I’m all right.”

“They’re not picking on you too much, are they?”

Eryk shook his head. “Not really. Derwn was worse.”

Dirk had not spared the son of Elcast Town’s butcher a thought since he had left home. It reminded him sharply that he was about to face more than the threat of Antonov’s wrath. His whole life had been spent on Elcast, and he was not sure what it would be like to suddenly find himself home again, a stranger and an outcast.

“Well, you keep working hard, and if it gets too much for you, make sure you tell Captain Isingrin.”

“Don’t tell him that, Dirk,” Tia scolded, coming up behind Eryk carrying her knapsack and her bow. “Snitching is the worst crime a sailor can commit.”

“I thought that was mutiny?”

“Only if you get caught. Hello, Eryk.”

“Are you going with Lord Dirk, too, Tia?” he asked, taking in her traveling garb.

“Yes,” she replied with a smile. “
Lord
Dirk needs someone to keep an eye on him.”

The boy nodded thoughtfully. “That’s good, Tia. Lady Morna was really nice to me. I’m glad it’s going to be you that saves her.”

“We’ll try, Eryk,” she promised, a little uncomfortably, and then she looked at Dirk. “You ready?”

He nodded. “We’re just waiting for Reithan.”

Tia said good-bye to Eryk and squeezed past them to the longboat where the sailors had almost finished launching it. Dirk turned back to Eryk. “The captain said he’s going to try to meet up with the
Orlando
in Kalarada. He seems to think he can get you a permanent berth with Captain Falstov’s crew.”

“They visit Mil pretty often, don’t they?” Eryk asked hopefully. “I’ll be able to see Mellie again, won’t I?”

“Eryk ...” Dirk began uncertainly. How could he explain it? How could he tell Eryk to leave Mellie alone without breaking the boy’s heart? “About Mellie.”

“It’s all right, Lord Dirk. You don’t have to tell me. I understand what I did wrong.”

“You do?” he asked in surprise.

Eryk nodded. “I won’t do it again. I know that now. Next time, I’ll know what to do.”

“Dirk!” Tia called. “Are you coming or not?”

“I have to go,” he explained. “But I’m glad you understand about Mellie.”

“Dirk!” Reithan bellowed, adding his impatience to Tia’s cry.

“Good luck, Lord Dirk.”

“Thanks, Eryk.” He ruffled the boy’s head fondly and hurried over to where Reithan was waiting for him with Porl Isingrin. Tia was already in the longboat with the crewmen who were manning the oars.

“We should be in sight of Elcast harbor a few hours after first sunrise,” Porl was telling Reithan as his stepbrother tossed their packs down to Tia. “I’ll have the longboat waiting where we arranged to meet. We’ll hang around as long as we can, but if you’re not at the rendezvous by the time the second sun rises tomorrow morning, we can’t risk waiting for you.”

“If that happens, we’ll make our own way back to Mil,” Reithan agreed. “For that matter, you should run at the first hint of trouble. I don’t want you risking your whole ship for this.”

“Don’t worry about me, Reithan,” the pirate assured him, grinning crookedly. “I was dodging the Lion of Senet’s excise men while you were still sucking on your mama’s tits. I know how to keep my head down.” The captain turned to Dirk. “Good luck, lad. Don’t be too hard on yourself if this all comes to naught.”

“I appreciate your help, Captain.”

“I’ve not done much but get you here,” the pirate shrugged. “It’s up to you now.”

“Are you two coming, or are you planning to stand up there gossiping all day?” Tia called impatiently from the longboat.

Porl smiled. “You take care now. Both of you. And don’t let Tia needle you too much, Dirk.”

Dirk climbed over the railing and slid down the rope ladder, jumping the last few feet into the boat. Tia caught his arm as he almost overbalanced.

“Careful!” she snapped. “You nearly capsized us!”

Up on the deck of the
Makuan,
Porl watched Dirk take his place in the bow and turned to Reithan. “I’m letting him go against my better judgment.”

