The herbs --or the burned wine-- eased the pain of my shifting body. Though I had made salve from honey to calm the crawling itch, I wore mittens to sleep in order not to scratch myself bloody.

  When the squirming dreams faded, they left behind profound weariness and shreds of confusing terror. My neck was stiff, and the joints of my shoulders and hips still felt recently dislocated. Hundreds of invisible needles prickled the flesh of my chest. Even though the salve had kept my skin from fking, the surface of my forearms and shins resembled the parched fields of a rainless summer. At least my jaw didn't hurt any more. I could allow myself to hope that Umu had finished with my face.

  Sulme was awake. He smiled and handed me a steaming cup of my herb infusion. "Good morning. Did you sleep any better?"

  "No." I took the cup and gulped the contents. The bitter taste was refreshing, and the numbness it caused was welcome.

  "Sorry about--"

  "Stop!" I closed my eyes. "Stop apologising, for you are not at fault. You are doing as good as may be expected. Better even."

  "Well, thank you for the compliment."

  "It was nothing but the truth." I lifted my chin. "Now, let us depart."

  Sulme worked the sail, while I sat at the steering oar with songs on my lips to keep the wind behind our back. The surrounding woods were interchangeable depths of gnarly pilrs and green-needled branches. Only a ruin of a tower on an islet from the day before showed we weren't lost.

  "Do you have any retives here?" I asked.

  "The folk of these waters recognise our kinship, however remote." Sulme smiled. "Even then, they are generous to tolerate my incessant pleas for guidance. These waters hide ancient grievances best left covered."

  He let out a weary sigh. My failure at the capital and the journey must have started to take its toll on him. Still the Nilkoan continued to put up with my childish petunce and weakness of will.

  My voice wavered, as I said: "Thank you for coming with me."

  Sulme's smile returned, this time lopsided. "Don't think too much of it. After all, you needed someone to sail the boat."

  A pang in my chest cleared my head. Snted rusty red sails appeared behind trees in the distance.

  "Look!" I yelped. "A ship!

  Sulme turned around. "Way rger than the average trader. Looks like a war galley. Could it be the Vonir?"

  "I don--" A quivering ache coursed through my torso, and mighty coils fshed in my view. "Umu?"

  My whole body stiffened, as if preparing for unseen danger.

  "Ryymi?" Sulme asked.

  "My rider seems to think that ship poses a threat to us," I said. "We need to turn around."

  "In this wind, we won't be able to outrun it, even if they don't row."

  "But they will recognise me!"

  Sulme's smile wavered. "No they won't. Just stay calm. I will do the talking."

  As the galley turned towards us, it lowered its sails and spread out its wings of oars. An audacious rowing song bred over the ke.

  I took my gun and sat back at the aft. There was no time to load even a witchlock pistol, but I kept the gracefully slender weapon concealed next to me, along with bullets and my powder horn.

  "Don't pull the hat on your face," Sulme said. "We shouldn't look like we are trying to hide ourselves."

  The rowers stopped the galley, and a familiar man at the brow hailed us. Lord Mulkava was robust and tall, and fittingly as hairy as a bear. His coat had vile Tamsi sigils all over it, despite his fully Ekran ancestry.

  "Guide us closer," Sulme told me.

  I filled my lungs full and moved the oar. Sulme worked the sails, so we came at stop close to the galley. Though unarmed and unarmoured, the crew of the ship had the rugged look of soldiers.

  "Greetings!" Mulkava bellowed. "And a godly day!"

  "Good day, shipmaster." Sulme came to sit with me at the aft. In order to strengthen the ruse, I took his hand. His callused palm was warm and sweaty, as he squeezed back.

  "I am lord Mulkava of Saats. We are men sworn to the Fulgurite Prince, looking for a dangerous witch. He is a renegade noble and a serpentist, formerly an officer in the army of the Prince of Vonir. Have you chanced to see any unusual heavily armed men on these waters?"

  "We might have, my lord," Sulme said. "But these kes aren't abandoned, and even a prince could pass without notice. I can't say we are able to help you in your search."

  "Very well. If you chance to meet this lordling Ryymi, stay away. He is suspected to be fully consumed by the serpentine corruption." Mulkava brushed his beard. "May I inquire, out of friendly curiosity, what are you doing in this desote nd? Your manner of speech doesn't appear local."

  Sulme smiled wide. "Oh, we are out to use the better part of our dowry to buy furs and Nangoan goods for reselling back at the innd sea." He pced a hand on my abdomen. A cold wave coursed through me, but I managed not to flinch. The Nilkoan continued on nonchantly: "So we can start a family with proper funds."

  My spine stiffened enough to serve as a ramrod, and air fluttered out of my nose until my lungs were empty without me daring to breath in again.

  The Tamsi lord shook his head. "You should settle for your lot, instead of risking your lives and possibly even souls here. These are untamed heathen nds, despite the best efforts of the Vonir."

