The Sea Watch (33 page)

He put such thoughts out of his mind and began climbing.

Of the two launches, he had arrived first, and he chose the stern as his standpoint. Padstock and the two from the Maker’s Own company fanned out behind him, snap-bows cradled in their arms. Stenwold watched as the three Mantis-kinden took their stand to one side, further forward than he would have liked. Danaen’s hands were seldom far from her sword hilts.

There was a light touch on his shoulder, and he took Arianna’s hand briefly. She looked serious, nervous even, but he supposed that was only natural.
Teornis is one of the Aristoi, after all, and it must take a lot for Arianna to set herself against him.

Laszlo had fluttered over to look over the far rail, and now he was on his way back. ‘Guests are here,’ he said shortly as he looked upwards, and Stenwold guessed he was missing a handy spread of rigging to find a seat in. The Vekken barge was moved by steam-engine, though, and not sail.

A moment later, a pair of Teornis’s Dragonflies dropped on to the deck, barely twenty feet away. The violence nearly started then and there, with weapons springing into the hands of the Mantids and the Dragonflies responding with half-drawn bowstrings. The moment passed, though, and a few moments later the man himself appeared.

The Spider Aristos looked like a tragic hero from some high-class play.
No
, Stenwold corrected his first impression,
he looks like the man those actors are trying to resemble.
He wore a long jacket of black silk, glittering with complex traceries of silver thread that were thickest at the cuffs of his full sleeves. Over this he had donned a cuirass of chainmail worked fantastically fine, looking lighter and easier to move in than Stenwold’s leather and canvas.
I’ll bet he can swim in that, if need be
, and then
, Fine mail over silk, maybe enough to slow a snapbow bolt?

The headband that Teornis wore was plain gold, setting off the darkness of his hair and narrow, pointed beard. At his belt he had a rapier with an elaborately twisted guard, while on his left hand he wore a heavy glove of embroidered leather, a duellist’s parrying tool. He even had a knife hilt visible in the top of one of his high boots.

His followers had filed up after him: two more Dragon-flies, and a quartet of the Kessen Ant-kinden with their large shields and shortswords.
But not snapbows
, Stenwold noted.
We have that advantage yet.
He was uncomfortably aware that, by bringing Laszlo as messenger and Arianna as adviser, he was putting himself at a disadvantage if it came to brute force.

‘Lord Teornis,’ he said, letting his voice ring out as though he was in the Amphiophos.

‘Master Maker,’ the Spider allowed.

Stenwold stepped forward until he was at least level with Danaen. ‘I thank you for agreeing to meet with me.’

‘Why should I not meet with my old friend, Stenwold Maker?’ Teornis answered. ‘Albeit he has levelled some hurtful accusations at my own family recently.’

‘We will talk frankly, or there is no point to this,’ Stenwold told him. ‘We are here without witnesses other than these, who are sworn to each of us. If we cannot speak openly of what we know, what’s the point of any of it?’

For a moment Teornis’s expression admitted nothing, but then he smiled readily. ‘Well then, speak.’

‘Pirates under orders from your family have been preying on Collegiate shipping,’ Stenwold started. He stopped when Teornis raised a hand. ‘If you’ll deny that, then—’

‘When pirates take orders, Master Maker, they are privateers, and that is a different game entirely,’ Teornis corrected him. ‘Do proceed.’

‘Why? Why give such orders?’

‘I am not obliged to lay out the plans of the Aldanrael to you, if you cannot fathom them for yourself,’ Teornis replied evenly.

‘And now? Will you declare war before the Assembly? Or will I have to make public the papers we took from the captain of the
Very Blade
?’

‘After her death,’ Teornis put in coldly.

Stenwold stared at him. ‘Do you claim that she was none of yours?’

‘Oh, she was mine, Maker. She was my cousin, Elleria of the Aldanrael. She always was too bold and incautious in her dealings, poor creature, impatient of the proper precautions when dealing with codes and letters. She was, in short, a fool, and doubly a fool for being willing to play pirate captain rather than practise prudence on land. But she was family, and your minions killed her.’ His eye took in the three Mantis-kinden with barely disguised loathing.