“He’ll be all right, Porl.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I think he’s a good lad, but that’s not my point. We can’t afford to send him back to aid our enemies. Do whatever it takes, Reithan, but don’t under
any
circumstances let that boy fall into the hands of the Lion of Senet or the High Priestess.”

“You worry like an old woman, Porl. I’d kill Dirk before I let that happen.”

Porl Isingrin frowned and replied in all seriousness, “You may have to, Reithan. You may just have to.”

Chapter 33

Dirk was not so well known in Yerl that his presence would raise suspicion, but just to be on the safe side, Tia insisted that he keep out of sight while Reithan arranged to purchase horses for their journey. He was not happy leaving the task in Reithan’s hands. Unquestionably, of the three of them, Dirk was the most knowledgeable when it came to horseflesh. Tia had rarely ridden. Reithan was a little more experienced, but he was still a sailor first and foremost. Despite Dirk’s objections, they overruled him, and it was left to Reithan to find them mounts. There was not much available. Yerl was a fishing port, and a small one at that, but he was able to find three average-looking beasts that seemed to have the legs required to get them across the island.

Tia glanced at the horses warily when Reithan rode up towing the two other horses behind him. They were waiting a little out of town in a small clearing near the north road. Reithan dismounted when he reached them, handing the reins of all three horses to Dirk.

“The dun looks like he’s going to drop dead halfway there,” Tia complained, as Dirk began to inspect Reithan’s purchases.

“Which is why you’re going to have to ride him,” Dirk said, as he checked the shoes of the sturdy looking chestnut. “You’re the lightest.”

Tia glared at him suspiciously. “Are you sure it’s not because you’re hoping he
will
drop dead and I’ll break my neck when I get pitched to the ground?”

Dirk looked up and smiled faintly. “Well, there is that ...”

“Cut it out, you two,” Reithan ordered impatiently. “What do you think, Dirk? Are they worth what I paid for them?”

“How much did you pay?”

“Thirty-four silver dorns, but that included the saddles and the tack.”

“I think that horse thief saw you coming,” Dirk told him with a frown, and then he shrugged. “But they should survive the trip.”

“How far is it, anyway?” Tia asked.

“Eighty miles, give or take,” Dirk said, moving on to the dappled gray.

“Eighty
miles
?” she gasped in horror. “You want us to ride eighty miles in a
day
?”

“You could do it on foot in less than two days,” he informed her. “In theory.”

“How do you
know
that? Did you get bored one day and decide to work out how fast a man can walk?”

He looked at her as if she was just a little bit crazy. “I was born here, Tia. Don’t you think I’d know something like how long it takes to get from one end of my own island to the other?”

She hadn’t thought about that. She was so used to Neris working out strange things like how far a man could walk in a day, or how long it would take to bore a hole through a piece of granite using water drips, that she just assumed Dirk was fond of the same useless pastimes.

“We’ll have to pace the horses,” Dirk warned Reithan. “But we should be able to make it to Elcast Town before the second sun sets if nothing goes wrong.”

“Then let’s get moving,” Reithan suggested. “We’ve a long way to go, and we’re not gaining any time standing around here talking about it.”

“Good idea,” Tia agreed, taking the reins of the dun from Dirk. “And while we’re riding, Mister I’m-the-smartest-person-in-the-world here can do something really useful.”

“Like what?” Dirk asked, looking rather offended.

“Like coming up with a plan, Dirk,” she said, as she swung into the saddle. “Call me picky, but I just can’t help feeling I’ll be a lot happier about this heroic little adventure we’re about to embark upon if we’re actually still alive at the end of it.”

Tia’s prediction that the dun would drop dead halfway to Elcast Town proved prophetic. It did not actually drop dead, but it went lame about twenty miles from the town. They had ridden through the day, alternately walking and cantering the horses. As the second sun traveled slowly across the sky, they had walked the horses for longer and longer periods, their bursts of speed becoming shorter and shorter as the animals wearied. Tia was exhausted, sore, dirty and hot—almost as bad as the poor horse. She leaned against a nearby tree wearily, resting her foot on a small post sunk into the ground on the side of the road.

