The Waterless Sea Read Online Free

. . ’ Mica’ s voice trailed away.
    â€˜The slavers burned what they didn’ t steal,’ said Tonno. ‘Killed some, kidnapped some. The rest fled.’
    â€˜But the fisher-folk are beginning to come back,’ said Calwyn. She gestured toward a cluster of whitewashed cottages, bright in the afternoon sun, and lines of tall sheltering trees that rose up the slope behind them. ‘We’ re not alone here any more.’
    They were close enough now to hear the crash of waves against the base of the cliff. Tonno swung the tiller so that Fledgewing shot past the rocks into the calm water beyond.
    Mica began to sing a chantment, and the sail filled with a spellwind that carried them easily through the narrow heads and into the bay.
    â€˜It’ s a tricky harbour to get into without just the right wind,’ said Trout.
    â€˜We’ re spoiled, I reckon,’ grunted Tonno. ‘We’ ve rescued half a dozen windworkers from pirates in these straits. And we have Mica and Calwyn, too.’
    â€˜And we’ ll have another soon,’ said Calwyn. ‘That little girl of Fresca’ s has the gift, I think.’
    â€˜Calwyn has a dream to set up a college here, like the colleges in Mithates, but for chantment.’ Trout solemnly pushed his lenses up his nose as he shared this secret.
    Calwyn frowned. ‘Not like Mithates at all. Don’ t say that, Trout. The colleges of Mithates make weapons and sell them to whoever bids the highest. They do everything for money. Chantment shouldn’ t be used like that.’
    Chantment is given to few, but for the use of all. Heben jumped as Halasaa’ s words sounded in his mind.
    Calwyn said, ‘We must show you Halasaa’ s garden. You can’ t see it from here, it’ s behind the hill, where it catches the sun. We grow enough vegetables to feed the whole village – and we fish, of course, and keep ducks. And yet half a year ago there was nothing here but derelict cottages and wild berry bushes.’
    Mica broke off her song. ‘Mind you, half a year ago we had more help than we got now,’ she said sharply.
    â€˜Mica!’ warned Tonno. A look of pain crossed Calwyn’ s face, and her gaze flickered to a single whitewashed hut perched at the very top of the cliffs, far from the rest of the village. But then she turned away.
    They drew close to the jetty, and a little crowd of children came running to greet them. Two women looked up from their baskets of freshly gutted fish, and wiped their hands on their aprons, and a man mending the hull of an upturned boat reached to catch the rope that Tonno flung out.
    â€˜Welcome, Fledgewing !’ he called. ‘Did all go well?’
    â€˜Did you catch the pirates?’
    â€˜Did you throw em all overboard? Did they drown?’
    â€˜Did you bring back any treasure?’
    â€˜Who’ s he? Is he a windworker?’
    â€˜Boys ain’ t windworkers, you potato-head!’
    The children tumbled over one another with eager questions, and the bolder ones caught hold of the side of the boat and clung there, drumming their bare feet on the planks.
    â€˜Off the boat!’ roared Tonno. The children shrieked with mock fright, leapt back onto the jetty, and ran off laughing.
    â€˜He pretends to be a grumpy ogre,’ said Trout to Heben. ‘But he’ s soft as butter underneath.’
    Heben nodded politely, but the sight of the children had reminded him of the twins, and his heart was heavy.
    â€˜All went well,’ called Calwyn to the waiting villagers. ‘Linnet, we’ ve brought some sacks of grain, and a bale of fine goats’ wool, ready to be spun, and a barrel of best wine from the north of Kalysons. And a guest, too,’ she added, smiling at Heben. ‘Trout, will you take Heben to your cottage and look after him?We’ ll meet you there at sunset, and then we’ ll hear his story.’
    Later, after Heben