Built as a guesthouse for rich visitors, it was the tallest building on the island, very large, and fashioned sturdily enough. There were half a dozen towers, winding battlements and an extensive flat, walled roof. There was even a portcullis, and a moat, now dry and clogged with leaves. However, its appearance didn’t reflect its substance; it had been made to look like a castle rather than be one. Its stone cladding was for show and unlikely to withstand a concerted battering. The doors and windows were equally deceptive in terms of their strength.

Caldason would never have chosen such a place as a fortress of last resort, or approved its location, but it was all they had. The coastal hill fort had been constructed from scratch. It took so much in the way of time and resources that the same couldn’t be done for a central redoubt. The rebels had no choice but to beef up this mock bastion.

Hordes of people were swarming over and around the scaffolded building. They created a din with hammering, sawing, and felling trees for timber. Wagons queued with loads of stone to toughen the ramparts, while mortar was being mixed in giant vats.

Serrah and Caldason made their way down the side of the hill, exchanging greetings with the workers.

‘There’s Zahgadiah and Pallidea,’ Serrah said, pointing.

The one-time owner of the island was hard to miss as he floated on his glamoured dish, inspecting a score of blacksmiths pounding iron on a row of anvils. His leather-clad female companion walked beside him, almost as conspicuous with her waist-length flaming red hair.

Darrok hailed them in typically gravel-voiced fashion. Pallidea merely nodded.

‘Let’s get away from this racket,’ Darrok mouthed.

They followed his hovering saucer along the side of the wall until the noise faded to a tolerable level. The sky was noticeably darker and snowflakes were growing more abundant.

‘How’s it going?’ Caldason asked.

‘Not bad,’ Darrok replied, surveying the scene. ‘But there’s a hell of a lot more to do yet.’

‘Just like everywhere else on the island. How long before it’s finished do you think?’

‘Couple of weeks. Maybe longer.’ He turned his attention to Serrah. ‘We haven’t had a chance to talk since we beat off the raid, have we?’

‘When do we ever?’

‘I just wanted to say it was a great plan of yours to use dragon’s blood against Vance’s men. It really turned the fight in our favour.’

‘I can’t take the credit; I got the idea from the Resistance back in Bhealfa.’

‘You’re too modest, Serrah.’

‘Dragon’s blood?’ Pallidea said. It was a rare utterance from Darrok’s normally taciturn bodyguard-cum-lover.

‘The stuff that caused the blasts,’ Darrok explained. ‘It’s a powder that explodes on contact with water. Serrah brought some in with her, and came up with a way of making it work; an ingenious little water-filled pouch with a breakable container inside for the powder. And before you ask; it’s just called dragon’s blood.’

‘Very funny,’ his mistress responded dryly.

‘Is there any left?’ Caldason asked.

Darrok shook his head. ‘Not much. I’ve got our wizards trying to make more.’

‘Zahgadiah,’ Serrah said, ‘you heard that singing during the raid, didn’t you?’ Caldason sighed. She shot him a glare.

‘Yes,’ Darrok said, ‘I heard it. Reeth mentioned you thought it was Kinsel Rukanis.’

‘Right.’

‘I went to a concert he gave once, somewhere. Gath Tampoor, I think.’

She leapt on the possibility of confirmation. ‘So do you think it was him we heard?’

‘Damned if I know. Tin legs, tin ear, that’s me.’ He rapped his thigh, raising a muffled clang. ‘Never did have much of an appreciation of music.’

‘Why did you go to one of his concerts then?’ Her tone was mildly exasperated.

‘It was a place to be seen. That’s important for a man in my position. Or it was until I got stuck out here with you ragtag insurgents.’

‘I notice you haven’t left,’ Caldason observed wryly. ‘It’s not too late to get out even now, you know.’

‘So you keep saying. Want to get rid of me?’

‘No, but it’s not your fight. You shouldn’t feel compelled to stay.’

‘Forcing me to do anything I don’t want to do isn’t easy, Reeth. And as I understand it, it wasn’t your fight either at the outset. No, I think I’ll stay. For now, at least. I’ve a certain curiosity about how things will turn out. Anyway, I always did favour the underdog and hopeless situations.’

Caldason smiled. His initial opinion of the man had been turned on its head these past few months.

‘This is all beside the point,’ Darrok continued, ‘and I’ve got something to tell you. As you know, we decided to undertake the island’s first census. Well, not much more than a headcount really, but we just got the tally and I thought you’d find it interesting.’

‘I certainly would,’ Serrah confirmed.

‘The survivors of the Great Betrayal who managed to get here, including you, Reeth and Kutch, along with the Resistance pathfinders already installed and my people, amounted to just under two and a half thousand. We’ve lost a little short of a hundred since to pirate raids and natural causes. But we’ve gained, too. In the weeks after you arrived we had quite an influx of stragglers. Near as we can tell, the total now stands at a bit over three thousand seven hundred.’

‘That’s more than I expected,’ Caldason admitted.

‘Me too. And we’re still seeing the odd boatload coming in, though it’s a trickle now as getting here’s so dangerous.’

‘How does that figure break down?’ Serrah asked.

‘Unbalanced. Which could be a problem for the future. Assuming this place has a future. Approximately two thousand six hundred are men. Women amount to just about an even thousand. The remaining hundred are children, including babes in arms. Good news on the men is that all but around sixty of them are in their prime and capable of fighting.’

‘Do you have any idea how many people it’d take to defend this place?’

‘From a full-scale invasion of the island by either empire? Oh, about twenty to thirty thousand. Minimum.’

‘Damn their eyes!’ Serrah spat.

‘Who?’

‘Whoever it was who betrayed the Resistance and put us in this position.’

‘I think we’d all go along with that.’

‘If we live through this, and if I ever find out who did it, I’ll enjoy cutting their fucking throat,’ she vowed. ‘Slowly.’

‘You might have to stand in line,’ Darrok advised.

Caldason steered them back to the question of defence. ‘But the force we have can hold off the pirates, can’t it? Assuming they don’t attack in greater numbers than they have been?’

‘Probably.’

‘And we’ve had no word of Rintarah or Gath Tampoor mustering invasion fleets?’

‘As far as we know they’re not. Though we’re basing that on reports from latecomers drifting in, of course. We can’t be sure.’ He regarded Caldason quizzically. ‘What’s your point?’

‘If I don’t act soon I’ll never finish what I started.’

‘The Clepsydra,’ Serrah stated flatly.

He nodded.

‘Is this the right time, Reeth?’

‘It may be the only time.’ He saw the anxiety in her eyes. ‘This is really important to me, Serrah.’

‘You don’t have to tell me that. I’m just wondering how practical it is. A lot’s changed since you learned about the Source.’

‘Not for me.’

‘How can you be sure this Clepsydra thing isn’t a myth?’ Darrok chipped in.

‘I can’t. But it’s the only chance I have of a cure.’

‘Do you know how to find it? Or how it’ll lead to the grimoire or whatever it is you’re looking for? As I understand it, the Clepsydra’s on an islet, not much more than a speck in the ocean, along with a hundred others.’

‘Phoenix showed me maps. I think I can find it. As to the Source, whatever it may be…I’ll just have to take my chances with that, too.’

‘Nobody could stop you, of course, and I certainly wouldn’t want to. But you’re going to have to persuade the council to spare a ship and a crew. That’s unlikely in present circumstances, I’d say.’