The cries of seabirds came winging over the tree-tops, followed, after a while, by sounds of human activity — the creak and splash of vessels, hammering, snatches of voices swept towards us by the strengthening wind.
'Careful,' Shiv cautioned us as we tethered the horses and moved to the edge of the trees to look down the steep hillside.
'Sorry,' he said as I shot him an irritated look.
We saw the Elietimm heading openly into a village sitting in an irregular inlet cut deep into the rocky coastline by a vigorous river that Azazir would have been proud of. Fishing boats were tied to a jetty of dark grey stone and drying nets fluttered in the breeze, which was now bringing us a powerful mix of weed, fish innards and mud, the usual delightful scents of the seashore.
I frowned as we watched our quarry head straight for a large three-masted vessel tied up at the far end of the quay, some distance from the nearest boat where a handful of grubby locals were heaving baskets offish out of the hold. The crew did not even look up from unloading their catch as the Elietimm passed by in two even-paced ranks, discipline having suddenly reappeared.
'Shiv, are they using magic to hide themselves too?'
'Not that I can tell.'
'But no one's even noticing them, let alone speaking to them. What's going on?'
We watched as the orderly squad marched to the side of the boat and went through what must have been some kind of identification.
'Saedrin, this is peculiar.' I ignored Shiv and Ryshad's objections and slipped carefully down the path, keeping as much cover as possible between me and the boat until I reached the muddle of stone-built cottages around the river where there were enough people to hide me.
None of them had any trouble seeing me; they looked at me as if I were a travelling fair.
'Morning.' A grizzled old gaffer, sunning himself on a bench, eyed me suspiciously.
I tried the bright smile, cute but dim, even if it didn't go with the stained cloak and breeches.
'Can you tell me anything about that boat over there?' I pointed at the three-master.
He looked at me in complete mystification. 'A boat, you say?'
'Yes, that one, the one with the green pennants,' I said slowly, wondering if I'd managed to find the village idiot at the very first attempt.
His eyes narrowed as he peered out to sea, completely ignoring the huge ship right in the centre of his field of view.
'Is it coming in then? My eyes aren't what they used to be.'
'Never mind.' I was about to move away when a woman with hands like leather and a face to match opened the door of the cottage.
'Dad? Who're you talking to?'
She looked as sharp as the gutting knife she was holding so I abandoned any attempts at charm. Women rarely fall for it, at least not from other women.
'Can you tell me if you've seen any strangers round here lately?'
The gleam in her eyes reflected the silver she saw appear smoothly between my fingers. 'Who might they be?'
'Fair, like Mountain Men. Foreign, keeping themselves to themselves.'
She eyed the coin but shook her head after a moment. 'Sorry, I've seen no one like that.'
'How about ships you don't know? Ocean-built, like a Dalasorian.'
'We've seen no one new since a trader sailed up from Inglis for the Solstice.'
Disappointment coloured her tone but there was no doubting her sincerity. I would have believed her absolutely if only I hadn't been able to see the ship with its crew busy doing whatever it is that sailors do.
'How about that boat at the end of the dock, when did they come in?'
She looked rather puzzled as she followed my gaze and her eyes lit upon the fishing boat. 'That's Machil and his brothers. They got back from the fishing grounds just after dawn.'
I pressed a couple of Marks into her slimy palm to distract her from wondering just who I might be and walked briskly back through the village with enough self-assertion to dissuade anyone who might have accosted me.
Ryshad looked none too pleased with me when I got back to the others. 'Well?'
'It's peculiar. No one seems able to see that ship or the men from it,' I said simply.
Ryshad and Aiten looked puzzled but Shiv looked dismayed.
'You're sure? Sorry, stupid question.' He was looking as if his dog had just died.
'Why's that such bad news?'
Shiv rubbed a hand over his tired face. 'One of the magic disciplines in the Old Empire was mental control: they could do this kind of thing. We've never been able to duplicate it in Hadrumal. Do you reckon they know something we don't?'
There was a moment's silence before we all turned to Shiv at the same instant.
'So, what do we do now? Can you tell if they've got Geris in there?'
'How do we get to your mate if they have him here?'
'Can you get him out the same way you got me out of the lock-up?'
'Give me a moment,' Shiv snapped. He closed his eyes and frowned as magelight of several different colours flickered round his head. 'Shit. There's something blocking me, I can't see inside the hull at all.'
I sighed. 'I think that proves a different sort of magic is at work here.'
We stood in a indecisive circle until Aiten looked down into the anchorage and cursed. 'Dast's teeth, they're not wasting any time. They're casting off.'
We watched helplessly as the crewmen loosed the lines to the quay and long oars moved the ship out of the shelter of the inlet.
'Come on,' Shiv snapped. 'We need a boat.'
Oh, wonderful; things were just getting better and better. I wondered yet again which deity I'd offended to get landed with this.
We hurried down the hill and out on to the quay, ignoring the curious stares of the locals.