Dirk examined the horse with concern and turned to look at her. “He’s done for. You can’t ride him any farther.”

“What are we going do?” she asked.

“We’ll have to double up. And change horses as often as we can to ease the load.”

“How far is it to Elcast Town?” Reithan asked.

“Seventeen miles.”

“And I suppose you
know
we’re exactly seventeen miles from Elcast Town because you were born here?”

“No. I know we’re exactly seventeen miles from Elcast Town because you’ve got your foot on the mile marker,” he told her.

She snatched her boot from the post and looked down. Sure enough, carved into the weathered wood was the letter
E,
under which was carved the number seventeen. She looked up and glared at Dirk in annoyance. It wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t always look so smug when he managed to get one up on her.

Even Reithan managed a weary smile. “You walked into that one, Tia. Come on. You can ride with me for the first few miles.” He reached down and offered her his arm. They both grunted with the effort it took to swing her up behind him on the gray.

Dirk pulled the saddle from the lame dun’s back then slipped the bridle from his head and let the animal hobble away toward a patch of succulent grass on the verge. He piled the tack by the saddle, handed Tia her pack and glanced up at the sky with concern. “It’s going to slow us down, riding double. Perhaps I should ride ahead . . .”

“No,” Reithan declared flatly, surprising Tia with his determination. “We do this together or not at all, Dirk.”

Dirk looked as if he might object, then he nodded in agreement. “Let’s ride then,” he said, swinging into his saddle. “It’s almost second sunset. We’re running out of time.”

They reached the outskirts of the town about an hour and a half later. Dirk halted near a small crossroad. The intersecting track led down to the harbor, while the road they were on changed from a rough dirt surface to cobblestones. Dirk was riding a little ahead of Reithan and Tia. He hauled his mount to a stop, then turned and waited for them to catch up.

“This is where we part company.”

Reithan swung his leg over the gray’s neck and jumped to the ground as Tia slid forward in the saddle and picked up the reins. She had strung her bow a little way back and had it slung across her shoulder.

“Do you remember what I told you about finding the Outlet?” Dirk asked Reithan.

“I turn left about half a mile from the town off the road to the Keep.”

Dirk nodded. “Good luck.”

“You, too, Dirk. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“He won’t,” Tia promised on his behalf.

They both turned to look at her, and then Reithan shook his head. “Be nice, Tia.”

“Be careful, Reithan.”

He smiled. “I will. I’ll meet you back at the Outlet. Don’t be late.”

Reithan shouldered his pack and headed down the track toward the harbor without looking back. Dirk glanced at Tia. “This close to the Festival the town will be all but deserted, so we shouldn’t have any problems getting up to the Keep. Think you’ve got enough left in you for a gallop?”

“More to the point, have the horses got enough left in them?”

“Barely.”

She took a closer grip on her reins. “Let’s do it then.”

They cantered through the town and, as Dirk had predicted, there was barely another soul to be seen. Tia glanced around with interest as they rode, finding it hard to think of this place as Dirk’s home. It was so ... ordinary. The houses were neat, the town square bordered by a variety of shops—just like a score of other towns she had seen on islands all over Dhevyn. Then she glanced up and got her first sight of Elcast Keep.

Tia gasped at the sight of it. The massive, ancient Keep loomed over the harbor, its tall central tower reaching up eight stories and topped by a massive dome painted gold by the setting second sun. Dirk urged his horse into a gallop as they reached the other side of town where the road curved sharply and steeply around the bay. Tia glanced at the sky in the east. Was that a tinge of red on the horizon?

The Keep gates stood open and unguarded.
Like an open
mouth waiting to snap shut on us the moment we’re inside,
she thought nervously. She knew this was a trap. Reithan knew it was a trap. Even Dirk knew it. The question now was whether they had anticipated the trap well enough not to be caught in it. They galloped through the gates and came to a halt before a set of broad granite steps that led to two massive bronze doors in the central tower. The courtyard was deserted.

