Immaculately groomed, Kheda smoothed the front of his azure-shot emerald tunic, resisting the temptation to fold his arms across his chest. It wouldn't do to crease the silk. His mouth watered as the breeze brought tempting scents of broiling fish and spiced sailer grain. Roasting pits and cookfires on the shallow islands across the lagoon were readying a lavish feast to impress the rowers bringing their warlords and noble ladies to Chazen. A slew of bright awnings were also rigged and

ready to offer shade for other guests on one of the outlying islets.

Traders trusting in the new-year stars will be warmly welcomed by Chazen. The merchants who sail the domains have shunned these beaches for too long. Though we can hardly blame them, when these last few years have seen Chazen battered by invasion and terrified by monsters. I hope Risala gets back soon enough to gauge the value of the transactions. If the scales tilt even a little in Chazen's favour, that'll be an augury I can trust beyond anything imagined in the heavens.

Absently, he twisted one of the many rings he wore: a heavy silver band carved with intricate sigils and set with a massive uncut, highly polished emerald. More emeralds glinted in his earrings and in the gold bracelets binding the full sleeves of his tunic. Looking beyond the trading galleys with their single tiers of oars, he gazed at the high-sided triremes patrolling deeper waters beyond the reef, lean and menacing. Kheda identified the distant warships as the Brittle Crab andthe Stilt Bird.

That's something else I can trust in — the dedication and skill of the mariners, warriors and archers manning Chazen's defences. They won't let opportunists make free with our sea lanes. I even believe they'd face down foes backed by magic again, spitting in the wind to defy the evil. Chazen men have killed a dragon. No other domain can make that boast. But let's hope we don't have to fight any kind of invasion again in our lifetimes.

Steps sounded on the walkway leading to this easternmost island at the heart of the Chazen warlord's residence. Kheda saw Beyau approaching with a purposeful stride and nodded to acknowledge the steward. Scarlet glory bird feathers were embroidered across the shoulders of his cerulean silk tunic and down the sides of his trousers, and he wore a heavy gold chain around his thick neck.

'My lord.' The burly man bowed his head briefly. 'A

gift for your daughters has come from a village spokesman called Isei. He speaks for the people on Gisaire.'

'Isei?' Kheda reached out an open hand. 'Is he here?'

'No, my lord.' Beyau handed him a small box of pale-green silkstone. 'He sent his apologies that his duties called him to the outlying reefs.'

Where the first fruits of the pearl harvest are being gathered. Everyone is wondering how rich the harvest will be this year. That's an omen that will be pondered in Chazen and beyond. All I want to know is whether the seas will give up the wealth we need to restore Chazen.

Kheda studied the box, carved from a single block of soft, translucent stone. Canthira leaves made from slips of the nacre that lined pearl oyster shells were expertly inlaid into the closely fitting lid. He looked over the lagoon to the hopeful awnings on the trading beach. 'Is this the quality of the craftsmanship that visitors will find over yonder?'

'Along with choice trinkets in turtleshell and hakali wood, as well as pearls strung in all different fashions.' The steward smiled broadly. 'The rains were long and gentle, the sailer harvest the best we've seen in ten years. Storms spared the vegetable plots and fruit trees and the forests are full of game.' He glanced along the chain of islands linked by bridges and walkways, his stern face softening with affection. 'My lady Itrac traded last year's largesse from the pearl reefs to good effect, for iron and cloth and more besides. Even after rebuilding their homes and filling their families' bellies, Chazen folk have had leisure to turn to profitable use.'

'Indeed.' Kheda nodded approvingly, keeping darker thoughts to himself.

Of course, there are far fewer bellies to fill, after the disasters of the past few years. But this is a new year. Let's look to the future — especially the next few days.

'I take it everything is quite ready for our guests?' he said lightly.

'Naturally, my lord.' Beyau grinned. 'We'll be putting my lord of Redigal and his retinue in the marble pavilion. Those of Ritsem and their entourage will be sharing the ebony hall while we'll be giving Daish the golden pavilion. The Ulla contingent can make what they will of the turtleshell hall. Would you care to see?'

'I'm sure everything is just as it should be.' Kheda weighed the pretty box in his hand and realised something was shifting within. Prising the lid free, he found two fine discs of whalebone threaded on silk ribbon iridescent as pearl. One was expertly carved with a horned fish, the other with a sailfish.

'The same but different, my lord,' Beyau said approvingly. 'Just right for twins.'

Isei obviously made note of the stars when the girls were born. That's to be expected: a village spokesman watches for conjunctions of the heavens. And he didn't shirk his duty in setting his people's difficulties and needs before me last year. What does he expect of me under these new stars?

Kheda nodded thoughtfully. 'I had better make plans for a tour of the domain as soon as we're done with these celebrations.'

I can undertake my duties as law-giver, arbiter and healer in all good faith. But will I still be convincing playing the part of augur, reading the portents and omens for every isle and village? I shall have to be. No warlord can hold onto power without his people behind him, not without ruling through fear and brutality like Ulla Safar.

'Your people will be glad to see you,' Beyau agreed. 'Though you'll have to find a new body slave before you can make such a voyage,' he added firmly.

'Not for travelling within my own domain.' Kheda shot the steward a quelling look. 'I'm mindful of the ill-fortune

that beset my last two body slaves. Telouet was nearly killed saving me from Ulla Safar's murderous plot.'

'He made a full recovery from his injuries,' countered Beyau.

And now serves his new lord Daish Sirket. At least one good thing came out of that disastrous night; there's no one I would rather trust to care for my son.

'What of my last slave?' Kheda challenged. 'Dev followed me into the fight against that first dragon's foul magic and died in the fires the beast summoned.'

At least, that's the story everyone believes, apart from the three of us who survived.

'Dev was a barbarian from the unbroken lands. Who knows what choices in his past might have led him to such a fate?' There was a hint of uncertainty in Beyau's voice. 'Sorcerers do as they please in the north, tainting everything there with evil.'

Do you suspect that Dev was in truth a wizard? Do you suspect that I brought a mage here against law and custom that condemn magic from one end of the Archipelago to the other? Would you have helped me shelter and protect him, for the sake of his spells that were the only effective weapon against the invaders' magic, and then against the dragon that followed them here? Would you have denounced me for those crimes, demanded my dishonoured death and seen Dev skinned alive?

Kheda looked impassively at Beyau, his face betraying nothing of the turmoil in his mind.

No, you still trust me, Beyau. You'd never have followed me into battle against that second dragon, if you hadn 't trusted me with your life.

'It's just not fitting, my lord,' the steward pleaded. 'You must have a personal body slave.'

'When I read omens assuring me I do not risk condemning an innocent man to an undeserved fate, slave