‘She was leading an assault on Collegium’s citizens,’ Stenwold pointed out, angry at being put so spuriously on the defensive. ‘Do you call her death an injustice?’

Teornis’s smile had an edge on it that would put Danaen’s blades to shame. ‘No, Maker, I do not. It was just, because she was killed in due reprisal for her actions. It was just, because she was killed by her own recklessness. However, she was
family
, a true member of the Aldanrael’s female line, and her death has set in motion events that care nothing for Beetle
justice
. Your people speak at endless length about rights, Stenwold. They bleat on about humanity’s mutual regard, and who can do what to whom. There are no rights. You are entitled to only what you can cut or charm out of life. If our armada does bring its full force to bear on your city, and breaks your defences, and kills your soldiers, and enslaves your people, then,
yes
, that will be unjust, but the world will not care. Justice is like some unnatural hybrid flower you people have bred. It will not live long unless you keep it sheltered and warm.’

‘And is that what you want? Collegium in chains?’ Stenwold asked him, privately considering that Sarn and the Ancient League and, yes, perhaps even Vek might have something to say should those ships arrive.

‘No, of course not,’ Teornis said, seeming genuinely angry, frustrated even, ‘but you are binding my hands, Maker. My family will not be easily pacified now. I advise you to find a means of mollifying them, for if the armada sets sail, then nothing in the world will stop it, and it will make the fleet I led against the Vekken seem like nothing. And we both know what will happen while we are at each other’s throats. The Black and Gold will be at Sarn’s doorstep before we’re done, and probably Seldis’s as well.’

‘So you propose,’ Stenwold laid out slowly, ‘that in return for your family plundering half of the eastbound cargoes Collegium has sent out over the last six months, killing our mariners and practising this deceit on us – in return for all of this we should offer some grand gift and beg your forgiveness for having offended you?’

‘As I say, manifestly unjust, but then consider your alternatives,’ Teornis told him.

A new voice spoke up, ‘I have an alternative.’ It was Danaen.

Stenwold frowned at her uncertainly for a moment, but decided to follow her lead. ‘My Mantis-kinden would have me give the order to kill you,’ he said. ‘Is that what you want?’

‘Are you suggesting that would solve anything?’ Teornis asked him.

‘It would solve my immediate problem. Perhaps it would send the right kind of message to the Aldanrael. But, no, it is not a course of action I am eager to try. I remember when you and I stood on the same side, Teornis. I never looked for anything but your friendship, but neither can I stand by and let my city fall victim to . . . pointless acts of brigandage. So what am I to do?’

‘Let me kill him,’ Danaen said promptly.

Teornis curled his lip. ‘Your Mantis makes great presumptions about her capabilities.’

‘This is not helping,’ Stenwold stated. ‘We came to talk, not to fight.’

Danaen spat. ‘I’ve told you, Maker, there’s only one way to deal with Spiders. If you won’t take that step, I will.’

‘You will not!’ Stenwold snapped in return.

Her eyes blazed rebelliously. The Dragonfly-kinden that Teornis had brought were reaching for arrows.

‘Felyen! To me!’ Danaen yelled out. There was a moment’s startled pause and then a half-dozen Mantis-kinden were clambering over the sides of the barge, dripping wet but armed to the teeth. The Dragonflies had their bows bent instantly, and Teornis’s Ants formed up around him, with shields raised.

‘Why, Maker? Why use Mantis-kinden?’ Teornis cried out. ‘Any other race might possibly exercise some self-control, some rational restraint, but
Mantis
-kinden? You might as well have cut the throat of any chance for peace between us.’

Stenwold was barely listening to him. ‘Danaen, what is this?’ he demanded, aware that Padstock’s people had brought their snapbows up.

‘You do not need to ask, Beetle,’ the Mantis leader told him. Her reinforcements had now spread out across the deck in a loose crescent, ready to descend on Teornis’s guards.

And on Teornis’s ship someone will be watching the sky to ensure nobody comes flying to our aid
, Stenwold thought wildly,
but they will not be watching the sea. Who would think that they could just
swim
over?

