Neither of the two men stood on the jetty seemed to be from Antonio’s crew, as far as Horatio could tell.

‘Who’re these guys?’ said Silvia.

‘I…don’t know,’ said Antonio. ‘Allow me to find out. Good evening, gentlemen,’ he said loudly as they approached, slipping back into some of his usual nonchalant manner. ‘You find yourselves standing before my ship. What can I do for you?’

‘We spoke to your crew,’ said the first of the men in a strange accent. He was dressed extremely strangely, in a striped fabric turban that came to a point at the top, and what Horatio could only call robes, though if he had not known better he might have thought the man was wearing a dress. The robes had elongated frilly sleeves that hung down from the man’s wrists, and pointed shoulder pads. He looked dressed for some sort of traditional dance, though not in any country Horatio knew. ‘They told us that you might be able to give us passage to Whiteland,’ said the man.

‘Yes, normally, for a price,’ Antonio said straight away. ‘As it happens, though, I will first be escorting these travellers to and from the Frozen Waste.’

‘The Frozen Waste?’ said the strangely dressed man, both his eyebrows rising high. It was hard to see in the dark, but Horatio could have sworn his eyebrows were dyed a deep purple. Or perhaps that was their natural colour. ‘But isn’t that nothing more than a cold, barren, monster-infested stretch of ice?’ said the man. ‘What do they want to go there for?’

‘That is our business,’ Horatio said, beating Olivia to it.

The man frowned, twisting up a proud, high forehead. ‘Just so, just so. Well, that does not deter me, good captain. I shall be seeking to pay my way and earn my keep with shipwork in any case, if you will have me, as I have no coin.’

What a weird man, thought Horatio. Where has he come from and why is he going to Whiteland, dressed like that and without any money?

The strangely dressed man turned to the second man stood on the jetty and said, ‘This turn of events might put you off, however.’

‘The Frozen Waste, eh?’ said the second man in a somewhat affected manner. This man wore a wide-brimmed hat that hid his eyes, a dark, high-collared jacket with white trim, high black boots and a cape. Also very peculiar, though in a different way. ‘I suppose I can wait to get to Whiteland, if there are no other ships leaving sooner. It would be fascinating to visit the Waste.’ He raised his head to tip the hat back and reveal dark eyes, which twinkled briefly in the moonlight. ‘How do you propose to handle the monsters?’

Antonio jerked a thumb back at the party. ‘Turns out these folk are fairly formidable fighters...’ The mouth of the second man in the wide-brimmed hat might have twitched ever so slightly, but Horatio’s eyes could have been inventing things in the dark. ‘Can you pay your way, matey-boy?’ Antonio asked of the second stranger.

‘Why, of course,’ said the second man, and now his mouth definitely did twitch up into a smile. ‘Forty gold pieces seems reasonable, no?’ He gestured to the first man. ‘I’ll even pay for him too, so he doesn’t have to do “shipwork”.’

‘Oh!’ exclaimed the first man. ‘Thank you!’

‘You just met, did you?’ Horatio asked.

‘Yes,’ said the second man. ‘We are each travelling independently, and just happened to arrive here seeking passage to Whiteland at the same time.’ He turned to Antonio. ‘Well captain? What do you say? Will you have us?’

Antonio rubbed his chin. Horatio fancied there was some late-night stubble appearing on it. Then the captain threw up his hands, as if to Qind, and said ‘Why not?! If there are two more people crazy enough to take the trip to the Frozen Waste before going onto Whiteland, and you can pay, then welcome aboard!’

Without another word he strode past them, quite rudely, to return to his ship. ‘We leave at first light!’ he called out over his shoulder. ‘Get some rest!’

That left Horatio and the rest of the party looking blankly at their two new weirdly-dressed travelling companions.

‘What are your names then, lads?’ said Primus.

‘My name is Rossalento Qumbrick Macaventa the Fourth,’ said the first man in the turban and robes. ‘But you may call me “Ross”.’

‘I’m Owen,’ said the second man in that hat and cape.

‘It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,’ said Ceres. ‘It looks like we will be travelling together. Shall we find some lodging for the night?’

‘That would be most agreeable,’ said Ross.

Owen merely nodded.

The eleven of them (Horatio had to count–nine party members and now the two newcomers) walked back into Vishay to go and find an inn.

*INN JINGLE: FULL HEALING*