RESTORATION


RESTORATION
CAROL BERG



A ROC BOOK 
First Roc Printing, August 2002 10 987654 3 21 
Copyright ｩ Carol Berg, 2002 All rights reserved 
Cover art: Matt Stawicki Designer: Ray Lundgren 
PUBLISHER担 NOTE 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are 
the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any 
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, 
or locales is entirely coincidental. 
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this 
publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, 
or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, 
photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of 
both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. 



To all true heroes and heroines 



CHAPTER 1
I was living in the land of demons when I first came to believe that the 
god-stories of the Ezzarians were true. Being Ezzarian myself, I had heard tales 
of Verdonne and her son Valdis from the time I was cradled, my faith in their 
relevance waxing and waning as I progressed along the journey of my life. But by 
the time I had survived sixteen years of slavery and reclaimed my life. I had 
discovered undeniable evidence of the gods. I had seen the feadnach葉he light of 
destiny容mblazoned on the soul of an arrogant Derzhi prince, which told me that 
the heir to the most brutal of empires was destined to transform the world. 
Beside such a wonder, how could I doubt my growing suspicion that I had some 
part to play in the story of the Nameless God? 
添ou know planting,・said the woman from behind my shoulder. 添ou致e a deft hand 
with seedlings.・ 
Wiping the sweat from my brow with the back of a dirty hand, I shifted myself 
and the basket of rista shoots down the newly tilled row. Though the early 
spring air was still cool, the morning sun on my back was broiling. 溺y father 
worked the fields of Ezzaria,・I said. 滴e took me with him every day until I 
started my schooling. It comes back.・ 
I picked off the lower leaves of the plant, then scooped out a hole, inserted 
the tender shoot, and repacked the cool black soil snugly about the feathery 
roots and stem, winding about them the simple enchantments of steady growth and 
resistance to disease. Rista seedlings were fragile, but with a little nurturing 
and a nudge of sorcery, they would provide a harvest far more bounteous and 
reliable than wheat. 
I was a guest of the woman and her husband, repaying a night痴 stay in their 
quiet green valley by helping with spring planting. For most of my life I had 
been caught up in the death and violence of a war that could not end. Now that I 
had done what I could to change the course of that conflict, a quiet morning and 
a little dirt under my fingernails felt very close to happiness. 
The woman came around to the other side of the double row, set down her own 
basket, and went to work. Her shining black braid draped gracefully over her 
shoulder, and her long fingers made quick work of setting the plants. Elinor had 
a lively intelligence and a wide knowledge of the world, despite the isolation 
of her current home. But she knew very little of Ezzarians. 鉄o your father was 
not a warrior as you were, a・what is it called?・ 
鄭 Warden? No. He had no melydda, thus he had no choice in his profession. 
Ezzarians without true power must do whatever work is required of them.・Those of 
us found to have power for sorcery were nurtured and trained and allowed to 
choose our own way to fight the demon war. Until one learned new truths and 
betrayed it all. 
She glanced up at me without pausing her quick fingers. 的知 sorry. I don稚 mean to 
bring up painful matters.・ 
I sat up to ease the cramp in my right side熔ne too many knife cuts in those 
muscles, the last injury deep and unskillfully repaired. After eight months I 
feared the painful tightness was caused by internal scarring and might never 
leave me. An unwelcome reality for a warrior容ven one who has no intent to raise 
a sword ever again. 典here痴 no pain in remembering my father, Mistress Elinor. He 
was as fine a man as ever lived. Though farming was not the life he would have 
chosen, he was well content. I learned more of true value from him than from any 
of my more scholarly mentors.・ 
The tall woman sat back on her heels and assessed me as boldly as any queen. 
Reddened hands and a coarse, worn tunic could not hide her mature beauty. Dark, 
slightly angled eyes, along with lustrous red-gold skin, were the telltale of 
her own Ezzarian heritage, though she had grown up far from our rainswept hills 
and forests. 的t痴 just that you speak so little of Ezzaria, Seyonne, and I know 
the love Ezzarians bear for their homeland. I thought perhaps it was 
uncomfortable for anyone to bring it up now that you池e reviled there.・Elinor was 
nothing if not direct. Ordinarily I liked that in my friends. 
Of course, to call Elinor a friend was presumptuous. We had spent some hours in 
one another痴 company, talked of the weather and her brother Blaise痴 retired 
outlaw band. But, in truth, we knew nothing of each other save a few superficial 
facts. She had once been an outlaw herself, a rebel against the Derzhi Empire, 
but was now settled in this lovely valley, where she and her husband fostered a 
two-year-old child. I was a sorcerer, a retired warrior of thirty-eight years 
who had a demon living in my soul. 
的f I were to avoid everything uncomfortable about my situation, I would have 
very little to talk about,・I said. I moved down the row again and set another 
plant. Though I enjoyed Elinor痴 company a great deal, at that moment I wanted 
nothing more than to lose myself in sweat and dirt and unthinking labor. Duties 
were awaiting me, truths to face, some of them terrible and dangerous, some of 
them more personally painful; but every day I could put them off and absorb such 
peace as this green valley could provide gave me time to be ready. 
溺y brother says you値l be executed if you return to Ezzaria.・ 
的t is no matter. There痴 nothing for me there anymore.・I wished she would leave 
it. 
釘ut濫 
I smiled at her, trying to apologize for my poor company. 鄭 man cannot become 
something his people have abhorred and feared for a thousand years and expect 
them to be swayed instantly into acceptance by his charm and good manners.・ 
Especially when he was having the devil of a time accepting it himself. I 
dragged the basket closer and carefully pulled apart a tangled clump of roots 
and moist soil. Abomination, my people called me. 
的致e been trying to decide how to thank you. Words seem so impossibly inadequate. 
You致e saved my brother痴 reason・ｦ and our child痴 and our friends槽 but at such 
cost to yourself・ 
My skin began to itch. I felt her eyes searching to see the demon that now lived 
inside me, not an inborn element of my nature as were the demon aspects of her 
brother Blaise and the child she fostered, but a separate conscious being with 
voice and emotions and ideas of his own 
的 have no regrets,・I said. Just worries. Just fears. Just terrifying uncertainty 
about the future and my place in it. 
Elinor could not know how well she repaid me for my deeds of the previous year. 
Even as I shifted down the row and fixed my attention on my work, hoping to 
escape her scrutiny, I heard the faint music of my solace from the far end of 
the valley預 child痴 laughter, giggling, bubbling, making the golden noonday 
magic. Before very long, footsteps came pounding across the meadow葉iny bare feet 
on short sturdy legs, followed by the galumphing boots of someone much taller, 
someone who was holding back just enough to keep up the merry chase. 
泥a!・squealed the little one as he streaked across the fields toward the 
sod-roofed cottage tucked into the edge of the trees. In the cottage doorway 
stood a large, square-shouldered man預 bearlike Manganar with brown curly hair 
and only one leg. He set down a heavy barrel and leaned his crutch against the 
door frame just in time to catch the boy and rescue him from the tall, 
dark-haired man giving chase. 
滴ave you outwitted your uncle Blaise, Evan-diargh?・said the one-legged man, 
rumpling the boy痴 short dark hair. 滴ave you played the clever fox to his hound, 
then?・ 
滴e has indeed,・said the pursuer, a spare, large-boned man of thirty. He patted 
the boy痴 back. 的致e never seen a mite could run so fast. Especially after we壇 
been working hard all morning to catch these few paltry trout.・He pulled a 
canvas bag off his back. 鄭s it is, I still need to clean them. The boy was 
falling asleep on the bank, so I thought I壇 best get him home.・ 
的値l wager he痴 ready for a bite to eat and a rest,・said the big man, reaching for 
his crutch. 
典hen I値l take care of our supper and be back in a bit.・With a quick glance and a 
nod to my companion and me, the dark-haired man started back across the flowered 
meadow toward the stream that meandered through the valley. 
The kindly rescuer nudged the boy, who clung to his neck. 敵ive a wave to your 
mam, child.・The boy loosed his grip just long enough to waggle a small hand at 
Elinor. The child痴 dark eyes, their blue fire hidden only by distance, sparkled 
happily over the man痴 shoulder. With one arm around the clinging child and the 
other expertly maneuvering his crutch, the man carried the boy inside the house. 
A child could have no safer haven than Gordain痴 arm. 
I turned back to my work, swallowing the uncomfortable knot of joy and grief, 
gratitude and loneliness that lodged in my throat whenever I watched Elinor and 
Gordain and the child that fate had given into their care. 
哲ight痴 daughter.・The woman was staring at me, her hands fallen limp and lifeless 
on her knees, the blood drained from her strong and lovely face. 滴ow could I 
have been so blind? All these months Blaise has brought you here to visit・to 
help you heal, he told me. I致e seen you watching Evan・devouring him with your 
eyes. But I never caught the resemblance until now. He痴 your son, isn稚 he?・Her 
eyes darted to the shabby cottage. 展hy are you here?・ 
I shook my head, trying to think of what to say. 摘linor濫 
展hy would you hide the truth? You and your cursed, wicked, vile Ezzarian ways・ 
You left him out to die, willing to murder a child because he was born different 
from you. Because you were afraid of him.・She wrapped her arms about herself and 
rose slowly to her feet, her eyes on fire. 鄭nd now you致e learned that you were 
wrong to do it. Are you here to appease your conscience? Do you think to make it 
up to him that you were willing to let wolves tear him apart? Or did you plan to 
sneak him away? You致e never even touched him. How dare you set foot within a 
league of him?・ 
溺istress Elinor, please濫 How could I explain all the reasons I dared not touch 
him, that it was the most difficult thing I had ever done, and that only her 
goodness and her husband痴 made it possible? 的致e no intention・You and Gordain濫 My 
blundering inability to respond quickly exhausted her willingness to listen. 
添ou値l never have him. Go away.・She spun on her heel and strode toward the 
cottage, crushing the newly set plants under her feet. 
I jumped up to follow her and cursed the catch in my side that stopped my breath 
for a moment, as if Ysanne痴 knife were still buried in my flesh. The sun glare 
dazzled my eyes, making my head throb as I limped across the rista field. Sweat 
dripped beneath my coarse linen shirt, and clouds began to gather on the 
horizons of my mind. Creeping darkness・With growing misgiving, I halted at the 
fenced corner of the goat pen next the house, not daring to go closer. Gordain 
stood in the cottage doorway, his face fierce, determined. Pitiful・as if a 
mortal human could block my way if I chose to summon power. I gritted my teeth, 
banishing these hateful feelings that were not mine, though they seethed inside 
my head like boiling tar. I forced my tongue to obey my own will, stammering as 
I searched for the right words. 擢orgive my secrecy. I never intended・I could 
never濫 
But before I could get out the explanation, the storm of rage exploded in my 
mind, thundering fury that threatened to split my skull. My hands flexed, 
demanding to grasp Gordain痴 thick neck and twist it, to hear him scream and 
choke until the muscles snapped and the bones cracked. My feet were ready to 
kick the cripple痴 leg out from under him, my hands to snatch the ax on his wall, 
and my eyes to watch his face pale as I hacked off his remaining limb. 
My hands were shaking as they gripped the fence post, my knees trembling. 
撤lease, get Blaise. Hurry. I知 so sorry・so sorry・ Only a moment痴 hesitation and a 
blur of green and brown streaked past me. Shouts faded into the pandemonium of 
fury and raging death. 
Running feet. Anxious voices. 敵et in the house, Linnie. Bar the door! I値l 
explain later.・ 
Rumbling・growling・erupting in a roar of madness・The fence post dissolved in 
fire, and a cloud of blackness obscured my sight. I was lost・ 
鏑isten to me, my friend. Hold on to my voice. I値l not leave you. We池e going to 
bring you back, Seyonne, and get you away from here safely. I know you don稚 want 
to hurt anyone. Remember who you are: good friend and teacher, guardian of a 
prince, most honorable of warriors, loving father This sickness is not you.・ 
Determined hands gripped my shoulders, and I wanted to rip them from their puny 
arms. I bit my lip and tasted blood, and it gave me strength. I would kill him 
for keeping me captive. Only his voice葉his vile bondage of calm words and 
reason揺eld me in check. As soon as he stopped speaking, I would strangle him. 
Snap his neck. Pluck his eyes. Eat his heart. 
泥id you see him running? He runs like you, easy and light and very fast. He 
spent the morning digging in the sand by the stream and scooping water in his 
hand to fill up the holes he made. So patient・No, listen to me, Seyonne, my 
friend. You are not going to hurt me or anyone. Every time the boy scooped water 
in his hand, he spilled most of it before he got it to his little holes. But he 
would squat down beside the hole and pour his tiny bit of water in and watch it 
disappear into the sand. Then he would sigh and go back to the stream to try 
again. You see? He is patient like you. How often have you tried to teach me to 
cast a vermin barrier? Am I the stupidest Ezzarian ever born? Yet without 
reproach, you try again and again to teach me these simplest of skills. You, who 
can see the patterns in the world, who can unravel mysteries that no one else 
can begin to understand. I致e never known anyone who sees so clearly・ 
The man was a fool. I couldn稚 see. Everywhere I turned was darkness. Terror 
lapped at the fires of my blood thirst and soon became a flood. At any moment I 
would take that dreadful step where there would be nothing under my foot, and I 
would plunge into the abyss. I would become the one I feared・the one who held 
sway over my dreams and visions. 
But the strong hands did not let go, and the calm voice did not stop. Before 
long the tide of fear began to ebb, and I allowed the strong hands and the calm 
voice to guide me back into the light. 套 Apologize. I thought you were ready for 
a longer stay. You seemed so much better.・ 
The world began to come back into focus・a dappled woodland, a dusting of new 
green on the bare branches. The smell of damp earth and new growth. A steep 
angle to the sunlight. A stream mumbling beside the path, half hidden behind a 
tangle of willows. 
滴ere. Let痴 stop and have a drink. We could both use it, I would guess. Are you 
ready?・ 
Numb, unspeaking, I dropped to my knees where he pointed. The rippling water was 
cold on my scarred and bony hand, still soiled from Elinor and Gordain痴 garden. 
I scooped out a handful of the clear, cold water and scrubbed at my hands, 
letting the muddy dregs drain into the new-sprung grass. Splashed another 
handful on my face, and then another on my neck, cleaning off the sweat of sun 
and madness. I looked at the water in my cupped hand and imagined a tiny bronze 
fist carrying water so carefully across the sand to a childish enterprise. 
Evan-diargh耀on of fire. Smiling, I drank down my own treasure and three more 
besides, and then sat back, leaning my head wearily against a tree. 
添ou池e getting very good at this,・I said to the dark-haired man who sat 
cross-legged beside me, having drunk his own fill of the sweet water. 滴ow long 
until you tire of preventing mad Wardens from destroying the world?・ 
Blaise smiled his crooked smile. 的 will do whatever is necessary. So my mentor 
has taught me.・ 
的 can稚 go back there again.・ 
添ou値l go back. He値l not grow up without knowing you. I致e promised you that 
already. We値l just have to work some more before you do. What set it off this 
time? Have you had more dreams?・ 
I ran my fingers through my damp hair and pondered the question. 典he same dreams 
come every night. Nothing new.・Dreams of an enchanted fortress and a mystery 
that terrified me. 摘linor and I were talking about farming. About my father. 
About Ezzaria. And then you and Evan came・ 
展e were running. Were you afraid for him? Was that it?・ 
哲o. Just the opposite. I was so grateful for your sister and Gordain. I couldn稚 
ask for a better home for him. No. It must have been something else・ I hated 
that I could never remember exactly what set off these attacks葉he storms of 
violence that had riven my soul ten times in the past eight months since the 
first one in Vayapol, when three beggars had tried to rob Blaise痴 foster brother 
Farrol. I had come near killing them all, friends and robbers alike, as if they 
somehow deserved it by their very act of breathing. 
My demon was the cause, I believed. Angry. Resentful. Trapped behind the 
barriers I had built in some vain belief that I could control my own soul long 
enough to understand my dreams and face their consequences. I was sure this 
waking madness was my demon痴 raging. 
But as I searched my memory for the key, I ran across something more immediately 
distressing. 徹h, Verdonne痴 child! Elinor guessed that I知 Evan痴 father. She 
thinks I知 planning to take him away. Blaise, you致e got to go back. I was trying 
to reassure them, and then I go mad in front of their door. They must be 
terrified.・ 
鉄tubborn Ezzarian耀eems like I advised you to tell them everything.・Blaise jumped 
to his feet and offered me his hand. 鄭s soon as you池e safely asleep, I値l go 
back.・We started walking briskly down the trail, Blaise working the enchantments 
that took us farther than the number of our steps and true geography would 
admit, the sorcery that kept my son痴 location hidden from me. Much as I longed 
to be a father to Evan-diargh, I could not trust myself with the most precious 
thing on earth. And even if I were cruel enough to uproot him from the only home 
he had ever known, I had no place to take him. 
My life as a Warden of Ezzaria, a sorcerer-warrior in my people痴 thousand-year 
battle to save the human world from the ravages of demons, had almost ended 
before it had begun, when I was enslaved by the Derzhi. But after sixteen years 
of bondage, the Prince of the Derzhi had returned my freedom and my homeland, 
and I had taken up my Warden痴 calling once again, only to discover that the 
secret war we Ezzarians had fought with such diligence for ten centuries was a 
war against ourselves. The raikirah葉he demons謡ere not wicked beings bent on 
destruction of human reason, but fragments of our own souls, ripped away by an 
ancient enchantment and banished to a frozen, bitter land called Kir歎agonoth. 
The birth of my son and my meeting with Blaise had convinced me that whatever 
the reasons for this ancient sundering, it must be undone. 
My child had been born joined to a rai-kirah. Possessed. As it was impossible to 
remove a demon from an infant, Ezzarian law demanded that such children be 
killed. But before I even knew of his birth, my wife had sent our son away until 
he was old enough for us to heal. My search for the child led me to Blaise, an 
Ezzarian also born demon-joined, a young outlaw of generous heart and inner 
peace預 wholeness, a completion, that led me to understand our nature and the 
terrible split that had occurred so many centuries before. Blaise taught me what 
my race and the demons were meant to be, and so I set out to free the rai-kirah 
from their exile by unlocking the way to our ancient homeland called 
Kir誰avarrin. To accomplish this task, I was forced to put my new beliefs to the 
test and join myself with a powerful demon named Denas. 
But my own people could not accept what I tried to tell them. A possessed Warden 
was an abomination, the ultimate corruption and an unimaginable danger. Once 
they understood that the change I had undergone was irreversible, the Ezzarian 
queen, my own wife, Ysanne, had stuck a knife in me and left me to die. 
As I lay bleeding, I was tormented by visions of a dark fortress that lay deep 
in Kir誰avarrin. Demon memory and crumbling artifacts told us that someone 
powerful and dangerous was imprisoned there. Fear of this prisoner had caused my 
ancestors to reive their own souls, to destroy all evidence of their history, 
and to lock themselves out of Kir誰avarrin. My death visions, so vivid as to bear 
the patina of truth, showed me the face and form of that prisoner預nd they were 
my own. Unfathomable mystery, yet I believed・I feared・that I dreamed true. 
If the prisoner in the fortress endangered human souls, then my Warden痴 oath, my 
training, and my history demanded that I be the one to confront that danger. But 
for eight months my dreams had held me paralyzed, and now, I seemed to be going 
mad. 
CHAPTER 2
Just after sunset Blaise and I came onto a dirt lane on the shabby outskirts of 
Karesh, a town in the southern Empire where the remnants of the outlaw band of 
the Yvor Lukash were working garden plots and learning trades, waiting to see if 
their truce with the Prince of the Derzhi would come to anything. 
泥o you want to stop and wash?・Blaise paused outside the local washing house, a 
dank and dismal shack built around a sporadic little spring of marvelously pure 
warm water. For a copper coin, the corpulent proprietor would give you half an 
hour of access to a pool lined with cracked tile and use of a towel that had 
likely not been clean since Verdonne was a mortal maiden. 
I sighed and tried to ignore the stink of farmwork and madness. 的t would be 
delightful, but you need to be on your way.・ 
So instead we hurried down an alley and up a dusty wooden stair to a room on the 
third floor of a locksmith痴 shop. There I sat on one of two straw-filled 
mattresses and munched sour cheese and bread, while Blaise mixed a sleeping 
potion. I didn稚 trust my own fingers to do it, as if my resident demon might 
alter the formula to prevent my safe sleep. I was a sorcerer of considerable 
power and a warrior of long experience. If I set my demented mind to murder, it 
was no simple matter to prevent it. But once I had slept a sound night after one 
of my attacks, I seemed to be myself again. Until the next time. 
展hen will you go to Kir誰avarrin and be rid of this?・said Blaise as he crushed a 
few leaves and dropped them into a cup with a spoonful of wine and a few pinches 
of white powder. 添ou know what I was預 raving, drooling idiot, more beast than 
man. I couldn稚 even feed myself, and in less than a day there・Stars of heaven, 
even after all these months I can稚 explain the difference. To be whole again. To 
see clearly, as if someone had popped my eyes back into their proper sockets. 
Surely it would help you.・ 
Confined to the human world, Blaise and the few other Ezzarians born 
demon-joined had faced a terrible choice. Their demon natures allowed them to 
shift their forms at will預 talent those of us born unjoined had never even 
suspected. But after a number of years of shapeshifting, their bodies lacked 
some essential component to remain stable. A day would come耀ome sooner, some 
later謡hen they would shift into beast form and be unable to shift back again, 
quickly losing their human intelligence. I had come to believe that entering 
Kir誰avarrin would solve their problem, and it was for this庸or my child痴 future 
and for Blaise, as much as anything else葉hat I had joined with Denas to unlock 
the gateway. But I had not yet passed through the gate myself. 
添our problem was something normal預 natural progression of your life,・I said. 
溺ine is not. I can稚 risk the passage until I understand what this cursed Denas 
is up to.・ 
典he demon is a part of you already,・said Blaise, 屠oined as you were meant to be. 
Gods above, man, you walked your own soul and saw the truth of it葉here was no 
separate being inside you. You致e told me fifty times how you long to enter 
Kir誰avarrin. So go there and be healed before you kill yourself or someone 
else.・ 
I pulled at my hair, as if to let some light and air into the thickness of my 
head. 滴e is not me. Not yet. He sits in my belly squirming, as if I致e eaten 
something that wasn稚 quite dead. I think he痴 the one that痴 so determined to get 
there・ 
The golden demon who called himself Denas and I had relinquished our separate 
lives for common purpose, and for the few hours it took us to accomplish that 
purpose, we had reached an accommodation. But it would have been hard to gauge 
which one of us had been more reluctant. He had suffered in a frozen wasteland 
for a thousand years, believing my people had destroyed his own. I had been 
trained to believe demons devoured human souls in unending lust for evil. 
Neither intellect nor pragmatism could overcome my sense of violation, of 
corruption, of certainty that Denas was waiting for one moment of weakness to 
enslave my will to his. 
I raised the bread and cheese to my mouth and put it down again. I wasn稚 all 
that hungry. 展hatever is causing these episodes, I daren稚 let down my guard. If 
Denas can drive me to do murder now, what would I be if we were fully joined?・ 
Blaise handed me a clay cup, and I downed the purple-gray liquid it contained, 
followed by water to drown the foul taste. 添ou will be the man you have always 
been. The rai-kirah will bring you memories and ideas, talents, perhaps new ways 
of looking at the world. But it can稚 be so simple to corrupt a human soul. Not 
one such as yours.・He smiled and threw a wadded blanket at me. 添ou池e far too 
stubborn.・ 
I wasn稚 so confident. Even if I dared cross into the demon homeland, there was a 
finality about passing through the enchanted gateway耀o I had been told. Once 
that step was taken, Denas and I would be completely merged, all barriers 
between us dissolved forever. My visions implied that I was the danger that 
raged in Tyrrad Nor, threatening to destroy the world. If I could not control my 
own hand, my own soul・That could be the very circumstance that caused the 
danger. Occasional bouts of madness might be better. 
Five minutes and my limbs felt like they belonged to someone else. As my vision 
blurred and my head spun, Blaise donned his black cloak and a slouched hat and 
blew out the candle. 笛oining with the rai-kirah was the right thing to do. You値l 
learn what you need to solve this.・ 
徹ne more thing,・I said drowsily as he opened the door to go. 典ell your sister 
that we did not lay Evan out to die. I was off fighting demons, and Ysanne・ 
Ysanne sent him to you. We didn稚容ither one of us謡ant him dead. Not for a moment. 
Not ever.・ 
的値l tell her everything, Seyonne. Sleep well.・ 
As a disturbing result of my condition, most of Blaise痴 people容ven the few like 
Blaise with inborn demons of their own・were a bit afraid of me. Certainly 
everyone respected my privacy. Thus, it was a surprise when someone burst into 
my room not a quarter of an hour after Blaise had left. When the visitor痴 feet 
accidentally kicked over an empty water jar, my descent into drugged stupor was 
temporarily suspended. Light flared in my face. 
鉄pirit痴 flesh! Dak was right. You池e still here. I thought you壇 gone off with 
Blaise again.・The intruder, a short, round- faced man with thinning hair, was 
Farrol, Blaise痴 dearest childhood friend and foster brother. Farrol, a man 
neither subtle in action nor temperate in opinion, had been born as well with 
his demon nature intact. 
徹nly a moment and I値l be safely out of the way,・I mumbled, letting my eyelids 
sag. My body felt like river-bottom mud. 
釘ut it was you the messenger wanted. Said it was urgent.・ 
溺essenger?・I wedged open the gates of sleep. 
鉄aid he壇 come from Prince Aleksander. Cursed Derzhi bastard預cted like we were 
some kind of vermin. Blaise had only just left, so I sent the fellow after 
him・and after you, I thought.・ 
擢rom the Prince?・I dragged myself up to sitting. Blaise and I had been scheduled 
to meet with Aleksander on the day of the spring equinox. But the Prince, 
bearing the burden of his father痴 empire if not the crown as yet, had sent word 
that he would have to delay until midsummer. That was still more than two months 
away. 展hat did he say exactly?・ 
鉄aid he was to give the message directly to the Ezzarian what was the Prince痴 
slave, the one, with the slave mark on his face. Said the message couldn稚 wait. 
Had to deliver it himself.・ 
典he Prince痴 slave・Those were his exact words?・ 
鄭ye. Arrogant, sneering fellow, he was.・ 
Aleksander would never refer to me as his slave. Not anymore. Not to a Derzhi 
messenger whom he would wish to treat me with respect. 典ell me what he looked 
like, Farrol. His colors・a scarf or a crest on his shield or his sword or 
somewhere on his dress・And tell me about his hair. Did he have a braid?・I 
reached for the cup of water Blaise had left on the table by my bed and poured 
the contents over my head to force my foggy mind awake. 
鏑ooked like any cursed Derzhi. Armed to the teeth. Riding an eighteen-hands bay 
that Wyther or Dak would kill for. No scarf, but a tef-coat over his shirt. An 
animal on it預 shengar, maybe, or a kayeet. I don稚 know. His braid was like any 
of the arrogant bastards. Long. Light-colored. Tied with a blue・no, it was a 
purple ribbon on the left side of his head. Why do you care? What痴 wrong?・ 
I jammed the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to think. 典he braid謡hich 
side of his head was it?・ 
Farrol kicked at the empty water jar. 的 don稚 know. What does it・・ 
典hink, Farrol. You said left. Which was it?・ 
The round man threw up his hands. 鏑eft, I think・yes. it was the left. That痴 how 
I saw the color of the ribbon because the fire was on his left.・ 
Left・spirits of darkness! I staggered to my feet and grabbed Farrol痴 arm. 展e致e 
got to go after them. Hurry. Help me wake up, and get me a sword.・ 
展hat痴 wrong?・ 
滴e痴 no messenger. He痴 a namhir預n assassin.・And Blaise was leading him straight 
to my son. 
By the time Farrol had poured enough strong tea down me that I wouldn稚 fall off 
a horse, we were a half hour behind Blaise and the Derzhi assassins; namhirra 
always traveled in threes. As we raced through the moonlit woodland, Farrol 
traversing the enchanted ways as Blaise did, all I could think of were the 
murderous warriors venting their fury on Evan, Elinor, Blaise, and Gordain when 
they realized they could not fulfill the death vow they had made to their heged 
lord. Unless Blaise noticed them and shook them off, they could follow him right 
through the paths of enchantment just as I did. And Blaise was tired and 
worried, and even in the best of times he lacked a warrior痴 instincts. 
Through the open forest of oak and ash, down into stream-cut gullies thick with 
willow and alder, over a rocky ridge. Each time the route was slightly 
different, enough that even an experienced tracker could not duplicate it or 
detect the signs of an earlier passing. By the time Farrol raised his hand in 
warning, I was grinding my teeth. 
的t痴 a direct way, now,・whispered Farrol. 徹ver this ridge will take you in behind 
the house. How do you want to work this?・ 
I dropped lightly from the horse and yanked my sword from its scabbard. 鼎ircle 
left and get to the house through the goat pen. Your task・the only one・is to get 
the family away.・I gripped his leg. 泥on稚 think you can fight these men, Farrol, 
nor can Gordain or Blaise; namhirra are extremely skilled and failure is worse 
than death to them. I値l try to draw them away.・And then I would find out what in 
the name of night they were doing here. 敵o!・ 
I left my horse at the top of the rise, and then crept silently down the dark 
hillside through a thick stand of pines. When I was no more than halfway down, 
orange light flared from the valley and a man screamed in mortal agony. Piercing 
the black wall of the night came the terrified wail of a child. Abandoning 
stealth, I ran. A dark form lay sprawled on the ground just at the edge of the 
trees. Blaise・and I could spare no time to see if he lived. 
The cottage was already burning when I reached the base of the hill, and one of 
the Derzhi was standing in front of the door, sword drawn. Evan痴 whimpering 
cries came from behind the man. Gods of night, he was still inside! But I could 
not take on the door guard, for the other two namhirra were also in view. In the 
wavering shadows beyond the fire was a small group預 man huddled on the ground, 
another man葉he second Derzhi傭ehind him bending his head back and holding a knife 
to his throat. The third namhir, tall, thin, his arms folded calmly in front of 
his chest, stood in front of the two, barking a question. The crumpled man 
responded with a harsh, sobbing curse. 
Gordain was going to die. No matter what enchantment I cast or what feat of arms 
I might be able to muster, the distance between us was too great. I could not 
possibly move fast enough to halt the knife of a namhir. 
典hey will live, Gordain,・I cried, offering the good man the only gift possible 
as I sent my dagger spinning through the night to catch the door guard in the 
heart, and then raced the heartbreakingly long steps to plunge my sword into the 
second namhir痴 back. As I yanked the blade from the lifeless Derzhi, I glimpsed 
Farrol痴 stocky form streaking from the woods toward the burning house. I had no 
choice but to trust him to do what was needed, for the third assassin drew his 
sword and attacked. 
典he sorcerer slave himself!・he cried gleefully as he met me stroke for stroke. 
擢lushed you out like a hungry kayeet.・ 
I had fought few humans in my career as a warrior洋y opponents had always been 
the monstrous manifestations of demons傭ut I learned quickly that the namhir was 
among the most skilled of his kind. Simple illusions擁tching, boils, crawling 
spiders謡ould not disrupt the focus of such a killer. He knew I was a sorcerer. 
And my son痴 terrified wailing fed my anger so sorely that I could not allow 
myself the time for more impressive, and thus more difficult, workings. I had to 
rely on my sword and my fists. Once, that would not have been a problem・ I was 
very good at what I did傭ut the badly healed wound in my side was proving 
treacherous. Every time I raised my sword, my right side felt as though it were 
tearing open. 
I tried to back the warrior into the fence of the goat pen, but he seemed to 
have the lay of the farm imprinted on his mind. Just before I had him trapped, 
he ducked and rolled and leaped to his feet behind me. I pressed him again, 
toward the flames, ripping my blade across his chest. Not deep enough, for he 
did not falter. Rather he worked me sideways toward the new-plowed field, 
hoping, no doubt, to tangle my feet in the soft earth. I whirled about and 
landed my boot solidly in his back. He stumbled, but did not go down. My son痴 
crying became short bleats of terror, and I dared not think why Farrol痴 shadow 
was still flailing about between me and the fire. 
敵et them out,・I screamed, and brought my sword down on my opponent痴 shoulder. 
Dark blood gushed from the wound. 
Still the namhir fought, dodging my blows and kicking at my knees, smashing a 
thick wooden stave into my back. The blow staggered me for a moment, and only a 
desperate recovery prevented his sword from following. But the namhir was human, 
and I had been trained to fight demons. With my next blow, I shattered his 
blade. The tall Derzhi stumbled backward, holding only the hilt and stub of his 
sword. 
溺ore will come after me,・he snarled as I kicked the broken sword from his right 
hand and pressed him to the ground with blow after blow, parried only by his 
wooden stave. 添ou will no longer interfere in the affairs of your betters, 
slave.・ 
I kicked him in the gut so hard that blood ran out of his mouth, and then set my 
boot on his chest. 展ho sent you? What Hamrasch lord cares enough about 
Aleksander痴 freed slave to send namhirra?・The wolf crest on his bloodstained 
tef-coat identified him as a member of the Hamrasch heged, one of the twenty 
most powerful Derzhi families. 
鄭ll of my lords・every one of them.・He coughed and grinned through the blood. 典he 
puling Aleksander will never rule this empire.・ 
鄭ll of them・ The absolute assurance of his taunt shook me to my boots. For every 
lord of a heged to take a share in an assassination・I bent down and twisted his 
bleeding shoulder, my voice hoarse with fear and fury. 典ell me, namhir, have 
they spoken kanavar?・ 
He neither flinched nor answered me. Only laughed until he choked on bloody 
spittle. 
My hand fell away, and I stood up slowly. Kanavar・a swearing so deep, so 
dreadful, so solemn that every man, woman, and child of an entire Derzhi heged 
would die to see it kept. The Hamraschi had sworn on the very existence of their 
family to destroy Aleksander. 
The namhir scrabbled weakly backward across the firelit grass. 添ou値l die, too, 
slave,・he croaked. 鄭nd any who shelter you・ 
I raised my sword to finish him, but my eyes were distracted by the shifting 
firelight and my caution by the import of his words, and so I missed the 
movement of his left hand. The wooden stave smashed brutally into my right side. 