‘What of Mantis honour,’ he demanded, ‘that commodity you speak so highly of ? The Mantis-kinden I have known would not betray me so!’

The look Danaen turned on him was of pure scorn. ‘The Mantis you knew was a blood traitor, a breeder of abomination,’ she hissed at him. ‘Do not think you know us, Beetle. Do not think you know us, at all.’

Stenwold must have missed a signal then: not from the Mantids but from Teornis himself. The next thing he knew was the cold line of a dagger against his throat, and someone holding him tightly from behind. His first thought was that it was one of the Mantids, but then he heard Arianna’s voice whisper, ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Everyone still now,’ Teornis commanded. ‘Mantis swords back in Mantis sheaths, and you Beetles can aim those bows down at the floor. If you’re talking about
justice
, Maker, your people have a poor way of showing it.’

Stenwold stared only at him, because to twist his head to look at Arianna would hurt too much, above and beyond the knife. He expected to see contempt in his opponent’s face, that a man who set himself up as a follower of the Dance should fall for such a transparent trick, but instead he surprised a pinprick of sympathy in the man’s expression.

‘Now, we will talk,’ Teornis declared.

‘You mistake us, Spider,’ Danaen said, with evident relish. ‘Have your traitor gut the fat old man if you wish. What is he to me?’

Teornis’s reserve held. ‘He is the spokesman of your new adopted city, or would you betray that as well?’ he demanded archly.

She sneered. ‘In even considering dealing with the likes of you, he has betrayed all right-thinking people. Kill him, or I shall kill him. I care not which.’

Teornis’s eyes found Stenwold’s gaze again, and his expression seemed to carry the accusation:
Your death be on your own head, since you chose to deal with these fanatics.

And it’s true
, Stenwold thought, but the Mantis meant nothing to him just then. It was another betrayal that had cut him deeper.

The four Kessen Ants grouped tighter about Teornis, each sharing thoughts with the next, ready to fend off the sudden Mantis strike that must be only seconds away. Stenwold could imagine Padstock and her people on the very edge of doing something unwise to Arianna, whose knife edge was like a razor at his throat. He could hear her ragged breathing and her arm about his neck was trembling slightly.
Her regrets are going to kill me at any second, but at least she has them.
The Dragonflies had bowstrings drawn back.

‘Any bloodshed here and my ship will move in and rid the world of all of you,’ Teornis declared flatly, ‘Mantis bravado or not, you gain nothing here. The armada will still sail, and if you shed a drop of my blood my kin will . . . a—’ He stopped speaking, mouth still open, his eyes fixed entirely elsewhere. A ripple of uncertainty ran through the cordon of Mantis-kinden, staying their hands for a precious second or two.

‘Arianna . . .’ Stenwold got out.

‘Just stay still,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t want to hurt you, Sten. I really don’t want to hurt you. Please, please call them off.’

‘I don’t think I can . . .’ he started to say, and she screamed and pushed him away from her.

He assumed she had been shot, but there had been no sudden crack of a snapbow. Then he thought she had sliced him, for pain lashed across his neck, but it was nothing but a shallow nick left by the sudden withdrawal of her knife. Then chaos and devastation were let loose, for Arianna’s scream had set the Mantids in motion.

They made no subtleties about it, simply charging the Ants with savage speed in an attempt to overrun them. They clashed, with the Kessen trusting to their mail and shields, and their constant watch over each other, to turn the many swords away. One of the four Ants went down, Danaen’s narrow blade curving over his shield’s rim to pierce the armour at his throat. Another Mantis was felled and writhing, pinned to the deck by a long arrow, and one more had his face gashed by a Kessen shortsword. Stenwold tugged at his own blade, turning to see—

To see what Teornis and Arianna had seen, and it stopped him in his tracks, too. It was an eye.

It jutted out from the waves, set into a pointed crest of rubbery flesh tall enough to overlook the barge’s low side: a mottled-yellow eye with a broad slash of black for a pupil, and measuring larger across than a man’s torso.