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Malcolm Archibald

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Beschreibung

Melcorka and Bradan are returning from Cahokia.

Their plans change abruptly when a storm sends them hundreds of miles off course. After their encounter with the demon Kanaima, Bradan notices something strange in Melcorka's behavior.

After countless days at sea, they find themselves in a strange Eastern land - in the city of Kollchi - and surrounded by supernatural forces they have never seen before. With her trusty sword Defender by her side, Melcorka sets to overcome the odds.

But in this dangerous land of monsters and demonic power, will it be enough?

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Melcorka of Alba

The Swordswoman Book IV

Malcolm Archibald

Copyright (C) 2018 Malcolm Archibald

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter

Published 2022 by Next Chapter

Cover art by Cover Mint

Edited by Lorna Read

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

For Cathy

'I am Melcorka the Swordswoman and who dares meddle with me'

Chapter One

The war drums sounded, louder and ever louder, sending bright parrots squawking for shelter, echoing through the humidity of the forest and vibrating in the sultry air.

'They won't be long now.' Melcorka touched the hilt of Defender, her sword, allowing the surge of power to thrill through her body.

'They'll hunt us down and kill us all!' The Taino woman clung to Melcorka's arm. 'Then they'll eat us.'

'No, they won't, Hadali.' Melcorka shook her head. 'Did you order the precautions that I advised?'

Hadali nodded. 'Yes, Melcorka.'

'You dug the ditch around two-thirds of the village?'

'Yes, Melcorka.'

'You readied the palisade?'

'Yes, Melcorka.'

'You sent the oldsters and children to the safest part of the village?'

'Yes, Melcorka.'

'Then all should be well,' Melcorka said. 'I have trained the men and women how to use spears.' She touched the hilt of Defender again. 'The Kalingo are not used to meeting resistance, are they?'

Hadali shook her head. 'The Taino are not a fighting people. We don't resist.'

Melcorka smiled. 'Between us, we will teach the Kalingo not to return to this island.'

'We are not a fighting people,' Hadali repeated.

'I am a fighting woman,' Melcorka said.

'And your man?' Hadali indicated the tall, long-faced man who leaned against the bole of a turpentine tree, thrusting his staff into the sand, listening to everything and saying nothing. 'He does not appear to be a warrior.'

'That is Bradan the Wanderer,' Melcorka said. 'He is a man of peace.'

Hadali eyed Bradan. 'Why are you wandering, man-of-few-words?'

'To seek knowledge,' Bradan said.

'Which knowledge do you seek?' Hadali stood beside him. 'There is much.'

'I seek the knowledge that belongs to me,' Bradan said. 'I saw it once, briefly, and have travelled the world ever since, hoping to recover what I only glimpsed.'

Hadali touched Bradan's arm. 'And Melcorka? Does she also seek your knowledge?'

'Melcorka is her own woman.' Bradan looked up. 'You will soon see what she does best.'

'It is strange for a man who walks in peace to accompany a woman who carries a long sword.' Hadali's gaze did not stray from Bradan's face.

'It is what it is,' Bradan said. 'Melcorka and I have travelled a long road together.'

'Is there an end to the road?' Hadali asked.

'Every road has an end. It could be on this island, at the point of a Kalingo spear, it could be at the bottom of the sea, or it could be in front of a peat fire flame in Alba.' Bradan gave a small smile. 'We will know when we get there.' He looked up. 'It sounds as if your friends are getting restless.'

'The Kalingo are nobody's friends,' Hadali said.

The drums continued, joined now by long blasts on war-trumpets and a rhythmic chant that raised the small hairs on the back of Bradan's neck. A pandemonium of parrots exploded from the trees, while the insects seemed subdued by the threat of the impending horror.

'Here they come,' Melcorka said. 'Keep out of the way until I say otherwise, Bradan. You are no warrior.'

'I know that well, Melcorka.' Bradan tapped his staff on the sandy ground. 'Keep safe.'

Melcorka's eyes were bright. She laughed. 'I was made to fight.'

'Sometimes I think you enjoy it too much,' Bradan said.

There was a clearing between the village and the sea, two hundred paces of animal-cropped grassland which the Kalingo had to cross. Taking a deep breath, Bradan looked around the settlement. He could sense the fear. It was in the sweat of the Tainos, it was in the air they expelled from panting lungs, it was in the shallow breathing and the sharp, nervous gestures of the near-naked men and women. Bradan nodded. He understood the Tainos. They were good people, and Melcorka was right to fight for them.

Standing along the line of the beach, next to the lean pirauas that had carried them to this island, were the Kalingos. They were a seething mass of warriors, preparing themselves for an attack as the thunder of their drums increased, raising the tension.

Amidst them stood a lone woman, staring at Melcorka across the bare ground.

'There are more than warriors among the Kalingos today,' Hadali said. 'Be very careful, Melcorka. There is evil here of a kind you may not have met before.'

They came at a run, hundreds of bare-chested Kalingos with clubs and spears, yelling as they attacked the seemingly defenceless villagers. Some wore a circlet of feathers around their heads, others sported face tattoos. A few stopped partway across the cleared ground to fire arrows into the air, with the shafts plunging down inside the village. Every warrior was painted with bright colours or hideous designs and they raised a war cry to terrify the people they had come to massacre.

'Steady now,' Bradan called, as some of the Tainos shuddered and turned to run. 'Trust in your defences. Trust in Melcorka.'

The Tainos looked at him and then at Melcorka, two strangers from across the sea, two aliens in this island of sunshine and colour.

Hadali stepped beside Bradan. 'If we run, they will hunt us down. I know it is not our way to fight. I know it is wrong to praise violence, but I want to see our babies grow into adults and our oldsters die peacefully in their own homes. I do not wish to see our children skewered above a Kalingo cooking fire, or smell the scent of roasting Taino on the wind.'

The Tainos shuddered, some muttered; only one man turned to flee. Bradan watched him run and said nothing. He understood.

