“But I speak of our own knowledge, not of the Lothan Aklun’s magic—which is what powers this vessel. For centuries they told us nothing, gave us nothing, kept all their secrets to themselves.” Several of the listening leaguemen grumbled at this. “Recently, though, we had two occasions during which to extract some secrets from them: when we negotiated a contract between them and Hanish, and when we struck new terms between them and your good sister. They gave us a barge like this one. Even as they gave us these things, they withheld the secrets of them. We don’t know how to make a vessel like this. It’s sorcery, but a very useful sorcery. We will know their secrets soon, of course, since we can now explore their libraries and warehouses and records at will.”

Rialus could see that Dariel wished to say something. Sire Neen could, too. He smiled. “I know what you would say, Prince. You’d curse us—the league—as treacherous, devious beasts. And you’d be right! In commerce it’s the bold who succeed. The league is bold, and—I’m sure you’re starting to see—we have succeeded incredibly. Isn’t that right, friends?”

The leaguemen around them agreed. A few of the Ishtat guffawed. Rialus had never seen the company so chipper. It was downright unnerving. He itched to try speaking to Sire Neen again. How to do so, though? What words to catch his interest? He could think of nothing that the leagueman wouldn’t squash before he’d even finished his first sentence. He knew more was coming, more news, more revelations, likely more horrors. He did know that Dariel was no longer a person he wished to be too closely associated with. He slid a step away from the prince, as far as he could get before a guard jabbed him.

He set his eyes on the approaching shore—if shore it could be called. There was no sign of actual earth or beach or other natural features. It was a confusion of buildings that together made one continuous barrier several stories high. It was undecorated, pale hues of tan stone, stained by the sea and by weather, with few windows or anything else to indicate that the inhabitants could look out. It was like the unadorned backs of buildings, like warehouses viewed from a rarely trafficked alleyway.

“Look at those walls,” Sire Neen said. “Our spies told of these, but it was hard to credit them. On one hand they spoke of the Auldek being a military power that no longer fears anyone—neither in the Other Lands nor among the Lothan Aklun—but they swore they built massive walls to hide them from the sea. I think I understand it better now, having listened to the Numrek howls.”

“They’d be howling right now,” another leagueman added, “if they weren’t so ecstatic about seeing Ushen Brae again.”