'This way.' Janne ushered Itrac back towards the steep stair leading down to the broad and luxuriously appointed cabins on the uppermost of the Rainbow Moth's three levels.

'We'll stay on deck.' Kheda's glance halted Telouet and the slave returned to his master's side. Kheda grimaced. 'It may stink up here but it's stifling below.'

Telouet didn't demur. 'Let's hope the rains come soon.' He spared an involuntary glance back down river. 'Do you think the dry season's broken back home?'

'Rekha will let us know when it does.' Kheda directed the slave's attention to the landing stage that was the single breach in the Derasulla fort's outermost defences. 'Now let's see exactly what Safar's thinking of us just at present.'

'Doesn't look as if Ritsem Caid thinks too much of him.' Telouet nodded at the Ritsem domain's ship. It was a heavy trireme, fitted out with frilled canopies and silken tassels decorating sails and ropes but still unmistakably a fighting vessel and manned with experienced rowers, judging by the speed and neatness of its turn as it pulled away from the dock.

'Not quite an insult but not exactly courtesy either.' Kheda knitted thoughtful brows.

'I don't think Safar's taking offence. That's a sizeable honour guard.' Telouet nodded to the array of armoured warriors lining the landing stage. Their armour shone brilliant in the unforgiving sun, various men carrying yet more pennants proclaiming the Ulla domain's magnifi-cence. 'Let's hope none of them faint and fall in the water.' His tone belied his words.

'So Caid's got the upper hand on something. Now what is Safar trying to tell us with this little display?' Kheda wondered aloud. As the Ritsem trireme quit the dock for a secure anchorage midstream, a significant proportion of the swordsmen were disappearing back into the labyrinth of the fort.

'That he's a discourteous boor,' growled Telouet.

Do I let them see me scowling? Will that give Ulla Safar pause for thought or just amuse him?

Kheda kept his expression tranquil. 'Let him play his games. The business bringing us here is far too serious to waste time on such stupidity.'

'Of course, my lord.' Telouet visibly set his anger aside at Kheda's sober reminder.

'Make ready!' The Rainbow Moth's shipmaster shouted his warning from the stern platform. Crewmen stood alert with boathooks and fenders newly stuffed with the fibres from tandra seedpods. Kheda unobtrusively spread his feet a little.

Let's not gift Safar with any appearance of lack of confidence in my mariners by holding on to something. Besides, Telouet's always within arm's reach. He won't let me or the Daish domain suffer the embarrassment of a fall.

Two decks below, the oarsmen deftly wielded their blades to bring the massive ship edging slowly up to the landing with its stone stages like the wide-set teeth of a comb jutting forward. The high stern platform of the galley eased into a gap. Daish sailors flung ropes down with the sharp whistles common to all mariners no matter what their domain. Ulla men secured the heavy lengths of hemp to sturdy bollards, pulling the galley ever closer until the wooden stair fixed in the angle between stern platform and steering oars hung over the dock rather than the water.

Kheda turned to Telouet with a dangerous smile as he unclasped his light cloak and let it fall to the planking. 'Let's step ashore.'

As he spoke, Birut emerged from the accommodation deck, a sword on each hip, helm covering gone, and bronze adornments brilliant against the silver steel of his armour. He did not have the nasal of his helm lowered but his unsmiling face below the ruby-studded brow band was warning enough that he was ready to fight.

Janne followed him, one hand carefully lifting the flowing skirts of a scarlet gown. She paused for a moment to smooth the silk and to allow Birut to adjust the gold-embroidered gossamer draped from the points of a pearl-encrusted coronet resting among the haze of soft smoky curls that framed her face. More ropes of pearls were woven into the single thick braid that hung down her back. A triple belt of golden chains girdled her waist, the strands joined by ornate canthira leaves bright with crimson enamel. More chains were cross-tied over the gown's gold-embroidered bodice to accentuate the charms of Janne's full bosom. Gem-studded rings flashed in the sun and countless bracelets of braided and twisted gold wire jingled softly as she adjusted the splendid filigree work dotted with rubies that nestled in her cleavage. The bright varnish on her perfectly manicured nails was an exact match.

'I've seen less determination on men about to go into battle for the domain,' observed Telouet discreetly, discarding his own helm covering.

'We all fight, just on different fields.' Kheda smiled with patent admiration as Itrac emerged, pausing to settle her own skirts. He was heartened to see a new courage rise in the Chazen lady's copper-painted eyes. 'Is that your work or Birut's?'

Itrac set her jaw, lips rimmed in that same lustrous copper. Raising beringed hands, she pushed back the gold circlet set with brindled turtle shell that held her unbound, unadorned hair off her face. Reaching almost to her waist, her glossy black locks were stunning. White embroidery on a white gown with a decorous neckline did its best to flatter her modest charms while setting off the ropes of amber beads she wore around her neck. A wide belt of pale turtle shell and gold clasped her slim waist and hip-high slits at either side of the close-cut skirt revealed her slim and elegant legs with every step. Kheda caught a gleam of gold dust in the oil that protected her honey-coloured skin from the sun. Darker turtle shell ringed her wrists and ankles, gold-mounted and brilliantly polished.

'Her hair looks good. I knew that sardberry wash would bring up the shine.' Telouet studied Itrac critically. 'I wonder if we shouldn't have sewn up the sides of that gown though. Does Safar's taste run to leggy sprigs or just full-blown blooms?'

'The man has no taste, just unbridled appetites.' Kheda shifted his feet and the silver ornaments on his anklets jingled slightly. He looked down at his loose blue trousers and indigo overtunic, every seam decorated with sapphires set in silver. Silver thread coiled all around his shoulders and chest, the embroidery just hinting at the pattern of mail and plates that made up a hauberk. 'You don't think the white would have been better? That wouldn't show the sweat so much.'

Telouet reached up to untangle the chains on the earrings that were already making Kheda's ears itch. 'That indigo's dark enough to hide the marks and, anyway, everyone will be sweating like pigs in this pestilential hole. The white would show every smudge and I'd bet my sword that Safar would find a chance to spill something on you.'

'True enough.' Kheda resisted the temptation to run his fingers through his hair.

The last thing I need is canthira oil all over my hands.

He raised his voice loud enough to be heard on the dockside. 'Shall we go, my wife? Will you join us, honoured wife to my ally?'

He watched the men on the landing stage from the corner of his eye for any obvious response to his words.

No reaction? No matter. Once we're safely inside the fort, one of you blank-faced lackeys can carry my words to some underling retained to inform Safar of every whisper uttered within Derasulla's walls. The sooner the better. Let Safar chew on the fact that Daish Kheda has openly acknowledged Chazen Saril as an ally.

He offered his arm to Janne, who laid her own hand lightly upon it. Smiling as if neither had a care in the world, they walked easily down the galley's steep gangway on to the dock. Telouet followed, with an emphatic jingle of armour as he alighted heavily on the massive stones of Derasulla. Itrac came next, Birut half a pace behind her.