'Now!' Melcorka yelled. 'Barriers!'

The Taino women dashed forward, fifteen paces beyond the edge of the village, to raise the barriers Melcorka had ordered them to create. Made of woven boughs within a wooden framework, they would not stop a serious assault but could slow down any attacker.

'Back!' Melcorka ordered, and the Taino women scurried back, their job done.

The Kalingos only hesitated for a moment, long enough for Melcorka to shout: 'Spears: ready: throw!' At her word, the men of the village stepped forward and threw the spears that Melcorka had them make. Not expecting to meet any resistance, the Kalingos stared as a hundred slim spears rose in the air, hovered at the apex of their flight, and then plummeted downward.

'Bradan!' Melcorka shouted. 'Take charge here.'

'Now you will see Melcorka.' Bradan pushed himself away from his tree. 'Spears ready!'

Melcorka strode forward with her right hand on the hilt of the sword that protruded from behind her left shoulder.

Five or six of the Kalingos were down, transfixed by the defenders' spears. The others gathered their resolve before this unexpected resistance. Two men stepped in front of the mass, one with his face heavily tattooed, the other with a circlet of red parrot feathers around his head and a massive wooden club in his hand. The woman remained in the centre of the warriors, watching.

'Spears… throw!' Bradan shouted. He saw some of the Tainos hesitate. 'Don't worry about Melcorka,' he said. 'You won't hit her.' Leading by example, he lifted a spear from one of the stacks that Melcorka had ordered them to prepare. Twelve feet long, it was lighter than those used in Alba, while the head was of chipped stone rather than steel. Hefting it over his right shoulder, Bradan balanced, poised and threw. He watched the spear rise up until it was only a speck in the sky before it wavered and sliced downward. The air whistled through the holes Melcorka had ordered to be bored in the shaft, making an unearthly noise that unnerved some of the Kalingos, as was intended.

'Here they come!' somebody shouted, as the two Kalingo leaders waved their warriors forward.

The defenders hesitated, with some of them turning to flee. They all knew what to expect if the Kalingos overran their village: slaughter, murder and a cannibal feast. The Tainos had always lived in fear of the Kalingos, whose pirogue fleets ravaged thousands of square miles of this sea and the myriad islands it contained. Only Melcorka's influence had persuaded the Tainos to stand and fight. Only Melcorka's sword could maintain their morale. Faced with the reality of hundreds of screaming Kalingo warriors, the Tainos' courage rapidly evaporated.

'Don't run!' Bradan shouted. 'Fight!' He could understand the defenders' fear. He also knew that if they ran, the Kalingos would be encouraged and would chase them, whatever Melcorka did. 'Lift your spears!'

A few of the men closest to him did as he ordered. Most did not. Some were crying in terror. Others accepted what they saw as their inevitable fate.

Bradan spoke to those Tainos who remained. 'Well done! Now poise, aim and throw! Follow my movements.'

The two leaders had rallied the Kalingos after their moment of hesitation. Unable to understand the Kalingo language, Bradan did not know what the leaders had said but he did know that it had worked, as the Kalingos surged forward again. The closer they came, the more ferocious the Kalingos looked, hundreds of painted warriors who had only ever known victory and savagery.

'Throw!' Bradan put all his strength into hurling his spear. He saw the missile land somewhere within the Kalingo ranks, to thrum in the sandy ground. The Kalingo leader with the red parrot feathers faced him directly, lifted his great carved club and shouted something.

'He says that he is going to eat you while you are still alive,' one of the Tainos said, dropping his spear.

Bradan felt a prickle of fear. He had faced Norsemen, Caterans and the warriors of Cahokia, yet these Kalingos were different again. They hunted humans for food, which was more chilling even than the ferocity of the Norse or the human sacrifices of Cahokia.

And then Melcorka acted.

Unsheathing Defender, she stood directly in front of the Kalingo warriors. Her voice sounded clear above the clamour. 'I am Melcorka of Alba, and who dares meddle with me?'

The front rank of the Kalingos hesitated before this tall, raven-headed woman with the shining sword, who openly challenged them.

Melcorka ran into the mass of the Kalingos, swinging Defender in a figure-of-eight against which it was nearly impossible to defend. The nearest Kalingos turned to face her. Defender sliced through the club of her first adversary and continued onward to hack off the man's head. Melcorka strode on, swinging.

'Come on, then!' Melcorka felt the power surge through her from Defender, the sword that stored all the skills of its previous owners. To Melcorka, the Kalingos seemed to move in slow motion, enabling her to block their blows and retaliate with ease. She stepped forward, lopping off arms, legs and heads, moving through a curtain of blood that covered her and the ground over which she travelled. Although the Kalingos were fierce warriors, they had never before encountered such resistance. While some lunged forward to meet the challenge, most hesitated; only a few turned to flee.

'You see?' Bradan shouted. 'Would you leave a woman to fight alone? Throw another volley of spears!'

The bolder of the Tainos were lifting spears and looking toward the Kalingos.

'Throw!' Bradan launched another spear. 'Come on! Help Melcorka!'

Some of the defenders followed Bradan's example. Most could not gather the courage to fight. Bradan shouted again, trying to encourage them as he saw that more of the Kalingos were turning from their assault on the village to face Melcorka. Now twenty, thirty, forty men were massing around the swordswoman, hefting their great wooden clubs or the long stabbing spears.

'Will you let Melcorka do your fighting for you?' Bradan lifted a spear as sudden worry flooded him. 'Come on! Support her! Come on, you men of the Taino! Help Melcorka defend your village!'

Striving to repress his fear, Bradan leapt over the flimsy barrier and ran toward the Kalingos. He hoped that his example would inspire some of the Tainos to follow him, for any one of the Kalingo warriors could kill him in seconds. If the Tainos did not come, well, he had no desire to be stuck so far from home if Melcorka was killed.

That prospect chilled him.

'Come on!' Bradan yelled.

