Not that there was much he could do. He issued orders anyway. “Get our anchor up. I want to be able to maneuver if we have to.” He wondered if he only said it to give the men something to do so they wouldn’t stare at the oncoming wave of serpents. He glanced at Amber. She held tight to the railing, leaning forward and speaking low to Paragon, telling him all she could see.

He cast his mind back over his other encounters with serpents. Recalling Haffs serpent, he issued terse orders that brought his best bowmen to the rails. “Don’t shoot until I tell you,” he told them harshly. “And when you do, take your shot only if you can strike the brightly colored spot just back of the angle of their jaws. No other target! If you can’t hit it, hold fire until you can. Every shot has to count.” He looked back to Amber and suggested, “Arm the ship?”

“He doesn’t want it,” she replied in a low voice.

“Nor do I want your archers.” Paragon’s voice was hoarse. “Listen to me, Brashen Trell. Tell your men to set their bows and other weapons down. Keep them to hand, but do not brandish them about. I want no killing of these creatures. I suspect they are no danger to me. If you have any respect for me at all…” Paragon let the thought die away. He lifted his arms wide and suddenly shouted, “I know you. I KNOW YOU!” The deep timbre of his bellow vibrated through the whole ship. Slowly he lowered his arms to his sides. “And you know me.”

Brashen stared at him in confusion, but motioned for his bowmen to obey. What did the ship mean? But as Paragon threw back his head and filled his chest with air, Brashen suddenly knew that the ship spoke to the oncoming serpents, not the crew.

Paragon dropped his jaw open wide. The sound that came from him vibrated the planks under Brashen’s feet, and then rose until it became a high ululation. Another deep breath, and then he cried out again, in a voice more like sea-pipes than a man speaking.

In the silence that followed, Brashen heard Amber’s breathless whisper. “They hear you. They are slowing and looking at one another. Now, they come on, but slower than before, and every one of them looks to you. They are halting and fanning out in a great circle around you. Now one comes forward. He is green but gold flashes from his scales when he turns in the sun-“

“She,” Paragon corrected her quietly. “She Who Remembers. I taste her in the wind, my planks feel her presence in the water. Does she look at me?”

“She does. They all do.”

“Good.” The figurehead drew breath again, and once more the cavernous language of the sea serpents issued from his jaws.

SHREEVER FOLLOWED MAULKIN WITH HEAVY HEARTS. HER LOYALTY TO HIM WAS unquestioned; she would have followed him under ice. Shreever had accepted his decision when he surrendered his dominance to She Who Remembers. She had instinctively trusted the twisted serpent with a faith that went beyond her unique scent. The serpent herself inspired her confidence. Shreever felt certain that those two serpents together could save their race.

But of late it seemed to her that these two leaders had given authority over to the silver ship who called herself Bolt. Shreever could find no trust for her. Although the silver one smelled like One Who Remembered, she had neither the shape nor the ways of a serpent. Her commands to the tangle often made no sense, and her promises to lead them safely to a cocooning place always began with “soon.”

“Soon” and “tomorrow” were concepts that the serpents could ill afford. The cold of winter was chilling the waters, and the runs of migratory fish were disappearing. Already the serpents were losing flesh. If they did not cocoon soon, they would not have the body reserves to last the winter, let alone enough to metamorphose.

But She Who Remembers heeded the silver one, and Maulkin heeded her. So Shreever followed, as did Sessurea and all the rest of the tangle. Even though this last command from the ship made no sense at all. Destroy the other silver ship. Why, she wanted to know. The ship had not threatened them, nor challenged them in any way. He smelled of serpent, in a confusing, muted way, not as strong as Bolt did, but the scent was there, nonetheless. So why destroy him? Especially, why destroy him but leave his carcass undevoured? Why not bear him down to the bottom and crush him to pieces and share out his flesh amongst themselves? From the scent of him, it would be rich with memories. The other silver they had pulled down had willingly surrendered both flesh and memories to them. Why should this one be any different?

But Bolt had given them their strategy. They were to spray the ship with venom to weaken its structure. Then the larger, longer males were to fling themselves against the ship to turn it on its side. Once its wings were in the water, the smaller serpents could add their weight and strength to seize it by its limbs and pull it under. There they must batter it to pieces, and leave the pieces to sink to the bottom. Only the two-legs of it could they eat. Waste. A foolish, deliberate waste of energy, life and food. Was there something about the ship that Bolt feared? A memory hidden in the silver ship that she did not wish them to share?