Dirk dismounted and turned to wait for Tia, looking around at the Keep with an odd expression on his face. It was more than two years since he had been home, she recalled. She wondered what he was thinking. Was he glad to be back? Maybe not, given the circumstances, but with Dirk it was hard to tell. He had one of those faces that betrayed nothing unless he wanted it to.

She dragged on the bit and brought her exhausted mount to a halt before jumping to the ground and unslinging her bow.

“Put that away,” Dirk ordered.

“You don’t know what’s waiting for us in there, Dirk.”

“Women and children, mostly,” he shrugged. “Everyone else will be down on the common.”

Dirk turned and took the granite steps two at a time. Tia was far too stiff and sore to do anything so agile. She followed him up the steps at a much more sedate pace and waited as he pulled the massive door open.

Tia stepped inside and looked up in amazement. One really didn’t get a sense of the size of the place until inside, dwarfed by the huge circular tower and the staircase that ringed it. It was as if the whole building had been bored out of living rock.

Dirk nudged her when he caught her gaping, and began to walk through the hall toward the high table on the other side. There were several women sitting at the tables talking among themselves. At one, a woman softly strummed a balalaika, at another, several small children appeared to be having a party. These were the children of the Keep, Tia guessed, deemed too small to attend the Festival. Their footsteps caught the attention of a plump blonde dressed in a plain but well-cut green dress. She looked up curiously, and then stiffened in shock as she caught sight of Dirk.

Now is when this all goes to hell,
Tia thought.
If she raises the
alarm, we’re done for
.

The girl hurried toward them.

“Hello, Faralan.”

She stopped a few paces from Dirk and studied him for a moment before she returned his greeting warily. “Dirk.”

“You’re married to Rees now, I hear.”

She nodded. “You shouldn’t have come. Antonov is waiting for you.”

“I know,” Dirk agreed calmly. “How many men has he got?”

“Several hundred at least. The woods and the Festival are riddled with them, and there’s more waiting here in the Keep.”

“Where are they?” Tia asked, looking around. There was nobody she could see but the women and children.

“They’ve orders to stay hidden until I raise the alarm.”

“Are you going to raise the alarm?” Tia asked.

“I have no choice,” the girl shrugged. She appeared to be genuinely sorry about it, but that was not going to help them much if she started screaming.

Dirk nodded in understanding. “How long can you give us?”

Tia’s attention was diverted by a sound she almost thought she imagined. She stilled, trying to filter out the sound of Dirk and Faralan talking, the balalaika and the chatter of the children at the table. She felt it as much as heard the sound in the distance, deep and rhythmic.

“Drums.”

Dirk and Faralan both stopped to listen.

“You must hurry, Dirk,” Faralan warned. “There’s not much time.”

He nodded. “Can you do anything about the guards here in the Keep?”

“She can’t,” a male voice behind them said, “but I can.”

Tia and Dirk spun around to find a portly old man with a gray beard and a fond smile on his face standing behind them. She had been so absorbed in listening for the drums, she had not heard him approach.

“Helgin!” Dirk cried, embracing the old man warmly.

“Now, now, enough of that,” the old man muttered, pushing him away. “The drums have started and you don’t have much time. But don’t worry about the Lion of Senet’s men here in the Keep. Most of them will be asleep until tomorrow morning. With luck a few of them won’t wake up at all.”

“You drugged Antonov’s guards?” Faralan gasped. “Master Helgin! How
could
you?”

Tia glanced up and noticed that the beams of sunlight crisscrossing the hall through the arrow-slit windows were reddening rapidly. “Dirk, we’re running out of time . . .”

“Go,” the old man urged.

“Antonov will kill you for this, Helgin.”

“My problem, Dirk, not yours. Now
go
!”

“Here,” Faralan added, picking up two masks from a discarded pile on the table near them. “You’ll need these.”

Dirk accepted them from her, and then clasped her hand for a moment. “Thanks, Faralan.”

She smiled. “Good luck, Dirk.”

They ran from the Hall without looking back. Outside, the drums were much louder, much more insistent, and the first sun was well and truly on the rise. Dirk ran toward the postern gate with Tia close on his heels.

The drums began to pound faster.