My breath stopped. Red streaks of light shattered my vision as ripping, 
paralyzing agony exploded in my side. My right arm fell limp, and the sword 
slipped from my lifeless hand. Another blow, this time to my ankle. I scarcely 
noticed it, for I was fighting to get a breath. Doubled over, left hand fumbling 
in the dirt for my dropped weapon, I staggered backward. Head up, fool. The next 
one will crack your skull. 
The namhir was a dead man, no matter what. The injury I壇 done him would have 
seen to it, whether I survived another moment. But to his mortal regret預nd my 
own悠 stumbled over Gordain痴 body and saw what they had done to the good 
Manganar. They had ripped his throat to finish him as I knew they would, but 
earlier・before I壇 come・they had cut off both of his hands and seared the stumps 
in fire so he wouldn稚 die too quickly. Unimaginable horror for any man, but for 
a man who already lived without one leg・ 
滴e wept like an old woman・came the rasping whisper. 的 thought Manganar had more 
bile.・ 
Darkness thundered in my blood. The remnants of my day痴 madness surged anew, and 
I forgot the kanavar, forgot Gordain and Aleksander, Blaise and my child, forgot 
everything. Somehow I managed to lift my sword again, but I did not kill the 
namhir quickly. With strokes as precise as those of a gem cutter and so vicious 
they shivered my own bones, I took off the screaming Derzhi痴 right hand・and then 
his left・and then the rest of him piece by piece until there was nothing left to 
cut. 
CHAPTER 3
I stood panting harshly, trembling and bent over with the searing pain in my 
side. I could not think what I needed to do next or remember why the silence 
seemed so strange. When a hand fell heavily on my shoulder, I almost shed my 
skin. 
典he boy痴 all right, Seyonne. And Elinor, too. They池e safe.・ 
Dully I stared up into Blaise痴 pale face. He had a monstrous purple bruise on 
his temple, and even his sincere concern could not mask disgust. My arms were 
covered with blood, my clothing soaked with it and spattered with bits of flesh 
and entrails. What lay before me on the ground was no longer recognizable as a 
man. I dropped my sword and sank to my knees, pressing the back of my bloody 
hand against my mouth. 
鄭re you injured?・ 
I shook my head. Not injured. Diseased. 
The garish orange flames were already dying, only the blackened stone finger of 
the hearth marked that a home had once nestled at the edge of the trees. A short 
distance away stood Elinor, pressing Evan痴 dark head fiercely into her neck, 
muffling his sobs and hiding his eyes from the carnage. 
的知 sorry,・I whispered. Although I spoke to the iron-faced woman and to my 
weeping son, they could not possibly have heard me. 的知 so sorry.・ 
塑ou saved their lives.・Even the kindest of friends could not sound convincing. 
Not on that night. 
It was a measure of Blaise痴 heart that he did not recoil or run away. 
禅ake me away from them,・I said. 年ever let me near them again.・ 
鉄oon. For now they have to come back with us. Without Gordain, they can稚 stay 
here.・He dropped my abandoned cloak over my shoulders. 
The night breeze swirled smoke, obscuring the stars and the strangely peaceful 
valley. Tendrils of flame crept toward the fences and newly budded trees, only 
to die away in the damp. Farrol, his round face blackened, his shirt half 
scorched away, holding his hands in the rigid posture that told me how severely 
they must be burned, was trying to prevent Elinor from approaching Gordain痴 body 
and the horror on the ground beside it. 
禅ell me who they were, Seyonne. What further danger do we face?・Gingerly Blaise 
picked up my fouled weapon, made some effort to clean it, and stuffed it in my 
scabbard. Then he got me to my feet with a hand under my elbow, nudging me away 
from the dead. Even as we retreated, Elinor shoved her way past Farrol痴 quiet 
pleading and knelt on the blood-soaked ground beside Gordain, still clutching my 
child to her breast. She did not scream or cry out at the sight of her husband痴 
mangled body, but only touched his broad shoulder tenderly and closed his eyes 
with a steady hand. When she rose at last, her glance swept the gruesome earth 
about her and came to rest on my face. She stared at me as if she were unable to 
comprehend that such creatures as the namhirra and I could share the same earth, 
much less the same blood, with those she loved. She tightened her embrace of the 
whimpering child, then turned her back and walked with Farrol up the hill into 
the woods. 
典hey were assassins,・I said. 鉄ent by Aleksander痴 enemies.・I pulled the cloak 
about my trembling limbs, as if wool could warm the night痴 chill. 典hey knew 
where to find me.・An ominous mystery in itself, for I had believed that only 
Aleksander and my friend Fiona knew that secret, and neither of them would 
willingly reveal it. 
釘ut why? What possible濫 
典he assassin said Aleksander was under a kanavar・a heged oath・that he will never 
rule the Empire. The entire Hamrasch family has sworn it. Maybe other hegeds, 
too. No way to tell.・It was as if the light had gone out of the stars, and the 
deadness in my own soul had infected the universe itself. I could think of only 
one way anyone could prevent Aleksander from inheriting his father痴 throne. 
典hey池e going to kill him.・The hope of the world. The friend who had shared his 
soul with me. The brother so unlikely. The consideration was so painful and the 
night痴 events so disturbing, I could not think. 
典hen why are they trying to kill you?・ 
I shook my head. It made no sense. I had scarcely seen the Prince for three 
years. 釘ut if they want me dead, they won稚 stop. 
I don稚 know how they found me, but when these don稚 come back, they値l send more. 
I値l leave Karesh, but even then-欄 
鉄o the rest of us will have to hide. We致e done it before. Let痴 go.・ 
I was away from Karesh before Blaise had all his people out of bed. I stuffed my 
meager possessions in a cloth pack, and into a pocket of my cloak I dropped a 
few of the zenars I had earned by reading and writing for local merchants. 
Unable to face those who would soon hear the tale of my savagery, I bade 
farewell to no one but Blaise. 
添ou must give me a way to find you,・he said as I pulled on my spare shirt, 
fastened my cloak about my shoulders, and gave him the little leather bag that 
held the rest of my earnings to use for Evan and Elinor. 的致e never opened the 
gate to Kir誰avarrin without your help. What if one of the others needs to cross 
and I can稚 open the way?・ 
的致e taught Fiona everything. Without being demon-joined, she can稚 open the way 
herself, but she can remind you of anything you forget, help you use your 
power.・My fiery young friend was off and digging in ruins, searching for 
remnants of Ezzarian history. 
添our son needs you, Seyonne. I値l keep him as safe as I can, but濫 
滴e needs no one capable of what I did this night.・ 
添ou know better. You値l find the answer. This is a sickness. It is not you. And 
you saved their lives as you致e done so many others.・He followed me down the 
stairs and into the night-shuttered lane where my horse stood tethered to a 
post. Lights were beginning to flicker behind the dark walls, like fireflies 
disturbed from the grass. 添ou must give me a way to find you.・ 
的致e got to warn Aleksander,・I said, strapping my small pack onto the saddle. 的値l 
tell him about the kanavar, and then get away again before I go mad again. When 
I figure out where I知 going, I値l send word here to the locksmith.・ 
鄭nd if you need me, I値l濫 
泥on稚 tell me anything!・I untied the horse and mounted, the urgency of my leaving 
driving my leaden limbs. A Warden was sworn to protect the world from evil. I 
could not even protect my own child from myself. 
But Blaise would not allow me to go yet. 的f you need me, leave a message at 
Dolgar痴 shrine in Vayapol. Tell me where you are, and I値l come to you. I promise 
I won稚 tell you where to find the others unless I judge you池e well.・He stayed my 
horse until I nodded in agreement. 的 owe you more than life, Seyonne. If you池e 
in the pits of Kir歎agonoth itself, I値l come.・ 
There was no answer to such friendship. I clasped his hand and rode away. 
The red fingers of dawn were just touching the sky when I first glimpsed the 
spires of Zhagad in the distance, rising from the shadows of the dune sea. The 
Pearl of Azhakstan. The seat of imperial power since one of Aleksander痴 
great-grandsires had outgrown his desert kingdom and decided to order the world 
according to his whim. For five hundred years the warrior Derzhi had proven that 
they could kill, enslave, burn, starve, or mutilate anyone into their grand 
design. Their Empire had grown into an uneasy prosperity of roads and trade, 
anchored on the rocks of tyranny and fear, bound into a whole with the chains of 
slavery. 
Why did I believe that one cocky prince could alter the bleak landscape of such 
a world? What arrogance was mine to believe that the bright center I had seen in 
Aleksander was the gods・answer to its brutality? But I did believe it. When 
Aleksander bought me at the Capharna slave auction, I had been resigned to death 
in bondage, bereft of hope and faith after half a lifetime of degradation. When 
I saw the feadnach in him, I had cursed my Warden痴 oath that bound me to protect 
my cruel and arrogant conqueror. But our journey together had changed us both. I 
had shared Aleksander痴 strength and refreshed my spirit at the fountain of his 
unquenchable life. He was our hope. I could not let him die in some tribal spat. 
I tugged on the reins and headed down the rocky promontory toward the golden 
domes that glittered in the growing light. 
An extraordinary amount of traffic bustled on the wide, paved road that led from 
the travelers・well at Taine Amar to the outer gates of the royal city, the last 
league of the Emperor痴 Road that stretched from Zhagad east and west to the 
boundaries of the Empire. One would have thought it was time for Dar Heged, the 
twice-yearly gathering of Derzhi families to present grievances before the 
Emperor. Troops of scowling warriors occupied the center of the roadway, 
escorting finely dressed lords toward the city, consigning everyone else to the 
peripheries. And everyone else seemed to be leaving Zhagad that day; vast 
merchant caravans lumbered outward like traveling cities, the horses and chastou 
straining under the drovers・urgent whips. For so many to depart the city before 
the evening market was very odd. And seldom had I seen so many clumps of people 
gathered at the roadside talking, rocklike obstacles for the herdsmen screaming 
at their flocks of goats and the hurried travelers lashing at beggars who pawed 
at their stirrups. The din of shouts and hooves, clattering wheels, dangling 
pots, snapping whips, and bleating animals was deafening. I hated cities, and 
the noise and stink and crowds of this one had polluted the peaceful desert. 
It had taken me three anxious weeks to get to Zhagad. I had traveled the harsh 
desert road alone, thankful for my well-trained sight that allowed me to move 
safely at night, avoiding bandits and the worst of the sun. Once I had put some 
distance between myself and Karesh, and felt the brutal impact of the Azhaki 
desert, I sorely missed Blaise. With his help I could have traveled the grueling 
distance in a single day. But he had needed to get his people to safety, and not 
even for Aleksander would I slow him. I would give much to change the world, but 
not my son. Never him. 
I had hoped that my joining with Denas would give me the ability to follow these 
magical pathways as Blaise did, but I壇 not yet grasped the trick of it. Blaise 
had suggested that my failure was of my own making. 添ou need to let go of your 
physical boundaries,・he said whenever I complained of my inadequacies. 釘ut you 
won稚 do it. It痴 the same with your shifting; the reason it痴 so hard for you to 
change form is that you try to hold on to too much of yourself.・ 
Blaise had little formal schooling, but he saw things clearly. Now that I was 
joined with Denas, I was capable of shapeshifting at will, transforming myself 
into an eagle or a chastou or a fleet-footed kayeet, the fastest runner on 
earth. But unlike Blaise and his fellows, I found the act excruciatingly 
difficult. Perhaps Blaise was right, and it was my reluctance to yield control. 
Or perhaps what I had done to myself耀haring body and soul with a rai-kirah who 
had no kinship to me謡as not the right ordering of the world as I had hoped. 
In the early days of my recovery, Blaise had convinced me to let down the 
magical barriers I壇 built to isolate myself from the demon. He said I should 
talk with Denas, learn of him. Knowledge and understanding would surely make 
coexistence easier. The rai-kirah had never spoken, not once. I wondered if my 
coming so close to death had destroyed him, if perhaps his anger was all that 
was left, the fading rumbles of thunder as a storm moves out. But then I壇 
started attacking people, and I quickly rebuilt my barriers. 
Preoccupied with my continuing dilemmas, I pushed my horse through the crowd, 
taking advantage of a large party forging a path toward the gates. Five warriors 
rode in a wedge, opening the way for a richly dressed noble. Two columns of 
soldiers rode behind him, protecting heavily laden pack animals. The troops were 
Hamrasch warriors, along with a few dark-skinned Thrid mercenaries, but the lord 
did not wear the gold tef-coat and wolf crest of the Hamrasch. I could not see 
his own heged symbol. 
鼎lear the road of this offal,・commanded the noble, a soft-bodied man with a 
sleek blond braid. 鼎ut them if they won稚 move aside.・The party had come to a 
standstill, the fault of several caravan outriders who were trying to use the 
same space to move several heavily laden sledges pulled by slaves. From a long 
cylinder strapped to his saddle, the Derzhi noble yanked an arm-length stick of 
polished wood and struck at a slave who had fallen to his knees when the sledge 
he was dragging caught the wheel of a cart going the opposite direction. The 
slave cried out and fell backward, blood blossoming on his forehead. He got 
tangled in the leather traces and pulled the sledge further askew, spilling its 
poorly lashed contents onto the roadway. 
The noble痴 troops drew their swords and began to force other travelers to step 
aside. As he waited for the path to be opened, the Derzhi lord paced his horse 
back and forth beside the slave. Each time the bleeding man tried to rise and 
untangle himself from the traces, the lord, his face composed, struck him 
deliberately and viciously with his stick熔n the face, on the elbows, on 
shoulders already raw from the abrasion of the leather harness. 
My bones ached with each blow. My back was scarred from years of such mindless 
cruelty, and no matter what I told myself of necessity and danger, I could not 
walk away. I dropped from the saddle, tied my mount to an abandoned tinker痴 
cart, and shoved my way through the surging crowd. Crouching low, ducking my 
head, and using the cover of the overturned sledge, I grabbed the tangled straps 
and snapped them with a word of enchantment. Grasping the fallen man痴 bloody 
hand around the corner of the sledge, I gave him leverage to get his feet under 
him. As soon as he was up, I backed away into the crowd. 
・Tas vyetto,・/em> came a breathless whisper from the other side of the sledge. 
You池e welcome, I thought, already too far away for him to hear me say it. Would 
I could do more. I would have left him my knife, but his overseers were too 
close. If caught with a weapon, he壇 lose a hand or an eye. 
I never saw the slave痴 face, but I made sure to note that of the Derzhi, who was 
back among his guards and riding coolly toward the gates. He was perhaps 
fifty-five years old, tall and straight in the saddle. Women likely called him a 
fine figure of a man, handsome for his age, unscarred by weather or battle. But 
I thought his soft face vicious: his wide brow empty, his full lips gluttonous, 
and the round eyes set close beside his narrow nose devoid of human sympathy. Or 
perhaps I saw only the habitual cruelty in his hand and the lack of expression 
on that fine face as he beat a man to breaking while waiting idly for his path 
to be cleared. 
As I pushed back through the crowd to where my horse waited patiently beside the 
tinker痴 cart, I felt a light touch upon my back. I whirled about. No one. But 
far across the passing crowd a tall woman stood staring my way, her dark eyes so 
penetrating, I would have wagered she could see the scars beneath my shirt. Her 
gown and veil were a brilliant green. Among the sea of shabby browns and grays, 
she stood out like a sprig of new grass in the desert. A party of riders came 
between us, and I scrambled into the saddle and rode onward. I needed no one to 
notice me. 
I reached the outer gates still unsettled with the incident, sure I should have 
done more, yet knowing that I could have used every scrap of my power and skill 
and changed the outcome not a whit. The slave and I would both have ended up 
dead. 
滴old up there! Yes, you. Get off that bag of bones. Come here and let me look at 
you.・The mounted Derzhi who was patrolling the throngs of beggars, travelers, 
and beasts at Zhagad痴 fortresslike outer gate waved his spear at me. 
Stupid. Stupid. Distracted by the incident with the slave, I had forgotten to 
mask my Ezzarian features when I approached the gate. Aleksander had revoked the 
law that required Ezzarians to be enslaved, but Ezzarians still caught the eye 
of soldiers, and the slave marks burned into my face and my left shoulder would 
forever leave me vulnerable to suspicion. The gate guard moved closer, and 
people fell away, leaving a path between us. 
I felt for the leather packet tucked into my shirt, and, trusting that 
Aleksander痴 paper would prove sufficient as it had in the past, I dismounted and 
approached the warrior. 
As did all the Derzhi guards in Zhagad, he went shirtless in the heat, exposing 
massive, bronze-colored shoulders, one of them crossed by a dreadful scar. 
纏akor! Over here,・he called to one of his fellows. 的 believe I致e found me a 
runaway.・ The guard痴 spear point pricked my neck, forcing me to turn my head to 
show him the falcon and the lion burned into my cheekbone on the day I had been 
sold to Aleksander. The Derzhi smiled and licked his lips, no doubt anticipating 
the pleasure of hacking off the foot of a runaway slave and the rewards of 
delivering him to the royal slave master. 
Controlling the fury that welled up at his bloodthirsty glee・and a gut-gnawing 
anxiety that had not quite vanished in the years since my release悠 reached up 
with my right hand and grabbed the shaft of his spear, holding it away from my 
throat. With my left, I held out the worn parchment, making sure the imperial 
seal was clearly visible. My voice remained even. 的ndeed you have not, your 
honor. I am a free man by order of the Crown Prince. Find a scribe and have this 
read. You値l learn the consequences of interfering with me.・ 
The guard squinted at the paper in the sun glare. 典he Crown Prince・ He shrugged 
his bare shoulders as he yanked his spear from my grasp and used it to poke at 
the writing. 套 I Suppose he is still that. And for the moment his seal will get 
you off, but by tomorrow sundown, I壇 advise you not rely on it. The Twenty will 
have something to say in the matter.・He spat onto the dusty paving stones and 
wheeled his mount. 
In a single heartbeat the insistent frenzy of the mobbed travelers took on a 
more ominous cast: furtive conversations, racing troops, shouts. From inside the 
walls came a constant wailing that grated on the spirit like steel on glass. On 
the stone towers where the red banners of the Derzhi lion hung limp and heavy in 
the hot air, something was missing葉he gold banners with the silver falcon that 
always hung in place beside the red, the banners of the Denischkar heged, 
Aleksander痴 family. In their place were banners of solid red. Everywhere solid 
red banners・mourning banners・Sweet Verdonne! 
I bulled through a knot of beggars to follow the mounted Derzhi. 撤lease tell me 
the news, your honor. I致e been deep in the desert and not heard.・ 
He looked over his scarred shoulder and sniggered. 添ou must be the only man in 
the Empire, then. The Emperor is dead by an assassin痴 blade. The Twenty are 
gathering to see to the succession.・The man stabbed his spear into my freedom 
paper, which had fluttered to the paving stones, and offered it back to me. 的致e 
heard it was Prince Aleksander himself who did it.・ 
CHAPTER 4
Aleksander was not dead. The tale of the streets, that the Emperor痴 murderer謡hat 
was left of him揺ung in the marketplace, had frozen my heart. But it was a 
Frythian slave who had been found kneeling on the Emperor痴 vast bed, bathed in 
royal blood, and who now provided a vultures・feast in the heart of Zhagad. 
Frythia was likely already in flames. Soon there would be nothing left of the 
dignified little mountain kingdom, no structure, no artifact, no animal, and 
certainly no human with any identifiable drop of Frythian blood. But all that 
was no matter to the people of Zhagad. Every man and woman of them was convinced 
that the slave but did Prince Aleksander痴 bidding. Certainly those who stood 
gaping at the grisly remnants of treachery had no doubts about whom to blame・ 
couldn稚 wait for the gods to crown him・I heard they argued・threats were made・Not 
enough his father let him rule・the Emperor was ready to revoke his anointing・I 
was beginning to think he壇 come to manhood・No rumor of a kanavar, no supposition 
drifting through the streets that perhaps Aleksander was the target and not the 
arrow. The finest imperial torturers had succeeded in eliciting only one word 
from the assassin, so observers said. 鄭leksander.・ After seven hours they壇 had 
to stop, else there would have been too little of the prisoner left to do 
sufficient screaming when they disemboweled and dismembered him in the 
marketplace. 
I needed to fly into the imperial palace of Zhagad. To enter the walled inner 
ring of the royal city, much less the palace, one needed a Derzhi sponsor, and I 
doubted Aleksander was available. Despite my dislike of alien cravings and the 
feelings of vulnerability as the senses I had honed for thirty-eight years were 
altered, bird form had its distinct uses. So I crammed myself into a deserted 
alcove預 stifling, nasty place at the end of a beggars・alley預nd considered 
shifting. Settle yourself, fool, I thought. Find him, warn him, and get away 
before you kill him. 
As always, I constructed the shape of my desire inside my head, summoned melydda 
from the deep center of my being, and tried to release my physical boundaries. 
The change should have happened easily・an effortless merging of my limbs and 
torso with the image in my mind, a chilly shudder as I gave off heat, the 
natural result of shifting to a smaller form, a momentary adjustment of the 
angles and sensitivity of vision and hearing, and a breathless rippling pleasure 
as I touched the truest nature of my race. Thus Blaise and Farrol, and others 
like them, experienced shapeshifting. So I had felt it once when Denas and I had 
taken wing in the storm-racked demon land of Kir歎agonoth. But on that hot 
morning, I felt as though my bones were cracking, as if my eyes were being 
squeezed out of my head, as if my skin were being peeled away by a Derzhi 
torturer痴 knife. Three rats hurriedly buried themselves in the rotting refuse, 
as I sank to my knees in groaning misery and forced myself into the shape of a 
bird. 
My silent demon lurked within me like the worm at the core of a ripe fruit. 
The Imperial Palace was ominously quiet. Its graceful cloisters and cavernous 
halls should have been bustling with gold-clad chamberlains and leather-clad 
hunting parties, with legions of slaves and servants, with white-robed warriors 
newly arrived from the desert, with stewards and clerks, their shoulders hunched 
with the burdens of running an expansive empire, with weapons makers and 
tailors, musicians and priests, and everywhere beautiful women dressed in silken 
gowns. But on that morning, as I fluttered through the latticed courtyards and 
shaded arbors, perching on balcony rails, listening at windows and doorways, I 
glimpsed only a few fearful slaves scouring footprints from the tile floors; 
every one of them had bruises and bloody streaks on face or shoulders. Nervous 
slave masters have heavy hands. 
Here and there in corners, small knots of courtiers huddled whispering, their 
verdict the same as in the streets. A slave could never have done such a deed 
alone. Someone had drawn off the Emperor痴 bodyguards and ever-present courtiers. 
Someone had left a dagger in the Emperor痴 bedroom, where weapons were forbidden, 
and had told the slave where to find it. Someone powerful had thought to profit 
from this death, and it was clear who looked to profit the most葉he same one who 
had been summoned to answer charges of conspiracy not two days previous, the 
same one who had been the object of the Emperor痴 screaming rage when closeted 
with him before last evening痴 meal, the same who had refused to sit at his 
father痴 table a mere three hours before the deed was done. 
The rustle of my wings quickly scattered the gossips. The falcon was the symbol 
of the Emperor痴 Denischkar house, and those who noted me cast their eyes 
nervously to the heavens beyond my wings, as if expecting Athos himself to 
follow and render judgment on the cowardly villain responsible for this most 
heinous of all crimes羊egicide, the murder of the god痴 own voice on earth. 
I found Aleksander in the Hall of Athos, a vast columned temple dedicated to the 
sun god, built in the heart of the palace gardens. The soaring dome was sheathed 
with gold inside and out, and pierced with slits and delicately etched windows 
so that on every moment of the sun痴 path, sunbeams fell like fine lacework upon 
the floor. The thick stone walls held the coolness of the night just past, and 
the high windows and broad doorways drew in whatever fair breeze wandered over 
the city. I settled in one of the slots in the gilded dome. Far below me spread 
a vast floor of shining white marble, inlaid with patterns of cool green 
malachite. On it lay two bodies, one draped in gold and one in red, both 
mortally still. As if Athos・own beams were insufficient to the day, the two were 
surrounded by a thousand burning lamps of gold and silver, some set upon the 
floor, some hung on the forest of columns that supported the dome and the arched 
vaults of the side temples, some dangling from lamp stands of wrought silver and 
bronze. Among the lamps were braziers, burning sweet herbs and incense, so that 
wafting gray-green smokes obscured the mingled light of morning and the 
flickering death flames. At the great arched doorways that opened onto the 
Emperor痴 gardens stood guards, their naked backs rigid and their spears crossed. 
The silence was absolute. 
My falcon痴 heart racing, I shot downward toward the two still figures and took a 
closer view. Raptor痴 instinct told me that only one of the two was dead. Ivan 
zha Denischkar, the one in gold. He lay upon a golden bier, four rampant lions 
with amethyst eyes holding up the corners, and he was draped in cloth of spun 
gold, adorned by a falcon worked in silver thread. The long white braid that lay 
over his right shoulder was unadorned, and a finely crafted sword, well used and 
plain, lay lengthwise on his body, hilt upon his chest. His face was cold and 
still. No sign of death terror for this man, stabbed by a gelded bodyslave as he 
was prepared for bed. 
Aleksander lay facedown upon the stone floor, his long, lean form laid out 
square to his father痴 body. His arms were stretched to either side, the scarlet 
robe of mourning spread gracefully like the plumage of a fallen bird. His long 
red braid葉he outward symbol of a Derzhi warrior痴 manhood謡as gone, cut off, 
leaving just enough fiery red hair to touch the floor, like a shaggy curtain to 
protect his private grief. 
I settled on the floor close beside the bier, behind a giant bronze statue of 
the sun god痴 horse. Shielded from view by the statue痴 massive base, I shifted 
back to human form. Again it took far too long, and I was near prostrate after, 
sweating as if I壇 run ten leagues in the desert. My senses were near overwhelmed 
by the thickly scented smokes and perfumes, and I felt as if someone had slapped 
on blinders and stuffed my ears with wool as I reverted to my own sight and 
hearing. 
I leaned against the block of marble and waited, trying to shake off the 
unhealthy disturbance of my shifting. The Prince had not moved since my first 
glimpse of him. How did he mourn his cold and ruthless father? The father who 
had indulged his every boyish whim, and then given him to his harsh uncle to 
raise as a warrior. The father who had condemned his only son to die when 
Aleksander could not prove his innocence of that uncle痴 death, and who had 
yielded only one fierce embrace when at last the truth came out and the 
executioner痴 ax was stayed. The father who had been unable to face the rigors of 
ruling after so close a brush with disaster and laid the mantle of empire on a 
young man who scarcely knew himself. This day would be very hard for Aleksander, 
far beyond treachery and danger and duplicity. If they had parted in anger, as 
rumor had it, things would likely be worse. 
典ime gives us no indulgence, my lord,・I said at last, speaking softly from my 
hiding place. 鄭nd so I must intrude upon your grieving. I wish I had no 
need.・His enemies were moving. 
A long while passed before he answered, as if he had a very long way to come 
from wherever his thoughts had taken him. He did not shift a muscle, thus 
leaving his voice half muffled by the floor. 滴ave you a wish to die this day, 
Ezzarian?・ 
Despite the somber circumstance, I smiled. Whatever threat an observer might 
have noted in those words was belied by their history and the particular dry 
tone in which he voiced them. When I was a slave and the demon Khelid had 
afflicted Aleksander with an enchantment of sleeplessness, I had made a choice 
to venture the half-crazed Prince痴 presence to tell him of it. On that day he 
had spoken those words and meant them・and come very near fulfilling their mortal 
promise. Now they were a symbol of the gifts we had given each other. 
典here seems to be a surfeit of death,・I said. 典hat痴 why I致e come.・ 
的 cannot leave here before sunset.・His quiet voice was slightly hoarse. It was 
almost midday, and he had likely taken up this vigil in the middle of the night. 
的t would do him dishonor.・ 
禅hen I値l wait until sunset. Though I致e no cause to love the dead, for the sake 
of the living I would do him no dishonor.・ 
徹h, gods, Seyonne,迫the quiet words ripped through the suffocating scents and 
smokes of death欄what cause have I to love the dead? And yet I would neither move 
from here nor have the hours pass, because the next thing will be his burning, 
and nothing will be left of him.・The Prince remained prostrate, as if bound to 
the cold stone. 
I could say nothing to ease him. My own beloved father had been as different 
from Ivan zha Denischkar as lush, green Ezzaria was from the Azhaki desert; his 
death in the Derzhi war of conquest was still my own deepest sorrow. And so I 
could not guess how much of Aleksander痴 loss was love and how much was 
emptiness. Ivan had been ruler of all the known world for thirty-four years預 
lion, a terror, a ferocious and intimidating warrior, the blazing, inescapable 
sun in Aleksander痴 sky. 
Creeping darkness stirred within my head like a cat disturbed from afternoon 
sleep. No. No. No. Terrified that my murderous madness might explode so near the 
Prince, I called upon every mental discipline I knew to quell it. I had no time 
for madness. Kanavar had been spoken. Aleksander was going to die if we couldn稚 
find some way to stop it. A man needed no prophet痴 gift to know this. 
The Prince did not speak again through all the long afternoon, and I would not 
do so until he gave me leave. Perhaps even enemies and mortal danger needed to 
wait on grief. But I stayed with him and watched his back. My duty・and my 
desire・was to protect him. It was an unnerving thought that his nearest danger 
was likely my own hand. I watched that, too. 
When the last remnants of the daylight had faded, leaving only the pale circles 
of lamplight in the smoky haze, Aleksander stirred. He pushed himself up to his 
knees, mumbling a soft curse as he stretched his shoulders and neck that must 
have been as stiff as unoiled leather. Then he turned around, sat back against 
his father痴 bier and glanced over at me, running his fingers through his short 
hair, as near embarrassment as I had ever seen him, more naked without his 
warrior痴 braid than when he was unclothed. 
Though my instincts were screaming at me to hurry, I waited for him to begin. 
添ou池e here to warn me of the kanavar, aren稚 you?・ 
I felt a bit of a fool. 添ou know of it?・ 
的n the past three months, my five most trusted advisers have died熔ne from rotten 
meat, one from a septic wound, two in drunken falls, one at the hand of his 
wife, who claimed to know nothing of the dagger in his throat even as she was 
hanged. During the same time, my three most reliable bodyguards have been 
discovered in intolerable disciplinary infractions庸alling asleep on guard, 
dicing, thieving. All have been reassigned by their commanders. And the 
commanders themselves? Kasko has retired to his Capharna estates, suddenly deaf. 
Mersal has recently found a yearning to guard the frontiers instead of his 
prince. And when I summoned Mikael from Capharna, a man who would have 
considered himself blessed to lay down his life for me, he got himself dead in a 
paraivo. It seems he forgot his childhood lessons and set his tent in the dune 
path. When the storm came in the night, he was buried alive. Does it not seem a 
strange coincidence? The Hamraschi are so anxious to see me impotent, they make 
themselves ludicrous.・ 
釘ut none of these deaths are provable as murder, and none can be linked to the 
Hamraschi.・Derzhi were masters at such intrigues, Aleksander not least of all. 
典hey池e clever enough. I値l give them that. They smirk when none but I can see it, 
while expressing concern to all that I am too whimsical and ruthless with those 
who dare disagree with me. To stand by me has become a death sentence.・ 
展hat of your wife, my lord?・ 
展ell out of the way. Once I understood their foul game, I took Baron Gematos・ 
daughter to my bed and a slave girl or two預ll of them quite willing, you値l be 
glad to know. You can well imagine how Lydia took to that. People thought the 
walls of Zhagad would fall at last. Then I put on my own display of temper. 
Three years wed with no heir・everyone was expecting it long ago.・Someone would 
pay for forcing Aleksander into this. In only a few fatal instances had I heard 
his voice so soft and deadly. 的 named my wife barren in front of half the 
nobility of Zhagad and dismissed her to her father in Avenkhar.・ 
鉄tars of night・and you didn稚 tell her why?・ 
的t痴 safer this way. Her father can protect her better than I at the moment. 
Kiril is safe, too. My idiot cousin had a brush with a poisoned dagger and a 
maddened horse before he believed my warnings and contrived a public falling out 
with me. I・persuaded・Sovari to go with him, and they are now guests of some 
crone of a Fontezhi baroness who enjoys hearing them complain about my cruel 
humors. Yours is the first friendly voice I致e heard in months, and you don稚 
sound too cheerful.・ 
典hey tried for me, too.・ 
釘loody Athos. Were you hurt?・ 
鄭 good man was killed instead. And others・it was a close thing.・ 
Aleksander examined me carefully, and then his fists clenched and his cheeks 
flamed the color of his robes. 添our son・ah gods, Seyonne. Not your son.・No one 
could read a man痴 unspoken words as Aleksander could. 
滴e痴 safe for now, and the namhirra are dead.・ 
滴ow in Druya痴 fires did they find you? I値l swear I told no one but Lydia, and no 
matter what she thinks of me, she would never betray you.・ 
的 never thought it. I understand about palaces and servants, rumors and spies・ a 
messenger could have followed me when I picked up your message in Vayapol・ any 
number of slips.・ 
的値l find him・whoever it was. I値l have him dead for it.・ 
展hat痴 done is done. Blaise has hidden the boy so even I don稚 know where he is 
now.・I leaned closer and dropped my voice. 釘ut you・this business of your 
father・it痴 part of it?・ 
He closed his eyes and shook his head. 哲o. Not even the Hamraschi could be such 
fools. Why make me emperor when they are bent on undoing everything I致e tried to 
accomplish?・ 
So he didn稚 see the truest danger. 溺y lord Prince, in the streets they are 
saying you commanded your father痴 death. They池e saying the Twenty will濫 
典hese matters are not settled in the streets. I am my father痴 anointed heir. It 
will take more than peasants・prattling to undo it.・Even on that dismal night, 
the Prince could not unmake himself. His scorn could wither a healthy oak. 
釘ut you quarreled.・ 
Aleksander grimaced. 鄭 month ago I was on the Suzaini border. Bandits妖amned 
villains threatening ruin across the whole eastern Empire. Twenty villages 
already destroyed, granaries ravaged up and down the border, horses stolen or 
slaughtered. In the midst of the campaign, my father summons me back here to 
answer 爽nnamed charges.・If I壇 left right then濫 
添ou refused an imperial summons?・No wonder Ivan had been furious with him. 
The Prince was twisting the hem of his mourning robe, a long red cloak, fastened 
about his neck with a band of silverwork. 展e壇 lost nineteen warriors already, 
chasing the cursed bandits. I wasn稚 going to waste their deaths to answer some 
pissing accusations no one would explain.・ 
And abandoning the mission would have left the Suzaini to starve. Their 
granaries and horses were their life. When Aleksander was twenty-two, he wouldn稚 
have considered that. 
鉄o I finished cleaning up the mess, then rode like a paraivo. Got here yesterday 
at dawn. Found the paraivo was already here.・ 
哲o doubt.・A god-raised desert sandstorm would be nothing to Ivan痴 rage. 
Aleksander leaned forward, his face ruddy with remembered anger. 鄭nd who was 
with him but Leonid, the Second Lord of the Hamrasch, so concerned at the 
insolence and insubordination of my delay, the very one who had brought 祖ertain 
matters・ to my father痴 attention・All of it stupid. Contrived. It would have 
taken only a day to clear it up.・ 
But the Prince had been tired and angry and headstrong as always. 添ou weren稚 
given a day.・ 
He glanced up sharply. 哲o. It痴 only my neck they want. Murdering my father as 
well is not going to get them anything. We don稚 do things that way. Until I have 
a son, my heir is my father痴 cousin Edik, a puling coward who makes me look 
scholarly and temperate. But the rest of the Denischkar would fight for him 
anyway, and the other hegeds would never allow old Hamrasch to say who sits the 
throne. It would be the end of the Hamraschi; the entire heged would die.・ 
But of course that was the very problem. Clearly the Hamraschi didn稚 care if 
they died. What in the name of the gods had Aleksander done to raise a kanavar 
from one of the most powerful Derzhi families? 
From outside the room came the droning of a mellanghar and a powerful male voice 
beginning the Derzhi mourning song, a winding, wordless lament that could make a 
mountain weep. Rage drained from the Prince痴 face. He shook his head slightly 
and waved his hand, as if to silence his own thoughts, and then got slowly to 
his feet, turning his back to me. 的値l be occupied until dawn. Come to my 
apartments then and we値l talk. Be discreet, Seyonne. I壇 not lose you, too.・ 
溺y lord, I need to go・ I壇 not yet told him all I壇 learned. Did he even know that 
the Frythian had accused him? But the time was not right to tell him anything. 
As Aleksander stood beside his father痴 body, his broad shoulders grew rigid. 
Curious, I slipped quietly to the edge of the marble block where I could get a 
broader view of the hall to see what had alerted him. 
No unseemly disturbance or untimely intrusion had caused Aleksander痴 tension, 
however, but his own act. Beneath his red and silver cloak, the Prince wore 
black breeches and a sleeveless shirt of embroidered red silk, and now he had 
used his father痴 sword to cut three long gashes in his bare left arm. As I 
watched, he did the same to his right and began drawing circles about his eyes 
and on his cheeks with the blood. He had already forgotten I was there. 
I withdrew into my niche, trying to convince myself that I could manage shifting 
form again. If I was going to stay through the night, then I might as well be 
useful and keep up my watch. And no non-Derzhi was going to get near Ivan痴 
funeral rites. As I sat there in the smoky dimness, trying to summon the will to 
shift, someone in soft slippers hurried across the vast room. 
添our Highness, the procession is engaged.・The gold-clad chamberlain dropped to 
his knees behind the Prince, whispering just loud enough to hear. 典he bearers 
await your command・ 
Aleksander, eyes fixed on his father痴 body, gave a slight nod. But the 
chamberlain did not go. 
套 and, Your Highness, please forgive me for carrying any other message than 
those required by this most mortal・most dreadfully grievous・and I would not 
speak it if not commanded by my lord High Chamberlain, who was himself commanded 
by His Highness, who waits outside・demanding・insisting・most kind lord that he 
is濫 
I winced. The servant痴 craven, crawling stuttering was just the quality to put 
an edgy man violently out of humor. And Aleksander was a very edgy man. The 
Prince did not raise his voice, but might have bitten the words out of the stone 
floor. 鉄peak or I値l rip out your useless tongue.・ 
的 am bade to tell you that His Highness, Prince Edik, has arrived in Zhagad and 
says he must see his beloved Emperor and cousin laid out before the rites 
begin.・ 
Before Aleksander could answer, a clattering of boots and unmuted voices 
violated the reverent stillness of the temple. No servants this time. I could 
hear the clink of gold chains around their necks and feel the steel menace of 
their weapons. The very air carried the assurance of royal privilege. The 
newcomers stood on the far side of the bier, just out of my line of sight. 
鉄hades of Druya, Aleksander. You look like some barbarian priest calling up gods 
to protect his village. No one痴 done this kind of silly blood-marking in three 
hundred years.・The visitor had a lilting voice that curled around its edges, as 
if he were forever on the verge of sneering laughter. 徹ne might think you were 
actually mourning the old devil痴 passing.・ 
滴ave you come to lick at the trough now he痴 dead, Edik? Do you think I致e 
forgotten that he forbade you to stand or speak in his presence?・ 
鄭h, my young cousin, this is the time to draw up the ties of blood, not濫 
徹n your knees, Edik, and hold your coward痴 tongue! You are in the presence of 
your Emperor, and until he is ash, you will obey him.・Aleksander strode to the 
end of the bier. 釘ring in the bearers!・ 
No one in the palace could have failed to hear Aleksander痴 scornful rebuke of 
his visitor. But only I, with a Warden痴 hearing, could have heard the visitor痴 
whispered response, buried as it was beneath the shuffling clamor of those who 
came to carry Ivan to his pyre. 鄭nd afterward, dear cousin Zander・once my cousin 
is burned and only you are left・then what?・ 
I crept along the floor far enough to glimpse the three on the far side of the 
empty bier, and the odor of danger was so strong, it almost gagged me. Two 
Hamrasch lords stood smiling at Aleksander痴 back, and before them, kneeling on 
the floor, was a middle-aged man. His sleek blond braid fell to the side of his 
placid face. No anger twisted his full lips; no offense or indignation marred 
his wide brow or glinted in his narrow-spaced eyes. But he had ridden into 
Zhagad with a troop of Hamrasch warriors, and he propped his hands and his chin 
on a stick of polished wood, still stained with the blood of a clumsy slave. 
CHAPTER 5
Derzhi inheritance was strictly through the male line. Horses, land, titles預nd 
in the case of the Denischkar heged, the Lion Throne用assed from eldest son to 
eldest son. Fortunately or unfortunately, the most recent generations of the 
royal branch of the widespread, powerful Denischkar family had produced few 
children of either sex. Aleksander was Ivan痴 only child. Ivan痴 only brother 
Dmitri, Aleksander痴 harsh and well-loved likai, had been childless when he was 
murdered by the Khelid. Aleksander痴 closest cousin Kiril was of the female line, 
the son of Ivan痴 widowed sister Rahil and therefore unable to inherit, dependent 
upon the Emperor for his position and fortune. And so to find the man who stood 
next in line to Aleksander, one had to look back another generation, to Varat, a 
younger brother of Aleksander痴 grandfather. Varat himself was long dead in some 
Derzhi war, as was his youngest brother Stefan, but Varat had left an only son, 
Prince Edik. It appeared that the Hamraschi had no intention of wresting the 
throne from Aleksander痴 family・only from Aleksander. 
Though I had served in the Emperor痴 summer palace in Capharna for some five 
months, I knew little of Edik. One of my previous masters, an elderly Derzhi 
baron, claimed that Edik had once abandoned fifty warriors to be slaughtered by 
the Basranni, and was therefore a proven coward whose braid should be shorn. 
Perhaps true, perhaps not葉he baron was not always the most accurate in his 
history. But I knew that Edik did not change expression when he beat a helpless 
man. 
I did not leave Aleksander that night. There were few enough honorable people in 
the imperial court. I knew of none save his wife, the Princess Lydia, his 
personal guard captain, Sovari, and his cousin Kiril who understood Aleksander 
well enough to truly love him. No others could he trust to guard his back. 
Derzhi custom required the disposition of a corpse no more and no less than one 
day after death. Desert life demanded quick resolution, but the gods had to be 
served, too, and by allowing the sun to rise on the lifeless body, one allowed 
the gods to see clearly what had come to pass. Perhaps it gave them a chance to 
intervene if they desired. 
Such speedy disposition precluded most of the powerful from attending Ivan痴 
rites, as it would take weeks for the principal heged lords to travel from their 
widespread holdings. But every heged was required to maintain a household in 
Zhagad and to have at least one male relative in direct line of its first lord 
living there at all times. These were not hostages, of course; the idea of 
hostages from their own houses was repugnant to the Derzhi. They were 
informants, conveyors of the Emperor痴 pleasure to their honored families. And 
each household had its own garrison, sized in proportion to the importance of 
the house and available to serve at the Emperor痴 command. But whatever the 
reasons and explanations, as a result, all Derzhi families were represented in 
the funeral procession. As soon as I had shifted into falcon痴 form and made 
accommodation yet again with altered senses, I flew through the deserted palace 
toward the sound of the singing, hunting for those I needed to know. 
A torchlit procession wound slowly through the streets of Zhagad toward the 
desert. Following a row of singers and priests rode troops of Derzhi warriors, 
from grizzled lords to youths with new braids, all of them wearing the patterned 
scarves or colored tef-coats of their hegeds. Small groups of red-robed women 
walked or rode alongside the men, as was their heged custom. At the front of the 
procession came representatives of the Ten葉he most venerable of the two hundred 
or more Derzhi families葉he kayeet-crested Fontezhi, the highly traditional, 
blue-coated Gorusch, the despicable Nyabozzi, who controlled the slave trade, 
the Marag in their long green-striped scarves, and the rest of them. The Marag 
were the family of Aleksander痴 wife, and it was the Princess痴 downy-cheeked, 
sixteen-year-old brother, Damok, who led the Marag warriors. Behind the Ten rode 
the remainder of the Council of Twenty, hegeds not so ancient as the Ten, but 
some of them even wealthier and more powerful・ like the Hamraschi. The Council 
had little true power; the Emperor痴 word was absolute in every instance. But 
every heged had its legions of warriors, and strength was everything to the 
Derzhi. 
After the Twenty, some fifty or sixty people marched chained together熔ne for 
each of the lands and peoples subject to the Empire. The sullen prisoners耀ome 
young, some old, all gaping stupidly at the crowds謡ere people of no 
significance. The kings and nobles, wisewomen and chieftains of the conquered 
lands had all been slaughtered, their noble lineage vanished into history. Many 
of the long-defeated peoples like the Suzaini, the Manganar, and the Thrid were 
no longer enslaved, and now formed the working heart of the Empire. But the 
Emperor kept one prisoner of each race, picked at random and held until death in 
his dungeons as a symbol of his domination, and they were paraded through the 
streets on occasions such as this. 
The Emperor痴 heged, the Denischkari, followed the prisoners. Beside Edik rode 
the short, square-shouldered Kiril, his face like stone, and a handsome older 
woman dressed in flowing red揖iril痴 mother, no doubt, the Princess Rahil. Rahil 
had married for love, so Aleksander had told me, to the younger son of a minor 
house. The marriage was an intolerable disgrace to her family. On the day Kiril 
was born, Rahil痴 brother, the Emperor, had sent her husband into a battle where 
the young noble was certain to die. Rahil had never spoken to Ivan again, though 
the Emperor had lavished on Kiril the father痴 fondness he had withheld from 
Aleksander. Kiril was permitted to ride with the Denischkari, as a concession to 
his royal blood, rather than being consigned to the roadside, as were other 
nobles of minor houses. 
Behind the Denischkari came Ivan, laid out on a gold-draped wagon pulled by ten 
fine horses. Ivan痴 own mount, a magnificent bay, followed riderless, nervous, as 
if he knew he was to be slain and burned beside his fallen master. And after 
them all strode Aleksander, tall and proud, his red cloak billowing behind him 
in the chill night breeze risen off the desert. His feet were bare, his 
blood-marked face cold and haughty, his gaze wavering not one mezzit to either 
side of him. He might have walked right off the etched and painted stone tablets 
that decorated Derzhi halls. No bodyguard rode beside him or behind him, yet I 
doubted anyone would dare strike at him directly. For that moment the Prince 
wore the mantle of empire, given him by the fierce old warrior still very much 
in view. As long as Ivan existed in Derzhi eyes, any hand that touched 
Aleksander must surely risk the gods・wrath. 
I flew from one perch to another, seeking a place from which to observe the 
Hamrasch lords. At last I settled on a monument to some long-dead emperor and 
sat among the stone vultures who were pecking out the eyes of the emperor痴 
vanquished foe. From there I could stare into the grizzled face of Zedeon, the 
First Lord of the Hamrasch, a short, craggy, gray-braided veteran of the Basran 
war. He wore a golden tef-coat with no shirt underneath, the sleeveless garment 
exposing a broad chest and upper arms as thick as Kuvai oaks. A narrow red scarf 
was tied about his bare left arm with something held in the knot. It was a sprig 
of nyamot, the tiny white flower that bloomed after a desert rain. 
Flanking Zedeon were his middle-aged sons, Dovat and Leonid, the two who had 
accompanied Edik to the palace. Their stern faces were no comfort for one who 
cared for Aleksander. I壇 had occasion to observe Leonid when I was a slave. 
Intelligent, I had always thought him, well-spoken, always a surprise among a 
warrior race that prided itself on illiteracy. Ruthless, as were most powerful 
Derzhi, but not exceptionally cruel. Dovat, the younger of the two brothers, 
squat and rough like his father, I didn稚 know at all. Leonid and Dovat also wore 
red scarves and the incongruous nyamot about their arms, as did every other 
warrior of their heged. Odd. Their family symbol was the gold tef-coat sewn with 
a howling wolf. 
The procession passed beyond the gates of the inner ring of Zhagad. Inside the 
wall the onlookers, members of the lower houses, had been solemn as their 
betters passed them by, not mourning Ivan so much, I guessed, as weighing the 
chances for the future. A disputed succession was a fearful prospect, only 
slightly less disturbing than being ruled by a Derzhi son who would murder his 
father. Once the Emperor痴 body passed into the outer ring, the crowds to either 
side of the roadway surged forward, women wailing, men hoisting sons and 
daughters upon their shoulders to see. The din grew deafening, and I fought the 
urge to streak for a nearby rooftop. As I passed back and forth above the 
procession, I was distracted by a glimpse of brilliant green among the crowd預 
woman standing between two of the torchbearers that lit the way, the same woman 
I壇 seen watching as I helped the fallen slave on my arrival in Zhagad. Were her 
eyes following my flight through the murky light? I circled closer, but she had 
already vanished into the crowd. 
I maintained my watch upon the Hamraschi until the procession passed through the 
outer gates, traveling along the Emperor痴 road between the paired stone lions 
that guarded the approaches to the city. On the desolate plain stood a massive 
pyre, built with trees dragged by chastou from the sparse forests of the eastern 
uplands. They placed Ivan痴 body on a platform atop the pyre, and a giant Lidunni 
warrior wielded the sword to kill the Emperor痴 horse bound near the foot of it. 
With torches carried from the temple of Athos, the acolytes set the base of the 
pyre to burning. 
Derzhi funeral rites were magnificent謡ild music and singing to wrench the soul, 
pageantry and customs that drew on centuries of heged traditions. Unlike their 
Basranni kin, the Derzhi did not engage in long-winded storytelling, but rather 
reenacted the glorious deeds of the deceased with dancing. 
To the murmured astonishment of the assembly, Aleksander himself stripped off 
his mourning garments and, clad only in a loincloth and blood, danced the story 
of his father痴 journey into the afterlife. With ferocious grace his long, lean 
body evoked the ritual battle with the sun god預 demonstration of the dead 
warrior痴 strength and worth預nd then a final acceptance of a seat at the god痴 
right hand. The dancing did not stop when the Prince returned to his place. 
Rather it became wilder as the night grew late and the flames grew high, the 
dezrhila dancers whirling in the rapture of ancient deities nearly forgotten in 
the glory of the young sun god Athos. 
I fluttered through the smoke, watching Aleksander, watching the crowd, watching 
the Hamraschi. The hegeds sat in a circle about the burning mound. Old Zedeon 
sat cross-legged in front of a hundred Hamrasch warriors, his sword laid across 
the sand in front of him, as was the custom in times of war. Leonid and Dovat 
were no longer beside him, but rather sat with the representatives of other 
houses. As the night wore on, the two Hamraschi moved about the circle, always 
respectful, but eventually sitting with every one of the Twenty hegeds, 
whispering quietly with the lords. Aleksander, seated at the front of the 
Denischkar family, kept his eyes fixed on the pyre, but I suspected he had noted 
the Hamrasch brothers, too. Prince Edik sat behind Aleksander, his soft face 
expressionless. When the pyre caved in upon itself, exploding in whorls of 
sparks so that the heavens were adorned with a whole new array of stars, Edik 
smiled. And when the crowd began to wind its sleepy ,way back toward Zhagad, 
Edik, Leonid, and Dovat rode together. 
* * * 
滴orns of the bull, Seyonne, what are you doing to yourself?・ 
I knelt in the corner of a flower-decked balcony, retching into a stone planter 
and holding my head, praying my skull wouldn稚 crack before I emptied my stomach. 
滴aven稚 got the hang of this shifting business yet,・I said as I slumped back 
against the balcony wall, shivering in the dawn chill. 鄭 useful skill, but no 
pleasure at the moment.・Another factor in my problem葉he longer I stayed shifted, 
the worse was the return. 
鉄o it was you hovering about all night.・The Prince stood in the open doorway, 
the rosy light revealing the haggard truth of his blood-marked, unshaven face. 
We must have looked a dismal pair. 
典hought I ought to keep an eye on things.・ 
Aleksander disappeared into the dim room for a moment, and then returned to the 
balcony with a crystal carafe and two silver goblets. He tossed one of the cups 
to me, and then sank heavily to the stone floor and poured wine. 鉄o you saw the 
Hamrasch wolves on the prowl. Observing Edik safely in their grasp, I am forced 
to concede your point. It appears they have decided that another branch of the 
family must rule the Empire.・ 
展hat is their grievance, my lord?・I sipped the wine. Though I craved water more 
than wine, I could not refuse the Prince痴 hospitality, certainly not when I was 
asking an exceedingly uncomfortable question. 
展ill you leave if the matter is not to your liking?・Aleksander downed his wine 
in one long pull, and then threw the delicate cup hard into the corner. Not the 
same corner where I sat, which was better than I might have hoped. His anger was 
not directed at me. 
的f I can help, I will.・ 
The flare of temper was quickly extinguished. Elbows propped on his knees, 
Aleksander massaged the center of his brow. 的 told you last year that I壇 have to 
bring the Hamraschi into line. They challenged my authority.・ 
The Empire had seen increasing unrest in the previous year, at the time I was a 
prisoner in the demon realm. Blaise痴 outlaw band had rubbed the hegeds raw, 
causing havoc by their pursuit of justice for the Empire痴 populace. Several 
hegeds had declared their own war on the outlaws預nd on Aleksander if he blocked 
their way. The Derzhi had stood at the brink of civil war. We had found a 
solution but had never believed it more than temporary. 
的 planned to wed their children into loyal houses,・said Aleksander. 的t痴 the way 
of things among us・you know that. So I married Leonid痴 eldest daughter to 
Bohdan, the son of the Rhyzka first lord. The match was suitable. Rhyzka is a 
venerable house. The bride gifts were paid庸ine horses, gold. No shame or 
disgrace save that I did the choosing instead of Leonid.・The Prince leaned back 
against the wall. 徹nly I didn稚 know Bohdan. A brute. The worst・bloody Athos, a 
rai-kirah would have been better. And the girl・she was only ten. Bohdan didn稚 
wait. Within a month, the child was dead. The Hamrasch custom is to bury their 
women, so Leonid went to retrieve her body, and he saw what had been done to 
her. Her name was Nyamot.・ 
Thus the delicate flowers worn on the arms of the Hamraschi. A beloved daughter 
of a mighty house. 添ou are the arbiter of justice, my lord. Even for Derzhi, 
there are limits.・ 
展ell, you see, that痴 been the problem with my position. My father would not rule 
his own empire, yet everything I did was subject to his decree. Publicly he 
sympathized with the Hamraschi, ruing my misjudgment in arranging the match. 
Privately he forbade me to punish Bohdan, as the Rhyzka hold the border beyond 
Karn辿egeth葉he most dangerous frontier in all the Empire. I could strip him of 
titles, burden him with taxes and horse levies用etty annoyances傭ut I could not 
touch a man who would brutalize a child. I could not give him to the Hamraschi 
for justice. I could not allow him to be harmed.・The carafe followed the silver 
cup into the corner, shattering into glittering pieces. 的致e defied my father痴 
will in many things, but the safety of the border・it would have been legitimate 
treason.・Aleksander looked up at me, clear-eyed and bitter. 典he worst part is 
that I believe he was right. My duty is to the security of the Empire.・ 
And so Ivan had reaped the result of it, as would Aleksander and thousands of 
others. Nothing useful could be said. 哲ow the Hamraschi are courting Prince 
Edik,・I said. 
哲o surprise. Jackals find the weak in any herd.・ 
Voices murmured from inside Aleksander痴 apartments. The Prince jumped up and 
stepped inside, motioning for me to stay where I was. 添es, I知 still awake,・ he 
said. 哲ot likely to be anything else today. Certainly not with all of you 
standing in here gabbling.・ 
添our Highness, messages have arrived.・ 
鉄end them up, and tell Hessio I want a hot bath.・ 
鄭ye, my lord, and something to eat・?・ 
鉄omething・yes・anything・Enough for two.・ 
He stepped out again and dropped his voice. 展ill you stay? I might need a strong 
sword arm today. I知 going after the Hamraschi.・It was spoken diffidently・ yet he 
had asked. He must be truly worried. 
But it would be a grave mistake for him to rely on me. 典oday, yes. I値l stay. But 
I can稚濫 
鄭fter today, one way or the other, I don稚 think it will matter. You can turn 
yourself into a bird again and fly back to your friends.・ 
To confess that my sword arm was no longer reliable would be no easy matter, and 
attempting to explain my madness would be worse. I tried to begin, but 
Aleksander gave me no opening. He thought I was trying to dispute his decision. 
溺y lord, I cannot濫 
典he Hamraschi have murdered the Emperor of the Derzhi. There痴 no question as to 
their guilt; Zedeon brought me a Frythian dagger as his funeral gift. Whether or 
not anyone else believes my accusation, I have to take them down, and I have to 
do it immediately, before negotiations, before investigations, before the 
Council of Twenty convenes to crown me・or someone else・Emperor. If I do nothing, 
I値l be admitting my own guilt or my weakness, which is much the same.・ 
No wonder he needed a strong sword arm. 滴ave you the men to do it?・ 
He shrugged and ran his fingers through his ragged hair. 徹ld Zedeon likely has 
more than a token garrison at his Zhagad stronghold. To take him I値l need at 
least a thousand warriors. The bulk of my own troops are still in the desert 
somewhere between here and Suzain妖o you begin to see the beauty of their plan? 
So I致e had to call upon the other hegeds who have garrisons here in the city. I 
sent out the command to all of them before I came back from the rites. Shall we 
go inside and discover who sees fit to support their Emperor-in-waiting?・ 
It would have been exceedingly convenient if I could have shifted easily into a 
mouse or a plant or one of the hundred cats that slunk about the royal palace. 
As it was, I had to face the curious stares of Aleksander痴 gentlemen attendants 
and courtiers as I followed him into the richly furnished apartment. The floor 
was sand-colored tile, shot through with the deep blue of lapis. 
Silk cushions and couches of red and blue were positioned throughout the large 
airy room, with lamps of brass and crystal set on low, round tables of exotic 
woods inlaid with ebony. Traditional Derzhi sand paintings of exquisite artistry 
hung on the walls, and silver wind chimes hung beside the open windows. But the 
fairest decorations were the window prospects themselves. Aleksander痴 apartments 
occupied the highest reaches of the north tower of the palace, where the 
slightest breeze would find its way under his high ceilings, and between the 
sitting rooms and bedchambers, he would command views in every direction. One 
window after another displayed the graceful arches of Zhagad and, beyond them, 
the purple and gold vastness of the desert. To the north one could see the 
distant shimmer of snow-caps, the mountains where lay Capharna, the Empire痴 
summer capital, where, on a winter痴 day five years before, Aleksander had bought 
me for twenty zenars. 
典he scribe is on his way, Your Highness,・said a chinless, high-voiced courtier 
who held a silver tray stacked with small rolls of parchment. 
Aleksander, who was allowing a slight, fair-haired slave to remove his red 
cloak, snapped his head around to me and waggled his eyebrows. 哲o. I think 
not.・He waved off the bodyslave, who was attempting to unfasten his shirt. 的致e 
engaged a new scribe. I致e heard he is quite capable, if not particularly 
refined. We値l have to induce him to clean himself, or the chamberlains will 
think he痴 a slave and lock him up.・Indeed I was a filthy, stinking mess. 鉄o you 
agree to the position, whatever your name is?・ 
I bowed low, shaking my hair to the side of my face where it might help hide my 
slave mark. 
敵ive him the messages, and show him where the writing materials are to be found. 
And pass him flatbread and some of these figs. I can稚 bear a servant who looks 
as though he値l eat my carpets.・ 
Before I had broken the first seal, the Prince was naked, reclining on blue silk 
cushions and eating dates while the fair-haired Hessio, his longtime bodyslave, 
tended the angry wounds on his arms. Another soft-faced youth washed his face, 
hands, and feet. The position was so familiar, an echoed memory, that I found 
myself checking my wrists to make sure no slave rings had been sealed about them 
while I wasn稚 looking. 
鉄o tell me the news, my scribe. Time gives us no indulgence, as a wise man told 
me quite recently. Malver here is waiting to take the message to his 
captains耀hall we have a thousand warriors or two hundred to destroy a nest of 
murderers?・ 
Three unsmiling soldiers stood attentively before the Prince. One of them, a 
short, wiry man with a scar on his chin, bowed slightly to Aleksander. I could 
not guess his ancestry揺is skin was the color of old leather, and his 
close-trimmed hair and beard were mottled gray and black. From his lack of a 
braid, his plain dress unmarked with any heged symbol, and his air of unassuming 
competence, I judged him a professional soldier預 lowborn man who had risen to a 
post of responsibility through hard work rather than family. His companions were 
bigger, typical ruddy-faced Derzhi warriors with full beards, long braids, and 
sun-darkened shoulders protruding from leather vests marked with the Denischkar 
falcon. Hovering by the door were a handful of chamberlains and messengers, as 
much a part of the royal furnishings as were the tables or cushions. And beyond 
them, standing in the shadows of the great arched doorway, was a tall woman in 
brilliant green. Her hair was hidden by her filmy veil, but her eyes were dark 
as desert midnight and riveted on my own. Her mouth formed words I could not 
hear. 
滴ave you lost your voice, then?・Aleksander was frowning at me. 迭ead the 
replies.・ 
I started and bent my head to the stiff page. 
The first message was terse. Twenty warriors of the Fontezhi garrison are 
available at Prince Aleksander痴 command. 
典wenty!・one of the bearded men bellowed. 典he Fontezhi garrison numbers three 
hundred. My lord濫 
典he next, scribe.・Aleksander ate another date and allowed Hessio to begin 
shaving his chin. 
I unrolled the next stiff paper, glancing briefly across the room to the 
doorway. The woman in green was gone. 
The Rhyzka heged will supply a hundred and twenty-five warriors at the Prince痴 
pleasure. The house stable master will also be alerted to supply twenty-five 
extra horses, three armorers, and two surgeons. 
鄭h, my loyal Rhyzka. What prince dares offend such an ally?・Aleksander sat up 
abruptly, causing the fair Hessio to yank the razor-knife away and lose what 
color he had in his boyish face. All royal bodyslaves were gelded; the slave 
master in Capharna had told me that Hessio was, in fact, almost forty. The 
Prince grimaced and waved at Hessio to continue. Or perhaps it was to me. The 
next message was longer. 
My lord Aleksander, 
I have heard your command to supply a suitable levy of warriors by midday to 
carry out justice for your most honored and glorious imperial father痴 untimely 
death. Before I commit Gorusch men, I must beg indulgence to appear before you 
and submit questions which I know my first lord would require be answered before 
engaging in such a dreadful enterprise. In short, there are disturbing 
accusations which bear upon the honor and rightness of this cause・ 
迭ead the next.・Aleksander was as red as the cushion under his feet, and Hessio痴 
delicate hand trembled as he quickly finished his risky enterprise with the 
razor-knife. 
I nodded and broke the next seal. Every response was similar. A token offering, 
sure to be the dregs of the house legions, stable boys, or unbraided youths. Or 
an excuse羊ampant flux among the garrison or their lamentable absence at this 
exact time熔r specific orders of the heged lord to commit the troops elsewhere on 
this particular day. For some, as for the excessively traditional Gorusch heged, 
some question needed to be answered before commitment. Unspoken was the real 
question揺ad Aleksander truly murdered his own father as reliable reports had it? 
Aleksander痴 brother-in-law, the young Marag, sent a terse 渡one,・with no excuse 
or explanation. A bold lad. 
By the time I finished reading the replies, Aleksander was standing up, half 
dressed in leather breeches, white shirt, and thick leather vest. His fists were 
clenched, his face a storm of humiliated rage. But when he spoke, his voice was 
controlled, marred only by bitter irony. 展e must assume that my Denischkar 
troops will not arrive from Suzain in time. By my tally we have two hundred 
sixty warriors, give or take a pittance. If we strip the palace garrison and use 
the damned Thrid hirelings, we might muster five hundred seventy men. See them 
ready, Malver.・ 
The dark wiry man was about to explode. 釘ut, my lord, that痴 nowhere near濫 
泥o not question me, Commander! I said see them ready. We ride for the Hamrasch 
stronghold in one hour. The Emperor will have his justice, whether his subjects 
think it fit or no.・Slaves were waiting with Aleksander痴 boots, sword belt, and 
a white cloak, embroidered in gold. A Derzhi prince did not wear the haffai葉he 
all-encompassing desert robe様est his enemies mistake him for a common man and 
hold back the ferocity that was his due. 
Malver bowed and withdrew. Behind his back, where no one but I could have seen 
it, his right hand made the village-bred man痴 sign against ill luck. 
The two bearded warriors and the rest of the attendants hovered about 
Aleksander. 鄭ll of you, get out of here and see to your own preparation. I値l be 
down when I have my boots on. The assassins will not win this day.・ 
I dawdled long enough, cleaning up the broken wax and stack of papers, that only 
Hessio was left. Aleksander stood stiff and silent while the bodyslave buckled 
on his weapons and fastened the cloak to brass rings on the shoulders of his 
leather vest. As the slender man finished his work, he knelt, bending his head 
toward the blue-veined tiles. Aleksander touched the slave痴 shoulder, stopping 
his obeisance before he could get all the way down. 添ou致e done me good service, 
Hessio. Since I was ten years old, I think.・ 
的t is and will ever be my honor to serve you, Your Highness.・The soft, 
high-pitched voice expressed surprise. Bodyslaves were rarely spoken to. They 
lived their unending degradation in silence, always gentle and courteous, 
required to know what needed to be done and to do it with minimal 
intrusion・always afraid, for such intimate service lent itself to danger. Naked 
royalty was prone to irritation. 
添ou remember Seyonne, do you not?・An unsettling note charged the Prince痴 casual 
words. 
添es, my lord.・The slave痴 eyes shot toward me, a hard glance that nearly knocked 
me off the stool. Hatred. The bitter, unrelenting hatred of one who wore slave 
rings for one who no longer did so. Aleksander saw it, too, and he nodded ever 
so slightly. I didn稚 understand. 
泥o you know that you are the only man in the palace who also served me in 
Capharna three years ago?・said the Prince. 典he only man in Zhagad, save my 
cousin Kiril and Captain Sovari, who knew the name of the Ezzarian slave who 
saved my life or could describe him to another. The only man in all the world 
who could have heard me tell my wife where my friend Seyonne could be found if 
she needed him・and I never breathed that secret to another soul, and she the 
same.・The hand on Hessio痴 shoulder gripped tight. The colorless slave winced and 
tried to shrink away, but the hand would not allow it. 典his is the day for 
justice, Hessio. And it shall begin here.・With a movement unimaginably quick, 
the Prince痴 knife ripped Hessio痴 throat. Skillfully Aleksander pushed the dead 
slave away, so that the blood pooling darkly on the sand-colored tiles did not 
stain his white cloak. 
The Prince wiped his knife on Hessio痴 garments, and then sheathed it and walked 
to the window without looking at me. 添ou disapprove.・ 
I resumed breathing and chose my words carefully. 典he man who died for me had 
only one leg. The Hamrasch assassins cut off his hands to make him tell where I 
was. There is justice and there is mercy, and when I think of Gordain, I can see 
only one of them.・Of course, none of that had anything to do with the fate of a 
slave whose manhood had been stolen along with his freedom. The sweet flavor of 
justice so often sours into vengeance. I wished he had not done it, and he knew 
it without my saying so. 
的t痴 likely the only battle we値l win this day. Pitiful, eh?・ 
典he gods will have their say in that, my lord.・ 
泥id you know that the last time it rained in Zhagad was the day of my birth?・ 
Aleksander swung around, gazing bleakly into my eyes, seeking answers I could 
not give him. 溺y father said that to my uncle once, on a day when I was showing 
off my sword work for my father and accidentally killed my sparring partner. 
They壇 had me stripped naked and beaten in front of them for my poor control. I 
heard Dmitri answer him, 選 think the gods were weeping for the Empire on that 
day. Tell me, brother, do you think they were tears of grief or tears of joy?・・ 
鄭nd what did your father answer?・ 
Aleksander turned his back to the window, leaving his face in shadow. 的 was 
fifteen and angry. I didn稚 listen to his answer.・ 
CHAPTER 6
The battle was lost before it was begun. By the time Aleksander approached the 
Hamrasch stronghold, a massive fortress set atop a rocky bluff an hour痴 ride 
from Zhagad, he had no more than three hundred fifty warriors, half of them the 
despised Thrid mercenaries. Some of the promised heged levies never appeared. 
Some melted away in the noonday heat揚roups of five or ten, riding west or east 
instead of south toward the confrontation. Some laggards complained of tired 
horses or lack of water or insufficient time to prepare, and returned to Zhagad 
as soon as the main body of the troop moved on. Fortunately it was still spring, 
else the desert would have taken its own toll upon the rest. 
Aleksander had not come to lay siege to the fortress. He stopped well before the 
gates and sent his challenge to the heged lords, naming them guilty for the 
crime of regicide, offering no terms but death in combat or execution. To accept 
his challenge meant that only the warriors of the heged would fight and die・a 
mercy he was willing to offer because of the untimely death of their beloved 
daughter Nyamot. To refuse the Prince痴 challenge was to admit Hamrasch guilt in 
the Emperor痴 murder, leaving every member of the heged liable to his 
judgment庸orfeiture of all property, execution or enslavement of every man, 
woman, and child. It was a prideful challenge for one whose army was outnumbered 
five to one. 
The messenger returned with a bundle of nyamot, tied with a red ribbon. The 
Prince wheeled his mount and returned to confer with his commanders and to wait 
patiently in the blazing sun for the sortie from the fortress. 
I did not ride with Aleksander. We had walked together from his apartments down 
to the bustling yards where the palace garrison was preparing to ride out, and 
he had pointed to a burly Manganar who was commanding a legion of scurrying 
armorers. 擢redovar can give you a sword. I値l tell him to find one that pleases 
you. And you can have your pick of horses. Whatever nag you池e riding, I doubt 
it痴 good enough for this.・ 
溺y lord.・I stopped on the last step, forcing the Prince to turn back to hear me. 
的致e been trying to tell you. I cannot go with you today. Anything else・ I 
suspected what was going to happen with the levied troops, and he did, and I 
knew he would see my refusal as but the first betrayal of the day. 
Aleksander痴 face burned scarlet. He had humbled himself to ask for my help, but 
hadn稚 bothered to listen to my reply. 鄭h yes. I forgot. Ezzarian Wardens fight 
no one but demons・and you don稚 even do that anymore. I misunderstood your 
offer.・The Prince strode toward a groom who was holding his prized horse, Musa. 
I could not let Aleksander go into battle believing I had deserted him. 溺y lord, 
please listen. I will be there.・Just not at his side. 
The Prince did not slow down or even turn his head. 添ou can write the story of 
it then.・ 
Aleksander gave me no time to tell him of my unhealed injury, I told myself. And 
yet how long would it have taken to say I was no longer the man he had seen 
defeat the Lord of Demons? That I could not fight beside him because I was 
afraid my weakness would endanger him? No words are more difficult for a 
warrior, and before I could force them out, the sea of Derzhi warriors had 
parted to let him pass, and then closed up again behind him. 的値l be there, my 
lord,・I called after him, but I couldn稚 tell if he heard me. 
I stood watching the mustering troops without seeing them, my desire to run 
after the Prince and tell him that of course I would stand with him, battling 
with my need to come up with a sensible alternative in a hurry. But as my eyes 
drifted over the teeming crowd, a patch of bright green drew me out of my 
thoughts葉he woman in green again, an island of stillness in the center of fifty 
warriors who were checking saddle girths, attaching waterskins to their saddles, 
settling weapons in sheaths, donning padded leather vests under their haffai. As 
if drawn by enchantment, I jumped down the steps and hurried toward the woman, 
determined to find out who she was and why she was watching me. 
Before I could get near her, five warriors rode through the courtyard gates in a 
spurt of red dust, pulling up at the side of the yard not twenty paces from me, 
ready for the Prince to assign them a position. Their leader was short in the 
saddle, but broad shouldered and hard muscled. His braid was blond, and his 
square face was dusted with freckles, making him appear much younger than his 
twenty-seven years, even with his current severe countenance有ord Kiril Rahilezar 
Danileschi zha Ramiell, Aleksander痴 charming and honorable cousin. 
Aleksander walked past the young lord without a glance, stopping to speak to 
Malver for a moment. Then the Prince strode briskly among the assembled 
garrison, inspecting their arms as they stood beside their horses. As he nodded 
his approval at each warrior, the man would mount up. Malver rode over to Kiril 
and bowed his head respectfully. 
的致e brought a levy of my personal guard,・said Kiril coldly, 鍍hough the Prince痴 
summons seems to have gone astray. I値l not have it said that I failed in loyalty 
to my fallen Emperor.・ 
添our warriors are not needed, Lord Kiril,・said Malver. 
哲ot needed?・blurted Kiril. 滴as Prince Aleksander such a surfeit that he can pick 
and choose? I will fight for my uncle痴 honor.・Kiril urged his horse forward, as 
if to force himself into the Derzhi column, but Malver positioned his own mount 
across the young noble痴 path. 添ou will not, my lord. The Prince says he will 
have women carry swords at his side before he will permit you to do so.・ 
Kiril flushed the color of a desert sunrise. Setting his jaw, he jerked on the 
reins and spoke a single harsh word to his men. The party started toward the 
gates. I slipped around the edge of the yard and caught Kiril痴 ankle before he 
could follow his warriors out of the gates. He snapped his head around, his hand 
flying to his knife. 
適eep moving, my lord,・I said. 鄭nd look away.・ 
釘y Athos・head! Seyonne!・Even in his surprise Kiril kept his voice low, and he 
quickly averted his eyes, fixing them on his warrior痴 backs and holding his 
horse to a walk. I moved alongside him, keeping out of sight between his horse 
and the wall. 
滴e痴 going to lose today, my lord. You know it.・ 
泥amned prideful donkey.・The young man痴 voice was near breaking. 滴e won稚 let me 
go with him. If he痴 going to die anyway・ 
撤rince Aleksander will not die,・I said. 的値l see to it. But his men・whoever is 
left・they値l need someone to handle their surrender. I must be able to tell him 
that they are not abandoned. Do you understand me?・ 
Kiril glanced down at me, his blue eyes wide. 的 think so.・ 
的値l send news when I can.・ 
Kiril nodded thoughtfully, and I saw the beginnings of strategies play across 
his face. 展ho痴 with him?・ 
Quickly I recited the results of Aleksander痴 summons. 的知 uncertain of one,・ I 
said, glancing at the woman in green who remained an island of stillness in the 
shifting crowd. 展ho is the woman standing next to the Fontezhi warriors? The 
handsome one in the green veil. She seems to be everywhere today.・ 
的 see no women but the water carriers. None in green and none near the Fontezhi. 
Wouldn稚 expect it; they don稚 allow women near their horses.・ 
I glanced up at Kiril, who was scanning the crowd with a puzzled frown, and then 
whipped my eyes back to the Fontezhi. The woman was gone, not a glimpse of green 
anywhere in the yard. Prickling unease danced across my skin. 
典ell Zander I値l find out who痴 loyal after today. And I値l be waiting for his 
word. Go with Athos, Seyonne.・After giving me his hand, Kiril kicked his horse 
and tore out of the courtyard. 
Aleksander had finished his inspection. With a motion to an unbraided youth to 
raise the Emperor痴 banner, he threw himself onto his warhorse. Then, with a 
bellowing war cry, the Prince of the Derzhi led his pitiful army into the 
desert. 
I put the mysterious woman out of my mind. Events were moving quickly. I 
considered shifting to bird痴 form and flying over the battlefield to get a clear 
view of what came about. But the day痴 outcome would not depend on positions or 
flanking maneuvers or reinforcements. A bird could not do what I needed to do. I 
needed a larger form, and because my shifting was too slow and too debilitating, 
I couldn稚 afford to shift twice. As soon as the troops had ridden out, I 
prevailed upon the arms-master to provide me the horse and weapons Aleksander 
had offered, and I raced out of the city after the warriors. 
As the Derzhi stood poised before the Hamrasch fortress awaiting an answer to 
the Prince痴 challenge, the heat shimmer rising from the iron-hard plain, I sat 
atop a nearby outcropping, fighting to keep my head and stomach intact while I 
shaped wings. Not a falcon痴 wings this time, but my own. 
When I was eighteen and engaged in the worst demon battle of my short Warden痴 
career, I had been backed up to the brink of a chasm. Wounded, desperate, facing 
certain defeat, I had taken the biggest gamble of my life and jumped off the 
towering rock face. For months I had been sensing something extraordinary in 
myself, a persistent burning in my shoulders and an irrational conviction that I 
could fall off a cliff and not die. I was never fool enough to try it in the 
human world. But on that day in the realm of a possessed soul, faced with a 
monstrous being who was about to carve out my heart, I managed to shape wings of 
gray gossamer out of wrenching fire and breathless incantations. From that day 
on, I fought winged, glorying in the wonder of it, never understanding that it 
was but a remnant of my true heritage. Even when I became capable of changing to 
any shape after my joining with Denas, I wanted only wings. 
I emerged from my difficult shifting to the distant clamor of battle: screams 
and shouts and pounding hooves, crashing steel on steel. Behind and below and 
between every sound was the unceasing drone of the dying. The hot, dry wind that 
filled my wings tasted of blood, and the dust raised by a thousand horses dimmed 
the sun. 
I had told Aleksander many times that my aim was not to protect his empire, only 
his life and his soul. My intent was certainly not to avenge his father, the 
tyrant. Yet if I had thought I could make a difference with a sword, I would 
have fought for my friend that day, duty or no, pain or no, come death or 
madness. But he led a few hundred reluctant warriors against a heged who壇 sworn 
kanavar. He was going to lose, and I had to be ready to save him, whether he 
liked it or not. 
I tore my eyes from the conflict, forcing aside the noise and the stink and my 
fear for those embroiled in the bloody chaos. Instead, I submerged myself in the 
eerie silence of sand and rock that stretched unbroken to the horizon behind me. 
A sorcerer cannot weave enchantments from emptiness, but must twist and knot and 
intertwine the fabric of the world close by his hand. My heart soon beat with 
the desert痴 slow, throbbing pulse; my senses embraced its sere touch. Seated on 
my rocky hilltop, I bent my mind to the work, only looking up again when I held 
the spell poised at the brink of thought. Timing would be everything. 
As the Prince had surmised, the Hamraschi were well prepared. No less than 
twelve hundred warriors had flooded out of the fortress and now surrounded the 
royal troops on three sides. Whatever plan of battle Aleksander had set was 
already broken, the fighting close and confused, impossible to tell where the 
Prince痴 lines began or ended. Only the Thrid flankers held firm, preventing the 
attackers from completely surrounding the Prince痴 men. Soon even the flanks 
would be irrelevant because the Hamraschi would have pushed through the center, 
all the way to the rear of the imperial army. But in the very heart of the melee 
was a hard center, a knot of flying blades and wheeling horses that held 
unmoving while the tide of battle surged around them. That痴 where Aleksander 
would be. 
I could not move too early. The cowards had already run away or surrendered. 
Those still fighting and those already dead deserved their chance for victory, 
no matter how unlikely. And the outcome had to be sealed, else Aleksander would 
languish forever in the realm of might-have-been. To live beyond defeat would be 
bad enough. So I had to sit on my rock and watch men die, their bodies trampled, 
their blood soaking quickly into the wasteland. It was one of the hardest things 
I壇 ever done. 
But my Warden痴 oath still held. No matter that my people had declared it void 
and violated fifty times over. No matter that I had chosen to reinterpret its 
meaning in light of the truth of demons. For twenty years it had been the 
cornerstone of my life, and it demanded that I do everything in my power to save 
the young man at the heart of that valiant knot, no matter that he would despise 
me for doing so. 
The knot at the center of the fighting grew smaller. The Hamraschi tightened 
around the imperial troops like a coiled snake, its head raised to strike. Here 
and there, clusters of Aleksander痴 men, trapped in rings of Hamraschi, were 
forced to dismount and kneel upon the ground while their horses were led away, 
and even as I watched, the wave of surrender flowed through the imperial army. 
Even Derzhi warriors were not eager to die for a prince they mistrusted. The 
Prince痴 standard bearer fell, a spear tearing him off his horse as his 
protectors died, and the toppling Denischkar falcon was snatched away by a 
Hamrasch rider as his fellows cheered. He carried it back toward the fortress 
and threw it to the ground in front of Zedeon, who sat his horse alone before 
his gates, watching his vengeance bear fruit. I hoped Kiril was nearby, ready to 
do what was needed. 
I summoned the wind and streaked toward the battle, holding my enchantments on 
my tongue. Aleksander was engaged in a ferocious duel with a squat warrior 
wearing Hamrasch colors. The Prince痴 white cloak was ripped and stained with 
blood, and his golden arm rings glinted in the sun as he swung his sword, 
shivering the hot air with the force of his blow. The blood-streaked Hamrasch, 
his left arm hanging limp, shifted back as he parried, but did not fall. The 
man痴 snarling face told me he would endure much to gain this victory. Dovat zha 
Hamrasch, the dead girl痴 uncle. 
Five warriors, including the wiry Malver and the two bearded Derzhi from 
Aleksander痴 apartments, were positioned around the Prince, holding a space large 
enough for Aleksander to maneuver and fending off those who were trying to 
attack him. But their protective ring was collapsing as the imperial troops were 
disarmed, freeing more Hamrasch warriors to concentrate on the Prince. Even as I 
swooped in, one of the bearded Derzhi fell, shredded by three Hamrasch swords. I 
circled, and another of the five defenders, a giant Derzhi who had roared in 
warrior痴 glee with every swing of his outsize sword, stiffened as a spear point 
was buried in his back. The big man swung his weapon lazily and then toppled 
from his mount as four more spears found their mark in his massive body. 
A tall Hamrasch warrior forced his way through screaming horses and crowding 
troops toward the Prince. Leonid. The dead girl痴 father paused at the edge of 
the chaos, watching Dovat hammer away at Aleksander, ready for his brother to 
yield him the final blow. I had only moments to get Aleksander out. 
I spoke the first word bound to my enchantment, drew my sword, and flew in a 
circle about the collapsing ring, leaving a wall of silver fire in my wake. 
Carefully I wove the essence of the desert noonday溶o illusion, but true 
flame預round Aleksander痴 protectors, trying not to harm those I was hoping to 
save, trying to exclude as many Hamraschi as I could, for we would have to deal 
with any left within the ring. As the wall of fire grew, wonder spread across 
that battlefield, transforming the din of battle into cries of terror. A few 
brave souls tried to ride through the flame, but realized quickly that it was 
nothing like the fakeries produced by Derzhi court magicians. The men screamed 
as they burned, their terrified horses rearing and causing worse havoc in the 
ranks. 
When my circle was complete, I dived into the center, almost too late. 
Aleksander痴 beloved Musa lay dead in the center of the ring, and the Prince 
himself was on the ground, struggling to extract his left leg from under the 
fallen beast while desperately holding off a scowling Dovat with his sword. At 
least ten Hamraschi besides Dovat and Leonid remained inside the ring. Only 
their stunned confusion at the silver fire and my appearance prevented disaster, 
for by this time only Malver and one other man were left to aid the Prince. For 
the moment, they, too, held tightly to their rearing mounts, gawking at me as if 
the gods had suspended time. 
鏑ook at my face, Malver,・I yelled over the roar of the flames, disabling two 
awestruck Hamraschi in as many swings, praying that the soldier would remember 
that he壇 seen me in the Prince痴 chambers. 敵et Aleksander on a horse. We池e going 
to take him out.・ 
泥ruya痴 horns, it痴 the Ezzarian!・The second defender, wearing the red and gold of 
the imperial guard, sprang to life first, driving his horse between the Prince 
and the stunned Leonid. Skillfully he blocked a blow from behind him, even as he 
dared the bewildered Hamrasch lord to take him on. As I drove another Hamrasch 
into the wall of flame, I caught a glimpse of the guardsman痴 face幼raggy, 
intelligent, familiar, a wide and wondering expression of dawning hope on his 
weatherworn face. The warrior was Sovari, the longtime captain of Aleksander痴 
personal guard. The efficient, experienced Derzhi was devoted to the Prince, and 
I could only imagine what threats Aleksander must have used to force the loyal 
guardsman into safe exile with Kiril. I was immensely thankful that Sovari had 
seen his duty at Aleksander痴 side that day. 鄭m I dead?・he yelled, letting a 
dagger fly at a huge, black-bearded Hamrasch who was aiming a spear at the 
Prince. 徹r just seeing visions?・ 
I laughed and kicked the sword from a gaping warrior痴 hand before sweeping him 
from his mount with my wing. 天isions. Your aim痴 too good for a dead man.・ The 
black-bearded Hamrasch toppled from his horse, Sovari痴 dagger in his heart. 
Captain Sovari痴 words unlocked Malver痴 stupefaction. As I swung my sword at a 
new attacker, Malver slid easily off his mount and ran to the Prince痴 side, 
fending off a blow from Dovat that was about to split Aleksander痴 skull. Beneath 
the roar of flame and terror, I could hear Malver muttering. 滴oly goddess mother 
protect us・holy goddess・holy mother・ 
Leonid, his sure vengeance cast suddenly into doubt, shook off his astonishment, 
bellowed at his warriors, and attacked Sovari. While Malver worked to free 
Aleksander, I touched earth and distracted Dovat with a slash to his legs. From 
behind me Malver痴 steady stream of invocations was replaced by a steady stream 
of curses, along with a harsh command. 敵et me on my feet and get out of the 
way.・Pain twisted the Prince痴 voice almost beyond recognition. 的 will not die 
groveling.・ 
敵et him on a horse,・I yelled over my shoulder. 典hrow him over the saddle if 
nothing else. By the count of twenty.・My wall of fire would not last much 
longer. I could feel the melydda draining from me, the pain in my right side was 
threatening to tear me apart, and the most difficult part of the enchantment was 
yet to come. I disarmed the stubborn Dovat, and he slumped to the hard earth as 
if his sword had been the only thing holding him upright. 
From behind me came an agonized groan, followed by a rasping curse. 泥amn your 
eyes, I said on my feet.・ 
的致e got him up,・cried Malver. 
In a way it was much easier that Aleksander was wounded. I had no time to argue 
with him. 溺alver, follow me. Sovari, stay close and guard his back.・I took a 
breath, countered two slashes, and summoned the wind. 
It had been waiting on the horizon at the boundary of the dune seas a league 
away, a roiling monstrosity of such power as could flay a man. At first, in the 
sudden void left by the dying of the silver flames, it sounded only like the 
lowest note of a droning mellanghar, a quiet rumble felt deep in the belly. But 
in moments it devoured the western sky, and the rumble became deafening thunder, 
shaking the ground beneath my feet. 
撤araivo!・Five hundred voices cried at once, and, as the first stinging sand 
whipped across my face, the field erupted into madness. 
We had to move quickly. Holding such an enchantment more than a brief time would 
leave me a dried-out husk. I had thought to carry Aleksander away in my arms, 
but I could not abandon his two valiant defenders. They would not survive 
Leonid痴 rage long enough for Kiril to claim them when he bargained for surrender 
terms as I had asked him to do. Enough men had died that day. And so, with my 
wings spread wide to create a sheltered breathing space for those who followed, 
I forged a way through the raging wind. 
The sand cut through cloth and flesh like slivers of glass, and threatened quick 
suffocation. My garments were soon in shreds, scarcely enough of my haffai scarf 
left to wrap around my nose and mouth. My watering eyes were narrowed to slits, 
and what scraps of melydda I could spare were dedicated to protecting them. I 
had planned to head southwest, as that would get us through the bulk of the 
storm soonest and keep the scouring sand between us and the Hamraschi, but I 
quickly forgot such details in my struggle to keep breathing and to move in any 
direction at all. Gods of night and day, could you not have come up with a 
better idea? I berated myself as the wind blasted through a small hole in one 
wing, leaving an excruciating tear. Though truly, how many things did I know to 
distract two armies? On further consideration, I decided I壇 done well enough. 
It seemed only moments until I reached the limits of my endurance. My lungs were 
on fire, my wings about to rip from my screaming shoulders. Red lightning 
threatened to crack my skull from the inside as I fought to push through the 
wind and hold my working together. All we needed was distance. Every mezzit was 
precious. A few more sweeps of the wings. A few more thrusts into the wind. A 
few more steps for the racing beasts behind me. At first I had been able to 
glimpse the dark outlines of panicked men and horses on the peripheries of my 
vision, but either the whirling sand was hiding them or we had made it past the 
boundaries of the battlefield. Enough. Let it be enough. One more breath, and 
then I would stop. Another. I reached down deep for yet one more, until at last 
I had nothing more to draw on. Then I touched my feet to earth and cut loose my 
tether to the wind, leaving the world enveloped in profound silence. 
CHAPTER 7
滴ow is he?・I croaked. I sat on a hill of hot sand, my forearms resting on my 
knees, hands dangling limp, head hung forward where the westering sun could not 
touch the raw flesh of my face. I had been in the same position for at least two 
hours, forced to hear Aleksander痴 muffled agony as Sovari and Malver worked on 
his shattered leg, but unable to help, to watch, to advise, because I was 
absolutely incapable of movement, reasoning, or speech. Now silence had fallen 
over our little patch of desert, I had rested awhile, and I was anxious to know 
the outcome of their activities. 
典wo breaks that we could tell, one of them with the bone sticking out. We did 
our best, but I don稚 know if・damn all・damn all・ The nervous man kneeling in the 
sand just down the hill from me祐ovari, it was揺eld quiet until he had controlled 
the shaking in his voice. It had taken him a number of stammered beginnings even 
to answer me. 滴e痴 insensible. Just as well, as we致e got to splint it better if 
we can find the means to do it. All we had was our scabbards to work with. It 
was wicked for him.・ 
I knew that much. I壇 heard the bones grinding as the two grunting warriors had 
pulled and twisted to set them back straight. 
鄭nd we致e got nothing to dress the wounding in his flesh. Malver has seen hot oil 
poured in the wound save such a limb・but we致e none, so we致e had to leave it・ 
添ou can only do your best.・I tried fruitlessly to moisten my lips. They felt 
like tree bark, and my tongue like slate. No moisture existed anywhere within 
me. 
I felt the instant relief of shade as the big man squatted in front of me and 
stuck a sliver of something warm, moist, and pulpy in my mouth. 鼎arroc,・he said. 
添ou should suck on it. We致e only a bit of water, so Malver痴 gone scouting. 
There痴 good prospects. We致e found the carroc, and this kind of wasil usually has 
springs.・ 
典hank you. Where are we?・ 
展e池e not sure. From the sun, we estimated we rode at good speed for almost an 
hour, which would put us some eight or nine leagues from Zhagad. But in what 
direction we致e no idea. The storm wiped out our tracks. We池e in wasil, more sand 
than rocks, and dunes in every direction.・He hesitated. 展e were hoping you壇 
know.・ 
My gratitude for the sweet, life-giving flesh of the thick-skinned desert plant 
was matched only by my respect for Captain Sovari. The captain痴 hand displayed 
only the slightest tremor as he touched a man who had just raised a storm that 
Derzhi lore attributed to the wrath of the gods. Stars in the heavens, I壇 held 
it an hour. No wonder I felt like the wrath of the gods. 
展e致e made a bit of shade over by the Prince. Of course you are welcome to it and 
everything we・everything.・ 
哲ot yet. Thank you.・I was doing very well just to exist. Moving was out of the 
question. 
鄭nything else I can do for you?・ 
哲ew shoulders, perhaps,・I whispered. 溺aybe the loan of your skin.・My wings had 
disappeared with the last of my melydda, so thankfully I didn稚 have to shift, 
but the muscles that had held them were still quivering. 鄭 little time.・ Maybe a 
year. 
的致e never seen・the fire ring・the storm・I don稚 even know how to say it・ His deep 
voice shook a little. 
哲ot all ex-slaves can do such things, you know.・I wasn稚 so sure how I had 
managed all of it. 典akes a bit of doing even for those who can.・ 
His awe was diluted by a rueful chuckle. 典he Prince is going to be as angry as a 
trapped kayeet at being pulled out of that battle. Seems you can take care of 
yourself, but I hope you値l have a thought to protect Malver and me.・ 
I managed to lift my head enough to glimpse the long body lying motionless in 
the sand, shaded by a bloodstained white cloak stretched between two swords. 的値l 
be happy to hear him go at us.・ 
Sovari痴 voice sobered quickly. 的, too. I, too.・Only a living man could yell at 
us as Aleksander was like to. The captain went to check on Aleksander, and I 
drifted off to sleep. 
When I woke, the cold desert night had me shivering. Someone had thrown a haffai 
on top of me, but the robe had blown off and was bunched up near my head, 
exposing everything but one arm. I was deciding whether it was worth the effort 
to retrieve it, when I heard voices. 
套 Horses over there at first light to bring the water. They could carry the 
wood, too, but I haven稚 a notion how we値l get it cut fit to make a sturdy 
splint. If I壇 just not lost the bloody ax・Cursed Hamraschi.・The terse, weary 
voice belonged to Malver. 
溺aybe Seyonne can manage the cutting,・said Sovari. 的 don稚 know that he壇 need 
tools.・. 
典he dark gods save us, Captain.・Malver dropped his voice. 展hat is he?・ 
的 think you just said it, friend. The god must be in him. I致e never believed in 
such・not truly・but I saw this man a slave in Capharna. They say Ezzarians are 
sorcerers, but back then he couldn稚 so much as save himself from old Durgan痴 
lash.・ 
典hat fire was real・and the storm. Never seen any magician who could do such. And 
wings・I致e ever been Druya痴 man, but I thought I was looking on Athos himself.・ 
典ales were told back in Capharna, after Lord Dmitri was murdered and the Prince 
was accused・tales of a man turning into a shengar, of someone helping the Prince 
escape through a barred window too small for a sparrow. This one, slave though 
he was, vanished at the same time as the Prince escaped. And last year, on that 
night we chased the Hamraschi into southern Manganar, the night of the terror 
when the troops all went mad, I saw something・The Prince has never been quite 
the same since those days in Capharna, and I致e wondered・If the gods wanted to 
change a man, make him better than he was濫 
鉄hhh,・said Malver with a nervous hiss. 迭ein your tongue, Captain.・ 
But the captain was not deterred. 痘they might send someone to watch him・to teach 
him・one of their own.・ 
The two men fell silent, and I lay there with my skin on fire and every bone 
aching and thought that if I were ever to be a god, I would damn well work out 
things a little better. The wind raced across my skin, causing me to shiver and 
catch my breath, which set me coughing. With all that misery, I decided that 
maybe I could move after all and get myself a bit more comfortable, maybe even 
find a drink if the two soldiers had come up with so blessed a thing. So I 
stumbled to my feet and hobbled toward the flickering gold of their tiny tarbush 
fire. No one seeing me limping across the rocks and sand, my ragged clothes 
flapping in the wind, coughing and spitting out a quarry痴 fill of dirt, was ever 
going to mistake me for a god. 
Aleksander woke up later that evening as Malver was telling me about the sink 
he壇 found預 depression in the wasteland of rock and sand where the scant rainfall 
and a spring had left a few spike-leafed nagera trees, some date palms, and a 
good water source. I壇 said that with a few more hours・rest, I should be able to 
ride, at least, and could probably come up with a way to cut wood to make 
sturdier splints for Aleksander痴 leg. Malver kept his gaze fixed somewhere in 
the vicinity of my boots, and his left hand fidgeted with what looked like a 
piece of bone hung around his neck, a luck charm I guessed. Interesting that he 
called himself Druya痴 man but had invoked the goddess mother during the battle. 
Sovari was watching Aleksander. I had just downed a cup of nazrheel葉he bitter, 
vile-smelling tea the Derzhi so prized預nd between that and the sleep, I was 
feeling a good deal livelier, when the Prince began to mumble. 泥ead men・kill you 
for this・ A moment痴 rustling and a massive groan, and Sovari and I had him 
pinned to the ground so he couldn稚 even squirm. 
添ou致e got to stay still, my lord,・I said. 添ou won稚 like the consequences if you 
try to move.・ 
His lips were bloodless, his muscles rigid under my hand. 典raitors,・he whispered 
through clenched teeth. 鄭ll three of you.・ 
展e致e nothing to give you for the pain, my lord, and you know I致e no talent for 
healing. I wish I could tell you other. But Galadon taught me a few things when 
I was in training濫 
的t was my father痴 honor.・Pain and fury had him trembling. ・My honor.・ 
添ou lost the challenge, as you knew you would. Your dying would have changed 
nothing, and that was all that was left.・ 
He wasn稚 ready to hear those things. 溺y warriors揚ods avenge me預bandoned. How 
could you do it?・ 
I told him about Kiril, then, though I knew what bitterness it would raise to 
hear how we had planned for his defeat. I told him what I had seen of the 
battle, every detail I could remember that might show him how hopeless it had 
been. I hoped he would argue with me, yell at me, spill out the gall so it would 
not eat at him, but he clamped his teeth shut and turned his head away. 
Sovari risked his wrath to give him water, and we got enough in him that even 
when he spit it out, we knew he壇 got some benefit from it. For a long while I 
saw him forcing his eyelids open, as if somehow refusing to succumb to sleep 
would be his fit punishment for living, but the exhaustion of his long ride from 
Suzain, two nights without sleep, the battle, and his injury soon overcame his 
will. Pain dogged his dreams, and the two warriors and I took turns restraining 
him through the night, lest his restless shifting make it worse. 
By first light I had gotten a little more sleep, and, after a chunk of carroc 
and another cup of stinking nazrheel耀omehow always available in a Derzhi camp no 
matter how sparse the circumstances悠 was feeling well enough to ride with Malver 
to the sink. To be surrounded by an eternity of sand and gravel・wasil, the 
Derzhi called this particular kind of desolation預nd then to ride over a slight 
rise to see a small basin filled with lush green was astonishing. The silence of 
the wasteland was broken by a thousand chittering birds用ipits and grass birds 
and ・yellow-tailed finches預nd the heady smell of moisture soon had me 
intoxicated. The grass was cropped close揚oats had been here within a 
seven-day葉he trees were sparse, a few thorny acacias among the thick-boled date 
palms, scrawny doums, and stunted prickly juniper, yet the grassy basin was as 
beautiful as anything I壇 seen in weeks. 
Malver filled the waterskins and said he would work on trapping some dinner, 
while I walked down among the trees and set about the task of cutting splints. 
My old friend Garen had always been good at shaping wood without tools, and I 
tried to remember how he壇 done it. Something with rope, I thought, and I sat on 
the cool grass for a time, idly fingering a loop of rope from Malver痴 saddle and 
staring at the tree. 
So many years gone・Garen was a miller痴 son who had gone into the world as a 
Searcher, one who sought out possessed souls for us to heal. When his father had 
died, Garen had come home to see to the mill, only to have the Derzhi invade 
Ezzaria two days after his return. Ill luck, indeed. But he had survived it, 
escaped into exile with the Queen and a few others, and gone home again sixteen 
years later when I brought them Aleksander痴 gift葉he return of our homeland. 
Garen was still living in Ezzaria, along with my wife, Ysanne, who had tried to 
execute me, my friend Catrin, the intelligent young woman who had taken her 
grandfather痴 place as a Wardens・mentor, and so many others. How did they fare? 
Were the demon Gastai still hunting, requiring Ezzarian warding? I didn稚 know. I 
had opened the way to Kir誰avarrin, but I had no idea how the rai-kirah fared, 
either謡hether their presence in that ancient realm had eased their cravings for 
physical life or whether my efforts to put things right for them had been for 
naught. But on that sweet morning, with the sun still teasing the sky with pink, 
my thoughts refused to stray from Ezzaria, my own true home. I had tried to shut 
them out of my mind洋y beautiful, rainswept forestland and my stubborn, 
honorable, blind people who would slay me if I stepped beneath its oaks again. 
What was it about this green island in the desert that caused such an assault of 
homesickness that I could scarcely contain it? 
I snapped the loop of rope about my hands, forcing my thoughts back to the 
present dilemma. Fire. Garen had wrapped rope about a tree and made it burn 
without consuming the rope, and then tightened the noose and burned it again, 
slowly cutting its way through the tree. That was a start. 
By the time Malver came and found me, the sun was high and murderously hot. He 
had a brace of sand grouse hanging around his neck, and I was drenched in sweat 
and staring down at a stack of rough, splintery shards of nagera wood. 摘arth痴 
bones!・he said, blinking. Then he raked me up and down with his hooded eyes, 
astonishment getting the better of his shyness. 哲ever thought the gods・ magic 
would be all that much work. How, in the name of all things, did they ever get 
the world put together?・ 
I started laughing then, and picked up several of my ungraceful shapings and 
shoved them into his arms. 的致e been trying to find the answer to that question 
forever, Malver. But I keep getting farther away from it.・ 
I was appalled when Malver removed the blood-soaked wrappings on Aleksander痴 leg 
to examine it before we set the splints. Swollen, grotesquely purple, the jagged 
rent just below his knee, where bone had punctured flesh, still slowly seeping 
blood, the limb resembled nothing human. Oh, my Prince, I thought. What have we 
done keeping you alive? It was the first time I壇 had doubts about what I壇 done. 
I did not see how it could be possible to save such a leg, and the thought of 
Aleksander maimed, hobbling on a crutch as Gordain had done, unable to ride his 
beloved horses・He would fall upon his sword first. And the pain of it・No wonder 
his face was the color of old linen. 
展e池e going to have to shift it, my lord,・said Sovari grimly. 鉄plint it better so 
we can move you.・ 
敵et on with it,・whispered the Prince through clenched teeth. 
Sovari handed me the Prince痴 knife sheath. It already had teeth marks in it. 
When I offered it to Aleksander, he closed his eyes and jerked his head, and I 
slipped it between his jaws. I knelt behind his head and placed my hands on his 
shoulders, nodding to Sovari. 鏑isten to me, my lord,・I said as the two warriors 
began to strap the new splints about his leg, and I had to press down upon his 
shoulders to keep him from rising up off the sand in his agony. 迭emember how we 
did this when you became a shengar. How you held onto my voice and took yourself 
out of . your body, letting it transform as it would. Do that now. Take hold of 
me and let me draw you away. I致e experience of my own with this recently. Blaise 
has been my guardian spirit as you said I was for you・ 
Sovari and Malver were as gentle as they could be in binding his limb into its 
cage of wood, but the business took a great deal of time. For that endless hour 
I told the Prince of my madness and my fear of Denas and Kir誰avarrin, not for 
self-indulgence, not thinking he might help or believing it was anything he 
needed to be worried about. Indeed I would far rather have kept it to myself. 
But I knew that every other subject of importance to him would lead us back to 
his father and his battle and his failure and his wounding, and he needed to be 
thinking of something else. Likely he would not even remember what I said. 
By the end, Aleksander was gray and near collapse. I pulled the knife sheath 
from his mouth. He had almost bitten through it. As I blotted his face and 
dribbled water on his lips, he kept his eyes closed and took shallow, trembling 
breaths. 
We needed to determine where we were, to consider our position and resources, to 
plan what to do next, but all of us were weary beyond telling and the cruel sun 
sapped our strength as a smith痴 fire softens steel. We squeezed into what scraps 
of shade we could contrive with haffai and swords and slept away the noonday. 
* * * 
Flying・over green hills sculpted by the steeply angled light, past meandering 
rivers of glinting bronze, above stands of trees, their rich green edged with 
gold・golden, glorious light・a promise of the fiery magnificence hiding just 
below the western horizon. Why did I fly away from the light? What beauty lay in 
the shadowed east that I hurtled so desperately toward it? But of course it was 
not beauty that drew me・the wood, yes, the twining, yellow trunks of the 
gamarands, the loveliest of all woodland trees・that was beauty, but beyond 
it・Even as I flew inerrant, my eyes wanted to turn away. Yet even if I were to 
shut them tightly, seal them with enchantments so they could not look beyond the 
gamarand wood, blind them to all seeing forever・even then I would see. The 
smoldering edges of the woodland. Knee-deep ashes and skeletal trees. The bleak, 
forbidding wall, its leaking blood stanched only for the moment. With the next 
breach, the fortress on the mountainside would spew forth blood again, a river 
that would set fire to all it touched. The woodland would burn first, and then 
the hills and rivers and all the worlds beyond its holy boundaries. On I 
flew・past the graceful walls of gray stone・past gardens and courtyards filled 
with flowers and fountains・past crystalline windows, for the fortress was as 
beautiful as it was dreadful・and onward to the shadowed ramparts where the 
prisoner waited, wings unfurled, ready to wreak havoc on the world・泥on稚 turn 
around, ・I begged as I touched my feet to the stone. 泥on稚 turn・I don稚 want to 
see・ But as ever, he turned, and, as ever, he wore my face・ 
The flat, silver desert sunset was fading when I woke drenched in sweat. I 
swiftly buried the dread raised by my dream. Though fear owned my sleep, I would 
not allow it to rule my waking life. I would find another path. I had to. 
Malver sat plucking his birds, readying them for a smoky tar-bush fire. From 
where I lay stretched out on the warm sand, I whispered an enchantment that soon 
had the coals brighter without consuming his meager fuel any faster. After a few 
minutes he blinked and examined his little conflagration, and then cast his eyes 
about him uncertainly. I couldn稚 hear what he was muttering as he spitted the 
birds on a long dagger, shaking his head all the while. I smiled to myself. I 
hated raw fowl. 
I rolled over to sitting, yawned, and stretched out my shoulders. Malver ducked 
his head awkwardly in my direction as he poked his birds at the fire, trying not 
to stare at me. No doubt he was wondering if I would sprout wings again any time 
soon. I rose and checked on Aleksander. The Prince was moaning softly in his 
sleep, his skin hot and dry. I couldn稚 tell if he was feverish or just 
overheated from the lingering day. 
的 gave him some water and carroc, but he never came awake for it,・said Malver. 
鼎aptain Sovari痴 gone to fetch more water. He thought we壇 best be traveling 
tonight to find shelter, unless・unless you were to have another plan.・ 
典ell me what we壇 find eight leagues from Zhagad, Malver,・I said as I returned to 
the fire, cut off a piece of carroc, and sucked on it. 的n every direction.・ The 
Azhaki desert was not a hospitable place for lost travelers. Indeed we needed to 
find shelter溶ot only from the elements, but from the Hamraschi and the Emperor 
they were going to make. I could not imagine where Aleksander might be safe. 
溺e and the captain talked of it a bit. We池e likely not north of Zhagad. From the 
city north along the road to Capharna and westerly, we壇 see naught but wasil 
most anywhere until we were far enough to get into grasslands and the river 
country. On the other side of the road, where it branches easterly toward 
Avenkhar, we壇 be set in the middle of Srif Polnar; but Srif Polnar痴 not so wide 
as what we see from here. And anyways, I don稚 think we could have gone through 
Zhagad in the storm・ He glanced up at me as if to ask whether I壇 done some 
sorcery to make such a thing possible. 
哲o. Not likely.・ 
Malver set a stone in the sand to represent Zhagad, and then, with his finger, 
drew a ring around it to represent the distance we had traveled from the 
Hamrasch fortress. As he spoke of towns and roads and desert features, he marked 
each one on his diagram. 鉄traight south is the Manganar road out of Zhagad. At 
eight leagues you壇 look west to Srif Balat, the widest stretch of dunes in 
Azhakstan. A bit more west and you壇 find the Merat Sale葉he Sea of Salt. There痴 
some high country around there・two big Fontezhi fortresses guarding the salt預nd 
some stretches of wasil. We could be somewhere here or here.・He sounded dubious 
as he stuck his finger in the sand. 展ouldn稚 want to ride into Fontezhi holdings 
just now. They池e intermarried with the Hamraschi. Farther west is more high 
country looking out over Srif Naj, some of Prince Aleksander痴 lands, but this 
doesn稚 feel right for being Srif Naj. I致e been that way often enough, and the 
captain more, and he doesn稚 think it so.・ 
The Hamraschi would be watching all of Aleksander痴 holdings, I guessed. No 
sanctuary there. With Kiril痴 surrender terms binding what loyalists might remain 
from the Zhagad garrison and with the bulk of Aleksander痴 personal troops still 
straggling in from Suzain, the Prince would have no one to protect him. 展hat if 
we池e east of the Manganar road?・ 
摘ight leagues out and nearby the road, we壇 be in heged lands: the Ramiell有ord 
Kiril痴 hold葉he Fozhet, and such like smaller houses.・Every heged had its 
traditional holdings in the desert, as well as its more productive fiefdoms in 
the fertile conquered lands. 釘eyond those, more easterly yet, we壇 be in Srif 
Anar, a treacherous land, haunted some say迫Malver痴 glance flicked to my face and 
back to his drawing very quickly欄as that痴 where Drafa lies.・Drafa was the ruin 
of an ancient city, born and dead long before the Empire grew out of the heart 
of desert Azhakstan. 鉄traight east from Zhagad and you池e on the trade routes to 
the eastern provinces・ He continued to move his finger about his circle, telling 
me of towns and villages, roads, wasils and srifs, the empty dune seas where 
there was too little life to share with the desert. 
I thanked him for his lesson and even more for the roasted birds; the few 
mouthfuls that were my share were exquisite. The men were right; we couldn稚 stay 
where we were. No matter where along the ring we sat, the fertile sink would 
attract herdsmen and travelers who would carry news of anyone camped nearby. I 
had cut two long poles extra from the trees. We would need to craft a litter and 
carry Aleksander, a frighteningly slow way to travel. 
Once Sovari was back with the horses and full waterskins, I told the men I was 
going to scout a bit and then we would get moving. They looked curious, but 
didn稚 question how I might do such a thing in the growing darkness, merely said 
they would try to get the Prince to eat and drink to give him strength for the 
journey. 
I walked into the night toward the sink, just far enough to be out of view. 
Then, sitting with my back against a rock still pulsing with warmth, I set 
myself to transform into a night bird痴 shape so I could survey the land from 
above. But I had not even begun the transformation when a movement from the 
darkness caught my eye. I flattened myself to the sand beside the rock, 
expecting to see a dune-runner, perhaps, or a gazelle or a sand-deer startled 
from the sink by the scent of men upon the wind or nervous at the lurking 
presence of a kayeet. But the form that walked out of the darkness was tall and 
slender, and, if the starlight had burned brighter, her gown would have shown 
bright green. 
I rose and waited for her to come, listening for the words she had been trying 
to tell me for so many days. My skin prickled. Who was she who could melt in and 
out of crowds and palaces, who had been able to recognize me in my falcon痴 form, 
who could appear in the desert night with no obvious transport? Her beauty was 
not the ethereal perfection of Vallyne, the rai-kirah who had tried to steal my 
soul in Kir歎agonoth, nor was it the cool and dusky elegance of my wife, Ysanne. 
Rather this woman put me more in mind of Elinor揺er loveliness more in bearing 
and spirit than in fine features. She stopped a few paces from me, and after 
studying me from head to toe, she smiled with a radiance that warmed the night. 
鄭 comely form, my darling.・Her soft voice caressed my soul like the sweet winds 
of Ezzaria. 鉄trength and grace as ever were your raiment.・A step closer and her 
hand brushed the scar on my left cheek. 鄭nd this・ah, dear friend・ but one mark 
of so many sorrows.・ 
I dropped my eyes and sank to my knees, unable to view such a depth of grieving 
as I glimpsed in her luminous countenance. 鏑ady, what is it you want of me?・ 
Tears welled in my eyes. Longing・devotion・old, old sorrow・though I could not 
explain any of it. 
添ou must remember, my darling. He reaches for you, thinking you致e forgotten.・ 
The braying of a chastou ripped through the quiet night at my back, the noisy 
desert beast drowning the woman痴 soft words, breaking the spell she had laid 
upon me. I leaped to my feet, my sword drawn ready to protect her, and I was 
nearly blinded by flaring torchlight. 
典here you are!・called an elderly voice. 的 knew we壇 find you beside the spring. 
What did I tell you, boy?・Some twenty paces away, an old man clutched the arm of 
a slender boy of twelve or thirteen. The old man痴 hair was perfectly white, 
twisted into two braids that reached below his waist, one on each side of his 
head. He was unmistakably Derzhi. Though sun exposure had withered his face into 
myriad tiny wrinkles, age had neither stooped nor shrunk his long bones nor made 
flaccid the arms revealed by his sleeveless tunic. His nose was long and 
slightly arched, and from his ears dangled hooped earrings of gold. His eyes 
flashed amber in the torchlight, though it was apparent from their aimless 
wandering that they saw nothing of the world. He carried no stick, as blind men 
usually do, but only held the boy痴 arm. 
滴e痴 not beside the spring, Gaspar,・said the boy quietly, leaning toward the old 
man as if to keep his correction private between the two of them. 的t痴 still five 
hundred paces away.・The boy was slim and wiry, every movement quick and 
graceful. He had long light hair, unbraided, and was mostly naked, wearing only 
a loincloth, silver arm rings, and silver hoops in his ears. Neither boy nor man 
wore shoes. 
The old man snorted. 釘oys! Who can teach them? I say that out of all the Srif 
Anar we will find them at Taine Het, and Qeb quibbles about five hundred paces.・ 
Somewhere behind them the chastou bawled its displeasure. 
My head was still filled with cobwebs of green enchantment, loving words that 
flitted through the night like fireflies, dark eyes filled with a world痴 
sorrows. I could scarcely comprehend the odd newcomers and their noise and 
bright light. 鏑ady,・I said, turning back to confirm her safety・but she was 
vanished again, and I wanted to cry out the loss. 
展e had no intent to interrupt your prayers, sir,・said the boy in great 
solemnity. 敵aspar was in a great hurry, believing your injured companion to be 
in grave danger.・ 
撤rayers・no,・I said limply. Madness, more likely. They had not seen her. I 
shivered. 的 just・who are you, and who is it you池e looking for?・ 
添ou and your fellow,・said the old man. 典he one of darkness and the one of light. 
We致e come to take you to Drafa to prepare you for the last battle.・ 
CHAPTER 8
Drafa. Had the gods ever contrived so unlikely a haven? So perishingly hot and 
dismal a scar on the majestic desert? A holy city, Gaspar said, once beloved of 
the gods who were old before Athos went to live among the stars, the gods who 
had built the world from sand and water and fire. 
Certainly the city itself had been built from sand and water・mud bricks擁n some 
ancient past when water was more abundant. The old man said that at one time ten 
thousand people had lived there, that Drafa was the true heart of Azhakstan when 
the Derzhi king still dwelt in a billowing tent, hundreds of years before a 
Derzhi emperor dreamed of Zhagad痴 rose-colored arches. Lemon, almond, 
pomegranate, and hazelnut trees had blossomed in abundance, and thousands of 
sheep had grazed on hills of sweet grass bordered by the boundless desert. 
What palaces or hovels had graced the heart of Azhakstan were all the same now, 
collapsed into a maze of half-walls and broken paving. A few gaunt pillars and a 
fallen statue of a lion marked a slight rise in the center of the city. The 
lemon and almond groves were gone, and the sweet grass. Only the unceasing wind 
remained, a soft and hollow wailing that stirred the sand, covering and 
uncovering the crumbling walls and toppled towers, stealing a bit more of the 
ancient city痴 bones with every pass. A dusty lemon tree stood alone beside the 
walled courtyard where we barricaded the horses and Gaspar痴 scrawny chastou to 
protect them from prowling zhaideg and kayeets. A row of spreading blue-green 
tamarisks marked the eastern approach, where they had once offered welcoming 
shade to all who approached the holy city. Now they held back the dunes, 
preventing the desert from claiming the ruin completely. And a small grove of 
the ever-present, ever-useful nagera palms stood just beyond the sheltered 
corner of broken walls where we laid Aleksander to see if he would live or die. 
It was difficult to believe any humans actually made a home amid such 
desolation. One would expect the scorpions half as big as my palm, the lizards, 
the jackals that whined outside the boundaries of our fire at night, and the 
vultures that circled over the dunes. But the old man Gaspar and the boy Qeb 
were two of five people who squeezed out a living from the spring and the trees 
and a few goats. The other three were women祐arya, Manot, and Fessa預ll of whom 
appeared to be even older than Gaspar. I was curious about the boy. If he was a 
slave, then it was a benevolent bondage, as he was unmarked and wore no slave 
rings. The four old people obviously doted on him. His features and coloring 
hinted at Derzhi or Basran ancestry. 
The journey from our bit of wasil had been very slow. The jostling could have 
been nothing but agony for Aleksander, and by the time we reached Drafa, he was 
glassy-eyed and feverish. No sooner had we laid him under the shade of the 
nageras than the three old women began hovering about us like flies on drying 
blood. 
敵et away from him,・Sovari snapped at the wizened little woman Gaspar named 
Sarya. Her skin was the color of the baked mud, all cracks and crevices, and she 
appeared to have no more than three teeth, those in precarious condition. 哲o 
filthy desert vermin will touch him.・All through the long night痴 trek I had 
watched the guard captain痴 hand drawn to the heavy sword at his belt, only to 
see him snatch it away a few moments later. A seasoned warrior like Sovari knew 
how dangerous it was to let a limb mortify. He was steeling himself to save 
Aleksander痴 life. I prayed to every god I knew that we would not come to that. 
滴ave you any medicines?・I asked Sarya quietly as Sovari bathed the Prince痴 face 
and tried to get water down him. 展e have nothing, and the only remedies I know 
come from forest-lands.・No oak trees in this desolation, and none of the herbs 
or roots Ezzarians used to care for wounds. 
溺anot knows well of healing. Fessa knows more,・said the old woman, nodding her 
head to her companions. A tall, angular woman with a tangle of wispy white hair 
stood peering at Aleksander, her leathery nostrils flared, testing the air for 
any whiff of putrefaction, I guessed. The third old woman, round-faced and 
fluttering, darted around Sovari and Aleksander clucking her tongue. 釘ut they 
need to see the wound and tend the damaged parts so it can heal cleanly. We must 
be quick.・ 
Gaspar and the boy walked slowly down the dusty path. 
添our other friend is seeing to your horses,・said the old man. 滴ow fares the 
warrior?・ 
天ery ill,・I said, drawing the old man aside. 典hese women・?・ 
典hey know what they池e about. There痴 healing in the desert・揺e winked at me and 
smiled conspiratorially欄for all kinds of injury.・I had the uncanny sense that 
his sightless eyes saw far more than was comfortable. I had not forgotten his 
greeting・one of darkness and one of light・the last battle・And how had he had 
been able to tell the women of Aleksander痴 injury before he came to find us in 
the desert? 
As the sun crept over the edge of the dunes, I squatted next to Sovari. The 
veteran sat with his chin on his fists, staring hopelessly at the sleeping 
Prince. 展e need to let these women see to him, Captain,・I said softly. 典hey池e 
not royal physicians, but they値l know what remedies are available hereabouts. 
You and I have only the one thing to offer, and he値l not welcome it.・ 
Sovari shot me a hard glance, and then looked away. 溺y duty is to protect his 
life,・he said. 展ho knows what poisons these people would concoct?・Fessa had 
tiptoed close again, and the captain angrily waved her off. 展hat could ignorant 
beggars know of healing? Might as well have the jackals come gawking, or some 
Thrid witch-woman. Leaving him with a mortified limb will kill him for certain.・ 