For a moment or two, the Kalingos stared at him. Perhaps they thought he was one of the inhabitants of the village, until they realised he was clothed and knew he was a stranger. An arrow thrummed past him, missing him by a handspan. Another thudded into the ground at his feet.

'Melcorka!' Bradan yelled. 'I'm coming!'

What a place to die, thousands of miles from home on an island whose name I do not even know.

Bradan saw a mass of Kalingo warriors close around Melcorka, clubs rising and falling as they tried to penetrate her defences. Dodging a third arrow more by instinct than by skill, Bradan lunged at the flank of the Kalingos, thrusting his spear beneath the shoulder-blade of a brawny, tattooed warrior. The man stiffened at the unexpected agony, and half turned toward Bradan, who twisted the point to enlarge the wound and tried to withdraw.

The suction of the human body held the spear point fast. Cursing, Bradan wiggled the shaft as his screaming victim struggled to escape, and cursed again as he saw a yelling Kalingo running towards him with his war-club held high.

Bradan grunted. 'That serves me right for acting the part of a warrior. I never was any good at fighting.'

'You never said a truer word.' Melcorka stepped over the body of a man she had just gutted, thrust Defender through the chest of the charging Kalingo, ducked and hacked the legs off another warrior. 'What are you doing in this slaughterhouse, Bradan? I told you not to get involved.'

'I came to help you.' Bradan at last succeeded in freeing his spear.

'That was very kind of you.' Melcorka fended off the attacks of the screaming Kalingos that surrounded them. 'Foolish, but kind. Did you think I had forgotten how to fight?'

'I thought you were on your own against a multitude.' Bradan ducked as an arrow whizzed overhead.

'I was never alone,' Melcorka said.

Bradan winced as another Kalingo charged forward, swinging his great club. 'Who is with you?'

'Why, you are, Bradan. I see you as plainly as I see these savages.' Melcorka parried the swing of the Kalingo's club and hacked off the man's arm. Blood spouted scarlet. 'And you've brought some help.'

'Which help?' Bradan asked, and smiled as the Taino defenders finally struggled over their barrier to run at the Kalingos. 'Well, they took their time.'

'They followed the example of the bravest man I have ever known.' Melcorka began to walk toward the now withdrawing Kalingo ranks.

'Alba!' Increasing her speed to a charge, Melcorka yelled her war cry. 'Alba!' Seeing this blood-spattered woman with the blood-dripping sword running at them from one flank, and the totally unexpected sight of resistance from the Taino defenders on the other, the Kalingos broke. One minute, they were a horde of fierce warriors hoping to kill and eat all they came across, the next, they were a panicking mob of frightened men, all eager to escape.

Only a single Kalingo stood her ground. The lone woman faced the attackers, a female rock in an ebbing tide of Kalingo males. She pointed two fingers at Melcorka.

'Run, you fool!' Melcorka yelled. 'All your friends have gone.'

The woman remained standing. Melcorka slowed down, curious to see why her adversary did not run.

The woman stared directly at Melcorka. Tall and dark, the woman wore a loose cloak that failed to conceal her magnificent physique, while a single white stone gleamed in the golden band that encircled her forehead.

'Who are you?' The woman's voice was clear and calm.

'I am Melcorka nic Bearnas of the Cenel Bearnas,' Melcorka answered at once. 'Some call me Melcorka of Alba. Others know me as the Swordswoman. Who are you?'

'I am a kanaima,' the woman said.

'Why do you not run?' Melcorka was genuinely curious. 'You can see that your warriors are defeated, you can see that your spears and war-clubs are no match for my sword. Your battle is lost, Kanaima. Turn and run. You will not have this village with its peaceful people.'

Kanaima stretched out her arms, pointing the forefingers of both hands at Melcorka. 'You are wrong, Melcorka of Alba. Our battle is only beginning.'

Melcorka hefted Defender. 'I do not like to kill without reason, Kanaima. Go now. Do not give me a cause to end your life.'

In return, Kanaima took a single step forward. 'I curse you. I curse you in your body and in your mind. I curse you in your possessions and your strength. I curse you in your travels and your weather. I curse you until the balance of the world is restored…' She got no further, as Melcorka neatly cut off her head.

'I warned you,' Melcorka said, as Kanaima's head rolled seven times on the grass and came to a stop with the eyes still open, still dark and still staring at Melcorka. 'You could have escaped, Kanaima.'

The laughter inside Melcorka's head mocked her, and for an instant, she thought she felt something long and rubbery slithering around her shoulders. She shook off the feeling. Imagination.

'Let the survivors go,' Bradan called to the now courageous Tainos. 'You've won. There's no need for any more killing.'

I was going to grant them quarter, Melcorka said to herself. Not now. There will be no more mercy.

'Follow them!' Melcorka countermanded Bradan's words. 'Teach them not to come here! Make them so afraid of you that they never come back.' Chasing after the fleeing warriors, Melcorka swung Defender right and left, cutting off legs and arms, slashing deep, bleeding wounds in backs and shoulders, slicing off heads and hands without opposition. What had been a retreat turned into a rout as the Kalingos fled from Defender's blade.

'Face me or flee from me, I still bring death!' Melcorka shouted.

The Kalingos ran to the beach, dropping their weapons in their panic. Some of the Taino villagers followed, thrusting with their spears, killing or wounding a man here and there, shouting to encourage themselves and muster the courage to continue. Other Tainos retched at the sight of so much carnage, gagged at the stench of raw blood and closed their eyes as they saw once-bold Kalingo warriors writhing and screaming on the ground.

The Kalingo pirauas were pulled up beyond the high-tide mark on the beach, rank upon rank of long, lean piratical craft. The raiders ran to them, pushing the fragile boats into the pounding surf without looking back as Melcorka and the villagers harassed them, killing and maiming.

'Come back!' Melcorka yelled, as the surviving Kalingos paddled desperately away. 'I want to kill more of you.' Charging into the water, she slashed at a piraua, slicing through the hull so it split and the occupants tumbled out, to swim frantically to their colleagues for help. Melcorka watched as Kalingo warriors fought each other with the broad-bladed paddles, refusing to allow others on board their piraua as fear overcame friendship.

