the sail. Nobody else stood on the deck; but the snake, against the mast, had raised his head. Although his body was yellow, the head had darkened again to green.
She pushed her dripping hair out of her face and walked halfway to the second mast. “And what’s your price?” she asked, just to be certain who was speaking to her.
The snake’s head rolled from side to side. He said, “That would depend upon what you’re purchasing.”
“What sort of snake are you, then?”
“Do you mean, am I the sort who would sup on you?”
“It would be useful to know.”
“Your drenching hasn’t done a thing to curb your curiosity, has it?” He sounded amused.
She walked closer. Her bare feet left wet prints across the deck. “I’d rather know than not know, if that’s what you mean.”
His head bobbed back and forth as if he was weighing her answer, then suddenly he stretched toward her. She leaned back but otherwise didn’t move. She’d judged that he would have to unwind one coil to reach her; but close, she could see the remarkable blue and yellow facets of his eyes. He opened his mouth wide in a yawn. There were no fangs.
“If you must know, I’m an Ondiont.”
“Ondionts are water snakes.”
“So you know something then, after all. Yes, we are water serpents, my people.”
“Then what are you doing on a boat?”
“Being lazy. Actually, I’m supposed to be a sentry to protect the cargo these creatures shuttle back and forth from one span to another. I’ve been sentry now for months, and so far I haven’t had to do more than stick out my tongue to send off the occasional scavenger. Eventually, I’ve been assured, they will ferry me home.”
“Do Ondionts have a span of their own?”
He snorted. “A span? What would we do with a span? How would we get up the stairs from the sea?”
“I’ve no idea.”
“Nor does anyone else. No, we have an isle, mostly rock, full of caverns—very nice, cool caverns out of the sun to sleep in.”
“So, what do you eat?”
“Everything. Same as you.” He rubbed the side of his head against the mast, his eyes closing ecstatically. “We squeeze it to death first. If necessary.” His narrow pupils settled on her again. “Now, what is it you’re buying, storyteller?”
“How do you—?”
“I listened to all you were saying to one another when you boarded. People will tell you everything if they don’t realize you’re listening. Stillness is a great skill. I’m sure you know this. I’m sure there are moments when you hold your puppets absolutely rigid to draw in your audience, and then strike.” She thought if he’d had teeth he would have been grinning at her.
“If you know what I am, then you must know what I’m seeking.”
“You would like a tale of the Ondionts, as different from your own people as I am from you.” When she nodded, he said, “My price for this is that you must sit beside me.”
“So that you can squeeze me to death before you eat me?”
His tongue flicked in irritation. “So that you and I have a pact of trust. You must trust that I won’t crush you.”
She rubbed the bottom of one foot against the other ankle. “That would seem to put all the trust on my side of the bargain. What are you trusting me to do?”
“I am trusting you to honor the story every time you tell it on the spans of men and other creatures, by telling it true. Mine is the greater trust, because if you break it, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“There’s nothing I can do about it, either, should you choose to crush me.”
“That’s quite probably true. But you might attract the sailors and your comrades, who are inside, and they could certainly kill me before I could finish my meal. And anyway, they would see. It’s not as if you would be easy to hide once I did eat you.”
They faced each other in silence then, and if the snake was thinking anything at all, she couldn’t tell. Yet she sensed that, like the kitsune who’d led the procession of monsters, the snake meant her no harm.
She walked boldly up beside him and sat down cross-legged on the deck. “What story then pays for my trust?”
The snake opened his mouth wide and hissed. She tensed to flee until she realized that he was laughing. “You’ve steel in you, storyteller.”
“Maybe not as much as you imagine.”
“Oh, the contrary. I’m a judge of