I was set to argue with him, but a panting whisper from in front of us silenced 
the dispute before it began. 添ou will not take it. You will not.・Aleksander痴 
eyes were not open, but his fists were clenched as if ready to take us on in 
battle. 
徹f course not, my lord,・said Sovari. 徹nly if absolutely濫 
添ou・will・not・ The words were edged steel. 套 ever.・ 
鄭s you wish, my lord. Of course.・ 
I raised my eyebrows at the captain, and he grudgingly shrugged his shoulders. 
Though Sovari had scarcely moved, the women descended on us and gradually eased 
us aside. Before we knew it, they had a small dung fire burning, woven mats 
unrolled and baskets laid out with various roots and dried leaves in them, and 
our crude bandages cut open to expose Aleksander痴 leg・looking far worse than the 
day before. I hadn稚 thought it possible. The Prince took no notice. The effort 
of speech seemed to have sent him into a stupor. 
轍eb,・called Sarya. 展e need fresh chosoni.・The boy nodded and ran off, leaving 
Gaspar sitting against a wall, where the old man soon nodded off. 
Sarya ground dried roots of the sticky milkweed that grew in the cracks of the 
mud walls, boiled the gray powder, cooled it, strained it through coarse cloth, 
and then boiled it again. While Manot used the steaming liquid to wash the dirt 
and blood from Aleksander痴 wound, Fessa heated nagera oil in a small earthen 
vessel, adding crumbled tarbush leaves. For two hours she stirred the mess, 
sniffing the acrid fumes and touching her tongue to drops she sprinkled on her 
hand. 
The sun rose higher, baking away the night痴 coolness. Qeb brought Sarya a 
handful of grayish spiky weeds, and then squatted down beside Gaspar, telling 
the old man he would help him to bed to finish his nap. Gaspar protested 
drowsily, trying to sit up straight. 的t痴 been too long since we致e had visitors. 
As soon as the healing痴 done, I want to talk.・He pushed away a goat that had 
wandered close, interested in the patch of thistle behind Gaspar痴 back. 
鄭s soon as the healing痴 done, Qeb will bring you back,・said Sarya, glancing up 
from peeling the bark from three pine branches. 添ou値l have your time to babble 
as you will.・Her crinkled eyes were smiling. 
哲ot much time.・The old man scratched his beard. 哲o. Not so very much.・ 
Sarya痴 smile fell away, and her eyes darted to the boy. Qeb, his tanned face 
serene, helped the old man to his feet and maneuvered him gently and safely over 
the broken ground. The boy returned after a while, silent as he watched 
everything that was done, helping however was needed. 
The women pressed me into service, too. I chopped two onions from Manot痴 basket, 
while Fessa strained her oily mixture through the cloth into another earthen 
cup. Sovari and Malver returned from caring for the horses, and the round-faced 
Fessa bade the two men hold Aleksander痴 shoulders. It was well-done, for Fessa 
dripped her concoction right into the raw wound. Aleksander痴 scream ripped the 
day痴 stillness. 
鼎urse you, witch,・yelled Sovari. 摘zzarian, we should send for a real phys濫 
典he pain is necessary,・said Sarya, laying her withered hand on my arm. 展e must 
kill the poisons before the wound can heal.・ 
The Derzhi would sear such a wound with a hot iron, and then bind it up until it 
festered or healed. Even in the best cases, the victim ended up lame. Surely 
this treatment could be no riskier. I breathed again and resumed my chopping. 滴e 
is very important,・I said. 
展e know.・ 
I looked up quickly, but Sarya had returned to the fire and set a small vessel 
of water ready to prepare Qeb痴 gray-leafed chosoni. Another hour and they had 
placed an onion poultice on the wound and covered it with leaves. The chosoni 
was steeping in a pot, and the resin from Sarya痴 bark had been cooked and mixed 
with nagera oil to make a sticky, pungent ointment. Now we waited. 
Manot watched the Prince first, her light-colored eyes scarcely blinking. After 
a few hours, Sarya relieved her, while・the tireless Fessa brought us something 
to eat: a few of the red-fleshed fruit from the nagera, cups of goat痴 milk, and 
flatbread baked from ground almonds and sweet nagera butter. After sharing this 
generous offering葉hree healthy men were going to tax such a meager 
subsistence柚alver and Sovari went scouting, saying they needed to get the lay of 
the city and find the best place to set a watch. For the next two hours I sat in 
the stifling shade and watched Aleksander痴 fever rise. His cheeks were flushed, 
his breathing shallow and rapid, and he grew restless, so that whichever woman 
was caring for him had to keep a hand on his chest to keep him still. We would 
need no fire to warm him when the cold night came. 
Fessa took up the watch. I could sit still no longer. As the ruthless sun 
traversed its course, I paced the sandy rubble and stared out at the sculpted 
dunes Aleksander so prized. The desert痴 changes were subtle. Blue shadows 
stretched slowly across its face. A dusting of sand shifted in the wind. I had 
grown up in deep forest, and loved few things better than the smell of rain on 
spring earth or the touch of autumn sun on my cheek while red and gold leaves 
spoke fire above my head and beneath my feet. Yet I could not conjure an image 
of my homeland as I gazed upon the evening desert, nor could I fasten my mind on 
insidious demons or perilous dreams or failed love. The peaceful emptiness was 
very welcome. 
典his is a holy place.・Gaspar痴 voice was as spare as the desert. Qeb and the old 
man had come up the path as the sun slipped into the west, spreading night upon 
the desert like a cloak. 
的 feel it,・I said. 
禅here was a time when all Derzhi warriors made pilgrimage to Drafa,・Gaspar said. 
寧ust after they earned their braids, they would come here seeking visions. A 
young warrior newly steeped in blood must find his center of balance.・ 
鉄ometimes older ones need the same,・I said. 
The old man stood at my shoulder, almost of a height with me, and beside him 
stood the slim and graceful boy, his silver earrings catching the last stray 
beams of day. About the two hung a heady sweetness of smoke and unfamiliar 
herbs. 展e can help you, warrior. Few remember we are here, but we致e not fallen 
wholly out of practice.・ 
的s that why you stay in this ruin?・ 
典here have been ones like us in Drafa since it was new-built from the sand. As 
long as there are warriors, we will be here.・ 
So Gaspar was some kind of tribal mystic. Every race had them謡ise men or women 
who watched the stars or claimed to see visions or to find portents in clouds or 
beast entrails or worm droppings. That would explain the boy. Gaspar had likely 
found Qeb in some backward village and brought him to Drafa to be his acolyte, 
training the child to serve some priestly function for Derzhi who no longer came 
to find balance in Drafa. Before I could learn more, I heard a hoarse shouting 
from the shelter. 
I hurried back to find Sarya taking the pot of chosoni tea off the fire, while 
Manot and Fessa gripped Aleksander痴 arms. The Prince痴 amber eyes were open, 
flaring hotly in the firelight, though seeing nothing of the women or of me. 徹ut 
of me, demon! I値l not have you! Oh, mighty Athos・he burns・ His ravings were 
fragments of memory: of arguments with his father, of love and longing for his 
wife, of the time when the Lord of Demons had ravaged his soul to make himself a 
dwelling place, of confusion and uncertainties long held private. 
迭aise his head and hold him steady,・commanded Sarya, holding a steaming cup. 展e壇 
hoped to let this fever burn itself out, but it痴 too fierce.・Careful not to 
spill the hot liquid on Aleksander痴 bare chest, she forced him to drink the 
vile-smelling chosoni tea. He gagged and fought and raved, calling us demons and 
traitors, threatening every sort of mayhem. When he had drained the cup, the old 
woman brought another and we forced that one into him, too. And another, and 
again, until Sarya痴 pot was empty. The Prince was limp and quiet when we laid 
him back on his cloak, and soon he began to sweat. Sarya nodded in satisfaction 
and gently blotted his face and chest and limbs with rags, while Manot renewed 
the poultice on his leg. 
For two more days the Prince痴 fever soared and was sweated out again. Sovari and 
I took turns sitting with him as the women plied him with their teas and 
potions. With Malver we shared the watch, the care of the horses, and the 
hunting to supplement the food supplies. We snatched sleep in hour-long bits. By 
dawn of our third morning in Drafa, our tempers were short, and my eyes felt 
like sand had been ground into them. After a frustrating morning trying to shoot 
something that was edible, I threw Malver痴 luckless bow onto the sand and fell 
to the ground beside Sovari, asleep before my empty stomach could complete its 
hollow rumble. Malver was on watch. 
Sun glare seared my eyes when I cracked them open. Cracked was an apt word, I 
thought, perhaps a crack right through my forehead. And the murderous sun 
weighed heavy on my shoulder. Dangerous. Stupid. What kind of fool was I to fall 
asleep unsheltered? Yet I was sure I had lain down on the woven mat under the 
nagera trees, three steps from Sovari and the Prince. 
套 Left him here. Don稚 expect the ropes to hold him, but the blow seemed to take 
him down well enough.・The speaker痴 brave words did not hide anxious undertones. 
泥idn稚 know if it was possible to kill him・or wise. Makes no sense after all he 
did before.・ 
滴ave the women see to your arm. I値l hear what he has to say.・Both speakers were 
nervous. 
釘e wary, Captain.・ 
Only when I tried to crawl out of the brutal sun and found it impossible did I 
comprehend that the talk of ropes and blows pertained to me・and that the 
flashing steel of Sovari痴 sword was poised at my neck. I was lying on my side, 
hands tied behind me and lashed to my ankles with ropes much too short. With my 
back strained into such an arch, my right side was beginning to throb in time 
with my head. But none of these discomforts was as painful as the understanding 
that banished my confused wakening. 
的知 all right now,・I said, gasping a bit to get the words out. 的 won稚 hurt you.・ 
禅ell Malver that.・ 
展hat happened? I truly don稚 know.・Well, I knew in general what had happened, of 
course. Only details were lacking. 
溺alver says you came up here raving, swearing to 遡ill the cursed humans.・ You 
had a knife in your hand and didn稚 seem like you cared who it was got stuck with 
it. He hid behind one of the pillars. When you came close he bashed you on the 
head with a brick. When he tried to bind you, you almost cut his arm off, so he 
had to whack you again.・ 
敵ods・ No matter how troubled my dreams, sleep had always been my refuge from 
this madness. 的知 sorry. Tell Malver・ Tell him what? Not to be afraid? 套 I知 truly 
sorry.・Pitifully inadequate words. 撤lease step back now, Captain. I致e got to get 
loose, but I promise I値l not harm you.・ 
After only a moment痴 hesitation, Sovari stepped far enough away to remove any 
danger that he would slice my neck while I got myself untangled. He didn稚 lower 
his sword, however. I understood his reluctance. 
I grunted with the jerking release of the strain when the ropes binding my 
wrists and ankles snapped. 禅he others・I didn稚 hurt anyone else, did I?・I sat up 
slowly, pressing a hand to my aching side, doing my best to appear 
nonthreatening. 
Sovari shook his head, staring at the charred ends of the ropes I had burned 
through with a word. His answer provided me more relief than the broken bonds. 
I rubbed my wrists and my aching head, keeping my breathing shallow while the 
pain in my side subsided. 典his is something I can稚 seem to control,・I said more 
calmly than I felt. 鄭 mind-sickness that has nothing to do with Malver or you or 
anyone here. I should have warned you.・ 
I should have stayed away from people・Humans, I had said. Was that it? Never in 
my life had I thought of Ezzarians as other than human. Yet it was true that my 
deadly, inexplicable rage had never been directed at an Ezzarian, never at 
anyone demon-joined. Gordain, the first three beggars in Vayapol, Blaise痴 friend 
Dian, the namhir・all were humans. 
溺y only purpose has been to see the Prince out of danger,・I said to the wary 
Sovari. 鄭nd you still need me for that. But I値l leave as soon as he can ride. 
Until then, if you or Malver see this happening again, you have my full 
permission to do whatever is needed.・ 
展e値l see to it.・ 
I glanced up to see him wondering. No more thoughts of me being Athos・messenger, 
I guessed, unless the gods were something altogether different than he had ever 
learned. The point of his sword had sagged to the broken paving. 泥on稚 try to be 
easy with me if it happens again, Sovari. I知 good at what I do. You致e seen it.・ 
鄭ye. I致e seen what you do.・He reached out a hand to help me off the ground. 
I limped slowly down the gentle slope. When we reached the spring and its 
companion, a solitary pomegranate tree, I stopped to drink and cool off in the 
shade, allowing Sovari to go ahead of me and speak to Malver and the others. 
After savoring a few mouthfuls of the warm, murky water, forcing myself not to 
gulp down the entire contents of the slow-to-replenish pool, I lay back under 
the glossy green leaves of the ancient tree and tried not to think. No use. I 
needed to walk away; I couldn稚 even protect Aleksander from myself. I closed my 
eyes and threw my sweaty arms across my face. If only I could recapture the 
peace of the desert evening. 
As if in answer to my desire, Gaspar痴 slow footsteps approached, stopping just 
beside me. The boy was not with him. 添ou池e not afraid?・I said when I felt him 
sit down beside me. The leaves rustled tiredly in the hot wind. 
哲ot so much as you.・The old man痴 voice was different than I壇 ever heard it. Not 
teasing, not querulous, not reverent, but sharp. Resonating with authority. 溺y 
hand does not hold the life and death of the world.・ 
I sat up and stared at him. In an instant the day was swallowed by a 
star-shattered midnight, so cold that I yearned for the sun痴 harsh blaze. 展hat 
are you, Gaspar?・ I said. 
的 could ask you much the same.・His blind, golden eyes were fixed on me. Though 
his voice did not quaver, whatever he envisioned beyond the realm of human sight 
was indeed frightening him. 釘ut then, you know already what you are. I have 
named you.・ 
禅he one of darkness.・ 
He did not agree or disagree, only pressed on as if his words were in a hurry to 
be spoken. 禅o strike terror into the hearts of those you love is a difficult 
thing. One of many difficult things. To embrace the darkness of your dreaming is 
the most difficult of all. To give name to the nameless and stand across the 
fathomless gulf from the light.・ 
的t is not me,・I said as my heart shrank, not asking how he knew, not questioning 
his surety, not bothering to think how foolish it was to beg the universe to 
change what I had known all these months. 撤lease, it is not me.・ 
典his is your true path, the one you have chosen. For good or ill, for death or 
life.・ 
哲o. Say something else.・As if his saying would change it. 
的 cannot unsay these things or pronounce a lie that might sound more pleasing. 
To protect a soul from the moment痴 evil oft condemns it to an eternity of evil.・ 

But if I could not protect those I loved or those I had sworn to defend, then 
what was the point of anything? If I was truly destined to destroy the world, 
then perhaps it would be best to end my own existence first. And yet of all 
things, I abhorred self-murder葉he ultimate denial of life痴 worth. 滴elp me 
understand,・I said. 的 don稚 know what to do.・ 
添ou walk the path you致e chosen. For the light to triumph, there must be 
darkness.・ 
And so, in the end, this moment痴 mystery gave me nothing new. Whatever the 
source of his words揚ods or prophecy or an old man痴 ravings that happened to 
touch upon a festering sore・matters still came down to yielding control of my 
future, to setting my foot upon the path and following wherever it led. But I 
knew where it led. Through a pillared gateway into a fortress that bled, to 
where a man with wings・a man with my face・raged and swore to destroy the world. 
展e can help you find balance, warrior. Before you begin the last battle, you 
must end this war with yourself.・ 
But I did not want to hear any more. I buried my head in my arms and fortified 
the barriers I had built to hold my demon at bay, smothering him with spells and 
enchantments, locking him in a fortress of my power. Surely if I could remain 
myself, hold back the demon and remain on this side of the portal, refuse his 
craving to return to Kir誰avarrin, none of this would happen. It is not me. I 
will not. It is not me. 
When next I looked up it was early evening and I was alone. Scented smoke hung 
faintly on the air. I must have been asleep or stricken by the sun, I thought. 
Gaspar was just a blind old man. No bone-reader or stargazer was going to give 
me answers. 
滴e痴 asking for you, Ezzarian!・The call came from Sovari down beside the nagera 
grove. I waved a hand in acknowledgment and hurried down the path. 
CHAPTER 9
Aleksander was propped up on one of the Derzhi saddles, grimacing as Sarya fed 
him some thick brownish liquid with a wooden spoon. 泥emonfire, woman, have you 
nothing that doesn稚 taste like dung? If I知 going to live in this cursed world, 
then decent food might be pleasant.・ 
鼎assiva will nourish you well, warrior. Better than meat for the wounded. Heals 
the bones.・The old woman jammed another spoonful in his mouth before he could 
complain again. Despite his belligerent manner, he could not seem to muster the 
strength to push her hand away. He glared at me ferociously over the old woman痴 
head. 
I sat beside one of the walls that formed the sheltered corner and waited. 
Sovari had vanished after summoning me, and Malver was nowhere to be seen. 
Likely the quiet soldier was planning to stay out of my way until he saw I wasn稚 
going to kill him at the next opportunity. 
When the cup was empty, Sarya set it aside and pointed to a clay bowl that sat 
next to the Prince. 鉄hall I help you with this now you池e awake, warrior, or do 
you prefer your friend to do it, or will you lie in your own puddle?・ 
的致e been pissing on my own for a fair number of years. I need no wretched hag 
and no cowardly Ezzarian to manage it.・ 
的 think we have his blood running again,・said Sarya, flashing her three brown 
teeth at me. 典hey never name me wretched hag until the fever痴 fair gone. Manot 
will come see to the poultice after a bit.・ 
Aleksander mumbled at her retreating back. 展hat kind of healer leaves a man 
smelling like a beggar痴 hovel? Next thing they値l be bandaging me with goat liver 
or rotted cabbage.・He began fumbling with the bowl and the tail of his filthy, 
bloodstained shirt, but in trying to maneuver, he jarred his leg, bound tight 
into its cage of wood from thigh to foot. His head dropped back onto the saddle, 
and he closed his eyes. 釘loody Athos,・he whispered, losing the bit of healthy 
color he had regained. 
添ou wanted to see me?・I said, moving around to where I could support his 
splinted leg and roll him smoothly to his side so he could take fair aim at 
Sarya痴 bowl. 
Even in this less than dignified position, with his jaw clenched at the effort 
of movement, he managed to sound like a Derzhi prince. 的 wished to tell you that 
you池e free to go. Take wing, fly away, whatever it is you do.・ 
鄭 bold dismissal from one who can clearly not take a piss on his own at the 
moment.・ 
添our duty is done. You致e always told me that your interest is not to protect my 
empire. Good enough. It might take me a little while to regain the confidence of 
my nobles after running away from a fight like a peasant farmer.・He grimaced and 
swore as I rolled him back and adjusted the saddle to support him more 
comfortably. 
添ou were going to die. That wasn稚 going to inspire much confidence, either.・ 
The pain in his eyes told of more than a wounded body. 添ou致e put this damnable 
burden on me葉o see the world as you see it. I tried, and where has it left me? 
When I take back what痴 mine, do you think I値l be able to afford the slightest 
suggestion of weakness? Do you know what I値l have to yield to pull in allies?・ 
I had no answer, of course, and he well knew it. What use to argue alternatives, 
when none had existed for either of us? So I let him yell at me for as long as 
he had strength to do so, regaling me with how little I knew of Derzhi warfare 
and how stupid I had been to think that just because the Hamraschi had encircled 
his men and killed half of them, he had been destined to lose the battle. Then 
he told me in gruesome detail how he would punish the traitors who had failed 
their Emperor. 
Only when he finally lay back and closed his eyes did I speak again. 鉄o what 
will you do now, my lord?・ 
敵o begging, I suppose. Grovel before the Gorusch and swear I did not kill my 
father. Grovel before the Fontezhi and tell them they can have half of my 
horses, my lands, and my firstborn son if they will but do their sworn duty. 
Tell the Nyabozzi I was mistaken葉hey can take whomever they please as slaves 
again and cut out the wretches・eyes and sell their children if it makes the 
first lord happy. Then perhaps I can get them to skewer Edik before he gets 
thinking my empire is his for the taking. But here I am laid up like a kayeet in 
a leg trap, while the snake is likely sleeping in my bed. By Druya痴 horns, has 
ever a man been in such a vile predicament?・ 
添ou should probably sleep a bit more before you go groveling.・I pulled his 
stained white cloak over his legs. 
展eeks・it will be cursed weeks before I can ride.・ 
的f you want the limb straight, you must stay off it until it grows together.・ 
禅here痴 a man in Zhagad who makes riding boots for broken limbs・steel bars in 
them, foot to thigh. I知 going to send Malver to have one made for me. He can 
take my old boot to use for the measure.・ 
釘ut, my lord, you can稚 allow濫 
溺alver knows how to be cautious. And he and Sovari will have to carry my 
messages until I can get moving again. I致e got to find out who痴 with me.・ 
Night had fallen as we talked. The moon was new and rising late, and soon 
Aleksander痴 face was but a pale smudge in the darkness. Our conversation 
dwindled away, my mind returning to the strange midnight I had experienced that 
afternoon, when Gaspar had spoken of light and dark and fate and choices. As I 
watched the glimmering sky above the spiked silhouettes of the nagera grove, I 
longed to be among the stars, cold and detached from all this pain. I needed to 
be about my leaving. But worries kept nagging and I could not begin. If 
Aleksander dispatched Sovari and Malver on errands, he would have no one left to 
protect him・ 
溺alver told me what happened with you this afternoon.・Aleksander痴 voice came 
softly from the shadows. I had thought he壇 fallen asleep. 展as it what you told 
me of, this mind-sickness that has you so worried? The demon?・ 
I should have known he would remember all I told him on the day Sovari and 
Malver set his leg. 的 need to get away from Drafa before I doze off and cut your 
throat,・I said, bitterness welling up within me like the stinking octar that 
seeps from desert rocks. 
展as that why you didn稚 fight beside me? Were you afraid you would kill the wrong 
people?・ 
典here were a number of reasons.・ 
禅ell me, Seyonne. I believed you would stand with me if I asked. For me, not my 
father. Why would you not help until the day was lost?・ 
The question was born of love, for his pride would never have allowed him to ask 
it. And so I overcame my own pride and gave him the answer, the thing I could 
not and would not tell any other person in the world. 添es, I worried about this 
cursed demon and my annoying habit of attacking anyone who happens to be within 
reach. But even without that・I can no longer wield a sword without pain, my 
lord. A well-placed blow to my right side, and I cannot even raise my arm, much 
less hold a weapon.・A difficult thing for a warrior to reveal, especially to a 
friend who believed that strength was everything. 
鄭h, bloody damn・the knife wound.・Aleksander had seen Ysanne痴 work. He and Blaise 
and Fiona had rescued me from the brink of death that day. 
典he namhir nearly took me with a stick of wood. Fortunately he was mostly dead 
when he got in his hit. You could say this madness saved me; I don稚 seem to feel 
the pain when I知 hacking bodies apart. But if you had relied on me in the 
battle, it could have cost you everything. I had to wait and be ready to save 
your life.・ 
添ou won稚 mind if I withhold my thanks for that?・ 
的 never expected your thanks.・ 
的知 sure not.・He laughed a bit, but when he spoke again, he was very serious. 
添ou値l stay with me now? We値l have the others keep wary葉hey don稚 know what to 
make of you anyway・and it痴 been months since I致e slept without a knife in my 
hand. But I don稚 believe you would ever do me harm, even if you were mad.・ 
His trust was humbling, but only the conviction that he was a dead man otherwise 
held me there. 的f you池e willing to risk it,・I said, 砥nless I get worse, I値l 
stay.・ 
The days in Drafa were very long and very hot. The season was moving toward 
summer, when even the dune-runners and sand-deer came out only after dark. We 
slept a great deal in the daytime, especially Aleksander, for the women plied 
him with herbs and teas to ease his pain and heal his wounds. In the days 
following my attack on Malver, the swelling in the Prince痴 leg began to recede 
and the dreadful tear in his flesh to knit. No further sign of sepsis showed 
itself, and Manot replaced her poultices with ointment made from pine bark. 
As he had planned, Aleksander dispatched Sovari and Malver with well-crafted 
messages for the lords of several powerful hegeds. I persuaded him to have the 
two men speak first with Kiril. That he held out so long against this was a 
measure of his unspoken pessimism. 
添our cousin awaits your word, my lord,・I argued for the tenth time. 滴e may 
already know the information you seek. You致e no stronger ally.・ 
的 don稚 want Kiril dead. If old Hamrasch gets the slightest idea濫 
添ou shame Lord Kiril by not accepting what he offers. Even I know enough of 
Derzhi honor to understand that.・ 
With deep misgiving, he at last relented, sending Sovari to Kiril and Malver to 
the boot-maker. Malver left me his bow, and I shouldered all the hunting duties, 
taking the stringy chukars feeding at the spring溶o more than one in ten, Gaspar 
told me, else the birds would stop coming預nd a sand-deer. The old ones could no 
longer hunt easily, and Qeb would not leave Gaspar痴 side. At least we were able 
to repay some of their kindness with provisions. 
The old women flitted about us day and night, cleaning and dressing Aleksander痴 
wound and re-splinting his leg as the swelling went down, making sure to pad the 
wood carefully with leaves and ointments to prevent skin sores. They held very 
little conversation beyond the moment痴 business, leaving the difficult task of 
Aleksander痴 amusement to me. In less than a day our blades were in danger of 
disappearing from his excessive honing. He fidgeted and cursed and complained at 
my attempts at distraction: discussions of geography and weather, my recent 
employment as a scribe in Karesh, and how difficult farming was when landlords 
refused to give their tenants any tools. Peasant farmers were among the most 
courageous of his subjects. Ezzarian sword making and the differences in 
fighting demons and humans interested him somewhat more. But the only thing that 
truly intrigued him was the story of my banishment from Ezzaria: the search for 
my son that had led me to Blaise, my long sojourn in the demon realm of 
Kir歎agonoth, the Warden Merryt, long-captive in the demon realm, and the 
accumulation of evidence that had led me to believe that my people and the 
demons had been split apart in fear of something or someone imprisoned in 
Kir誰avarrin. 
鄭nd you don稚 know what痴 inside this Tyrrad Nor?・he said one wakeful midnight. 
禅o my mind, a fortress is more likely to hold a prisoner than some formless 
danger,・I said. 熱erryt certainly believed so and called him 稚he Nameless,・ 
referring to the Nameless God, a figure in Ezzarian myth. I suppose it痴 not out 
of possibility that our god-story has grown from some real incident in our 
history.・ 
So then I had to tell Aleksander the story of Verdonne, the mortal maiden 
beloved of a god, and how the god had grown jealous of their half-human, 
half-divine son, Valdis, and tried to kill him and all the humans who loved the 
child. Despite her husband痴 rage, Verdonne had stood firm between the god and 
the mortal world, protecting her child and her people. 展hen Valdis was grown to 
manhood,・I said, 塗e defeated the god in single combat, but could not bring 
himself to kill his own father. So he imprisoned his father in a magical 
fortress and took 疎way his name so that no one could worship him anymore. The 
story concludes with a warning: 淡oe to the man who unlocks the prison of the 
Nameless God, for there will be such a wrath of fire and destruction laid upon 
the earth as no mortal being can imagine. And it will be called the Day of 
Ending, the last day of the world.・Not a warning to take lightly.・ 
Aleksander paused in the middle of devouring a fist-sized chunk of deer haunch. 
鉄o you think that a god is sitting in this fortress called Tyrrad Nor, waiting 
to destroy the world. And you believe that somehow he is you.・ 
滴e痴 not a god. No. Nor a rai-kirah. He understands how to use dreams, and 
rai-kirah don稚 dream. A sorcerer, perhaps, one of my own people預 joined 
rai-kirah and man.・I tapped my knife idly on the haunch bone. 鉄ometimes I think 
he痴 taunting me・telling me that what I致e already done will allow him to be free・ 
or that somehow he can force me to do his work for him. I don稚 know.・ 
泥o his work・destroy the world? I won稚 believe it.・He started eating again. If 
appetite was any sign of healing, Aleksander would be riding within a month. 的t痴 
your blasted care for all the world that keeps tearing up my life. You held onto 
yourself through everything we Derzhi did to you, and then through torture and 
enchantment in that fiendish Kir歎agonoth. What could make you alter the very 
nature of your soul? Nothing.・He waved a piece of flatbread at me to make his 
point. 鄭s you said, he痴 likely taunting you, trying to make you doubt yourself. 
Perhaps he knows you池e the only one who can destroy him.・ 
But, of course, I had altered the very nature of my soul. I didn稚 remind the 
Prince of that, and I didn稚 tell him of my strange encounter with Gaspar at the 
spring. I was still trying to convince myself that Gaspar痴 insights were naught 
but an old man痴 ramblings, and my odd perceptions merely sun exposure. 
鏑ook,・he said, 的値l make you the same promise that you swore to me on the day I 
cut off your slave rings. If you ever become this monstrous villain, I値l come 
after you. You値l die by my hand and no other. Does that make you feel better?・ 
I laughed. 溺uch better.・I didn稚 mention that if I became the thing I feared, 
neither prince nor warrior nor sorcerer would be capable of facing me. 
The old man and Qeb came to sit with us every evening, unrolling their mats when 
the breathless furnace of the day yielded to shivering night. Gaspar drank 
endless cups of nazrheel and told us endless stories of Drafa and its history, 
of the days when the Derzhi were wandering warriors who protected the other 
desert peoples from the invasions of barbarians. 典he wild men came looking for 
our horses and our sheep, our salt and our women,・he said, inhaling the stinking 
fumes of his tea with deep satisfaction. 釘ut the warriors chased them away and 
kept vigil in their wanderings throughout the land. The desert people named the 
Derzhi tribesmen lords in thanks for their protection, and they named the 
greatest of them king of their land that they called Azhakstan.・ 
泥id Seyonne bribe you to recite this fable?・said Aleksander in irritation. 的t 
sounds just like him. But I am not a wandering tribesman who was given a throne 
by sheepherders. I am the rightful Emperor of all the lands my grandsires have 
conquered, including Azhakstan, and I will have my inheritance if I have to kill 
every Hamraschi that breathes.・As Gaspar rambled on, unfazed by this outburst, 
the Prince threw his arms across his face and pretended to sleep. 
鄭s the kingdom grew, the warriors remembered Drafa and made pilgrimage here for 
the siffaru葉he rites of balance. Every king of Azhakstan would come here seeking 
his vision upon the day of his anointing. It痴 been a long while since we致e seen 
a king here, and never have we seen an emperor, but there are still a few who 
come濫 
鏑idunni,・said Aleksander, his voice muffled by his arm. 的壇 wager my soul on it. 
Damned good in a fight, but their asses are bound up too tight with all their 
traditions. Something like my Ezzarian friend here.・ 
The Lidunni were the most formidable warriors of all Derzhi洋embers of a sect who 
combined religion and the art of hand combat. They never carried weapons, but it 
was said that they could snap a man痴 spine with one hand or catch a thrown spear 
before it struck. 
Gaspar sighed. 的 will not say who seeks us out葉ruly there are not so very 
many熔nly that they often come naked and broken and leave here whole. I have 
tried to persuade your troubled friend to seek the siffaru before he fights 
again, but he struggles on unaided. Perhaps you could influence him?・ 
Aleksander pulled his arm from his face and wrinkled his brow at me. 溺aybe you 
ought to try it. You like mystical sorts of things, and, no matter how much they 
gabble on about matters of no consequence, these people do seem to know this 
healing business. If the Lidunni see value in their foolery, maybe it would help 
you with your problem.・ 
I shook my head. I wanted no more visions. 
Sovari was back in ten days. He rode in at dawn, bringing saddle packs full of 
blankets, wineskins, dried meat, flatbread such as Derzhi carried on long 
campaigns, some blessedly clean clothes, and a head full of news, none of it 
good. 
鏑ord Kiril was about to go mad with worry about you, my lord,・said Sovari. 
dropping from the saddle and bending his knee to the Prince. He did not rise, 
but kept his head bent, even when Aleksander motioned him up. 擢orgive me 
bringing vile tidings, Your Highness, but Lord Kiril bade me speak all of it 
without pausing for breath or your interruption, and so I shall do. You have 
been named Kinslayer and regicide, my lord, stripped of all your titles and 
lands, condemned by the Twenty to be flogged, hung up in the grand market of 
Zhagad, to have your entrails pulled out and set afire while you yet live濫 
敵ods, Captain, consider your words!・I said. No man recovering from grievous 
injury needed to hear such grotesque elaboration. Aleksander knew what his 
people were capable of. 
鄭s I said, Ezzarian, Lord Kiril bade me tell all without holding back so that my 
lord would understand the danger of his position. You are not safe anywhere in 
your empire, my lord Prince.・Sovari swallowed uncomfortably. 典hey have put a 
price on your head.・ 
A price・like a common thief. Aleksander was silent for so long, I was afraid his 
heart had stopped. When he spoke at last, his words could slice flesh. 的 hope 
they致e made the price a worthy one, at least. So tell me, how do they value my 
entrails?・ 
禅en thousand zenars, my lord.・ 
禅en thousand・You were a bargain, Seyonne. I paid only twenty zenars for you and 
never burned your entrails once.・He leaned back on the mound of sand we壇 piled 
behind him, but the air yet quivered with his anger. 粘o have they crowned my 
father痴 cousin?・ 
Sovari faltered, his hesitation confirming what his tongue dared not. 溺y lord・ 
的 see.・Rarely had I felt so deadly a chill. 鄭nd who has died for it?・ 
鉄iva, Walthar, Demtari預ll of your personal advisers and bodyguards and servants 
were executed on the coronation day. Some seventy men. The only ones left living 
were a few who are kin to the Fontezhi and those willing to witness against you. 
Some testified to your disagreements with your father and hinted at plots 
against him; others claimed that your decrees moderating the slave trade and 
changing terms of indentures were purposed to weaken hegeds you disliked. The 
order was given that your troops were to be intercepted and your captains slain, 
but Lord Kiril had already sent word to Stepok to avoid Zhagad and take your men 
directly to Srif Naj. When matters got worse, he commanded Stepok disperse the 
troops, hide in the village, and await your word.・ 
Aleksander was livid, his hands trembling. 鄭nd my wife・what news of her?・ 
I壇 thought Sovari痴 sunburned face could burn no hotter. 鉄afe enough for now, my 
lord. Her father, Lord Marag, has publicly denounced the Emperor痴 murderer, 
though without naming you. He has returned to Zhagad to protect young Damok; 
times are too perilous to leave a boy with the Zhagad house. My lady has 
returned to Zhagad with Lord Marag, but remains in seclusion in her father痴 
house and has let it be known that she will not hear your name spoken in her 
presence.・ 
鄭s well we made no child. That痴 the only reason she yet lives. How does Kiril 
keep safe?・ 
滴is lady mother, the Princess Rahil, has maintained silence on Lord Edik痴 
ascension, which disturbs Lord Edik greatly. Lord Edik has made a great show of 
wooing the Princess痴 blessing, claiming that his concern for Denischkar honor 
has forced him to these hard choices, and that his authority will not be 
complete until his own heged closes ranks behind him. Even so, Lord Kiril 
himself has made public witness against your folly in attacking the Hamraschi. 
He begs you understand that it scalds, his tongue, but it is the only way he can 
uphold your interests. He negotiated the surrender of your legion after the 
battle and was able to get favorable terms, claiming that most were unwilling 
conscripts. But he is also in contact with several houses who dearly detest Lord 
Edik and the unseemly haste with which he has proceeded.・ 
Aleksander leaned forward. 鉄o they will support me? Which houses?・ 
Sovari bent his head even farther. 鄭h, my lord・ 
鼎ome, tell me. If it is only three or four, so be it, so long as they are of the 
Twenty. Every powerful heged has its own alliances that can be brought to bear. 
Which ones will join me?・ 
哲one of them, my lord. Lord Kiril says濫 
哲one! How in the name of the holy gods is it possible that no heged will support 
their rightful Emperor? What of the cursed Rhyzka, the most loyal of all?・ 
Sovari flinched, as if the Prince痴 words were tipped with steel. 撤rince Edik has 
given the Rhyzka charge of your personal holdings, my lord, to prevent your 
using them as a base for rebellion.・ 
敵et out. All of you. Get out!・Aleksander was shaking with rage. I believed that 
if Sovari or I had said another word right then, we would have found a dagger 
between our eyes. So we left him, and I warned Sarya that the Prince was not to 
be disturbed until I gave her leave. 
撤erhaps he also needs the siffaru,・she said, peering through the glaring 
sunlight at the figure huddled in the stifling shade. 
的t will take more than visions to put his life back in balance,・I said. 鄭nd I 
don稚 know where we値l find what痴 needed.・ 
敵aspar seeks answers for the warrior of light, but just when he feels this 
urgent purpose, his sight is clouded.・Sarya痴 overwhelming sadness distracted me 
from Aleksander痴 distress. 敵aspar痴 time grows short. I can稚 think whether it is 
a mercy or a burden that he knows it.・ 
敵aspar痴 sight・ I touched Sarya痴 rounded shoulder as she turned away. 典ell me of 
a blind man痴 sight, Sarya.・ 
Bits of moisture beaded her red-rimmed eyes. 敵aspar was fifteen when his day 
came to look into the smoke. He had shown the signs since he was a child, of 
course, and had been brought to Drafa to await his time. Dyomed had only fifty 
summers, so Gaspar thought he would have a long waiting. But Dyomed was bitten 
by a cycnid預 poisonous scorpion預nd died within a day. Since that day, Gaspar has 
been the Avocar of Drafa. For sixty summers he has held answers, but so very few 
have come to ask. And now it grows late.・ 
Avocar. Oracle. 
CHAPTER 10
Ezzarians were not the only sorcerers in the world. Though we believed that we 
alone understood enough of melydda and possessed enough of it to fight the demon 
war, we knew that every race and tribe had its seers, or prophets, or those who 
wove love charms or healing spells or wards against evil, and that, on rare 
occasions, those people wove true. 
On a blistering morning a few days after Sovari痴 return, I asked Aleksander if 
he had ever heard of the Avocar of Drafa. I was helping the Prince shift his 
position, propping him up with mounds of packed sand and rolled blankets. His 
leg still pained him, though not so much as Sovari痴 report. The Prince had 
spoken scarcely ten words in the preceding days, save to the captain, whom he 
quizzed unendingly on the fates or the public and private positions of every 
lord in the Twenty hegeds. Sovari was to leave for Zhagad that very nightfall to 
discover the answers he had not been able to supply. 
鄭n oracle? I don稚 remember hearing of such. Could have saved me a lot of 
trouble, couldn稚 it? Told me not to bother with a number of things.・I grieved to 
heat Aleksander痴 bitterness. 
鉄urely there was some mention of Drafa. You致e been taught by people who revered 
Derzhi traditions遥our uncle・ 
泥mitri would have killed anyone who tried to predict his future. He壇 have said 
they were plotting against him, and the only way to be sure they failed was to 
be rid of them. One of many lessons I should have learned from him.・ 
徹racles don稚 predict the future,・I said. 典hey make no claim to see true events 
or to interpret or influence what you should do about them. They only report the 
insights that come from their visions. You must make your own choices as to what 
they mean. Sarya says that Gaspar is called the Avocar of Drafa.・ 
典ell the old man to preach me none of his nonsense. Our future is written 
nowhere but in our deeds.・Aleksander threw his arm across his eyes to shut out 
the light預 gesture I had learned meant dismissal. 
撤erhaps,・I said and left him to his sleep・or more likely to brood. 
I could not shake my unease. My life had been intertwined with prophecy. Every 
time I denied it and charged off in a different direction, I ended up right in 
the middle of it again. Prophecy had caused my ancestors to close the way to 
Kir誰avarrin, and I had judged them wrong to have done it. They had not 
understood the consequences of their deeds: the existence of the rai-kirah and 
the torment of the demons・exile that had led to our unending war. That same 
prophecy, recorded in an ancient mosaic, had depicted a winged man walking 
toward the fortress of Tyrrad Nor with a key in his hand, and had warned of an 
overwhelming catastrophe that was one possible result of his deeds. I had done 
what I believed right, come to an interpretation that justified my actions to 
reopen the gateway, but I could not escape doubts, not when my dreams told me 
that the face of monstrous catastrophe was my own. Thus, it was more difficult 
to thrust aside Gaspar痴 words, now that I heard there was a tradition of 
mystical truth in Drafa. 
I took my unease with me as I walked up the rise to our watch point and sent 
Sovari off to get some sleep before his night痴 journey. Sarya was sitting with 
the sleeping Prince, for Malver had not yet returned from his mission in Zhagad. 
The day was murderously hot. I sat under a lonely nagera tree, sipping 
occasionally from a waterskin, watching the lizards scuttle from one bit of 
shade to the next. To persuade myself to leave the shade and circle the rise 
every hour, in order to scan every direction for signs of pursuit, was a 
monumental effort. Kiril had sent warning that Edik would not sit comfortably on 
his stolen throne until he had proof that Aleksander was food for vultures, but 
it was hard to imagine the Derzhi would seek the Prince in Drafa out of all the 
vastness of Azhakstan. 
The air throbbed with the heat. I felt myself nodding off. Only a short time had 
passed since my last round, but I pulled up the scarf of the flowing white 
haffai Sovari had brought me and stumbled to my feet. I picked a few juicy red 
pomegranate seeds from a fruit I had just cut open, popping the sweet little 
nodules in my mouth as I walked the dusty path again. The midday light was flat, 
the sky a hard silvery blue. The silence was unbroken by any bird or insect or 
whisper of wind. Yet in the north where Zhagad lay, I glimpsed a telltale puff 
of dust. I stopped and squinted. The dust was moving・southward toward Drafa. 
迭iders!・I yelled, running down the path toward our shelter. 
As I had learned from hard experience, even powerful sorcery could not counter 
sheer numbers. No matter what enchantments I worked, Sovari and I could not kill 
fifty Derzhi by ourselves, and leaving any one of them alive to report 
Aleksander痴 position would be failure. I had no time to shift. Nor could we run, 
not until Aleksander was well enough to ride, which meant we had to let the 
riders search Drafa. The women had told us they had a place to hide us if the 
time came, but had refused to reveal it unless it was needed. Faced with no 
reasonable alternatives, I prayed that it was secure. The Derzhi would arrive in 
moments, not hours. 轍eb,・I shouted. 展e need the hiding place.・ 
Standing in the dusty path, the boy stared north into the desert. 鉄arya will 
show you,・he said quietly, folding his arms across his thin brown chest. 的値l go 
to Gaspar. We値l take care of this.・ 
典ell Gaspar these are Derzhi warriors,・I said. 典hey池e not coming to seek 
balance. They池e hunting my friend who痴 injured. He痴 the heir濫 
Qeb waved off my concerns. 展e know who he is. You needn稚 worry. Take him to 
safety.・I wanted to shake the boy from his strange detachment. Torn between the 
desire to get Aleksander away and the certainty that this quiet boy and the old 
man were going to do something foolish, i stood stupidly in the dirt, doing 
nothing. But then Sarya beckoned from beside a crumbled wall, and I had to move. 
典hey値l show no mercy, Qeb,・I called after the boy. 典hey want him badly.・ 
As he walked slowly toward Gaspar痴 house, he nodded calmly. 展e understand.・ 
Sovari had set our crude litter beside a snoring Aleksander and was shaking the 
Prince痴 shoulder. 溺y lord,・he said. 溺y lord, we must move you.・Aleksander 
mumbled drowsily, but did not wake. 
展e can稚 wait for permission,・I said. I grabbed the Prince痴 middle and rolled him 
toward me, while Sovari slipped the litter underneath his back. 
Aleksander grunted as we laid him down, and then, as I carefully lifted his leg 
and placed it on the litter, his color fled and his eyes flew open. 泥emonfire, 
what do you think you池e doing?・ 
迭iders, my lord. We池e not sure who they are, but there痴 a goodly number of them. 
We致e got to hide you.・ 
鉄o I知 to run away again.・ 
展e致e no time to argue,・I said, tossing Aleksander痴 sword, dagger, and blankets 
on top of him. I nodded to Sovari, and we hefted the litter. 
Manot had joined us, gathering up her medicines, the waterskins, and blankets 
scattered about our little shelter. She kicked sand and brush about, and soon 
the corner by the nagera grove looked like any other part of the decrepit ruin. 
Meanwhile Sarya had pulled aside a tangle of weeds and mud bricks, exposing a 
low doorway in the side of a mountain of rubble where a number of houses and 
walls had collapsed, one upon the other. 
Sovari and I had to stoop as we stepped through into a dark passage. The air 
smelled smoky and sweet, and the walls and ceiling seemed a great deal more 
stable than the overlay of crumbled brick would suggest. What I could see of the 
path led steeply downward, disappearing into pitch-black after the glare of 
noonday. I whispered a light to augment Sarya痴 sputtering torch. It wouldn稚 
improve our fortunes to stumble and drop Aleksander. 
What we found at the end of the passage was astonishing預 cool, dry room, its 
walls of solid rock預 cave room, long buried by desert and city. As we set down 
the Prince痴 litter and turned to marvel, time itself seemed to roll backward. 
This place was not a part of Drafa, but far older. On every surface of the room 
were paintings, depicting neither the sophisticated abstractions of faces and 
figures that graced Derzhi sand paintings, nor the detailed representations of 
life and myth I had seen in other cultures of the Empire. These were simpler 
works, created by hands that believed in the power of what they drew. Kayeets, 
sand-deer, herds of dune-runners and gazelles葉he creatures of the desert預ll of 
them moving, running, leaping, painted in deep reds and ochres and browns and 
blacks葉he colors of the desert. And everywhere were horses, the graceful horses 
that were the very soul of the Derzhi. The room was alive with their power. 
滴oly Athos・ The Prince gaped at the sweeping majesty, and I wondered at it, too, 
but only for a moment, as the horses reminded me of the hooves racing toward us 
across the dunes. 
Manot had followed us down the path, but there was no sign of Fessa, Gaspar, or 
Qeb. I ran back up the passageway to fetch them, but Sarya stood in the bright 
rectangle of the outer doorway and caught my arm before I could go out. 鉄tay 
here. Qeb will close the way when he comes.・The sunlight illuminated her 
withered face. She was weeping. 
展hat are they going to do, Sarya?・ 
敵aspar believes that not all of us can hide. The hunters will know someone lives 
here in Drafa. Best they find someone.・ 
The old man was right, of course. Much as I wanted to drag them to whatever 
safety this hidden room could provide, the absence of residents in a place that 
showed signs of recent habitation would goad the pursuers to tear the place 
apart. 滴e knows what these men will do?・ 
Sarya nodded. 擢or half his life he痴 known. Only the day was the mystery.・ 
We had to respect Gaspar and Fessa痴 choice. The gift was theirs to give, and to 
refuse their generosity would have been cruel, for it would not have saved any 
of us. 
The old couple was sitting in the nagera grove. Qeb was kneeling beside them, 
his head bowed as a smiling Fessa stroked his shining hair. Gaspar laid his 
hands on the boy痴 wiry shoulders and kissed him, and then motioned for him to 
hurry. Clouds of dust rose beyond the tamarisks. 
Qeb walked away from the old couple slowly, stopping several times to gaze out 
toward the desert and up at the sky. At one point he crouched down, scooped up a 
handful of sand, and watched it trickle through his fingers. I was about to 
split my skin with his dawdling. 
Gaspar called out to the boy, 敵o, child! You won稚 forget!・ 
Qeb stood up again and waved to Fessa, and then ran lightly toward our hiding 
place. Before moving aside to let the boy through the door, I raised a small 
whirlwind to mask our footsteps. In the nagera grove, Gaspar laughed and raised 
a cup in my direction. Perhaps the blind man felt the wind and knew it was not 
of the desert. I helped Qeb pull bricks and scrub into place, we retreated down 
the dim passage, and there we sat. Waiting. 
* * * 
Deep layers of sand and rubble separated us from what occurred in Drafa that 
afternoon. Ordinary ears could not hear the shouts and curses of frustrated 
searchers or the agonized cries of the two old people who died a cruel death to 
keep our secrets and save our lives. Though I would much rather have remained 
deaf like the others, I chose to listen. To share the event in some fashion 
seemed a matter of respect for Gaspar and Fessa痴 sacrifice. I hoped that the old 
ones guessed my ability and thus knew that, in some ever so small a way, they 
were not alone. 
The others watched me, but did not ask what I heard. Likely my muttered curses 
and clenched fists were enough for them to surmise that they did not want to 
know. Sarya and Manot held hands, resting their gray heads on one another痴 
shoulder. A solemn Qeb sat in the corner of the painted room, his slender arms 
wrapped about his knees, light brown eyes fixed on the ancient paintings. His 
tanned skin seemed to glow with a light of its own. In some unfathomable way the 
boy belonged in that room. A holy place. His place. 
Eventually I heard the hunting party depart, murmuring of their unease at 
staying in 塗aunted・Drafa after nightfall. Their captain claimed satisfaction 
with the afternoon痴 results. The old people had held longer than he would have 
thought possible, but had clearly revealed their secret: Prince Aleksander had 
sheltered in Drafa long enough to recuperate from a twisted ankle, but had 
disappeared into the desert ten days previously. 
Once the murderers had gone, the silence held absolute, and after another hour痴 
listening, I believed that if soldiers had been left to stand watch in the city, 
they were few enough that I could kill them. I relished the chance. 鉄tay here 
until I tell you,・I said. 的値l make sure they致e not left a sentry.・ 
典he old ones?・said Aleksander. 
泥ead,・I said. 典hey told a good story and held it until the end.・ 
Carefully I shoved aside the rubble at the doorway and crept out into the late 
afternoon. I slunk up and down the pathways of the dead city, listening for the 
shuffle of a boot or a cough or the muffled ring of weaponry, watching for the 
gleam of metal where it had no place or a shadow that was darker than the usual. 
I wanted to punish someone for what had happened; I craved a Derzhi neck to 
throttle, a smug jaw to smash, a well-fed belly in which to embed my dagger. But 
a thorough inspection convinced me that every horse that had galloped into Drafa 
that afternoon had galloped out again, and that the only creatures abroad were 
rats and scorpions and a single nervous sand-deer at the spring. 
Before calling the others from hiding, I debated whether to take Gaspar and 
Fessa down from the nagera trees where they had been bound and tortured. Though 
it would have been a kindness to Manot and Sarya, I was not feeling particularly 
kind, and instinct bade me leave the dreadful scene so that all of us could bear 
witness to the vileness one human could work upon another. And so it was that 
Sovari and I carried Aleksander out of the painted room, and the Prince saw what 
had been given to save him. He did not avert his eyes, but said nothing, which 
was perhaps the truest measure of his horror. 
Sovari suggested that we leave the dead couple in place so that their absence 
would not give witness to our presence in case the hunters returned. But the 
women would not hear of it, claiming that the souls could not take their leave 
of the tormented flesh until the bodies lay on the sand. So, once Aleksander was 
settled again, the captain and I took Gaspar and Fessa down, leaving Manot and 
Sarya to tend the ruined bodies. 
Sovari left for Zhagad an hour after sunset, afoot, for the Derzhi scouts had 
taken his horse and killed the chastou. 套 and I want to know who rode here 
today,・said the Prince after reviewing his long list of messages and inquiries. 
摘very man痴 name.・ 
鄭ye, my lord. I would do it for my own knowledge, even if you had not commanded 
it.・ 
I helped Sovari fill his waterskins and saw him on his way. When Sarya was 
ready, I carried the two cleaned bodies into the desert, the gods having had 
their due with the daylight, and laid the corpses out on the dunes for the 
jackals. Wood was scarce in the desert. Only emperors could afford burning. When 
all this was done, I sought other occupation. I offered to keep the night痴 vigil 
with Sarya and Manot, but they declined. Qeb had not yet emerged from the cave. 
Perhaps the boy was afraid to see what had come down on his friends. He was very 
young. I returned to Aleksander. 
The Prince claimed he wished to sleep, but I sensed his need to be alone. I 
understood that. I had always needed time alone after a demon battle to regain 
balance and perspective. But on that night I was afraid to be alone. Darkness 
and violence seethed within me, fed by the horrors of the day, and I wasn稚 sure 
I was capable of holding them off. I warned Aleksander to sleep light, then rid 
myself of weapons and walked the dusty ruin, trying not to think, trying not to 
stare out into the empty night, fearing I would see a woman in green tearing at 
my divided soul with grief I could not understand. In search of stability, I 
tried again to strengthen my barriers葉he protections against demon infestation 
that I had learned in my youth傭ut the melydda would not shape itself to my will. 
I was on the edge of bursting, ready to spew violence and danger and madness 
across the silent ruin. In the end, sometime just after moonrise, I sank to my 
knees in the sand, burying my head in trembling hands. I felt ragged and 
crippled and afraid. 
的 can help you, warrior.・The scent of herb-laden smoke and the quiet voice, just 
on the edge of manhood, told me who had come. The boy痴 bare feet had made no 
sound. 
填nless you can stand with me in a place I fear to go, I don稚 think that痴 
possible.・ 
典he siffaru is a journey of the spirit. The gods can take you where they will, 
teach you of what you fear, while reminding you of the strength you possess to 
face it. You know already the worth of seeing what is painful. Now you must 
prepare yourself for the task you have chosen. Will you not allow us to help 
you?・ 
的 can稚 indulge my fears right now. The Prince・in such danger・he is everything・ 
敵aspar and Fessa have given you this time. The hunters will not return here, and 
Sarya and Manot will care for your prince as he heals. Right now his greatest 
danger is your own hand.・ 
I shuddered at this eerie echo of my own thoughts. 滴ow can you know these 
things・a child who has lived here in the wastes since before you can remember?・ 
的t is my gift to know.・The strangeness of Qeb痴 voice yanked my eyes up, but the 
boy was already walking away from me toward the dark doorway that gaped in the 
pile of rubble. His steps were slow and awkward, tentative, altogether unlike 
his graceful quickness. He stumbled on a bit of rubble, and something about the 
way his hands flew out seeking balance tore at my heart. 
When I was in bondage to the Derzhi, an old slave woman had advised me to be 
content with my lot, saying that those who climb to the greatest heights have 
the greatest price to pay. Here again was evidence of her wisdom. What price to 
gaze into realms of mystery, to seek out visions and hold them ready for those 
who came naked and broken? 
I rose and walked down the path, following the blind youth into the darkness. 
CHAPTER 11
How many days did I exist in the cave? Once I convinced myself to let go the 
demands of duty and attempt the journey, I also made myself forego the captive痴 
imperative to tally his days of bondage. I might have numbered my sleeping 
periods, but lost in a haze of smoke and mystery, I could not be sure that I 
slept only once a day or that I ever slept at all. Fruit or bread and goat痴 milk 
appeared on the flat rock by the entrance door when I wasn稚 looking, just enough 
to quiet the physical cravings while leaving my inner hungers untouched. I was 
not a captive, of course. I could have walked out of the caves at any time. But 
I was on the verge of disintegration, and I prayed this mystery would help me 
hold myself together. 
From the first hour, when Qeb led me to the bare inner room, sat me on the dirt 
floor, and bade me forego speech and all connection to life for the duration of 
the siffaru, I was never sure exactly what was happening. Every time my head 
began to clear, I would blink and find Qeb sitting cross-legged beside me. He 
would smile, throw a handful of dried leaves in a brass bowl, and light them 
from a taper, cupping his slender fingers about the bowl to guide his actions. 
Then, as the pungent blue-gray smoke wafted from the bowl, he would take my 
hands and force me to look into his sightless eyes, still raw and seeping from 
whatever he had done to ruin them. 
To loose the bonds of the world was difficult. Vague worries plagued me: about 
Aleksander, about Sovari, about Malver who had not yet returned from Zhagad, 
about my wife and the Ezzarians lost in their denial of truth, and about Blaise 
and his sister and my child, hidden somewhere in the increasingly dangerous 
world. When I ate, the flavors burned my tongue like acid, and I was overwhelmed 
with memories: a sip of wine from my father痴 cup・a ripe peach shared with Ysanne 
on the first day of our pairing, when I was fifteen and loved her with the 
focused passion of youth・the dry, maggot-infested bread that had gagged me when 
I first succumbed to hunger as a slave. Sometimes I found myself kneeling in the 
center of the roughly circular room, knees aching and muscles stiff, as if I壇 
been there long hours, and my body demanded my attention, crying out its hard 
history as warrior, slave, and prisoner. 
But gradually, as I was immersed in silence and solitude and smoke, the clamor 
of these things預ppetites and anxiety, pain and memory庸aded into a murmur no 
louder than my heartbeat. My mind began to wander freely・in a vast nothingness, 
it seemed. Only then did I truly begin the journey. 
I sat cross-legged in the center of the circular room as always. My hands lay 
relaxed on my knees. I had adopted the position Wardens used when preparing to 
battle demons, finding the attitude of peace and contemplation eminently 
suitable to this strange exercise. The still air of the cave room smelled 
faintly of Qeb痴 herbs. My eyes were fixed on the smudge of light that was my 
candle flame, and I was so drowsy, my heart seemed scarcely to be beating. 
The light faded, replaced by a now-familiar blue-gray nothingness. Yet something 
was different・a thickening・a texture to the swirling cloud・shadowy forms・ trees・ 

・A ghostly landscape. A blackbird shrieked・the faint scent of ash on a warm 
breeze・the flat metallic taste of blood on my tongue・ 
I blinked, long and slow, and Qeb was there with his bowl and his taper. The 
blind youth, no longer smiling, nodded and touched his tiny flame to the 
crumbled leaves in his brass bowl, and I drifted deeper yet・ 
Raindrops spattered on the gravel path, glancing off the white stones like beads 
of crystal, joining their fellows in thready rivulets that drained into the 
garden. Leaves of rambling honeysuckle dipped with the brisk pounding, and 
daylilies were turned in upon themselves as if to protect their tender petals. 
So green it was, narrow swaths of grass encircled by exuberant stands of yellow, 
white, and blue flowers. A towering willow centered one swale, the graceful arcs 
of its branches brushing the green. What sound was so delightful as that of soft 
rain, bounteous life itself, so generously, so tenderly given from heaven to 
earth? Absorbed in my contemplation of the rainy garden, I strolled along the 
white gravel path, noting only in passing that I did not seem to be getting wet. 