'Machil!' The sun-browned sailor looked up from the deck of his boat, clearly wondering how this strange redhead knew his name.
Shiv cast his instant-respectability-for-dealing-with-peasants spell again and looked down imposingly from his horse.
'I am on urgent business for the Archmage and require a vessel. Are you for hire?'
Machil looked sadly unimpressed as he turned to continue washing fish guts and scales off his deck. 'No.'
Ryshad drew out his amulet. 'I'm working for Messire D'Olbriot of Zyoutessela. He would be extremely grateful for your co-operation.'
Machil shrugged. 'What's that to me? I'm not going that far south, not at this time of year.'
Since appealing to the man's better nature was clearly failing, it looked like my turn.
'We'll make it worth your while.' I didn't bother with a smile, just a rattle of my belt-pouch. He wasn't to know it only held Caladhrian pennies; I just hoped Shiv had collared some more of Darni's expense money before we started on this mad trip.
Like they say, you can always get to a man's hands through his pockets. Machil put down his bucket and raised his eyebrows, still unsmiling. 'How?'
I looked at the boat, the size of its cargo and the size of the village; an idea struck me so I ran with it. 'You don't sell all that fish here, do you?'
He looked suspicious. 'What of it?'
'So, you salt it, smoke it, whatever, and take it inland? How about the mining camps? I bet they'd pay top coin for it?'
He looked at me, silent but expectant. The others had the sense to sit still and look as if they knew exactly where I was heading.
'Do you move it yourself, or sell it on to a middleman?' His eyes flickered to a long, low building on the other side of the river and I knew I had him. I gestured to our horses and the mule.
'With three saddle horses and a pack-mule, you could cut out anyone else and take the profits yourself.' Now I grinned at him and, to my relief, received a thin smile back.
'Four horses and we might have a deal. I'm not taking a horse on board ship, so you'd have to leave it here anyhow.'
No chance of keeping Russet then; it had been a slim hope at best and I stamped down hard on my regret. Whenever I caught up with Geris, he was going to pay for landing me with all this sentimental nonsense.
I looked appropriately reluctant so he'd feel he'd won a round and then nodded slowly. 'I suppose so.'
'You've got a hire, then.' He yawned. 'I'll be ready on the dusk tide. Where are we heading?'
I shot Shiv a questioning glance. He nodded almost imperceptibly and I smiled at Machil. 'We'll tell you later.'
He didn't look too happy at that, and I thought we might have trouble when we turned up that evening with as many potentially useful supplies as we'd been able to buy in such a small place. Luckily, he didn't want to display his own ignorance before his crew and he curtly beckoned us to follow him down to the cramped cabins while our gear was loaded and stowed.
'So where are we heading?' he demanded.
'Straight out to sea,' Shiv said baldly. 'I'm tracking a ship that left the coast this morning.'
Machil gaped. 'You must be joking. They'll be long gone by now.'
Shiv gestured negligently and lit the gloomy wooden walls with magelight. 'I'll be able to find them.'
'Can you guarantee the winds and currents too?' Machil asked sarcastically.
'Of course.' Shiv looked as if he were mildly surprised the fisherman bothered to ask.
'Sorry, there's no way I can take on enough stores for a voyage when I don't know how long it will take, not by this evening. Anyway, I'd need to know how long we were going to be out so I'd know how much fresh water to take.'
A hint of steel edged Shiv's voice. 'The ocean is full of fish and I can take the salt out of as much water as anyone could need.'
Machil ran a hand through his greasy hair, clearly disbelieving but, not unreasonably, reluctant to call a wizard a liar to his face. He shook his head, his face set.
'No deal; you can have your animals back. I'm not risking the open ocean for anyone.'
'How far do you usually go out?' Aiten asked mildly, knotting a piece of twine as he spoke.
'There's good fishing on some banks about three days out,' Machil said after a moment's suspicious pause, watching Aiten's hands.
'How about you take us that far? If we've found the boat we're looking for and the weather's holding, we can see about going further out then.'
'That's got to be a fair deal for five good beasts and their gear.' I thought a little reminder would do no harm.
'All right. As far as the fishing grounds, then I decide if we go any further.' Machil left without giving anyone a chance to answer and we heard him shouting orders at his brothers.
Aiten gave Shiv a grin. 'I take it you'll be able to keep the winds in the wrong direction, if we need to go on.'
'That's all very well, but I'm no sailor,' I pointed out.
'We'll still need them to run this tub; what if they won't co-operate?'
Aiten threw his knotted piece of twine to me. 'I learned more than good sea stories from my grandfather. Why do you think he decided to trust me?'
I was saved from having to find an answer by a sickening lurch of the floor.
'Looks like we're under way.' Aiten climbed up the ladder and out to the deck while I drew a deep breath and sat down, gritting my teeth.
Ryshad looked at me sympathetically. 'Are you not a good sailor?'
I looked at him and forced a smile. 'I did the trip from Relshaz to Col once and threw up all the way, and coastal waters are supposed to be calm.'