'Enough.' Bradan took hold of Melcorka's arm. 'You've killed enough.' He pulled her back as she swung at a final target. 'You don't kill for killing's sake.'

'Let go!' Melcorka pushed him away and dashed deeper into the sea for a final attack on a piraua.

'Melcorka!' Bradan followed, hauling her back, until she lifted Defender to threaten him.

'Melcorka!' Bradan had never seen such madness in her eyes. 'Enough! This is not like you!'

Melcorka nodded. 'Yes, enough.' She was panting, her face and body painted red with the blood of the men she had killed. 'They've learned.' Melcorka took a deep breath. 'I don't think they'll return to this island.'

'I think you are right.' Bradan looked around. Bodies, dead and dying, bobbed on the surface of the sea and the surf, once pristine yellow but now stained crimson with blood, carried yet more corpses onto the beach. Land crabs were already scuttling down from the trees to feast on the bodies.

'This is a beautiful place.' Bradan deliberately looked away from the beach, past the village to the verdant slopes that rose to a range of jungle-clad hills, gilded silver-grey with mist. 'Why does mankind spoil perfection with violence and killing?'

'Because human nature demands it.' Hadali had waded out to join them. Years had added lines of wisdom to her face and sadness to her eyes. 'Long ago, our people decided not to follow the path of violence, even though we knew our decision meant that the Kalingos would hunt us as prey.'

Like the rest of her people, Hadali was naked save for a twist of cloth around her loins. Melcorka tried to guess her age; anything from thirty-five to sixty, although the profound wisdom in her eyes argued for another couple of decades at least.

Hadali put a small hand on Melcorka's shoulder. 'You have done what you think is right, Melcorka of the Cenel Bearnas, but you cannot stay here any longer.'

Bradan sighed. 'I am called the Wanderer,' he said. 'I follow the road seeking knowledge and here, I have found wisdom and the most peaceful people I have ever seen.' He gestured to the Tainos who thronged the beach, shocked at the carnage.

'You defended us,' Hadali laid a small hand on Bradan's arm, 'and you saved our lives. If you had not been here, the Kalingos would have killed us all and eaten our flesh.'

'That is correct.' Bradan ducked under the surface of the sea to wash off the blood that covered him.

Hadali shook her head. 'Despite your help, in killing as you did, you broke our code and you must leave. Your presence as killers would pollute our village.'

Melcorka copied Bradan in washing off the blood. 'We saved all your lives,' she reminded Hadali.

'Sometimes, lives are not the most important things. Beliefs, morality and the human soul matter more. By encouraging our young men and woman to kill, you have damaged those parts of them that are vital to our culture.' Hadali sighed. 'These of my people who fought will have to endure weeks or months of purifying, before they can rejoin the community.'

'I see.' Bradan took hold of Melcorka's arm before she began to argue. 'It is never our intention to make a custom or to break a custom, so we will do as you wish.'

'We have a prophesy,' Hadali said, 'that sometime in the future, men with clothes will come to our lands and they will kill us all. We know that will happen and we accept that is our fate. Until then, we will live the way we have always lived, in peace and generosity.'

'It is a good way to live.' Melcorka cleaned the blade of Defender as she walked back to the beach. 'One day, humankind will learn to live in peace.' She indicated the carnage between the beach and the village. 'One day, good will vanquish evil. One day, there will be no need for people like me.'

Hadali followed, with a frown furrowing her brow. 'That day is far in the future, Swordswoman. Tell me about the Kalingo woman that did not run. What did she say to you?'

Melcorka checked Defender and returned the sword to her scabbard. 'She told me her name was Kanaima, and she tried to curse me.' Melcorka shrugged. 'I killed her before she finished the curse.'

Hadali's frown deepened. She sighed and shook her head. 'No, Melcorka, you did not kill her. You cannot kill a kanaima.' She stepped back. 'Kanaima was not her name. A kanaima is an evil spirit that enters people and makes them do terrible things, or turns them into beasts.'

'Oh?' Melcorka glanced over at the casualties. The woman she knew as Kanaima lay as she had fallen, with her head detached from her body. 'Well, she's dead now. Defender is not an ordinary sword.'

'I hope you are right,' Hadali said.

'You are good people,' Melcorka said. 'I am sorry if we have caused you pain.'

'You meant well,' Hadali woman said. 'We will repair the harm you have done.' She smiled again. 'We will provide provisions for your great piraua and pray for you.'

'Thank you,' Bradan said.

Hadali placed her hand on Bradan's shoulder. 'You are seeking, Bradan, but you do not know what you seek.' Her face contained a wealth of wisdom. 'You seek more than knowledge.'

'That may be so,' Bradan said.

Hadali's expression altered to sympathy. 'Then let me tell you what you seek.'

'If you would.'

'You are seeking a truth you will never fully find and a peace you cannot obtain.' Hadali's eyes were compassionate. 'Not until you have fulfilled your destiny.'

'I did not know I had a destiny,' Bradan said.

Hadali touched his forehead with a cool finger. 'We all have a destiny,' she said. 'It is knowing what we seek that guides us toward what we should ultimately become.'

'I see.' The explanation meant nothing to Bradan. 'Can you tell what we should ultimately become?' He included Melcorka in his gesture.

Hadali put both hands on Bradan's shoulders. 'You cannot be greater than your destiny, Bradan the Seeker. What is the greatest thing you desire?'

Bradan returned to his earlier statement. 'I thought that my greatest desire was knowledge.'

Hadali smiled. 'There is much knowledge in the world, Bradan. You are seeking to fill a bottomless pit. You will never satisfy that desire. What else is important to you?'

Bradan met Hadali's dark eyes. 'To share the knowledge I gain.'

'That is a good desire.' Hadali placed both hands on Bradan's head, frowning.

