Madam. However, the Council anticipated your reaction. They would be willing to go as high as twelve times."
She smiled. Cats prided themselves on being shrewd bargainers, but they were pragmatic as well. "I cannot possibly do it for less than forty."
"I believe they would agree to fifteen."
"Since time is of the essence, let us not haggle. Thirty."
"They would not agree to anything higher than twenty."
"Surly twenty-five would not be beyond their resources."
He stood up on his hind legs and placed his front paws on the table as he leaned towards her. "Twenty-three would be their final offer."
She grinned. "Done."
He sat back down. "Done and done, Madam. Provided you leave no later than dawn tomorrow."
"Agreed."
She spent an hour questioning him at length to make sure she had all the details she needed. Finally she made arrangements to meet him at Ulthar's northern gate the next morning. The rest of the day she spent preparing for the journey, followed by a wash and massage at Yamamoto's bathhouse, a feast at Gundersen's tavern, and a night in the arms of several of Lady Tiotadhnia's bondmen.
At the crack of dawn, Medb and her companions set out from Ulthar and journeyed to the port of Hlanith on the mouth of the Oukranos River, a three-day journey they made in two. There they headed directly to the city's oaken docks to seek passage across the Cerenarian Sea.
"How can we find a ship going to Inganok?" Teehar asked. He was the size of jay, crested with a long tail, and gaudily decorated in red, green, gold, and blue plumage.
"In the beginning," Creme replied, "some of my people accidentally found themselves on ships bound for Inganok. They threw themselves overboard and drowned rather than risk touching one paw on the city's wharves. So the crews hung banners off the sterns of their ships to warn us not to go on board if the city was their destination."
"Find us a good one," she said, "then you may leave us."
"Actually, I will be going with you."
She gave him a sharp look. "You need not risk the censure of your people on my account."
"I have no choice. The Council has ordered me to accompany you, as their representative."
"Very well. Let us see what this port has to offer."
It took them less than an hour to locate a caravel that displayed a plain red square of cloth with a stylized black cat painted on it. As she approached the gangplank, she encountered a small knot of men. Most of them seemed to be ordinary seamen, but one looked to be an officer. They interrupted their conversation when she drew near.
"I see you will soon set sail for Inganok. I wish to book passage for myself and my companions."
The supposed officer stepped forward and bowed. "I am the second mate. We are indeed returning there on the evening tide, but it is for the captain to decide if you may come with us."
"May I see him?"
The mate nodded to one of the seamen, who turned and hurried up the gangplank. "We will fetch him."
She nodded in turn as she followed the messenger with her gaze. She saw that other seamen had gathered along the ship's railing, and were staring and pointing down toward the pier. At first she thought they were interested in her, but then she realized they were indicating Creme. She looked at the men standing in front of her, and saw that they too studied the cat with expressions that betrayed a mixture of anxiety and eagerness.
After a few minutes another man appeared and descended the gangplank. He was tall, rugged, not especially handsome but quite distinguished. Yet she was most fascinated by his features. He had a long face, with a high forehead, thin nose, pointed chin, long-lobed ears, and long narrow eyes. She then realized that all the crew had the same appearance to a lesser extent. She had the oddest feeling of deja vu, certain that she had seen those features before, but unable to remember where. Then it hit her like a physical blow: they were the same as those worn on the faces of the Great Ones, the Little Gods of Earth, as depicted in the frescos in their temple in Ulthar and the bas-reliefs in the Cavern of the Flame.
The men on the pier parted to let him through, then stepped away to give him and her room. When he stood before the former queen, he bowed low. "I am told you seek passage to Inganok; is this true?" Though he kept his expression carefully neutral, she could detect a suppressed excitement in his voice.
"It is, for myself and my companions."
The captain's eyes darted towards Creme. "All of them?"
She smiled. "Of course. Assuming that is not an imposition?"
"No, none whatsoever."
"I am pleased, otherwise I would have to search elsewhere. Naturally, I am prepared to pay well for our passage."