What place was this? I stopped, puzzled, trying to think where I had just come 
from and where I was going. Beyond the field of flowers, scarcely visible 
through the curtain of rain, was the dark line of a wall. Like the twang of a 
broken harpstring intrudes upon a sweet melody, so the sight of that wall 
infused the day痴 beauty with a piercing sadness. 
鉄o you致e ventured a visit at last. An interesting way you致e chosen.・The bemused 
comment came from behind me. 
I spun about and almost stopped breathing. A tall, spare, elderly man, dressed 
in a plum-colored shirt, green breeches, and knee-high boots stood between two 
rosebushes at the edge of the path, staring at me. A worn leather bag hung from 
his wide belt, and a gray cloak was thrown carelessly over one shoulder. His 
clothing and his short gray hair were dripping, which emphasized the oddity of 
my own dry state. Yet what had stolen my breath was not the man痴 sudden arrival, 
nor anything related to his appearance, which was generally unremarkable. Rather 
it was what I saw behind him. 
The garden was part of a walled parkland fronting a castle of gray stone, a 
turreted palace built on a broad, gently sloped green shoulder of a craggy peak. 
Beyond the encircling arms of the black wall, the land fell away precipitously, 
revealing hazy vistas of distant mountain ranges. From within the castle, 
candlelight shone through windows of colored glass, making them gleam and 
sparkle in the soft gray of the day. And far above me, where graceful towers 
soared into the clouds alongside the mountain痴 pinnacles, were the lonely 
ramparts・the walkways where a prisoner strode back and forth, raging at the 
world. Oh yes, I knew where I was. 
的t is not as you expected, is it?・My gaze returned to the lean figure, who was 
turning his back to me. 展ell, I知 not going to stand out in the rain while you 
decide whether you would rather gawk or converse. You can come if you wish.・ He 
set out briskly along the gravel path toward the castle. 
展ait!・I called to his rapidly disappearing back. He was almost at the wide steps 
and pillared portico before I caught up with him. Even then he kept moving up 
the steps, into a wide hall where muted light from high glass windows left a 
sheen on smooth columns and marble statuary. 
How to begin? Ask him if the one imprisoned here truly wished to destroy the 
world? Have him tell me what was my connection to the prisoner痴 dreadful plan? I 
had not passed through the gateway at Dasiet Homol, so how was it possible that 
I walked Kir誰avarrin? I had once touched a painted image that convinced me this 
fortress was the source of profound darkness; why did I not feel that now I was 
here? Was this lean old man the jailer of an angry god? 的 would very much like 
to speak with you,・I said, hurrying alongside him. 
的f you don稚 mind, I would like to get a dry shirt first. Not all of us are so 
fortunate as you to escape a soaking.・He strode into a finely appointed room: 
patterned carpets of dark green and red, tall windows that opened onto the 
portico and the garden, a marble hearth three times the height of a man, carved 
so that the tall, slender figures of a man and a woman who gazed down serenely 
upon the well-proportioned room seemed about to emerge from the stone. Around 
the walls were lamps of crystal and painted glass, gleaming with soft light. A 
small table beside the fire held a checkered game board of black and gray glass 
and on it the carved game pieces for warriors and castles. 
適asparian, where are you?・the man called out in annoyance as he threw his cloak 
onto a padded bench and hurried to the fire, pulling off his soggy, plum-colored 
shirt to reveal a broad chest covered with gray hair. Almost before he had the 
word out, a man and a woman bustled through a door beside the hearth. The man 
carried a towel, a green shirt, and a dark green cloak, while the woman set a 
tray of porcelain cups and teapots, crystal goblets and carafes on a side table. 
The serving man庸or so he seemed to be羊etrieved the wet shirt and began fussing 
with the towel about the man痴 head and chest. The old gentleman snatched the 
towel and threw it to the floor, motioning for the dry shirt and the green robe, 
grumbling, 的 am not a child needing to be blotted.・The serving man did not seem 
to notice the comment, as he stooped down, recovered the towel, and began to dab 
at the old man痴 boots. 
The woman poured hot liquid from the pot into the cup and proceeded to stir in 
sugar and fragrant spices. 哲o, no. I want wine,・demanded the old man. My host悠 
had no other name to call him耀oon dry and dressed, began tapping his foot while 
the serving woman ignored him and went on with her preparations. Only when she 
had the cup steeping and covered with a thin glass plate did she pour wine葉hree 
varieties into three goblets預nd what appeared to be dark brown ale into a silver 
tankard. As the two servants withdrew, the old man sighed and snatched a 
wineglass from the table, speaking to himself as much as to me. 徹ne would think 
I壇 get used to such petty annoyances. I致e become so accustomed to the general 
way of things, I壇 almost be willing to stay put, as so many seem to wish, but 
truly it is the trivial that creates the greatest burden. And Kasparian, who 
devotes himself to relieving those burdens, cannot understand why they 
exasperate me so.・He sipped pale wine and darted a sideways glance at me. 添ou 
are not so big as I expected.・ 
Never had I been so utterly bereft of words. 
The old man shook his head slightly, as if coming to himself. 添ou are 
uncomfortable. I had no intent to be rude.・He motioned to a chair beside the 
fire. 泥o come and sit. You wanted to talk.・ 
Abandoning all expectation, I blurted out the mad, impossible whimsy that had 
taken shape as I watched and listened. 添ou are the prisoner.・ 
His dark eyes widened in mock amazement. 鄭 day replete with surprises. I would 
celebrate if I could remember how to do such a thing.・His features were fine: 
high cheekbones, jaw and brow that might have been formed from the same granite 
as his mountain prison, thick gray hair and beard trimmed close. A dignified, 
aristocratic look about him, but no evidence of ill nature, save his peevish 
humor. Nothing of hatred or cruelty written on his visage, though I hunted 
carefully for the signs. And his dark, intelligent eyes told no different story. 
They were deep and clear, like snow-fed mountain lakes on a moonlit midnight, 
eyes that seemed far younger than his body. I did not shift my own sight to look 
more deeply. I could not think his was a soul to be probed without consequence. 
He sat in a high-backed wooden chair beside the hearth, drawing his green cloak 
close about him and stretching his boots toward the flames. 
This man, this place, could be but creations of my diseased mind. This 
experience was certainly some type of dreaming・only in dreams and visions could 
one walk through rain and remain dry. Yet I did not believe any dream could be 
so contrary to the dreamer痴 preconceptions. 展ho are you?・I demanded, as if a 
simple answer would make everything clear. 
添ou池e a blunt sort of fellow.・Again he waved me to the chair. 展ell, I suppose I 
am the same of late, as you see. But at least do me the courtesy of pretending 
politeness. Allow me to demonstrate that I recall a bit about civilized 
behavior.・ 
Dreamlike, I moved to the hard, straight-backed chair facing him. The table with 
the glass game board sat between us. About half of the pieces of each color傭lack 
and white耀at to one side, as if a game had been interrupted. 
泥o you play?・The simple question was spoken gruffly, like all his speech. 
的 know how. I知 not proficient.・He had not answered my own question, but I could 
not think what else to say. 
He fingered the black pieces・obsidian, the black glass found near old volcanoes. 
The white were alabaster. 的 persuaded Kasparian to learn, but he sees no more 
use in games than he sees in conversation. Every few days, he steels himself and 
offers to play, but I thank him and refuse. I get no pleasure from tormenting 
him. I often wonder if I remember the rules correctly.・ 
的値l play if you like.・ 
His eyes popped up, and for the first time he looked me full in the face. 禅hat 
would be fine. Quite fine.・Remarkable eyes. 
And so we pulled our chairs close to the table and set the pieces in their 
squares. I, as white player, began, and we exchanged several moves before he 
spoke again. 添ou can call me Nyel.・ 
Nyel. In the language of the rai-kirah, the word meant 吐orgotten.・ 
的t seems you know me already,・I said, pushing one of my castles two squares 
forward. 
He dipped his head in acknowledgment and contemplated my move. After only a few 
moments, he moved a black rider and captured one of my warriors. 的致e had no wish 
to frighten you.・ 
哲o wish to frighten・I don稚 believe that.・His assertion was so absurd that it 
shook me from my careful reticence. I thought of the dreams he had touched: my 
death visions of this very fortress that haunted my nights, and the dreams that 
had lured me into the demon realm葉he image of a black and silver warrior whose 
power filled me with despair and dread. Both visions implied that I was to bring 
destruction to everything I valued. What man or woman would not be frightened? 
撤ower is frightening,・he said. 敵reat power extremely so. But fear was never my 
intent.・ 
典hen you miscalculated.・ 
添our fear does not diminish my estimation of you. I know how I am perceived in 
the worlds. Even the staunchest heart must blanch in the face of uttermost 
evil.・He might have been speaking of a preference for onions over radishes. 
This dry poke at himself did nothing to restore my equilibrium, thrown off so 
badly by this strange visit. I took a moment to survey the game board and gather 
my wits. I laid a finger on one of my warriors・then took it away again as I saw 
the danger in the move. Instead, I shifted one of my priests to protect my lady 
queen. 的f not to intimidate me, then why any of it?・ 
Without hesitation he used his rider again to capture another white warrior. 
釘ecause I want to be free. I am not immortal, despite what stories say of me. I 
am coming to the end of a very long life, most of which has been spent locked 
away in this place. Pleasant though it be, it is still a prison. So葉his is not 
so difficult a concept葉here are a few things I would like to do before I die. 
Perhaps to walk the world beyond these walls.・ 
I shifted a rider to threaten his. 添ou致e been trying to escape. Using others, 
manipulating them・with dreams, I think, as you have with me.・I could not even 
begin to tally the names of the dead that lay at his feet羊ai-kirah, Ezzarians, 
Khelid, the uncountable victims of the demon war遥et the dead seemed so very 
remote beside the consuming reality of this moment. 
摘very captive has the right to yearn for freedom. There is a certain madness in 
bondage・you know of it. We are driven to make compromises that we would abhor in 
other circumstances.・ 
Disconcerting to think that he knew so much of me, and I so little of him. My 
demon and I had both made compromises to be free, and our choices had not been 
guiltless. Yet surely Nyel痴 crimes must outweigh my own; my ancestors had riven 
their souls for fear of him. What had he done? And what did he see in me that 
made him think I would be his tool? I could not allow myself to be mesmerized by 
disarming frankness and a friendly game. 展hy me?・ 
He kept his eyes fixed upon the game and drew his obsidian priest halfway across 
the glass to threaten my king. 添our power, of course. That痴 what I致e been trying 
to tell you. Of all beings in the worlds, you have the power to release me. You 
have power enough to do a great many things.・ 
This was the first lie I had heard from him. Not that what he said was untrue. 
Now that he laid it out, it was obvious that my dreams had been crafted to tell 
me exactly that悠 had power beyond telling. But I also sensed that his words were 
not the truthful answer to my question. 
As I contemplated the game board and this odd discourse, the woman servant 
returned, bringing hot water to replenish the teapot, a plate of frosted cakes, 
and a bowl of plump red grapes. 
Nyel jumped up from his chair and strode to the window, peering out into the 
misty afternoon. 展here is the cursed Kasparian? I致e no mind for sweets and 
dainties. I致e climbed the mountain path today and would dine early.・ 
The woman did not respond. She left the room and returned with a silver salver 
piled high with sugared dates. The manservant poked up the fire, turned up the 
lamps, and drew the curtains against the failing light. Nyel might not have been 
in the room for all the note they took of him. They performed their duties 
without speech or deference. When the manservant brought soft slippers, he did 
not approach Nyel or ask if he was ready, but knelt in front of Nyel痴 empty 
chair. He waited there motionless until the old man sighed in exasperation, sat 
down, and allowed his damp boots to be removed and replaced with the softer 
shoes. 
Just as the two servants left the room, another man hurried through the door, 
buttoning a high collar about a neck as thick as my waist. Unlike the servants, 
he addressed Nyel directly, bowing with respectful familiarity. 的 am shamed, 
Master. How could I have missed his coming?・His shoulders and chest were in 
proportion to his neck預 giant of a man. Wet brown hair, long and thick, was 
threaded with gray. His apparel, apparently thrown on carelessly, was simple妖ark 
brown vest and breeches, white shirt, and worn boots. He had not been in so much 
hurry as to leave off his weapon, however, a formidable sword in a battered 
sheath. On observing the hard-edged patterns of his face, I surmised that the 
weapon would always be the last thing he left off. 
滴is arrival was unconventional, as is his continued presence,・said Nyel, 
acknowledging the newcomer痴 respectful address with a slight nod. 的t seems he 
needed no admission to our charmed fortress.・ 
The man痴 wide hands, freed of occupation now that his collar was fastened, 
settled to his hips as he stared at me in frank appraisal. After a moment his 
eyes widened. 滴e isn稚 really here at all!・ 
Nyel propped his chin on his hand and raised his eyebrows. 撤erhaps it is more 
accurate to say that he is with us in spirit only. He has yet to take the more 
decisive step of passing through the last breach.・ 
鉄o he is still human.・The derisive hatred with which the newcomer spit out this 
accusation threw Nyel痴 amiable sparring into darker context. 
哲o,・snapped Nyel. 滴e was never that. Mind your tongue.・ 
The man dipped his head. 展e differ, as always, Master. I can say only as I see.・ 

