Arthur’s thoughts submerged into his subconscious as he was hailed by a sentry near the camp.
‘Halt! Who there goes? I mean, who goes there? Recognise me and advance!’
‘Um, I think your name is One-Ear, isn’t it?’ said Arthur. The Denizen was only partially illuminated by the lanterns on Catapillow’s tent, a dozen yards away. ‘It’s Arthur, I’m just coming back from a walk. Doctor Scamandros will be along in a while.’
‘Advance, friend!’ called out One-Ear. He lowered his crossbow and waved Arthur in. As the boy passed, the Denizen muttered, ‘Actually my real name is Gowkin, but One-Ear sounds so much better. I was a Third-Class Box Shifter before the Deluge. Now I’m a forecastle hand —’
‘One-Ear! Watch your front!’
Arthur recognised that shout. Sunscorch came stomping down the beach. Arthur could just make out another sentry behind him, scanning the darkness, his crossbow ready.
‘Aye, aye, sir!’ called One-Ear. ‘Just admitting a friend.’
Sunscorch gave a slight bow as he met Arthur, which the boy returned.
‘The Doc done what’s needful?’ asked Sunscorch.
‘I think so,’ said Arthur. He held up the mirror and shell. ‘He’s given me something I can use to see what’s happened to my friend Leaf. Only I need someone to keep watch while I’m using it. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind . . .’
‘Watch over you? Aye, I can do that. I have to finish going round the sentries first, since we don’t want Feverfew and his lot arriving unannounced.’
‘I thought we left them behind!’ said Arthur as he fell into step with the Second Mate.
‘Maybe, maybe not,’ said Sunscorch. ‘Feverfew’s an uncommon clever sorcerer. Doctor Scamandros would outdo him in book learning, but that pirate must have dozens of filthy tricks the Doc don’t know about. Watch your front!’
The next sentry scrambled to her feet and picked up her crossbow. Sunscorch gave a disgruntled snort and kept on.
‘Doctor Scamandros told me he was a volunteer,’ Arthur said. He needed to know more about Scamandros. ‘What did he mean? Why would he volunteer?’
‘Before the big flood there were only Navigator-Sorcerers on the regular ships,’ explained Sunscorch. ‘So when all the extra ships were being built, they advertised for volunteers with enough sorcerous training to come aboard. Some of the regular sailors were transferred to the new ships too.’
‘Like you,’ guessed Arthur.
‘Yes, sir, like me,’ said Sunscorch heavily. ‘Fourth Mate of the Spiral Waterspout, I was, and you never saw a better ship and a finer crew.’
‘But why would Doctor Scamandros volunteer to be a navigator if he was a top-class sorcerer trained in the Upper House?’
Sunscorch shrugged.
‘He probably lost something. That’s why most folk from other parts of the House come to the Border Sea.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Anything that’s ever been lost anywhere turns up in the Border Sea sooner or later,’ said Sunscorch. ‘Finding it again can be more than a mite difficult, though. And it has to be lost by accident — not on purpose, or stolen.’
They were almost down to the sea again. A Denizen stood in the wash, looking out to the water, a crossbow at her side. There were a few very red, very bright stars in one patch of the sky, but it was mostly cloudy, and there was no moon of any kind. Possibly no moon circled this world.
‘Halt!’
‘It’s Sunscorch and the passenger,’ said Sunscorch. ‘All quiet?’
‘Nothing save the waves,’ said the Denizen. Arthur recognised her voice. It was the one with scales all over her face. Lizard.
‘Mind your eye,’ said Sunscorch. ‘If they come, like as not it’ll be straight from the sea.’
‘Aye, aye!’
Sunscorch turned back and started walking up the well-trodden patch of sand between two of the larger piles of boxes.
‘That’s my rounds done. Where do you want to look into that mirror of yours?’
‘Somewhere quiet, with a bit of light,’ said Arthur. He pointed to a patch of sand where there were no resting Denizens, not too far from the lanterns on the tent. ‘Over there would do, I guess.’
Sunscorch followed Arthur over, and stood behind him as Arthur sat down cross-legged on the sand. The boy looked in the shell, holding it up to the light, and shook it a few times to make sure there was nothing inside. Then he gingerly put the shell to his ear, raised the mirror, and tilted it so it caught some of the lantern light.
All Arthur could hear at first was the soft roar of the sea inside the shell, and all he could see in the mirror was his own reflection. He tried thinking about Leaf, but for some reason he couldn’t remember exactly what she looked like. He could remember her voice, though, and he concentrated on that, recalling what she had said when she’d come into his hospital room.