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‘The family’s resources are not yours to dispense, Reyn.

You have to understand that. In your ardour, you would commit us all far too deeply.

I know it is her father and her family liveship at stake.

My heart bleeds for them. It also represents a sizeable investment on our part, one that may already be irretrievably lost. Reyn, we cannot throw good money after bad.

No. Do not stalk off. Hear me out. What you perceive as cruel is only common sense.

Should I allow you and Malta to beggar yourselves in what may be a lost cause?

We’ve all heard tales of this Kennit. My opinion of Kyle Haven, apart from his being Malta’s father, is not a high one.

This I say only for your ears. He has brought this on himself.

I do not say he deserved this, only that he left himself and his family and ship open to this.

Nor can I approve of the course the Vestrits have chosen to follow in this “rescue” attempt.

Not even their own friends and neighbours are supporting them in this.

It is all very ill-advised: Althea is strong-willed to the point of mulishness, they have this disowned Trader’s son at the helm, and some foreigner providing money.

The ship they are using should never have left the beach again.

Paragon is a rebuke to all of us. Our ignorance is our only claim to innocence.

He should never have been built from mixed plank, but even so, the Ludlucks have a heavier share of the blame.

They loaded him too heavy with cargo on deck and then piled on the sail to make up for it.

He was top heavy when he went over. Our greed built that ship too swiftly, and their greed drove him mad.

We were both to blame for what he became.

Beaching him was the wisest thing that was ever done with him; refitting him has to be the most foolish. ’

‘What other choice did the Vestrit family have?’ Reyn asked quietly. ‘Their fortunes are teetering. They have been most honest with us about that. So they mount what effort they can with the resources they can beg or borrow.’

‘They could have waited,’ Jani declared. ‘It has not been all that long. Kennit is known for making his victims wait for the ransom offer. It will come.’

‘No, it won’t. By all accounts, the man wanted a liveship, and he took one.

Now there is a rumour the Ringsgold has vanished as well.

Do you realize how vulnerable that leaves us, Mother?

Pirates could come right up the Rain Wild River.

We have never planned for such an emergency.

We have nothing in place to stop them. I think the Vestrits have taken the only sensible action.

That liveship must be recovered, at any cost. They are risking their kin and their family fortune to do so.

Ultimately, they do so to protect us. And what do we do? We let them.’

‘What do you want us to do?’ Bendir asked wearily.

Reyn leaped on this opportunity. ‘Forgive the liveship debt. Help fund this expedition, at the least. Take action against the Satrap, who has allowed piracy and slavery to flourish and thus precipitated this whole situation.’

Bendir was instantly outraged. ‘Not only do you propose to risk our fortunes along with theirs, but to plunge us into a political whirlpool. This has been discussed in the Rain Wild Traders’ circle.

Until Bingtown commits to stand beside us, it is too soon to defy the Satrap.

I am as sick as you are of his boot upon our neck, but ’

‘But you’ll endure it until someone else is ready to take the first risk!’ Reyn finished angrily for his brother. ‘Just as Bingtown is ready to let the Vestrits take the first risk in challenging the pirates, and Tenira stood alone in challenging the tariff.’

Jani had not foreseen the conversation venturing into this area, but she leaped at her chance.

‘In this, I must agree with Reyn. The situation has not improved since I last addressed the Bingtown Traders’ Council, but I think the climate of opinion in Bingtown has.

From the reports I received of the tariff riot, I think that if the Khuprus family took a stand, others would follow.

And I think that stand must be for complete independence. ’

A profound silence followed her words. After a time, Reyn said in a small voice, ‘So much for me being the one willing to risk the complete family fortune.’

‘We risk it more when we do nothing,’ Jani declared. ‘It is time we aligned ourselves with like-minded persons, whether they are from The Wilds or Bingtown.’

‘Like Grag Tenira?’ Reyn asked.

‘I do not think it is coincidence he fled here. The Grove family has been hosting him; they have strong trade ties with the Tenira family.’

‘And strong sympathy for any who wish to stand against the Satrap,’ Reyn added thoughtfully.

