'Mellicks!' shouted Toyd.
Draven swore, Haveros drew his sword and Quenerain screamed. Everyone crowded round the metal bud. Except for Yen Olass, who fled to the doorway, terrified, thinking that any moment the stars would go out and some drop-door or sliding stone would block all chance of escape.
To her relief, she reached the open air safely. She squatted down just outside the doorway, while the others thumped on the steel bud, hacked at it, tried to pry the metal petals open, and shouted words of hope and encouragement in case Mellicks could hear them. Then, slowly, they gave up, and drifted outside: Resbit first, then Jalamex, the boys Shant and Mation, the deserter Saquarius, then the pirates Toyd and Draven.
Only Haveros, with Quenerain kneeling at his feet, remained to watch the steel bud.
'We're not going to get him out,' said Draven. 'We'll have to leave him.’
'Leave all of them, that's what I think,' said Toyd. 'We can travel faster on our own.’
'We'll do better with Haveros.’
'What? Mucking through the jungle till we fiddle our way through to his darling Lord Alagrace? What kind of law will they give us then? A close shave with the knife, that's my bet.’
'Haveros guarantees our safety,' said Draven.
'Ay, so you say.’
'I've lived with these people.’
'Yes, when your shipmates died. How did that happen?' 'As I've told you,' said Draven.
'Ay. As you've told. As I've heard. Wait till we get to the Greater Teeth. You'll be telling some more then.’
'The truth makes the best story,' said Draven. 'That's why I'm sticking to it.’
Yen Olass, listening, wondered exactly what Draven had told his comrades. She remembered the interview with Khmar: one pirate dying at the hands of the Lord Emperor himself, a second killed by bodyguards, then a third knifed by Draven.
Toyd seemed in a mood to start a quarrel. And no wonder. They were all hungry, on edge and short-tempered. Tramping up this river on the shortest of all possible rations, with pursuit behind and no certain prospect of escape, they were not the happiest of travelling companions.
But before Toyd and Draven could fray each other's tempers further, Haveros called them all inside.
The bud was beginning to open.
None of them would have been surprised if a dead man had been inside. Instead, there stood Mellicks. He blinked, then yawned. The central disk he was standing on glowed bright yellow. As the metal petals folded flat against the floor, the disk turned grey again. Mellicks stepped clear.
'What happened?' said Haveros.
'A… call it a dream,' said Mellicks. 'But
'But what?’
'I can see. As clearly as anything!’
The pirate was positively radiant. Joyful. Since Orfus pirates were not by nature the happiest bunch of people you could hope to meet, Haveros was suspicious.
'What do you mean, you can see?’
'You. Her. Everything. Polished. Sharp. I've always… I've always wanted to see properly.’
'What is this?' said Draven. 'Miracle magic?’
'I suppose you could call it that,' said Mellicks.
'A wish machine!' said Quenerain. 'You could wish for-’
'Your eyes are yellow,' said Haveros abruptly. 'Mine?' said the princess.
'Mellicks! Your eyes are yellow.' 'Are they?' said Mellicks. They were.’
Everyone stared at these bright yellow eyes. They were a yellow as bright and glossy as buttercups.
'What of it?' said Mellicks. 'I can see. The voices told me.’
'Voices?' said Haveros.
'Try it for yourself,' said Mellicks, a little truculent now, because he did not like the way the others were reacting to his excellent eyes.
Haveros persisted.
'What kind of voices?’
'Faint,' said Mellicks. 'And very far away.’
'How did you understand them? You've got no truch-man's skills yourself.’
'They spoke as I speak,' said Mellicks. 'If you want to know more, ask them yourself.’
'I wouldn't go near anything so dangerous,' said Draven.
'I'm alive,' said Mellicks.
'Yes,' said Draven. 'And the shark doesn't always bite the first time.’
'I don't think it's a shark,' said Quenerain, touching Haveros lightly on the shoulder. 'I think it's here to grant… what we desire. You're not afraid, are you, dear?’
'No,' said Haveros. 'I'm not.’
And, deciding suddenly, he laid down his sword and stepped onto the grey metal disk. The bud closed around him; when the petals eventually opened again, he stood there holding a sword, and smiling. He had what he had wanted for a long time; a blade of the fabled firelight steel from the distant southern island kingdom of Stokos.
'Your face!' said.the Princess Quenerain.
'What about it?' said Haveros, stepping forward.
A yellow stain, like a birthmark, sprawled down one side of his face, but he could not see it. He listened impassively as they told him about it.
'I'll live,' said Haveros.
And while the others were still wondering over the sword and the yellow stain, Yen Olass Ampadara, who knew exactly what she wanted, stepped onto the grey metal disk.
'Yen Olass!' shouted Haveros.
But it was too late.
The metal petals closed up. Yen Olass was enfolded in darkness, and there, in a dark space filled with stars, she listened to the voices.
– What are you doing with a piece of ourselves? 'What piece?' said Yen Olass.
– That.
With the word, the voices made her understand. 'I found it in the river,' said Yen Olass.