"That is most generous. Alas, ours is but a poor merchant ship, carrying a load of wine casks, copper and tin ingots, and nodules of raw blue glass to trade for blocks of quarried and dressed black onyx. We have not the accommodations and luxuries to which you are undoubtedly accustomed."
She grinned, reveling in the flattery. "No doubt that is true, but I am willing to lower my standards. I must get to Inganok as quickly as possible, so I cannot afford to be too picky."
The captain bowed again. "You honor us with your favor. In exchange, I waive all payment for passage."
Taken aback by the unexpected generous offer, she said, "I feel honor-bound to pay you something, a token fee at least."
But the captain shook his head. "Having given my word, I am honor-bound to refuse any and all payment, and I would be insulted if you insisted." Then he paused for dramatic effect.
"However, I have no wish to insult you, so perhaps we could come to a mutually satisfactory arrangement. We will joyfully provide you and your companions with passage, if this fine feline would consent to do us a great favor? Because no cat will knowingly sail with us, our craft is often plagued with rodents." He then looked at Creme with anticipation.
The cat looked back with a feline smile. "I will gladly hunt the mice and rats that infest your ship."
There was a moment of stunned silence, when the members of the crew were not sure they heard correctly. Then the seamen on board ship and on the pier gave out with a great shout, as the captain and second mate bowed in appreciation.
She bowed in return. "You would not object if I and the rest of my companions provided you and your crew with special services, would you?"
The captain gave her a knowing smile. "No, I would not."
Thus it was, that as Creme hunted and killed vermin with glee throughout the voyage, Medb, Teehar, and Conaed entertained the crew with songs and stories during the day, while she entertained the captain in his bunk at night. In that manner the voyage passed so quickly and enjoyably that the crew were sorry to see them disembark when they arrived at their destination after sixteen days, under the perpetually twilit skies of the north.
When she first caught sight of the city while still half a day from land, sitting black and brooding against the backdrop of a line of barrier mountains running east to west, Medb feared that Inganok would be a northern twin of Dylath-Leen. She had never been to the Northern Lands before; her missions for Seidhloch had been confined to the Six Kingdoms and the surrounding lands, and she had insufficient free time to take such a long trip. Nonetheless, she was familiar with their bleak reputation. The Land of Kaar, of which Inganok was its easternmost outpost and which stretched west to the farming village of Vornai, was benign enough, if somewhat barren and sparsely populated, but the foul Plateau of Leng lay to the east beyond a ridge of mountains, while haunted Lomar stretched west beyond a vast seaway. The barrier mountains were infested with giant spiders and other fell beasts, and beyond them lay the vast Cold Waste, where nothing natural could live. At its center sat Mt. Kadath, where dwelt the Great Ones in a cyclopean palatial fortress, ruled by Nyarlathotep in his guise as The Daemon Sultan. Few from the central Dreamlands ever penetrated more than a few miles into the North from the few coastal cities, if they chose to visit at all.
&nb
sp; As the ship grew closer, she gradually discerned the domed buildings and spires rising above the city's protective curtain wall, which did little to allay her concerns. So it wasn't until the ship docked that she realized the city's character was very different from the southern port. Its descriptor as the onyx city was no metaphor, for it was built entirely from blocks of black onyx delicately marbled with pale bands of white and shades of gray. The buildings were all multi-storied and had many windows, most of which opened onto balconies. Their roofs tended to be of two types: bulbous onion domes that tapered to sharp points, and pyramids constructed from layered terraces with minarets at the corners on each level. In the center of the city, dominating the landscape, sat a hill on which had been constructed a tower of many angles, taller than any other structure, capped by a flattened dome with a cupola at its zenith.
At the captain's suggestion, the party sought out an inn frequented by foreign seamen. As they walked up the slope from the wharves, she noted that the building facades were intricately decorated with scrollwork, fluting, and arabesques of poignant beauty, most of which were inlayed with gold. Their entrances were gates rather than doorways, displaying every conceivable design, but they all shared two features in common. One was that the portals were surmounted by arches that stood twice the height of a tall man, and the other was that the keystones had attached to them a sculptured head. She paused to