'What's the matter?' Melcorka had been an interested spectator.

Hadali moved her hands slightly. 'There is trouble and great danger ahead of you both.'

Melcorka smiled. 'We always have trouble and great danger ahead of us,' she said. 'We have trouble and great danger behind us as well. As long as I have this,' she tapped the hilt of Defender, 'we can handle whatever fate throws at us.'

Hadali touched Melcorka on the shoulder. 'You are a brave woman, Melcorka. You only need to learn humility to mature beyond your over-confidence.' She looked directly into Melcorka's eyes. 'You have strength beyond your sword, Melcorka. If you find that, you will become a full woman. If you depend only on Defender, you will stagnate into a sword-for-hire.'

'I am no mercenary swordswoman,' Melcorka said.

'You are capable of becoming much more,' Hadali agreed. 'Or much less.'

'You spoke of destiny,' Bradan said. 'What is the destiny of Melcorka?'

Hadali stepped back a pace. 'Although fate will guide Melcorka, she is a woman who will create her own destiny. Her life is in her hands, not in the blade of her sword.' When Hadali touched Melcorka's head, her expression altered.

'What is it?' Bradan asked, suddenly alarmed. 'What did you see? What can you see?'

Hadali stepped back. 'I saw you lying on your back, Melcorka of Alba, with your sword beside you. I saw a tall man standing over you, smiling. I saw blood.'

Melcorka nodded. 'Such is the way of the warrior.' She patted the hilt of Defender. 'Until that happens, we will stay together.'

'One day, Melcorka the Swordswoman,' Hadali said, 'you will meet a warrior who will defeat you, despite the skills inherent in your sword. One day, you will meet a warrior whose sword is superior to your own.'

'May that day be far off,' Melcorka said. 'You have given me a lot to think about, Hadali.'

Hadali's smile was enigmatic. 'Then think, Melcorka the Swordswoman.' A shadow crossed her face. 'Take care, Melcorka and Bradan. You have faced the Kalingo and lived; not many do that in these seas. Melcorka, you have also met a kanaima face-to-face.'

'I cut off its head,' Melcorka said.

'I know,' Hadali spoke softly. 'It will not forget. Be careful that you do not meet it again.'

Chapter Two

The islands lay weeks behind them, long sunk beneath the horizon so they were little more than a memory of lush trees, peaceful people and exotic fruit. All around was the sea, languid and flat. High above, the sun hammered down on Catriona, the single-masted vessel that had carried them from Alba across the Western Ocean and down the great rivers of the New World.

'There is not a whisper of wind.' Melcorka lay at the tiller, fanning her face with a broad-brimmed hat. 'No birds, not even an insect. It is as if God has forgotten to put life into this part of His world.' Standing up, she shouted and the sound of her voice was lost in the vast abyss that surrounded them. 'Nothing!'

'It's hot.' Bradan pulled on the oars, looked up at the sail that hung limp and useless, and pulled again.

'It is.' Leaving the tiller, Melcorka slumped onto her rowing bench and pulled at her oar. 'Are we making any progress?'

'It's hard to tell in this ocean.' Bradan swept the perspiration from his forehead. 'How long is it since we last saw land? Three weeks? Four?'

'Three weeks,' Melcorka said. 'Three weeks and three days. It's at times like this that I could long for a good, old-fashioned Alban gale, with bitter, cold rain and a wind that bends the mast.'

Bradan grunted. 'I'll remind you of that when the weather breaks.' He gave a sour grin and pulled again. Catriona slid another few feet through the water, without changing anything. The blue sea merged with the blue sky somewhere on the indeterminate blue horizon.

'How is the drinking water?' Bradan asked.

Melcorka lifted one of their water containers and looked inside. 'Turning green and slimy,' she said. 'I think there are things living in there.'

'Fresh meat,' Bradan said, pulling at the oars again. 'Check the fishing lines, Mel.'

'Nothing,' Melcorka said. 'Even the fish have deserted us.' Her laugh had an edge that Bradan did not like. 'I'll be killing and eating you, soon!'

'That's not funny, Mel.' Bradan rested on his oars. 'You've not been the same since that battle with the Kalingos. Maybe there was something in the kanaima's curse.'

'I killed the kanaima,' Melcorka reminded him. 'I cut off her head.' She made a slicing motion with her right hand. 'Chop! Like that.'

'That's not like you, either, Mel, exulting in killing.' Bradan began to row again. 'I'll be glad to get you to land and back to normal.'

Returning to the tiller, Melcorka suddenly stood up. 'What's that ahead?' She pointed with her chin. 'The sea's changing colour. It's a browny-yellow.'

'I've never seen a sea like that before.' Bradan stared over his shoulder, resting on his oars. 'A yellow sea! Well, Mel, we travel to see new things.'

'It's not the sea that's yellow,' Melcorka said. 'There is vegetation on the surface.'

'The sea is growing plants?' Bradan shook his head. 'Truly, this world is full of marvels, unless it is only seaweed, of course.'

'I'd rather there was a breath of wind than a sea of weed.' Melcorka slumped back at the oars and pulled hard. 'Our lack of progress is terribly frustrating.'

'This is a big ocean,' Bradan said. 'We might be rowing for weeks and travel hundreds of miles and still be only a fraction of the way across.' He pointed to the sun. 'At least we are heading north and east, though. We are heading home.'

'Very slowly,' Melcorka said. 'I would give my arm for a slant of air, something to fill the sail and send us faster over the sea.'

Bradan grunted. 'The old sailor men have a method of calling the wind.'

'What was that, Bradan? What magic trick do they perform?' Melcorka grinned across to him. 'Do they sacrifice one of the crew to the sea-gods? Perhaps a long-faced, staff-carrying man?'

'Nothing as dramatic,' Bradan said. 'They stick a knife into the mast and whistle.'

'Oh?' Melcorka looked a little disappointed. 'Well then, if a knife and a whistle can call the wind, we shall try Defender.'