– In the change. 'I want…’
– You want to stay. 'No.’
Something unpleasant started to happen. The darkness hardened and started to squeeze Yen Olass. The voices started to nag down into her brain, stirring up dead memories better left to coagulate down in the lower sump. The memories sharpened into events. Hands grappled and clawed. The needle stabbed. Yen Olass screamed.
'No!’
– You want to stay. 'No!’
– You want to stay.
A crushing pressure. A tongue flushed with saliva, forced against her face. Beef wrenched home, ripping her membrane. The needle stabbed home, and the old woman laughed. Chonjara! His boot slammed home, the Casting Board broke apart, the ivory Indicators scattered. The knife. Her mother's breast. A stone smashed into her skin.
Yen Olass screamed:
'You smegma-eating arsefuckersl’
Silence.
Floating stars.
Yen Olass floated. All pressure was gone. She sensed the voices. They were cringing, appalled at the strength of her anger.
'Do what I say,' said Yen Olass. 'Or you'll be sorry.' – Join us. Stay. 'Do what I say!’
The voices closed around. Deferential, this time. Lightly, they roused her flesh. Worked her wish. She trembled. Accepted her change with a sigh. Delighted, she waited for her release from the metal bud. She saw the petals start to open.
Then, at the last possible moment, the voices hurt her. Lacerating pain ripped at her fingernails. She screamed as the bud opened. Looked down at her hands. And saw ten grey scabs. Her fingernails were gone.
She screamed again.
And did not stop until Resbit was holding her. 'What is it?' said Resbit. 'What is it, Yen Olass? What did they do to you? Yen Olass?' Someone touched her hands. 'Claws,' said Haveros.
Tentatively, blinking away tears, Yen Olass looked at her hands. Held them close to her face. There was something there. Hard and sharp. Then grey scabs. Thick metal-slab fingernails, tapering to sharp chisels.
'You'll be all right, Yen Olass,' said Resbit, comforting her. 'You'll be all right.’
Yen Olass nuzzled her face into Resbit's comfort, and allowed herself to be calmed.
'Did they try to hold you?' said Haveros.
'They hurt me,' said Yen Olass. 'They tried to make me stay. They wanted… they wanted to eat me. I think. Take me all. Make me them.’
'Did you wish…?’
'Not for this!' exclaimed Yen Olass, holding up her hands, anger replacing sorrow. 'They did this. They hurt me.’
'That's enough then,' said Haveros. 'Whatever the thing 235
is, it's waking up. It's getting stronger. We can't risk it again – it's trying to eat people.’
'You've got what you want,' said Toyd. 'Why should the rest of us be scared off? Because the girl got scared in the dark? Because she's grown a little cold steel? I can spare a bit of my beauty – I want to eat.’
And before they could stop him, he jumped onto the grey metal disk, and the metal petals closed around him.
He was inside for a long time.
When Toyd was released, he tottered forward. His mouth opened. He tried to speak, to scream. No sound came. He fell face-first and landed heavily. His skull broke open with a soft plop, collapsed gently into liquid and began to ooze across the floor. He was definitely, undeniably dead. Draven stepped forward and nudged at a growth that pushed out from his ribs. It was an embryo.
'Is this what you wished for?' said Draven.
As a pirate, he knew his anatomy, having cut up a few pregnant women in his time – though more for sport than to satisfy a habit of inquiry.
'No!' said Yen Olass.
She most certainly had not wished for a child. Though perhaps the idea of a child had been at the back of her mind, and perhaps the alien voices had stolen that idea from her.
'So what did you wish for?' said Draven.
'I can't tell you.’
'Why not?’
'I can't tell you!’
'You killed him,' said Draven.
'I didn't do anything to him,' said Yen Olass.
'She's pregnant!' said Quenerain in a shrill voice.
'Pregnant?' said Yen Olass. 'What would I do with a child here? In the wilderness?’
She knew that, sometimes, she yearned for a child. On the other hand, there were other times when she was thoroughly glad that she had no children to burden her. And it was absurd to think that she would wish to be pregnant at a time like this, when they were running for
their lives in the forest.
'Yen Olass,' said Haveros. 'If you'd really wanted 'It'll be born with yellow eyes,' said Quenerain viciously.
'And people will stone it to death.' 'They will not!' said Yen Olass.
'You see?' said Quenerain. 'She admits it! She admits it! She's pregnant! Made pregnant by wishing herself.' 'Unnatural bitch,' said Saquarius.
Yen Olass saw they were convinced she had got herself with child without first allowing herself to be dominated by a man: and they hated her for it.
'Still,' said Draven, kicking the dead body. 'He was warned. He had it coming to him.’
And Yen Olass saw that Draven was glad that Toyd was dead. Those question about how Draven had survived the wrath of the Collosnon Empire had clearly worried him, as well they might.
'Come on,' said Haveros. 'There's nothing else for us here. Let's leave.’
And so they departed from that place, and went on up the river, leaving the castle to its mystery.
Yen Olass, for her part, carried a mystery within her. Was she pregnant, or was she not?
She sincerely hoped she was not.