  "That may be true, but we aim to be careful." Sulme stood and went to work on the sails. "Blessings, my lord, and good hunt!"

  "Thank you!" Mulkava bellowed. "And blessings of the kindly gods to you! May your prospects and wife bloom to their fullest."

  My heart raced, even though the galley was far gone from the view, and the fear of discovery had disappeared. When Sulme had held my hand, what had affected me so hadn't been mere surprise or indignity.

  "We made it," I finally whispered.

  Sulme smiled. "Perhaps 'your rider' does indeed look out for you."

  "That was surely out of Her own self-interest."

  "I guess the effectiveness of your disguise has been proved." The man's eyes lingered below my eyes.

  My face twisted into a scowl. "Are you pent up enough to actually find me attractive? Maybe we should stop at the next vilge, where you can relieve yourself on a cottage widow."

  "Where's this coming from?"

  "You keep ogling at me." He had only gnced at me a few times, but my trapped frustration sought release.

  The Nilkoan drew his mouth into a line. "I don't want to upset you."

  "Well, you failed!" I let out a wavering sigh. "I apologise. Evidently, something pricks my liver."

  "It's all excused." Sulme made a dismissing gesture with his hand. "Anyhow, as for your question: yes, I do find you comely."

  I leaned forward. In a perplexing fashion, most of my anger had washed away in a fsh flood of burning curiosity. "Reall--" I cleared my throat. "What could you possibly find attractive in me?"

  "Let's see... You have a... noble-featured face and beautiful locks."

  I snorted. "Hair and noble features alone rarely cause states of virile readiness."

  Sulme made an awkward smile. "Alright. Your skin is of a pleasantly pale colour. On a girl, the hue evokes a sense of softness, which a man might want to test."

  My heart leaped, just as my mind recoiled. "That sentiment is not affected by what is between my legs?"

  "Ryymi, let's just--"

  "Answer." I needed my foolish desires shattered, so I could get a grip of myself again.

  A scowl threatened to repce Sulme's expression. "It should be affected, yes."

  The truth didn't relieve the pressure in my chest.

  "However, why does it matter?" Sulme asked. "Are you expecting me to touch you below your girdle?" He shrugged and grinned, now unshakeably cocksure. "Who knows, to fondle a small soft thing like that could be fun."

  Such presuming talk warmed up my blood from the boiling liquid it had already been. Rage shuddered through my flesh.

  "Come sit here," I spoke between my teeth.

  "Ryymi... I'm sorry. I shouldn--"

  I repeated my command. Sulme let out a dejected sigh and came to sit on the other side of the steering oar.

  "You deserve a reward for your services to me," I said. "You may squeeze me like you would want to do to a girl. Perhaps you shall find it 'fun' indeed."

  Sulme's gaze dropped. "If my thoughtless words made you uncomfortable, I am sorry." He tried to disarm my anger with kind smile. "Besides, I wouldn't want to grope a girl I haven't even kissed."

  I lifted my chin. "Then let us kiss. Or is my noble-featured mouth not to your liking?"

  The man stared at me. Determination lit in the grey-blue depths of his gaze. As he leaned forward, I closed my eyes. His hand touched my neck and guided my head. Our lips met. My anger faltered, leaving behind bitter ashes. I stifled my sobs, but not before Sulme drew back.

  "Are you alright?" he asked.

  "No. Not at all." I swallowed. "You do not deserve to be treated like this."

  "It's fine." Sulme smiled in his mellow way. "You haven't forced me through anything objectionable."

  I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and returned his smile. Sulme leaned an inch forward.

  My body tensed from toes to neck, and I blurted: "The sail needs attention."

  Sulme gnced towards the bow. "Oh. It indeed does." His long legs took him away from me to the middle of the boat in one step.

  Inside myself, I sighed from relief. My flimsy self-control had been at its brink. I couldn't bury the sinking sense of disappointment.

  Both the day and the waters slipped by with neither of us uttering a word more than was necessary. Sulme kept staring at me with a new amusement in his smile. Part of me was concerned that I had lost the Nilkoan's respect for good. I was too tired to stoke my fury. In truth, his gaze hardly annoyed me, though it did stir the turmoil in my thoughts.

  Sulme's smile widened. "I'll miss that cute pout, should you regain your former appearance."

  I gasped my lungs full and gred at the Nilkoan. His jovial expression didn't fade, forcing me into a moment of reconsideration. Sulme hadn't mean to demean me by calling me 'cute'.

  "There is little chance of me losing my 'pout'." I sighed. "Even if it was possible to get rid of Umu, She will not reverse the changes She has caused."

  "Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that I'm gd you are that way."

  I kept the pang in my chest from my expression. "You are not?"

  "No." Sulme gnced away, and his smile grew strangely contemptive. "Unless, of course, you yourself desired to remain as you are."

  My insides tingled either from regret or from glee. Sulme's considerate words would carry me onward, until death caught up with me.

  Neither of us spoke. The silence was less uncomfortable than any words.