'No.' Bradan shook his head. 'If a knife can whistle up the wind, imagine what Defender could summon!'

Despite their apparent lack of progress, Catriona had inched closer to the browny-yellow sea. As Melcorka had said, it was a plant, but unlike any they had seen before.

'That stuff is moving toward us,' Melcorka said.

'Plants can't move.' Bradan pulled at the oars again. 'Unless the wind shifts them, and we have no wind.'

'This plant does not know it cannot move,' Melcorka said. 'It's reaching out for Catriona.'

Melcorka was correct. Even as Bradan watched, the vegetation was easing toward Catriona, with one tendril creeping up the prow and crawling along the short foredeck.

'I've never seen anything like that before,' Bradan said.

'Nor have I.' Stepping over Bradan, Melcorka unsheathed the dirk from underneath her arm and sliced at the stem of the plant. 'It's tough,' she called. 'Look at that!' The plant had begun to crawl up her arm. 'It's also fast!' She cut harder, lifted a length of the growth and threw it over the side.

'It's at the stern, too.' Bradan hit out with an oar. 'It's grabbing at my oars.'

'It's everywhere,' Melcorka said. 'It's all around us.'

'Time to get out of this patch of sea.' Bradan pulled hard at the oars, only to swear as the weed wrapped itself around the blades. 'Get away!' He hauled one oar free, just as more tendrils of the brown-yellow plant crawled on board.

'Enough of this!' Melcorka replaced her dirk, drew Defender and sliced at the ever-increasing number of plants that climbed onto Catriona. As fast as she hacked, more of the browny-yellow growth arrived.

'Bradan!' Melcorka threw him her dirk. 'Cut us free!'

Even with two of them hacking as fast as they could, the plants continued to advance, crawling up the hull and sending long, yellow-brown tendrils towards Bradan and Melcorka.

'What were you saying about Defender calling up the wind?' Melcorka asked. 'It seems like a good idea.'

Bradan sawed through a plant that began to explore his ankle. 'Be careful, Mel!' He held up a hand as Melcorka rammed Defender into Catriona's single pine mast. 'A weapon like that might summon more than we can handle!'

'Nonsense!' Melcorka said. 'We can't handle these plants. Anyway, it's only superstition and the more wind we have, the better! Give me my dirk!' She chopped at a tendril that was curling around the mast. 'It's not working. Is there anything else I have to do?'

'Whistle!' Bradan said, as the air remained still and the growth spread across Catriona. 'Whistle as though your soul depended on it.'

'Whistle?' Melcorka sliced through a plant that was coiling up her leg. 'I can't whistle.'

'Try!' Bradan tried to rip at a stem that curled around the tiller. 'These things are worse than the Kalinga.'

For a second, Melcorka looked over the side of Catriona into the yellow-brown mass that seethed across the sea around them. A ship-length to starboard, she saw the vegetation form the likeness of a human face, and the poisonous eyes of Kanaima were watching her.

'You're dead!' Melcorka said, so quietly that Bradan could not hear. Pursing her lips, she whistled as loudly as she could.

Bradan cringed. 'You may be the greatest warrior in the world, Mel, but you cannot hold a tune in your head, can you? That's a terrible noise you are making.'

'Then join me, Bradan! Make sweet music to call the wind.' Melcorka looked again, but Kanaima's face was gone. All she could see was plant-life covering the ocean and gradually smothering Catriona.

Bradan increased the volume of his whistling. He doubted it would help, but anything was better than not trying at all. The yellow-tinged sea stretched forever in all directions except upward, where the brassy sun powered down on them. Unless they found land soon, the plants would overcome them, or they would die of thirst in this pulsating yellow-brown expanse. Pushing out his lips, Bradan blew tunelessly.

'That's worse than me,' Melcorka said. 'It's like an old crow rasping on a rusty farm gate.'

Stung by her words, Bradan moistened his lips with a mouthful of their precious water and tried again.

'That's better.' Melcorka continued to hack at the invading plants. 'Now you are whistling like a king. You could charm the birds from the trees if there were any birds around here, or any trees…'

No sooner had Melcorka spoken than the sea altered. A deep swell began to move the plants, so they rose and fell like yellow waves.

'Something's happening.' Bradan wrestled an oar free of the crawling plants. 'It's working!'

The swell rose, carrying Catriona up and down as if she were a cork. One minute she was deep in the trough between two mountains of vegetation, the next, she was poised up high, revealing a limitless vista of unbroken yellow-brown. Above, the sky darkened, with thick clouds rolling in from the north and west, some black, others purple-tinged and full-bellied, pregnant with menace.

'What's happening, Bradan?' Melcorka asked.

'We whistled for the wind,' Bradan said, 'and your Defender summoned us up something a bit stronger. Look at the plants!'

Already, the rising swell showed patches of clear water through the vegetation. A spatter of spray rattled against Catriona's hull.

'I've never seen anything like this before.' Bradan watched with interest. 'It's a new experience.'

'It's a new experience I can do without. What is that?' Melcorka pointed astern, where a patch of clear sea brightened to flaming orange. She could only stare as the water erupted behind them, thrusting upward in a fiery red mass, edged with orange and purple. 'In the name of God!

The sea surged skyward in a wave ten, fifteen, twenty, fifty times higher than Catriona's mast and still rising.

'Hold on!' Bradan yelled. 'Mel! Find something to hold on to!'

The sea continued to rise, higher and higher until it blocked the sky astern, augmented by a smoky dark cloud and the reek of sulphur.

'It's Hell!' Melcorka shouted. 'The gates of Hell have opened up behind us!'

'Row!' Thumping onto a rowing bench, Bradan grabbed a pair of oars. 'Row, Melcorka! Row as if your soul depends on it.' Leaning forward, he dipped the blades in the seething water and pulled back, with Melcorka doing the same, until they realised that Catriona was already rushing forward at a far higher speed than anything they could manage. The smell of sulphur was overpowering, as fish, living and dead, rained down on them, together with water that was so hot it burned their skin. Glowing embers joined the fish, some hissing as they landed in the sea, others hitting the hull or sliding down the much-patched linen sail.