釘efore we set off arguing again, will you tell your benighted minions that I am 
ready to dine? I climbed today and am like to wither away altogether without 
sustenance.・ 
The man bowed and withdrew. Nyel slumped in his chair, staring at the game 
board. I didn稚 think his mind was on our game幼ertainly not the one we played 
with black and white pieces. 
的 never thought to see others in this place,・I said. 展ho are they?・ 
Nyel glanced up. 典he servants are・creations・neither human nor anything else. 
Made to serve my comfort, though, as you see, I cannot command them. Nor can I 
kill them.・He grimaced ruefully. 的 must confess, at times I致e been driven to 
try. When I die, they will vanish as if they had never been.・ 
釘ut this other man・ 
適asparian. Like me, a captive in this gracious house. Though, unlike me, he 
chose it freely.・ 
滴e chose to be imprisoned?・ 
摘xtraordinary, is it not, such ferocious loyalty? And still undimmed, for his is 
a noble spirit. Could you do such a thing for anyone? I don稚 think I could.・The 
old man sighed. 的t is not his fault he has the dullest mind ever woke of a 
morning.・ 
Extraordinary, indeed. Someone had cared enough for Nyel to share his captivity 
for untold years庸ar more than a thousand, for it was a full thousand years in 
the past that an Ezzarian prophet had foretold the release of the prisoner of 
Tyrrad Nor and the catastrophe that it would cause. 的s he a kinsman?・ 
滴e was my attelle葉he son of a very good friend sent to live with me and learn 
from me, though not very successfully even then.・ 
添our student.・ 
溺uch more than that. What student chooses to lie ill when his master is 
diseased?・ 
溺ore like a son, then.・ 
And here I believed that I had stumbled close to the heart of the matter, for 
though Nyel sat very still and made no show of anger, his dark gaze pressed down 
on me until I was almost suffocated. 哲o. Not a son. Never that.・ 
Even Kasparian could not match Nyel as a source for wonder. I had expected to 
find a being kin to the Lord of Demons, the vile and murderous rai-kirah I had 
battled in Aleksander痴 soul, and what had I found instead? A tired old 
man用etulant, lonely, wryly humorous, aggrieved. Though I had seen no direct 
manifestation of it, I did not discount his power. I was utterly fascinated. 
展ill you tell me your story, Nyel? I壇 like to understand.・ 
He rubbed his forehead absentmindedly. 鄭nd what would that accomplish? You 
judged me long ago. You think that those who put me here must have done it for 
good reason, and that a friendly game of warriors and castles will change 
nothing.・ 
的 am not afraid to listen.・Wary, but no longer afraid. 
He glanced across the room, where the manservant was bringing in a covered 
dinner service. He rose to his feet and looked down at me. 的 need to eat and 
rest for a while. You can ruminate upon your confounded expectations and decide 
if you truly mean what you say. If you池e still here when the sun rises, perhaps 
I値l tell you. 
CHAPTER 12
I walked in Nyel痴 garden under a double-sized moon, hung in a canopy of 
unfamiliar stars. Like a ghost, I left no footprints on the wet grass, nor could 
I feel the rain-washed air nor smell the honeysuckle. Far in the back of my 
mind, like the tiny, clear images sighted through a spyglass, were a blind, 
half-naked boy and a brass bowl. I believed that I had but to reach for them to 
go back. My true life waited for me there, but here・what was here? 
Danger, certainly. Just as in the days I had walked portals into the realms of 
human souls, I had journeyed far beyond the boundaries of intellect and 
experience. But because of the demon inside me, I could no longer trust my 
Warden痴 instincts. I felt vulnerable. Exposed. History, legend, and suspicion 
proclaimed this mysterious man痴 wickedness, yet I was drawn to him in ways I 
could not express. He was an answer to questions I had not asked. He was a 
memory I could not capture, a word poised on my tongue, ready to be spoken. 
In my sojourn in Kir歎agonoth I had been enchanted, enveloped in a spell of 
romantic attachment to a beautiful rai-kirah named Vallyne. With confusion and 
stolen memory, Vallyne and her charming partner Vyx had tried to trick me into 
yielding my soul to Denas, not understanding that I was ready to do as they 
wished for my own reasons. But my fascination with Nyel was something far 
deeper預n attachment developed while my eyes were open and wary, and thus far 
more worrisome. Denas could not help me. At the time of our joining, Denas had 
known no more than I of the danger in Tyrrad Nor. 
Reviewing every word of my strange discourse with Nyel, examining them for 
snares and signs of treachery, I walked for hours. I did not watch where I 
wandered, so that when a shadow blocked the angled moonlight, I was surprised to 
look up and find myself about to stumble headlong into the wall. The barrier was 
twice my height. Though built of smooth, solid black stone so finely joined, one 
could scarcely see the edges of the blocks, it looked as if someone had taken a 
hammer to it. Chips of stone lay on the ground, and cracks as deep as my second 
knuckle wandered here and there across the flats. In a few spots the top was 
ragged, crumbling. 
When I had been bleeding away my life on a hillside in southern Manganar, my 
death vision had shown me this very wall breached by a jagged crack that leaked 
blood, a deadly flow that threatened to consume the world of Kir誰avarrin in 
fire. In that same vision, I had seen Vyx insert himself into the breach to seal 
it. I believed what that image had shown me溶ot so much that a good-humored 
rai-kirah had truly become a part of the stone, but that Vyx had somehow 
sacrificed himself to keep the fortress secure. I ran my fingers over the black 
stone, trying to sense something of its enchantment, to learn of Vyx痴 fate or 
what he might have done to heal the breach. But my ghost hand could feel nothing 
but the hard surface. 的 wish you were here to advise me, rai-kirah,・I said, 
walking alongside the barrier, dragging my palm along its rough solidity. 典his 
is not at all what I expected.・ 
I walked along the wall all the way to the juncture where it merged seamlessly 
with the mountainside; then I walked back again past my starting point to the 
other end. No tree grew within fifty paces of this dark barrier, and I found no 
gate or other opening in the black stone. Nowhere did I see any possibility that 
a man, sorcerer or no, could scale or breach its smooth face. 
The hours passed quickly. As the darkness after moonset yielded to dawn gray, I 
hurried back through the garden toward the castle, where I found a green-cloaked 
Nyel sitting on the wide steps and watching the watery sun rise over the 
mountains. He nodded擁n satisfaction, I thought謡hen he caught sight of me. 典he 
grounds are not so large as they seem, are they?・he said, gesturing to his 
domain. 泥o you mind walking awhile longer? I知 a bit stiff from the damp.・ 
的f you like,・I said. 泥id you rest well?・ 
的ndeed. I find it so annoying to require sleep. When I was young, I could go 
entire seasons without. There was so much to do容xploring, enjoying games and 
conversation, building, devising those things humans call magic, contemplating 
the world・worlds, as we discovered.・ 
We strolled along the same paths that I had trodden in the night, but I was not 
watching the scenery this time, only listening and formulating questions. 展hen 
you say 層e着・ 
展e called ourselves Madonai, and we had lived in this world we called 
Kir誰avarrin for seven ages葉housands of years to those who count time. I cannot 
describe the glory of my people・their beauty and intelligence and goodness of 
heart. To see Kasparian and myself so fallen・to think we are the last・it is a 
bitter ending.・ 
I thought he was going to stop with that, for his voice was shaking. But though 
his steps slowed, they never stopped, and soon he began to speak again. 鄭s I 
told you, we are not immortal, but we live a very long time compared to humans 
or your own kind.・ 
He did not quite spit and curse when he said the word human, as Kasparian had 
done, but from the beginnings of this story, I felt his loathing for humankind. 
鄭s with everything in the natural world, there was a balance to be maintained,・ 
he continued. 鄭nd so it was with our long lives. Only rarely did we birth 
children. No Madonai could parent more than one, and when I came of age, it had 
been a great many years since the last Madonai child was born. This was a great 
sorrow to us, as we missed sharing our learning and adventures with children. 
典here came a time when my good friend Hyrdon and I came into a great 
enchantment預 mode of travel that took us to a place that we did not know 
existed. To a different world, where beings lived who were something similar to 
ourselves, though weak and fragile and unendingly contentious.・He glanced my 
way. 典hey called us gods, Hyrdon and me.・ 
添ou found the human world,・I said. 
We had wandered through the garden and onto the wild grass at its edge, but 
never did we approach the wall. Whenever our path threatened to take us near it, 
Nyel would alter his direction. 滴yrdon was uncomfortable in this new world and 
soon returned home, but I explored further and came upon a land so marvelous・ a 
warm forest land of healthy trees and abundant rain・of smooth hills, and leaves 
that took fire with color in the waning season・ 
Ezzaria. He had fallen in love with my homeland. His voice trailed away, and I 
took up the story for the moment, reciting eagerly as for a well-loved 
schoolmaster. 添ou helped the people tend the forest. Taught them how to live in 
it, how to nurture it and love it as you did. And eventually you met a human 
woman, fell in love with her, and she bore you a child.・ 
Nyel laughed, but without mirth. 添ou learned your lessons well. Yes. That all 
happened. But I was never jealous of the boy. I was elated. All Madonai 
rejoiced. When they learned that I had produced a child after only a short time 
mated, others sought partners among the humans. Men who had produced a Madonai 
child could also father a half-human child. A Madonai woman who had seen her 
only babe grown long years before, could have three more if she mated with a 
human man. And the children were so beautiful and marvelous・we called them 
喪ekkonarre着・ 
鼎hildren of joy,・I said. Rekkonarre・rai-kirah・I wanted him to stop there. To let 
me savor the revelation, the answer to the puzzle of my people痴 origin, the bits 
and pieces of truth that I had seen, now snapped into their proper positions 
within the mosaic of history. 典hey could shapeshift,・I said. 典hese children had 
power something like that of Madonai.・ 
敵reater in some ways,・said Nyel as we climbed a narrow track that led from the 
grassy slope up onto the rocky face of the mountainside behind the castle. 典hey 
lived in both worlds easily. Indeed they needed to spend time in both worlds, 
for their nature was of both. They could have many children of their own, and 
they aged more slowly than the humans, though much faster than we did. We 
grieved sorely to think we might see them die.・ 
We walked faster as he told the story, up the track that grew steeper and 
narrower as we climbed, the land falling away to one side. 釘ut something else 
happened. Something terrible. My own people began to die, far, far earlier than 
should have been their time. Those who stayed too long in the human world grew 
weaker until they could not breathe, as if something had drawn the heart from 
them. We tried to find the cause耀ome disease, we thought. But it was not 
disease・ not as you think of it. We discovered that those who died soonest were 
those of our people who had produced many children with their human partners. 
The more children, the sooner the Madonai parent faded.・ 
And so it came. The reason for everything. 
的 had risen high within our ranks, and I told the others of what I had learned. 
We had to stop, I said, or we would extinguish our race. No one would listen. No 
one wished to hear that our joy was killing us.・ 
We had reached a ledge and could go no farther. A sheer cliff rose behind us, 
soaring skyward to the rocky peak, and before us was a precipitous drop to the 
palace ramparts. Nyel was breathing hard. I stood beside him and gazed on the 
green country in the distance, bathed in waking sunlight. A sheet of water 
shimmered on a distant plain. Nearer to hand was the walled shelf of green that 
was Nyel痴 prison, the precipice beyond the wall, and far below, at the mountain痴 
foot, a ribbon of pale green and brilliant yellow. Gamarand trees葉rees with twin 
yellow trunks that twined about each other like lovers. Denas had told me that 
the gamarand wood was a holy place to those who lived in Kir誰avarrin, that it 
somehow helped to protect them from the danger imprisoned in Tyrrad Nor. 
的 tried to barricade the way to the human world,・said Nyel. 典hat was my crime. I 
said we had to leave our mates, abandon our children with their human kin, and 
destroy the passages between us, before we destroyed ourselves. I begged them to 
heed me, to let me save them.・He threw a rock into the vast nothing that 
surrounded us. 鉄ome agreed with me. Most did not. They called me murderer, 
monster, child-slayer, for we could see that our children needed the life of 
both worlds to survive. The argument was long and terrible. I lost.・ 
鄭nd from your prison, you watched your people die.・ 
The wind I could not feel caught Nyel痴 green cloak and whipped it about his tall 
form. 徹ne who is not Madonai cannot comprehend the bond we shared. Through all 
those years I felt their joys and sorrows, and every time one of them died, a 
part of me died as well.・He folded his arms tightly across his chest. 釘y the 
time of their fearful prophecy, our children痴 children had forgotten their own 
history. They called the Madonai 組ods・or 知yths,・and remembered only that the 
prisoner in the fortress was anathema. Frightened by their seeings, they 
destroyed themselves, left this land, and closed the way back, not knowing the 
price they would pay when trapped with their folly in the human world. Is it not 
a wicked irony?・ 
But he could not be as innocent as his story claimed. 添et you invade our dreams 
and cause upheaval,・I said. 添ou have used the rai-kirah葉he demons揚oaded them to 
torment the world. In your name Tasgeddyr, the Lord of Demons, tried to take 
power in the human world. Perhaps you want to avenge yourself on the descendants 
who caused the death of your people. How can I possibly let you go free?・ 
滴ow could I wish to destroy our children? Your race葉he rekkonarre擁s all that is 
left of my own. Besides, you have done worse to yourselves than I ever could 
have done. What need have I for vengeance?・Nyel started down the path. 
But Ezzarians were not the ones he hated. 的t痴 humans, isn稚 it?・I called after 
him. 哲ot the rai-kirah who are the 閃adonai・part of us nor the Ezzarians who 
should properly be joined with them遥our children. It痴 humans you despise.・ 
His expression was everything of disgust as he shouted back at me. 添es. I freely 
confess it. Humans twist and destroy and ruin everything they touch; they 
slaughter each other like maddened beasts. I curse the day I walked into their 
world. But you needn稚 worry about them, either.・He shrugged his shoulders and 
started walking again, slower this time, allowing me to catch up. 典heir own 
violence and disharmony cause the upheavals you lay at my feet. You, of all the 
rekkonarre, have lived in their world and seen their cruelties.・ 
典he human world is my world. How can you expect me to release one who threatens 
the very people I have spent my life protecting?・ 
滴umans are a disease; eventually they will kill themselves. I have no need to 
hurry it along. I wish only to walk in woodlands and sit beside rivers, to 
listen to songs of noble deeds, to speak with people who speak back to me of 
matters other than what fruit I want for supper. I will not apologize for what I 
have done to gain my freedom. If you have doubts, so be it. I will die here.・ 
We walked quickly and silently down the path, as if hurrying to some final 
destination now that the story was told. Yet I wanted to linger awhile, to 
consider his tale, to find the flaws in it・to find a solution. The boundaries of 
his prison were so narrow, and the wide and lovely lands beyond, so close as to 
almost touch them, were empty of everyone he had known and loved. Perhaps it was 
better to be captive in the dark pits of the Gastai or the slave houses of the 
Derzhi, where you could not see so vividly what you had lost. 
展hat do you know of my life, Nyel?・ 
He stopped in the garden, hesitating before he spoke. 的 touched your mind as you 
lay dying. I cannot read your thoughts, but a dying man痴 visions give a fair 
image of his life.・ 
禅hen you know that when I was a slave, I despised humans as much as you do, even 
though I believed myself one of them.・ 
添es. I saw it. That痴 why I thought you might understand.・ 
釘ut I learned that even in a heart that seems irredeemable, there are wonders・ I 
told him briefly of Aleksander and our journey together. 
And though Nyel listened patiently to my tale, when I was done, he expressed 
only contempt. 徹f all things I have seen in you, this one I cannot fathom. Your 
regard for this human weakling・crude, bestial・it is inexplicable. You are a 
rekkonarre, a child of the Madonai, of so much more worth than any sniveling 
human beast. You claim he has a grand destiny, yet there is no destiny that is 
not better filled by the least of our blood than by any human. Come to 
Kir誰avarrin in your own form. Walk this land that is ours and feel the power 
that flows in your veins. Your birthright. Then stand before me and tell me of 
human destiny.・ 
典heir power is different from ours,・I said. 的 want to make you see it.・ 
We had come full circle on our journey. Nyel stood at the top of the palace 
steps, and I stood on the white gravel path below. 鉄o you will come here again?・ 
he said. 
I wondered he did not know the answer already, so strong was my desire. 展e need 
to finish our game,・I said, bowing ever so slightly. I told myself it was not in 
deference, but only in respect for age and grief. 
For the first time since I had stepped into Tyrrad Nor, Nyel smiled・and he was 
transformed. For a single, marvelous instant, I glimpsed a lord of the Madonai, 
tall, dark-haired, commanding, melydda shimmering, singing in the air about him. 
His physical beauty was matched only by that which dwelt in his dark eyes, the 
deep, clear eyes that held everything of wisdom, everything of power, everything 
of kindness and joy. I sank to one knee and dropped my gaze. One might easily 
mistake such a being for a god. 
I waked from my visioning clearheaded, hungry, and alone. When I staggered into 
the blazing sunlight, wobbly from the slender rations and stiff from inactivity, 
Aleksander and Sovari and the two old women paused their activities as if I were 
an apparition that might well strike them down where they stood. I waved. 的知 all 
right,・I called. 摘verything is all right.・ 
Though Aleksander mentioned no less than three times in that first hour that I 
seemed more at ease than I had been since my arrival in Zhagad, and though he 
waggled his eyebrows in invitation, I held Nyel and his strange story close. To 
discuss Such things in glaring daylight or to speculate upon their meanings in 
casual conversation seemed somehow profane. I volunteered only that the siffaru 
had yielded visions that were quite unexpected and that I needed to think about 
them. But I agreed that I felt more balanced for having ventured on this 
journey. Indeed, for the first time in months, I felt hopeful. 
The prisoner of Tyrrad Nor was very dangerous. Though not yet able to number his 
talents, I was not blind to his power; he could touch my dreams. Yet long before 
I had learned the truth of the rai-kirah, my people had believed that killing a 
demon would diminish the universe. When a Warden fought a demon battle, his 
first aim was to banish the rai-kirah from the possessed soul, to prevent it 
doing harm, not to kill it. Even my brief glimpse of Nyel痴 glory told me that 
his death would be an immeasurable loss楊nowledge, beauty, and power that could 
never be replaced. Every event of my life had led me to this point, shaped me 
into one who might understand this strange and magnificent being, and I refused 
to believe that it was only coincidence. As soon as Aleksander was safe, I would 
venture the passage to Kir誰avarrin. To prevent Nyel from flaying the world with 
his hatred, I would need either to heal him of it or kill him. Yes, I would be 
wary, but I hoped・prayed・that I could heal him. 
CHAPTER 13
典omorrow,・said Aleksander, hobbling over to where I sat stuffing myself with a 
second roasted chukar and a fistful of dates. 禅omorrow we ride for Karn辿egeth. 
Kiril sent word that the First Lord of the Mardek is willing to give me 
audience. 淡illing槽 insolent bastard.・ 
典he Mardek are not of the Twenty,・I said through a mouthful of tough, stringy 
fowl. My stomach rumbled in pleasure. 
Aleksander痴 healing had progressed rapidly while I was in the cave預 span of 
three weeks, I discovered. By the time I emerged, the Prince was already forcing 
himself up and down the dusty paths of Drafa on crutches Sovari had fashioned 
from the wood poles of his litter. Malver had arrived with the riding boot on 
the day after my return. The heavy boot, soaked and shrunk as the maker 
instructed, fit closely about Aleksander痴 leg and thigh. Sturdy laces allowed it 
to be put on and off when required, and the steel rods built into it kept his 
limb straight and stretched for proper healing. Sovari had brought new horses 
from Kiril, and after two weeks of wearing the boot and a few days of riding 
practice, Aleksander was ready to bid farewell to Drafa. On the next morning we 
were to set out to raise support for a bid to reclaim his throne. 
哲one of the Twenty will hear me.・Aleksander leaned against the broken wall, used 
a crutch to bat aside several bags of clothes, weapons, and foodstuffs, and 
lowered himself awkwardly to the sand, settling his back against the wall. 的知 
left to build an army of weaklings.・ 
葬Powerlessness will be your strength.・Though the sun had long set over the 
dunes, the night was changed when Qeb joined our conversation so suddenly. The 
hard-edged starlight took on a softer glow, the sky grew muddled like an 
ink-scribed page when water is spilled on it, and the air fell still, as if the 
wind had withdrawn deep into the dunes. The boy stepped from the nagera grove, 
the silver hoops of his earrings catching the light of our small fire. 
撤owerlessness will be my death,・said Aleksander, aiming his knife and his 
attention at the remaining chukar. 的f I march on Zhagad with a straggling legion 
of minor houses, I値l be spitted like this damned bird, and my father痴 cousin 
will have his pleasure with my entrails.・ 
添ou will find no kingdom in Zhagad,・said the boy, his voice resonating with 
authority beyond his years. 典he Empire of the Lion Throne is rotted. Diseased.・ 
The rings that banded his outstretched arm and fingers pointed into the dunes of 
Srif Anar like a silver arrow. 
Aleksander paused in his activity and stared at the youth. 鉄o I am to be emperor 
of nothing? Is this some 壮eeing・of yours?・ 
鄭 worthy warrior must strip himself bare before he rides into battle, yield 
those things of most value. A worthy king must be willing to slice off a portion 
of his own flesh, destroy it, though it be his very heart.・ 
The Prince shrugged and resumed carving off a portion of the roasted chukar. 的t 
seems I am to be mutilated no matter which direction I choose. So forgive me if 
I pursue my own plans instead of yours.・ 
溺y lord・ I wanted to tell him to heed the boy, who knew more of his business 
than one might suppose. But if I chided Aleksander to give credence to Qeb痴 
pronouncements, then the Prince could rightly ask what Gaspar had told me on a 
dark afternoon beside Drafa痴 muddy spring. I didn稚 want to think of that. I had 
buried the old man痴 ramblings beneath my newfound hopes, reasoned them away by 
telling myself that everything had changed when I had faced my enemy. So with 
only moderate twinges of guilt, I kept silent while Aleksander continued his 
scornful grumbling. 
In the cool hour before dawn, we took our leave of Drafa. The two old women saw 
us off with prayers and admonitions, patting our ankles and giving us 
instructions for Aleksander痴 continued care. When they were done, Aleksander 
bent down, and into Sarya痴 hand he placed a small bundle, tied with a strip of 
gold-embroidered cloth cut from his ragged white cloak. ・Na sale vinkaye 
viterre,・ he said. Salt gives life its flavor. The custom was as old as the 
Derzhi, and even Manot beamed. I looked back as we rode away. Qeb stood beside 
the fallen lion at the top of the rise, the wind shifting his shining braids as 
his ruined eyes stared into the empty desert. 
One of life痴 truest pleasures is to watch a person do what he or she was born to 
do葉o observe a fine sword maker fold and shape hot steel, to watch a skilled 
harp player brush her fingers on bare strings and birth a heart-stirring melody, 
to gape as an artist lays down three strokes with a bit of charcoal and makes a 
bird take wing. Aleksander was born to ride horses. 
泥amned plow horse,・grumbled the Prince as he shifted his weight yet again on the 
balky chestnut, trying to accommodate the stiff boot that had his leg sticking 
out to one side, iron straight save for a slight flexure at the knee. 滴ow in 
Athos・name does Kiril expect me to command respect, riding a beast with a head 
like a brick and legs like posts? Bad enough that I知 locked in this cursed leg 
trap.・Neither Prince nor horse ever looked anything but miserable when Malver 
helped Aleksander get his leather-bound limb across the beast痴 back. Once in the 
saddle, Aleksander would curse and swear how it was impossible to command any 
horse properly one-sided. Yet on this morning some seventeen days after leaving 
Drafa, as on every morning of our journey, I watched the Prince lean forward to 
speak to the beast, lay his hands on its thick neck and his right knee on its 
barrel-shaped flank, imposing his discipline like a lute player tuning his 
instrument. In that moment, man and horse became one. 
Sovari grinned, his teeth white in his sunburned face. A smile was just 
detectable beneath Malver痴 stolid demeanor. The three Derzhi wheeled their 
mounts, gave a whoop, and raced across the dunes of Srif Anar against the 
fire-shot sky. I sighed and abandoned our resting place at a traveler痴 well, 
resigned to another endless day of starting and stopping as we journeyed 
westward across the desert toward Karn辿egeth and a meeting with the First Lord 
of the Mardek. 
The Mardek were a minor house who had but a single claim to honor in the Empire. 
A lord of the Mardek was always the First Dennissar of the Imperial Treasury, 
overseeing local tax collections in the city of Zhagad itself and certain 
special levies for the Emperor痴 wars and pleasures. Although such administrative 
positions were mundane for a warrior people, this one was potentially quite 
profitable. There were always bribes to be had, collection fees to be 
assessed預nd deposited in one痴 own treasury預nd judgments to be rendered that 
could cause pain and annoyance in more powerful houses. But the Mardek prided 
themselves預nd pride was almost as significant a part of the Derzhi character as 
battle experience熔n their ethical purity. In more than a hundred and twenty 
years, no Mardek official had ever been known to enrich his own coffers with 
illicit gains, accept a bribe for delaying collections or reducing levies, or 
render judgments that were anything but strictly in the Emperor痴 interest. But 
in the first week of Edik痴 ascension, the office had been snatched away and 
given to one Yagneti zha Juran, a dissolute brother-in-law of Leonid zha 
Hamrasch. Kiril had reported that the Mardek were ripe for rebellion. Honorable 
rebellion, of course. 
At midday, Malver returned from a scouting trip. 典he Karn辿egeth road lies just 
over the next rise, Your Highness. We needs must take the road from here, as it痴 
too odd otherwise. They致e got lookouts all about the walls and only the main 
gates open, with at least fifty soldiers manning them. I asked a drover why the 
heavy watch, and he said there痴 rumors coming in from traders about bandit 
raids, and they致e been alerted to look for・ah・particular outlaws.・ 
典hen let痴 get to the road,・said Aleksander, nudging his mount. 的致e no time to 
dawdle.・ 
Though I could scarcely lift my eyelids for the breathless, glaring heat, I 
caught the hesitation in the soldier痴 report. 展ait,・I said, squinting in the 
glare. 典hese 叢articular outlaws着 They池e watching for Prince Aleksander, is that 
it, Malver?・ 
Malver ducked his head in acknowledgment. He still refused to look me in the 
eye. 
溺y lord, you must not be recognized,・I said. 
禅hese rags aren稚 fit for a slave and haven稚 been clean in two months. My 
chamberlains, servants, and warrior legions are conspicuously absent. And I致e 
neither banner nor herald to announce my coming. I could hardly be mistaken for 
a visiting Emperor, riding on this cart horse.・ 
Indeed Kiril had been wise enough to send us mediocre horses, offering his 
apologies along with his conviction that mounts of Aleksander痴 preference would 
be too conspicuous. But clothes, horses, and servants were only part of the 
royal personage. Aleksander couldn稚 see that even his annoyance was revealing. 
添ou must unbraid your hair,・I said, 土ou and Sovari both. And, my lord, you must 
remove your ring and cover the hilt of your sword. Captain Sovari濫 
填nbraid my hair?・Aleksander pulled up sharply. 添ou jest.・ 
I continued, hoping he would get my point soon, so that we could move on and 
find shade and something cool to drink. The gritty dregs in our waterskins would 
scorch the tongue. 鼎aptain Sovari, you must remove your imperial sash. It didn稚 
betray you in Zhagad, where imperial troops are common, but everyone will know 
what captains are garrisoned here. We must display no imperial connection and no 
heged identification for a man with a broken leg. Better if neither of you can 
even be recognized as Derzhi. Give them no reason at all to associate this boot 
with Prince Aleksander. Do you understand me?・ 
Sovari grimaced and dragged the embroidered sash bearing the Derzhi lion and his 
badge of rank over his head. He stuffed it in his saddle pack, and then untied 
the strip of leather that bound his long braid. Malver sat quietly watching the 
Prince, who glared at me in fury. 
He had to hear it. 添ou致e a price on your head, my lord. You must act like it or 
you値l suffer for your folly. All of us will.・ 
Aleksander痴 red hair had only just grown out enough to make a stump of a braid 
on the right side of his head. His whole posture had changed on the first day he 
had managed to twist it into something that would stay put葉he way a man walks 
when he steps onto his own land after long journeying. He wasn稚 going to enjoy 
being a fugitive. 
I sighed and made a futile swipe at the sweat that dribbled endlessly down my 
neck. 典here are other things. We must agree on a story・tell him, Malver. You 
know how Derzhi guards behave, and what they池e likely to do when hunting a 
king-slayer.・ 
Malver nodded slowly. 展e must ride no more than two together. Gate guards will 
likely question any man of fighting age, as will any warrior of the local houses 
we chance to meet in the streets. With four together they値l have swords drawn 
before asking濫 
鄭s well they should,・said Aleksander. 的壇 not have my warriors fail in their 
duty.・ 
Malver threw me a quick glance and continued. 典he Fontezhi have the greatest 
holdings here. Their warriors are among the most・They may strike you at any 
time, my lord, if they don稚 like your answers or the words you use to make them, 
and they値l cut you or give you a taste of the lash if you so much as look at 
them crossways.・ 
鄭nd if I do anything untoward, I might as well stick a crown on your head and 
shout your name to all,・I said. 的知 going to have to mask my features as it 
is葉ry, at least. You daren稚 be seen with an Ezzarian. If they recognize any of 
us, we池e dead men.・ 
Aleksander tugged his horse痴 head about furiously as if to ride back the way we壇 
come, but he stopped as soon as he was facing away from us. After a long moment, 
he reached up and yanked out the thong holding his braid. 添ou would have me 
unmanned.・ 
展e would have you live, my lord.・ 
Karn辿egeth was a sprawling city, built on the steep slopes of a broad and barren 
ridge in the territory of Basran, just beyond the western border of Azhakstan. 
Basranni were close kin to the Derzhi, related by intermarriage, culture, and 
long alliance, but a misdirected assassination had doomed Basran towns and 
villages to destruction and its people to enslavement some thirty years before. 
Karn辿egeth had survived the razing of Basran because there was so much wealth to 
be had nearby揚old and silver mines, salt deposits, major trade routes that led 
deep into the western Empire預nd the Derzhi would only have needed to build the 
city up again. Aleksander痴 uncle Dmitri had battered the palace of the Basran 
warlord into rubble, mounted the heads of Basran nobility on pikestaffs at the 
city痴 ten gates, enslaved the Basran people, and called it good enough. 
We emerged from our sheltered dune just as a long caravan passed out of sight 
along the broad Karn辿egeth road, a well-traveled strip that stretched straight 
across the desert to the hazy heights just visible in the west. 
As my horse plodded dutifully along behind my companions, I let the scarf of my 
haffai droop down low over my face, and I considered transformation. Eyes 
first勇zzarians were instantly recognizable by eyelids that made our eyes take on 
a downward angle. And then skin color容ven in a city of desert dwellers, our 
copper coloring and lack of beard were distinctive, and I would need to mask the 
royal mark burned into my left cheek. I drew up an image of Ezzarian eyes in my 
mind and worked out what changes would make them appear like those of other 
races: tighten the eyelid, draw the outside edge upward and inward, reduce the 
prominent cheekbone and brow that set them off. With a quick estimate of the 
variance needed in skin color and a determined avoidance of my proclivity to 
think too much, I summoned melydda and relaxed the boundaries of my flesh. 
A cool prickling rippled across my face and neck, spreading quickly to torso and 
limbs, redefining the edges of my physical being as it touched air or cloth・ 
easy・little more than the flush of long exertion in cold weather. Grinning in 
relief at this unexpectedly pleasurable experience of shapechanging, I nudged my 
horse a little faster. I wanted to catch up with Aleksander so he could tell me 
if I壇 done enough. 
Get to the gateway・The whisper came from inside me, along with a sudden swelling 
pressure of anger and frustration. One of my hands jerked brutally on the reins, 
while such a conviction of imminent catastrophe filled me that my other hand 
flew instinctively to my knife, caressed its hilt, considered its balance. My 
arm and eye readied themselves to judge distance and speed and angle. These were 
a warrior痴 instincts when confronted with danger, but not my own instincts at 
that moment. While you play with these useless companions, waste our time・the 
danger grows・ 
I recognized this voice, unheard since I lay dying at Dasiet Homol. I forced my 
hand away from my knife and refused the demand to kick my horse southward toward 
the entry to Kir誰avarrin. 鉄o tell me, demon,・I said, gritting my teeth against 
the nauseating intrusion. 展hat danger do I face? Tell me its name if it is not 
yours.・ 
It痴 from the past, he said. And inside you. It is the reason for everything. 
展hy now? All those weeks I listened for you. I left myself open, tried to talk, 
to come to some resolution迫left myself exposed, vulnerable to corruption until I 
had been almost sick from it欄but you never deigned to answer.・ 
I told you that you壇 win. You have the soul. What more was there to say? But 
now, after seeing the prisoner・hearing him. Listen to me. When you pass through 
the gate, you must yield control of this body. Let me guide you. His hurried 
words grew louder, more desperate, a trickle grown quickly to a flood. It痴 
something about the prison・it痴 so close・let me remember・ you are already 
compromised・ 
Even as we spoke I felt the storm building, the paraivo on the horizons of my 
mind ready to flay any human within the reach of my hand. 添ou want me to trust 
you, yield to you, when you致e driven me to murder?・I could scarcely squeeze out 
the words for the rage hammering my skull, deafening me, driving me to violence 
and madness. 
・wasting time・I won稚 apologize for if・your own mind痴 weakness・ 
The din grew louder. My eye fell on Aleksander痴 back, and a flush of hostility 
burned my skin. Humans were so stupid, so ignorant. Captives of their flesh. 
Listen to me! 
My hand crept toward my knife hilt. I needed to rid myself of these 
distractions. Hot anger boiled and surged・the heat thrumming・the glare of sand 
and sky blinding・ confusing・while cold, creeping darkness gnawed at my soul・ 
哲o! You will not have me.・I squeezed the words through clenched teeth. Appalled 
at what I was about to do, I threw every protection I knew between my soul and 
my wakened demon, wrestling him into silence, stilling the cacophony in my head. 
At last I understood, and with clarity, my newfound hopes came crashing to 
earth. 
Denas痴 anger fueled my madness. His outrage drove me to bloodshed, and his fury 
shredded my self-control. But Nyel surely chose my victims. The Madonai痴 long 
grieving had turned into virulent poison that tainted everything he touched. He 
had infected my dreams, and like dry cedar in a lightning storm, his hatred of 
the human race had become tinder in my warrior痴 hand. I had fed on his hatred: 
when looking on Gaspar and Fessa痴 bodies, when watching Edik beat the slave, 
when seeing how the namhir had mutilated Gordain. It had festered in me as I 
watched Aleksander suffer from the folly and injustice of his own kind, until it 
burst like a suppurating boil to foul my sleep. Creeping darkness. 
Your strength will be your downfall, fool, cried the demon痴 fading voice. 
的致e not forgotten how you feel about those who wear flesh,・I muttered under the 
cover of my scarf, shoving my half-drawn knife blade back into its sheath, 
commanding my trembling hands still. 展hen we ventured this joining, you claimed 
that the danger in Tyrrad Nor was your enemy. But even if you don稚 share his 
purpose, your anger does nothing but feed his power. You caught me napping 
today, Denas, but never again. I control my own soul, my own hand. Neither you 
nor the one in Tyrrad Nor will shape my future.・Now I knew it was both of them, 
doing battle in my soul, each trying to manipulate me to his will. I would not 
yield to either one, not now, not if or when I ever ventured Kir誰avarrin. 
鉄eyonne?・My eyes blinked open, and I found Aleksander not three paces from me, 
his hand poised casually above his own dagger. Malver and Sovari were just 
behind him, looking puzzled. 
的知 all right,・I said. 泥oing no more than I asked of you.・I threw back my hood 
and stared the Prince in the face, thrusting my pale bare arms out from the 
dusty haffai. 的s it done fairly?・ 
Startled, wary, he examined me as a Derzhi horse-broker reviews his newest 
purchase. 泥one,・he said at last. 釘ut not fairly, I think. You look as if you致e 
eaten something off.・ 
We rode for a while in silence. I felt my heart settle back into its normal 
rhythm. The sweat dried quickly. When the two soldiers pulled ahead of us, 
Aleksander spoke quietly. 的s it the rai-kirah, Seyonne?・ 
的t is nothing.・ 
鄭lways you致e been a private man. I respect that.・He wrinkled his face wryly. 鄭 
new thing I致e been working on. But these things going on with you・When you lay 
so ill after the matters at Dasiet Homol, you asked me to look at you and tell 
you what I saw, as if you valued my word on it. I told you then that despite 
this demon joining, I saw only the man I knew, the one who fought with the hand 
of the gods to save my soul.・ 
Despite the sunlit noonday, my skin grew cold. I wished he would stop. 
添ou致e not been the same since this siffaru. Healthier, I致e thought, more at 
peace than any time since you came to Zhagad, and I知 glad of it. Yet I致e 
realized that since you came out of the cave, I see only the seeming and not the 
truth. Three weeks you were buried in that cave, yet you致e said not a word of 
it. I can稚 read you anymore.・ 
典he seeming is the truth,・I said. 泥enas is silent and will stay that way. The 
prisoner is still locked away. My・problem・is under control. When you池e safe, I値l 
settle it once and for all.・Exactly how, I wasn稚 sure. I could not speak of the 
siffaru. Nyel and the feelings he had raised in me, my conviction that somehow I 
was destined, not to destroy, but to salvage something marvelous悠 buried deep. I 
didn稚 trust my feelings anymore, and I had other business to attend. 
We did not enter Karn辿egeth until sunset. Though we lingered outside the gates 
all afternoon, as if we thought to camp there for the night like the scores of 
others who disdained roofs or could ill afford the price of an inn, we merged 
back onto the road as soon as the shadows grew long. Night might mask our 
features better, but it would cause closer scrutiny by the troops of Derzhi 
warriors who patrolled the gates and streets. We stood a better chance of losing 
ourselves in the confusion of late-arriving caravans at the outer margins of 
day. 
Malver and Sovari ventured the gates first, leading our four horses. Malver痴 
dark features blended easily with the crowd as the two soldiers pushed their way 
into the noisy press. But even though he was afoot蓉nlikely for any Derzhi祐ovari痴 
height, light hair, and confident bearing marked him out of place in the streams 
of peasants and merchants, horsemen and slaves, chastou, goats, chickens, 
beggars, carts, and wagons. Malver must have noted the same, for he stopped, 
held a quick conversation with a ragged herdsman, and then threw a bleating goat 
across the Derzhi captain痴 shoulders. The two soldiers moved slowly with the 
crowd and disappeared through the gates. We noted no disturbance among the 
guards who stood stiff and alert or she gate towers above us or on the ramparts 
to either side, and no mustering of the mounted warriors who bulled through the 
milling travelers, staring into faces and poking their spears into carts. 
典ime to venture forth, my lord.・ 
溺ust I, too, carry a goat? Perhaps I could take it to Mardek as a bribe.・ 
典hough the goat would add a certain charm,・I said, unable to control a grin at 
the thought of it, 土our crutches will be enough to manage. Hunch over them, as 
if your back were twisted, too. And remember to keep your eyes down. Never look 
a Derzhi in the eye, especially when he challenges you. Keep your hand away from 
your weapons, as Malver told you. Remember our story, and let me talk.・ 
的s my education quite complete now?・The Prince jammed the crosspieces of his 
crutches under his arms. 
I picked up our two grimy cloth packs from the ground and dropped their rope 
ties around his neck, tied an old rag of Sarya痴 about his head to mute the 
telltale of his red hair, and yanked on the folds of his filthy haffai to make 
sure its long folds covered the unusual boot. Then I motioned him toward the 
gate, mumbling to myself. 的 don稚 think we致e even begun.・ 
CHAPTER 14
The girl was no more than seven or eight, a thin, leggy sprite with sparkling 
eyes, brown curls, and bare feet, a dirty, ragged, dancing child lost in her own 
fancy. She was with the man just in front of Aleksander and me預 gaunt Manganar 
dragging a two-wheeled cart to the gates while herding five small girls and 
three goats alongside it. The long-handled cart was crammed with two emaciated・ 
pigs, a flour barrel, an iron pot, and a pile of dingy bundles, one of which was 
producing a thready wailing. 
的致e naught for such a fee, your honor,・the man said to the burly Derzhi tax 
collector who was inspecting his pitiful cargo. 禅he childer痴 mam died birthing, 
and I致e brung them to her folk. Her kin won稚 take the childer without the goats 
to feed 弾m. My pigs are most dead, but if you壇 take one for the fee・ 
Two imperial officials were collecting entry tribute on any carts or livestock 
passing the gates, assessing the value of the goods and requiring a proportional 
fee or a share of the merchandise. This was profitable duty for a tax collector, 
but with Karn辿egeth痴 other nine gates locked against the threat of bandits, and 
more and more stragglers trying to get into the city before the gates were 
closed for the night, the two Derzhi were harried and short of temper. 
I cursed my timing. Sovari and Malver had moved straight through the gates, but 
the Prince and I had gotten snarled in the hot, stinking crowd, crammed between 
the poor Manganar and the agitated horses of a Fontezhi baron痴 traveling party. 
After a tedious hour痴 delay while a massive caravan was assessed and its gonaj 
argued every zenar of his taxes, we were only now getting close to the gates. 
The annoyed baron痴 servant pushed forward to have a word with the gate guards, 
and soon the party was let through without stopping for the tax collectors. 
鄭 Fontezhi sixth-degree,・murmured Aleksander, keeping his head down and his 
voice low. 鏑ikely a half-wit. The Fontezhi are so inbred they can see up their 
own asses. They池e afraid to lose a bit of their property as bride gifts, so they 
marry their own sisters.・ 
The baron痴 place was quickly taken by a prosperous-looking and very impatient 
Suzaini rider and a pair of Kuvai lute players on donkeys, who decided to while 
away the time teaching themselves some annoyingly repetitive passage of a 
popular saga. For a while I thought the lute players were most likely to get us 
in trouble, as Aleksander began muttering something about smashing their 
instruments and inserting various small pieces into the musicians・ears, noses, 
and other bodily openings. But that was before the burly tax collector began 
eyeing the little girl. 
His neck was as wide as his head, and a hairy bulge of belly hung out below his 
embroidered vest and imperial sash. He wore no braid. 展hat do you think, 
Vallot?・he called to his fellow, a soft, moonfaced man who was inspecting the 
bundles on the Manganar痴 cart. 展e could have one of the brats and sell her. This 
one might be pleasing if she was fattened up. Better than a half-dead pig.・ The 
big man caught the arm of the spinning child and drew her close, running a thick 
finger along her shoulder. Though smudged and grimy, the child痴 tanned skin was 
not yet coarsened by relentless sun and poverty. The little girl frowned and 
tried to pull away. 
Aleksander raised his head to see. I edged in front of him. 
The father shook his head, his weariness like another companion standing beside 
his bent shoulders. 典ake her if you will, your honors. I壇 sell her myself, but 
I知 told she痴 too young to be of much use. A year or two and she値l fetch a good 
price・if she lives so long. You値l have to feed her until then.・He held out a 
single silver coin that he had carefully unwrapped from a bit of rag. 的致e no 
more than this bit to pay. Is it worth more than a hungry child?・ 
The second tax collector, the younger, moonfaced Vallot, had just allowed the 
Suzaini rider to pass after pocketing a well-stuffed purse. He glanced at the 
restive crowd, noisy and pressing in the failing light. 的 think we致e more 
profitable prospects for our Emperor than a knob-kneed starveling. From the look 
of this beggar and his cart, she値l have the crabs already.・He snatched the 
Manganar痴 coin. 敵et on with you.・He tossed the coin to a sallow-faced assistant 
who was standing just behind the two, jotting the official tally of the 
collections溶ot to be mistaken for the actual sum擁n a cloth-bound ledger. Vallot 
motioned Aleksander and me forward. 
All might have ended well enough, save the brutish official shrugged, licked his 
lips, and reached his hand under the girl痴 tunic. The child grabbed his other 
hand and bit him. He roared and shoved her away, shaking his bleeding finger. 
鉄tupid girl!・The distraught father slapped the child to the ground just as the 
injured Derzhi recovered enough to raise his fist. With the girl out of reach, 
the vicious blow felled the father, and the tax collector痴 heavy boot kicked 
over the cart, scattering pots and bundles and crying children from hither to 
yon. 
It was over quickly. The moonfaced Vallot shoved the wailing children aside and 
motioned the rest of us forward impatiently. 鉄ee to your proper business, 
Felics. I致e supper waiting.・ 
I had a silver piece ready to slip into the Derzhi痴 hand. Having sent our horses 
with Malver, we had no goods or livestock, but that never stopped a tax 
collector from assessing a fee. 哲ame痴 Arago,・I said, ducking my head 
respectfully. 鉄mith痴 man come from Avenkhar to find work in the mines. This be 
my cousin Wat.・ 
The moonfaced official gave us only a cursory look. We were dirty, shabby, and 
had contrived to appear unarmed. Sovari had bound the Prince痴 sword to his back 
under the loose haffai, and I had done the same with mine. Not unheard of among 
desert people, but Vallot had no time to undress us. 鏑ame is he?・ Vallot jerked 
his head at Aleksander. 
擢ell into a shaft as a boy,・I said, sensing the hundred unfortunate retorts 
boiling inside Aleksander. 
To our left I saw the bleeding father right his cart, silently urging the little 
ones to gather their bags and bundles quickly. The furious Felics flexed his 
bitten hand and cast sidelong glances at the family, while bellowing at the lute 
players and threatening to close the gates entirely if people didn稚 stop 
crowding too close. 
鼎an Wat not speak for himself?・said Vallot, his small eyes glaring at the Prince 
suspiciously, as if he, too, felt Aleksander痴 hostility. 
擢ell on his head,・I said, trying to keep my mind on our business as well as the 
looming disaster. 典ell him your name, Wat.・ 
哲ame痴 Wat,・growled Aleksander. He was rigid under his shabby haffai. 
釘eing impudent with me, cripple?・The Derzhi poked a fleshy finger at Aleksander痴 
chest, requiring the Prince to shift his crutch to keep from falling over. 
哲ot a bit,・I said. 鄭re you, Wat?・ 
Aleksander leaned slightly away from me. As I was on his right, that meant he 
was leaning onto his good leg. I feared he was bracing himself to deliver a 
blow. 
I grabbed his arm as if to steady his clumsiness, but I held on so tight that he 
would have had to break his own limb to get it loose. 溺y cousin has only the 
highest respect for the Emperor痴 men, doing the Emperor痴 work as they池e sworn to 
do. Aye, Wat? Answer his honor and speak respectful, now. He痴 just thick in the 
head, your lordships.・I moved aside and jostled Aleksander forward, as if to 
make him speak for himself, leaving me standing directly in between the brutish 
Felics and the scrambling Manganar. In the process, I dropped ten silver coins 
into the dirt. 
鄭ye, only the highest respect for the land痴 true Emperor and his loyal 
servants,・ said the Prince, jerking his head in what might be construed as a 
measure of respect熔r a dry imitation of spitting. 
鄭re these yours, sir?・I leaned toward Felics, pointing at the silver, pretending 
a whisper, though just loud enough that my own interrogator might hear. 的 didn稚 
see who dropped them.・The big man tore his gaze from the Manganar, shifting it 
slowly from me to the ground. 
Before he could grab the coins, a noisy party of young Derzhi noblemen rode up 
beside us, laughing and joking about an evening horse race. They were well into 
their wine, and impatient with the tax collectors and gate guards. 溺y lord 
Mardek will have your teeth for these delays!・cried a blond youth with a newly 
sprouted beard. 滴e had a wager on this race and is waiting to hear of his luck. 
Move these oafs aside.・The prancing horses crowded the tax collectors to the 
side, and the Prince and me also, until we were stumbling over each other. The 
tail of the young lord痴 horse flicked into Aleksander痴 face. Behind the riding 
party was a large caravan, chastous bellowing and straining at their traces as 
if they had smelled the water inside the walls. Drovers screamed and cracked 
their whips to keep the unruly beasts in check. 
溺ay we go, sir?・I said. 
Vallot motioned us forward impatiently. 釘e off and teach the cripple more 
respect, or I値l throw him down a shaft that has no bottom.・With a quick eye and 
a quicker hand, he elbowed his dull-witted partner aside, scooped up my dropped 
silver for himself, and attended to the urgent預nd presumably profitable・ 
business of the young noble. His broad face red and swollen, the bullish Felics 
backed away, bumping into the sallow-faced clerk and his ledger. Felics mumbled 
something to the clerk and jerked his head toward the gateway. 
Without releasing my grip on his arm or slowing my pace to accommodate his 
injury, I dragged Aleksander into the passage under the gate towers. At last 
glimpse the two tax collectors were arguing with each other. 
釘loody, insolent vermin!・muttered the Prince, trying to wrest his arm from my 
hand, but succeeding only in stumbling awkwardly and painfully over something in 
the road. It was difficult to see anything in the deep shadows under the gate 
towers. I caught Aleksander before he fell, only to have to shove him against 
the brick wall when the Derzhi noble痴 party came tearing through the arched 
gateway. The pale-haired young lord threw an empty wineskin at us, splattering 
us with the musty dregs. 
敵ods of earth and sky!・Aleksander was shaking. 
敵et your balance,・I growled into his ear, not knowing who might be lurking in 
the darkness. 鄭nd keep silent. We need to get away from here.・ 
的値l kill them for this.・ 
I didn稚 know which 鍍his・he was talking about, or, to be sure, which 鍍hem.・ 
的t will have to be later,・I said. 展e need to get moving.・ 
填nless you plan to break my arm,・said Aleksander through clenched teeth, 的 would 
appreciate your letting go of it.・ 
My fingers were clamped almost to his bone. 鉄orry.・I was no more settled than 
he. 
We had to wait while a wagon rumbled past, and after it two riders in striped 
robes, prodding a group of three slaves dragging a sledge loaded with cut blocks 
of stone. Before us, through an archway illuminated by lingering dusk, was the 
city. Behind us, where the ironbound wooden gates stood open, slaves were 
setting torches in high sconces. As my eyes adjusted to the shadows, I picked up 
what had tripped the Prince熔ne of the bundles from the Manganar痴 cart, a leather 
apron wrapped around a pick, a small saw, a steel-headed hammer, and a few 
chisels of various sizes. A man痴 livelihood. I rewrapped the bundle and hooked 
its rope tie over my shoulder. 鏑et痴 move,・I said. 
We hurried as fast as Aleksander could manage into the outer ring of Karn辿egeth, 
a cramped street of stables, warehouses, and slave quarters grown up between the 
inner and outer ramparts. Beggars waylaid every traveler who passed the gates, 
and slack-mouthed children with dead eyes shuffled here and there in the crowds, 
begging bowls raised. A skeletal woman of indeterminate age, shrunken breasts 
hanging out of a loosely tied bodice, smiled and rubbed a bony hip against my 
side. 典wo coppers, traveler, and I値l do the cripple for naught extra.・ I pushed 
her away, and we made our way through the inner gates and into the cobbled 
streets. 
Sovari and Malver were nowhere to be seen. It was not a worry; we had agreed to 
meet in the marketplace as soon as we were sure we壇 not been followed. But just 
ahead of us, disappearing into an alley, was the two-wheeled cart, and sidling 
through the crowds watching its progress was the sallow-faced clerk from the 
gates. Petty vengeance was the most dangerous sort. 
鼎ome on,・I said. 展e need to get these back to the Manganar. He値l likely starve 
without.・ 
Aleksander swung himself forward on the crutches. 鏑et the cowardly villain 
starve.・He spat on the dusty pavement. 滴e was going to sell the girl・his own 
child・or kill her. Even animals protect their young. Weaklings deserve what they 
get.・ 
鄭nd the Derzhi who started it?・ 
摘ven brutes have their duties.・He could not yet see the whole of matters, nor 
how the brute planned to carry out his 電uties.・ 
的s it duty has brought the clerk away from the gates just now?・I said, drawing 
Aleksander into the dark alleyway. 徹r does good Felics think to get the tithe he 
wanted all along?・I stopped just far enough inside the turning that we could not 
be seen from the street and pointed out the man pushing his way through the 
stream of traffic. 
Aleksander remained skeptical until the clerk hurried into the alley. 釘astard!・ 
Before I could take care of matters, Aleksander slammed a crutch into the clerk痴 
middle, knocking the sallow-faced man into me. 鉄tealing children is against the 
law of the Empire, you misbegotten jackal!・ 
What I had not noticed in the street was that the sneaking fellow had brought a 
friend with him, a big, efficient, but otherwise unremarkable thug. The brawny 
fellow rammed a fist into Aleksander痴 jaw, and then kicked the other crutch out 
from under him. The flailing Prince toppled into the dirt. Before the thug痴 
massive boot could connect with Aleksander痴 head, I shoved the clerk to the 
ground and tackled his big friend. Aleksander retained enough wit to cover his 
head and roll toward the wall, releasing a stream of curses and epithets 
entirely appropriate to the occasion. 
The thug was easily dealt with. I left him sprawled in a pile of offal with such 
a knot on his head that he would not remember how he came to be there. 
Unfortunately, the clerk scuttled away before I could teach him any similar 
lesson. 
泥amnable, cursed blight of a world・ The strength of Aleksander痴 diatribe 
relieved my concerns as to his physical well-being. 
I retrieved his crutches and helped him to a wobbly stance. 的 think our stay in 
Karn辿egeth has just been cut short,・I said. 鉄omeone is going to be looking for 
us.・ 
The Prince rubbed the bleeding split on his jaw and wiped his fingers on his 
soiled haffai. 的 won稚 run away. But I致e no mind to stay longer than to see to my 
business.・ 
We picked our way down the fetid alley. Night had already arrived there, long 
before it reached the wider streets. A beggar with only half a face and no 
tongue grunted and pawed at my feet as I stepped around a yellow-faced woman 
slumped against the mud-brick wall, her skirts pulled up around her waist. 
Aleksander coughed and spat, and I pulled the scarf of my haffai across my nose. 
The stink of yaretha葉he mind-numbing weed that left such women dead by age 
twenty預nd its companion scents of excrement and vomit was overpowering. A little 
further on, sitting next to a pile of refuse that included a bloated mound which 
had once been a cat, we found the Manganar and his children. 
The bony man sat against the wall cradling his little daughter, muffling her 
sobs against his ragged shirt and dabbing at the small bruise on her forehead. 
的t値l pass, child. It値l pass. Only a little ways to go, now we致e rested a 
bit.・His battered, bleeding face looked fifty, though he was likely not more 
than twenty-five. While the goats bleated weakly and nosed about in the refuse, 
the other children huddled next to the man, eyes wide and frightened in their 
thin faces. One of the girls clutched a gray bundle almost as large as she. She 
kept staring at it and jiggling it with tiny shakes. The father glanced at her, 
his expression an artwork of pain. 的t痴 no use, Daggi,・he said softly. 鏑eave him 
be till we find Potters・Lane. He・sleeps.・ 
I could not fathom how the man could find strength to spare for grieving. 敵ood 
day, sir,・I called out. 添ou left this behind at the gates.・ 
The man jumped to his feet and shoved the children behind him, fumbling about to 
produce a large, old-fashioned knife that he waved about inexpertly. 展ho痴 
there?・ 
展e found this at the city gate. Thought you might need it.・I tossed the tool 
bundle at his feet, while keeping a respectful distance. I didn稚 need to grind 
his nose in the dirt. 
He stared at the bundle as if it had walked back to him of itself, and then 
shifted his astonishment back to me, squinting into the darkness and craning his 
head to see Aleksander, who was leaning heavily on the wall. 鄭 kindness on a day 
with none else, save・I wondered・you dropped the coins that snatched the villain痴 
eye from us.・ 
鄭 loose knot in my purse,・I said. 
溺ay Panfeya bless you with healthy children, goodman.・ 
鄭nd Dolgar grant you sturdy walls,・I said. The Manganar low gods provided useful 
gifts for their petitioners. 鄭nd you might need them. You were followed from the 
gates. The scrawny one with the yellow face was given a commission・ you 
understand?・ 
The Manganar sheathed his knife and lifted his daughter again, gently pulling 
her head onto his shoulder. 的値l watch, then. If I had ought to repay you・ Tell 
me how you are called, so I can at least name you in my prayers.・ 
鄭rago out of Avenkhar, and this is my cousin Wat. If luck holds, we値l have no 
need of your repayment.・ 
的知 Vanko of Eleuthra, soon to be of Potters・Lane with my brother-in-law Borian. 
My hand is ever at your service. Arago, and those of all my family.・ 
I bowed. 泥olgar guard you, sir, and comfort your child.・ 
The man bowed in return and proceeded to gather his children and his goats, and 
take up the long handles of his cart. 
Aleksander and I headed back the way we壇 come. Torches soaked with octar葉he 
tarry seepage found among desert rocks謡ere already filling the streets with 
stinking yellow smoke. We saw no sign of the sallow-faced man. 
展e値l have no need of this Vanko or any other peasant,・said Aleksander as we made 
our slow way through the streets. His movements were becoming increasingly 
jerky, and he could only take a few steps at a time without stopping. 溺y uncle 
gave the Mardek their house here and at least two silver mines. And my local 
dennissar Tosya and I spent three weeks opening up the silver trade routes from 
Karn辿egeth when your friend, the Yvor Lukash, had the place strangled two years 
ago. Tosya will harbor us if Mardek is too cowardly.・We stopped again, and 
Aleksander leaned heavily on his crutches, grimacing. 泥ruya痴 horns, it will be 
fine to get in the saddle again. I値l apologize to that wretched horse for 
everything I said about it.・ 
的 wouldn稚 count on anyone痴 loyalties,・I said. I wasn稚 so confident that Mardek痴 
gratitude would extend to a man with a price on his head. 天anko might be the 
more useful friend.・ 
I kept my eye moving over the throngs in the streets, watching for any gaze that 
rested on Aleksander for more than an instant. He wasn稚 likely to be recognized 
by just anyone; few commoners ever caught a glimpse of royalty. But the Derzhi 
tax collector would not be happy that his nasty little plan had been foiled by a 
man on crutches. 
鄭re your slave痴 ears deaf? The child-beating coward talked of selling the girl. 
He would probably have worked a aval for her right there in that alley.・ 
I pressed the Prince into a dark doorway and stuffed myself in on top of him 
while two mounted Derzhi rode past, peering closely at the passersby. 添our head 
is grown thick, Wat,・I whispered, 殿nd your eyes dim. He saved her life with the 
only weapons he had. The bruise on her face likely pains him far more than the 
blood on his own.・And though I did not say it, I knew that the child痴 bruised 
face hurt Aleksander as well. He had not forgotten Nyamot. 
CHAPTER 15
Any doubt Aleksander might have borne as to the Emperor痴 intentions vanished 
when we came to the grand marketplace of Karn辿egeth. At first we couldn稚 
understand why the evening痴 activities of eating, drinking, buying, and selling 
seemed to be confined to the eastern half of the paved expanse・not until we 
moved to the edge of the crowds to watch for Sovari and Malver and saw the 
bodies. 
From a succession of gibbets that lined the western boundary of the marketplace 
hung at least twenty men. Three of them were rough-looking fellows傭randed, 
flogged, and hanged by the neck as thieves. But the rest were Derzhi, some 
dressed in fine clothes as if dragged from feasting or temple rites, and all of 
them hung by their feet, with lips and noses cut off and their braids shorn and 
tied to their swollen tongues in mockery預 traitor痴 punishment. Most were dead. 
Hungry rats had already found their way down the chains. But as Aleksander moved 
awkwardly down the row, drawn to the gruesome display in a horrified fascination 
that my nervous cautions could not deter, we heard piteous moans from a few of 
the blackened faces, even as the rats fed on them. 
典osya,・he whispered, heedless of the imperial guards who stood watch at either 
end of the dreadful display to assure that no one would succor the dying. 鄭nd 
Jov and Laurent・oh, holy Athos・ Aleksander turned to me, his stricken face 
yellow in the sickly torchlight. 的f ever you would do me a service, Seyonne・ 
With whatever sorcery you can work, I beg you finish them. They are honorable 
men, noble warriors whose only crime was to serve me.・ 
鄭h, my lord, don稚 ask濫 It was not the Ezzarian way to hasten a death. 
He gripped my shoulder with fingers of iron. 添ou listened to Fessa and Gaspar, 
staying with them through their ordeal in the only way you could. I can do no 
less for my warriors. I will not leave them like this.・ 
My whole being wanted to refuse him. To intervene, even in such horror, was to 
rob a man of his last breath, his last thought, his last hope, no matter how 
impossible. Yet I could not dismiss Aleksander痴 threat to stay. Alone in the 
deserted part of the marketplace and gaping like nasty urchins, the two of us 
stood out like silk on a beggar. My oath・my desire・my hopes demanded that I keep 
Aleksander safe. 
典hey crave death, Seyonne. They hunger for it. It is our way.・ 
A wretched, despicable way to ease suffering洋urder. Yet, I had no skill to heal 
the dying Derzhi, nor any sorcery that could ease their pain, and no one was 
going to save them. Of all the deaths held to my account, these few・surely their 
tally would be very light. 敵ods forgive me,・I whispered, and gathered my 
melydda. 
禅he dennissar said you are to come through the postern gate and wait in the 
olive grove until someone comes to meet you.・Sovari kept his eyes cast down as 
he reported on his foray into the walled estate of the Mardek heged. 
典he postern? Wait outside? You told them this was their sovereign and not some 
churl of an envoy-?・ 
We had been waiting at the lower end of a steep, twisting roadway for most of an 
hour while Sovari informed the Mardek that their Prince had come to speak with 
First Lord Vassile. With admirable diplomacy the captain had persuaded 
Aleksander that it would be wise to give the lord some warning. 
典ruly, my lord,・said the captain, 妬t took some doing even to get a message sent 
in so late in the evening. I thought the steward might swallow his tongue when I 
said I brought word from the rightful Emperor.・ 
After what we had seen in the marketplace, I was not surprised. 
釘ut he did take the message and then someone more responsible came to speak with 
you?・said Aleksander. 
鄭ye, my lord.・ 
的 suppose I must be grateful I wasn稚 left entirely to the steward.・Aleksander 
knew he faced an humiliating interview, yet, after the sight of Edik痴 handiwork 
and my unholy completion of it, he had held his temper grimly in check. He had 
spent the wait reviewing every detail of the Mardek position in the Empire, 
their holdings and history, down to the jewelry and perfumes preferred by the 
sixth lord痴 favorite mistress. His memory for such details was astonishing. 鄭 
nervous junior dennissar played intermediary, I would guess.・ 
Sovari nodded. 滴e, too, was very frightened. My lord, I think it is a measure of 
success that you are received at all.・ 
Aleksander snorted and nudged his thick-necked mount. 展ell, then, let痴 see if 
sufficient groveling can increase the spoils of our victory. After such a day as 
this, my expectations can only improve.・Though his words were light, they were 
devoid of humor. 
Aleksander might be forced to slink through a postern gate, but he would not 
arrive in disguise. He had rebraided his hair, replaced his signet ring, and 
removed his haffai, exposing his sword hilt and his damaged limb. 典hey値l see I知 
being honest with them,・he said when Sovari tried to persuade him to keep his 
injury hidden. 鄭nd that nothing will hinder me.・There was nothing to be done 
about his bruised chin, the mediocre horse, his sweat-stained shirt, or the 
breeches cut raggedly to accommodate the boot, but no one who gave him more than 
a casual glance would mistake him for a mere envoy. 
We left Malver at the foot of the roadway and Sovari to stand watch at the 
narrow back gate that had been left unguarded for the hour. 典hey consider me no 
more than an old toothless dog to be allowed in and out at will,・said Aleksander 
as we rode between the twisted trees to the crossing path where he had been 
instructed to wait. The olive grove was scented with summer blooming, the 
perfumed clusters of white blossoms scarcely visible under the dark leaves. 
Through the branches we could see lamplight from a stone house that sprawled 
across the ridge above the city, where the breezes could cool its courtyards. 
The wait seemed interminable, but with no apparent effort, the Prince held his 
mount perfectly still. With a great deal more trouble, I kept mine from bolting. 
I had never claimed to be a horseman, and the beast seemed to have smelled 
something he liked better than olive trees. 
At last a few of the lights about the house began to move our way. 的値l be 
nearby,・I said, ready to withdraw into the trees. 鉄hall I listen?・ 
的致e nothing to hide from you.・ 
His gibe stung, but I told myself not to dwell on it. At the city gates, in the 
fetid alleys, and in the cursed marketplace, I had indeed felt the familiar rage 
rising within me耀tirred by human cruelty that drew my hand to violence and 
murder, threatening to corrupt my gifts. I could not speak such darkness as I 
felt that night, for, of course, Denas痴 anger and Nyel痴 disgust were mine, too. 
But my head remained clear and my hand under control. I knew what I was doing 
now. 
Dearest one・you must remember・deceived・The whispered words drifted through my 
mind like the perfumed breeze. I snapped my head from side to side, peering 
through the dark branches, expecting・fearing・to see a glimmer of green. But the 
only other souls in the olive grove were the two men who came riding through the 
trees from the direction of the house, their way lit by a young torchbearer who 
jogged alongside. 
In the lead was a straight-backed, bulky warrior, whose nose and cheeks and 
incipient paunch spoke of too many skins of wine since he had last ridden to 
war. His sleeveless shirt and cofat預 short cape fastened at one shoulder with a 
silver brooch謡ere expensively fashioned, and on the arm left bare, he wore a 
silver arm ring set with emeralds. He stopped at the edge of the road and 
examined Aleksander, motioning the slave boy to hold up the light. The other 
rider remained out of view, to the man痴 side and slightly behind him. 
添our Highness,・said the florid warrior, his eyebrows slightly raised. He made no 
salute with his sword and no bow, not even a dip of the head. His greeting was 
not quite a question. 
溺ardek.・Aleksander held his horse motionless while extending his left hand, 
allowing his signet ring to gleam in the light. 
Lord Vassile痴 full lips were drawn into a disgruntled frown. To refuse his 
Prince痴 proffered hand預nd the ring that was the symbol of the Empire itself謡ould 
be an affront far more serious than a cold reception. The older man nudged his 
restless mount forward slowly until he could touch Aleksander痴 fingers, and then 
he bent stiffly and kissed the ring. 溺y son Hadeon,・he said as he withdrew, 
waving his hand at the second rider. 
Aleksander痴 back stiffened; the man who rode into the flickering light was the 
young nobleman who had splattered us with his wine dregs earlier that evening. 
My hand moved to the hilt of my sword, and once again explored our surroundings 
with my heightened senses. No one else was in the olive grove. 
Hadeon, elegantly garbed in purple silk shirt and gold-embroidered cofat, 
followed his father痴 lead and kissed Aleksander痴 ring, but as he lifted his head 
he cast a calculating glance at the Prince痴 damaged limb. Luckily for young 
Hadeon, Aleksander had resolved to keep his mind on his business. 
The proprieties established, the Prince became a gracious supplicant. 溺y lord 
Vassile, I have come to affirm the strong bond between our families. Both my 
father and my uncle had nothing but the utmost respect for the Mardek and their 
service to the Empire. The honor of your house is renowned throughout the land. 
Thus I come to you in our gravest hour, trusting you will see fit to join our 
effort to bar the usurper from the throne, where my father痴 murderers think to 
put him.・ 
The portly Vassile sat stiff and wary. 擢ine words, my lord Aleksander. We hear 
many words. The Mardek have no love for this Edik, nor for Hamrasch dogs who 
squat upon other people痴 rugs・but you, sir・ He raked Aleksander with a practiced 
eye. 展hat are we to make of you?・ 
的 am your rightful Emperor-in-waiting, proclaimed on the day of my birth and 
anointed by your sovereign in the year of my majority. No honorable Derzhi can 
make anything else of me.・ 
釘ut our Emperor lies murdered. We hear there were arguments between you, 
disagreements of long-standing. Your impatience is well-known・your intemperate 
hand. And now you come to us in this state・ 
Lord Vassile shifted his hand on his horse痴 neck to still the agitated beast. 
Only a small movement, but Aleksander and his mount remained absolutely 
motionless, perfectly controlled. 徹n the day of my anointing, my Emperor named 
me as his Voice and Hand. For more than two years I spoke for him and wielded 
his authority as he intended. Every man, Lord Vassile容ven an Emperor揺as occasion 
to argue with himself. As to my father痴 death, here is the truth of it: the 
Hamraschi rebelled against my legitimate authority. When the time came to reap 
the consequences of their perfidy, they plotted against your Emperor and his son 
in fear that my 訴ntemperate hand・would raise up honorable houses like the Mardek 
at cost to their own domains. Would you have me serve temperance and permit them 
to succeed in such a crime? And as to my state・cowards and usurpers fear a 
worthy warrior.・ 
Aleksander痴 strategy was a gamble. The minor houses had grumbled for years at 
the excessive influence of the Twenty, but, of course, if an Emperor痴 whim could 
exalt a loyal heged, his next whim could as easily diminish it. Vassile 
hesitated, scrutinizing Aleksander as if to weigh his appearance against his 
words. 
展hat worthy warrior abandons his troops and then dares flaunt his defeat?・ 
Hadeon blurted into the heavy silence, thrusting his narrow chin at Aleksander痴 
boot. 鄭nd what murderer is better than another?・ 
展hat worthy warrior plays at horse racing when brother Derzhi hang in living 
torment in his city?・said Aleksander, releasing his pent-up fury. One might have 
imagined the very stones beneath the olive grove rumbling in answer to him. 
釘rothers whose only crime was service to their anointed Emperor and whose blood 
cries out for vengeance as did my father痴 blood. I wear the mark of my service 
to honor. Where is yours, boy?・ 
A red-face Hadeon touched hand to sword hilt, but quickly removed it when Lord 
Vassile raised his hand and spoke sharply. 撤lease, please, my lord Aleksander. 
My son is concerned only that we risk what remains of our family security. Any 
who dare gainsay this Edik are quickly silenced, as you have seen. Indeed no 
evidence, no rendered justice, but only this false lord痴 command condemned our 
brothers. To see you in the flesh and hear your claims is a powerful warrant of 
your truth. But we have also heard that none of the Twenty will support you. For 
a small house to risk its very existence in an unwinnable pursuit・ 
摘dik is buying the Twenty with the fortune of every other house,・said 
Aleksander. In cold calm he detailed the stories of bribery and treachery that 
Kiril had collected and sent to him: lands confiscated, horses appropriated for 
the Emperor痴 service, and then found in another heged痴 herds, long-held mining 
rights and trading monopolies revoked and shifted to a more powerful rival痴 
control. 泥o you think the usurper will allow you to keep your mines when the 
Fontezhi wish to increase their silver hold? What do you protect by your 
restraint?・ 
釘ut what do you offer that is different, my lord? To regain your position you 
must have the Twenty, and we will again be inhaling their dust.・ 
哲ever again, Mardek,・said Aleksander in ferocious quiet. 哲ever again will the 
Twenty hold me hostage, nor will they treat my allies as lesser men. Tell the 
lords of the Fozhet and the Kandavar, the Naddasine, and the Bek, all of the 
worthy houses that have been ignored for too long・I will find a new way. By my 
father痴 blood and sword, by my dead warriors in Karn辿egeth market, I will.・ 
The old Derzhi痴 nod of approval was almost imperceptible, yet it signaled that 
Aleksander had won a monumental victory. Unfortunately, victory bought him very 
little. Beneath his fleshy exterior, old Mardek was as hard as the rocky 
foundation of Karn辿egeth. 展e mourn your father痴 passing, Lord Aleksander, and 
would honor his will to see you crowned. Come back to us with evidence that 
others trust your word and your prospects, and the Mardek shall ride with them 
and you to Zhagad. Until then, we do nothing, and you are not welcome here. Your 
presence in the city endangers us all, and my family must come first.・ With a 
generous bow, the first lord bade farewell. 鉄afe journey, Your Highness.・ As if 
Aleksander could ride out from Karn辿egeth openly and in the state to which he 
was born. The old warrior clucked to his mount and rode back the way he had 
come. Young Hadeon followed his father痴 example, though less gracefully and 
without words. A curt bow and he, too, was gone. 
Aleksander yanked the signet from his finger and the tie from his braid, wrapped 
his filthy haffai about his head, shoulders, and boot, and then wheeled his 
mount, riding past me without a glance or a word. I spurred my restless beast 
and caught up with him. Though he had acquitted himself well, I, too, remained 
silent. I couldn稚 think of any words that he would welcome. 
Aleksander did not want to accept Vanko痴 offer of his relatives・hospitality, 
claiming he would as soon sleep in an alley as share a roof with a sniveling 
coward, but I convinced him that we would be safer off the streets. I didn稚 like 
imposing our danger upon the Manganar family, but we were desperate for rest, 
and we needed to see to Aleksander痴 leg. I was afraid of what we might find. 
After weeks of constant improvement, he seemed scarcely able to move it. 
Truly I wanted nothing more than to get out of Karn辿egeth that night, but one of 
the younger Fontezhi lords who resided in the city had fought alongside 
Aleksander in his first battle, and the Prince thought to visit the man in the 
hour before dawn. If the nobleman would hear him, perhaps the Prince could 
splinter one of the Twenty Hegeds. The strategy was unpromising at best, but 
despite his brave words to Lord Vassile, Aleksander remained convinced that he 
could not fight the combined might of the Twenty with only the minor hegeds. 
Within an hour of our arrival at his brother-in-law痴 door, Vanko and his brood 
moved into a goat shed behind the pottery shop, leaving the tiny balcony just 
off the second-floor family rooms葉he house痴 prime guest quarters預vailable for 
Aleksander and myself. I protested that my cousin and I would gladly sleep with 
the goal; for my part, I could have slept in a thorn-bush. But Vanko insisted 
that there was not room enough for all his children on the cool balcony. 
泥aggi still cries for her mam all the night, and Olia walks in her sleep. She壇 
as like fall off the balcony,・said Vanko. 釘est we stay together near the privy 
on level ground. I壇 not visit the dead handlers again this night.・ The ominously 
silent bundle in his daughter痴 arms had been the Manganar痴 infant son. 
Malver volunteered to spend the night prowling the market quarter. He claimed to 
have acquaintances among the traders and caravan drovers who frequented 
Karn辿egeth, and in the market, where they were loading, unloading, and drinking 
away their profits, he would devise some way to get Aleksander out of the city. 
Sovari remained abroad in Potters・Lane to keep watch until I came to relieve him 
later in the night. 
The Prince and I were soon sitting in a small hot room above the potter痴 shop 
eating a late supper. The stifling room was furnished with a long plank table, a 
blazing hearth, and sixteen people, most of them wriggling, and at least half of 
them talking at once. Besides Vanko and his five, the wiry potter Borian and his 
plump wife, Lavra, had at least six children of their own, aged two to fifteen. 
的知 sorry for your loss, Vanko,・I said, trying not to gobble Lavra痴 thin soup too 
greedily. Though we had arrived late, the harried woman had insisted on 
stretching her pot far enough to accommodate us. We contributed the remnants of 
our traveling provisions預 lump of goat cheese far past its prime, a handful of 
dates, and a packet of flatbread葉o the lively meal. I sat in the middle of a 
long bench, crammed between Vanko and one of Borian痴 sons, a pimple-faced boy of 
fifteen who seemed to have an excess of elbows and knees. 
鏑avra痴 milk grows fine sons, as you see,・said Vanko, trying in vain to get a 
small green-glazed bowl to his mouth with two little girls on his lap, one 
jostling his elbow, and another hanging on his bony shoulders. 的壇 hoped to get 
the babe to her breast before he sickened. He never found the knack of suckling 
with any of the village women. But truly childer so young and weak don稚 take to 
traveling. Eight days we had to come from Eleuthra. My girls did well, though.・ 
Vanko stroked his daughter痴 curls, though he could not mask his wistful sadness. 
He was, after all, a Manganar, whose gods mandated that his place in the 
afterlife was determined by the number of his sons. 的f not for the Derzhi at the 
gates濫 
典he braidless brute at the gate only finished what was already done,・said 
Aleksander. 鄭 man must shoulder his own blame.・The Prince was perched on a stool 
in the corner, where his awkward leg was out of the way of the sweating Lavra 
and her rosy-cheeked daughter, who hurried between hearth and table, trying to 
keep the many-colored bowls filled. Aleksander had spoken very little in the 
hour since I had knocked on the pottery shop door and inquired if Vanko meant 
what he said about helping us. 
・禅was no one but a cursed Derzhi baron as killed the boy,・said Borian, the shy, 
nervous potter speaking up for the first time. 探ell them as you told me, Vanko. 
The blame falls on the Rhyzka bastard who would not allow my sister to rest when 
he decided that the men of Eleuthra were not enough to plant his fields this 
year. From sunrise to sundown for a seven day he forced her and the other women 
to kneel in the sun to seed his rows. When she asked to rest for a while and see 
to her childer, the overseer would not allow her to drink for the whole day as 
punishment. And so the same every day until the planting was done. Though they 
gave her water each night after sundown, the child withered in her. By the eye 
of Dolgar, that痴 what killed them both.・Borian turned red after this outburst 
and ducked his head toward his bowl. 
哲o Rhyzka baron has land-bound peasants in Eleuthra,・said Aleksander scornfully. 
典hose are Bek lands, held by grant from my庸rom imperial properties.・ 
Vanko looked at Aleksander as if the lame visitor had indeed fallen on his head. 
展hat Derzhi ever cared if a man was land-bound to force him to do his work?・ 
The Prince swallowed the dregs of his soup and shook his head. 典he law of the 
Empire says濫 
的s your head stuck up a goat痴 ass, friend Wat?・said the gaunt Manganar. 的f the 
lord refuses to sell you wheat and forbids any transport of another lord痴 wheat 
through his lands, then you work for him or starve. Though I壇 give no Derzhi 
credit for a decent bone, at least Bek paid a wage for forced labor. The Bek 
still hold the manor at Gan Hyffir, but the new Emperor幼urse all Derzhi now and 
forever揺as given all the land in northern Manganar to these Rhyzka, who wouldn稚 
know the law from the shit on their boots. ・ 
釘loody thief!・Aleksander threw his bowl to the floor, scattering shards of blue 
crockery everywhere. 的値l have his balls for this.・As he fumbled for his 
crutches, Lavra and her daughter glanced in alarm at the Prince and began 
shooing the younger children into others・laps so they wouldn稚 cut their bare 
feet. 
滴old, Wat,・I said, trying to restrain Aleksander while suddenly tangled in the 
warm, wriggling limbs of a two-year-old boy. 展at has no love for this new 
Emperor, either. His injury was濫 
But I had no time to give them a story, for a noisy pounding on the shop door 
below us was followed by running steps and the appearance of Sovari, flushed and 
panting at the top of the stair. 鄭n imperial search party headed this way庸ive 
warriors. And you迫he nodded to Vanko欄you値l want to know that the clerk from the 
gates is with them, and the fat tax collector.・ 
鄭n imperial search party?・said Borian, turning a puzzled face to me. 展hy? Who 
are you?・Before I could answer, his glance drifted to Aleksander and the sword 
that the Prince was buckling about his waist葉he fine sword with the simple hilt, 
engraved with a falcon and a lion. All color deserted the potter痴 face. 
溺y cousin has had a mortal dispute with the servants of the new Emperor,・ I 
said, jumping to my feet and plopping the little boy on the table. 的知 so sorry, 
Borian, we had no reason to believe they could follow us here. We値l go. And you, 
Vanko, tell them濫 Gods. What to tell them・ 
展e値l every one of us be dead before we let them take Olia,・said Borian in quiet 
anger. 哲ow, get you gone the two of you. Vanko owes you his sustenance預s good as 
his life for a Manganar in this Empire. And anyone at dispute with our new 
Emperor溶o matter who you are妖eserves a life for a life. But we値l deal with our 
own trouble as we have ever done.・ 
展e won稚 forget,・I said, bowing quickly. 
哲eftar, show them the back lane.・Borian shoved the pimple-faced boy toward us. 
Sovari was already helping Aleksander down the back stairs. 
The potter痴 yard smelled of goat and ash, and everywhere were broken or 
misshapen oil jars and water jars, pots of dried paint, and barrels of sand. The 
goat shed was little more than an earth-roofed vestibule built over a scrape dug 
into the hillside. Sovari had brought the horses on his way up, and as the 
captain and I shoved Aleksander onto his mount, I heard the crash when the front 
door of the shop was kicked in. 
敵o on,・I said to Aleksander and Sovari. 擢ind Malver and get yourselves out of 
the city. Take my horse. I値l catch up. Fly if I have to.・I could not leave the 
two families in such danger. They didn稚 understand what kind of trouble they 
were in. 
展here痴 the cripple?・The warrior痴 bellow was almost unhearable above the screams 
and wails of the children. 敵et these brats out of my way.・ 
敵o!・I said. The pimple-faced Neftar had dragged open a section of wooden fence, 
revealing a weed-choked lane that led into the darkness beside the goat shed and 
the hill. The boy waved his arm frantically for us to get through it. Sovari 
hesitated, but Aleksander nodded and disappeared quickly into the lane without 
looking back. 
的f you want to save your family, come to the shed with me,・I said to the boy 
once he had shoved the gate closed and flapped his arms at the goats so they 
would mill about and cover the horse痴 tracks. 鄭nd listen carefully to everything 
I say.・I didn稚 tell him not to be frightened. A good show of terror was exactly 
what I wanted. 
We slipped into the close warmth of the goat shed. In one corner, scarcely 
discernible in the darkness was the tumbled pile of bundles that were the 
entirety of Vanko痴 household. I pulled off my haffai, shirt, leggings, and boots 
and stashed them behind the bundles along with my sword belt. Dressed only in 
breeches, my knife in hand, I took a breath. 敵ive me a moment.・ 
With care and discipline, I let the shaping I had carried with me throughout the 
long evening fall away. Though I could not see the change in the angle of my 
eyes, nor even the altered color of my skin, I felt the nagging constriction of 
held enchantment lifted, the relief a snake must feel when shedding its papery 
skin. But I had no time to enjoy the release, nor the fact that I maintained my 
barrier against my angry demon as I changed, for I needed to work an illusion熔ne 
that was very easy to create as its component parts were disturbingly familiar. 
A moment痴 concentration, and then, with full sympathy for young Neftar痴 choking 
terror, I dragged the boy into the corner of the little shack, twisted his arms 
behind him in a secure hold, and put my knife to his throat. When the searchers 
came and lit the goat shed with their torches, the slave bands on my wrists and 
ankles shone like evil talismans to lead them straight to us. 
CHAPTER 16
展here痴 the girl?・I growled. 的 told you I wanted the dark-haired girl-child, not 
this pustule-covered lackwit that a maggot wouldn稚 mate with.・ 
展ell, what have we here?・The voice boomed heartily from behind the gaping 
Borian, who had just stumbled into the goat shed. One of the potter痴 eyes was 
purple and almost swollen shut, and he was clutching his left arm tightly to his 
ripped shirt. 
I tightened my hold on the quivering Neftar and made sure my own hands were 
visibly shaking. 典his Felics wants a whore, not a catamite. It痴 my freedom濫 
Then, as if just noticing the three Derzhi crowding in behind the bewildered 
Borian, I screamed, 添ou bastard! I spared your lives. I spared your children. 
All I wanted was the one girl to buy my freedom. He promised me.・I nicked the 
boy痴 chin with my knife, a neat little wound that would dribble a goodly bit of 
blood down his neck and leave only a small, manly scar. 鉄tay back or I値l kill 
him.・ 
撤lease, your honors, my son・ Borian痴 voice cracked. 
展e care naught for your scrawny offspring.・The warrior captain shoved Borian to 
his knees, and his two companions moved to either side of me, awaiting his word 
to take me down. Sovari had reported only five Derzhi, but my ears told me there 
was one man standing just outside the door, and at least four more people in the 
yard, two with drawn swords, and two scrabbling up the hill behind the goat 
shed. 鼎ome in here, clerk!・bellowed the captain. 
The sallow-faced clerk sidled into the shed, his hands in his pockets. 
展hat痴 your game, you little rat痴 ass?・said the captain, not taking his eyes from 
me as he snarled at the clerk. 的nstead of the kin-murdering Prince, you致e hauled 
us from our watch to catch a runaway slave who couldn稚 walk five paces from the 
walls without getting caught.・ 
釘ut this isn稚 the one,・said the clerk, his smug expression quickly sagged into 
confusion. 典here were two of them, a cripple that wore a braid and a ring and 
rode like a lord, and the fellow what was with him預 Kuvai, I think. And they met 
up with two others預t least one of them Derzhi熔utside the house of the Mardek. 
Just as I told you.・ 
典hat痴 the filthy devil what made the deal,・I yelled, pointing to the clerk as I 
pulled the quivering boy deeper into the corner. 滴is master promised me my 
freedom for the girl. Did you think to play a double round, devil? Pocket both 
the money for the girl and the reward for the runaway? Your master痴 likely 
pinching the girl for himself even now. You池e too stupid to know the truth from 
the shit on your boots.・ 
Borian jerked his head up and stared at me, ignoring the six goats that were 
nosing about him. 
I didn稚 see much after that. With a jerk of his head, the warrior captain had 
his lieutenants pull Neftar from my hands and throw me to the straw, exposing my 
accumulation of scars, including the slave mark burned into my shoulder. Then 
they laid in to me with their boots for a goodly while before one of the heavy 
feet came to rest in the middle of my back. 
The captain approached, his well-crafted boots stopping perilously close to my 
face. He crouched down and used a handful of my hair to pull my ear close to his 
mouth. 哲ow, what痴 all this about Felics?・he said. 
Before I could catch a breath to spin out my story, the potter blurted out, 典his 
slave sneaked in here earlier tonight and took my son captive. He said a tax 
collector promised to let him out through the gates if he would steal my sister痴 
child for him. This Felics lusted for the child, he said, but couldn稚 take her 
himself as it was against the law and he would lose his post.・The captain shoved 
my face into the dirt and moved away as Borian babbled on. 的 didn稚 know what to 
do, your worships. The slave said he壇 kill my son if I reported him to the 
watch, and kill us all in our beds if we didn稚 give him the child.・My smile was 
hidden by the filthy straw. Not an impregnable story, but it would do. 
The clerk regained his wits as quickly as had Borian. 擢elics is mad for the 
girl-child, your honor. Ask Vallot, who worked the gates with him today. The fat 
bastard had me chasing 喪ound the city this whole night to find her. He痴 such a 
coward that he forced me to tell the lie of the villain Prince being here. He 
thought that if he came here with the watch, he could snatch the girl without 
danger from her kin. I feared to cross him when he痴 witless over the girl.・ 
釘ring me this Felics,・said the exasperated captain, who sounded ready to wilt 
under the barrage of changing stories. 
Felics was evidently found inside Borian痴 house, attempting to dismember a 
defiant Vanko, who was shielding little Olia from the tax collector痴 paws. When 
dragged into the yard and questioned, Felics vehemently denied all knowledge of 
the clerk痴 accusations. His denial rang somewhat true, since he was clearly 
confounded by my appearance and the general turn of events. Unfortunately, he 
gave the Derzhi quite an accurate description of Aleksander. 
It took the Derzhi watch captain well over an hour to get things sorted out. 
Somehow all the neighbors had got wind of the story that Prince Aleksander had 
been found in Borian痴 goat shed, and a goodly number of them stepped forward to 
tell the guardsmen how they had seen the Prince in other parts of the city. 
Their descriptions were not quite so accurate as the tax collector痴, though 
every one of them mentioned that the Prince was lame. All swore that Borian had 
told them to summon the guards, so he should not be blamed for harboring a 
runaway slave. The potter could not possibly have gone to give the news himself, 
they said, as all Manganar were known to be half-crazed about their sons. 
In the end, irritated and confused, the captain sent everyone packing with 
threats of mayhem if he was called out again, whether by false tales of fugitive 
princes or true tales of child stealing. By the time he dispatched two of his 
warriors to discover who in the city was missing a slave, the crowd had 
dispersed. No one needed to witness the dismal departure of a runaway slave 
bound for a night of beatings and certain mutilation. For I, of course, had not 
been sent home, but leashed to the captain痴 saddle by ropes around my wrists and 
to his hand by a rope around my neck. My bonds would not last long; a little way 
down the street, away from the Manganar痴 house and into the dark lanes where the 
Derzhi would relax, the slave bands on my wrists and ankles would vanish, and 
the ropes would snap to set me loose. I just hoped I壇 not be forced to kill any 
of the guardsmen as I escaped, inviting Derzhi retribution on the slaves of 
Karn辿egeth. 
As the captain and his men mounted up, I stood barefoot in the muck, bent over 
to ease the throbbing in my side where a warrior痴 boot had come too near my old 
wound, and waiting for the uncomfortable jerk on my wrists and neck that meant I 
was to keep up or be dragged. Through the open door of the pottery shop, I saw 
Vanko watching me, holding his bright-eyed daughter. It would be up to Vanko and 
Borian to keep the little girl safe from the lascivious tax collector. I had no 
great hopes for them. But then, I wasn稚 counting on Aleksander. 
About the time the captain spurred his mount and I stumbled forward, familiar 
laughter echoed from Potter痴 Lane. 鄭h, Vanye, the wine was sweet tonight, was it 
not? And the loving so full of charm! You have no such succulent roses in the 
north, I think.・ 
My ears pricked. Vanye was the name of the dead man who was the root of my 
history with the Prince. We had used the name once before when working a 
deception. 
泥id you see her father痴 face when she saw you were a Derzhi? I致e heard 
chastouain lock their girls in cages if they lie down for Derzhi.・I would never 
have guessed Sovari for an actor. 鉄peaking of fathers, we need to get home 
before yours has us beaten. He warned you after the races.・ 
溺y father is a noble ass.・The slurring baritone began singing in wine-endowed 
fervor. 泥esert roses are passing fair; no rain-fed bloom will ere compare. Mark 
my words, all ye who dare; my love is true, though I be・drunk! What comes next, 
my good Vanye? I致e forgotten the cursed words.・ 
All but one of the torches had gone with the Derzhi messengers, and the sleepy 
neighbors had returned to their beds, so only・one sputtering flame and a few 
windows cast any illumination on the dark street where two haffai-clad riders 
were weaving their drunken way down Potter痴 Lane. 
展hat ho, Captain?・Aleksander pulled up abruptly, about the time I was scrambling 
to my feet after tripping over a rut. I could mistake neither the form nor the 
voice, though the haffai scarf was wound about his head. 泥id your horse just 
shit an Ezzarian turd?・The Prince and Sovari burst into raucous laughter. 
展hatever are you doing with Lord Vanye痴 slave?・ 
With scarcely concealed irritation, the captain gave an abbreviated version of 
the evening痴 confusion. , 
鄭 girl-child!・Sovari kicked me in the shoulder, sending me sprawling in the 
street muck. 鼎ome, come, vermin, I thought Ezzarians only lusted after pigs.・ As 
Sovari leaned toward the captain to offer him a swig from a wineskin, his haffai 
fell open to reveal his red imperial sash. 溺y slave doesn稚 like it here in the 
desert because the pigs stink too much in the heat.・ 
鉄o this is your slave, Lord・Vanye, is it?・ 
滴ouse of Mezzrah, from Capharna.・Sovari nearly tumbled off his horse as he swept 
a bow. 天isiting my Fontezhi cousins. And yes, this squirming little vermin is 
the slave that my father charged to be my wet-nurse. I commanded him to wait at 
the gates until I came back from濫 
鉄hhh,・said Aleksander, with exaggerated gestures. 溺ustn稚 tell the captain where 
the roses can be found.・His haffai was wrapped just enough to cover his boot, 
but expose a gold-wrought tef-coat embroidered with the Fontezhi kayeet. 鉄o 
where is this girl-child?・ 
的n the potter痴 shop just behind me, my lord.・The captain痴 voice was stiff. 
Anyone would have grown impatient with their reeling silliness. 
的s she fair?・ 
轍uite pretty for a Manganar whelp. Shall I have her brought out to you? If not, 
I値l濫 
泥o you need another rose, Vanye?・said Aleksander, clapping his hand on Sovari痴 
shoulder. 徹r have we been pricked enough this night?・ 
的 think we池e the ones have done the pricking!・More hilarity. 溺y slave will do 
nicely. I値l have him bathe me with rose petal s before I take his foot.・ 
Sovari flipped a coin in the air toward the guardsman, but it fell in the dirt 
out of the Derzhi痴 reach. The officer had either to bend over to pick it up, 
risking an appearance of avarice, or ignore it, risking the 渡oble痴・wrath at his 
ingratitude. I could have sworn I heard a murmured oath. After bowing with 
strained politeness, he attached my ropes to Sovari痴 saddle, and then asked if 
there was anything more he could do for the two lords. 
禅his fair girl-child,・said Aleksander, wagging his finger at the captain. 埜e 
mustn稚 have our roses plucked by slaves or tax collectors. You put it about that 
any man who touches this house will hang in the marketplace without his 
balls羊ight beside the cursed traitors. Do you understand me, Captain? By the 
honor of my father痴 house, you are commanded to see to it. And don稚 think I知 too 
drunk to remember. Is it understood?・Even with his wine-soaked slur, the command 
was clear. Derzhi nobles had a certain way with words, and Derzhi guard captains 
recognized it. 
The Captain bowed his head. 填nderstood, my lord・I didn稚 catch your name・ 
But Aleksander and Sovari had already spurred their mounts to a fast trot and 
broken into song again. I stumbled along behind them into the dark. 
的 knew you were going to do something stupid,・said the Prince as Sovari unhooked 
the ropes from his saddle and hauled me up behind him. 展hen are you going to 
leave off this damned playacting? Do you want to be a slave again.・ 
With the tail of Sovari痴 scarf, I blotted a cut on my forehead that was bleeding 
enough to blind my right eye. 的 can稚 ever seem to think of anything else at the 
time,・I said, vowing to improve my repertoire of deceptions as soon as I could 
think clearly again. 典he results are always predictable, and people notice the 
slave rings before they notice my face. Gives me time to figure out what I知 
doing. Where in the name of the gods did you get the Fontezhi tef-coat?・ 
鄭fter I watched your little performance濫 
添ou watched?・Of course he had watched. I remembered the scrabbling noises behind 
the goat shed. No wonder he had gone off without arguing. Damned, hardheaded 
fool of a Derzhi. 
鄭s I said, I knew you were going to do something stupid. The back of that shed 
is built right into the hill. Easy enough to crawl up and take a look inside. 
Thought I was going to have to come in after you. You didn稚 have a rabbit痴 
twitch of a chance to convince them of that story濫 
填ntil Borian confirmed it.・ 
典he potter did well. Indeed he did.・Aleksander shrugged. 鄭nyway, when I saw the 
guardsman getting different tales from all sides, I knew we needed to prevent 
your having to do anything too extraordinary to get away.・ 
添ou roused the neighbors!・ 
摘asy enough. Gave us time to go hunting. I致e had some good times in Karn辿egeth. 
So I knew where to look for some stupid young bastard who had drunk too much and 
was seeking pleasures where he oughtn稚. Found one, too. Sovari bashed him on the 
head and left him in an alley. He値l wake without a clue as to where his clothes 
got off to.・Even as he told me, Aleksander stripped off the tef-coat and threw 
it into the muck. 
的壇 recommend you keep your leg well covered, my lord,・I said. 典hey池e going to be 
looking everywhere for you.・ 
We rode quickly through the streets and into the unsleeping caravan quarter, 
seeking Malver among the wagons and chastou, casks and barrels and boxes, slaves 
and sledges. We threaded our way between two teams of mountain oxen, their 
wickedly pointed horns wider than a man痴 arm span, only to be brought to a 
standstill by a herd of pigs. The beasts squealed in frantic chorus as they were 
herded into a torchlit slaughterhouse, there to be hacked into slabs or ground 
into sausage to hang in the meat merchants・stalls at dawn. 
展here is the blasted fellow?・said Aleksander, peering into the crowds of 
merchants and vendors of every race who were haggling with each other over 
accounts and market spaces and screaming at their slaves and bondsmen who were 
loading and unloading their merchandise. 滴ow can you find anyone in such 
chaos?・He cursed as two brawny men, carrying a wooden booth on their shoulders, 
bumped his leg. 
滴ow does a warrior tell his enemies from his brothers in a battle?・I said. 添ou 
just have to know where to expect them. Besides, Malver said he knew some cloth 
merchants.・I pointed to a knot of men and women arguing and gesticulating as 
they clustered around an open chest. A tall woman with braided hair and skin the 
color of ebony stood serenely in the middle of the small crowd. She wore a 
purple loobah預 graceful Thrid garment made of one long strip of cloth draped 
about the body預nd a necklace of interlaced rings of ivory or bone. Every once in 
a while she would point to one of her agitated customers, and the one so favored 
would pull a length of colored fabric from the chest and drop coins into the 
woman痴 slender hand. She transferred the coins into the folds of her richly 
colored garment. Watching the proceedings from the seat of a long wagon hung 
with scraps of fabric was Malver. 
Sovari raised a hand, and Malver jumped down from the wagon, surveying the 
milling throng anxiously as he motioned us to ride around behind the knot of 
cloth buyers. 展asn稚 expecting to see you here tonight, my lord,・he said, pulling 
our horses into a shadowed nook. 鉄omething痴 not gone quite to plan?・ 
展e need a place to stay out of sight for a few hours,・said Aleksander. 的知 still 
seeing Kestor before leaving the city.・ 
I could think of few worse ideas than for Aleksander to meet with a Fontezhi 
noble, even if the man was bound to him by the blood of their first battle, and 
if I could have worked some sorcery to remove the Prince from Karn辿egeth in that 
hour, I would have done it. But I was in no condition to be of use. I壇 been 
holding on to Sovari痴 waist with my left arm, because I could scarcely move my 
right, and indeed the numbness was affecting more than my arm. When I looked 
down, the ground seemed very far away. Sovari got himself off the horse 
gracefully, while I sat there wondering how I was going to manage my own 
dismount. 
展但ssani will transport you, my lord,・said Malver, moving close and keeping his 
voice low. 鉄he痴 joined up with a caravan that leaves after tomorrow痴 evening 
market. I told her only that I had a friend用ardon the presumption, my lord謡ho 
needed to get out of the city discreetly. She has moved goods that were 
perhaps・not properly taxed・in the past.・ 
展hat kind of fool are you to trust the Prince to a Thrid smuggler預nd a woman?・ 
said Sovari. 的 thought you had sense. Thrid take whatever position pays them 
best, and the usurper can pay better than we can at the moment.・ 
Malver was not ruffled in the least. 的致e fought beside Thrid half my life. They 
hold to their bargains. Once paid, no one is more trustworthy. She濫 
I heard no more of Thrid virtues, for just then a ripple of unease passed 
through the throngs in the streets: here and there an edgy glance cast toward 
the center of the city, a noisy conversation dropped to whispers, a hand 
reaching out for friends or children, drawing them out of the center of 
activity. I passed the back of my hand before my eyes, forcing my senses alert. 
The source of the disturbance was a distant knot of Derzhi warriors moving 
slowly through the crowd in our direction. A second group rounded a corner at 
the opposite end of the long street. Farther away, horses were galloping through 
the main streets of the city. Hunters. 
展e can稚 wait for evening market,・I said, my tongue thick. 鄭nd we can稚 wait to 
see the Fontezhi. We need to go now.・The night was closing in. 展ith the Thrid 
woman or without.・ 
Aleksander inspected me from bruised head to bootless feet. 撤erhaps we致e done 
all we can do here.・ 
Malver ran to speak to the woman, while Sovari helped Aleksander from his horse. 
I gripped the lip of the saddle with my left hand and swung my leg over, but the 
horse was very tall, and I was suddenly very dizzy, and the ground was very hard 
when my face met the dirt. 
CHAPTER 17
I didn稚 meet W但ssani until the chest she dropped on my arm waked me abruptly 
from a dead sleep with a vow to dismember whomever had done it. 
添ou致e had the free use of my home all morning. I値l not apologize for reclaiming 
a bit of it.・ 
I pulled my left arm out from under the hide-covered box, relieved to find the 
limb intact, and I tried to disengage my head from a pile of colorful woven 
goods. I scarcely had time to glimpse the flat silver light of desert noonday 
before a wad of coarse gray linen hit me in the face. 
撤ut this on.・The woman was not at all in good humor. 
Her command was easier spoken than obeyed, as first I had to untangle myself 
from the unending folds of the garment, and one of my hands seemed to be firmly 
attached somewhere else. And even beyond these difficulties, my head ached so 
ferociously I could scarcely see. 
Someone released the immovable hand by untying the ropes that bound it. A 
similar activity in the region of my ankles told me they had been tied, too預 
disconcerting discovery. 
鉄orry for the bindings. We said you were W但ssani痴 new slave who had misbehaved.・ 
Malver痴 dark face swam in a blur of sunlight and gray cloth. 泥idn稚 have time to 
see to you. Here.・He shoved a waterskin into my hand. 展但ssani will look at your 
head.・ 
展here are the others?・I had only vague recollections of falling and whispers and 
hurried jostling. Someone had told me to keep my mouth shut or she would sew it 
that way. 
鼎aptain Sovari痴 been sent off to Tanzire to set a meeting with the Bek. The 
Prince is up forward. Safe for now.・Malver backed away into the dazzling 
sunlight. 
I wasn稚 sure I wanted anyone to look at my head, much less a woman who had 
dropped a chest on me. But as I sat up and began to assess the damage, trying to 
resist draining the entire contents of the waterskin, I realized that part of my 
vision problem was that blood had congealed over my left eye. From the feel of 
the rest of my face, there was likely a good deal of dirt crusted in with it. 
And manure and considerable other filth. I was rank. 
釘loody Athos, woman, were you trained in healing arts by a shengar?・Aleksander痴 
bellow sounded quite healthy. I dribbled a few drops of water on a corner of the 
gray haffai and dabbed at my eye, more convinced than ever that I had best tend 
to my own problems. 
擢orward・was the half of a large, deep wagon bed that was exposed to the brutal 
sun, as opposed to the semi-shade provided by the roof of woven cloth scraps 
above my head. Once my eyelid came unstuck, I crept toward the light, threading 
my way between stacked barrels and chests and overflowing baskets of cloth, 
slightly nauseated from the heat, my head, and the stink. 
The wagon wasn稚 moving. We seemed to be sitting on the edge of nothing; to my 
left, as far as I could see, were rocks and sand. Four donkeys harnessed to the 
well-built wagon were nosing at a mud hole on my right, where the last remnant 
of a stream had cut through this rocky apron of the desert. Jutting out of the 
jumbled rocks on the far side of the cracked mud were a few dusty tamarisks and 
a tangle of brown and brittle weeds. I could not see Malver. 
Aleksander was sitting just behind the wagon seat with his back braced against 
the side of the wagon and his arms stretched out along the rim. The unlaced 
riding boot was tossed on top of pile of ropes and harness, and someone in a 
white haffai was kneeling beside him, bent over his bare leg. Her long black 
hair was tied into a hundred tiny falls, each of them wound tightly with purple 
and blue thread. 
鏑ook,・said Aleksander, jerking his head at me, 塗ere痴 a fellow so wounded he gets 
off a horse face first. Can scarcely move his sorry bones. Why don稚 you go tend 
him for a while?・ 
The woman straightened up and pointed a long finger at the Prince. 徹ne more word 
from you and the both of you are out of my cart.・Her brown eyes sparked like dry 
tinder lit in a desert midnight. As the sunlight bathed the fine planes and 
angles of her narrow face, I could not but think of the exquisitely carved 
obsidian game pieces on Nyel痴 game board. 添ou cost me a day痴 profits in the best 
market west from Zhagad, and instead of having a pleasant evening痴 journey to 
Khessida, where women appreciate fine weaving, I知 in the middle of Srif Naj on 
my way into Manganar, where people think they池e god-blessed to wear goat hide. 
And who is like to be chasing me but every blood-handed Derzhi in your cursed 
Empire痴 service? No more push than a moth痴 wing on my backside would convince me 
to put bakza thorns in these wounds instead of this ointment that costs me fifty 
zenars a box. So you, my Derzhi friend, had best curb your proud tongue.・With a 
single movement of her finger that directed every word of her diatribe to me as 
well as the Prince, she went back to work. 
Aleksander痴 expression was such a perfection of astonishment that I grinned, 
thinking that perhaps I liked this woman after all. 的s he all right?・I said, 
crawling forward where I could see what she was doing. 徹ther than his tongue, I 
mean.・ 
She was wrapping a thin strip of clean white linen just above the Prince痴 ankle. 
Two other strips were already in place beside the dreadful red-and-purple scar 
just below his knee. 鉄ores from this boot,・she said. 鄭te right through his 
tender royal skin. One almost to the bone. Has he no cleverness at all?・ 
滴is cleverness has always been a matter of debate,・I said. 釘ut no one can fault 
him for lack of persistence.・ 
The woman glanced up. She kept a smile at bay, except in her wide, dark eyes, 
where it settled as if in a familiar place. 的 am W但ssani. How is your head?・ 
鉄eyonne,・I said. Her qualifications as guest-friend were unquestionable; thus I 
did not chafe at exchanging names. 的t feels like your donkeys kicked it.・ 
鏑ooks like it, too,・Aleksander mumbled, pulling his haffai scarf down low over 
his face. 
鏑eave off the boot until these heal, lord of princes, or you値l have no need of 
boots.・With a quick rip of a small knife, W但ssani trimmed off the end of the 
bandage and turned her attention to me. The line of her lip immediately informed 
me that I should not have used the gray haffai to clean my eye. 的 thought 
Ezzarians were a cleanly people,・she said. Before she could get started on 
another lecture, urgent hoofbeats and a choking shower of red dust announced 
Malver痴 return. 
鼎aravan!・he shouted as he slid from the saddle. 
W但ssani slapped her hand on a wooden chest. 的 knew Kavel would come this 
way.・She thrust a ragged square of clean linen and a small brass box into my 
hand. 填se this to clean it. 
Then put a bit of the ointment on it; only a bit, mind, or I値l take payment from 
your hide. When we stop again, I値l make mavroa to ease your head.・She jumped 
down from the wagon, grabbed the donkey harness, and hauled the beasts away from 
the mud hole, cursing at them in a mixture of Thrid and Aseol, the common 
language of the Empire. Malver leaped onto the wagon seat and grabbed the traces 
just as the wagon lurched forward. 
的値l make the arrangements,・W但ssani yelled to Malver. 添ou get the cart to the 
road.・She snatched a trailing fold of her purple loobah, pulled it up between 
her legs, and tucked it somewhere in the other folds. Moments later she was 
astride Malver痴 horse, riding off the way from which he had just come, her 
beribboned black hair flying and her haffai streaming behind her like white 
wings. 
I crawled over beside the Prince, leaned my back against the side of the wagon 
box, and closed my eyes, hoping that I wasn稚 going to have to wait for W但ssani痴 
tea to ease my head, content for the moment to contemplate her striking image 
behind my eyelids. 
滴ave you had a woman since you left Ezzaria?・I had thought he was asleep. 
Even under the dirt and crusted blood I felt my color rise. 
的 thought not.・ 
的 thought you couldn稚 read me anymore.・ 
禅he donkeys could read this.・ 
的 have a wife濫 
痘who tried to murder you, and will do it yet if you should cross her path. 
Worthy wives do not drop their wedding tokens into their husband痴 blood.・ 
Fiona must have told him about Ysanne and the ring. 的 vowed to be faithful until 
death,・I said. 的t makes no difference what she痴 done.・ 
Aleksander pulled his scarf lower and settled as if to sleep. 展ell, if you 
should ever change your mind, I壇 not start with this one. She would devour you 
as a kayeet eats a rabbit.・ 
An hour later, I was sitting in the back of the jostling wagon, dreaming of a 
bath. I had made one swipe at my face and was trying to find a clean spot on the 
square of linen to start on my hands. Unfortunately I made no progress on the 
stink, which seemed to be getting worse. A number of things had come to mind 
that were worth wishing for庸ood, rain, boots預nd other nonsensical yearnings 
seemed to be written on my face for all to see, but I would have traded the 
prospect of any of them for a sliver of soap and an hour in a tub, pool, or 
river. 
Aleksander had moved underneath the shade of the colorful canopy also, but had 
not shown any further inclination to talk. He sat across from me, his fingers 
tracing the engraving of his sword hilt. No pleasant thoughts there. 
的 told Pujat Kavel that you were my new bond-servants,・said W但ssani, who rode up 
beside the wagon and matched the horse痴 pace to the donkeys・plodding. 滴e thinks 
M但lver there is my new partner, and I have acquired you預 cripple and a freed 
slave葉o strip and clean the bones. You must show your diligence, or he won稚 
believe me. When we stop at midday, you can start on those in the basket.・She 
spurred the horse and left us spitting dust, but not before I saw the crinkle in 
the corners of her eyes. 
Aleksander had seen it, too. 泥amnable smirking Thrid witch. I値l let Edik have 
his way with me before I do her bidding.・ 
釘ones?・I said. My head had eased considerably, but I was still confused. 
Aleksander grimaced and shoved his sword belt back under an oaken chest. 鼎ast 
your sorcerer痴 eye inside the basket. No, the long one just behind you.・ 
The object to which he was referring was about the length and width of a coffin, 
but twice as deep and made of tightly woven reeds with handles of rope. The 
moment I cracked the lid, I realized that the dreadful stench I had assumed my 
own was from quite another source葉wo animals, very dead. 擢oxes?・ 
W但ssani had gotten us out of Karn辿egeth through one of the closed gates, so 
Aleksander told me. Evidently she regularly needed a quiet way out of the city 
and knew several guardsmen who were willing to let her pass for a share of her 
profits. This time she had paid a man with Aleksander痴 horse and mine. The 
guardsman had poked around her wagon to see what was worth such an expensive 
bribe, finding only one battered, insensible slave, supposedly acquired in 
trade, her usual baskets and chests of woven goods, and a large, vile-smelling 
basket that held two fox carcasses. The foxes were sufficient explanation. 
Ornaments of fox bone were prized by a good many men across the Empire, for they 
were believed to enhance virility. 
Derzhi from those hegeds that permitted multiple wives, and Suzaini who often 
had three or more, had been known to pay handsomely for fox-bone arm or finger 
rings, pendants, bracelets, or brooches. Especially valued were the bones of the 
elusive red Azhaki fox. As a certain Fontezhi lord who resided in Karn辿egeth 
maintained his own supply of them, captive, the guardsman had no difficulty 
understanding W但ssani痴 hurry. He was not in the least inclined to poke around in 
the smelly basket, so he failed to discover that just below the quickly ripening 
carcasses were a false bottom and his anointed Emperor. 
的 thought I was going to cook in my own vomit,・said the Prince. 的f she thinks 
I値l do any more playacting・ 
But of course she did. And we did. W但ssani was very clever. 
We rode with the caravan of one Pujat Kavel, a Hollenni trader in olive oil, 
spices, and dried fish. Though oil and spices were immensely profitable items, 
the trade in them was controlled by Derzhi hegeds, the Jurrans for spices, 
Gorusch for olive oil. By the time Kavel paid imperial taxes, the required heged 
shares, and bribes enough to keep his caravans moving, he earned barely enough 
to support his own business in dried fish. And he knew that if the dried fish 
business were ever to become truly profitable, one of the Derzhi families would 
take it over, probably killing him in the process. Though he was not yet thirty, 
the hard truths of the world had already sapped his hopes, and he wore a 
perpetually morose expression. Even his dark mustaches drooped. 
At our first stop Malver柚但lver as W但ssani called him in the language of 
Thrid揺elped me carry the basket of fox carcasses out of the wagon. The moment we 
left the basket to go help Aleksander out of the wagon bed, the caravan dogs 
were on it. W但ssani screamed at them and threw stones, and then grabbed one of 
Aleksander痴 crutches and beat them off. 
I suggested that it might be clever to let the dogs do the disgusting job of 
removing the decaying flesh from the prized bones, but W但ssani said she could 
not have her precious stock ruined by teeth marks or cracks. Bad enough our 
urgent departure had prevented her skinning her prizes right away. The delay had 
likely ruined the pelt. Once the pelt was removed, we were to carefully cut away 
the meat and gristle. That should distract the dogs and vultures while we 
finished the job of stripping the bones. Whenever we made camp for the night, we 
would boil an earthen pot of hali葉he bitter powder that the desert sun leached 
from bad water holes預nd clean away the remaining bits from the day痴 harvest of 
bones. 
In the midday heat, such tasks were no pleasure, but I had done much worse many 
times. W但ssani would feed, shelter, and transport us for only a few days, but 
long after we were gone, she would ply these roads and towns, where informers 
would sell her life for a few zenars. To hold up our end of the deception seemed 
a fair exchange for her risk. 
Aleksander did not so much object to the task揺e had hunted the desert since he 
could draw a bow, and even Derzhi princes skinned their own kill. The 
unpleasantness resulting from three days・rotting in W但ssani痴 basket was only a 
matter of degree. But to take orders from a woman・and from a Thrid, the most 
despised of all races・to labor at her command while others took their leisure, 
and to suspect how perfectly she must be enjoying her moment痴 dominance over the 
Derzhi Emperor-in-waiting・that left him near bursting. 
鉄he痴 a devil.・His knife slid expertly along the inside of the fox痴 legs and down 
the centerline of the belly, detaching the soft pelt from the decaying muscle. I 
had a feeling that the dead fox wore a Thrid woman痴 face at that moment. 
鉄he痴 clever.・ 
展hat痴 she doing now?・Aleksander was sitting with his back to the wagon, his leg 
stretched out stiffly in front of him. To shift his position in order to observe 
his tormentor would be awkward and obvious. 
泥rinking ale with Malver.・ 
敵ods, I値l flog him for this. She痴 laughing, is she?・ 
哲ot at all. She痴 showing him some of her weavings.・Malver was easy with W但ssani 
as I had not seen him with anyone else. I had thought him a man of few words, 
but the two seemed to find a great deal to talk about. I was surprised that he 
had revealed Aleksander痴 identity to her, but it seemed to have worked out for 
the best. She was taking her commission very seriously. 
添ou池e enjoying this.・The Prince痴 glare was hotter than the sun. 
的 can think of many things I壇 rather be doing.・ 
Pujat Kavel strolled by, his hands clasped behind his back. He nodded to 
W但ssani. 鄭nother hour and we値l be on our way, mezonna.・Mezonna was the honorific 
for a businesswoman. Though the drooping Hollenni had been willing to accept 
W但ssani痴 fee and her story of a broken bargain with another caravan, he took 
care to make sure the Thrid woman was what she said. When the train of nine 
wagons and twenty chastou stopped to rest and eat and sleep through the hottest 
part of the day, he strolled by our position no less than four times an hour. 
鉄he値l send Malver hunting to bring us more carrion to play with, won稚 she?・ said 
Aleksander after Kavel had passed by. 
的 would expect so. Gazelle or kayeet bones won稚 fetch the same price, but 
someone will buy her trinkets. At least we値l be able to cook fresh meat and eat 
it.・Though at the moment, with my hands buried in rotting fox flesh, eating meat 
was about the last thing I could desire. 
We maintained our roles carefully as we traveled with W但ssani. Aleksander and I 
rode in the wagon and worked whenever the wagon stopped. W但ssani rode our horse 
and laughed and talked with Malver, who drove her rig. She held no discourse 
with the Prince or me, only commanded us where everyone could hear. Sometimes 
she rode beside Pujat Kavel during the day, and she spent every evening at his 
cook fire. Her mellow laughter echoed through the camp as we skinned and boned, 
cooked and ate her kill, and sweated over her boiling pots. 
My eyes would not leave her graceful form謡alking, riding, speaking everything of 
life; they brushed her lusciously dark skin, and I imagined how it might be to 
loose her thick hair from its windings and let it fall about her shoulders・ or 
mine. While Aleksander brooded and plotted strategy, I smiled to myself at her 
wit, and admired her cleverness, and wondered if the tales she told Kavel of her 
smuggling exploits were true. 
But when the night grew late and I finished my work, I lay under the stars and 
tried to clear my head of this woman who had no rightful place there. I had a 
wife. Ysanne had been my very heart since I was fifteen, everything I wanted, 
everything I could imagine wanting. How could I consider intimacy with anyone 
else? Yet the only memory I could summon of my wife were the last words I壇 heard 
from her lips. Find the demon・bleed him until he痴 dead. The wounding of those 
words was far deeper than the scar in my side. 
CHAPTER 18
The caravan crawled along the Vayapol Road, a well-traveled route that led 
southeast from Karn辿egeth across Srif Naj toward the distant trading city where 
I had first met Blaise. Well before we got to Vayapol, however, W但ssani planned 
to turn our wagon south and head for the fertile wheat and barley fields of 
Manganar, lands that Aleksander had once called his own. The Prince had granted 
a number of estates to the Bek heged at the time of his anointing, as he had 
done for every other Derzhi family. The knowledge that the hated Rhyzka now 
controlled his own vast holdings had been bad enough, but to hear that Edik had 
revoked his gifts came near driving him mad. He saw only one bright spot. Surely 
the Bek and other hegeds subjected to such humiliations would join him to throw 
down Edik. 
Someday I would remind him that neither Rhyzka nor Bek nor Denischkar held true 
claim to those lands. Manganar had once had a king of her own. 
On our third day with the caravan, we heard tidings from Karn辿egeth. A fast 
moving party of Senigarans passed us on the road, and, as was the custom, rode 
alongside the caravan long enough to exchange news. The three were hired 
swordsmen, I guessed, from their confidence in traveling alone. And, too, the 
quality of their weapons was much finer than the quality of their dress. 展e were 
lucky to get out of Karn辿egeth,・said the swarthy spokesman for the three. 典hey致e 
locked the gates and are allowing no one in or out.・ 
滴ow痴 that?・said Kavel. 
撤rince Aleksander was seen there預ll over the city, you壇 think擁n the noble 
quarter, in the craftsmen痴 quarter, in the market quarter. There痴 rumors that he 
came to avenge the murders of his friends that were executed by the imperial 
governor. Rumors that he came to save the common folk from the new Emperor. 
Rumors that he痴 going to kill the Fontezhi second lord. No man could do so many 
deeds as the talk would have him doing, nor be so many places all at once. You致e 
heard the story of his battle with the Hamraschi? How a winged god came and took 
him out? As if that wasn稚 wonder enough, now they say the Prince himself can 
change his shape. The Fontezhi lords are furious at the talk, searching every 
house. They致e vowed to gut the Kinslayer in Zhagad market and see if any god 
comes to save him.・ 
I reported the conversation to Aleksander. 
摘veryone would be quite disappointed to see the truth, wouldn稚 they?・he said. 
Indeed we were a sorry case, caked with sand and sweat, our skin and garments 
hopelessly stained with blood and worse. I was still without shirt or boots, and 
my skin was blotchy green and black with fading bruises. Aleksander痴 leg was 
grotesque with sores, his healing wound, and patches of pale withered flesh. 
Later that same day, when he thought no one could see him, I watched him try to 
put some weight on his leg. It crumpled immediately and left him scrabbling for 
a handhold on the wagon. He smashed his crutch into the dirt, then leaned his 
forehead on the wagon side, one fist pounding on the unyielding oak. 
On our fifth day out of Karn辿egeth the hunters came. The caravan had stopped at 
Taine Dabu, a lush green sink with a well so prolific it merited a long stop, 
though the hour was earlier than usual for a rest. Aleksander and I were 
grateful, for not only was if a somewhat cooler part of the day for our bloody 
work預 sand-deer to dismember on this day謡e could actually have a bit of shade to 
ourselves. And deception or no, desert custom or no, I was determined to have a 
wash. 
Most of the caravan halted near the well, the easier to tend their beasts and 
fill their water barrels. But we pulled W但ssani痴 wagon away from the other 
wagons and set up under a spreading tamarisk outside the lip of the green sink 
so our activities could not foul the well. As I cut into the deer and cast a 
small enchantment to keep the dogs and vultures away until we were ready, I 
heightened my hearing to listen to the gossip throughout the caravan. I had 
gotten into the habit of doing so to make sure no suspicion attached to W但ssani 
or her bondsmen. As always, the chastouain were cursing their recalcitrant 
beasts. The leather merchant was beating his slave for spilling a cup of 
nazrheel on his new haffai. W但ssani was telling Kavel how she had smuggled a 
load of untaxed nazrheel through the gates of Zhagad itself on a dare. The two 
were sitting by the well beyond a grove of nagera trees, and I let my 
investigation linger there for a while. Old Talar, the guardian of Ezzarian 
purity, would have been horrified at such use of my gifts. But because I had 
indulged my fascination and left my hearing sharp, I heard the Derzhi horsemen 
coming well before they reached Taine Dabu. 
迭iders!・I said to Aleksander, then I whistled long and loud, a prearranged 
signal to warn W但ssani and Malver of nearby danger. I leaped into the wagon to 
make sure that Aleksander痴 sword belt, ring, and telltale boot were safely 
hidden in the false bottom of W但ssani痴 basket, then returned to the Prince. 
Aleksander had wound his haffai scarf around his hair, and I did the same, 
making sure it drooped over the scar on my face. Nothing else to be done. We 
went back to work. 
展ho is the gonaj here?・demanded the Derzhi officer as the five warriors rode up, 
their horses kicking dust all over our fresh meat. 
I ducked my head and pointed toward the well. 撤ujat Kavel of Hollen, your 
honor.・ 
Aleksander kept his eyes on the sand-deer, but his hands, bloody to the elbows 
and gripping his knife, were very still. 
The riders proceeded down the path into the sink. 
展hat heged・・ 
I motioned Aleksander quiet and listened to the questioning. The Derzhi spoke of 
reports that the Kinslayer had been smuggled out of Karn辿egeth. All the roads 
were being scoured. Every wagon and cart must be searched. The villain prince is 
supposedly in company with three men, one of them Derzhi, the other two of 
unknown race. The Fontezhi first lord has added five thousand zenars to the 
price of the murderer痴 capture・but only if he is taken alive. And, oh yes, the 
Prince has been injured. He wears a thick leather boot on one leg, such as 
nobles wear for a broken limb. 
哲othing new,・I said. 典hey池e going to search the caravan.・I dragged the sand-deer 
pelt over Aleksander痴 scarred leg and crutches and cursed myself for not 
thinking to hide them earlier. What if the soldiers had noticed? 哲o need to have 
anyone wondering about you.・ 
Aleksander shifted awkwardly. 的 don稚 like this.・ 
I felt the same. Sitting with our backs exposed. Unable to run. 
Unable to fight to any good purpose. I could perhaps take on five Derzhi if I 
had a sword in hand預s long as none of them struck me in the right side. But 
there were at least twenty men of fighting age in the caravan, and fifteen 
thousand zenars would let a man and his family live like lords. Even had I been 
willing to sacrifice W但ssani and Malver and fly away with Aleksander, I could 
not carry him far enough to see him safe. Nor would stealing a horse help us, as 
it was so difficult for him to mount, and no horse in the caravan was good 
enough to outrun those the Derzhi rode. So we sat. Waited. Pulled bleeding 
muscle from bone as if it were important that it be done right. 
Half an hour passed. I considered enchantments. Paraivos and walls of fire 
needed time and concentration to prepare, so I tried to come up with some 
smaller working. I dared not do anything that would draw attention unless we had 
no other recourse. Better to let this storm pass over us. 
添ou池e ruining my cloth, you flea-brain,・W但ssani yelled, running up to her wagon 
as a ham-handed Derzhi clambered in and started dumping her chests and baskets. 
No mistaking the crack of a solid blow on flesh. 
I dropped a half-stripped leg bone and leaped to my feet. Aleksander clamped an 
iron hand about my ankle. 鉄it down,・he said through clenched teeth. 
展hat kind of witch are you?・The Derzhi held up a handful of kayeet bones. 溺y 
lord! The Thrid savage has got a basket of bloody bones in here! Animal bones, I 
think.・ 
A rider approached the wagon. 滴as someone paid you for your devil痴 magicking?・ 
的 fashion bone ornaments, good lord, as well as weaving cloth,・said W但ssani, 
rubbing her bruised face and showing them her necklace, bracelets, and rings. 
She made a good show of defiance subdued・until she opened her mouth again. 溺y 
bondsmen strip and clean the bones, but even such dull-wits as they know to keep 
the blood from off my cloth.・ 
展e care naught for your trinkets, Thrid witch,・said the rider, a noble, so said 
the fine cut of his clothes. 展e hunt the coward Aleksander, and I would strip 
your black flesh from your bones if it would find him.・Something was vaguely 
familiar about the nobleman痴 voice, but I was looking into the sun and could not 
recognize him from the back. 
的f these bones are those of your royal father-killer, you may have them and good 
riddance,・said W但ssani. 摘ven Thrid savages do not bleed their fathers.・ 
The Derzhi in the wagon grabbed and twisted W但ssani痴 hair, pulled her head close 
to his month, and growled at her. 溺ind your barbarian tongue, witch.・ 
The noble snapped his reins. 鏑et痴 be off, Durn. Nothing to be found in this 
pitiful lot.・ 
The Derzhi riders galloped past Aleksander and me on their way back to the road. 
I was almost ready to breathe easy again, when the last rider slowed, reversed 
direction, and walked his mount around us. I kept my head down and my knife 
moving. Aleksander did the same. After a moment the rider, the fair- haired 
young noble, moved on after the others, and we both glanced after him. We could 
see him clearly now. 滴adeon,・we said as one. 
展e致e got to get away from the caravan,・I said. 典his young lord is not stupid. He 
saw the Prince痴 leg and crutches before I covered them. Once he thinks about it, 
he痴 going to be back. Then you値l die, W但ssani. If he believes you know where 
Prince Aleksander is, he値l force you to tell him.・Of all the damned bad luck to 
have the proud young Mardek be the one to see Aleksander痴 grotesque leg. 
鄭nd where do you propose we go?・said the woman, pressing a damp cloth to a cut 
on her lip. 
添ou paid me to get you out of Karn辿egeth, not to die for you. Not to have my 
whole trade ruined.・The wagon was a mess. At least half of the lengths of 
colored fabric were ripped, stained with blood, or dropped into the muck where 
the horse and donkeys had been watered. The spilt bones were no matter, save the 
fox bones and tails that were safely tucked away with Aleksander痴 sword. W但ssani 
needed the fox tails to prove the value of her stock. But she needed her life to 
enjoy her profits. 
展e go to the Bek,・said Aleksander. 鉄ovari is waiting in Tanzire. We just leave 
the caravan early葉onight instead of tomorrow.・ 
展e must go now,・I said. I could not speak my urgency. Hadeon had seen 
Aleksander痴 damaged leg. He would know. And both Mardek and Fontezhi had 
messenger birds. 
Malver nodded. 適avel plans to stay here past midday. His chastou are dry and 
need the time. But everyone is down at the well, so if we leave now, no one will 
miss us until he reassembles the caravan. If we could just cover our tracks・ 
的値l see to that,・I said, glad to have something useful to do. 
W但ssani was not convinced. She stood in the wagon bed frowning, her hands on her 
hips. 添ou can稚 erase ten leagues of wagon tracks, and there痴 no wind today. I致e 
seen tracks last for thirty days in summer. So they値l know we ran away and be 
able to follow us. Better we keep to our story and stay with the others. The 
emperor can hide in the basket if needed.・ 
鉄eyonne can take care of the tracks,・said Aleksander, 澱ut I壇 advise you to keep 
your haffai wrapped tight.・Then, in a move that surprised even me, who thought I 
had seen all of Aleksander痴 surprises, he bowed deeply to W但ssani. 的 regret we 
must disrupt your trade further, madam. Someday, when I am in a better position 
to do so, I will demonstrate my gratitude more fully. For now I can only tell 
you that you are as fine a player of deception as I have ever encountered. In 
fact,・he added, standing up again and hitching his crutches under his arms, 的 
think you should give lessons to Seyonne. Your tricks involve a great deal of 
blood, but so far, none of it is his.・ 
For the first time in five days, W但ssani was at a loss for words. I didn稚 think 
it a common occurrence. Nor did I think it clever to let her see my enjoyment of 
the scene. While Malver hitched the donkeys and tied the horse to the wagon, 
Aleksander threw his crutches into the wagon bed and hoisted himself in after 
them. I pulled off my haffai and hurried down to the well. Nodding respectfully 
to Kavel, who was supervising the watering of his chastou, I soaked the robe, 
careful not to get the blood from my hands into the water. The wagon was already 
pulling away when I ran up the path and threw myself headlong into it. 展e can at 
least clean up a bit,・I said, dropping the sopping wad into Aleksander痴 lap. I 
sorely regretted the lost chance to wash with the bountiful waters of Taine 
Dabu. 
We traveled through the dreadful noonday and all through that scorching 
afternoon, watering the donkeys generously from our filled barrels and taking 
turns sitting in the sun to drive the wagon. Actually, the other three shared 
the wagon seat, while I sat on the very back, behind the shade canopy, and spoke 
the wind. Softly. Just enough to shift the sand and erase our tracks across the 
dunes. Malver sighted our direction by the sun, conferring constantly with 
Aleksander, who knew more details about the geography of his Empire than a 
Thrycian mapmaker. W但ssani took her turn driving, then spent the rest of the 
time sorting through her stock, stuffing the ruined fabrics into one basket and 
carefully folding and rolling the rest. 
鉄o, are you shy of driving donkeys?・She stuck her head through the trailing 
curtain, and before I could answer she had stepped between the wooden struts 
onto the rim of the wagon box. The desert light had changed from the flat sheen 
of afternoon into the shifting purple and gold of evening. To the east, the sky 
had already deepened. Behind us stretched the sculpted dunes・a smooth, unbroken 
sweep of sand. 
的 had other things to do.・I moved a little to the side, and she sat down beside 
me, dangling her legs off the back as I was doing. 
For a while, she sat in companionable silence, gazing into the desert behind us. 
Her body moved as we rode, translating the harsh jostle of the wagon into easy 
grace. As the hour passed I glanced sideways and saw a small frown settle on her 
brow. I smiled to myself and continued my work. A few minutes more and she 
opened her mouth, but no words followed. She closed her eyes, then looked again. 
Finally, just when I thought the question would come, she leaned back against a 
pile of boxes and propped her feet up against one of the canopy struts, settled, 
as if she could ride that way to the end of the earth. 
添ou池e not afraid?・I said. 
泥o I need to be?・ 
I shook my head. 哲ot of me.・ 
鄭nd the one who sleeps?・Inside the wagon, Aleksander was snoring vigorously. 
哲or him.・ 
敵ood. I wouldn稚 want to have my life turned inside out by evil spirits or 
villain princes.・ 
The stars began to come out. We rode for a long while without saying much of 
anything. 
Later, after W但ssani moved inside to sleep, I decided I had done enough. We were 
leaving the srif for higher ground揚rasslands and wheat country. No one could 
track us from Taine Dabu. I stepped over the sleeping Aleksander and W但ssani to 
the wagon seat and offered to take a turn driving. Malver yielded me the traces, 
but stayed beside me, sighting the stars to keep us on course for Tanzire. 
的s she your sister or your cousin, M但lver?・I said softly, pronouncing his name 
in the Thrid way. 
溺other of earth・ The soldier stared at me. Terrified. 的t痴 all right,・I said. 的 
won稚 say anything. Not that it would make any difference after all you致e done.・ 
Thrid were hired soldiers, mercenaries paid to die in Derzhi wars, skilled at 
arms, but never trusted. Never honored. Never noticed, except to judge whether 
they were worth their fee. Never, ever, did Thrid serve in a Derzhi troop, much 
less command Derzhi warriors. Popular wisdom said that the lowest born man of 
Derzhi blood would rise to be emperor before such a thing could happen. Except 
that it had. 溺y duty. That痴 all I致e done.・ 
展hy? To hide what you are all these years・to serve the Derzhi conquerors・ His 
skin was dark, but not the telltale color of his people. Ordinarily, Thrid were 
the only race easier to recognize than Ezzarians. 
He shrugged and kept his eyes fixed on the rising barrens ahead. 的知 good at 
fighting. At leading men. And I value my life. Why would I want to leave it in 
the hands of some Derzhi jackanape who thinks he can pay me enough to go where 
he daren稚 poke his spear? I decided to determine my own fate as far as a man can 
do it.泊 
釘ut this・now・this is something more・ He glanced sideways at me. 鄭ye. A barbarian 
Thrid might not see so much as an Ezzarian sorcerer can, but I致e eyes in my 
head. Someday I may have sons who want to fight for something worthy.・ 
I nodded and returned my attention to the donkeys. 滴e is worthy. If we can just 
keep him alive long enough that he can see his way. I promise you, he is.・ 
We rode on, Malver nudging me back on course as we skirted the last of the 
towering dunes. After a while I shivered and handed over the traces, saying I 
was going to retrieve my haffai and bring him a waterskin. As I crawled toward 
the back, Malver spoke over his shoulder. 滴alf sister.・ 
CHAPTER 19
Thanks to the water we had taken from Taine Dabu, W但ssani痴 donkeys stayed alive 
long enough to get us to Zanzire. a moderately sized, walled town surrounded by 
wheat fields and tiny villages, one of which was Vanko痴 home of Eleuthra. The 
northern gates of Tanzire stood open, their lower edges buried in weed-choked 
sand. The thick wooden gates had not been closed for a hundred and thirty years, 
not since the last remnant of the Manganar royal line had been crushed. A 
mud-brick tower stood across the broad marketplace from the gate, the remnant of 
a primitive fortress that had once occupied this site. 
As soon as W但ssani had bullied her way past three nosy guards at the gates, 
Malver jumped off the wagon and slipped into the dim side lanes in search of 
Sovari. Aleksander and I stayed under W但ssani痴 canopy while the woman guided her 
donkeys through the wide dirt street into the town market. We passed at least 
six mounted Derzhi warriors, all of them of the Rhyzka heged. I thought the 
Prince would spew steam at the sight of them. 
In the way of many towns in the desert regions, the market was a large square, 
surrounded by two-story houses of mud brick. The upper floors of the houses 
protruded into the market, supported on brick pillars, so that all around the 
edges were shady cloisters where sellers could spread their wares. Wagons and 
carts stopped haphazardly in the open space, where the owners could set up small 
fences for stock, hammer steel posts into the ground for tethering valuable 
horses or slaves, or spread canvas canopies to make shade. Ten or more streets 
led off the market, deeper into the town. 
W但ssani hurried off to the town offices to make application to the redyikka葉he 
magistrate who oversaw the market and who would most certainly notice if a 
merchant failed to register upon entry to the city. Aleksander retrieved his 
sword and ring from the false-bottomed basket and hid them under his haffai. I 
sat in the shadows and listened to the gossip among nearby tradesmen sitting 
together in the shade drinking nazrheel. Much of it was the usual business of 
family and caravan traveling: news of mutual acquaintances, weather, roads, 
tariffs, and hardship. But after a while they lowered their voices to where I 
could catch only some of the words. 
・Unsettled・these new rules from Zhagad・How can a man survive, much less make a 
profit? Monstrous levies・on the Suzain road imperial soldiers take half the 
goods from every caravan・whole villages taken for slaves if their taxes fall 
short・all of us in Nyabozzi chains soon enough. Perhaps・perhaps not・ I heard 
rumor, a name not heard in a year・ 
The voices dropped below my level of hearing, even heightened as it was by skill 
and melydda. Yet I thought I heard one more word, or perhaps my own mind added 
it to the whisperings because I recalled the rumors of bandits in Karn辿egeth. 
But I could have sworn they said ・lukash.・Yvor Lukash・the sword of light・Blaise. 
Was the outlaw band riding again, their truce with the Empire broken by 
Aleksander痴 fall? I was on the verge of leaving the wagon to persuade the 
gossiping men to tell me, when Malver returned with Sovari. 
鄭ll praise to Athos, my lord, to see you well.・Sovari痴 words did not reflect his 
dismay at Aleksander痴 wretched appearance, but his face spoke volumes. 
添es, I need some clothes fit to put on before I see anyone, and if you don稚 have 
a pot or a puddle or a seep where I can wash this vile stink off of me, I値l 
strangle you.・ 
徹f course, I値l arrange something. But, my lord, the Bek・ Sovari had clearly been 
away from court long enough to lose the impenetrable mask of courtiers, the 
polite, incurious veneer that could cover every emotion from murderous rage to 
driving lust. The good captain did not want to continue. And, of course, 
Aleksander, skilled at penetrating even the courtier痴 mask, saw it. 
He sighed broadly. 典ell me, Sovari. I知 scarcely expecting heralds or a 
rose-petal canopy.・ 
典he First Lord will not see you, my lord, nor will he allow a meeting at the Bek 
stronghold.・ 
敵o on.・ 
禅hey致e told me of a tavern・ 
* * * 
Sovari had taken a room at a bedraggled little inn that was crammed between a 
tannery and a saddle-maker痴 shop, its cracked mud walls and weedy stable yard so 
miserable it didn稚 even have a name. The copper lantern that hung outside its 
arched gate was the only way to know that a weary traveler could find a mug of 
lukewarm ale or a bowl of barley soup or a pallet of straw within. W但ssani 
planned to stay with the wagon in the marketplace, conduct her business, and 
protect her goods. Malver stayed to help her with the donkey team before joining 
us at the tavern. In the back of my mind wasn稚 thought to visit W但ssani later 
after our business was done. Talk a bit. Learn more of her. 
We had not been followed to the inn, but I didn稚 like the room熔nly the one door 
and a single, small barred window. I peered out at the waste heaps behind the 
tannery and decided that the stink was not going to improve very much, even if 
Aleksander and I were able to wash. 
鉄ereg, the Fourth Lord of the Bek,・grumbled the Prince as he lowered himself to 
the pallet in the airless room. 展hat does a Bek fourth do? Probably sharpens 
harrows for plowmen. Or he痴 the second lord痴 idiot nephew. All this cursed way 
here to meet with a fourth.・ 
Sovari stood by the door, his arms folded, worry lines creasing his rugged face. 
哲ot to excuse their discourtesy, my lord, but I致e been here three days, and 
every morning has seen a new imperial messenger ride in. The Bek預nyone with a 
grievance against the new・against Lord Edik預re likely being watched. They know 
you池e moving.・ 
鄭ny messenger birds?・I asked. 鄭ny word from Karn辿egeth?・My hackles had been 
raised from the moment we rode into the town. The safety of the empty desert 
seemed far away. 
的致e not seen them. But likely any birds would go to the castle at Gan Hyffir, 
which is still held by the Bek. The Rhyzka have taken over several large houses 
in town for now; they致e at least twenty warriors in the garrison, some with 
imperial credentials. That痴 why I brought you such a roundabout way here. Word 
is the Rhyzka are trying to persuade Lord Edik to give them Gan Hyffir for their 
sixth. With that they could hold all of northern Manganar.・ 
的 know exactly what they want,・snapped Aleksander. 鉄o when is this meeting?・ 
鏑ord Sereg will be in the common room tonight at fifth watch. I値l send the 
confirmation, then have hot water and food brought.・He pointed to folded piles 
of clothes and two pairs of boots. 溺y apologies for the clothes, my lord. They池e 
the best I could have made in so short a time. I致e four fresh horses in the 
stable, and I値l be off to set your meeting with the Fozhet as soon as I致e given 
your orders.・ 
典hen we値l see you at Khoura in two days, Captain.・ 
典wo days. I値l be waiting for you, my lord.・ 
Aleksander leaned against the wall. 添ou致e done well, Sovari.・ 
The captain flushed and bowed deeply. 的t is and has ever been my honor to serve 
you, Your Majesty.・ 
溺ajesty・ said Aleksander softly, after Sovari left us. From the pocket of his 
filthy haffai, he pulled out his ring and stared at it unspeaking until two 
serving girls arrived at our door with hot water and food enough for five men. 
Sovari had done very well indeed. 
Once reasonably clean, shaved, trimmed, braided, and dressed in clothes that, 
though plain, were neither ragged nor bloodstained, Aleksander regained a bit of 
fire. As soon as Malver arrived, he sent the soldier to retrieve his riding 
boot, and when the time came for the meeting with the Fourth Lord of the Bek, 
Malver informed the nervous noble that his rightful Emperor would meet him, not 
in the tavern common room like a skulking thief, but in the yard behind the 
tavern, mounted, as was fitting for a Derzhi warrior on the front lines of a 
battle. I was uneasy at the choice of venue, but the yard was dark, tucked away 
from the street, and had no windows looking over it but our own. And, indeed, 
Aleksander was more mobile on a horse. 
The posturing did little but service Aleksander痴 pride, for the Bek fourth lord, 
neither idiot nor tool sharpener, but the first lord痴 scholarly youngest son, 
offered nothing more than had Lord Vassile of the Mardek. The Bek would honor 
the wishes of their late Emperor and see Aleksander crowned, but they would not 
fight for him unless he brought evidence that they would not stand alone. Though 
his family would neither harbor Aleksander nor give him men, horses, or 
supplies, Lord Sereg himself seemed intrigued with Aleksander痴 promise to 
restructure the order of the Derzhi hegeds. 
泥id you hear him?・said Aleksander. 典he owl-eyed twit said my actions of the past 
two years as my father痴 surrogate had given him ideas on how the Empire might be 
governed differently, split into regions, each with a powerful prince to 
counterbalance the strength of the Twenty.・We were walking slowly back to the 
tavern from the stable, the Prince痴 face tight as he deliberately put weight on 
his booted leg. 的 couldn稚 even make one son,・he added bitterly. 展hat makes him 
think I could breed five full grown?・ 
Did he say anything of bandit raids?・I asked. I had listened to the meeting with 
only half an ear, trying to watch the street, the yard, and the maze of dark 
alleyways for anyone who might be looking for a red-haired Derzhi with an 
imperial ring and a riding boot. 
釘andits・no. He said only that matters were getting worse by the hour for the 
minor houses. New horse levies on top of doubled taxes and conscription of half 
their heged troops for the borders, right when Edik gave their land洋y land葉o the 
cursed Rhyzka. It would serve Edik right if the Yvor・Holy Druya, have you heard 
something of your outlaw friend?・ 
笛ust gossip.・But I wondered. I had induced Blaise to halt his raids as a 
concession to Aleksander. But if slave taking and the other cruel burdens of the 
common people were getting worse, Blaise would not sit still for long. My steps 
slowed, and as I watched Aleksander hobble through the back door of the shabby 
tavern, I began to consider defeat. 
I could not stay with the Prince forever. Was it foolish for me to continue this 
journey, when what strength I had left might better be saved for a more serious 
struggle that I alone could face? Was I staying for Aleksander, for the elusive 
promise of his feadnach, or was I just too cowardly to face my own future? 
Distracted, worried, ! wasn稚 paying enough attention to the night. But because I 
lingered at the edge of the dark stable yard weighing possibilities, I heard the 
whispers from the shadows by the tannery wall and the light footsteps running 
away. Two pairs of them. Damn! I dodged a stack of empty ale barrels, knocking 
them tumbling, and leaped over the broken cart frame and rusted stovepipe that 
were piled at the edge of the yard. I turned left by the tanner痴 wall, stepping 
lightly over scrap heaps, only to trip over a wooden staff thrust across the 
narrow alley right where it entered the street. The one who held the staff tried 
to bring it down on my head, but I rolled, leaped up, and was on his back before 
he could raise it high enough. My scrawny assailant wriggled and poked and bit 
my arm, but I held him tight and dragged him back into the dark alley, casting a 
futile enchantment toward his escaping companion. I had not seen or touched the 
runner, and so my working would do little more than slow his steps as he ran to 
tell what he had seen. 
展here is he going?・I said, snarling at the sullen boy pressed hard against the 
tannery wall with my arm across his throat. 展ho will your friend tell?・ 
的 won稚濫 
泥on稚 think you can lie to me or hold back what I want to know,・I said harshly, 
letting my eyes flare blue. I could imagine how strange and fearsome my eyes 
would look. Of course the boy, who was no more than thirteen, could not realize 
that my anger was directed more at myself than at him. 
典he first m-magistrate is his uncle,・squeaked the boy, spittle leaking from the 
side of his gaping mouth. 
鄭nd who is the magistrate痴 lord?・No hope that he was Bek痴 man. 
鏑ord M-Miron.・ 
迭hyzka?・ 
The boy nodded and slumped to the ground, shaking fiercely, tears streaking his 
dirty face as my knife pricked his belly. I could have threatened him with all 
manner of torments to force his silence or to counter his friend痴 tale, but he 
was already blubbering. 
So I ran back to the tavern and burst into the room, catching Aleksander just as 
he was pulling out his braid. He frowned. 展here have you・・ 
展e致e got to run, my lord. I was careless. Right now some stupid boy is telling a 
Rhyzka magistrate about what he saw in the stable yard behind the tavern. I壇 
swear they weren稚 there while you were talking with Sereg, but we can稚 risk it. 
We値l hope it takes some time for them to come looking.・ 
Aleksander reached for his haffai and pulled himself to standing. 的致e no wish to 
sleep in this rathole anyway.・ 
的値l saddle the horses,・said Malver, starting out the door. 
Ten minutes later, we rode out of the tavern stables. No sign of a hunt as we 
rode through the almost deserted streets. Slow. Agonizingly slow. Our horses・ 
hooves were already loud on the hard-packed dirt; we dared not draw notice by 
our hurry. But as we approached the market district, I knew something was wrong. 
The market in a desert town never truly slept. Too many things needed to be done 
in the cool night hours between the last of the evening shoppers and the first 
of the morning. Yet the dark square was illuminated by only a few flickering 
braziers, and the silence was oppressive. 
Aleksander felt it, too. Just at the point our narrow street opened into the 
market, he reined in, pointed to his ear, and then to me. I passed the back of 
my hand before my eyes and listened. Smelled the dry air that hung in the dark 
streets. Tasted the silence. Men were waiting in streets just off the square・ a 
goodly number, ten or more. I heard their breathing. Shallow. Ready. I smelled 
the oil on their blades and the nervous sweat soaking their shirts. If we rode 
into the marketplace, we were going to have a fight. How had they gotten into 
place so quickly? The boy痴 tale could not have set this in motion.. 
I jerked my head toward the market and held up ten fingers, indicating five on 
the east side, five on the west. Then again three or four more at the gates. 
Caution demanded that we abandon W但ssani and find a stealthier way to leave 
Tanzire. But Aleksander pulled back his haffai to expose the hilt of his sword. 
At the Prince痴 gesture, Malver relaxed and exposed his own sword. Aleksander 
signaled that Malver was to go straight for W但ssani. The Prince and I would 
stand between him and the waiting Derzhi; then we would all make for the gates 
together. Aleksander cocked his head at me, waggled his elbows, then raised his 
eyebrows. I grinned, shaking my head, and drew my sword. As he split the night 
with a Derzhi war cry, I followed him into battle. No wings tonight. 
Bursting out of the lane, we made it more than halfway across the square before 
the first warrior reached us. Aleksander disarmed him with a single stroke and 
howled in victory. W但ssani痴 wagon was parked just past the middle of the square, 
about two-thirds of the way to the gate. At least she should be well awake by 
now. 
We were woefully outnumbered. Soon I was engaged with two warriors at once, one 
on either side, and not making much progress with either of them. Aleksander was 
somewhere to my right, battling a large man whose horse bucked in terror when 
the Prince痴 sword cut him. Aleksander痴 mount kept steady as he wheeled and 
struck. Keep your seat, my lord, I prayed. Fall off and we池e done for. But I had 
little time to worry about the Prince. A huge blade whistled over my head, and I 
came near falling myself. Fighting on horseback was out of my experience; demons 
did not use cavalry. Gods of night, if only we had Sovari. I stabbed at a 
charging warrior and wrenched my arm as he slipped sideways from his mount. 
Every stroke of my sword had my side screaming. 
Using my left hand to haul on the reins and keep my mount steady underneath me, 
I raised up in the stirrups and slashed at an attacking Derzhi. From his 
vociferous oath, I gathered I had cut him, but I was too busy countering another 
man痴 blade to look. Duck. Slash again. Hold this one. Counter. Yes. The rhythm痴 
there. Just find it. Be still, you stupid beast. How can I get the feel of this 
if you池e running out from under me? 
鉄eyonne!・While keeping my hand occupied with one fighter, my mind engaged in 
convincing another man that snakes were slithering up his back, and watching 
Aleksander dispatch a massive Derzhi who was aiming to slice off his arm, I cast 
a quick glance behind me. W但ssani was mounted. Blade in hand, she was holding 
her own with a slender Derzhi, smiling as she fought, her lean body strong and 
agile. Malver, his sword in one hand and his long dagger in the other, skewered 
a warrior lunging for my back. 
溺y lord!・I cried. 典ime to go!・Past time. 
Aleksander dispatched one more opponent, then began his retreat, circling, 
slashing, always in control. His boot stuck out awkwardly, and one of the Rhyzka 
warriors struck at it. But the sword hit the steel rod and glanced away, and 
Aleksander ripped the man痴 shoulder, laughing. 
I beat off another attacker and bent my mind to enchantment・wind・sand・not the 
easy shifting to cover our tracks, though not a paraivo, either. Just enough to 
obscure our attackers・vision and allow us to make a graceful retreat. A bit more 
in reserve. Ready・split the gale and hold it. Almost to the gate. Newcomers ran 
for the walls, but we were already through the gates. With an explosion of 
melydda, I released a blast of contrary winds that dug out the last of the sand 
piled against the gates and, with a thundering crash, slammed them shut in our 
pursuers・faces. 
的 will find out how you do that!・shouted W但ssani over the roar of the wind, 
wagging her long finger at me. 
I nodded. Something to look forward to. Promising. 
We had only a few scratches among us and were ready to set out on our way 
victorious, but our smiles died unborn when we looked back over our shoulders 
and saw what had been left for us to see. A wooden beam had been mounted atop 
the city walls, and from it a man hung by his feet. Just as with those in 
Karn辿egeth, his lips and nose had been cut out, and his shorn braid tied to his 
tongue. He was dead, at least. His belly was ripped apart until he could have 
had nothing left inside. An imperial sash dangled from his neck. 
哲o!・Aleksander痴 cry of anguish could have been heard in Zhagad, and it was all I 
could do to restrain him. 
So that was how they had known to lie in wait for us・and why they had not known 
where to find us. Sovari had yielded the one secret, but held the last. They had 
sent spies to every inn to search us out, the clumsy boys to the poor place 
where we were housed, never expecting to find the heir to the Empire meeting his 
subjects in the squalor of a tannery yard. 
展e have only minutes, my lord,・I said, my voice harsh in the sudden silence. 
溺ake his sacrifice worthy. We must go now.・ 
But we weren稚 fast enough, and in my distraction, I had failed to hold the wind 
as firmly as I held the Prince. From the walls came a volley of arrows, flying 
true in the still air. From behind me I heard one make a solid hit・and then 
another. I whirled to see W但ssani twice struck, slumping in her saddle. Malver 
reached for her, only to have an arrow slam into his back and another and a 
third until brother and half sister toppled in a grotesque embrace onto the 
barren earth. So much for victory. And promise. 
展e have to go,・I said, struggling to rein in the creeping・no, the raging 
darkness. 典hey池e dead. All of them dead.・ 
CHAPTER 20
Aleksander and I rode the paths of Manganar and Azhakstan for the rest of that 
summer, hiding, running, seeking shelter in herdsmen痴 shacks and caravans, in 
villages and alleyways and stables, as the Prince tried to find a Derzhi lord 
willing to shelter or support him. I tried to act as intermediary as Sovari had 
done. With some effort I managed to alter my features to be more Derzhi-like, 
but no one would trust a stranger, and I never got past a steward. We dared not 
commit Aleksander痴 presence to writing, for Derzhi lords did not read, and 
scribes were notorious for selling information. With no one to trust with his 
messages, the Prince had to risk approaching the houses himself. Twice he found 
the heged strongholds taken over by representatives of the Twenty, and he left 
without revealing his identity. Twice he was rebuffed completely. Five lords 
granted him an interview, but gave the same answer as the Mardek and the Bek; 
they would not commit to Aleksander without evidence of other heged support. 
Once we had to fight our way out of a walled garden and barely survived it. Yet 
the Prince would not give up. He was grim and driven, speaking little save of 
how to get from one town to the next, constantly seeking news of houses he 
thought most likely to support him, stopping only long enough to keep our horses 
living. 
Though there were more than twenty prospects yet to approach, we were rapidly 
running out of time. Not only had we lost Sovari and Malver and W但ssani in the 
debacle at Tanzirc, but also most of the funds that Kiril had supplied. By the 
end of the summer we were dreadfully bedraggled and eating lean. We could 
scarcely muster a decent set of clothes for Aleksander to wear when meeting a 
heged lord, and he refused to wear a haffai lest they think he was hiding 
something. 
Two weeks after our flight from Tanzire, Aleksander had discarded his riding 
boot. Every time we got off our horses, whether in city or desert or village, he 
would walk for at least an hour, working to recover his strength and 
flexibility. By the time our plight got desperate, he had thrown away his 
crutches and used only a single walking stick. The healing had been straight and 
clean, and I had no doubt that he would recover full use of his limb, but what 
should have been a reason for rejoicing was only a reminder of everything he had 
lost. 
撤erhaps it痴 time to contact your cousin again,・I said one night as we walked up 
a desolate track behind Andassar, the village where we had been hiding for the 
past few days, waiting for the First Lord of the Naddasine to returned from 
Zhagad to his nearby castle. 展e can稚 let Avrel feed us anymore. Marya told me 
their village taxes are due in ten days. They致e four months until their winter 
harvest is in, and I don稚 know how they池e going to eat until then.・ 
的 don稚 want Kiril dead, if he痴 not already. But we値l leave if you wish. Eat 
grass if we need to. Go back to the desert and hunt.・ 
The argument was always the same. 
展e can稚 go into the desert,・I said. 展e致e nothing to feed the horses, and we can稚 
afford to buy anything. If the horses die, we池e afoot, and although you池e 
progressing well, I知 not sure you池e ready to walk to Vayapol. And we can稚 get 
into a city because we haven稚 bribe money to get us past the gates. Illusions of 
money never work; people handle it too much, look too closely. In a town of any 
size, I could scribe for wages, but only for someone who doesn稚 question a 
scribe who looks like a beggar and smells worse. I could do any number of jobs, 
but the only people who can afford to pay anymore are Derzhi, and no one would 
hire an Ezzarian with a slave mark on his shoulder. My lord, I understand your 
urgency, but it痴 time for you to stop and think.・ 
I hadn稚 meant to go so far. Perhaps what drove me to it was the view of the 
pitiful village just below us, the tiny hovels set in the midst of fertile 
fields of potatoes and barley. The twenty men and women of Andassar worked 
without respite to produce two crops a year of barley and one of potatoes, 
harnessing themselves to their plows because they had no beasts of burden, 
forbidden to hunt the abundant game of the nearby hills because it belonged to 
their lord. Yet the entirety of their crop could scarce pay their new tax 
levies, and if we were still here ten days from this, we would witness the harsh 
result. 
Everywhere we traveled we saw the evidence of Edik痴 rule: markets with no goods 
a man could afford, caravan owners forced to sell their chastou, beggars 
everywhere, fighting each other over scraps, and slaves・gods have mercy, I had 
never seen so many slave caravans. The Veshtar, the desert tribe who considered 
slavery as their god痴 rightful punishment on weaker souls, flourished in the 
service of the Nyabozzi, the heged who controlled the trade in slaves. 
Meanwhile, the lords of the Twenty rode unashamed in splendor耀ilks and jewels, 
gold trappings on their horses, perfumed litters for their women預nd unchecked in 
their arrogance of power. No town but had its shriveled heads or corpses on 
display. No region but had villages burned. No alehouse gossip but told of 
assassinations, theft, and willful cruelty untouched by law. And no women, 
girls, or fair youths, lowborn or high, were safe if a lord of the Twenty 
fancied them. 
滴ow can I leave it, Seyonne?・Aleksander paused at the top of the rise and leaned 
on his olive wood stick. The gold and red sunset seared the sky behind him. 泥o 
you think I知 doing this for myself? Because I miss silk sheets and servants and 
fine horses?・ 
哲o, of course濫 
摘very corpse you see hanging in the cities is dead by my hand. Every new slave 
is chained by my failure. In one generation I have destroyed what my grandsires 
built over five hundred years, and every beggar痴 hand is pointed at me in 
accusation. How can I stop?・ 
Guilt is a cruel taskmaster. I had tried to make Aleksander see the truth of his 
empire, teach him to take responsibility, but I had never meant the lesson to 
destroy him. I leaned my back against a finger of rock that pointed accusingly 
at the heavens and rubbed my eyes that felt like the sands of the desert were 
permanently embedded in them. 
添ou致e not been sleeping. Weeks, it痴 been.・He cocked his head at me and raised 
his eyebrows as he always did when he wanted to ask things he knew I would not 
answer. 
的致e got to go, my lord. Soon.・The ravaging of the world seemed an eerie 
reflection of the war being fought in my soul. Denas yet raged, demanding that I 
go to Kir誰avarrin and insisting that I yield to him at the moment we crossed the 
gateway. So forceful was his will to speak, that it was all I could do to 
contain him. But I feared to loose his bonds, to risk my self-control just when 
I needed everything I had to face my dreams. For my night visions, too, had 
taken an unnerving turn. Every horror we saw in our travels, I revisited, not 
once, but a hundred times each night. Every cruelty I had experienced in my 
life, I lived again and again. Sometimes I was the victim. Sometimes I was the 
perpetrator. Sometimes, most frightening of all, I meted out punishment to those 
who did the terrible deeds, and I savored the unholy execution of justice. I 
could no longer bear my dreams, and so I had learned to wake myself up the 
moment they began. Nyel痴 doing, certainly. He had admitted as much. I needed to 
find an answer to it while I could still think straight, while I could still 
control my own soul. 的 don稚 want to leave you, but濫 
添ou致e suffered enough for me. Go when you need to go.・And what would he do then? 
Push on alone. I motioned him back to his exercise. 哲ot yet. Soon, but not 
yet.・I didn稚 want to think about my own journey. 
We had not planned to hide in Andassar. Marya, a stocky young woman with a 
crooked spine, had found us in the hills above the village, just as I was about 
to butcher a wild pig. She had wandered close while gathering herbs and quail 
eggs, and though I intended to remain hidden from the villagers, I wasn稚 about 
to let go of the pig. Aleksander and I hadn稚 eaten in two days. 
鄭re you mad, stranger?・she cried. 展ould you bring the lord痴 wrath on a whole 
village for a runt of a pig?・ 
哲ot mad. Just hungry,・I said. 鄭nd why would the lord care about a wild pig?・ 
禅aking game in these hills is forbidden since the Gorusch baron became overlord. 
Naddasine used to let each Andassar man take one boar or deer a season, but this 
Gorusch lord sends keepers out every few days to look for signs of poaching.・ 
The pig, as if sensing its imminent release, set up a squealing. 悩ou値l have a 
village man maimed for the kill, if you池e not found to own it.・ 
Sighing, I released the pig, sat back on the grass, and watched it trot away at 
astonishing speed. 典hen tell me where I can find something else. I知 going to eat 
this nasty shirt of mine if I don稚 come up with dinner. I致e naught to pay but 
work, and I致e a friend with me.・ 
滴ere.・She tossed me a wild plum from the heavy basket she carried on her hip. 
釘ring your friend to the last house in the village. I値l feed you.・ 
Marya had insisted that we move in with her and her husband Avrel. Only in the 
past year had the two become self-sufficient, allowing them to move out of 
Avrel痴 father痴 house and into their own mud hovel. 的t痴 Avrel痴 bees,・ said the 
woman proudly, pointing to the cone-shaped clumps of mud up a gentle grassy 
slope from her home. 鄭vrel went to Vayapol once, and spoke to a man in the 
market who had fat jars of honey, and he learned about bees. And he thought that 
the meadow here might be a fine place for them, with the clover that comes after 
the rains and holds for so long in summer. The man in Zhagad wouldn稚 tell him 
how he got the bees to stay, but Avrel watched the wild things and learned it of 
himself.・ 
The young couple had no children as yet, but Marya was confident that Panfeya 
would bless them soon, now they were housed within their own walls. If the 
village could but pay their levies this year, all would be well, for Avrel was 
planning to make more hives and teach the other villagers to care for bees, so 
that next year they could pay the entire levy in honey. 
We told the villagers that Aleksander悠 named him Kassian謡as a dispossessed 
kinsman of the Naddasine. A wastrel, I hinted, come to his first lord to 
petition for reinstatement into the family. They looked on him with awe, a 
Derzhi in such sorry state as to seek shelter in their village. But they held a 
better opinion of the Naddasine than other Derzhi, and before a day had passed 
were offering Aleksander advice on how to approach the old first lord when he 
returned from Zhagad. 
迭espect,・said Kero, Avrel痴 father. 哲addasine has always been one for respect. 
Not groveling. He don稚 take to a cowardly mien. But I can stand up boldly and 
say, 践ere is your share, my good lord,・or 選致e taken my boar this day, my good 
lord, and none else,・and he will listen with gravity and say, 糎ell-done, goodman 
Kero, or 但 fine kill, fellow,・as if I were a proper man. This Gorusch, 
though・The Emperor, curse his用ardon, Lord Kassian葉he Emperor sent his own troops 
to take the Naddasine lands, and all their houses but this one, and give them to 
these Gorusch. My cousin serves in old Naddasine痴 house. She says his sons fear 
for his life.・ 
典o hear that a Derzhi first lord fears for his life at the hand of the Emperor,・ 
said Aleksander to me later. 摘ven after all this, I cannot fathom such villainy. 
Edik is a plague upon this land. If I could do it, I壇 cut my arm to let out any 
drop of my blood common with his.・ 
The last remnants of day were fading as we started back to the village after our 
difficult conversation, and I sent Aleksander ahead, for I needed to relieve 
myself. A short while later, as I started down the slope, I caught a glimpse of 
green in the dying light, a hint of fluttering color just up the hill to my 
right, brilliant color that had no place in the drab surroundmgs. I scrabbled 
over rocks and weeds around the side of the hill and found her waiting. 
溺y lady, who are you?・I said, scarcely daring to breathe lest she vanish. 展hat 
are you trying to tell me?・ 
Always before, her gaze had been serene, radiant with affection and concern. But 
on this night, her gaze did not settle, and her hands were in constant motion, 
rubbing, kneading, and clasping each other. It wrenched my heart to see her so 
anxious, though I had no reason for such emotion. 
Her lips moved, but I could hear only half the words. 套 be careful・beloved 
child・the Twelve weaken・perhaps best not to challenge unknowing・worse than I 
thought・ She glanced over her shoulder as if someone were coming up on her from 
behind. 鼎ome to the gamarand wood. Whatever happens, I beg you come.・ And then 
she was gone. 
展ait!・But she had vanished as completely as the daylight. The gamarand wood ・So 
I was right to think she came from Kir誰avarrin. And yet she was not just a being 
of light as were the rai-kirah I had known in Kir歎agonoth, nor was she like one 
of the physical bodies that demons shaped from their memories of true life. Her 
form was natural and fully human, and the light that shone from her was more 
like the feadnach I saw in Aleksander than anything of demons. What was stranger 
yet・a vague sense from our first encounter now grown to surety・ I knew her. But 
for my life, I could not say how or why or who she was. Did Denas know her? Was 
she luring me through the gateway to give him a chance for victory? 
I sat on the hillside for an hour, peering into the night, hoping she would come 
again, afraid of such mystery yet longing to relive it, to understand it, to 
hear again the words that were already slipping away・Beloved child・ Was she 
speaking of my son? I closed my eyes and prayed Verdonne, the forest mother, to 
keep him and his foster mother safe and well. 
When at last I gave up my vigil, I quickly became aware of other doings stirring 
the night air. The smoky scent of torches. Burning grass. Faint cries of grief 
and fear. Gods of night, what was happening? Silently I sped down the path 
toward Andassar. The wailing grew louder, and soon I saw the fire預 high mound of 
baskets in the center of the village. Grain揺alf a year痴 harvest幼onsumed in 
towering flames. 
Marya stood rigid in front of her house, staring at the fire. She had one hand 
over her mouth and one hand wrapped about her middle. Other women knelt weeping, 
a few with children clinging to them. Two village men lay dead beside the 
burning harvest, but no one else was about. No strangers. No living men. No 
Aleksander. 
展as it thieves, Marya? Raiders? Have the men gone after them?・ 
She shook her head, and the bleak terror in her eyes told me it was much worse. 
禅ell me, Marya. You must tell me everything. Who was it?・ 
泥erzhi. Gorusch men come for taxes濫 
釘ut your levies weren稚 due for ten days yet.・She wrapped her arms about herself, 
shivering in the cool, dry night air. 典hey said they壇 heard we were giving grain 
to bandits and had come to secure the lord痴 shares. They made us bring it out, 
but the count was low. We壇 thought to give potatoes and two jars of honey, but 
they never let us tell it. They said we壇 have to send four of us葉wo men, two 
women庸or hostages until the levy was paid. Kero and Valnar protested that we 
still had ten days.・ 
She didn稚 have to tell me more. The Derzhi had killed the two who dared speak 
out, burned the grain, and taken all the men instead of only four hostages. 溺y 
friend・Kassian・?・ 
Her eyes were wide with shock. 鄭ll of them. The soldiers said they would be 
slaves. Avrel・oh, holy Dolgar, my Avrel・ 
I gripped her arms. She was now shaking violently as the truth settled upon her. 
展hich way have they gone, Marya? And how many? I can help them, but you have to 
tell me everything.・Summoning her reserves of strength, Marya gave me every 
detail of the raid. Two Derzhi warriors and three common soldiers had come, 
armed with swords and knives, but no spears or axes. Five village men were 
taken, plus two boys aged twelve and fourteen, and Aleksander. The prisoners had 
been roped together by hands and neck and herded down the dry streambed toward 
the Vayapol road. 
I ran for the grassy nook where we had hobbled our horses. The beasts were gone, 
of course. No Derzhi thief would leave a horse behind. But I pulled away a pile 
of rocks and found Aleksander痴 sword and ring still safely hidden. I crammed the 
ring in my pocket, belted the Prince痴 weapons around my waist beside my own 
sword and dagger, then turned my mind to sorcery. A quarter of an hour later, I 
took wing. 
I found them quickly, not difficult for my falcon痴 eyes to spot the yellow flame 
of octar-soaked torches. Their ankles hobbled, the prisoners could not move 
fast, though the soldiers lashed and swore at them. The two boys were in the 
front, the younger one weeping, both completely naked in the cool night as they 
stumbled down the rocky gully between two mounted Derzhi. Their hands were roped 
to the warriors・saddles. Behind the boys came the village men, two by two, 
barefoot and stripped to their breeches. One man was bleeding severely from a 
gash over his ribs and being helped along by his terrified brother. Bringing up 
the rear were Avrel and Aleksander. Aleksander was limping slightly, leaning on 
Avrel痴 broad shoulder, his face equal parts blood and fury. Across the Prince痴 
shoulders were deep lash marks. How often in those early days in Capharna had I 
wished to see him thus. 
One Derzhi rode on either side of the prisoners, and the two common soldiers 
followed behind. The third soldier was nowhere in sight. I fluttered low across 
the column and then again. On my second pass I caught Aleksander痴 notice, and 
when I circled and flew over yet again, he nodded, a fierce grin showing from 
underneath the blood. 
鏑ook,・said one of the Derzhi, pointing at me. 典he Emperor痴 bird.・ 
The true Emperor痴 bird, I thought, and streaked down the ravine to find the best 
terrain for my plan. There. A few hundred paces farther on, the hills to either 
side of the ravine got steeper and closer together, and the course of the 
streamlet curved sharply left. That would do. I flew farther down the hill 
toward the Vayapol road hunting the missing guard, needing to learn if this was 
a small raiding party or part of some larger sweep and to judge the time I had 
to carry out the rescue. 
Gods have mercy ・I discovered more than I bargained for. The fifth rider had 
emerged from the mountain path and was racing into the open, toward a blot on 
the night that made my stomach constrict long before I saw anything but pricks 
of torchlight against the darkness. You always smelled it first葉he stench of 
fear and filth and desperation. And then you heard the drone of moans and 
weeping and muffled prayers, punctuated by soul-rending screams. I did not need 
to see the horror in order to name it. A slave caravan. 
The soldier halted beside a sentry, pointing back the way he had come. I flew on 
past him, out over a broad meadow lit by massive bonfires. Facedown upon the 
ground lay at least a hundred men and boys roped together. One by one they were 
being detached from the others and taken to Veshtar smiths who seared the 
crossed circle into their shoulders with a red-hot iron and sealed steel bands 
around their wrists and ankles. Veshtar slavers in striped haffai then cut off 
their hair and chained them to the others newly readied for market. A small 
detachment of Derzhi in Nyabozzi colors guarded the encampment. 
I had to get Aleksander and the others free before they reached the meadow. I 
flew back up the ravine and settled on the rocks above the path. The prisoners・ 
column reached the gap between the narrowly spaced rocks. Good. The warriors on 
the sides had ridden ahead, so that they were separated from the two soldiers at 
the back. None of the riders could have the whole column in sight. I would take 
the two at the back quickly, then cut Aleksander痴 bonds and give him his sword. 
He would be waiting for me. I forced everything out of my mind but my own form・ 
・Bird・sleek of body, broad wing, long tail, taloned hands・release the form and 
consider the shape of your desire・your own body・the one honed by years of 
training: fighting・running・the warrior痴 body, not that of the bird, save in only 
one thing・wings・wide, thin, strong・and hold your barriers no matter the cost, 
for you need your own wit and soul to do this・ 
In one long interval of fire and nausea I made the shift from bird to man, then 
stood heaving, readying myself to shape wings. But before I could begin that 
change, a black cloth was dropped over my head, and I was dragged off my rock 
with someone痴 arm uncomfortably tight about my throat and something 
uncomfortably sharp poking into my ribs. 
CHAPTER 21
徹ver here! Look what I found sneaking about in the rocks.・The intense whisper 
was somewhere behind me. Understandable, since my hooded face was smashed firmly 
into the ground. The attacker痴 knife was still threatening my ribs. 展hat値l we do 
with him?・ 
的f he twitches, kill him. We致e got to go on. This is too good a chance to miss.・ 