Bendir looked surprised. ‘When did my little brother become so interested in politics? It seemed to me that we had to drag you to that meeting in Bingtown.’

‘It was well that you did. It opened my eyes to many things,’ Reyn replied easily. To his mother, he suggested, ‘We should have Grag Tenira over to dinner. With the Groves, of course.’

‘I think that would be a wise course.’ She watched her older son, and when he nodded approval, she breathed a secret sigh of relief.

She would not live forever. The sooner her sons learned to work together, the better.

She ventured to divert the topic. ‘So, Reyn. Have you made any sense of those old papers?’ She nodded to the ancient parchments he had abandoned on the table.

‘Some.’ He frowned as he drew them toward him.

‘There are a lot of unfamiliar words in here. What I have deciphered is both exciting and frustrating. There seems to be references to another city, substantially upriver of us.’ He scratched at a scaly patch on his cheek.

‘If I am interpreting it correctly, it would be way to the back of beyond. Almost to what some call the Mountain Kingdom. If such a city existed and we could locate it…well. It might represent the greatest find since Trehaug was founded here.’

‘A smoke dream,’ Bendir said dismissively. ‘There have been explorations up the river before. Nothing was found. If there is another city, it is likely buried deeper than Trehaug was.’

‘Who knows?’ Reyn challenged him. ‘I tell you, from what I can translate, it is quite a way upriver from us. It might have escaped destruction altogether.’ He looked speculative.

‘For all we know, the Elder race could have survived there. Imagine what they could teach us…’ He let his voice trail off, unaware of the worried glance that passed between his mother and brother.

‘I think it is worth more study. And I think I will take my questions to the dragon and see what she says.’

‘No.’ Bendir forbade it bluntly. ‘Reyn, I thought we were clear on that. You are to stay out of the Crowned Rooster Chamber. That log has entirely too much power over you.’

‘It’s not a log. She’s a dragon. She should be freed.’

Jani and Bendir did not try to hide the look they exchanged.

Bendir spoke almost angrily. ‘I should have cut up that damn thing a long time ago, when I first suspected you were susceptible to it. But the time wasn’t right.

It’s the last log of wizardwood, and the biggest. The ship we build from it will be the last liveship…

unless you are right about this other city of yours.

Perhaps we might find more wizardwood there. ’

‘You won’t find it without me,’ Reyn pointed out quietly. ‘And I won’t help you if you kill the dragon.’

Bendir crossed his arms on his chest. Jani knew the gesture well.

He was trying to contain his anger with his youngest brother.

Reyn the dreamer, Reyn the scholar so often frustrated pragmatic Bendir.

She had always hoped that with time her boys would learn to complement one another.

Now she feared they would always be at odds.

‘There is no dragon,’ Bendir spoke slowly, with great finality.

‘Whatever was in there died long ago. It was probably mad before it died. All that is left of it are its memories. It is no more alive than liveships are truly alive. The planks absorb memories, and retain them. That is all. If it weren’t true, we wouldn’t be able to cut up a log and allow Bingtowners to store fresh memories in them.

Anyone who talks to a liveship is really talking to himself, mingled with the family memories stored in the wood.

That is all. When you talk to that log, you hear your own thoughts, as interpreted by the mad memories of some poor creature that died long before we even discovered this city.

’ He was almost pleading as he added, ‘Reyn. Don’t let stillborn madness speak with your voice. Put it away from you.’

Uncertainty wavered across Reyn’s face. Then it hardened into stubbornness. ‘It’s easy enough to prove to me. Help me bring the log out into light and air. If nothing happens, I’ll acknowledge how foolish I was.’

‘That would truly be a madman’s bargain!

’ Bendir exclaimed in disgust. ‘That log is immense. We’d have to take the whole top of the hill off.

Or excavate the slide area over the original entrance, and risk collapsing the chamber in the process.

The wall above the door is cracked. Even if we knew how to open it, we risk compromising the whole wall. Reyn, you can’t be serious.’

‘She’s alive.’ Defiantly he added, ‘And she says she would be willing to aid Malta and her family. Think on that. Think of the potential of such an ally.’