of chances had mother and daughter survived each other. Leandra thought of her mother’s teeth and tried to shut out those memories.
Then with profound relief, Leandra remembered that her mother was in the South. Two months ago, Leandra had received a report from Dral that Francesca and her followers were in Warth—too far away to murder.
Odd. An hour previous, she had felt through the godspell that some of her future selves were relieved. Sensing an emotion before its experience was like hearing an echo before the shout.
Leandra looked away to the standing islands. At the waterline the bay had worn the limestone to pillars upon which the rocky islands balanced. Atop the larger islands stood jungle-covered ruins—walls and rock piles mostly. These were the remains of the ancient Lotus city of Sukrapor, destroyed by a long-ago war with the Sea People’s deities.
Leandra’s thoughts returned to her possible victims. There were other names she could add, but none seemed very likely to incite her to murder.There was an ancient woman who had taken care of her when she was a child. And there was Thaddeus, a scholar of the Cloud Culture and her long-ago lover … but she had little feeling left for him. In fact, she said a short prayer that, if she had to kill anybody, it would be him.
This thought made her, again, quirk a smile at the dark water and by extension the idiotic universe.
A thought occurred to her: She had been considering people presently in Chandralu, but every night ships from all six human kingdoms sailed into port. “Pass the word for Captain Holokai,” she said. Lieutenant Peleki, standing near the mast, echoed her call and the sailors repeated it down the ship. A moment later, Holokai presented himself.
The captain stood six and a half feet tall. Handsome if slightly too angular features, clean shaven head and face. But it was his complexion that was most remarkable; on his chest and face, he had fair skin that never tanned or burned. Yet his limbs and back were dark, almost gray.
Presently Holokai wore a lungi, bright red with a white fern pattern, tied in the style of the Sea People. In his right hand, he held a leimako—a stylized paddle, the blade of which was serrated with mako shark teeth. Among the Sea People, the leimako was a weapon restricted to great warriors and leaders. In Holokai’s hands, this particular leimako had unusual properties.
Holokai tried to regard Leandra with his usual casual smile, but his dark eyes betrayed a concern. He knew something strange had happened on the beach with the smuggler.
Leandra felt the fist of her emotions loosen in his presence as she had prophetically felt an hour previous—again an echo-before-the-shout emotion.
Looking at Holokai, Leandra realized that if she were honest with herself, truly honest, she had better add another name to the list of potential victims. “Captain, I have strange questions for you. Come closer.”
Frowning, Holokai did so. Privacy aboard a fighting catamaran was rare. Nearly every spoken word would be overheard and repeated by some sailor. Asking for a private conference would sow gossip among the crew. Not a good thing, but not an avoidable one either.
“Old friend …” Leandra whispered before trailing off. What, exactly, did one ask of a friend one might soon murder? “Screw it all,” she muttered. “Can you think of a reason why I might want to kill you sometime early tomorrow morning?”
Holokai snorted. “Hey, Lea,” he said in the rolling accent of the Inner Islands Sea People, “can you think of a reason why you wouldn’t want to kill me? Especially if we had another night—”
“Kai, I’m serious. From the smuggler’s prophetic text, I learned that tomorrow morning I’ll have to choose between killing someone I trust—” no need to say “love” around him “—or dying myself. So, why might I kill you tomorrow morning?”
Holokai’s smile fell. “You’re not fooling.”
“Not fooling.”
“Can’t you just run away—”
“There’s no running, no way to avoid it. It’d be a piss-poor prophecy if I could avoid it by drinking myself stupid. And, before you ask, I can’t sense more than an hour into the future again without going insane.” Leandra tried to soften her tone. “Look, Kai, something big has started. So, why might I have to kill you? I’m asking.”
Holokai looked to see if the lieutenant was listening then turned back to her. “No, Lea, not unless you changed your mind about …” He blushed slightly. “You know, my requisite to give the people of my island a son.”
“No, I haven’t changed my mind. We both know my disease prevents my helping you there. Our agreement stands. But is there a reason I should change my mind? Should I doubt my trust in you?”
“No, Lea.” His eyes searched her face. “No.”
Leandra frowned. Did he seem just slightly guilty? Or would anyone feel a bit jumpy if so questioned? “Is there something you want to tell me, Kai?”
“Lea … no …”
She remained silent, which was in her opinion the best way to wring out a confession.
He stared at her a bit longer, the blush growing across his pale cheeks.
“Do you,” she asked calmly, “have any reason to be displeased with me?”
“Oh, no … No, no,” He said quickly. In daylight, his face would be red as a hibiscus blossom.
At last Leandra took pity. Loud enough for the lieutenant to hear, she asked, “How long would it take you to search for new ships in the bay or ships that will enter the Cerulean Strait by tomorrow morning? I need to know if I might expect anyone new in Chandralu.”
He looked westward. “I’d need to cover about a hundred miles or so to be certain. But sixty miles should give us a good enough idea, and I’ve been feeling strong lately, so …” His gaze went soft as his mind became a calculus of winds and tides. “Considering it all, that should give us a pretty good idea of who’s gonna tie up to the docks tomorrow. You give me five hours, maybe six, I’ll get it done.”
“Your speed is always impressive.”
He spoke softly. “Maybe I’ll impress you with more than speed later, hey?”
Leandra rolled her eyes. “If you can get it done, Captain.”
“Lea, there’s one more thing?”
“Oh?”
“I wasn’t going to say nothing, but since you’re telling me all this, maybe it’s a night for strange things to happen.”
Leandra tapped her index fingers together in the Sea Culture gesture for “Get on with it then.”
“So I thought I saw something flying between the standing islands behind us.”
“Flying?”
He scratched his chin. “Sounds strange, hey? I’d say it was a pelican but it seemed too big, too fast. Thing is, it’s not a deity. I would have sensed that. And I’m not even sure I did see it. Maybe just jumpy, you know?”
Scowling, Leandra looked aft at the standing islands in their wake. She saw only moonlit rock and vegetation. “You’re sure there’s no ship following us to Keyway? Now would be a very, very bad time to be discovered.”
“I’m sure.”
“All right. Before you go searching for new ships, double back along our wake to make sure no one’s following.”
He paused. “Lea, you get us into trouble?”
“No.”
“How bad?”
“I said I didn’t get us into trouble.”
“As bad as when that mercenary elephant god turned neodemon?”
“That was