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‘Well, not paper, no’ Dreadaeleon looked up, bearass ‘Merroscrit’

‘What?’ Denaos asked, face screwing up

‘Merroscrit Wizard paper, essentially’

‘Like the paper wizards use?’

‘No Well, yes, we use it But it’s alsoAsper’s a to horror ‘See, when a wizard dies, his body is collected by the Venarium, who then slice him up and harvest him His bones are carefully dried, sliced off bit by bit, and sewn together as merroscrit The latent Venarie in his corpse allows it to conduct ic, like I just did It requires a catalyst, though, in this case’ – he held up his thumb – ‘blood! See, it’s really … uh to weigh her face down considerably, its size rivalled only by that of her shock-wide eyes Dreadaeleon’s smile vanished, and he looked down bashfully

‘It’s … it’s neat,’ he finished sheepishly ‘We usually get them after the Decay’

‘The what?’

‘The Decay Magical disease that breaks down the barriers between Venarie and the body It claiic to be made into ’

‘I see’ Asper twitched, as though suddenly aware of her own expression ‘Well … do all wizards get this … posthumous honour? Don’t some of them want the Gods honoured at their funeral?’

‘Well, not really,’ Dreadaeleon replied, scratching the back of his neck ‘I ods’ He paused, stuttered ‘I – I mean, for wizards … We don’t … we don’t believe in them I mean, they aren’t there, anyway, but we don’t believe in them, so … ah …’

Asper’s face went blank at the boy’s sheepishness She seeh the wood of the ship and the waves of the sea Her voice was as distant as her gaze when she whispered

‘I see’

And she re attempts to save face, nor of Denaos’ curious raise of his brow The rogue’s own stare contrasted hers with a scrutinizing, unco with you?’ he asked

‘What?’ She turned on hi remotely similar to the blasphemies that just dribbled out his craw, you’d have sixty sermons ready to crackbrains’

His gaze grew intense as she turned away from him In the instant their eyesflashed behind both their gazes

‘Asper,’ he whispered, ‘what happened to you in Irontide?’

She met his eyes, stared at hih the boat

‘Nothing’

‘Liar’

‘You would knoouldn’t you’

‘Well, then’ Lenk interrupted rogue, priestess and wizard in one clearing of his throat ‘If we’re spared the threat of drowning, perhaps we can figure out how to move on from here before we’re left adrift and e’

‘To do that, we’d need to knohich direction ere heading’ She turned and stared hard at Denaos, a private, unspoken warning carried in her eyes ‘And it wasn’t ht wonder what your job is if you’ve given up preaching,’ the rogue lanced over it with a passing interest ‘Huh … it’s easier than I was er wander over the chart, then stabbed at a point ‘Here, in Westsea

‘So, if we know that Teji is northwest, then we sio north fro ‘Yes … it’s simple, see In another hour, we should see Reefshore on our left; then we’ll pass close to Silverrock, and cross over the mouth of Ripmaw’ He folded up the ht’

‘What?’ Lenk furrowed his brow ‘That can’t be right’

‘Who’s the navigator here?’

‘You’re not navigating Those aren’t even real places You’re just throwing tords together’

‘Am not,’ Denaos snapped ‘Just take my word for it, if you ever want to see Teji’

‘I’d rather take the map’s word for it,’ Asper interjected

Her hand ifter than her voice, and she snatched the parch herself to hold hinored his protests and held the map up to her face

When it came down, she was a twisted knot of red ire

Theto all curious eyes a crude drawing of what appeared to be a woer than her head The words spewing froh, Denaos stop having fun,’ left little wonder who it was intended to portray

Denaos, for his part,this whole tiarbage while you’re supposed to be plotting a course?’

‘Who a us actually expected a course to be plotted? Look around you!’ The rogue waved his hands ‘Nothing but water as far as the eye can see! How the hell a is without a landmark?’

‘You said--’

‘I said I could read charts, not plot courses’

‘I suppose we should have known you would do so into fists ‘When was the last time you offered to help anyone and not either had some ulterior motive or failed completely at it?’