“The Ancestors of many houses have increased considerably today.” A muscle jerked slowly in t’Ilev’s jaw. He gestured his comrades to clear back a space, for they crowded closely to hear. He set his face in a new hardness. “So do I understand correctly that the Methi of Indresul is anxious to clear us aside and proceed on her way, and that you are here to urge that on us?”
“I have been told,” said Kta, “that Nephane is in civil war and that it cannot possibly resist. Is that true, Ian?”
There was a deathly silence.
“Let the Methi ask her own questions,” t’lrain said harshly. “We would have come to her deck.”
And there were uglier words from others. Kta looked at them, his face impassive. At that moment he looked much like his father Nym, though his clothing was filthy and his normally ordered hair blew in strings about his face. Tears glittered in his eyes.
“I did not surrender my ship,” he said, “though gods know I would have been willing to; a dead crew is a bitter price for a house’s pride, and one I would not have paid.” His eyes swept the company. “I see no Sufaki among you.”
The murmuring grew. “Quiet,” said t’Ilev. “All of you. Will you let the men of Indresul see us quarrel? Kta, say what she has sent you to say. Then you and t’Morgan may leave, unless you keep asking after things we do not care to share with the Methi of Indresul.”
“Ian,” said Kta, “we have been friends since we were children. Do as seems right to you. But if I have heard the truth, if there is civil war in Nephane, if there is no hope but time in your coming here, then let us try for conditions. That is better than going to the bottom.”
“Why is she permitting this? Love of us? Confidence in you? Why does she send you down here?”
“I think,” said Kta faintly, “I think-and am not sure-that she may offer better conditions than we can obtain from Shan
t’Tefur. And I think she is permitting it because talk is cheaper than a fight, even for Indresul. It is worth trying, Ian, or I would not have agreed to come down here.”
“We came to gain time. I think you know that. For us, crippled as we are, talk is much cheaper than a battle, but we are still prepared to fight too. Even taking the trouble to finish us can delay her. As for your question about Nephane’s condition at the moment…” The others wished him silent. Ian gave them a hard look. ‘TElas has eyes to see. The Sufaki are not here. They demanded command of the fleet. Some few-may their ancestors receive them kindly-tried to reason with Shan t’Tefur’s men. Light of heaven, we had to steal the fleet by night, break out of harbor even to go out to defend the city. T’Tefur hopes for our defeat. What do you think the Methi’s terms will be?”
There was quiet on the deck. For the moment the men were all listening, spirits and angers failing, all pretense laid aside. They only seemed afraid.
“Ian,” said Kta, “I do not know. Tehal-methi was unyielding and bloody; Ylith is… I do not know. What she closes within her hand, I fear she will never release. But she is fair-minded, and she is Indras.”
The silence persisted. For a moment there was only the creak of timbers and the grinding of the longship against the side of the trireme as the sea carried them too close. “He is right,” said Lu t’Isulan.
“You are his house-friend,” said a man of Nechis. “Kta sued for your cousin to marry.”
“That would not blind me to the truth,” said t’Isulan. “I agree with him. I am sick to death of t’Tefur and his threats and his ruffians.”
“Aye,” said his brother Toj. “Our houses had to be left almost defenseless to get enough men out here to man the fleet. And I am thinking they may be in greater danger at the moment from the Sufaki neighbors than from Indresul’s fleet. El,” he said angrily when others objected to that, “clear your eyes and see, my friends. Isulan sent five men of the main hearth here and fifty from the lesser, and a third are lost. Only the sons of the chan are left to hold the door of Isulan against t’Tefur’s pirates. I am not anxious to lose the rest of my brothers and cousins in an empty gesture. We will not die of hearing the terms, and if they are honorable, I for one would take them.”