Lost in my uncomfortable transformation, I壇 not heard the footsteps come up 
behind me, and now precious time was passing while I sorted out my confusion・ 
and my shape・and the identity of my captors. All right, no wings. So I had only 
my human self to work with. My frantic human self. Kill the bastards now, while 
they池e not expecting it. Quieting my anxiety so that my senses could work, I 
felt the position of the knife and judged the man痴 posture揺alf straddling me, 
knee in my back, his left hand twisting my right arm behind me. Holy gods, I 
wished he wouldn稚 do that. Easy enough to dislodge for all that. How many 
others? The second speaker was a few steps away. And another person behind him. 
I reached out with my hearing and all my senses. Three. Four・Damn, there were 
twenty or more of the newcomers! Twenty caravan sentries? And why were Derzhi 
sentries whispering? 
鏑ook here. Look at his sword!・My captor was yanking my weapons from their 
sheaths and tossing them aside. 泥erzhi bastard・who are you?・Oddly enough, he was 
speaking to me. 
While I tried to comprehend, his companions were slipping silently past us. Soon 
I heard a few muffled blows nearby. More shuffling steps. Hushing noises. A 
suppressed choking sound. Snuffling, as if someone were weeping. Whinnying 
horses quickly silenced. A great deal was going on in the dry streambed・and very 
stealthily. They were attacking the slave takers. 
I was so profoundly astonished and engaged by this turn of events, that it was 
almost as an afterthought that I managed to cast an illusion on my captor痴 
knife耀omething I had been working on since Tanzire. The weapon should soon feel 
as hot as if it had just been pulled from a blacksmith痴 fire. When the man 
dropped it with a quiet curse, I twisted myself around, and came near breaking 
his arm as I flipped him onto his back. I did everything by feel, a skill I壇 
often needed when I fought demons. But when I pounced on top of him, pressed his 
own knife to his throat and ripped off my stifling hood, I almost started 
laughing. His face was stained black with coal, and from jaw to brow across each 
cheek was painted a white dagger. Yvor lukash・sword of light. My captor was 
Blaise痴 man. 
敵o ahead, Derzhi scum,・he whispered bravely, clearly offended at my grin. 典he 
others will see to you, whether I知 dead or no.・The accent told me he was Kuvai. 
The bravado said he was approximately seventeen. 
溺y friend, we have some talking to do,・I said, bending low to speak quietly. 的f 
you look carefully, you will notice that I am no Derzhi. In fact, I think we池e 
here for the same purpose.・ 
哲ot likely,・he said sullenly. 
展ho痴 commanding? Farrol? Gorrid? Blaise himself? Are they going after the 
caravan?・ 
The boy recoiled and clamped his mouth shut. I jumped to my feet, retrieving my 
own weapons and Aleksander痴 before tossing the paralyzed youth his knife. 敵o on 
and join your comrades. Stay healthy, and I値l be along to help.・ 
He crept backward slowly, his eyes on me, as if he couldn稚 quite decide whether 
to attack or run. Happily for me, he ran, and I could go back to the business of 
shifting. Once I had shaped my wings, I drew my sword and took flight, pleased 
that I壇 not have to fight this battle alone. 
Strangely enough, the column of prisoners was still moving down the rocky 
defile. If I壇 not seen the four soldiers lying dead in the shadows, I壇 have been 
more worried. The riders flanking the prisoners wore Derzhi cloaks, easily 
recognizable from a distance, but they had pulled up the hoods to shadow their 
faces-faces stained black and painted with white daggers. A skilled observer 
might also have noted that the prisoners were walking more easily than before, 
their rope hobbles cut, and though their hands still appeared bound and linked 
to each other, I had no doubt that they could easily pull the knots apart. The 
prisoners were needed only for the approach, to get the first outlaws past the 
waiting Veshtar sentries. 
The raiders・plan was obvious. While the larger number of the band held back in 
the scrubby trees and rocks where the defile opened out onto the road, the four 
disguised outlaws rode with the men of Andassar into the middle of the 
encampment hoping to surprise unsuspecting guards and free enough slaves to be 
of help. The terrain could hardly have been worse for their plan. Once their 
fellows had revealed themselves, the lurkers would have to charge across a wide 
expanse of the road and the open meadow, right into the arms of the alerted 
sentries. 
Though the detachment of Derzhi warriors guarding the caravan numbered no more 
than eight, the common soldiers another eight, and the Veshtar slavers perhaps 
twenty-five, I had no illusions about the outlaws・chances. Both Nyabozzi and 
Veshtar were ruthless and expert at killing, and they were guarding their lord痴 
property worth thousands of zenars. Blaise痴 fighters were devoted and 
courageous, but woefully unskilled. 
Aleksander remained in the prisoner痴 column. He would have realized the flaws in 
the plan immediately, and with his limited movement, he had no business in a 
fight on foot. But he would know, too, that any hope of success would be dashed 
if the fifth soldier spied out the ruse too soon. And if any of the prisoners 
stayed behind, the game was up. I saw the Prince glancing upward, scanning the 
night sky. He was waiting for me. Foolish. We were all foolish. 
The outlaws herded their 菟risoners・through the line of Veshtar sentries. Just as 
the last rider passed, a bearded Veshtar slapped the outlaw痴 horse on the rump 
and called out to another sentry. ・Vysstar haddov Derzhina!・ The disguised 
outlaw must have panicked; he drew his sword clumsily and swung at the Veshtar. 
His inexpert movement cost him his life; the young outlaw slid from the saddle, 
almost cloven in two by the Veshtar痴 curved sword. 
Fool! I swore as the alarm was raised. The sentry痴 words meant only 堵ood Derzhi 
rump.・Wings spread, sword raised, I streaked down from the sky as two more of 
the disguised outlaws fell. Aleksander was shoving the villagers to the ground 
as they stood gaping at erupting chaos. The outlaws burst from their hiding 
place across the road, drawing the attention of the guards long enough for me to 
swoop close and toss Aleksander his sword and Avrel the Prince痴 knife. My own 
dagger I gave to a wide-eyed Dorgan, another village man who was trying to 
shield the two naked boys with his broad arms. 鉄tay low and follow me out,・I 
shouted. 敵et any freed prisoners to come with you.・After a short, fierce 
skirmish, I dispatched a Veshtar who had attacked me, unfazed by my spread wing? 
The Veshtar believed they lived in close proximity to evil spirits, so the 
appearance of a winged warrior was no more to them than a realized expectation. 
They assumed that every man would someday encounter such a being. 
Mounted Veshtar rode through the churning mass of slaves, shouting at them to 
remain facedown on the ground, lashing at them with steel-tipped whips. The 
smiths waved torches at any unfortunate who tried to get up; two screaming 
captives were in flames. But while the main body of Blaise痴 men engaged the 
Derzhi and the Veshtar sentries, other outlaws wielded axes furiously, hacking 
through ropes and chains, yelling at the dazed prisoners to turn on their 
captors. One of the Andassar men grabbed up the sword of a fallen Veshtar and 
joined the outlaws, slicing the ropes that bound the prostrate slaves. 
While I ducked a slashing blow and flew up and around to drag a Nyabozzi rider 
from his saddle, Aleksander dueled with a Veshtar. At first I couldn稚 see how 
the Prince was managing to stay upright, but as my opponent leaped to his feet, 
I caught a glimpse of Avrel, his broad back steady at the Prince痴 left shoulder, 
supporting Aleksander and protecting his vulnerable side. I could not watch for 
long, for the unhorsed warrior was a skilled fighter. I battled the Nyabozzi, 
beating him back again and again until he tripped over a bleeding slave and fell 
to the ground. Then a swarm of freed prisoners disarmed him, and I was no longer 
needed. 
I shouted to the remaining Andassar men to send their charges after me, and I 
fought a way through the converging Derzhi and led the stumbling group across 
the road. Then I took wing, circled, and went back for Aleksander. He refused to 
budge, drawing the snarling warriors to himself as dead meat draws flies. So I 
fought on, too, letting the fever of battle mute the pain in my side, indulging 
myself in blood and death until the night was won. 
* * * 
By the time the moon rose to illuminate the broad meadow, the three surviving 
Nyabozzi were chained together and had white daggers painted on their chests. 
The dead prisoners were buried, the dead slavers left lying in the grass. Every 
Veshtar was dead. 
Most of the captives who could travel had already fled. Those too injured or 
sick to return home were being carried up the hill to Andassar, where they might 
have a few days to recover. The men of Andassar would return home, too, but they 
knew their time of safety was only a matter of days. They would have to abandon 
their village, for the three surviving Derzhi would bring down the wrath of the 
Empire on their mud hovels. Several of the villagers were injured葉he one man who 
had been wounded back in Andassar had lost a good deal of blood傭ut they were all 
alive. 
Some among the survivors wanted to execute the three Derzhi, but the commander 
of the outlaws had spread the word that it was forbidden. 
展hat kind of fools are these not to finish them?・asked Aleksander as he sat on 
the rocks at the opening of the defile, binding up a gash in his right arm. 展hen 
Edik learns of this battle, every village within a league will be destroyed no 
matter what. But these three Nyabozzi will never let this go. They値l hunt your 
Yvor Lukash and these villagers to the netherworld to avenge such a defeat. Not 
to mention carrying tales of the winged warrior.・He glanced up at me. 
I was standing nearby, slumped over a rock, still sweating and nauseous from my 
long-held shifting, trying to talk myself out of a retreat into the rocks to 
vomit and take a nap. I needed to speak with the outlaw commander as soon as he 
had time. I didn稚 recognize his or any of the painted faces that moved through 
the thinning crowd, encouraging, soothing, hurrying the prisoners to move on 
before anyone came looking for the missing caravan. 釘laise forbids them to kill 
unarmed men,・I said. 
滴e wasn稚 always so generous. Not until he met up with you.・ 
I took over binding Aleksander痴 arm. He was no good with his left hand and was 
making a mess of it. 鄭ctually I知 sorely tempted to stick a knife in those 
three,・I said. 展e buried twenty-three prisoners, some no older than those two.・I 
nodded to the two pale Andassar boys who were wrapped in borrowed cloaks and 
their fathers・arms. 典he Veshtar had already gelded every boy in the caravan.・ 
That was why no Veshtar survived. The satisfaction that I could now control and 
direct my rage palled only slightly when I looked on the carnage I had wrought. 
釘loody Athos.・ 
I finished with Aleksander痴 arm and had wandered off in search of a suitable 
branch to serve him for a walking stick, when Avrel came to the Prince and 
bowed. 敵ood Lord Kassian, I cannot leave without expressing our gratitude.・ 
典hank these Lukash men,・said Aleksander brusquely, 殿nd my companion, wherever he 
is, the one with the extraordinary abilities.・Neither man could have seen me in 
the scrubby trees just behind the Prince. 的 was rescued just as you were. And 
you had already kept us from starving.・ 
添our friend・the avenging spirit・I know not what to call him. Arago is a simple 
man痴 name, but the one I saw this night is not a simple man, and surely he has 
no need of a poor man痴 thanks.・Avrel shook his head. 釘ut you, my lord, had no 
cause but your own safety. The spirit would have taken you away from our battle, 
yet you stayed and fought with us. We of Andassar are privileged to have 
sheltered you. No wonder the gods send you a guardian spirit. May they ever 
light your way.・He bowed deeply and started back toward the other villagers. 
鄭vrel!・The man turned at the Prince痴 call. 添ou were a fine left leg.・ 
Avrel smiled, bowed again, then ran after his friends who were starting their 
long trudge home. 
添our reputation as an avenging spirit will never grow to what it should be if 
you continue puking up your guts after such a show,・said Aleksander when I 
tossed him a sturdy stick, retreated behind his rock, and proceeded to do just 
that. 滴ere come your outlaw friends.・ 
I wiped my mouth and forced my stomach back in place just in time to greet the 
tall man with the painted face who was walking slowly toward us. Beside him was 
the youth who had taken me captive and five other outlaws. To my astonishment, 
their swords were drawn. Aleksander growled and his hand flew to his weapon, but 
a warning movement of the commander痴 hand stayed him. 展ho are the two of 
you?・The young leader was very nervous. 
典hat hardly seems the way to greet my friend here who saved your rebellious 
asses this night.・Aleksander did not react well to having a sword drawn on him. 
徹ne who could likely濫 
的 think the commander is just being cautious, Kassian,・I said, preferring the 
Prince not recount my abilities that never seemed to live up to people痴 
expectations. 展e are strangers, and I happened to mention to the young fellow 
there that I knew Blaise and Farrol. They don稚 like those names bandied about, I 
would guess.・ 
的ndeed you致e hit upon the matter,・said the commander. Blood soaked his shirt 
from a gash in his shoulder and dripped down his cheek from a cut on his 
forehead. 添ou fought against the slavers・Yet you are Derzhi. And you, 
Ezzarian迫he nodded at me欄clearly you are an extraordinary sorcerer, yet you ride 
with a Derzhi. What am I to do with you? We cannot permit you to go free, 
knowing what you know. Yet our orders are濫 
鼎annot permit us to go free. You stupid, arrogant imbecile! You allowed Nyabozzi 
slavers to go free.・Aleksander waved the stick I壇 brought him, and the outlaws 
drew closer, menacing. 
適assian, please!・I said sharply. I didn稚 think the Prince appreciated the 
severity of the nervous young commander痴 dilemma. 鼎ommander, I know the hard 
truths of outlaw life. I know that you are telling yourself that your oaths must 
not be swayed, even by such service as we have done this night. But those I致e 
named would not be at all pleased if you harmed us, even if it were possible for 
you to do so. And this sorcery you noticed・does it not merit a word to your 
leader? I think he would be dreadfully unhappy if he knew you had crossed an 
Ezzarian with such a talent as mine. Don稚 you agree?・ 
I would have sworn the man turned pale under his paint. Not all of Blaise痴 
outlaws were allowed to know that he and a few others of his kind could 
shapeshift. From the shape of his eyes, I suspected that the commander was 
himself an Ezzarian, perhaps one of the children born like my son and Blaise. 
But the man said naught of that. 的知 sorry. Truly sorry. But we must protect our 
leaders. I cannot permit a Derzhi to go free with the knowledge you濫 
典hen take us with you,・I said. 
的mpossible!・Aleksander and the commander said it together. 
哲addasine returns tomorrow,・growled the Prince. 
I ignored him. 釘ind our eyes if you wish, Commander. Believe me when I say, I 
understand your problem, but I promise you that the Yvor Lukash will have your 
balls if you harm either me or my friend.・ 
典o take prisoners to our camp is forbidden,・said the commander like a runner 
who, though doubting his stamina, yet forces himself to the end of the race. 擢or 
an Ezzarian, we could perhaps make an exception, but never for a Derzhi.・ 
I stood up, and for one single moment, I let the demon blue of my eyes flame and 
my demon痴 pale gold light flicker at the bounds of my skin. Even Aleksander 
edged backward on his rock. 的 insist.・ 
I hated frightening people. The lesson had been taught me early, and was one of 
the most vivid of my childhood. 
Using melydda to tease, annoy, and bully others was certainly a part of being a 
child in Ezzaria, though quickly abandoned as one became immersed in the serious 
business of training for the demon war. Yet, on one occasion when I was some 
eight or nine years old and had not yet fully realized what my gifts were to be 
used for, I got into some mischief, locking another child in a barrel and 
terrorizing him with the illusion of bears pawing at it. The other child had 
done me an injury悠 never could remember exactly what it was afterward傭ut I felt 
quite justified in taking such cruel revenge. 
Drawn by the child痴 screaming and the noise of my illusion, my father came 
running down the forest path. As soon as he was in sight, I stopped, of course. 
My father extracted the child from the barrel, comforted him, and sent him home. 
Then he crouched down beside me and said, 填nfair, Seyonne. Unjust to raise your 
hand against one who cannot fight back on your terms. Did you even think?・ 
I started to regale him with the particulars of the dispute, but he raised his 
hand and said, 的 am going to get into this barrel, and I want you to do again 
what you did to Wyyver. Exactly the same.・ 
I was horrified. 釘ut I could never濫 
He laid his hand on my mouth and said, 釘ut you did. Now, do as I say, and for 
just the same length of time as you did it to him.・He climbed in the barrel and 
made me lock down the cover with my melydda, until he could not push it out. I 
caused the barrel to shake and roll and splinter, accompanied by bearlike 
roaring, just as I had done to the child. By the time the roaring and shaking 
stopped, I was weeping at wreaking such humiliation on the man I honored and 
loved above everyone in the world. My father had no melydda. This was the first 
time I had ever considered that I had the power to do him such cruelty. When he 
crawled out of the barrel, I threw myself in his arms, begging his forgiveness 
and swearing I would never again use my gifts for such ill purpose. 
的 believe you,・he said, and pressed me to his pounding heart. 
But, of course, intimidating Blaise痴 men was far preferable to killing them or 
whatever else it might have taken to persuade them not only to leave both of us 
living, but to take us back to their camp. I admired their courage for 
confronting me at all. 
Aleksander was furious with me and threatened to stay behind, especially when we 
were required to yield our weapons. 
典he only way they池e going to leave behind a Derzhi who knows Blaise痴 name is to 
leave you dead,・I said. 徹f course, I could probably scare them into leaving you 
alone, but I won稚 do that unless you ask me politely.・I knew the likelihood of 
his doing that. 泥o you really imagine you値l get to see Naddasine after this? 
Even if the old man is alive, he値l not dare meet with you. You致e nowhere else to 
go.・ 
Aleksander knew these things. He was not a fool. I only wished his stubborn 
heart would not require me to say them so bluntly. 
We were given our horses, and once I had helped the Prince mount up, we were 
separated, Aleksander to ride near the front of the party under the watchful eye 
of the commander and I with the riders at the back. Sixteen outlaws made up the 
group, every one of them injured. Several I doubted would ever fight again; four 
more were wrapped in their cloaks and laid over their mounts. For two others, 
there had not been enough pieces left to take home. We rode for several hours, 
and my guess about the young commander was proved true; I felt his subtle 
workings that moved us through the ways as Blaise did. Before we could have 
traveled a tenth of the actual distance to such a landscape, we set out across a 
wide srif, the dunes unmarked by any recent passing. I saw Aleksander glance 
about curiously, but he would not deign to question those who rode beside him, 
and he soon sank back into brooding. 
Before very long, the commander called the party to a halt and said the time had 
come to cover our eyes. 的知 risking my own position to take you in,・he said in 
answer to my reassurances of goodwill and Aleksander痴 mumbled invitation to kill 
him first. 鄭nd I cannot guarantee your safety once we arrive. No matter what 
power you possess, someone will take you down if you are judged a danger to our 
cause. Do you understand that?・ 
展e understand,・I said. 展e give our parole, do we not, Kassian? We値l not use 
anything we see or hear against the Yvor Lukash or his cause.・ 
Aleksander spit into the sand. 
The commander drew his sword and laid its point on Aleksander痴 belly. The moment 
hung breathless, until Aleksander glared at me and nodded curtly. Of course, I 
could have prevented any harm. I could have prevented this last humiliation, 
too. But serving his pride would only prolong what must come. 
They tied scarves around our eyes, dropped bags over our heads, and then, with a 
gracious apology to Aleksander, took our horses・reins. The commander knew enough 
of Derzhi custom to realize the insult of forcing a warrior to ride without 
control of his own mount. 
Within a quarter of an hour, we were winding upward along a steep, hard-packed 
trail. The smell of dust and tarbush soon yielded to cedar and pine, and then to 
grass and wild lavender. A pleasant coolness settled on my skin, a fine mist 
that tasted of dawn・and I壇 scarcely begun relishing the wonder of it before our 
horses were brought to a halt. A number of people were watching, but voices were 
muted and activities paused as I helped Aleksander dismount and laid his hand on 
my shoulder to support him. He yanked his arm away. 
典his way,・said the commander. 徹ur leaders are waiting.・ 
We were led across a flat stretch of ground, Aleksander limping slowly beside 
me. Hands forced my head down, and I understood why when my shoulders brushed a 
fabric doorway and I smelled the damp canvas of a tent. A large tent, as I could 
stand up easily and my senses told me there were at least five people already 
inside. 
滴ere they are, as Jinu reported,・said the commander. 選 can only plead my case by 
saying that without these two fighting alongside us, we would have lost far more 
than six of our own. Perhaps failed altogether. And, as Jinu will have told you, 
the Ezzarian presented incontestable evidence that he is・more like some we know 
than an Ezzarian of the ordinary sort. I知 not sure we could have killed him.・ 
的 didn稚 think you would approve of that,・I said, wishing I could think of 
something more clever to greet my unseen friends. 的 hoped not, at least.・ 
But before my wit could blossom further, all words died upon my lips, for when 
our hoods and blinders were removed, neither Blaise nor Farrol was there to 
greet us. The tent was quite large, crammed with baskets and bags of flour and 
grain, jars of oil, and other supplies for a large encampment. In the center was 
a long table with maps and papers spread on it, and several men and women bent 
over them, some seated, some standing, all of them glancing up as if we had 
interrupted a critical discussion. Only one of them did I know・the one to whom 
my captor deferred and whose dark eyes grew guarded and wary at the sight of me. 
Elinor. 
CHAPTER 22
What do you say to someone who last saw you raging in madness, savagely 
destroying another human being? Sorry seemed quite inadequate. I知 all right now 
was not exactly true. You don稚 need to be afraid would be presumptuous. And here 
I was, stained with blood again, and reeking of death and enchantment. Elinor痴 
friends would likely have informed her how the winged Ezzarian had killed more 
than three quarters of the Veshtar by himself. In the service of her cause, I 
told myself. To save her raiding party that would have perished but for 
Aleksander and me. Nonetheless, I found myself voiceless in front of her, unable 
to look her in the eye, unable to ask the questions that crowded my tongue at 
the sight of her. How does he fare, mistress? Does he grow well? Is he happy? 
Elinor痴 voice was composed when she broke the stunned silence. 添ou致e done 
exactly right to bring them here, Roche. Blaise would be most distressed if this 
man and his friend・ Her voice drifted away for a moment. 摘veryone, leave us,・she 
said crisply, jumping to her feet. She hurried her company out of the tent, 
snapping orders. 迭oche, find Blaise. Wherever he is, get him here now. Give your 
report on the raid to Farrol; I値l hear it later. And tell Farrol to double the 
guard at the perimeter熔n the chance you were followed. Jinu, arrange for food 
and drink to be sent here for our visitors. We must not be disturbed until I 
say.・As soon as the others had left, she spun on her heel. 的 didn稚 send for a 
healer. Do you need・・ 
的致e no desire to impose upon your hospitality,・said Aleksander stiffly. 典here 
are many other places I need to be.・ 
的ndeed・if you are who I think you are, anywhere you go will see you dead. Jinu 
said you demanded to come to us.・ 
The Prince could have made a glacier shiver. 典his Ezzarian wished to come here. 
It wasn稚 my idea.・ 
I needed to introduce them properly. My lord, this is the foster mother of my 
child, who is doing her best to undermine what remains of your empire. Mistress 
Elinor, this is the man who once vowed to slaughter you and all your fellows, 
but who will, if I can keep him alive against his stubborn efforts, change the 
world in some way absolutely beyond my understanding. And, by the way, I am 
still quite mad and getting no better, but I知 somewhat less likely to hack you 
to bits than the last time you saw me. The thought had never occurred to me that 
Elinor would be here. 
泥o you have any idea the danger you致e brought us?・Elinor whirled on me. 的f the 
Emperor gets wind that this man is anywhere near the Yvor Lukash・The only thing 
that痴 kept us safe these past months is that the Derzhi are so obsessed with 
finding him, they致e not pressed us too hard. And to bring a Derzhi here into our 
very heart, one who has ordered our deaths・・ 
溺istress Elinor濫 
鉄end me away, then,・said Aleksander, cutting me off before I could even decide 
what I was going to say. He folded his arms across his chest. 徹r even better, 
sell me to my father痴 cousin. Then you can pay for better warriors, so perhaps 
you won稚 set out on these absurd ventures that get people slaughtered葉he very 
people you池e trying to help.・ 
The woman leaned forward, her hands pressing on the table, her eyes aflame. 鄭s 
if you are concerned about the people, those you and your Derzhi assassins have 
enslaved and murdered and driven to desperation for five hundred years. How dare 
you, of all men, speak of the・・ 
展ait!・I said, wanting to shake them. 撤lease, my lord, if you would allow me. If 
we could just begin again・I知 truly sorry to come like this with no warning, 
mistress. I understand the danger, and I壇 never put any of you at risk lightly. 
But time and circumstance have put us in your hands when we致e run out of 
alternatives.・Aleksander was ready to burst when I turned to him again. 溺y lord, 
Mistress Elinor is Blaise痴 sister, whose good husband fell at the hands of the 
Hamraschi as did your father. She has lost parents and friends to the Twenty, 
just as you have lost so many dear to you. Her brother and her child are in 
danger every day, just as your wife and Lord Kiril are. Our enemies are the 
same.・ 
滴is sister・the one who・?・Aleksander seemed to forget his anger for a moment. 
I nodded, my eyes shifting from Elinor痴 boots to the table to the hanging 
lantern預nywhere but her face. 溺istress Elinor, you致e guessed correctly. I would 
like to present His Highness, Aleksander zha Denischkar, late of Zhagad and more 
recently of everywhere his enemies haven稚 thought to look, including a slaver痴 
harness. By coming here we致e placed our lives in your hands, and I ask your 
patience as well as your protection. We致e had a difficult journey and no sleep 
for more than a day. We need to speak with Blaise, and then we値l leave, if you 
or he or Prince Aleksander still wish it.・Now I had to look her in the eye, else 
she would have every right to ignore my words. 的 swear on the life most precious 
to us both that my lord Aleksander himself is no threat to your followers. As to 
other concerns・if it will improve your own sleep, you may confine me as you 
think best.・Her dark eyes were not filled with horror, only anger. Good enough. 
I could live with anger. 
Elinor sat on the stool beside her table and propped her chin on her folded 
hands, the one finger tapping rapidly on the others, the only sign of her 
agitation. 釘laise should be here soon,・she said. 的値l advise him to take the two 
of you deep into the desert and leave you there.・She glared at me, as if I had 
brought plague to her household, though she no longer wore a matron痴 apron. 
Around the waist of her dark blue tunic and skirt, she wore a woven leather 
girdle with a knife sheath hanging from it, boldly displayed. Her thick, dark 
braid was bound tightly around her head, save for a few wisps that had escaped 
and were stuck to her high forehead by the damp. 
So many emotions spilled out and gathered in again. Fortunately a soft 菟ardon, 
Mistress Elinor・from outside the tent prevented the need for further 
conversation. Elinor bade the newcomer enter, and a young girl brought in a 
wooden tray and set it on the table. On the tray were dates, a loaf of bread, a 
small mound of goat cheese, a clay pitcher, and three cups. 
典hank you, Melia,・said Elinor. The girl glanced curiously at the three of us, 
then left the tent. 
Aleksander stood motionless beside me. With no crutch or stick, and his stubborn 
refusal to use my shoulder, he was probably about to topple over. 溺ay we sit 
down?・I said. 填ntil Blaise comes at least?・ 
徹f course. Eat and drink as you will.・Elinor motioned us to the wooden stools 
where her companions had been seated, but instead we chose the woven mat that 
lay over the dirt floor. 
We were both filthy. Roche had given Aleksander a ragged haffai as we rode 
through the desert, but the garment hung open to reveal his bloodstained 
breeches and lack of shirt, stockings, or boots. He had tied his hair in a knot 
at the back of his head while we stayed in Andassar, and so it remained, now 
matted with blood from the battle. I was slightly better dressed, but my clothes 
were stiff with gore. 
The food was good. Neither Aleksander痴 pique nor my tongue-tied embarrassment in 
front of Elinor could forestall the demands of hunger, and before two minutes 
had passed we were eyeing each other over the last date. My belly growled in 
half-sated pleasure. I could have eaten ten times the amount. 
的 can get more,・said Elinor, jumping up from her stool as if she had read my 
mind. 
徹nly what you can spare,・I said. 釘ut we壇 be most grateful.・ 
She nodded and ducked hurriedly through the doorway of the tent. She didn稚 seem 
to find it necessary to leave a guard with us. I supposed that, for the moment 
at least, our obvious vulnerability on the most human point of hunger soothed 
her concerns as to our intentions. 
Once she was gone, Aleksander痴 glance fell on me like a smith痴 hammer, and not 
because of an orphaned date. 
的知 sorry,・I said quietly when I accepted that he wasn稚 going to let matters rest 
until I said something. 典his seemed the only reasonable course.・ 
展as I to have nothing to say about it?・ 
添ou need time and safety to get your leg strong again. You need to stop running 
for a while, so you can think clearly about what to do next. I can稚 stay with 
you much longer. I believe you will find your way, and I want to help you, but 
I濫 Despite my reluctance, the time had come to speak of the siffaru. I ran my 
fingers through my filthy hair and tried to formulate the telling. 痘I have to 
decide what to do about Kir誰avarrin. I know who痴 waiting now. The siffaru took 
me to Tyrrad Nor, and I talked with him.・ 
添ou致e lost your mind.・ 
天ery possibly.・I attempted a smile, though it likely came out weak. 釘ut I 
believe not. Not yet, at least. I was right about one bit: the prisoner in the 
fortress is only a man, a powerful sorcerer who can touch my dreams. But 
everything else・My lord, he is a soul of such complexity, such depth of feeling, 
such magnificence of power and spirit, altogether different than I imagined.・ 
Despite all my misgivings, the feelings poured out of me as strong as ever. 滴e痴 
dangerous, yes. But I知 half mad to go there and learn more of him.・ 
泥angerous and magnificent? After a few days of a desert boy痴 vision耀ome 
mind-tangling weed he fed you, no doubt・my ever-cautious friend is 蘇alf mad・ to 
stick his head in a noose? No wonder you wouldn稚 tell me.・ 
Something struck the outside of the tent softly, and a group of laughing 
children came to retrieve whatever it was. Only when their bubbling merriment 
had receded into the workaday noises of a busy camp did I go on. 展hat I 
experienced was not just a vision. Whatever Qeb痴 gift or his herbs, my own power 
worked with it to take me to Kir誰avarrin. I spoke with the prisoner, walked with 
him, heard his story. I touched the wall that holds him. And I believe that 
perhaps I can濫 Impossible to speak of it. 的 told him I壇 come back. He痴 muddling 
my head, so I don稚 know if I dare confront him. But if I decide that痴 where this 
path leads, then I need to get on with it while I can, while I have some hope of 
success.・ 
的 told you to go if you needed.・Behind the echoes of anger and bitterness and 
humiliation was true concern. 釘ut I think you池e risking your soul to do it.・ 
展ell, if so, you値l take care of it, right? Back in Drafa you promised me that 
you壇 not let me live a monster, and I have infinite faith in you.・ 
摘ven for you, that痴 a bad joke. So when will you go?・ 
的 won稚 leave you alone.・ 
鄭nd so you think to abandon me with people who despise me?・ 
I grinned. 展hen has that ever bothered you?・ 
He snorted and snatched the last date, just as Blaise hurried into the tent. 
鉄eyonne! Stars of heaven, I致e been worried about you.・I jumped to my feet, and 
he clasped my hands, probing my depths with a gaze so intense I could not meet 
it. Between his scrutiny and Aleksander痴, my skin felt raw. 展hen I heard what 
happened in Zhagad・and after・Are you all right?・ 
鉄urviving. In control.・I smiled and moved out from between him and the Prince. 
添ou remember Prince Aleksander.・ 
Blaise痴 lean face grew wary, but he displayed no evidence of Elinor痴 hostility. 
He bowed slightly. 徹f course.・ 
Last time these two had met, Blaise had pledged fealty to the Empire and agreed 
to halt his raiding, thus allowing Aleksander to avert civil war. In return, 
Aleksander had revoked his orders condemning the riders of the Yvor Lukash to 
death and had taken the first steps to change the prerogatives of slave owners. 
They had made these concessions, not in deference to each other, but because I 
had asked them to. Now I needed them to build that same trust with each other. 
A noise from the rear of the tent interrupted the delicate confrontation. 
鏑innie?・ said Blaise, peering into the stacked clutter of baskets and bags. 
Elinor emerged from the shadows unabashed, carrying a basket of bread and 
cheese. Clearly she had been eavesdropping. Though I was uncomfortable at the 
thought of her hearing my confession to Aleksander, I couldn稚 blame her. 釘laise, 
we can稚 have him here,・she said, jerking her head toward Aleksander. 展e致e no 
right. We致e sworn to the others濫 
Blaise laid a hand on her shoulder. 鏑et痴 hear him first.・He fixed his attention 
on the Prince. 展hat is it you wish from us, Lord Aleksander?・he said. 的 hope 
you致e not come to enforce the oath I gave you. Circumstances have changed, and 
my purposes can no longer lie fallow.・Blaise痴 tone was not hostile. Only clear. 
I stilled my tongue. Aleksander痴 charge had been valid. He needed to speak for 
his own life. 
The Prince shifted awkwardly to get up from the matting, refusing my offered 
hand. 鼎ircumstances have indeed changed,・he said once he壇 gotten to his feet and 
returned Blaise痴 stiff bow. Even leaning on the table, he was half a head taller 
than Blaise. 溺any things have changed. This damned Ezzarian keeps insisting that 
I think about what I知 doing, but, unlikely as it seems for anyone who knows me, 
I致e done a great deal of thinking these past months. You are an outlaw who has 
made secret war upon this Empire, who has disrupted its stability and helped 
bring it to the brink of ruin. I will not argue justice or right, for men may 
agree upon a cause while disagreeing about its cure. Indeed, I want nothing from 
you迫the Prince paused and took a deep breath欄but it appears I must ask anyway. I 
seem to have misplaced my empire, and so I知 in need of sanctuary. My own people 
will not have me. So what of you? Will you take me in?・Blaise痴 disposition was 
sublimely serene. I had always envied him that. Passion and reason had found a 
healthy balance in him, shepherded by an inner confidence that inspired faith 
and a generous heart that inspired love. But as Aleksander spoke, the hand 
Blaise had laid so soothingly on his sister痴 shoulder tightened. Anger, 
indignation, and disdain played across the outlaw痴 hollow cheeks and angled eyes 
in those few moments. But in the end, he nodded and said, 添ou may stay and share 
our provisions for as long as you have need. I look forward to further 
discussions of these matters.・ 
Elinor shook off her brother痴 hand, dropped her basket of food on the brass 
tray, and left. 
Blaise moved to follow her, but checked himself abruptly. 迭arely do I dispute my 
sister痴 judgment,・he said. 鉄he痴 far better than I at weighing consequences. I 
hope I don稚 regret this.・ 
Blaise himself walked us across the vale of Taine Keddar, a blue-green gem in 
the midst of desolation. Besides feeding off of the deep clear well for which it 
was named, the high, grassy basin caught whatever moisture was baked out of the 
surrounding leagues of desert and returned to earth in the form of daily 
afternoon showers. Groves of fragrant cedars and gray-green olive trees graced a 
rocky garden of grass and flowers, locked that morning in a watery haze. 
Blaise told us that the valley was one of two, nestled high in the rocky spine 
of the Azhaki wasteland. The legend of two lush, hidden valleys had flourished 
among the desert peoples for hundreds of years, he said. But the location was so 
remote, and access so difficult, that no one had been able to say for certain 
where they lay or even that they existed at all. With his ability to change into 
a hunting bird and travel where he would, and needing exactly such a place to 
hide his followers, Blaise had found it. 
I was astounded at the number of people abroad in the damp morning. Men and 
women hurried here and there, hauling wood and water, and carrying baskets of 
bread from a squat brick building. From the tantalizing smells wafting overhead, 
I guessed the building housed common ovens. Children chased goats and chickens, 
carried pails of milk, and led horses to a wooden shed that rang with a 
blacksmith痴 hammer. Men were smoothing logs and hammering together a small house 
to join the scattered mix of old and new dwellings of stone and wood. A number 
of canvas tents were set up in the lee of a rocky prominence, one of them the 
headquarters we had just left. 
鉄orry I can offer no better accommodation. We池e a bit short on roofs at the 
moment,・Blaise said to Aleksander as he led us down a path through an ancient 
olive grove to a small stone hut. The place was no more than a single windowless 
room with a dirt floor and a wooden roof傭uilt for storing olives, I guessed. 釘ut 
this・I thought you might be willing to put up with the cramped space in trade 
for privacy. Seyonne can stay with Farrol and me, or sleep in the barracks, 
whatever the two of you decide. And we can give you clothes. You both look like 
you need a change. They won稚 be fine濫 
哲o need to keep apologizing.・Aleksander leaned on the door frame and surveyed 
the dismal little shelter. 的知 fully aware of my position and have no 
expectations. Though I would appreciate boots if they池e to be had. I知 unsteady 
enough without rough ground tripping me up.・ 
Blaise nodded. 鉄eyonne, you remember Cafazz. He can help with boots. And Sufrah 
rules the food supplies as before. But this evening・and every evening・I壇 like 
you to eat with me.・ 
I protested, sure that Blaise was forgetting the awkwardness of forcing our 
company upon Elinor. 展e can do for ourselves,・I said. 展e致e been accustomed to it 
for a while now.・ 
But he wouldn稚 hear my excuses. 的 think it would be wise,・he said, 吐or many 
reasons that you can likely come up with for yourselves. Everyone in the valley 
knows of the Derzhi and the Ezzarian shapeshifter by now. Many know Seyonne and 
trust him. But I致e no doubt that half my people have guessed your identity 
already, Lord Aleksander, and none have any reason to love you. If you are to be 
accepted here, then they must see that I consider you no threat.・He smiled 
ruefully. 溺y companions are quite protective of me. A few of them tend to be a 
bit overzealous.・He entirely understated the matter. 
In the hour after Blaise left us, Aleksander took charge of our accommodations, 
mumbling that he might as well learn to be useful. He found a stick of olive 
wood to hold himself up, a leafy branch for sweeping out the stone house, and a 
stand of dried grass to gather for pallets. While he took care of these tasks, I 
went off in search of water and whatever might be available in the way of 
clothes. I met several acquaintances from my sojourn with Blaise in Karesh, and 
though they had surely heard of my mad rage on the night of Gordain痴 death, none 
seemed particularly afraid of me. Wary, certainly, especially of my companion. 
They didn稚 ask about him directly, but danced about the subject. You致e brought a 
friend back with you, eh? A Basran someone said・Heard it was quite a fight at 
Andassar. Your friend seemed to know his way around a sword・We致e missed your 
sword training, Seyonne. Will you be staying long enough to start it up again? 
Or perhaps this companion of yours has other ideas・/em> ? 
I thanked them for their help; I took back an armload of breeches, shirts, 
leggings, towels, cups, cloaks, two blankets, a water jar, a sharpening stone, 
and a pair of boots I thought might fit Aleksander. But in answer to their 
probing, I said only that I had known my friend a long time, that he was 
recovering from a severe injury, and that we would stay at least a few days 
until he was more mobile. All other questions I deferred to Blaise. 
As I started back to the olive grove with my load, light footsteps raced down 
the path behind me. 溺aster Seyonne! Is it really you?・ 
I peered around the stack of clothing, precariously perched on top of a water 
jar, and saw a pair of bright blue eyes shining beneath an unruly shock of blond 
hair. No wariness here. No fear or holding back. 溺attei! Holy stars, lad, you池e 
as tall as me.・ 
鼎afazz told me you were here.・The boy grabbed the water jar from under my stack 
and hoisted it on his shoulder. 的知 learning to sword fight now. I致e ridden on 
three raids already・more sneaking than fighting, but it痴 coming. Now you can 
teach me proper.・ 
The Kuvai youth痴 greeting was as fine a welcome as I壇 had anywhere. Outside of 
Blaise and Farrol, Mattei was the only person in the outlaw band whom I could 
truly call a friend. 
Five years previous, a Derzhi baron had decided to divert the water from Mattel痴 
village well to make a pond at his Kuvai estate. For daring to question the 
order which would leave the villagers・crops and animals parched, Mattei痴 parents 
had been tied together and burned alive in their own house. Blaise brought a 
raiding party to stop the execution, but arrived too late. But he found the 
ten-year-old boy huddled in the root cellar, where he壇 hidden, forced to listen 
to his parents screaming as they died. For the next four years, the boy had not 
spoken a word. 
When I壇 come to live with him in Karesh, Blaise asked me to teach Mattei some 
fighting skills. Blaise believed that if the boy could learn to defend himself 
and others, it might help heal the terrible wounding that kept him silent. Beset 
with grief and guilt and soul-sickness after my journey of revelation, I could 
scarcely bring my own self to speak, but I agreed and began teaching Mattei the 
rudiments of hand combat. The boy was quick, strong, and ferocious, though his 
eyes were an abyss of pain as he fought. 
One evening after several weeks of practice, I told Mattei of Kyor, the boy of 
his own age who had died following my command to bring Blaise to the gateway of 
Dasiet Homol. I told him how I blamed myself for Kyor痴 death, though my hand had 
not held the knife that killed him. But I said that, although it was very hard, 
I was coming to see that I had given Kyor a duty and a purpose, and that I 
should not regret his ending. Kyor had saved Blaise痴 reason, and all the good 
that Blaise had done and would do was a gift Kyor had given to the world. 
Perhaps, I said, Mattei痴 parents had died, not blaming their son for hiding in 
that root cellar, but rejoicing in his safety and the thought of all the good he 
could do in the world. 
Together Mattei and I walked into the wilderness that night, and I showed him 
how Ezzarians built a ring of holy fire. I explained how we felt close to the 
gods when we knelt within it, as Verdonne had done in her long siege trapped 
between heaven and earth. When our fire blazed high, I prayed aloud for wisdom 
and strength, and asked the gods to comfort Kyor and tell him of the good that 
had come from his sacrifice. And Mattei, breaking his long silence, whispered 
his own prayer for the gods to tell Nasia and Rudolf that he missed them 
terribly, and that he would strive to be their worthy son. We had both begun a 
healing in that ring of fire. Mattei痴 excitement at my arrival, and the smiles 
and bantering that followed him as we walked through the camp, told me he had 
come farther than I. 
On our way across the trampled grass of the open valley with my supplies, I saw 
Blaise and Elinor galloping off together toward the south end of the valley. 
典hey seem in a hurry,・I said. 
笛ust off to see the old ones, I壇 guess,・said the boy. 
徹ld ones?・ 
徹h!・Mattei flushed as scarlet as the ajilea flowering in the grass. 的 thought 
Blaise would have・We池e not supposed to talk about them, even among ourselves. I知 
sorry. But I知 sure it would be all right if I told you. Blaise honors you so濫 
哲o, no. I don稚 want you to speak of things you致e been told not. Don稚 worry about 
it. Blaise will tell me everything he wishes me to know.・ 
I had Mattei leave the water jar at the edge of the clearing by the stone hut, 
saying I壇 come back for it. 的値l introduce you to my companion another day,・ I 
said. 滴e could use a good friend. He痴 lost his home, seen his father and friends 
murdered, and heard people crying out and been unable to help them. It痴 going to 
take awhile for him to learn to live with it. Right now he really doesn稚 want to 
talk to anyone.・ 
滴e痴 in his quiet time,・said the boy. 
鄭ye,・I said. 典hat痴 exactly it.・ 
CHAPTER 23
All of Taine Keddar was subdued on that first afternoon, not just Aleksander. 
The six deaths in the raiding party had cast a shadow over the outlaw 
settlement, and most of the afternoon had been devoted to the burials. The 
Prince and I spent several jars of water, two towels, and a goodly while 
cleaning ourselves, then took a few minutes to visit the burial site of each of 
the fallen. Derzhi tradition bade a warrior honor those who had died fighting at 
his side, even if he didn稚 know their names. Understanding how little Aleksander 
would be welcome, we did not intrude upon the funeral rites, but arrived just 
after and stayed just long enough to toss a handful of dirt on the grave and 
salute the fallen rider with our swords. This duty done under a barrage of 
silent stares, we retreated to our stone hut and slept. 
Just after sunset, I walked up the path toward Blaise and four other men who 
stood beside a healthy blaze outside one of the larger tents at the valley痴 
edge. The evening breeze was damp after a brief shower, and I welcomed the 
prospect of a good fire and a hot meal, if not the uncomfortable society that 
was sure to accompany them. Aleksander was slow in getting his new boots back 
on, so he壇 sent me on ahead, saying he would catch up. 
A short, solidly round man was stirring a pot hung over the fire, but when he 
caught sight of me, he thrust the spoon into someone else痴 hand and raised his 
arms in greeting. 鉄eyonne! Spirit痴 flesh, it痴 fine to see you.・Before I could 
get out a word, he was across the wide expanse of trampled, muddy grass, 
thumping me on the back, almost toppling me to the dirt in his enthusiasm. 禅he 
instant I heard the tale of the winged Ezzarian, I knew it was you come back.・ 
的壇 wondered if you were hiding from me,・I said, unable to restrain a grin at 
Farrol痴 clumsy welcome. Ever since I had helped save Blaise痴 reason and salvage 
his own grim future, I had suffered no more enthusiastic devotion than Farrol痴. 
哲ah. Just running Blaise痴 everlasting errands. With the size of our company, 
there痴 no end to it. And more folk come to us every day.・ 
He put his arm around my shoulders and was practically dragging me toward the 
group by the fire, but before we got so far, I pulled him to a stop, took his 
hands, and examined them. They were wickedly scarred, and two fingers on his 
left hand were curled stiffly. He wiggled them, as if to demonstrate that he had 
some use of them. 的 never had a chance to thank you, or to find out about your 
injury,・I said. 添ou saved濫 
的知 a bumbling oaf,・he said, pained sobriety dousing his exuberance. 敵ot a fine 
man killed and came near leaving myself a cinder because I didn稚 know what I was 
about庸irst sending assassins after Blaise and then not knowing how to control 
the fire. But we did what we could, eh? It痴 all a man can do.・ 
添ou had no way to know, no reason to expect what happened. But I値l never forget 
what you did. Never.・ 
滴ave you seen him?・Farrol lowered his voice, as if the ones by the fire might be 
listening. 
I shook my head. 摘linor痴 not too happy about my being here.・ 
鉄he痴 got a number of濫 
的 don稚 blame her,・I said, rushing ahead, not wanting him to feel he had to 
defend her. 的 just can稚 bring myself to ask it yet. Don稚 even know if I should. 
But just to hear a word of him・ 
Farrol痴 broad face was filled with sympathy. 滴e痴 well. A fine lad. Talks your 
ears numb when he gets after it. Runs and climbs and keeps healthy. Bright as 
sunlight on snow.・ 
I could not speak my relief and gratitude. 
Aleksander limped out of the grove just then, and I waited for him to reach us. 
溺y lord, this is Blaise痴 foster brother Farrol. Farrol, this is濫 
的 know who he is.・The round man痴 jaw thrust itself out like the rocks that edged 
the valley. 的f you weren稚 with Seyonne, I壇 introduce myself with a sword in your 
gut. Prayed for the opportunity to do that since I was a boy.・ 
With a stare that could have frozen a volcano, the Prince spread his empty hands 
wide as if inviting the man to do exactly as he said. 
典he Prince is here under Blaise痴 protection as well as mine,・I said hurriedly. 
展e致e a great deal to learn from each other. Perhaps we壇 best get to it.・ 
Farrol turned his back and walked away. 
I glanced at the Prince as we followed Farrol across the meadow. His face was 
stone. Indeed his expression did not change during that whole evening, and he 
said nothing beyond the most necessary politeness as we ate and listened to 
Blaise and his friends talk about the raid on the slave caravan and those who 
had died. 
In addition to Blaise and Farrol, Roche, the commander of the caravan raid, 
shared the supper pot. Out of his paint, he was a stringy, pockmarked Ezzarian 
of twenty-five or so, born demon-joined like Blaise and Farrol. As Blaise 
questioned the young commander about the problems with the raid, Roche cast 
sidelong glances at Aleksander and me, as if we might contradict him or laugh. 
He told how the Veshtar had fought more fiercely than he expected and how the 
Nyabozzi had been able to react to the surprise without a pause. Indeed, anyone 
setting out to fight the Derzhi and their allies should have known better what 
to expect, but neither Aleksander nor I offered any comment. 
Gorrid, a squat, muscular Ezzarian in his mid-thirties, whom I had met briefly 
in Karesh, returned my greeting with a hostile glare and spat on Aleksander痴 
boots. His position made clear, he proceeded to ignore us both, neither 
addressing us nor acknowledging my abortive attempts at conversation. 
The last of the company was a bearded Suzaini named Admet. Admet was clearly not 
a warrior. His long robes draped over a severely twisted back. He had the 
pleasant, outgoing, and authoritative manner of a merchant, and while Blaise and 
Roche discussed the raid, he stared with unembarrassed curiosity at the Prince 
and me. As the general conversation moved on, he asked us a few polite 
questions. Had someone found us a place to sleep? Did we need weapons or 
clothing or blankets? Had we injuries that needed tending? Once these exchanges 
were completed, he turned back to Gorrid and was soon laughing with the other 
man over some private amusement. 
Farrol served out the supper of flet, a thick mush of boiled millet stuck 
together with pig fat and flavored with onion and scraps of meat. A poor man痴 
staple, it sat heavy in the gut, but would hold a man through lean days. As we 
ate, the talk turned back to outlawry, with Gorrid and Admet berating Blaise for 
poor scouting, insisting that better knowledge of the terrain was needed before 
commencing such large-scale ventures. I felt, rather than heard, Aleksander痴 
snort of disdain. No one else seemed to notice容xcept perhaps Admet, who flashed 
a sharp glance our way. 
Elinor was not present, and no one mentioned her whereabouts. I listened to the 
conversation with only half an ear, preferring to let my mind dwell on a child 
as bright as sunlight on snow, who ran and climbed and talked ears numb. 
Aleksander and I took our leave early, thanking Blaise and Farrol for the meal 
and returning to our beds without so much as a word between us. 
As Mattei had recognized, the next weeks were indeed Aleksander痴 quiet time. I 
had brought him to Taine Keddar to heal and think, and he worked diligently at 
the physical healing, at least. He was off before I woke in the mornings, 
trudging up and down the hillside tracks to strengthen his leg. Sometime near 
midday, he would return to the hut, build a small fire, and make himself a cup 
of nazrheel. Then he would grab flatbread and honey or fruit and take it with 
him out to the grassy spots between the olive trees, where he would bend and 
squat and stretch, working to regain his flexibility. I assumed he was also 
doing a considerable amount of thinking during this time, but he shared none of 
it with me. When we were alone together, most often at night as we lay on our 
grass pallets in the stone shed, I tried to draw him into conversation, telling 
him what tidbits of news I had learned. He listened without comment, but did 
nothing to prolong the conversation. He was not rude or sullen, only distant, 
withdrawn from the intimacy of the past months, as if I were already departed on 
my long-delayed journey. 
Because Aleksander occupied so little of my time, I tried to make myself useful 
around the encampment: helping with the building and hauling, cleaning the kill 
brought back by hunters, whatever was needed. I saw little of Blaise during 
those first few days and nothing of Elinor. From Mattei I gathered that Blaise痴 
sister was also one of his chief lieutenants, well respected among the company. 
Elinor and Admet, the Suzaini with the twisted back, set the timing of the 
outlaw ventures and chose the targets from the reports of scouts and 
sympathizers throughout the Empire. Unlike my earlier sojourn with the outlaw 
company, I was not invited to sit in on the sessions where they planned their 
activities, nor was I asked to teach the men and women fighting skills or sword 
work. I understood their feelings. How could I be trusted when I kept company 
with the living symbol of everything they detested? 
After a few days I took up running again. Rising early as he did, Aleksander 
would throw himself on his pallet and fall instantly asleep as soon as we 
returned from Blaise痴 fire. I was increasingly shy of falling sleep, however. My 
dreams had not abated, and rather than spend an unsatisfying night repeatedly 
waking myself up, I would run the length and breadth of Taine Keddar under the 
stars until I dropped onto my pallet like a dead man. 
Not long after our arrival, as Aleksander and I were seeing to our horses in the 
common pasture, a man rode into the valley with news. The Prince and I joined 
the hundred people who quickly gathered to hear the appalling tale. By the 
Emperor痴 order, every village within ten leagues of Andassar had been burned, 
the man reported. Every field had been salted, every beast slaughtered. What few 
souls remained in the villages had been killed or sold. 展hat of the local lord?・ 
said Aleksander, ignoring the surprised gawking of the crowd, who drew away from 
him when they realized who stood in their midst. 泥id you hear news of the Derzhi 
Lord Naddasine?・ 
的 did,・said the rider, clearly not understanding who was asking. 典he Naddasine 
first lord was accused of harboring the Kinslayer, for the tale had got back to 
the Emperor that the missing Prince was seen near Andassar. The old man was 
gutted and hanged as a traitor in Zhagad. The rest of the lot揺is five sons and 
three daughters謡ere rounded up and given to the Veshtar.・ 
敵iven? Enslaved?・ 
鄭ye. Imagine it! Derzhi nobles sealed into slave rings. Though I壇 say if they 
were only enslaved, even to the Veshtar, they got off lucky.・ 
Aleksander shoved his horse痴 lead into my hand and walked away. No one who 
looked at him at that moment would have noticed anything out of the ordinary, 
but I had touched his cold hand and felt its trembling. 
Every evening Aleksander and I walked the path through the gnarled olive trees 
to share Blaise痴 food and fire. On the fourth evening of our stay, Elinor had 
joined the dinner company. She served a pottage of beans, carrots, and onions, 
and nodded politely when I thanked her. Later I saw her frowning, eyes narrowed, 
as I talked to Gorrid and Blaise about how Aleksander and I had come to be in 
Andassar and get involved in the raid on the slave caravan. I told myself not to 
worry so much. Time would reassure Elinor that neither Aleksander nor I was a 
threat. As to the past・I knew I could have done nothing more to save Gordain, 
and that the horror I had wrought on the namhir was but a product of my madness. 
There was no need to feel guilty whenever I was around her. But of course I did. 
Such feelings are not subject to reason. She was the guardian of my child, and I 
longed to see him. I wanted her to think well of me. 
As the others grew accustomed to our presence, conversation flowed more freely. 
Those who gathered at Blaise痴 fire spoke of politics and hopes, of worries about 
supplies, of questions of geography, or of their small victories of the past 
months葉he brutal overseer replaced when his lord痴 almond harvest mysteriously 
vanished, or the peasants who had used their own lord痴 wheat to pay their 
village痴 crushing tax levy. The lively discussions provoked a number of 
arguments. Every person in Tame Keddar fought for a different reason, some 
benevolent, some vengeful, some that were little more than a preference for 
creating havoc over following anyone else痴 rules. While Blaise was the soul of 
the Yvor Lukash, infusing even the most mundane concern with the eloquence of 
true passion, Elinor was its head, her intelligent questioning leading the 
others to think beyond the limits of their education and experience. To see her 
argue Gorrid, the fiery debater, into confessing that it was probably useful to 
have one person to govern, rather than letting every man do as he pleased, or to 
watch her nudge the shy Roche into demonstrating his facility with verse, was 
unexpected pleasure. 
Though I enjoyed listening to the exchanges and occasionally found myself 
tempted to offer an observation, I rarely did so. Elinor carefully avoided any 
repeat of our initial confrontation. She was polite, but cool, accepting the 
Prince and me, I believed, only because it was Blaise痴 wish. But my active 
participation in the group seemed to force her behind a wall of reserve, 
depriving the whole company of her delightful conversation. So unless directly 
invited to add my comment, I took my pleasure by watching and listening. 
Aleksander remained aloof, never speaking beyond an occasional 努ell enough・ to 
Blaise痴 inquiries as to his health and comfort. He always sat to the side, out 
of the firelight. Sometimes he watched the group of comrades as they talked and 
teased and argued, prodding one another to be better and wiser. Sometimes he 
kept his back to them, facing out into the camp where other men and women 
clustered around other cook fires, their laughter and serious talk blending with 
the distant bleat of goats and the calls of night birds. I worried about him, 
but he had closed me off along with everyone else, and I could find no word or 
deed to open the way again. 
On one evening when we had lived in Taine Keddar almost a month, Farrol asked me 
how to enchant a fire to burn brighter and longer, and I was taking him through 
the rudimentary steps, working at the difficult task of dissecting an action 
that had been second nature since I was seven. 哲o, the word is ・felyyd,・ which 
means flame, not ・flydd,・which means damp,・I said when the supper fire hissed 
and almost went out, and then flared up hugely, threatening to melt the iron pot 
hanging over it. 鄭nd you don稚 say it aloud.・ 
釘ut when I just think it, nothing happens・not even when I think the right 
word,・said Farrol, his round cheeks drooping. No one could portray an image of 
dejection as could Farrol. 
I smiled at him despite my frustration at being unable to explain something so 
simple. 展ell, you see that痴 the difficulty. You can稚 just think it. You have to 
feel it, express it with melydda rather than thought or tongue. That痴 the secret 
to simple enchantments. I知 sorry I can稚 explain it better.・ 
We壇 been at it for almost an hour, and by this time Blaise and Roche were 
engaged in the lesson with little success but great good humor. Gorrid was 
trying to boil chicken bones for soup, and he kept grumbling at us to leave off, 
for he was either being singed by soaring flames or having to throw more sticks 
on the fire to keep it from going out. Admet, the Suzaini who had no melydda, 
sat on a log and laughed at us all. Eventually, the fire took on a slight 
silver-edged cast that told me someone was getting close to success, but I 
couldn稚 figure out who it was. 
Only Elinor and Aleksander remained aloof. Elinor sat in the light of a lantern, 
intent on some sewing project. Aleksander sat expressionless at the edge of the 
group, his chin propped on his fists and his eyes half closed. 
鏑innie, why don稚 you try it?・said Blaise, after Gorrid threw down a lid in 
exasperation when a sudden geyser of sparks threatened to set his arm afire. 添ou 
were taught some of this. Perhaps you値l have better luck.・ 
展hy would I want to do such a thing?・she said, glaring at me as if I had made 
the suggestion. 擢ires burn as they will, and one learns to control them with 
fuel and air. Only a fool cares about such tricks of magic.・ 
典his 奏rick・can keep you warm if you致e limited fuel,・I blurted out, caught off 
guard by the vehemence of her retort. 徹r allow you to sleep safely when you池e 
desperate and there are wild creatures about, or enable you to eat or to cleanse 
wounds when you might not otherwise. Only a fool would refuse to learn what 
could save a life.・During my last two years in Ezzaria, I had fought continually 
with those who believed that sorcery should never be used to serve human 
purposes, but only to further the demon war. I thought I had left my resentments 
behind, but clearly I was wrong. 
Elinor痴 cheeks flamed scarlet and her lips tightened as she returned to her 
sewing. Our exchange had quenched the playful mood like a cold rain. 
Idiot. Could you have insulted her more directly? Hoping to recover lost ground, 
I tried to make a lesson out of the dispute. 的t might seem foolish to keep a 
fire burning if you don稚 need it right away, but if you致e no means to make one 
at all, sometimes it痴 the only answer. To strike a new fire from nothing is far 
more difficult. Try it・here・ I grabbed a wad of tangled grass from the tinder 
basket and set it on a flat stone. 鄭lter the image in your mind庸irst see the 
grass, taste its dryness, smell it, and then consider the spark, quick, clean 
like the prick of a knife, the heat, the first smoke預nd use the words diargh 
inestu instead of the other.・ 
I felt the sputtering flickers of enchantment, and heard the others muttering. 
Cold・it just leaves me cold・can稚 find it・Quiet, dolt. Feel it, don稚 say it・I値l 
never get if・Impossible ・ 
I fixed my eyes on the little wad of grass. To set it alight on the damp stone 
without touching it would be very difficult. But that was the beauty of sorcery, 
of course, the art of it・to combine the imagining, the tale of the senses, the 
deep-rooted understanding, and then to loose the warm flood of melydda・ just 
enough, shaping it with the word. I closed my eyes and breathed the words diargh 
inestu ・oh, gods, I never tired of it・ 
泥amn! Who did it?・said Farrol, sitting back on his heels and staring at the tiny 
golden flame consuming the wad of grass. 
Blaise smiled and raised his cup to me. 徹ur master, of course. Can稚 you feel it? 
We creep along the ground while he soars.・Which was truly strange for him to 
say, who could change himself to a bird with a single thought. 
I moved away from the fire and sat down on a thick log next to Aleksander, 
allowing the lesson to lapse. Soon Gorrid was ladling his broth into the wooden 
bowls stacked beside him, and Roche began passing them out. Elinor abandoned her 
sewing and brought out bread and cheese. 
Though I tried not to let her see me staring, my eyes followed her as she moved 
around the circle. I was surprised by the implication that she was capable of 
wielding melydda. When the Ezzarian elders had rendered the cruel verdict that 
Blaise was demon-possessed and must be left in the forest for wolves to devour, 
their parents had taken the two children and fled Ezzaria. In the ensuing years, 
Blaise痴 parents had given up all use of melydda, terrified that Blaise痴 電emon・ 
might someday use it to wreak havoc upon those who fought the demon war. They 
surely would have insisted that seven-year-old Elinor abandon her short years of 
experience, too, and the ability to control melydda dwindled away with prolonged 
disuse. Had she recovered it somehow? What other mysteries lay hidden within 
her? 
As we ate, Blaise and Farrol laughed over their magical attempts and speculated 
on what they might have to do to create other magical workings. Elinor shook her 
head at them, unable to resist a smile at their teasing, and even sour Gorrid 
forgot his hostility for the moment and snorted in good humor at the pair. 
添ou enjoy teaching.・Elinor stopped in front of me, offering to refill my bowl 
and to speak to me at the same time, a gesture of truce that was not lost on me. 

