The Captain sighed and pursed his mouth. “Likely it is the matter of P’naki, yes, sir.”
Aufors started to put his anger into words, then shut his mouth, for the Captain was speaking to the men who had crowded into the control area, and nothing would be gained by shouting at the Captain in front of his men. Shout he would, however. At someone. Sooner or later.
The Captain was saying, “We haven’t enough fuel to hang here against the wind indefinitely. We’ll have to moor ourselves on the nearest island while we decide what to do next. Helmsman, steer us across the strait. The rest of you, sort yourselves out. Find rooms to bed in and clear the ways.”
The others went, but Aufors stayed.
“So you’re still digging,” the Captain murmured.
“Shouldn’t I be?” he replied angrily.
“Yes, Colonel. Of course you should. You’re angry with me because you think I should have told you many things you weren’t told. I was under orders not to do so. You and I, sir, we obey orders, do we not?”
“Usually,” Aufors grated, thinking to himself that there were a good many he would not obey, including ones that put his fellow men into harm’s way.
“Also,” the Captain went on, “you are in love with your wife, you delight in your son.”
“You may be sure I’m going after them.”
“Oh, yes, and you’re also curious about what’s going on, just as I have been for years, except that I’ve not had the resolution to do anything about it except listen to whispers. That’s all I know: whispers. There is one aboard, however, who might know more than I. Ask the doctor, Colonel.”
“Ask him what?”
The Captain grinned mirthlessly, his skull face reflected in the dials before him, fixing Aufors with glittering eyes. “I’ve always felt the doctor knew more than the rest of us about P’naki.”
* * *
In the throne room at Havenor, the Lord Paramount was receiving a report from one of his spies, a man the Prince would have been unhappily surprised to see kneeling subserviently before His Majesty.
“Well, Wiezal! So Prince Delganor is now separated from the ship and from his men!” The Lord Paramount sat up quite straight and settled his crown straight on his head. “How did you find that out?”
“You asked me to arrange to keep tabs on the mission, Your Majesty. Accordingly, we put listening devices on the ship, and we stationed men all along the islands to relay the message along the Stone Trail, to Frangia, and thence to Bliggen, and thence up the road to Havenor. We receive the message only a few hours after it has left the vicinity of Mahahm.”
“But the Prince is currently with the Shah? Correct? And the Shah does not want any trifling with . . . P’naki?”
“It’s rather confusing, Your Majesty, full of noise and cross talk, and our off-world technicians have to sort it all out when we receive the record here. All we really know is that the Prince, the Marshal, and the Invigilator are with the Shah, that the Marshal’s daughter has run away, and that her husband will no doubt go looking for her.”
“Always running off, that one, isn’t she?” said the Lord Paramount in an interested voice. “Ran off from Delganor, before. Said at the time she had good sense. Well. Events have conspired to give us an opportunity!”
“Indeed, Your Majesty.”
“And quite good time, too. Delganor was becoming . . . almost overt. Are my good little Frangians out there, Wiezal?”
“Waiting, Your Majesty.”
“Let them come in. And stay to listen.”
They came in, three lean, browned men with squinty eyes and callused hands. They bowed. The Lord Paramount nodded.
“Shipment on the way, is it?”
“The supply ships are halfway to Mahahm, Your Majesty,” said their spokesman. “Trip shouldn’t take much longer, depending on the wind.”
“Slight change in plans,” said the Lord Paramount. “I presume you can communicate with your ships?”
“Oh, yes, Your Majesty. Indeed.”
“One of my airships is moored on an island near Mahahm. When your ship gets there, send someone ashore and give the Captain this message: He and the ship are to return to Bliggen at once, without waiting for the Prince. If he asks for a code phrase that tells him the message is really from me, tell him ‘Down with sneaks and lurkers.’ “