The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable Page A

potion.’
    Tonno was already at work over the little stove in the corner, and soon the cabin was filled with a delicious smell of ginger and spices. Presently the drink was slopped into four tin mugs, and Tonno shoved one across the table to Calwyn. ‘There’s honey in that from Antaris.’
    She inhaled the sweet clear brew with her eyes closed, and shook her head. ‘Not from Antaris.’
    Xanni and Tonno exchanged glances, and Xanni laughed. ‘It was bought at the fair last autumn, and they swore blind it was best Antaris honey.’
    ‘We paid good coin for that,’ grumbled Tonno. ‘How do you know it’s not mountain honey?’
    ‘I should think I’d know the scent from my own hives.’
    ‘Calwyn was beekeeper to the sisters there,’ said Darrow.
    ‘It’s very good, all the same,’ said Calwyn hastily, butTonno only grunted.
    ‘And now that you have eaten badly and drunk well,’ said Xanni cheerfully, settling himself at the table across from Darrow, ‘I think it’s time for the tale you owe us, my friend. How did you come by that limp?’
    ‘How did you come by her ?’ growledTonno from the steps, as he packed some dried leaves into the bowl of a pipe. Calwyn watched as he lit it, drew back and blew the smoke out through the hatchway into the night air. The blue tendrils smelled of cherrywood and some other pungent scent she didn’t recognise. She leaned back against the warm planks of the cabin wall and wrapped her hands around her mug. A pleasant tiredness was beginning to creep over her; dreamily she thought how easy it would be to fall asleep here, sitting up on this hard bench.
    She closed her eyes and began to doze, half-aware of Darrow’s voice as he wove the tale of his journey across the mountains, how he had injured himself crossing the Wall. how Calwyn had found him and brought him to the Dwellings, and how Samis had followed him there at last. Even the story of that final dreadful night seemed hazy and unreal, as if it had happened to someone else. Then he was telling how they had fled together down the river, floating and tumbling and drifting, carried further and further away . . .
    She was woken by the sound of Xanni’s laughter. ‘Fetch a pillow, Tonno, it would be a shame to wake her now.’
    ‘I am awake.’ Sleepily, Calwyn dragged herself upright and blinked in the lamplight.
    ‘So,’ said Tonno, ignoring her. ‘You managed to escape him this time.’
    ‘This time. But perhaps we can turn the chase around, and hunt the hunter.’ Darrow leaned forward eagerly. ‘I’ve been thinking about something that Calwyn said to me when we were in Antaris, that the best way to stop him from carrying out his plan might be to gather a band of chanters and face him together. I saw in Antaris, when all the priestesses sang together, how it weakened his powers.’
    ‘But he still defeated us that night,’ said Calwyn sharply. ‘And almost killed one of the sisters, besides.’
    ‘True, but most of his victories come more easily than that. You were right that day, Calwyn, though I wouldn’t admit it.’ Fleetingly his eyes met hers, and he smiled at her astonished face, then looked quickly away.
    Xanni began to laugh. ‘It will be the simplest of tasks! Look, we already have an ironcrafter and a priestess of ice-call. At this rate, by summer’s end Fledgewing will be so heavy with chanters we won’t be able to move through the water!’
    ‘ Fledgewing is the name of this good boat,’ Darrow said to Calwyn, patting the warm timbers. ‘I hope it will take us to Mithates for the next stage of our quest. With its crew, of course. If they are willing.’ He raised an inquiring eyebrow to the brothers. Tonno merely grunted, and glared at his pipe, but Xanni clapped Darrow warmly on the back.
    ‘By all means! We haven’t forgotten the promise we made to you in Gellan. We’ll take you wherever you wish, and gladly, whether it be Mithates or Merithuros or anywhere in