添es.・I fumbled my bowl and spilled the dregs on my breeches, cursing my thick 
head for not coming up with something clever or interesting to say that might 
prolong the conversation. 
Elinor, her gaze fixed on my bowl, dipped her ladle in the pot and carefully 
replenished my dinner. 摘vidently you池e decent at it. Mattei often helps me with 
Evan.・ 
One would think my bowl had been transformed to beaten gold, for my eyes would 
no longer leave it. 溺attei is a fine young man,・I managed to get out. 
添es.・ 
Elinor refilled Aleksander痴 bowl and moved on to the next man. I considered 
drowning myself in the steaming broth. 
After a while, Admet began talking quietly to Roche and Gorrid about a scouting 
report he壇 gotten from a contact in Syra, a mining town east of Zhagad. He 
seemed to have forgotten that Aleksander and I were sitting right behind him. 套 
and she says the shipments go out regularly every fourteen days. Danye痴 heard 
there痴 a larger one than usual going out five days from now預 levy wagon. The 
mine garrison is just twenty warriors・ten for each half-day watch. They keep 
only four warriors at the mine entrance, and six down inside. By the time they 
pull off extra to protect the shipment, that might leave only five or six 
warriors in all, plus the overseers and mining stewards. What痴 even better葉hey致e 
dammed a stream above the mine, put in a sluice gate that they open to wash the 
tailings to get the last bits of gold from them. Famarn says it would take no 
more than an hour to breach the sluice gate and leave it to flood the works. 
Wouldn稚 that set the cursed Derzhi baron on his ear? The Danatos would have to 
forfeit their levies for ten years, and the worst slave pit in the Empire would 
be left unusable.・ 
滴ow many would we need to send?・said Gorrid. 
哲o more than twelve or fourteen. Two to breach the sluice gate, four to hold the 
entrance. Six to take care of the inside guards and get the slaves out before 
the water濫 
Ever since Admet had begun, Aleksander had been shaking his head. 添ou値l never do 
it,・he said, interrupting the Suzaini痴 assessment. Though the Prince spoke 
quietly, almost to himself, the whole group fell silent and stared at him as if 
they壇 forgotten he could speak. 添ou値l bury more than six this time. Every one of 
you will die. And the slaves with you.・ 
展hat痴 that?・said Blaise. 
泥anatos and his gold mine葉he richest mine in the world. Do you think because he痴 
a Derzhi that he痴 also stupid? Do you think because he痴 a mindless villain whose 
own mother has denounced him, that he would fail to consider such an obvious 
ploy? It痴 no wonder you change nothing in this world with such naive heads 
devising your strategies.・ 
Gorrid jumped to his feet. 添ou would love us to fail, wouldn稚 you? Derzhi 
bastard濫 
泥anatos works over seven hundred slaves in his mine,・snapped Aleksander, 杜ost of 
them chained to the rock. They live and die in there. It would take you half a 
night to free them. And the sluice gate・even if you managed to kill the warriors 
inside the mine, plus the guard and the miner who work the sluice gate, you壇 
have to deal with the watchpost just across the ravine from it. Not five people 
outside Danatos痴 garrison know the exact location of this watchpost, and the 
warriors・families are held hostage against their revealing it. The post is 
manned with three archers every hour of every day, and they would not miss the 
heart of a thief at the sluice gate were it twice the distance, for Danatos痴 
archers are the finest in Azhakstan. He pays them in gold from the mine, which 
means their hostage families live very well indeed. And it痴 true there may be 
only twenty warriors in the mine garrison, but Danatos never provisions less 
than a hundred and fifty warriors in his keep. Once the alarm is raised, it 
would take perhaps half an hour to have every one of the hundred and fifty 
waiting outside the mine・but you would never make it out to face them, for the 
Derzhi warriors inside the mine would already have closed down the air passages 
and suffocated every living being in the mine遥ou, the seven hundred slaves, and 
themselves. They have sworn upon their father痴 swords to do so, and anyone who 
thinks to fight a Derzhi must understand that they will do what they have sworn. 
I would send no warrior of mine on such a mission unless I wanted him 
dead.・Aleksander drank the last of his soup, tossed his bowl on the stack of 
them, and then stood up as if to leave. 
展hat are we to believe of you, Prince?・said Admet, the softness of his Suzaini 
accent not hiding his intensity. 典he Danatos are your own kind. For half a year 
you have been pursuing Derzhi alliances. You could well be trying to protect 
them.・ 
的 could be,・said Aleksander. 敵o on and try it then.・He started across the grass 
toward the olive grove. 
展ait,・called Blaise. 鄭 moment, Lord Aleksander. Do you know where this archers・ 
watchpost lies?・ 
The uneven footsteps paused, and after a moment the answer came from the 
shadows. 的 do.・ 
鄭nd do you know how the alarm would be raised?・ 
鄭 bell hangs on the cliffs above the mine. Two watchers stand where they can see 
the mine approaches, which are lit by octar seeps that burn day and night. The 
watchers never sleep.・ 
鏑ord Aleksander, would you ride with us to Syra?・Blaise痴 quiet question grasped 
the night and held it by the neck. Lost in my personal confusions, I had missed 
something of tremendous importance, something extraordinary, but Blaise had not. 

典he Danatos hold the mine at Syra by grant of my greatgrandsire, given in thanks 
for repelling the invasion of the Empire by Edusian barbarians, who ravaged 
every land they touched. Only ten warriors of the Danatos heged survived that 
battle. Every other was slain. I am my father and his father and his before him; 
how can I steal back my own gift?・ 
撤erhaps they have forfeited your gift,・said Blaise. 撤erhaps they have themselves 
become the Edusians, ravaging our land.・ 
Months of running and hiding, of a world ripped apart, of life turned inside 
out, of pain and grief, guilt and exhaustion at last found expression in 
Aleksander痴 anguish. 典he warriors to be killed in your venture are Derzhi・my own 
people・ my brothers. I am responsible for them. For the Danatos. For all of you. 
And yes, for the seven hundred who are chained to the rocks inside the Danatos 
mine. Do you think this is a game where I can choose sides and upend the board 
if I don稚 like the outcome?・Aleksander was not speaking to Blaise or me or 
anyone else. Only to himself. 
典hink on it,・said Blaise. 鼎hoose. We go in five days.・ 
CHAPTER 24
Five days. Five days to decide whether to turn against the Empire he had thought 
to rule. Once committed, there would be no going back. For a prince of the 
Derzhi to attack a stronghold of the Twenty, to ride out of the darkness and 
slay Derzhi warriors・the word would sweep through the Empire like a paraivo. And 
there would be no hiding. Aleksander would never paint his face. He would braid 
his har and ride like a Derzhi prince were Edik痴 warriors awaiting him at the 
mine with a noose in hand. 
I walked back to the hut in the olive grove that night, determined to breach the 
wall that had sprung up between Aleksander and me. But he was neither there, nor 
sitting out under the trees, nor anywhere that I could find him. I sat in the 
doorway of the hut waiting, unable to take pleasure in the brilliance of the 
full moon, the towering cedars down the vale beyond the grove, or the scent of 
wild lavender hanging on the soft night. In my hand I twirled Aleksander痴 
olive-wood walking stick. He had discarded it a few days before, saying I could 
burn it if I wished. 
At some time I drifted off to sleep, for I was stretched across the doorway and 
the moon had almost set when the hand shook me awake. He was crouched beside me, 
a dark shadow against steep-angled moonlight behind him. 鉄eyonne. Are you 
awake?・ 
I banished disturbing dreams of mountain prisons and gamarand woods, and sat up, 
uncomfortably aware of the aching stiffness that seemed to have taken up 
permanent residence in my back and knees. 的知 completely awake,・I said, yawning. 
展aiting for you.・ 
He stood up immediately and strode across the clearing to the nearest olive 
tree, only to spin on his heel and come right back. 的 need your help.・ 
典hat痴 why I知 here. Whatever you濫 
的 need to send a message to Lydia.・He crouched down beside me again. 添ou致e got 
to do this for me. She trusts you.・ 
徹f course I値l do it. Whatever濫 
鉄he must appear before Edik and petition him to dissolve our marriage.・ 
展hat?・ 
典his is what you値l say to her・ He permitted no questioning or discussion. 
Instead, he gave me the words to tell the wife he adored that he no longer loved 
her, that he would as soon be wed to a jackal as to a woman who failed to defend 
him before his enemies, and that he had found a more satisfactory woman to share 
his bed熔ne who would give him sons. 
溺y lord, she値l never believe it. She knows you better than you know yourself.・ 
典hen make her believe it. Enchant her, swear at her. Remind her of how I sent 
her away, of how I shamed her in front of everyone in Zhagad. You said 層hatever 
I needed,・and I need this as I need nothing else in this world. She must not be 
my wife one hour more.・He had not taken five days to decide. 
展ill it keep her safe?・ 
敵ods of night, I pray it will. I should have done it months ago, but I couldn稚, 
not while悠 couldn稚.・Not while there was hope of stepping back into the life he 
knew. He paced back to the olive tree and broke off a clump of the fleshy green 
fruit, then stared at it as if he weren稚 quite sure what it was. 撤erhaps she痴 
done it already. That would be the best of all. But she is so everlastingly 
stubborn・ 
滴ave you considered telling her the truth? Letting her decide?・Ysanne had not 
trusted me with the truth of our child痴 demon birth. I still felt the bitter 
hurt of it. 
徹f course, I致e considered it. But I値l not have her dead for me. Anger will keep 
her alive.・ 
There was no dissuading him, and I could not muster the conviction to thwart his 
will. Perhaps this was the way things were meant to fall out. He had yielded 
everything, as Qeb had foretold. Surely this deed must be the ending of it. To 
be willing to cut off your own flesh, though it be your very heart. 的値l do my 
best,・I said at last. 
添ou値l fly・or something magical・? I hate to ask it, but the time濫 
I stood up and gathered my cloak and sword belt from the hut. 的値l get Blaise to 
guide me. Traveling his ways, we can finish it tonight.・ 
典onight?・His strangled response was that of a man who believes he has steeled 
himself to have a limb removed, only to discover the ax already hanging over 
him. 敵ood. Tonight, then. Make her believe, Seyonne. Make her hate me.・ 
Blaise understood my mission and its implications without long explanation, and 
he agreed to leave immediately. 典hree hours hard riding to get there,・ he said. 
We would arrive just before dawn. 
The easy part of the mission to Zhagad was getting inside the walls. The spires 
and arches of the imperial city were just taking shape in the gray light when 
Blaise and I left our horses in the care of a feebleminded hostler. Outside the 
walls of Zhagad, a city of castoffs had grown up, built by those too poor, too 
diseased, or too unsavory to be allowed inside the imperial capital. We hurried 
through its narrow lanes until we found a deserted corner where we could shift 
to birds・form without being observed. 
添ou first,・said Blaise. 的値l watch.・ 
笛ust don稚 watch me・/em> I said. 
After the requisite uncomfortable time, I perched on a broken barrel, and Blaise 
inspected me in the dim light. 鄭 reasonable job,・he said, his face looming large 
in my sight. 鉄till a little beaky. Your tail feathers should be longer, and 
you致e left too much white in the breast. Haven稚 you ever taken a close look at a 
falcon?・ 
I yelled at him to stop talking and get on with it, which, of course, came out 
as a totally unintelligible kek-kek-kek. He laughed and crossed his arms upon 
his breast, and in less time than it took me to think about transforming, a 
brown and white hawk fluttered down the alleyway before me. 
Aleksander had told me where to find the Marag town house, an imposing pile of 
finely cut stone, nestled up so close to the palace grounds, its balconies 
overlooked the Emperor痴 gardens. Blaise and I flew over the courtyards and 
walkways, keeping an eye out for guards, especially archers who might be idling 
away the early hours by taking shots at passing birds. Smoke was rising from the 
kitchen chimneys, and servants were already dumping wash water into the stone 
planters and carrying baskets of folded linen from the washhouse into the 
residence. Aleksander had said that Lydia痴 apartments looked out on a water 
garden・a maze of stone steps and sculpted walls, tiled troughs and pools that 
were filled, sprayed, and spread with an unending flow of water drawn from the 
deep limestone wells under the desert city. The place was easy to find. In the 
quiet of the morning, the splash and trickle of the water was unmistakable, 
accompanied by the chittering of a thousand small birds who rose in a cloud of 
annoyance at the invasion of a falcon and a hawk. 
We circled low over the garden, and I examined the balconies and doorways, 
debating whether to fly inside the house and search for the Princess, which 
would leave me in a vulnerable spot while shifting back to my own form, or to 
shift first and go hunting as a man. The latter would have its own dangers. But 
the decision was made unnecessary. In the corner of the water garden nearest the 
house, two women were seated on a small patch of grass beside a pool that 
shimmered with gold in the morning light. One, fair-skinned, with long, elegant 
bones, was draped in a voluminous white shawl against the cool morning. Her damp 
red curls were spread over her shoulders as if to dry in the morning sun. A book 
lay open in her hand. The other woman wore a servant痴 plain brown tunic and 
skirt, and the loose white scarf preferred by traditional Suzaini women, 
covering the hair and the lower part of the face, leaving the eyes scarcely 
visible. The two were intensely engaged, the serving woman bent toward her 
mistress, pointing out something in the book. It appeared that the Princess 
Lydia was learning to read, a skill most Derzhi disdained as a menial task akin 
to cleaning or sewing or selling trinkets in the market. Useful, but unnecessary 
for a race of warriors. 
While Blaise perched in the limbs of a lemon tree, I settled on a flagstone path 
in a secluded part of the garden and shifted back to my own form. Waving a hand 
at Blaise, I hurried down the winding path, hearing the art of the master 
gardener in the changing texture of sound as I passed: a splattering fountain, a 
soft, hissing spray, a gurgling brooklet. In moments I was peering into the 
lady痴 courtyard from behind a dripping wall. With no sign of watchers and only 
the one servant, the situation was as good as I could expect. And so, prepared 
for every reaction from tears to knife throwing, I stepped out from my hiding 
place, went down on one knee, bent my head, and cleared my throat. 添our 
Highness, I beg a word with you.・ 
The serving woman jumped to her feet. 展ho are you? How did you get in here?・ 
展ays lead both in and out of any maze,・I said. 的 bring an urgent, private 
message from the lady痴 foreign friend.・The 吐oreign friend・was indeed my own 
self, the designation Lydia had given me when we were working to save Aleksander 
from the Khelid and their demons. 
Oddly enough, my words elicited a sharp in breath, not from Lydia, whose only 
reaction was a perfect, fragile stillness, but rather from the veiled serving 
woman, who quickly bent down to confer with her mistress. I did not spy on what 
was said, and I remained about twenty paces away, hoping to seem less 
threatening. As the serving woman retreated and settled herself at a discreet 
distance a quarter of the way around the pool, the Princess said, 鼎ome.・ 
I stood up again and moved a few steps closer. 溺ay I speak freely, my lady?・ I 
said softly. 
典he answer depends on what news you bring,・she said, meeting my gaze. The fire 
in her great green eyes told me that her fragility was but an illusion. This 
woman was the Empress-in-waiting that I knew, Aleksander痴 worthy sparring 
partner. 溺y waiting woman will signal us if anyone intrudes. But be warned. I do 
carry a knife.・ 
I crouched down beside her, speaking low so that no one could have heard us, 
save perhaps the brown and white hawk that now sat on an almond tree beside the 
pool. 滴e lives, madam.・ 
鄭nd you think I care about the despicable, rock-headed tyrant?・Only one who 
understood Lydia痴 temper and her passion for her husband would have recognized 
the moment痴 true emotion葉he shallow breath exhaled, the quick swallow, the book 
tossed aside by fingers no longer clenched. 
的ndeed, madam, I believe we yet share that particular affliction, although once 
I give you his message, your feelings may rightly change.・I hated what the 
Prince had asked of me. 
She hunched her shoulders under her capacious white shawl as if the day had 
grown bitter. 典hen perhaps you had best get on with it, lest I be tempted to 
think his sending you, of all messengers, is one of his usual sneaking ploys to 
regain my favor. How many exiled wives are brought messages by one that rumor 
names a god?・ 
鄭h, my lady濫 
泥id you know that Edik fears that rumor more than anything? That a winged spirit 
favors his rival?・ 
I could allow no such distractions. No matter my own sympathies, I had to give 
her Aleksander痴 words just as he had said them. And then I would have to leave 
her without any word or gesture of my own that might dilute their cruelty. He 
had made me swear it, knowing that I disagreed with him on the matter. And so 
instead of telling her how he had clung to thoughts of her in his pain and how 
desperately he needed to know she was safe before he could embark on this 
dangerous venture, I stared at the expanding fish rings on the pool and reminded 
her that Denischkar heged tradition gave Aleksander the prerogative to take a 
new wife if the first was barren. As the terms of the marriage agreement drawn 
up between their houses stated that Lydia would submit to Denischkar custom, 
Aleksander could also command Lydia to do his will in every matter. Therefore 
her husband was requiring her to petition the Emperor publicly for a dissolution 
of marriage. 滴e regrets the necessity to force you to this,・I said. 釘ut he will 
not have his new wife be second to a woman who cannot be trusted to defend his 
interests.・ 
泥oes the ass think I will believe that he found a new woman willing to put up 
with him?・ 
滴e insists that you believe it, madam. He says that he has no more time for 
childish games with you. If you did not believe him in the spring when he 
banished you from his house and his bed, then you had best come to your senses.・ 

Lydia痴 pale cheeks flushed, as if the sun were rising there instead of in the 
east. 鄭nd if I refuse to do his bidding and step aside?・ 
鏑ord Aleksander will send the petition to the Emperor and the Council of Twenty 
himself, along with notice of the breach of the marriage agreement between his 
father and yours. Your father will be disgraced by your disobedience to his 
sworn word.・ 
摘dik will laugh at him and burn his petition. What does he care for Aleksander痴 
wishes? And why would my father care, for that matter? No one would hold him 
accountable for me.・ 
溺y lord cares nothing for Prince Edik. But he requires the matter to be made 
clear to others in the imperial court,・I said, 都o that both his supporters and 
his enemies will see that he is committed to the succession. He prefers you 
handle this unpleasant task by your own doing, as he has no wish to ruin your 
father and brothers whose support he would like to retain. But you are in his 
way, and he will have you removed.・ 
The waiting woman痴 hidden eyes seemed to be fastened upon her own book, but 
Lydia痴 slight gesture had the servant up and hurrying to her side. 
Lydia glanced up at me and said with remarkable coolness, 禅ell me one thing, 
Seyonne, is his leg healed?・ 
Startled by the change of subject, I saw no reason to answer other than 
honestly. 鉄traight and whole, madam. He has thrown out his last crutch. I saw 
him running for the first time just yesterday.・A few steps only, but a small 
triumph. A bitter triumph. 
展ell, you may tell the lord of kayeets and scorpions and shengars that he may 
run off a cliff on his repaired leg, and take this 創ew wife・with him. As you 
will see, I have no intention of stepping aside for anyone.・The Derzhi Princess 
gave her hand to the serving woman, who helped her stand, allowing the billowing 
white shawl to fall to the sides. And then did the world lurch off into an 
entirely new direction. Aleksander痴 wife was most assuredly, most obviously, and 
most immediately not barren. 
徹h, my lady・my dear lady・ This was as far as I could get for several moments. 
泥amn, damn, damn all cursed men・ All of a sudden Lydia was fumbling at her gown. 
Her efforts were fruitless, and the servant had to produce a kerchief for the 
Princess to dab her eyes. 套 and damn this vile condition that makes one into a 
child again. You will not tell him there were tears, Seyonne. They are not for 
him, anyway, but only a result of this same malady that makes my feet like those 
of chastou and my skin like a grinding stone.・ 
Indeed her proud demeanor was not diminished by her tears, though she had every 
right and reason to weep. I could not imagine the strain of her position. 
Knowing that the least whisper of the child to Edik would see both her and the 
babe dead. Hearing nothing of Aleksander in the months since he lay so ill in 
Drafa, save that the Emperor痴 men were scouring the Empire, vowing to see him 
dead in the most dreadful ways. Completely uncertain of the future, save that 
the danger would be worse with every passing day. 
鏑ady, if we had known・ No, I couldn稚 tell her. Not yet. I could not unsay what I 
had sworn to say, though all was made irrelevant by the truth. Lydia could not 
appear before the Emperor to dissolve the marriage, not for something more than 
two months, but assuredly less than three. And even then, an infant was much 
more difficult to hide than a pregnant belly, unless you sent the babe away, as 
my child had been sent away. 展e must get you out of Zhagad, Your Highness. You 
and the child are in grave danger.・ 
鄭nd where would I go? To my husband, who has made his position with regard to me 
so clear? I think not. The mere fact that he was wrong will not remedy what he痴 
said. So where else is there to go? I am not the most useful of women to be put 
in a cottage somewhere to fend for myself. Though clever enough, no doubt, the 
learning might be difficult for the child, and I will not risk that. No, I think 
that behind my father痴 walls is as good as I can do.・ 
哲o, my lady. You must believe me. You and your child are safe nowhere in this 
Empire; you are wise enough in the ways of the world to understand that, and 
soon the danger will increase a hundredfold. If you wish this child to survive, 
then you must go with me, or prepare to remain here while the babe is hidden 
elsewhere.・ 
的値l not be separated from my child.・ 
的 thought not. And so we must find you a refuge, the sooner, the better. I know 
a place濫 
的s he there?・ 
添es, for the moment. But many others live there as well.・I was talking to her 
back now. 哲either the journey nor the destination will be comfortable. It痴 a 
poor place, but the best I can offer.・ 
的f the cursed Prince can live there, so can I. When do we go?・As always, she 
took my breath away. 
I glanced up at the brown and white bird soaring across the tiled roof. 的 need 
to discuss this with a companion. Can you ride at present, my lady?・ 
釘y choice, no, but by necessity, yes. Not fast.・ 
展e値l leave at dusk. I need to make arrangements for an extra horse and water, 
then I値l come back for you. You壇 best not be seen riding through the streets, so 
you値l need to walk as far as the south gates. But how we池e to get you through 
them, I don稚濫 
的値l get her through the gates.・The serving woman spoke with startling authority. 
鉄he値l be safer with me. We値l meet you outside the south gates at dusk, ready for 
hard traveling. I will be accompanying the lady, so bring transport for me as 
well.・ 
溺adam?・I addressed Lydia, though some elusive element in the veiled woman痴 
speech held my attention on the servant rather than the mistress. 
鄭s she said,・said the Princess. 
添ou must not be recognized,・I said. 典his will be very dangerous. You should 
wait濫 
的 can take care of it,・said the veiled woman. 鼎an you still trust no one but 
yourself, cocky boy?・Now I knew what had teased at my ear. Her accent was 
Ezzarian・and she was laughing at me. 
I shook my head in disbelief. 鼎atrin?・ 
・Tienoch havedd, Warden. Greetings of my heart, my first and most prized 
pupil.・My friend and mentor lowered her veil, held out her arms, and drew me 
into a fierce embrace. 
CHAPTER 25
Catrin, a member of the Ezzarian Council that administered the demon war, 
stepped outside the boundaries of Ezzaria only in the rarest instance. But I 
could not stay in the garden long enough to find out why she happened to be 
playing waiting woman to the banished Princess of the Derzhi. Considering that 
the last time I had seen her, she had been consenting to my execution, the story 
would likely take more than a moment痴 telling. And considering the words this 
normally reserved woman whispered as she clasped me to her breast, I wasn稚 sure 
I should be in any hurry to hear her tale. 滴oly Valdis give you strength, 
Seyonne.・ 
I returned her embrace stiffly, unsure of what it meant, unsure of my feelings 
about a friend who had left me to die. But I had to postpone any exploration of 
Catrin痴 heart or mine. 
Danger stalked the Princess even within the Marag house, so the women reported. 
The Emperor had sent his own man to reside with the Marag to intercept 殿ny who 
might harass or threaten the noble, distraught lady wife・of his 杜urderous 
cousin.・Lydia spent most of each day in seclusion, walking and sitting in the 
garden only in the earliest morning when no one was about. Only her father, 
brother, and two loyal servants knew of the coming child・and my mentor Catrin. 
Leaving the women with a sufficiency of warnings, I slipped back into the garden 
and transformed. Blaise and I returned to our alley outside the walls, and I 
told him what had come about. 展e need to get the Princess to Taine Keddar,・ I 
said. 摘very moment she remains in Derzhi hands, she痴 in mortal danger. She has 
nowhere else to go.・ 
Blaise sat against the alley wall, his face in sunlight, the rest of his body in 
shadow as the sun crept higher over Zhagad. 鄭re you trying to get us all killed? 
You and your royal friends are like a plaguey corpse様ike to draw all sorts of 
vermin after you. No, the lady cannot stay at Taine Keddar. But迫he raised his 
hand to quiet my protest欄there is another settlement. I値l have to ask 
permission, but I don稚 think they値l refuse me. It痴 a better place to birth a 
child and at least as safe.・He pulled a biscuit out of his pocket and eyed its 
unappetizing gray color. 典hough safety and comfort are not in great supply 
anywhere at present.・ 
We spent the rest of the day acquiring two more horses. We had nowhere near 
enough money with us for this unexpected expense, and no man who valued his skin 
would consider stealing horses in Zhagad, so the acquisition was a matter of 
great delicacy, involving strong drink, a game of ulyat, and a bit of 
enchantment. Once we had the horses, we acquired extra waterskins, along with 
provisions for a two-day journey and an emergency childbirth. Remembering Vanko痴 
dead infant, I could not shake the imagining of Lydia痴 being brought to term 
before-time on a journey in the desert. 
In late afternoon Blaise flew back into the city to watch over the two women as 
they made their way through the streets. My changing was too slow to be of much 
use in an emergency. He would fetch me only if I was needed. I sat on a stone 
wall outside the gates, twisting the horses・tethers about one sweaty hand and 
snapping the dry twigs off a thorn tree with the other. I hated waiting. 
Mounted guards bulled through the teeming crowds, raising more memories of the 
trouble at Karn辿egeth. Slaves lit the torches at the fortresslike gates. When a 
flood of poorly dressed men and women spilled out from the cavernous 
opening耀ervants and laborers of too little use to be housed in a noble痴 palace, 
and not permitted to stay within the city overnight悠 sat up, alert. Among the 
coarse and weary crowd were two veiled women in brown robes, plodding and 
pushing a small barrow piled with baskets. 
I was ready to leave my post and join the two women when a brown-and-white bird 
swooped low over a rangy, bearded man shouldering his way through the crowd. A 
dark blue cloak hid his hands and his dress, the cloak痴 hood shadowing his face. 
He was only a few steps from Lydia痴 back. With a harsh cry the bird soared up 
and circled over my head, then dipped over the man again. He didn稚 need to tell 
me twice. I dropped down from the wall, wrapped the horses・tethers about the 
thorn tree, and slipped into the crowd. 
I purposefully averted my face as Catrin and Lydia passed by me. The 
blue-cloaked man edged closer to their backs as they moved slowly down the road, 
Catrin craning her neck looking for me. I shoved my way through the stream of 
people until I was just behind him. He reached toward the veiled Princess. 
摘xcuse me, sir,・I said, grabbing his outstretched arm and drawing him close, 
where he could feel my dagger poking under his ribs. 的 think we need to have a 
word in private.・ 
The man muttered a curse and tried to wrestle away. Growling, I pricked him 
harder and nudged him toward the roadside. If I could get him into the darkening 
lanes of the outer city, I could whack him on the head until we were well away. 
But he would not cooperate, and luck was against him. One of the mounted Derzhi 
rode within ten paces of us. My prisoner snarled and raised his arm. 添our hon濫 I 
rammed my knife upward, silencing his betrayal. Before he could fall, I sheathed 
my knife and grabbed him with both arms. His head lolling, blood trickling out 
of his mouth, I draped his arm over my shoulder and staggered drunkenly toward 
the side of the road, dragging him away from the alerted Derzhi. Careful. Not 
too fast. I maneuvered the body toward the spot where I壇 left the horses, and 
then draped him headfirst over the wall, as if he were vomiting. Snatching the 
reins from the thornbush and keeping myself out of sight between the beasts, I 
quickly distanced myself from the dead man. 
The crowd began to thin as people drifted off into the dim, smoky maze of tents 
and shanties. Only a few wagons were left to push on down the desert road along 
with a handful of mounted travelers, a shepherd with a small flock of goats, and 
a tinker痴 caravan. Blaise was now walking just ahead of me, beside the caravan. 
Some twenty or thirty paces ahead of him were the two brown-robed backs, 
hesitating as the other travelers passed. 
I shoved past the goatherd and his flock just as the first alarm was raised 
inside the walls of the city. Whether or not they were after Lydia, the alerted 
guards would find the dead man in moments. 鉄hifter!・I called quietly, not 
wanting to bandy names about. Blaise whirled around. 展e壇 best lift our feet!・ 
Blaise grabbed the horses while I went after the women. I touched Catrin痴 arm, 
just as her bewildered eyes settled on me. Together we drew Lydia out of the 
traffic. 鼎atrin, my lady Princess, this is our guide,・I said as Blaise caught up 
to us with the horses. 展e must be quick.・ 
I made a step with my hands, and with Blaise and Catrin helping to lift and 
balance her, we hoisted Lydia smoothly onto her mount. Blaise boosted Catrin up 
easily, and then the outlaw flung himself into the saddle and led us into the 
darkness. 哲ot too fast,・I said, though the rising clamor from the direction of 
the gates demanded that we run. We spurred the horses to a gentle walk as we 
passed the tinker痴 caravan. A horn sounded from the walls. Men were shouting預 
loud warning yell, likely the dead man being discovered. 
Blaise痴 power swelled into life, his enchantments as visible to me in that 
darkening night as the rising moon. Though our steps were deliberate, the 
smudged lights of torches and lanterns dwindled quickly into pinpoints of 
yellow, sprinkled among the sharp-edged stars. We rode without conversation for 
well over an hour, our ears and thoughts fixed on the road behind us, Blaise 
first, then the women, myself at the rear. Hooves pounded the hard-packed road, 
but no one came near us. 
About the time the last faint vibrations of pursuit were drowned out by the dull 
urgency of our own mounts, Catrin turned in her saddle. 鉄eyonne, we need to rest 
soon.・ 
哲o,・said the Princess. 的 can keep going.・I nodded to Catrin and rode forward to 
Blaise. 鄭re we well away?・I said. 的t痴 not been long, but I can稚 sense anyone 
behind us anymore.・ 
Blaise痴 eyes were like coal pits in his white face, and sweat beaded his brow. 
鄭nother quarter of an hour,・he said, his voice rasping. 的知 trying to take us 
faster.・ 
鄭 little while longer and we値l be out of danger,・I said, dropping back beside 
the women. 典hen we値l stop and rest for a bit. We値l be able to go easier the rest 
of the way.・ 
The Princess痴 face was scribed with all the ferocity and determination of her 
Derzhi ancestors. As I returned to my trailing position, Catrin slowed, matching 
her horse痴 pace to mine. 滴e痴 the one Fiona told us of,・she said quietly, nodding 
at Blaise. 典he one born・possessed?・ 
添es.・Catrin痴 scarcely suppressed discomfort erased the remembered warmth of her 
greeting. I released the tight hold I had maintained on my demon eyes since 
recognizing her, exposing the blue fire behind their normal black coloring, lest 
somehow she had deluded herself into believing that I壇 not done the deed for 
which she had condemned me. 滴e痴 been demon-joined since birth,・I said, 殿 good 
and honorable man who is a throwback to what our race is meant to be. The 
enchantment you feel from him is saving our lives.・The words came out harsher 
than I intended. 
敵ive me a little time, Seyonne. I知 trying to understand.・She held her reins 
stiffly. After one uneasy glance at my face, she kept her eyes fixed on Lydia痴 
back. 
展hat are you doing in Zhagad?・I asked, ready neither to apologize nor to forgive 
as yet. 
鉄eeking you and Fiona,・she said. 典he only place I knew to start was with Prince 
Aleksander. When I heard the stories of the winged rescuer, I knew you must be 
with him, but, of course, that didn稚 help me find you. So I sought out the 
Princess and used the 素oreign friend・ruse to get in to see her. After speaking 
to her for a little while, learning what kind of woman she is, I believed the 
Prince could not abandon her forever. Sticking close seemed my only hope. They池e 
well suited, aren稚 they?・ 
Catrin had traveled with Aleksander and me on the journey to Parnifour and our 
confrontation with the Lord of Demons. Taking over her grandfather痴 role as my 
mentor, she had worked doggedly to help me prepare for my part in that battle. I 
owed her an open mind at least. 
典heirs is a match designed by the gods,・I said. 
鄭ll this business of chastising her in Zhagad, taking a new wife・he痴 trying to 
protect her.・ 
添es.・ 
We halted soon after this. Lydia was sagging with exhaustion, and for a while I 
was afraid we mightn稚 be able to get her off the horse. 溺onstrous, clumsy 
cow,・she said as Blaise and Catrin helped lower her to the ground beside the 
tarbush fire I had blazing. 的致e won every horse race I致e ever ridden, and now an 
hour痴 plodding has me weak as a new-dropped foal.・ 
展e値l get you something to eat, my lady,・said Catrin, wrapping a cloak about the 
Princess痴 shoulders. 添ou値l feel better after that.・ 
的f I could just have some nazrheel, I壇 be better,・said Lydia. 敵ive me the things 
to make it so I don稚 have to get up again, then you can go off with Seyonne. All 
these months you致e been so anxious to speak with him.・ 
的値l take care of the lady,・said Blaise, looking more himself now we had stopped. 
添ou two go on, if you like.・ 
I stood up and immediately felt three pairs of eyes staring at me. My shirt was 
stiff with the stalker痴 blood. My right hand and wrist were covered with it. I 
hadn稚 even noticed. 
添ou caught my signal, then,・said Blaise, breaking the awkward silence. 的 thought 
the man was up to no good. Are you injured?・ 
的知 fine,・I said. I wasn稚 going to explain myself for protecting them. 鼎atrin, do 
you want to walk or not?・ 
Catrin rose and looked from me to Blaise. The outlaw bowed to the Princess and 
handed her a waterskin to hold. 溺y name is Blaise, madam・ He began to pull 
supplies from a small pack. 
And so Catrin and I were left to walk out the knots in our legs・and those in our 
long friendship. I felt her start to speak several times as we walked away from 
the cheery fire and into the starlit dunes. But she couldn稚 seem to manage it. 
添ou needn稚 be afraid of me,・I said at last. 的知 not looking for revenge, and, 
although I have one living inside me, I am not a demon. Everything Fiona told 
you預bout our history, about the demon world, about the sundering when our 
ancestors split our souls apart擁t痴 all true. But I didn稚 kill Tegyr or濫 
鉄eyonne, Ysanne is dead.・ 
I shook my head as if she had spoken a question instead of an answer. Those 
words did not fit together. I walked on, up a steep-sided mountain of sand that 
pulled at my knees and ankles. 
Catrin trudged doggedly beside me, taking two steps for every one of mine. 鉄he 
was partnering with Hueil, a student of Gryffin痴 who had come along amazingly 
well and passed his testing some three months before. We壇 lost so many others, 
and Ysanne was determined we壇 not lose Hueil, so she would let no other Aife 
weave for him. We don稚 know whether Hueil was taken captive, or injured in the 
combat, or if he would not or could not yield the fight and get out, but Ysanne 
didn稚 close the portal. She held more than three days. Hueil never came back, 
and Ysanne never woke.・ 
My feet kept moving. My blood kept flowing. My lungs kept squeezing air in and 
out. But everything else in the world slowed to a halt. Ysanne. Dead. Up and up 
the towering dune, slogging through cascading sand, unable to speak, unable to 
think of what the words meant, as if the sand were seeping in through my eyes 
and ears and pores, as if it were filling my stomach and my lungs, clogging my 
mind, drowning me. I stumbled to the crest and stared out upon the vastness of 
the desert. Empty. The world was empty. A giant痴 fist squeezed my chest, but I 
could not cry out nor could I weep. The sand robbed me of breath and tears. 
Only after a long while standing in the cold night wind did I become aware of 
Catrin standing beside me, unmindful of the gusts that whipped her dark hair 
about her face. 擢or the first few months after Dasiet Homol, the demons were 
quiet,・she said. 鉄ome of us whispered that perhaps Fiona had been right. Perhaps 
the demons didn稚 need human souls anymore. No one dared speak your name. Ysanne 
would not allow it. She was pursuing corruption with a vengeance, as if to ease 
her own soul of what we had done to you・to justify it. Many began to bridle at 
her harshness. But then, a few months ago, Searchers began sending stories of 
new demon possessions, worse than anything we had seen in years妖readful deeds, 
virulent madness, horrors in line with our worst experience.・ 
Catrin痴 tale forced my paralyzed mind to engage. Demon possession should have 
ended with the move to Kir誰avarrin. That was one reason for opening the gateway・ 
so the rai-kirah could reclaim a semblance of life and not have to send the 
hunters into human souls to harvest what they could of physical sensation and 
memory. Unless・A few of the demons had been left behind in Kir歎agonoth. The mad 
ones. The cruel and vicious Gastai hunters who had held me captive for eight 
months, tormenting my mind and body to the brink of ruin. A few of the other 
rai-kirah had stayed behind to guard the mad ones, until those who passed into 
Kir誰avarrin could discover how to heal their cruel brothers. What if the mad 
Gastai had gotten loose to hunt again? 
Catrin urged me to sit down. Bereft of will, I obeyed her, and she settled 
beside me, pulling her brown cloak tight against the chill. 典he hiatus had given 
us time to bring on a few of the student Wardens faster, and so when the 
messages began to come from the Searchers, we believed we were as ready as we 
could be. But the fighting was terrible. For the first month, the young Wardens 
were forced to withdraw from every conflict. At the same time we began to lose 
Searchers, Comforters, and messengers, more than fifty預lmost everyone we致e sent 
into the world. Then we started losing Wardens, too. Their Aifes said they didn稚 
die.・ 
禅aken captive,・I said numbly. 認allen into the abyss. Gods have mercy・ The 
agonies of my captivity in the pits of the Gastai still haunted my memory. Now 
other Wardens were being forced to endure the horror I had known, but without my 
experience, without the glimmer of truth I had possessed, without the elusive 
hope of escape that Fiona痴 faithful vigil had provided me. 禰ow many lost?・ Dread 
settled on my shoulders like an iron yoke. 
鄭ll of them, Seyonne. Three captive. Two more severely wounded. Two dead. Two 
Aifes dead before Ysanne, one left possessed. Each part is bad enough, but if 
you step back and look on the whole, matters are much worse. As near as I can 
estimate, all of it happened at the same time: the Emperor痴 murder・and the new 
demon assault・the collapse of the Empire・our Searchers dead and the Aifes, and 
the Wardens dead or captive. Do you understand, Seyonne? Ezzaria is in shambles, 
and everything we have feared is coming to pass. We致e lost the demon war.・ 
The demon war lost・Unthinkable. And the Empire・Ezzaria・Ysanne・展hy in the name of 
the gods have you come to me?・I said. 添ou must think this is my doing.・ What 
else could they believe? 
的 cannot ignore that possibility. And, yes, I am afraid of what you致e become.・ 
Catrin put her hand on my chin, pulled my face toward her, and forced me to look 
at her. 釘ut whatever you are, I also believe that the soul I know as Seyonne yet 
lives. You致e not asked me the names of the young Wardens taken captive.・ 
典he names?・I could not imagine what she was thinking. What would it matter? 
滴ueil, Olwydd・and Drych.・ 
泥rych!・The name split the night like a flashing sword. 滴e survived・ By the end 
of the day I had opened the gateway to Kir誰avarrin, the young Warden, my own 
student, had been the only living witness to my deeds. But he had been too 
injured to give testimony, and so my wife, the Queen, had condemned me to die. 
添es.・Catrin痴 dark eyes filled with tears, rare for this woman of determination 
and duty. 擢or days after your escape he lay near death, and insensible for weeks 
more. But when he woke at last, he told me everything about that battle. How you 
warned him about Merryt and saved his life. How you tried so desperately to save 
the others. We thought the demon had corrupted you, made you kill your own 
brother Wardens, and all the time you were trying to save them and us. Oh, 
Verdonne痴 child, Seyonne, you saved us all, and we came near killing you for 
it.・ 
泥id Ysanne know?・The hope flared like a last spark in the ashes. 
Catrin shook her head. 鉄he would not have listened, and Drych would have been 
judged corrupt and shunned or exiled. I advised him to keep silent until the 
time was right. I知 so sorry.・ 
But the right time had never come, and so Ysanne had died believing me her 
enemy, believing that my corruption had unleashed this terror on the world. 
Catrin was unsure of me even yet. What if they were right? 
My friend and mentor took my hands. 展e need you to tell us what to do, Seyonne. 
You and Fiona. Ysanne never named another kafydda, which leaves Fiona as our 
rightful Queen. After Ysanne died, Drych testified before the Council. Some 
believed him. Some didn稚. But we gathered enough support that the others in the 
Council have sent me to find Fiona and bring her home. I took it on myself to 
find you as well.・ 
釘laise can fetch Fiona,・I said, wrapping my arms about myself against the cold. 
鄭nd I値l go for Drych and the others. I won稚 leave them there.・Not in the abyss 
of Kir歎agonoth. But before I could risk that dangerous journey, I had to take 
the other. First to pass through the gateway into Kir誰avarrin and wrestle my 
demon, and then to face the prisoner of Tyrrad Nor and find out what, in the 
name of the gods, I had done. 
CHAPTER 26
We arrived at Taine Keddar in early morning. Though Blaise had worked hard to 
take us the shortest possible route, our frequent stops for Lydia to rest 
prolonged our journey through the night. Blaise, his face lined with fatigue, 
was slumped in the saddle as we crested the last steep rise to the rim of the 
valley. 鄭 thousand paces down that way,・he said, nodding his head down the track 
and clearly reaching deep for the words. 禅wo boulders the size of a house. Off 
to the right is a small track that leads to a cedar grove. Stay there. I値l send 
someone with food.・He waved off our concern at his condition. 祢値l be all right. 
I致e got to get permission to take the lady where she needs to go.・ He didn稚 say 
from whom, but transformed and flew away. 
We dismounted in the cool privacy of the cedar grove, and Catrin rolled up her 
cloak to make a pillow for Lydia, who was so tired her tears flowed freely, 
despite her fiercest efforts to control them. With hard riding, concern for the 
Princess, and fighting off sleep, Catrin and I had found no further time to 
talk. 
In truth, I had been locked in my own thoughts, trying to conjure Ysanne痴 face 
on the day of our wedding, or on the day we knew she was with child, or as we 
exulted in our first victory in demon combat. But all I could envision was her 
expression the last time I had seen her葉he horror and revulsion when she 
recognized demon fire burning in my eyes. 
And so I had abandoned useless grieving and reviewed my actions of the past four 
years. Was I wrong to have brought the rai-kirah out of Kir歎agonoth? Had I put 
the pieces of Ezzarian history together in error? Had my ignorance and pride 
brought ruin to three worlds? And my naive confidence after the siffaru・ 
thinking that somehow I was wise enough or pure enough or strong enough to 
transform a monster when I had no idea of his power・what kind of fool was I? I 
came to no new conclusions, save that I had best stop thinking or I was going to 
paralyze myself with guilt. Whether I had to reverse what I had set in motion or 
merely travel the road until its end, the answers I sought were only to be found 
in Kir誰avarrin. The time had come. 
Half an hour after Blaise left us, young Mattei came trudging up the hill to our 
resting spot bringing a basket of fresh provender, a wineskin, and a stout, 
competent healing woman named Corya. Mattei took our horses to feed and water 
them, while I introduced Corya to the women. 
Corya wasted no time. She shoved some fruit and cheese into my hand and waved me 
away. 徹ff with you now, sir, while I see to this young woman. Though this is not 
the most comfortable of bedchambers, we need to make sure mother and child have 
weathered the journey well.・ 
的 am the daughter of a Derzhi warrior,・said Lydia, her dusty face streaked with 
the white tracks of her tears. 鄭 night痴 journey on a horse cannot harm me or my 
child.・She glared at me accusingly. 添ou値l not let the cursed prince see this 
damnable weeping? You値l say it痴 sand in my eyes or sun glare. Of course, there痴 
no need for me to see him at all. A little rest and I can ride again. Your kind 
friend will take me to this other place, and I won稚 have to see him.・ 
敵racious, woman, if a little salt water is the only result of this adventure, 
then there痴 no man of any race can give you grief,・said the healer. 摘ven a poxy 
Derzhi.・ 
鄭h, you don稚 know my poxy husband! He could give such grief to a glacier, it 
would melt to defend itself. Why is there no Derzhi woman god to repair this 
beastly condition? My husband is a priest of Athos, and he and his god are two 
of a kind, making all of us miserable who live unshielded. And Druya・a bull. 
What use is he?・ 
Corya chuckled and stroked the Princess痴 red hair with her strong hand. 的n Thrid 
some worship a woman god who eats her men. But she痴 done nothing for us mothers, 
either, as she lets the bastards get her planted before she kills them. You 
needn稚 fret, though. It痴 all over soon enough, and we who致e done this before 
will always know how to care for you novices.・Before one could blink, Corya 
spread out a clean blanket, allowed me to delay my departure long enough to help 
shift the Princess onto it, then draped our cloaks from cedar branches to create 
a screen. 溺istress・Catrin is it? Perhaps, as the lady is comfortable with you, 
you would stay and keep her company?・ 
I told the women that I would stay close in case they needed me; then I strolled 
across the slope and climbed up to an outcropping rock where I could sit and 
view the full expanse of the valley while munching on sour plums and goat 
cheese. The steeply angled light carved the rocks and trees into deep relief, 
transforming the grass into velvet and the pools and stream into burnished gold. 
Tiny figures of people and animals moved soundlessly through that remote 
landscape, their identities and emotions and imperfections masked by distance. A 
few hours of such isolation, I thought, away from the unceasing demands of pain 
and grief, love and desperation, and perhaps I could grasp some sort of clarity. 

