Page 45 of Fate of the Argosi

While the island appeared both beautiful and bountiful, from its lush forests with fruit trees to rival even those of Colfax’s orchard to the magnificent mountain plateau at its centre, from which waterfalls depicted in silver sand flowed down to rivers no doubt filled with fish, it was that black ocean surrounding it that troubled everyone. Even me.

‘The water is not truly black,’ Ala’tris said for what must’ve been the seventh time since Sar’ephir had conjured the replica. ‘We believe it is an optical phenomenon caused by the physical laws of the realm within which the island exists.’

‘Not truly black, eh?’ asked another of the elders, a woman of nearly seventy whose hair was a blonde more golden even than Arissa’s. ‘Why then do you call it by that name . . . what was it again?’

‘The shadowblack,’ Sar’ephir answered, though I’m pretty sure that this time at least three other people joined in.

You could see from the elder’s self-satisfied smile that she hadn’t forgotten the word, merely wanted to make them say it again. ‘Strange that you, a Jan’Tep mage, would speak so casually about a form of magic so reviled that to reveal an attunement to it is cause for execution. In fact, is this shadowblack not the source of the notorious “Mahdek demon magic” your people have claimed is the justification for killing us all?’

‘We—’ Ala’tris hesitated, no doubt searching for an explanation that would sound more palatable than the three she’d tried already. This time, though, she was cut off before she could even make the attempt.

‘Not “we”,’ Stoika said. Chedran’s mother, the diminutive, sharp-eyed leader of the Mahdek council, had been mostly silent during the presentation. Now, though, I could tell she was about to take charge. ‘You know nothing about this shadowblack, do you, girl?’

Ala’tris bristled. ‘Do not call me, “girl”, madam.’

‘Then do not play me for a fool.’ Stoika glanced at the elders to her left, then to her right, shooting them a look that let them know they’d said enough and she would be handling matters from now on. When they nodded their acquiescence she turned her steely gaze back on Ala’tris. ‘The Jan’Tep know precious little of the shadowblack because so few possess the talent for shaping it. Yet here you stand, claiming that you’ve found this magical island within the shadowblack realm itself, even though you’ve never set foot on it yourself.’ She pointed an accusing finger. ‘Because youcannot!’

‘Oh, by whatever gods grant mercy on poor thieves,’ Arissa swore, ‘are you really that thick, old woman?’ She shoved aside the guards keeping her, Chedran and myself separated from the Jan’Tep and strode to the construct of the island.

Oh, spirits of my ancestors, I swore.She’s going to get us all killed.

She began wiggling two fingers along a section of the illusory beach as if they were a pair of legs going for a walk. ‘This is a Jan’Tep, see?’ She made her fingers buckle as if the person were collapsing. ‘Pretty island make bad Jan’Tep sick.’

Ala’tris looked to me, silently pleading for me to intervene. I just shrugged. Irritated as I was with Arissa’s incessant need to escalate every situation to the brink of bloodshed, diplomacy wasn’t getting us anywhere. Maybe outrageous insult would shake things up.

‘Oh, but what’s that?’ Arissa asked theatrically. She waggled two fingers from her other hand along the same beach. ‘Is it . . . ? Yes, I think it is! It’s a lovely little Mahdek.’ The fingers walked cautiously along the sand while Arissa moaned loud enough for everyone to hear, ‘Woe is me, woe is me, for the world is so cruel to we pure-hearted Mahdek.’

‘Laying it on a bit thick,’ I observed.

Arissa was too entertained by her own performance. She made her fingers wiggle faster, then jump in the air, the tips now a pair of feet clacking together in joy. ‘Look at that! I think our little Mahdek likes the place. Maybe because –’ she walked her fingers over to the dead body represented by her other hand, which she then kicked – ‘the nasty Jan’Tep is all dead now!’

Arissa took a step back, stretched out her arms and bowed. ‘I’m here all night. Don’t forget to tip your servers.’

Okay, I know she’s reckless, irreverent and utterly unconcerned with consequences, but are you seriously going to tell me you wouldn’t fall for her too? Chedran, who usually seemed to despise Arissa, was the only one who clapped – much to the annoyance of his mother.

Still can’t believe he’s her son, or that she exiled him . . . or that Chedran emerged from an actual human womb.

He turned and took two steps towards the entrance before the guards stopped him at the same time as Stoika shouted, ‘Where do you think you’re going, boy? This council has not dismissed you.’

Chedran looked past the shoulders of the guards to where Colfax stood at the doors with Kievan, to whom he spoke, ignoring his mother. ‘I rescued twelve runaways from being tortured and killed by Jan’Tep mages. As I understand my people’s laws these days, that’s grounds for exile – a sentence I am only too eager to resume. So either command your guards to kill me – I’d advise you start with the ones you’d be least concerned about losing – or get out of my way.’

The furore his words set off inside the greeting hall finally allowed me to see what was really going on here.

Enna once told me that the problem with diplomatic negotiations, like legal disputes or first dates, is that the participants are always putting on a show. Nothing nefarious about it – that’s just how most folks behave. Unfortunately, those behaviours mask what they’re thinking and feeling so deeply that often they aren’t aware of their own thoughts and emotions. A moment like this though, when Chedran had shifted the axis of conflict from one between the Mahdek and the Jan’Tep to one between elders and their young? That brought all the masks down just long enough for me to get a good look. I reckoned I had about seven seconds before it all blew up.

I started with Ala’tris, taking in every detail I could in that split second: the narrowing of her eyes as she tried to discern what Chedran was doing, the faint beginnings of a frown that – combined with the slumping of her shoulders – told me she was ready to give up this mad quest for some sort of redemption for her people. There were tears waiting to be shed, but she wouldn’t do it here, not in front of strangers. I felt a stab of shame for having begun with her, but didn’t have time for self-flagellation, and so moved on to Sar’ephir.

You’re way too beautiful and not nearly vain enough for all that make-up, sister, so what are you hiding under there?

The commotion in the room as Chedran took another step towards the guards – who hadn’t yet been told whether to let him go or skewer him – was enough to make all the mages nervous. I caught the slight glints of colour from the tattooed bands on their forearms, but my attention was on Sar’ephir’s shaved head.

There!The faintest darkening, like something swirling beneath the smooth bronze make-up coating her scalp. The Jan’Tep don’t tattoo sigils anywhere but the bands around their forearms, which meant this was a different kind of magic.

That’s how you found this island in a place where the Jan’Tep can’t travel, and figured out how to spell a ship so that it can voyage through mountains, deserts and even into the shadowblack itself!I glanced just briefly back at Ala’tris, now convinced that must also be part of this mission she’d set for herself: she wanted to prove that those rare Jan’Tep like Sar’ephir afflicted with the shadowblack didn’t deserve execution or exile.

I heard Colfax start to shout a command for his guards to step aside, and took that last instant before the masks came back up to set my arta precis on the biggest puzzle of all: Stoika.

The Mahdek weren’t supposed to have monarchs. When your population has been decimated, the best chance for survival is when you split apart into smaller tribes and clans that can try different means of thwarting extinction and even thriving as they wander the continent. But Stoika? Everything about her told me she was sovereign over this ‘council of elders’, just as they were sovereign over the remnants of the clans that now lived in this enclave.

---