'Get the sail in!' Bradan yelled. 'These burning rocks will set it on fire!' Shipping his oars, he began to furl the fabric, with Melcorka joining him, swearing as the hot rocks hurtled down and fish flapped and writhed in the seething water that lapped at their shins and knees. They bundled the sail on deck, where it smouldered and charred under the onslaught of hot rocks.

'Hurry!' Bradan slapped at the flames until a wave crashed against the hull and sent a bathful of hot water to douse the fire.

'What's happening?' Melcorka yelled, above the roar of water and wind. Her hair beat a mad frenzy against her head, one second covering her face, the next, streaming down her back. 'Is it the devil coming for us?' She glanced toward Defender, thrumming in the vibrating mast. 'I'll fight it, if it is!'

'No!' Bradan shouted. 'It's a volcano! I've heard about them before. It's a mountain exploding and spewing out its flaming insides.'

'We're at sea!' Melcorka nearly screamed. 'There are no mountains here!'

'It must be a mountain under the sea!' Bradan roared.

'I've never heard of that before.' Melcorka tried to control her flying hair.

'Sit down, grab hold of something and pray,' Bradan said. 'There's nothing else we can do.' Balancing in the madly rocking boat, he inched to the stern and clutched at the tiller.

'It's all right, Bradan,' Melcorka said. 'Don't forget that a master-builder created Catriona. No sea can sink her.'

'No sea can sink her –' Bradan glanced at the nightmarish mountains of water behind him, shuddered and quickly turned his attention forward, 'but the sea might still capsize her, or toss us out.' He had to bellow to be heard above the roaring of wind and water. 'I'll keep her head straight.'

All around them, the sea was a maelstrom, with waves rising and falling. Debris from the volcano continued to hammer down, lashing the surface of the water like a thousand flails.

As Catriona rushed on, Bradan fought the tiller that bucked and reared in his hands, trying to guide the ship through the nightmare of rising and falling water. Twice, he saw colossal sea monsters of a type he had never met before, and each time they vanished again, as some hidden current dragged them away. Melcorka laughed, crawled to the bow and stood there like a splendid figurehead, her head thrown back and her legs braced to challenge this new experience.

'That's my Mel,' Bradan whispered. 'Whatever comes at us, we'll get through it.' His arms ached with the strain of steering Catriona, yet knew he had to hold on. If he relaxed, a wave could smash at them from starboard or larboard, capsizing them in half a second. Bradan knew that Finlay MacCodrum, Catriona's builder, had been part selkie, a creature of the sea. Finlay had designed Catriona to be unsinkable, but had he taken account of underwater volcanoes?

Had Finlay even known about such things?

Bradan held on, keeping Catriona's stern to the sea, guiding her despite the constant ache of his arms. He lost track of time, he lost track of distance or location. Keeping afloat mattered, keeping alive mattered. Nothing else. Ignoring the pain, ignoring the fatigue, Bradan remained at his post as the sea hissed and spumed and roared around them.

'I'll take over! Have a break!' Melcorka crawled to Bradan's side, her voice sounding dim through the thick cloud of his exhaustion.

'Thank you.' Bradan relinquished the tiller and massaged his arms. 'How long has it been since the eruption?'

'Melcorka shrugged. 'I don't know. Hours, maybe days.' She glanced at Defender, still firm in the mast. 'You were right, Brad. It was our fault. We caused the volcano to erupt by sticking the sword in the mast. If a sailor's knife and a whistle can call up the wind, how much more could a magic sword such as Defender do?'

'It was nothing to do with Defender.' Bradan was not sure if he was correct. He no longer cared. The volcano and subsequent massive waves had pushed them clear of the terrible yellow seaweed and got them moving again, after weeks of floating on a pond-calm sea. Bradan knew they were heading in the wrong direction to go home, but he was the Wanderer; any new nation or unknown people would broaden his knowledge.

'You're trying to make me feel better.' Melcorka brought him back to the present. 'I still don't know the full power of my sword. Retake the tiller.' Stepping forward, she wrestled Defender free from the mast. Almost immediately, the sea began to moderate, the wind eased, and within an hour Catriona was sailing at a sedate pace over a sea that was no different from any other, except for the hundreds of dead fish floating on top.

'At least we won't go hungry for a while.' Bradan leaned over the bulwark to scoop up the nearest fish.

Melcorka began to clean Defender's blade. 'I wonder where we are? I think we have travelled many miles.'

'At the speed we were going, hundreds of miles,' Bradan agreed. 'I've never been in a ship that moved so quickly for so long.'

Melcorka slid Defender into her scabbard. 'I wonder what strange lands we will come to next, what adventures we will have and what peoples we will see?'

Bradan smiled. 'I hope there are no adventures, Mel. I want to find myself in a peaceful place, with intelligent people to increase my knowledge. I will settle for somewhere such as Athens, or Rome, or Baghdad.' He yawned. 'But the first thing I want to do is sleep. I feel as if we've been awake for days.'

'We have,' Melcorka said.

Bradan checked the sea. 'It's clear here. We can let Catriona drift for a while and catch up on some sleep.' He grinned. 'Let's hope there are no more aggressive plants.'

Melcorka smiled. She did not mention seeing the face of Kanaima among the vegetation. Sometimes, it was better not to share all her knowledge, for Bradan the Wanderer was also Bradan the Worrier. She crawled into the shelter of the small cabin under the foredeck and closed her eyes.

The face of Kanaima returned, ethereal within her head. 'Begone! You are dead!' Melcorka brushed it away.

'Did you say something, Mel?'

'I was dreaming,' Melcorka said. 'Go back to sleep.' She listened until Bradan's breathing became soft and regular, put her arm around him and closed her eyes again.

I am not dead, Melcorka. No mortal blade can kill me.

