The Devil's Looking-Glass - By Mark Chadbourn Page 0,107

no gamble was too great.

The Irish woman smiled to soften her words. ‘I care little. John and Robert too, I feel, and even young Grace. We are with you in this and do not mind your . . .’ she fluttered a hand while she searched for a word that carried no poison, ‘insensitivities.’

‘Insensitivities.’ He nodded, smiling wryly.

‘But all men can be pushed too far, and you must remember who your friends are,’ she continued. ‘They will walk through fire, if you would but ask them.’ A shadow crossed her face as she leaned against the rail, watching the waves. ‘This long war kills us all by degrees. We begin as good and decent but gradually edge away from the light, so slowly we barely notice, until one day we look up and we are surrounded by night. Do not let that happen to you, my sweet.’

Before he could respond, she turned and walked towards the forecastle. But after a few steps she paused as if she had recalled something vital, and then turned back, her expression sad. ‘You have more faith than any priest,’ she said, ‘more hope than I could ever have, but think, Will, what has happened to every soul ever taken by the Unseelie Court?’ He showed her his back, not wanting to hear, but she continued. ‘Men lured under hill by the sound of fiddle and pipe, only to crumble to dust upon their return to the daylight world. Knights and dancing maidens turned into stone. Others twisted into straw men, or bound by unbreakable briar, or dissolved into water. You must ask yourself how many have survived contact with the Unseelie Court.’

None, he knew. None, damn her.

‘You must prepare yourself,’ she said quietly. ‘I do not wish to be cruel, but I would not see your heart broken when we reach our destination. Do not hope too much.’ And with that, she walked away.

Two more days had passed when the lookout bellowed that land had been sighted. Soon gulls were wheeling across the blue sky, their hungry calls filling every heart with relief that the days of endless blue had passed. A line of green smudged the horizon. In the cabin, Will and Sanburne pored over the pirate captain’s charts and the one that Courtenay had given to them, which showed all that was known of the New World coast. Will thought back to everything he had gleaned from the Faerie Queen of her distant home that night so long ago in the Lantern Tower. Legends of the Unseelie Court’s bastion had circulated since the first European had set foot upon that mysterious land. The City of Gold. Manoa. The Fortress Crepuscule. The home of all wonders and terrors.

The chart showed a river system reaching out from the dark interior like a skeletal hand. From his discussions with Raleigh, Will knew some of the tributaries had been partially explored, but the land was wild and inaccessible, heavily forested and filled with villages of brown-skinned people who hated strangers after so much of their blood had been spilled by the Spanish over the years. Sanburne traced one dirty-nailed finger along the main river. ‘Then we take the Orinoco to here, and then the Caroni?’ he said. ‘The river is navigable for a ship of this size?’

‘So I am told.’

‘And then?’

‘Then, Captain Sanburne, your passengers will be set ashore and you may depart this devil-haunted land and anchor offshore where we now sail. Should we survive, we will find a way back to you.’

‘And how long should we wait?’ Sanburne said in a dismissive tone that suggested he did not expect any survivors.

‘Take on fresh water and sit here for no more than two weeks. And if you come under attack from the Unseelie Court, leave immediately.’

Sanburne nodded, hiding his apprehension. Nor did he show any sign of fear to his men as he ordered them to steer the galleon into the mouth of the wide river; a brave man, as were all of them, to risk so much in the service of the Queen, Will noted. He joined Carpenter, Launceston, Strangewayes, Meg and Grace at the rail, where they watched the nearing land with some trepidation. Hardened by the long struggle, they had become adept at putting on brave faces, but here, so close to the source of their worst fears, they could no longer hide the truth in their hearts. Only Grace held her chin up as she studied the verdant line with an