“Wait!” I grabbed hold of Alake. “We don’t have to get rid of all of them, do we? Couldn’t we keep one or two?”
“No, we must convince the creatures that we are defenseless,” said Alake firmly, and tossed the last few over the rail.
“There are eyes watching us, Grundle,” Sabia whispered in awe. “Can’t you feel them?”
I could, and that didn’t make me any happier about handing over our weapons to the dolphins. I was glad that I’d had the foresight to slip an ax beneath my bed. What Alake doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
We trailed back to the observation room, none of us saying anything, each wondering what would happen next. Once there, we stood staring at each other.
“I suppose I cou!d try to run this thing,” I offered.
But that wasn’t necessary.
As Alake had foretold, the boat’s hatches suddenly slammed shut, sealing us inside. The vessel, steered by no one that we could see, glided away from the pier and headed out into open sea.
The fevered excitement and thrill of our stealthy escape began to seep out of us, leaving us chilled; the full realization of what was likely to be our terrible fate was stark before us. Water swept over the deck and engulfed the windows. Our ship sank into the Goodsea.
Frightened and alone, we each reached out our hands to the others. And then, of course, we knew that Sabia wasn’t Sabia.
It was Devon.
CHAPTER * 8
THE HALL OF SLEEP CHELESTRA
IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, IN THE CITY OF THE SARTAN ON CHELEStra, Samah’s pronouncement that the Patryns must be going to war brought expressions of grim consternation to the faces of the Council members.
“Isn’t this what they intend?” Samah demanded, rounding on Alfred.
“I … I suppose it might be,” Alfred faltered, taken aback. “We never really discussed . . .” His voice peetered out.
Samah regarded him thoughtfully, intently. “A most fortunate circumstance, Brother, that you have arrived here accidentally, wakened us at this precise moment.”
“I—I’m not certain what you mean, Councillor,” answered Alfred hesitantly, not liking Samah’s tone.
“Perhaps your arrival wasn’t quite by accident?”
Alfred wondered suddenly if the Councillor could be referring to some higher power, if there could be One who would dare rely on such an unworthy, inept messenger as the bumbling Sartan.
“I—I suppose it might have been . . .”
“You suppose!” Samah leapt on the word. “You suppose this and you suppose that! What do you mean ‘suppose’?”
Alfred didn’t know what he meant. He hadn’t known what he was saying, because he’d been trying to figure out what Samah was saying. Alfred could only stutter and stare and look as guilty as if he’d come with the intent of murdering them all.
“I think you are being too hard on our poor brother, Samah,” Orla intervened. “We should be offering him our grateful thanks, instead of doubting him, accusing him of being in league with the enemy.”
Alfred stared, aghast. So that’s what the Councillor had meant! He thinks the Patryns sent me! . . . But why? Why me?
A shadow passed over Samah’s handsome face, a cloud of anger covering the sun’s politic light. It was gone almost immediately, except for a lingering darkness in the smooth voice.
“I accuse you of nothing, Brother. I merely asked a question. Yet, if my wife believes I have wronged you, I ask you to forgive me. I am weary, undoubtedly a reaction from the stress of awakening and the shock of the news you have brought us.”
Alfred felt called upon to say something in response. “I do assure you, Councillor, members of the Council”—he glanced at them pathetically—”that if you knew me, you would have no difficulty in believing my story. I came here accidentally. My entire life, you see, has been a sort of accident.”
The other Council members appeared faintly embarrassed; this was no way for a Sartan, for a demigod, to talk or act.
Samah watched Alfred from beneath narrowed eyelids, not seeing the man, but seeing the images formed by his words.
“If there are no objections,” the Councillor said abruptly, “I propose that we adjourn the Council until tomorrow, by which time, hopefully, we will have ascertained the true state of affairs. I suggest that teams be sent to the surface to reconnoiter. Are there any objections?”