They traversed the beach much faster than they had when they were seeking treasure. In a short time they were climbing the steep trail that led up from the shore and through the wooded interior of the island. He kept well concealed from Gankis the anxiety he felt for the Marietta. The tides in the cove both rose and fell with an extremity that paid no attention to the phases of the moon. A ship believed to be safely anchored in the cove might abruptly find her hull grinding against rocks that surely had not been there at the last low tide. Kennit would take no chances with his Marietta; they’d be well away from this sorcerous place before the tide could strand her.
Away from the wind of the beach and in the shelter of the trees, the day was still and golden. The warmth of the slanting sunlight through the open-branched trees combined with the rising scents of the forest loam to make the day enticingly sleepy. Kennit felt his stride slowing as the peace of the golden place seeped into him. Earlier, when the branches had been dripping with the aftermath of the storm’s rain, the forest had been uninviting, a dank wet place full of brambles and slapping branches. Now he knew with unflagging certainty that the forest was a place of marvels. It had treasures and secrets every bit as tantalizing as those the Treasure Beach had offered.
His urgency to reach the Marietta peeled away from him and was discarded. He found himself standing still in the middle of the pebbled pathway. Today he would explore the island. To him would be opened the wonder-filled fey places of the Other, where a man might pass a hundred years in a single sublime night. Soon he would know and master it all. But for now it was enough to stand still and breathe the golden air of this place. Nothing intruded on his pleasure, save Gankis. The man persisted in chattering warnings about the tide and the Marietta. The more Kennit ignored him, the more he pelted him with questions. ‘Why have we stopped here, Captain Kennit? Sir? Are you feeling well, sir?’ He waved a dismissive hand at the man, but the old tar paid it no attention. He cast about for some errand that would take the noisy, smelly man from his presence. As he groped in his pockets, his hand encountered the locket and chain. He smiled slyly to himself as he drew it out.
He interrupted whatever it was Gankis was blithering about. ‘Ah, this will never do. See what I’ve accidentally carried off from their beach. Be a good lad now, and run this back to the beach for me. Give it to the Other and see it puts it safely away.’
Gankis gaped at him. ‘There isn’t time. Leave it here, sir! We’ve got to get back to the ship, before she’s on the rocks or they have to leave without us. There won’t be another tide that will let her back into Deception Cove for a month. And no man survives a night on this island.’
The man was beginning to get on his nerves. His loud voice had frightened off a tiny green bird that had been on the point of alighting nearby. ‘Go, I told you. Go!’ He put whips and fetters into his voice, and was relieved when the old sea-dog snatched the locket from his hand and dashed back the way they had come.
Once he was out of sight, Kennit grinned widely to himself. He hastened up the path into the island’s hilly interior. He’d put some distance between himself and where he’d left Gankis, and then he’d leave the trail. Gankis would never find him, he’d be forced to leave without him, and then all the wonders of the Others’ Island would be his.
‘Not quite. You would be theirs.’
It was his own voice speaking, in a tiny whisper so soft that even Kennit’s keen ears barely heard it. He moistened his lips and looked about himself. The words had shivered through him like a sudden awakening. He’d been about to do something. What?
‘You were about to put yourself into their hands. Power flows both ways on this path. The magic encourages you to stay upon it, but it cannot be worked to appeal to a human without also working to repel the Other. The magic that keeps their world safe from you also protects you as long as you do not stray from the path. If they persuade you to leave the path, you’ll be well within their reach. Not a wise move.’
He lifted his wrist to a level with his eyes. His own miniature face grinned mockingly back at him. With the charm’s quickening, the wood had taken on colours. The carved ringlets were as black as his own, the face as weathered, and the eyes as deceptively weak a blue. ‘I had begun to think you a bad bargain,’ Kennit said to the charm.
The face gave a snort of disdain. ‘If I am a bad bargain to you, you are as much a one to me,’ it pointed out. ‘I was beginning to think myself strapped to the wrist of a gullible fool, doomed to almost immediate destruction. But you seem to have shaken the effect of the spell. Or rather, I have cloven it from you.’
‘What spell?’ Kennit demanded.
The charm’s lip curled in a disdainful smile. ‘The reverse of the one you felt on the way here. All succumb to it that tread this path. The magic of the Other is so strong that one cannot pass through their lands without feeling it and being drawn toward it. So they settle upon this path a spell of procrastination. One knows that their lands beckon, but one puts off visiting them until tomorrow. Always tomorrow. And hence, never. But your little threat about the kittens has unsettled them a bit. You they would lure from the path, and use as a tool to be rid of the cats.’
Kennit permitted himself a small smile of satisfaction. ‘They did not foresee I might have a charm that would make me proof against their magic.’
The charm prissed its mouth. ‘I but made you aware of the spell. Awareness of any spell is the strongest charm against it. Of myself, I have no magic to fling back at them, or use to deaden their own.’ The face’s blue eyes shifted back and forth. ‘And we may yet both meet our destruction if you stand about here talking to me. The tide retreats. Soon the mate must choose between abandoning you here or letting the Marietta be devoured by the rocks. Best you hasten for Deception Cove.’
‘Gankis!’ Kennit exclaimed in dismay. He cursed, but began to run. Useless to go back for the man. He’d have to abandon him. And he’d given him the golden locket as well! What a fool he’d been, to be so gulled by the Others’ magic. Well, he’d lost his witness and the souvenir he’d intended to carry off with him. He’d be damned if he’d lose his life or his ship as well. His long legs stretched as he pelted down the winding path. The golden sunlight that had earlier seemed so appealing was suddenly only a very hot afternoon that seemed to withhold the very air from his straining lungs.
A thinning of the trees ahead alerted him that he was nearly at the cove. Instants later, he heard the drumming of Gankis’s feet on the path behind him, and was shocked when the sailor passed him without hesitation. Kennit had a brief glimpse of his lined face contorted with terror, and then he saw the man’s worn shoes flinging up gravel from the path as he ran ahead. Kennit had thought he could not run any faster, but Gankis suddenly put on a burst of speed that carried him out of the sheltering trees and onto the beach.
He heard Gankis crying out to the ship’s boy to wait, wait. The lad had evidently decided to give up on his captain’s return, for he had pushed and dragged the gig out over the seaweed and barnacle-coated rocks to the retreating edge of the water. A cry went up from the anchored ship at the sight of Kennit and Gankis emerging onto the beach. On the afterdeck, a sailor waved at them frantically to hurry. The Marietta was in grave circumstances. The retreating tide had left her almost aground. Straining sailors were already labouring at the anchor windlass. As Kennit watched, the Marietta gave a tiny sideways list and then slid from on top of a rock as a wave briefly lifted her clear. His heart stood still in his chest. Next to himself, he treasured his ship above all other things.
His boots slipped on squidgy kelp and crushed barnacles as he scrambled down the rocky shore after the boy and gig. Gankis was ahead of him. No orders were necessary as all three seized the gunwales of the gig and ran her out into the retreating waves. They were soaked before the last one scrambled inside her. Gankis and the boy seized the oars and set them in place while Kennit took his place in the stern. The Marietta’s