Chapter Three

'I see a sail, Bradan.' Melcorka perched cross-legged in the bows, staring out to sea as the waves broke silver and blue under the prow.

'Good, we need some navigational advice. How long is it since the storm died down?' Bradan sat at the tiller with the wind pushing them northeast by north and the occasional squall filling their water casks.

'I don't know.' Melcorka stood up. 'It's been weeks and weeks with nothing to see except the sea. That's no longer true, Bradan. There's maybe more than one ship.'

'Where?' Bradan scanned the horizon.

'On the starboard bow,' Melcorka said and swarmed up the mast for a better look. Sitting on the cross-trees, she shouted down. 'I see three sails in close company.'

'I'll steer towards them,' Bradan said.

'They might be unfriendly,' Melcorka warned.

'It's been months since we last spoke to anybody. Have you not had enough of my company yet?'

'More than enough,' Melcorka said. 'These ships are sailing towards us.'

The sails burst over the horizon, one, two, three, close together and moving fast.

'It's only a single ship,' Bradan said. 'It is a single ship with three masts.'

'It must be huge,' Melcorka marvelled. 'We'll soon see if they are friendly or not.'

The ship was long, stable in the water and larger than any they had seen before. Three tall masts were resplendent with square sails, while a bowsprit thrust from the bow, also holding a sail. The master must have placed a lookout on one of the masts for he altered direction toward the diminutive Catriona.

'They've seen us.' Bradan steered for the strange ship.

The three-master surged toward them and, with an impressive display of skill, her crew furled all her sails simultaneously. She eased beside Catriona, rising and falling on the long, still unbroken swell. Sun glinting from the water around her only enhanced the hush and swish of the waves.

'Well met, stranger!' Bradan shouted across the cable's length between them.

A score of dark brown faces stared at them as a man stood in the stern and called to them in a language they did not understand.

Bradan tried again, in Gaelic, Pictish and Cymric, to meet only smiles and shaking heads. The mariners on the stranger ship also attempted different languages, which had everybody smiling and laughing together.

'At least they're friendly,' Melcorka said.

'I'll try Norse,' Bradan said, 'and then maybe Latin.'

'I didn't know you spoke Latin,' Melcorka said. 'You are full of surprises, Bradan.'

The master of the foreign vessel was broad and smiling under a large turban. He responded to the Latin with a great, booming laugh and words that Bradan understood, despite the strong accent.

'They want to know who we are and where we are from,' Bradan said.

'Then tell them.' Melcorka sat with her back to the mast, studying the strange ship with its large crew of bare-chested, sinewy men. She listened to Bradan speaking, decided that she was not needed and closed her eyes. She opened them briefly when the strange vessel sent over a small open boat with a bird in a cage and closed them again when it was apparent there was no threat to Catriona. As she could not communicate with them, there was nothing else she could do.

'They're from a place called the Chola Empire,' Bradan said at length.

'I've never heard of it,' Melcorka said.

'They've never heard of Alba, either,' Bradan grinned. 'This is a completely different world.'

'Is this Chola Empire worth visiting?' Melcorka asked.

'It sounds like it. The shipmaster thinks it's paradise on earth, with hospitals for sick animals as well as sick humans and resting places for travellers.'

'Take us there, then,' Melcorka said. 'We need a friendly place and some time on land after so long at sea.'

'If we head north, and a little east, most of the coastline belongs to the Chola Empire,' Bradan said. 'The shipmaster has given us a navigation bird. He says that when we see seabirds or smell the coast, we should release the bird and it will guide us to land.'

Melcorka looked at the bird, unhappily hunched within its cage. 'The poor little creature will be pleased when we set it free.' Putting her finger through the bars, Melcorka stroked the bird's breast. 'She's a lovely little thing.'

'I don't like to see birds and animals caged,' Bradan said. 'I think we should free her now.'

Melcorka nodded. 'Do it. We can find land ourselves.' She watched as Bradan opened the cage door. The bird hopped out and immediately flew away. 'Safe journey, little bird. Did the shipmaster say anything else?'

'The captain also said to watch out for the pirates of Thiruzha.'

Melcorka laughed and touched the hilt of Defender. 'We have faced Caterans and Norsemen, Kalingo warriors and the armies of Cahokia. We can face pirates as well.'

'You are not invulnerable, Melcorka,' Bradan warned.

'Nor are they.' Melcorka dismissed Bradan's words. 'What else did your Chola friends say?'

'You're not normally so contemptuous of a possible enemy.' Bradan narrowed his eyes. 'You've not been quite yourself since you fought the Kalingo.'

'I'm fine.' Melcorka brushed aside Bradan's worries.

Bradan grunted. 'I'm not so sure. I'm keeping an eye on you, Melcorka nic Bearnas.'

Melcorka arched her back and thrust out her breasts. 'Oh, please do, Bradan no-last-name.'

'That's not like you either, Mel.'

'But you're glad I have this new side.' Melcorka laughed. 'It's all right, Brad, I'm still me. I've not changed. Now, tell me more about these ferocious Thiruzha pirates.'

Bradan altered the angle of the sail and looked around the horizon. 'The captain advised us to watch out for a man named Bhim – he is the worst of them. The shipmaster said if you meet Bhim or a woman named Dhraji, turn and flee.'

'We shall avoid him, then.' Melcorka spoke lightly.

They watched as the Chola ship hoisted its sails and bore away to the East, leaving a spreading white wake behind. Two men waved from the stern.

'I wonder where she is bound and what strange lands await her?' Bradan said. 'Perhaps we should have gone with her.'

'They have their journey,' Melcorka said, 'and we have ours. Let's find this Chola Empire and see if it is as friendly as the seamen said.' She grinned. 'The empires we have found in the past were not always worth finding.'

'As long as there are no warlike falcons there,' Bradan said. 'I do not wish to meet any more falcon warriors.'

'Do you wish to meet a many-legged monster?' Melcorka asked, suddenly serious.

'I never wish to meet a many-legged monster,' Bradan said.