Nightchild

She looked hard into his eyes and saw terrible sorrow there. Her heart lurched and thudded painfully. She realised she was scared.

'But it's Lore. Lower Lore, I grant you, but Dordovan all the same.'

'It's part of the Tinjata Prophecy,' he said.

Erie

'I know you don't. They hide it from people they don't want to see it and refuse to offer the translation to others.'

'People like you,' she said.

'Yes, so I stole it. I had to know.' He grimaced and swallowed and she put a hand to his face, trying to comfort him for a pain she didn't understand. 'And now I do.'

He handed her a second sheet. She took it and read it. It was a translation. Short, filled with gaps, but for all that, very explicit. She began to tremble, the parchment shaking in her hand. She had a lump in her throat and her stomach twisted. She looked at the prophecy, then back at the translation, searching word by word for an error.

'No, no, no,' she whispered, her eyes sca

And there was one. Basic but commonplace in untrained translation.

'Oh Denser,' she said. 'It's wrong. Whoever did it translated it wrong.'

'Where… how?'

He grabbed the parchments from her, she didn't know why. So she pointed at a single word in the Lore.

'They got the gender wrong,' she said, dragging in her last breath before the tears came. 'That doesn't mean Father. It means Mother.'

Chapter 32

For one brief day, as they closed on the Dordovan fleet heading in from the west, Denser and Erie

They had cried long together, bolting the door of their cabin and refusing any refreshment but their own company. Once they'd regained control and could bear not to clutch each other, Erie

In the early evening of the sixth day, Denser lay with an arm around Erie

Soon, it would be time for di

He knew he should worry about the Dordovans, who could reach the Ornouth Archipelago in front of them, but somehow he was certain they would fail. All that consumed him was the burgeoning hope that Lya

mean one thing. That Lya

A shadow passed in front of the sun. Denser craned his head to the window to watch it pass. The shadow deepened and he frowned.

'Sundown's early tonight,' he said, propping himself on one elbow and looking down at Erie

'No it isn't,' she whispered, and there were tears standing in her eyes. 'It's started again.'

'No, love,' he said, but he already knew it was true.

The temperature was falling, the ship was shifting against its forward motion. There was a swell rising and a storm coming.

'We knew it couldn't last,' she said. 'Didn't we?'

He nodded. There were no words, not now.

Above them, he heard orders ratding across the decks and die sound of hurrying feet. He heard the slap of limp canvas and felt the ship turning. There was a knock on the door, urgent and insistent.

'Sorry, you two, but you've got to see this. I'll meet you on deck.' Ilkar's voice was apologetic but determined and Denser listened to his footsteps receding and the sounds of sudden tension from above before turning back to his wife.

'Well?'

'We should go,' said Erie

T love you, Erie

Erie

They dressed quicldy and, after a long embrace, walked up to the deck. Pushing open the forward hatch, the gusting wind felt strong in their faces. The ship was begi

'Here we go again,' muttered Denser.

He led Erie

Protectors and half the crew of the Catlaian Sun. They hurried over, Ilkar seeing them and stepping back so they could see clearly.

A light was arrowing out from sea to sky over at the Ornouth Archipelago, the first islands of which would soon be visible. It was a vast column, green-edged yellow, shot through with orange, brown and a dismal black. It disappeared up into the sky and where it touched them, the clouds spun around it, thickening and expanding.

They already covered the horizon and blotted out the sun and with every heartbeat they fled across the ocean towards Balaia. Inside them, lightning flared and smudges in a dozen places told of rain falling in torrents. Beneath them came the wind, and below the wind was driven the sea, white-capped and murderous. The swell was growing, already at ten feet. The ship still made headway but Jevin had already furled all but topsail and foresail, and soon he would be forced to take in more.

'Oh dear Gods,' said Denser. 'Look at what our daughter is doing to us all.'

Erie

T think we should eat now, before it gets too rough,' he said to Ilkar as they passed him. The elf nodded.

'I'll sort it, don't you worry about it.'

The forward hatch slid back as they approached it and a very familiar shaven-headed figure came halfway out, spotting them and beckoning them over. He was clutching a sheet around his waist.

'Any idea where my clothes are?' he said.

'Unknown, it's good to see you,' said Erie

'And you, Erie

The gale roared into the Choul in the early hours of the morning. It was some time before dawn and the night was black, the cloud unyielding and the rain unceasing. Sha-Kaan brought the Brood to wakefulness, their dulling eyes regarding him in irritation.

'We are doing nothing here but dying,' said Sha-Kaan. 'Hirad Coldheart is right. We must help them.'

'It is not our way to help but to be helped,' said Nos-Kaan. 'We are the Kaan.'

'And this is not Beshara, and here we do not rule,' said Sha. 'So we will help my Dragonene. He, at least, has stayed true and deserves our help. Without him, we would already have perished. Unfurl your wings, young Kaan, and we will fly. But beware. The hunters are everywhere.'