But the settling peace was soon broken when a kite screamed, diving for its 
breakfast on the rocks just below me, and footsteps crunched on the graveled 
approach to my eyrie. Surprisingly, the one who spoke to my back was not Catrin, 
but Elinor. 釘laise told me what痴 happened,・she said. 典he Prince is with Gorrid 
and Admet in the command tent, working on plans for the raid. If you wish to 
join him to give him the news, I値l stay with the Princess until she can travel 
the rest of the way. My brother will take you and the Prince to visit the lady 
this evening.・ 
典hat may not be necessary,・I said, glancing over my shoulder. 
的 don稚 understand.・ 
的 may not tell Aleksander she痴 here・or any of it. I haven稚 decided.・ 
泥ecided? What right have you to decide such a matter?・So much for our game of 
civility. Her nostrils flared and her voice broke with passion and indignation. 
摘ven a Derzhi deserves to know he has fathered a child before he faces death. 
Have you come to believe what everyone says of you? Only gods play so cruelly 
with people痴 hearts.・ 
Somehow the simple directness of her accusation forced my grief and foreboding 
into painful focus, causing them to erupt like the molten heart of a volcano 
that has found the point of weakness in the mountain痴 rocky cap. 的 am not a 
god!・I shouted, leaping to my feet. 的 make no pretense of it. I am so far out of 
their favor, I don稚 think I can ever find my way back again. Look at me.・I 
thrust my hand into her face. Blood was crusted in the cracks of my skin and 
under the nails. 典here is so much blood on my soul that it leaks out of my very 
skin. I killed a man last night without thinking twice about it, because I 
suspected he was a threat, and I was afraid. I killed seventeen Veshtar at 
Andassar・some of them long after they were any threat to their prisoners・because 
I hated them and what they do. I may be half mad with what I致e done and what I致e 
yet to undertake, but I do know the horror of it and feel it and fear it. I am 
human, Elinor, so don稚 tell me what is cruel and what is not.・ She stood her 
ground, her lovely face tight and hard, affirming my self-judgment, though 
skeptical that I might give fair assessment of cruelty. 
鄭leksander is my friend. I致e had to watch him yield everything of meaning to 
him, to see him learn hard and terrible lessons about the world, lessons that 
you knew by the time you were ten. Yes, he is a better man for the learning, but 
that makes it no easier to see someone you love in such pain. And now, if I tell 
him that this one thing so precious is not lost, then how will he face losing it 
all over again? I have faced that very truth熔n the night I first saw my child in 
your arms and your brother told me of the doom of madness that awaited him. 
Since that day I have done everything in my power to repair this broken world, 
but I知 afraid my deeds have destroyed me and everything I value, so don稚 tell me 
how cruel I am to consider sparing my friend one grief.・ 
I started down the hill, leaving her in possession of the rocks. But I was not 
yet halfway down, when I reversed course and climbed up again, far enough that I 
could see her standing where I壇 left her, the wind tugging at her shabby blue 
gown, her eyes squeezed shut, her graceful, capable hand pressed tightly to her 
mouth. Now I had expended a bit of my rage, I had gained a small part of the 
clarity I sought. Of all things, I should recognize fear. Perhaps saying the 
painful words aloud would ease this dread that was gnawing at her generous 
heart. 
的 will not take Evan away from you, Elinor,・I called up to her. 哲ot ever. My son 
is the only scrap of innocence left in this world, and I would suffer anything 
to keep him safe and loved and ignorant of the terrors that I know. His mother 
is dead. He is yours. Now I致e given you everything I can. Leave me be.・ 
In the end, I decided that I could not hide the truth from Aleksander, no matter 
what the painful consequences. Elinor was right. A man embarking on such a 
course had a right to know the stakes. But I was not going to tell him. He would 
fly into a rage and curse Lydia痴 stubbornness and contrive some way to avoid the 
temptation of seeing her. So, late that afternoon, when the Prince found me 
avoiding sleep in the cool dimness of our hut in the olive grove, and posed the 
expected question, I carefully sidestepped the answer. 的 told her everything, my 
lord, just as you said it. She didn稚 take it well.・ 
泥amn her stubborn heart. What did she do?・ 
添ou needn稚 fear. Her decision is final enough. She痴 already let Edik know her 
position.・I jumped to my feet and herded him up the path toward Blaise痴 tent. 
哲ow you and Farrol are done with your business, Blaise is waiting to take us 
somewhere. I値l explain everything after.・Then my duty would be done, and I would 
take my leave of him. 
Our destination was the second of the two hidden valleys・Taine Horet, Blaise 
called it. The light was failing as Blaise and Aleksander and I paused high upon 
its southern wall and looked down on a broad expanse of grassy meadows centered 
by a small lake. Though rockier and less forested than Taine Keddar, the valley 
was thickly settled. From the number of fires popping up in the dusk, it 
appeared that hundreds of people lived there. Large numbers of sheep and goats 
grazed the pastures, and we could see at least three distinct settlements. 
The largest lay at the western end of the valley. Spread across the rocky 
meadows were wooden outbuildings and animal pens, while the village itself was 
tucked into the shelter of three broad, shallow caves in the cliffs of the 
valley wall. The second settlement lay amid the stands of cedar and olive trees 
in the eastern valley. Smoke rose from a scattering of wooden houses with roofs 
of woven branches. An array of large tents pitched on the northern side of the 
valley, including one expansive tent at the center, composed the third 
settlement. From that central tent flew a banner wholly unknown to me, a dragon 
with a serpent in its mouth. 
禅aine Horet is the less hospitable of the two valleys,・Blaise told us as we rode 
the steep narrow trail. 韮ut also the more remote and difficult to find. I 
explored the region for three days before I flew high enough to discover it. 
They call this ridge 稚he shield wall・and for good reason. You can stand anywhere 
in Taine Keddar and swear that there could be nothing behind the cliffs.・A slow 
grin bathed his tired face. 祢t would have taken you considerably longer to get 
here if you weren稚 with me, even if you could have found the path yourselves.・ 
滴ow long have you had people here?・I said, amazed to see the numbers that made 
their homes in such a place. 
展ell, you see, they are not 僧y・people. They settled here long before I came・ 
very long indeed. That痴 why I ask permission before I enter or bring guests. And 
that痴 why we must dismount and approach respectfully迫Blaise swung his leg over 
his gray痴 back and dropped to the path欄except for you, Lord Aleksander. They 
will expect to see a Derzhi riding. Their customs are as long held as your own.・ 

Mystified, I dismounted and followed him down the steep trail. As we descended 
through a jumble of massive red boulders and stunted pines, Blaise and I in the 
lead, Aleksander behind, we were confronted by three sentries: a brown-bearded 
Manganar bearing a spear, a Suzaini who carried a curved sword and wore a yellow 
haffai, and a gangling Thrid youth, who had his bow drawn, an arrow nocked and 
aimed at my heart. 
敵reetings Therio, Vunaz, and・is this you, L但van? I致e not seen you in half a 
year, lad. I hope you致e had good hunting.・The sight of Blaise softened the 
fierce expressions on the three, but their weapons stayed ready as they peered 
around the outlaw, trying to get a glimpse of who was behind him. 添ou must have 
just come on watch. I was here earlier and told M但ssala I壇 be back with two 
others.・Blaise gestured at me. 典his is my good friend and teacher, an Ezzarian 
who holds his name private as is their custom. We致e brought one for whom you 
have been waiting a very long time. This, my friends, is Lord Aleksander 
Jenyazar Ivaneschi zha Denischkar, Firstborn of Azhakstan.・Blaise stepped aside 
and held his hand out toward Aleksander. At their first glimpse of Aleksander, 
the three wary sentries squared their shoulders, fixed their eyes straight 
ahead, and raised their weapons, not in threat, but in salute. Aleksander and I 
exchanged a quick glance of confusion. 
・Aveddi・/em> said the Suzaini, bowing his head as he spoke. 展e are honored 
beyond telling that this day has come as we stand watch. The old ones will 
rejoice at your coming.・ 
徹ld ones? Aveddi?・I whispered to Blaise, watching Aleksander acknowledge the 
honor done him with a gracious nod and a gesture that clearly invited the 
sentries to resume their watch. 
添ou値l see,・said Blaise, satisfaction at the exchange of courtesies illuminating 
his face. I saw then that part of his tiredness had been apprehension at this 
encounter・whatever it was. He started down the path as before, leading his horse 
ahead of Aleksander. From behind us a powerful voice intoned a chant that 
pierced the evening air, triumphant, rebounding from the shield wall and the 
surrounding cliffs, ・Pas maru se fell marischat, Aveddi di Azhakstan.・ I didn稚 
know the language of the Suzaini singer. His echoes still rang across the valley 
when the Thrid joined in with the same melody, but in his own language・ and then 
the Manganar, also in a dialect unknown to me. Their song might have been drawn 
from the very bones of the earth. 
展hat do they sing?・I whispered to Blaise. 
典hey say, 舛omes our defender from out of the desert, the Aveddi of 
Azhakstan.・The Firstborn. It痴 a chant older than the Empire.・Blaise pointed down 
into the valley. 典hose who live here have no use for the Derzhi Empire, but 
they致e been waiting a very long time for one particular Derzhi. I think their 
wait is over.・ 
Old ones・older than the Empire・the defender from the desert. Gaspar痴 stories・ A 
glimmer of understanding flared, like the first spark struck in the depths of a 
cave. 添ou致e taken a great risk, I think.・ 
Blaise wrinkled his long face in wry humor. 泥on稚 say that! I don稚 know that I 
would ever have brought him here solely on my own judgment. Your faith is what痴 
persuaded me.・ 
I slowed my steps to let Aleksander catch up with us, thinking to tell him what 
the singers had said. 溺y lord, the words濫 
的 know.・He did not look down at me. Rather his gaze roamed the valley as if he 
might see the future written in the fire and shadow. 鼎an you find me some salt? 
In a hurry? If you would・as in Drafa, but three portions.・He glanced at Blaise. 
典hree?・Blaise nodded. 
I remembered Aleksander痴 gift to the old women as we left Drafa, following the 
ancient Derzhi custom for a noble to give salt to those who sustain him. Even 
with so little understanding of the night痴 unexpected ceremony, I suspected that 
his instinct was correct. So I withdrew into the shadows, wrestled myself into 
the form of a falcon, and flew off in search of salt. By the time I returned, 
transformed, and found Aleksander again, he was sitting on the grass with a 
circle of Thrid, deep in a torchlit grove of cedars. 
As I slipped from the shadows to sit behind him, the Prince drained a wooden cup 
and passed it back to an old Thrid. Blaise was sitting between and slightly 
behind Aleksander and the old man, translating for them. The talk was of little 
substance・ceremonial greetings and tracings of lineage・but as I listened and 
observed the old man, I realized that he was someone of great importance. I had 
never seen anyone with so many tattoos. Every mezzit of his dark skin was marked 
with lines and sworls of ink, even his shaven head. The narrow strip of white 
cloth wrapped about his loins, his several bracelets and a wide necklace of 
ivory beads・hundreds of beads・covered more of the marks. Thrid fathers wore a 
tattoo for each of their children, and they hoarded their wealth葉heir legacy for 
their children・in ornaments of prized ivory. This man clearly had many 
children・or perhaps he was a father to many not born of his body. More than two 
hundred years had passed since the people of Thrid had fallen under the yoke of 
the Empire. Was it possible that a Thrid chieftain still lived in exile, here in 
the heart of the desert? 
Wondering, astonished, I almost forgot my errand. But when the old man and 
Aleksander stood up, I quickly retrieved three small bundles from my pocket耀alt 
cadged from Blaise痴 quartermaster and tied into small squares of linen torn from 
his kerchief預nd pressed them into the Prince痴 hand. He snapped his head around 
and nodded at me. In his bleak face was the first inkling of hope I had seen in 
half a year. 
・Na sale vinkaye viterre・/em> he said, opening his hand to the old man. The 
Thrid took the tiny bundle, smiled, and bowed deeply to Aleksander. Salt gives 
life its flavor. 
Aleksander mounted his horse and in the company of Blaise and the old man and at 
least twenty Thrid, he proceeded slowly across the valley toward the sea of 
tents. I followed, staying out of the way, watching as the Thrid bade him 
farewell and a group of young Suzaini came to greet him. The three sturdy 
warriors, wearing striped haffai, long curling mustaches, and beards woven with 
red, white, and orange beads, escorted the Prince to the large tent with the 
unfamiliar banner where waited a powerfully built man of middle age. The man 
himself was unadorned, save for the beads in his elaborately curled beard, but 
three white-robed women stood beside him, each of them wearing such a weight of 
silver that I wondered they could stand. His wives. The three impressive young 
men who had greeted the Prince were most likely this man痴 sons. From the 
deference of the rest of the crowd葉hose who brought us silk cushions, platters 
of dates and sweet cakes, and steaming pots of fragrant tea prostrated 
themselves before our host葉he implications began to sink in. This, too, was a 
man of considerable rank. Was it possible? The Suzaini had been one of the 
earliest conquests of the Empire, more than four hundred years in the past. 
After a century of rebellion and resistance, the warlike Suzaini nobility葉he 
palatines揺ad been exterminated・ so everyone thought. 
Again Blaise served as translator. Aleksander was welcomed to the man痴 tent, 
offered refreshment and smoking pipes filled with aromatic herbs. Two hours and 
thousands of words later, the Suzaini kissed Aleksander on each cheek, bowed, 
and presented him with his own knife. Aleksander offered him the bundle of salt 
and the blessing that completed the gift. 
After all this, it was no surprise when the Suzaini dignitaries escorted 
Aleksander to the village tucked into the western wall of the valley. And I 
could have conjured the image of the white-haired Manganar who stood with a 
hooded falcon perched on his gloved wrist, waiting to greet the Aveddi. The old 
man was straight and broad-shouldered, and his long trousers, full-sleeved, 
knee-length white tunic, and colorful woven belt were exactly those that you 
could see on old tapestries depicting the Manganar tribesmen who had surrendered 
to the imperial conquerors. All of the Manganar men and women who stood in the 
circle of firelight wore this most traditional of garb, and with it the gualar, 
the woven, many-pocketed wool garment that dropped over their heads, family 
identification woven into its colors and patterns. But the broad-shouldered man 
with the white hair, introduced as Yulai, wore a gualar of pure white, the color 
that was the combination of all colors, telling us that Yulai痴 family was the 
combination of all families. The white gualar was the symbol of the kings of 
Manganar. 
I sat on the rocky ground behind Aleksander as he accepted the hospitality of 
nazrheel and spiced apples and listened solemnly as Yulai recounted the story of 
his ancestors・flight from the conquering Empire. Yulai痴 son, a middle-aged man 
introduced as Terlach, sat on the old man痴 right, quietly observing, while a 
weathered, sweet-faced old woman called Magda sat on his left, pouring the tea 
and freely interjecting her additions and corrections into the history. A crowd 
of Manganar men and women sat and stood in a circle around the Prince and old 
Yulai, listening and laughing and making comments of their own. The hour grew 
late. The heat of the fire left me drowsy, and as I examined Yulai痴 falcon, now 
settled on a wooden perch beside the old man痴 place, I wondered what it would be 
like to transform into my falcon痴 shape and try to speak to the bird. Perhaps it 
could tell me what all this meant. 
Just then, a slight disturbance broke out in the ring of listeners to one side 
of the old man. A small child ran into the firelight and threw himself first 
into Magda痴 arms and then onto Yulai. Yulai rubbed his head affectionately and 
asked who let him stay up so late. 溺am said,・chirped the little boy. 鉄ay 組ood 
dreams,・Goda.・Goda・grandfather. 
敵ood dreams, little one,・said Yulai smiling. 哲ow off with you.・ 
Yulai set him on his feet and gave him a little shove, but the child was 
suddenly struck shy by all the people and turned slowly, staring at the ring of 
smiling folk. Evan. My tongue was poised to beckon him, but in the same moment, 
he streaked across the grass toward someone across the ring from me. As Elinor 
gathered him up in her arms, our eyes met, her dark gaze throwing down a 
challenge I could not interpret. Was Evan痴 presence an accident, a taunt, a 
gift? She disappeared into the gathered Manganar, and her posture demanded that 
I follow her and find out. But I didn稚 trust myself. 
From the moment Catrin had told me about the terrible events in Ezzaria, the 
sounds and sensations of ordinary life had begun to dull and fade. Ysanne was 
dead, and to accept that truth would take me no little time. Yet grief had not 
created this distancing; I had grieved for Ysanne years ago, while we lived 
together and grew apart. But all through the day just past, my mind had been 
besieged by visions: of prisons and demons, of the frozen winds of Kir歎agonoth, 
of Gaspar and Fessa bound to the tree, of Sovari hanging on the walls of 
Tanzire, vultures gnawing his entrails・and of the Madonai sitting at his game 
board. The images consumed me, more vivid than the world I walked. And so 
throughout this magical evening, though immersed in events of historic 
dimension, I felt no more a part of them than if I were watching Avrel痴 bees 
buzzing purposefully about their hive. I didn稚 belong here anymore. My duty was 
elsewhere. The only thing that might soften my resolve was my son. I could not 
allow it. Three young Wardens lay in torment, waiting for me to save them. 
I wrenched my eyes back to the fire, and my mind back to the conversation. 套 
received a guest into our house this day, Aveddi,・said the old man, beaming. 鄭s 
is our custom, our guests are treated as our own family, honored and protected 
as our own sons and daughters, fully sharing in our prosperity or our lacks. I 
understand that this visitor is of special concern to you, so I wish to reassure 
you as to my goodwill. You need not fret as you embark upon the course you致e 
chosen.・ 
A puzzled Aleksander nodded politely. 的 thank you, Lord Yulai, but濫 Whatever the 
Prince was going to say was lost in that moment, for Lydia appeared just beyond 
the ring of firelight, leaning on Blaise痴 arm. She stood behind Magda, among the 
women and children of Yulai痴 family. A dark, flowing cloak masked her condition, 
half hidden as she was in the shifting shadows. Her red curls were piled atop 
her head, and her pride adorned her as no ornament of gold or silver could have 
done. But the only color in her face was the rosy reflection of the firelight. 
Aleksander stood up slowly. His remarks were addressed to the Manganar, but his 
words and his eyes were only for Lydia. 鄭gain and beyond all courtesy, I thank 
you, Lord Yulai. I could ask nothing more・nothing more・than your shelter and 
protection for my wife. My only wish has ever been to see her safe, for I love 
her as holy Athos loves the earth and honor her as the stars give deference to 
the moon.・He did not go to the Princess, constrained, perhaps, by lingering 
pride or perhaps only by the delicate ceremony of the night, the cascading 
levels of deference and position and honor, but he held out his hand to her. She 
tipped her head in cool acknowledgment and stayed where she was. Aleksander 
flushed and withdrew his hand, bowing stiffly before fumbling at his pocket to 
pull out the last bundle of salt. 
Old Yulai looked curiously from Aleksander to Lydia, but his wife whispered in 
his ear, and his wrinkled face settled into sympathy. 典he hour grows late, 
Aveddi,・he said. 展e have much to discuss, but it has waited a number of years 
and will wait a few hours more. My house is your own this night. My man Daneel 
will be waiting to show you quarters・if you should need him.・ 
Aleksander forced his gaze away from the Princess and presented the bundle of 
salt to the Manganar, clearing his throat before speaking. To the blessing words 
he added, 的 will be honored to accept your hospitality, King Yulai.・ 
The old king rose and dismissed the assembled friends and dignitaries, and the 
crowd melted quickly into the night. With a last bow to Aleksander and a kiss of 
the hand and a kind embrace for Lydia, Yulai and his wife followed their 
attendants toward the stone houses. Blaise whispered in the Princess痴 ear, then 
came to join me. 的 think we値l have to leave them to sort it out,・he said. 的 told 
her we would wait for a while.・ 
But Lydia would not need our service again that night, nor would Aleksander. The 
Prince bounded across the ring of firelight toward his wife, but stopped short 
before crossing the full span of their separation. Instead, he dropped to his 
knees, bowed his head, and spread his arms. He did not have to wait long for his 
answer. Lydia stepped out of the shadows and laid a hand on his red hair. Then 
she reached for his chin and lifted his face to see the wonder that was waiting 
for him. 
展hen do you plan to go?・said Blaise quietly as I spun on my heel and walked 
briskly toward the pond. 
鄭s soon as you can get me there,・I said. 的 need you to fetch Fiona. Catrin has 
urgent news for her, and I need to speak with her before I go, learn whatever 
she can tell.・ 
的 can稚 do it tonight,・he said. 的知 done for. And I would think it well you had a 
night痴 sleep, too, before such a journey. But in the morning・ 
的n the morning,・I said. 
CHAPTER 27
On the morning Blaise and Catrin and I arrived at Dasiet Homol, the gateway to 
Kir誰avarrin, I was hearing uncomfortable echoes of the Drafa oracles in my head. 
Aleksander had yielded everything, stripped himself bare. His powerlessness had 
indeed transformed itself to strength. Had he also found himself a new kingdom 
in the desert, as Qeb had envisioned, right when he was setting out to bring 
down his own empire? And if the boy痴 seeings proved true, then what of Gaspar痴? 
That was the uncomfortable thought. 
To strike terror into the hearts of those you love is a difficult thing, Gaspar 
had told me. Certainly, Aleksander, Blaise, Catrin, and my acquaintances among 
the outlaws had feared my madness, but they seemed to have come to terms with 
it. My horror of what humans could do to each other did not mean I would 
exterminate them. I intended to stop Nyel痴 games. 
Yet every step toward the line of white pillars that stretched north and south 
across the hills of southern Manganar increased my feeling of separation from 
the world I knew. To give name to the nameless and to stand across the 
fathomless gulf from the light・I couldn稚 decide whether the ache in my gut was 
terror or anticipation・and that was profoundly unsettling. 
展hen did Fiona go to Kir誰avarrin?・asked Catrin, peering through the pairs of 
towering pillars into a dappled evening very different from the brown noonday in 
which we sat waiting for Blaise and Fiona. Behind us the ranks of pillars 
spanned a quarter of a league of dry, rocky grasslands, almost to the southern 
mountains that marked the boundary of Ezzaria. Though we sat near the 
northernmost pair, we could see a mirrored image of the pillars before us, set 
on greener slopes dotted by clumps of trees and ponds that reflected evening 
light. 
I kneaded my scalp, as if my fingers could loosen my thoughts from the dark 
places where they seemed fixed. Almost two days since I had slept, the night 
just past no better than the previous day. Every time I dropped off, I had to 
wake myself again to escape dreams that left me nauseous and shaking. 的 think 
she痴 been there about six weeks this time,・I said. 釘laise first took her through 
a few months ago. He says she planned to stay longer, but took ill after a few 
weeks. The rai-kirah know nothing of human diseases, so she came out to visit a 
healer. A few days at Taine Keddar, and she was ready to go back. Blaise comes 
here every few days and opens the way just in case she wants to come out again.・ 

A herd of dune-runners wandered up the hillside to our left, only to take flight 
when they noticed us, leaping over a dry gully and disappearing over another 
hill. I pulled flatbread and cheese from a cloth bag and laid them out on the 
grass, then stared at them as if I couldn稚 quite remember what they were. for. I 
couldn稚 stomach the thought of food. My skin was buzzing with too little sleep. 
My tongue felt thick and my movements awkward, not quite in my control. 
的s she safe?・ 
鉄he didn稚 tell Blaise much熔nly that she was observing and learning all she could 
about the rai-kirah and how they live. She claims to feel as safe there as 
anywhere in this world. There are no monsters. No fighting.・Only the danger in 
Tyrrad Nor, which seemed to span every world. 
鄭ll these years, I致e worked with Wardens, teaching of portals and walking other 
worlds. To know that I could do so myself・ Catrin痴 initial astonishment at the 
opened gateway had settled into bemused observation. Ezzarians had always lived 
with wonders. 的 would probably be disappointed were I ever to go. It couldn稚 be 
half so strange as all the things I致e imagined. From what we see here, the place 
seems quite ordinary.・ 
的t痴 very much like Ezzaria,・I said as I peeled a small sour orange and laid it 
on the cloth bag beside the bread. 鄭 river the size of the Dursk runs just there 
behind that line of hills, and beyond it a forest of oaks and maples that 
extends all the way to the mountains揺igh, snowcapped peaks like those around 
Capharna and Dael Ezzar. It rains every afternoon in summer. But at night, you 
would know it痴 not our world. The starlight is almost as bright as our full 
moon.・ 
Catrin broke off a piece of bread, but paused before putting it in her mouth. 的 
thought this was to be your first time through this portal.・ 
的t is.・The first time. The important time. The time when everything would 
change. 
She tossed the bread back onto the cloth and laid her hand on my knee. 鉄eyonne, 
you池e trembling. Tell me why you池e so afraid. I told you I壇 not run away.・ 
I pulled away. 的 don稚 have time to explain, Catrin. I need to talk to Fiona and 
get on with this. I知 afraid I致e waited too long already. I need to be with him.・ 

展ith this demon? I thought he was already濫 
的 just need to go.・I didn稚 want to talk about the one who was sitting at his 
gameboard waiting for me. 泥on稚 keep asking.・ 
I knew I ought to tell Catrin about Nyel. She, whose practical wisdom had kept 
me thinking straight in the last two difficult years of my warding, might help 
me make sense of my duties and my future. Yet even at that moment, seeing the 
world on the brink of chaos and believing that it was Nyel痴 doing and somehow 
mine as well, I could not banish the image of the Madonai in his awesome beauty. 
To speak of such a vision or of my hopes and fears would be akin to running a 
knifepoint down my belly and pulling open the skin to expose what lay 
underneath. 
Catrin withdrew her hand. 的 don稚 understand it. How can you be so changed, yet 
still be the man I know?・ 
的 am not the man you knew迫I jumped to my feet and walked to the very brink of 
the gateway, willing Fiona and Blaise to hurry欄and I never will be again.・ 
At last! Blaise was walking down a dusty white road beyond the gateway in 
company with a small, sharp-faced young Ezzarian woman wearing men痴 breeches. 
Her dark straight hair was cut short, and she carried a pack on her narrow 
shoulders. 
溺aster!・Fiona trotted up a short slope and through the pillars, and then took my 
hands, her solid grip telling me all the things she was uncomfortable expressing 
in words. She was very thin, even more so than I remembered, and despite the 
momentary spot of color from her hurry, she was as pale as the pillars 
themselves. 的s this an illusion or is it truly Mistress Catrin?・she said, 
raising her eyebrows and tipping her head toward my mentor. 的 never thought to 
see her in company with such corruption as we two.・ 
Fiona might be awkward with sentiment, but she was not shy of her opinions. She 
had been the plague of my life for more than a year before we began our journey 
in search of my son and demons and truth. Then she had saved me, first by 
keeping open a portal during my months of imprisonment in Kir歎agonoth, and then 
by snatching me out from under Ysanne痴 knife, condemning herself to exile from 
the land where she had thought to be queen. 
鉄he痴 come for you more than me,・I said, forcing a smile and lifting Fiona痴 heavy 
pack while she pulled her arms out of the straps. 添ou only make friends with 
rai-kirah instead of inviting them to move in.・Fiona was the only one I had ever 
been able to joke with about Denas. Perhaps because she wasn稚 afraid. When Fiona 
set her mind to something, even if it was faith in a flawed Warden, she was 
relentless. 
Fiona flopped down beside Catrin, digging a thin leather-bound book and a 
waterskin out of her pack. She took a long pull from the waterskin, coughing a 
little as she wiped her mouth and looked up at Catrin. 展hy are you here, 
Mistress? You致e ever been one to push the boundaries of obedience, so I 
understand, but in such a matter as corruption・after allowing the Queen to bleed 
your friend almost to濫 
典ienoch havedd, Kafydda,・said Catrin, softly. 
適afydda?・Fiona痴 eyes grew wide with disbelief. 的 thought that title ceased to 
have meaning in the same hour the Queen declared that I no longer existed. Or 
have you forgotten?・ 
典he Queen is dead.・ 
While a shocked Fiona listened to a brief version of Catrin痴 tale, I tried to 
keep myself from interrupting them, from shouting at them that nothing mattered 
unless I got to Tyrrad Nor with some semblance of my own mind and was able to 
convince Nyel to stop playing his games. I paced around the fire, the pillars, 
and the women. Savor this time, I told myself. Listen to the birds, feel the 
air. Smell the sweetness of the dry grass. An hour from now, you may detest the 
scent of sage and wild mustard. You may enjoy radishes and bad poetry, ice 
storms and women who pretend weakness to attract men. What would it be like to 
become someone else, to have another痴 preferences and memories indistinguishable 
from my own? How would I reconcile conflicting desires? Do I like music or not? 
Do I run or walk? What is my name? A thousand small battles every hour. 
Blaise sat on the grass watching and listening, his arms around his long legs. 
His patient demeanor was belied by the urgency of a reminder. 展e can稚 take too 
long to decide who痴 going where,・he said softly, the moment that Catrin ended 
her story. 的t痴 only two days until the raid on Syra.・ 
Fiona interrupted him with a fit of coughing, deep spasms that racked her small 
body. 的値l be all right in a few weeks,・she croaked, waving off our concern. 的 
think I致e figured out this illness, along with a few other things.・She drank 
from the waterskin, then looked up at me. 鉄o where are you going first? To 
rescue Drych or to Tyrrad Nor?・ 
I jerked my head toward the gateway. She nodded. 泥o you have time to listen? I致e 
always planned to go with you on this journey, but now・ Her gaze flicked to 
Catrin. 
添ou池e needed at home,・I said, feeling a wave of relief. I didn稚 want anyone to 
go with me. 的知 glad they致e come to their senses so far as to send for you. What 
I need to know is whatever will help me in Tyrrad Nor. I just need to understand 
what I might find there.・ 
填nderstanding悠 don稚 think I can help you with that,・said Fiona. 的 can only tell 
you what I致e seen・ 
For the next two hours, as the sun on our side of the gateway crept high over 
the line of pillars, and the sun on the other side yielded to a moonless night, 
the young Aife recounted her travels in Kir誰avarrin. The rai-kirah had ignored 
her for the most part, seemingly uninterested in humans now they were home. Once 
through the gateway, they had dispersed throughout the land, seeking their 
names, and families, and homes預ll the knowledge and memory that had been ripped 
away along with their physical life when our ancestors decided to split off a 
portion of their souls from their bodies for fear of the prisoner in Tyrrad Nor. 

徹f course, they致e not been able to take up their lives as if they壇 never been 
interrupted,・Fiona said, 澱ut I would find small groups of them walking together, 
laughing, talking, swimming in the lakes or crafting boats for sailing, hunting 
game, feasting, every manner of occupation. Sometimes I would see only their 
forms of light羊adiantly beautiful, just as you described them, Master預nd that 
surprised me, as I thought once they lived in Kir誰avarrin they would shape 
bodies all the time. A few of them would come and travel with me for a day or 
two before going on about their business. One named Kryddon, who said he knew 
you, was especially interested in my studies, as he was trying to do something 
the same葉o understand what had happened to the rai-kirah and why, and to 
determine how they were going to live in the coming years. They池e not recovering 
quite so fast as they expected, but they池e still learning・ 
Learning was the essence of the matter, of course. The rai-kirah would never 
regain a true physical existence. Their own bodies were long dead. Their hope 
had been that by living in the rich and marvelous land of Kir誰avarrin, rather 
than the frozen wastes of Kir歎agonoth, their enchanted bodies could satisfy 
their physical yearnings and reclaim their lost memories. 
適ryddon was very excited that he was close to remembering his name, and even 
more so because he壇 remembered he had a brother named Sirto, and he was off to 
search for him. And he said to tell Denas・you・that Vyx was still wrong about 
fruit and birds. He said you must give them a try when you come and settle the 
argument once and for all.・She grabbed a piece of the peeled orange, popped it 
in her mouth, and looked up at me, awaiting an explanation. 
典hey always argued about food,・I said, impatient at the digression. 適ryddon and 
Vyx・about what would be worth eating if they could taste what it was really 
like. Vyx said that roasting birds would be a waste of time, but that roasted 
fruit would be a delicacy worth savoring. Denas hated it when they talked of 
such things. He detested being so dependent on flesh to tell him the truth of 
the world, and despised himself for craving food and sleep and・everything. He 
would prefer to give up eating altogether.・As ever, it was strange to speak so 
of Denas when he was inside of me listening, when we would soon be one being 
instead of two. 鉄o they池e able to use their senses properly when they shape 
their bodies?・ 
鉄o they say. You致e given them such a gift, Seyonne. They hold you and Denas in 
such honor, you cannot imagine it.・ 
的知 glad things worked out.・Good to know that between Blaise and my son and the 
rai-kirah, something worthwhile had come out of all this, no matter what the 
future brought. 
But Fiona痴 tale was not done. 的 learned all this on my first visit,・she said. 
摘ven then Kryddon mentioned that a few of the rai-kirah had stopped looking for 
their families. Some didn稚 even seem to be interested in finding their names. He 
didn稚 understand it. Names would make them whole, he said, bind their forms of 
light to forms of flesh so they could truly live.・ 
She leaned forward as if to reinforce her telling. 展hen I went back a few weeks 
ago, things had changed a great deal, even in the short time I壇 been away. I 
would walk for days and see no one. Houses sat half built. Fields that had been 
newly planted were growing wild. Few of the rai-kirah that I did see were 
wearing bodies, and even their forms of light seemed less・substantial. Colors 
that had been so vivid now seemed pale. I sought out Kryddon again, and found 
him sitting beside a stream in a meadow, still in his body, but not quite 
holding it together. Parts of him様egs or face or torso謡ould shift into light 
form, but then he would stroke the grass or dip his hand in the stream, and his 
body would be complete again. I asked if he had found his brother, and he said 
he wasn稚 sure. I could scarcely induce him to talk. He had not yet remembered 
his own name, but he was more worried about the other rai-kirah. Most had 
decided that physical bodies were too taxing, he said. Sleeping, that痴 what they 
didn稚 like. He was having a hard time with it himself. They would wake up more 
tired than when they started, therefore many of them had stopped shaping bodies 
to avoid it. But stopping didn稚 seem to help anymore. They were all so tired, 
and some seemed to have disappeared altogether. No one knew where they壇 gone.・ 
滴e痴 using them,・I said. 哲ow they have bodies and sleep, he can touch their 
dreams, too, and being so close to him・when they池e in this state・he wants their 
strength for himself. Somehow he can take it from them.・Fiona looked at me 
oddly, and I realized I was talking to myself. I was finding it difficult to 
concentrate on her tale. 展hat of the prisoner, Fiona? Did they say anything 
about the one in Tyrrad Nor?・ 
She shook her head, having to get through another fit of coughing before she 
could go on. 徹n my first journey, I asked about it,・she said. 徹f course I did. 
No one knew who or what was in the fortress. They weren稚 even sure where the 
place was, except that it was high in the mountains beyond the gamarand wood. 
They wouldn稚 go into the wood. Said they couldn稚 remember anything about it, 
save that it was a holy place, a terrible place, and such things were best left 
undisturbed until they remembered. But you needed to know, so I couldn稚 just 
leave it濫 
添ou went there!・I crouched in front of her, working to keep from grabbing her 
shoulders and shaking the words out faster. The woman in green had bade me go to 
the gamarands. 
Fiona nodded, illness and fatigue dismissed in the excitement of her telling. 
鄭ll during my stay I was trying to find evidence, something to prove or disprove 
what we thought happened.・She spoke to Catrin. 徹ur ancestors lived in both 
worlds. The mosaic taught us that. But for some reason that we don稚 completely 
understand耀omething to do with Tyrrad Nor and a prophecy・they decided that it 
was too dangerous for them to live in Kir誰avarrin any longer. Those who lived 
here葉he builders, we致e called them幼hose to destroy all their works, so that no 
one would remember Kir誰avarrin and try to go back. But from what Seyonne was 
able to tell me, the ones who lived in Kir誰avarrin on the day the magic was done 
just walked away from their towns and villages, left their gardens and fields, 
dropped their tools, left their books open on their tables. I hoped to find some 
of it要illages, artifacts, artwork, something. But I found nothing save bits of 
walls and hearths still standing here and there, until I went into the gamarand 
wood.・ 
She was speaking to me again. 的 explored it for days. The feel of that forest・ I 
can稚 describe it. Such a sad place and so beautiful. No signs that anyone ever 
lived there and no rai-kirah. I was about to give up, when I came on a stone 
tower, covered so thickly with moss and vines I thought at first it was a tree, 
huge and impossibly old. But on looking closer, I found stonework under the 
moss. I致e never felt anything like that stone・warmer than it should have been 
and oddly textured・almost as if it were alive. But there was no door anywhere, 
and I thought I would go mad to get inside. Finally I remembered your vision of 
Vyx pressing himself into the prison wall, and I thought perhaps I had to push 
myself through it. Three days it took me to work out the enchantment. It took 
everything I had and a bit more besides, but with words of opening and passage, 
I eased myself through. Inside the tower, everything was perfectly preserved: 
furnishings, dishes・You must go there yourself. I致e drawn a map・ She tore a page 
out of her journal and gave it to me. 的t痴 where they planned it, Seyonne. They 
sat in a high room in that tower, a room where you can see the peaks of the 
mountains, and they decided what they had to do. They wrote it down on scrolls 
of parchment in a language I can稚 read, but they drew pictures, too, so I could 
guess what they壇 done.・ 
典he split, you mean. Where they planned the split.・ 
哲o. Long before that.・She opened her book to another page and showed me her 
sketches of the drawings she壇 seen. 摘verything was neat and tidy, and the 
scrolls were laid out on a table with a fresh candle beside them, as if ready 
for anyone who got through the door spells to examine them. I didn稚 dare bring 
them out of the tower; think how old they must be. Seyonne, it痴 where they 
planned the prison.・ 
Of course, I recognized what was depicted in the detailed plans. I had walked 
those ramparts in my dreams. I had explored that garden and touched that 
bounding wall in my siffaru. Fiona had copied down the text, too, and like 
Fiona, I was unable to read it. But unlike Fiona, I recognized some of the 
words. Madonai, Kasparian, and Nyel were interspersed throughout the text. 
鼎an you translate this?・asked Fiona, watching me. 
哲o.・I gave it back to her. 鄭nything else?・ 
徹ne more thing,・she said. 典he strangest of all. High on a shelf, dusty and out 
of the way, I found a small wooden box. Inside was a cube of black stone about 
the size of my fist. A word was engraved on it. I壇 not have thought one simple 
word was all that important until I decided to record it with the rest of these 
things. Seyonne, I couldn稚 remember it long enough to ink the pen. I壇 look at 
the stone again and repeat the word in my head, but the moment I took my eyes 
away, it was as if I壇 never seen anything. I tried to copy the word blindly, 
fixing my eyes on the stone, but nothing showed up on the paper. No matter what 
I tried, I could neither speak nor write nor remember it. So you値l have to look 
for yourself to see if you can make any sense of that.・ 
Fiona talked awhile longer・of encounters with the fading rai-kirah, of her 
illness that began on setting foot in Kir誰avarrin and worsened each day that she 
remained, preventing her from any attempt to ascend the massive bulk of the 
mountain beyond the gamarand wood. She had concluded that humans were not meant 
to live in Kir誰avarrin, and I knew it was true. Knew it with certainty. Before 
very long, her narrative trailed off. 添ou池e ready to go, aren稚 you? Halfway 
there already, I think.・ 
The three of them were staring at me as I paced in circles about them, my arms 
wrapped about my gut as if I were cold or injured, or as if I could hold onto my 
soul if I could only get a tight enough grip on my body. 滴e痴 waiting for me,・I 
said. 的 promised him I壇 come back. You need to understand about him. He痴 not 
what we致e thought.・The words sounded feeble. Hurried. Meaningless, without the 
story that went behind them. These three were friends I loved, but they were 
wasting my time. All my dilemmas and uncertainties and speculations had vanished 
like windblown smoke. I needed to go. 
・to stand across the fathomless gulf from the light・the one of darkness・ Oh 
gods, have mercy, what was I doing? 
I stopped my pacing and stepped away from the three of them, and just as if they 
had fallen off the edge of the world, I no longer sensed their presence. Only 
the presence waiting beyond the portal was real葉he portal and the world beyond 
it that loomed larger than the landscape around me. 
鉄eyonne, what痴 wrong?・The voice might have come from the bottom of a well. 
展ho痴 waiting?・ 
溺aybe you should stay awhile. Tell us what痴 happening to you・ 
Beware, fool! This is the moment of danger! Listen to me・With boundless rage, 
this new voice screamed at me inside my head, smashing through the walls of my 
enchantments. 
Yes, danger. Danger from Nyel痴 unknown power. But danger, too, from inside 
myself洋y own corruption. Ezzarian tradition taught that allowing a demon into 
one痴 soul could cause us to lose the demon war. I had done so, and we had lost. 
I could not ignore the possibility that all my newfound certainties were wrong. 
I cannot listen to you, I said. I have important things to do. 
・I must remember・give me the time・we need to know・yield to me・give way. You will 
prevail in the end. This soul is yours and will ever be. Yield. 
I cannot yield, I said. I can稚 take the chance. I needed all of myself for this 
venture. We値l remember what痴 needed, I said. If you question, I値l find the 
answers. I forced Denas silent once again・for the last time, I hoped. 
Only one last thing to say, one matter of importance dredged up from the fading 
remnants of my past life like a gemstone dug out of the sand. 典ell Aleksander I 
didn稚 want to wake him this morning. Tell him・my faith is stronger than ever. I 
believe he will change the world.・ 
鉄eyonne, wait!・ 
鉄top him!・ 
With a sweep of my hand, I batted away their feeble attempts to stay me. 
Instead, I turned away from everything I knew and walked into the land that was 
my true home. 
CHAPTER 28
I stepped past the first pair of pillars. The fury in my head fell quiet, as 
when a storm passes overhead. I braced for the onslaught beyond the eye. 
Nothing. I kept walking. 
Past the second pair. The night was warm and profoundly still. No stirring of 
wind or night bird痴 cry. No creature rustling the grass. No rai-kirah anywhere 
that I could detect. Above me sprawled a dome of stars, an array so brilliant 
that the shadows of the pillars lay across the white dust of the path as 
sharp-edged rectangles. 
When would it begin? With every step between the ranks of white pillars I 
expected it・the fire, the pain, the struggle for control, the horrifying 
certainty of invasion. 
By the time I had traversed the length of the gateway, through the sixty pairs 
of pillars that were the reflection of the ranked columns in the human world, 
the smudge of light that marked the portal was no longer visible behind me. 
Before me, the silent countryside was bathed in starlight. Stands of gigantic 
trees in full leaf stood here and there, absolutely still in the silvered light, 
as if their very growth was suspended for the time. The ponds that lay in the 
hills and meadows might have been breeding pools for stars. 
I stepped past the last pair of pillars. Still nothing. 
I gazed out across the rolling landscape, yet every sense was turned inward. 
What was my name? Seyonne, of course. No hesitation. No confusion. 
How old was I? Thirty-eight. Could that be all? 
Who was my family? Gareth, a gentle man who loved books, a tenyddar, required to 
work the fields of Ezzaria because he had no melydda, slain by a Derzhi sword on 
the day I became a slave. Joelle, a Weaver, the powerful protector of our 
settlement in southwestern Ezzaria, dead of fever when I was twelve. Elen, 
bright and loving elder sister, dead, too, struck down too young as she tried to 
defend our land from the invading Derzhi・ 
Slowly, carefully, I released my breath. Despite the warm night, I shivered as 
would a man afflicted with ague. My palms were dripping傭lood, not sweat as I 
discovered when I unclenched my fists and examined my hands. My own hands. I 
could tell the tale of each scar: the knuckle graze from a slip of my first 
knife, the ragged tear made by a razor-edged dragon wing in a long-ago demon 
combat, the callused ridges about my wrists from slave rings, and now these 
bleeding gouges made by terror・My scars. My tales. My blood. Mine・ 
・yet truly, there was more. 
Beyond the pools and grassy hills, a dense forest stretched before me to the 
horizon. The river beyond the forest was called the Serrhio葉he Bone River傭ecause 
of its white rocks. The mountains beyond the river were called Zethar Aerol, the 
Teeth of the Wind. At one time, this path of crushed white stone beneath my feet 
had led・where? A town? No, more like a village, yet not even that. We hadn稚 
clustered together like humans, but had spread our houses throughout the 
countryside, for we could travel easily庸ly, if we wished葉o find anything or 
anyone we needed. We, the rekkonarre who made our home in this land. Knowledge 
of the world I walked was neither wrenched from reluctant hands nor yielded 
grudgingly to serve a common need. Mine, too, these things. 
Just above the western horizon was a pattern of ten stars, the Harper we had 
called it in my youth溶ot my time of growing in Ezzaria, but seasons spent here. 
I had always been fascinated by the stars, and in the space of five minutes, I 
named fifty of them and located the wanderers: the blue Carab, seen only in 
autumn, and Elemiel, red companion to the sun, showing itself only near sunrise 
and sunset, and Valagora, the brightest object in the sky next to the moon 
itself葉he larger moon that existed here in Kir誰avarrin, my home. I knelt down at 
the edge of the path and scrabbled feverishly in the thick grass until I could 
scrape up a handful of dirt. I squeezed my hand around it and inhaled its rich 
aroma, evoking an inner understanding that told me I was three days・walk from 
home・ and anger rose from my depths and thundered through my veins like the 
spring torrents from off the mountains. Lost for so long in the dark and frozen 
wasteland, deprived of the dome of stars, of this sweet-scented earth・so much 
lost・stolen・ torn away in fire and jasnyr smoke. I had never wanted to believe 
that we were bound to flesh・despicable, cowering, always hungering flesh・ 
I wrenched my thoughts away from this uncomfortable path, emotions that had 
entwined themselves in my blood and bone. What was my name? Seyonne. Who was my 
family? Gareth, Joelle, Elen, Ysanne, who had been Queen, Evan-diargh・ dead, all 
of them dead, save the child who was dead to me for I had given him away・and・No 
further answer came to me. Good. Knowledge is welcome. Nothing more. But I 
hungered for more, like a beggar who arrives at last at the alms gate, only to 
hear the bar falling into place inside the door. 
So, make the best of new knowledge. I needed to plan my course: go to the 
gamarand wood and investigate its mysteries, find the rai-kirah and discover why 
their life was failing, learn anything and everything that might help me 
understand the one I had come here to face. Why was I the only one who could 
free the prisoner in the tower? Why was I so sure that I could moderate Nyel痴 
hatred, when I knew so little of its cause and so little of his power? He could 
not be trusted. What was the nature of his prison葉he wall and the gamarand wood? 
The answers I craved were waiting for me here預nd power, such melydda in this 
land, flowing into me with every breath, every step, through every sense, its 
force building like a dammed-up river・waiting・ 
So, what might I already know of the danger in Tyrrad Nor・I, who remained 
Seyonne, yet knew more than Seyonne? Gingerly, I pushed open the doors of 
remembrance. I knew everything of life in Kir・Vagonoth, of my thousand years of 
bitter exile, but beyond that, from the time before the split, the time here in 
my・yes, my own true life・very little. A few names, a few images unrelated to my 
fundamental questions. We had traveled the ways as Blaise did. We favored 
unleavened bread. Those who lived in the far north raced wind boats that skimmed 
the surface of frozen lakes. A child痴 naming day was in his twelfth year of 
life. No answers. No stores of knowledge about Nyel or the prison or prophecies 
or reasons. What I found were the scraps and castoffs left behind in a herdsmen痴 
camp when the people had long moved on. 
Disconcerting. Perhaps I was still holding back, masking the important things in 
my fear of the demon-joining. Tentatively, carefully, not daring to believe that 
I had passed the moment of greatest danger, I relaxed the internal barriers. 
Silence. Stillness. 
No raging demon. No hidden knowledge of Tyrrad Nor. No answers. Whatever 
remained of Denas was already a part of me. Everything else was lost. I knew 
what Gordain must have felt when he first woke to see the void where his leg had 
once been. I struck out across the hillside through grass as high as my knee and 
down a slope toward one of the pools. My throat felt like sand. I dropped to my 
knees and dipped my hands into the still water, swirls of blood disturbing the 
pure reflection of the stars as I scooped out great handfuls of water and doused 
my fevered head and poured it down my throat. Only as I tasted the flat metallic 
trace of blood in the water did I think of what I was doing・washing my bloody 
hands directly in the pond and drinking the same water・forbidden by Ezzarian law 
for a thousand years lest we come to revel in the taste of blood and filth and 
thus allow a demon into our souls. I yanked my hands out of the pool, and as the 
ripples settled, my face came into view, a dark reflection that blocked out a 
portion of the stars. Nervous, apprehensive, yet driven to discover what I had 
become, I peered into my own eyes, using my Warden痴 sight to look past the blue 
fire and into the darkness beyond. Into the abyss・ 
I started laughing then, wrapping my arms over my head and pressing my forehead 
to the cool grass. The truth was waiting there inside me. Vainly I tried to 
retreat, to force my mind back to the world I had just abandoned, to forge a 
stronger link that might hold me to my purpose. But my own investigations would 
have to wait. Nyel was reaching for me even now, my eyes and thoughts drawn to 
him as a blooming flower bends to face the sun. 
You said you would come back to finish our game. Are you ready? The voice was 
everywhere擁nside, outside, in my mind, in my ears葉he voice of my dreams. 
Of course not, I said, kneeling on the silver-kissed grass, as the tide of 
inevitability swept me onward. Who could ever be ready to game with a god? Not 
I, whose prideful resolve to save the world on my own terms had left me 
vulnerable to his seductions. Whose very strength had played into my enemy痴 
hands. While struggling to bind Denas, I had allowed Nyel to take such a grip on 
my heart and mind and soul that to deny him would tear me asunder. I could no 
more refuse his summons than I could cut off my own hand. 
He laughed, not unkindly. Come, then, and we will talk awhile before we play. 
I folded my arms across my breast and transformed, then flew across the dark and 
silent land to Tyrrad Nor. He was waiting on the ramparts of the night, as I had 
always known he would be. 
CHAPTER 29
泥id you sleep well?・The cool, damp tartness of a fall morning poured through the 
open doors and windows as I walked into the room and Nyel raised his glass to 
me. 
的 appreciate your indulgence of a night without dreams,・I said, selecting a cup 
of fragrant tea from a sideboard laden with every delicacy that one might desire 
for a morning meal. We were in the same room as before葉he high-ceilinged room 
with the tall windows overlooking the garden, the mantelpiece carved in the form 
of man and woman, and the game board set before the cheerful fire・ waiting for 
me. 的 had forgotten what it was like to really sleep.・ 
哲ow you are here, I can converse with you face-to-face. In the meanwhile, I had 
to make my points as best I could. You were so everlasting slow in coming back.・ 

His pique had shown more forcefully at his initial greeting, when my feet had 
touched the ramparts on the previous night. This morning his chiding was more of 
a reminder than a reproach, a positioning, setting the groundwork for our 
relationship. He was feeling more expansive and satisfied on this morning. I was 
here. That痴 what he had wanted all along. 
鉄everal matters needed my attention,・I said. 鄭n inordinate number of problems 
have cropped up everywhere of late.・ 
鄭nd still you lay these problems at my feet.・ 
I watched his deep, clear eyes, so striking in his gray-bearded face. He knew 
very well of my beliefs and my hopes・and my fears・all so foolishly revealed in 
our first encounter. I would have to do better at keeping my counsel. 的 stand 
here drinking your tea. I wear no weapon.・ 
Indeed my own weapons and the grimy clothes I had stripped off the previous 
night had vanished before morning. I had waked in the vast bedchamber to find a 
copper tub of delightfully hot water sitting ready in a patch of sunlight. For 
the first time in months I could enjoy myself by getting thoroughly clean. But 
gnawing disdain for such self-indulgence, as well as impatience to get on with 
whatever my host had in mind for me, spoiled my pleasure and had me out of the 
bath quickly. Laid out on my bed were linen undergarments, dark breeches and 
hose, a silk shirt of forest green, and vest and boots of pale leather as soft 
as a child痴 cheek, even a dark green ribbon to tie back my wet hair. And beside 
the clothes lay a sword and a dagger and a wide leather belt with beautifully 
tooled sheaths for each weapon. The sword was fine預 long, tapering blade of 
gleaming steel, a comfortable and elegant grip of metal rings, suitable for one 
or two hands, and a simple rounded pommel, substantial enough to balance the 
long blade. The guard was slightly curved, and both pommel and guard were chased 
with silver in a pleasing pattern of vines and leaves. The dagger was similar, 
simple in design, perfect in balance and edge. I did not strap them on. To wield 
a weapon of Nyel痴 giving would surely be an act of significance that I could not 
yet fully comprehend. Best to leave them where they lay. And, indeed, who were 
they to be used on? 
Nyel answered that question without my asking. 徹f course, you have no need for 
swords and daggers here. But knowing how you value your training for your human 
enterprises, I thought you might enjoy superior weapons,・he said, taking up a 
plate of bread and sausage and carrying it to a table that sat beside the open 
doors to the garden. His evocation of the word 塗uman・carried only a modest level 
of disgust. 鼎ome now. Eat. Share my hospitality, and then we値l have Kasparian 
come and show you about my fortress. I壇 like to think you値l stay for a while. 
Learn. Listen. And only then decide on your future・and mine. I致e been waiting a 
very long time for you.・ 
填ntil we resolve our differences I have nowhere else to be.・For myself, I was 
not feeling particularly expansive. 滴owever, I would appreciate a quick 
resolution.・ 
轍uick, eh?・Nyel stabbed a knife into a sausage and examined it before taking a 
bite off the end. 鄭nd when you致e done with the lunatic Madonai, you think to go 
back to your human master and serve him again? Be his instrument of war? Save 
him from the consequences of his own human輸h!・He tossed his knife and its savory 
burden onto his plate. 哲ot a good beginning. I told you we would talk first.・ 
I took up a slice of smoked fowl, three oatcakes, and a handful of strawberries 
and joined him at his table. 的値l answer your questions when you answer mine,・ I 
said. 典he only difficulty is choosing which one to ask first. Something about 
three imprisoned Wardens in Kir歎agonoth, or the assassination of an Emperor, or 
perhaps an inquiry related to the homecoming of the rai-kirah, who are not 
finding Kir誰avarrin to be a long-lived solution to their problems. They池e afraid 
to sleep. You do know they致e come back here?・I dived into the food as if I were 
in no hurry for answers. Posturing. We might have been boys strutting our wooden 
weapons before each other. Only his had a steel edge, I feared, while mine was 
but bark and splinters. 
He grimaced and ran a thumb over his knife hilt. 鄭ll right, all right. Fair 
enough.・Though I kept my attention on my breakfast, I felt his old young eyes 
linger on my face for a while before settling to his plate. I experimented to 
make sure I could still breathe after the pressure of his scrutiny. He picked up 
his knife and cut off another bit of his sausage, but toyed with it instead of 
eating. 的 think I used up all my stores of polite conversation a very long time 
ago,・he said gruffly. 展ith so much to say between us, so much to learn, to 
teach, to understand, I find it difficult to speak of the weather謡hich looks to 
be fair until late today熔r the food, which, as you see, is nothing remarkable.・ 
摘verything here is remarkable,・I said, finishing off my unremittingly bland but 
quite adequate meal. 溺y own presence not least of all. Before you do with me as 
you will, I would like to understand the fundamental question. Why am I here?・ 
的 told you before濫 
痘that I alone had the power to set you free. That痴 what you said.・ 
鄭nd it痴 true.・The sausage might have been stuffed with diamonds, for the intense 
attention he was giving it. Subtlety, it seemed, had gone the way of polite 
conversation. 
釘ut that was not and is not the answer to the question,・ I said. 添our aim is not 
to be free. You would never have allowed me to see your hand in the world if 
that was your objective. Somehow you致e caused these horrors, and you致e made them 
live in my mind until I forbid myself to sleep, until I致e begun to see them 
before my eyes every minute of every day. You致e infected me with your own 
madness, so that I can稚 even remember which of the vile deeds were my own, but I 
know that in the past few months, I have done things I would once have 
considered reprehensible.・Elinor had seen it, and Catrin, and Aleksander, and 
they had tried to tell me that I was not the man they knew. 典hree worlds are on 
the brink of chaos,・I said, 殿nd I believe you are responsible. You know I cannot 
and will not share your hatred of humans, and so I could never set you free溶ot 
feeling as you do. I must assume that I知 here for some other reason.・ 
A gust of wind through the open window flapped the long draperies and toppled a 
vase of flowers that sat between us, spilling a puddle of water that raced for 
the edge of the table and dribbled onto the patterned carpet. Nyel picked up the 
flowers and threw them out of the window. 鉄o you will force me to say it before 
you could possibly understand.・He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms 
tightly across his chest. 鏑augh if you will. I want to give you a gift.・ 
I was a very long way from laughter. He looked away quickly, but I had already 
seen the welling tears. Not for the long-dead Madonai. Not for Kir誰avarrin. Not 
for freedom lost or a wasted life. His tears were for me. My bones and blood 
ached with his grief, as if they understood truths that my mind did not. I was 
at a loss, all my anger, fear, and resolution made insignificant in an instant. 
典ell me, Nyel濫 
鉄ince you池e so impatient to know everything and be away from here, we値l get on 
with it,・he interrupted brusquely as he reached for a slab of bread and began 
spreading butter on it. 敵o fetch Kasparian. Straight back from the main doors 
and then down the gray stair into the heart of the castle, and you値l find him in 
his workroom practicing his sword work. Tell him I need his hand. Go on, 
then.・He took a huge bite and waved me off, keeping his eyes on his food. 
I rose, bowed, and left him, more confused than ever. 
The castle was larger than it appeared from the outside and quite beautiful 
throughout. The furnishings were spare and elegant like Nyel himself. The 
staircases were wide and graceful, the rooms large, with high ceilings and tall 
windows to let in light and air. Clerestory windows of colored glass gleamed in 
the morning sun, casting jeweled beams of red and blue and green about the vast 
spaces. Tyrrad Nor was not a fortress built to repel an enemy or punish a 
criminal, but a palace to house a lord. Its rooms were crafted with care and 
comfort in mind, and its defenses were not thick walls and arrow slots, but 
pervasive enchantments. I was not a ghost this time, and though distracted with 
the mysterious emotional interchange just ended, I could feel the thrum of power 
in the air like the charge before a thunderstorm. As a matter of curiosity, 
while I paused and gaped at a lovely sculpture garden that extended as far as I 
could see to right and left, I cast a small enchantment. A soft breeze stirred 
the flowered vines that hung from pillars and trellises, wafting the scent of 
roses and lilacs past my nose. No alarm bells rang at my working sorcery within 
a prison built to contain it. No one came running. No doom fell upon me. 
I walked on through another passage that opened onto a well-stocked library and 
a music room furnished with harps and viols, with gleaming brass horns of every 
size hanging on the walls, and a silver flute laid carefully on a brass music 
stand, not stacked and jammed in boxes and shelves as in the cluttered rooms of 
my palace in Kir歎agonoth, but arranged neatly, ready for use by someone who knew 
what they were. Five broad, red-tiled steps led me downward into a vaulted 
cloister that skirted a fountain court, and just beyond it, I found a wide gray 
stair spiraling downward. The passage seemed to lead down under the castle, so I 
was surprised to find it funneling me toward an arched glare of sunlight. 
Caution aborted further exploration and held me in the shadowed passage, for I 
heard the unmistakable clash of steel預t least three swords beyond the arch. 
Harsh breathing. Muttered curses. A muffled groan. A grunt of triumph. I peered 
around the brick pillar. 
One man sprawled facedown on the fine gravel of a sundrenched courtyard. You 
didn稚 need to see the white ribs exposed by a gruesome wound to know that he was 
dead. Casting grotesque shadows on the whitewashed walls, two other swordsmen 
circled in deadly combat熔ne of them the tall Madonai, Kasparian. A thick-set, 
leather-clad man swung ferociously at Kasparian, only to have his blow aborted 
in shivering power by the Madonai痴 blade. In one smooth motion Kasparian brought 
his heavy sword around swiftly into an upward counter-cut, striking at the 
swordsman痴 weak side before the man could set up an effective guard. Blood 
welled from a gash in the man痴 side. Only because he had staggered off balance 
from the abrupt end of his own forceful attack did he avoid losing an arm to 
Kasparian痴 strike. He recovered quickly and came after the Madonai again, his 
face a mask of dour certainty, not yet ready to yield to sure defeat, leading 
Kasparian into another exchange that left the Madonai bleeding heavily from his 
left arm. 
The two of them were masters of the art. With maneuvers devoid of excess 
movement or posturing, they stepped smoothly from one brutal closure to another, 
until a sweating Kasparian took advantage of his adversary痴 overextended stance 
and swept a cutting blow that came near severing the man痴 thigh. The swordsman 
cried out and toppled to the ground. 
Kasparian kicked the man痴 sword away, turned his back on his fallen opponents葉he 
one already dead and the one quickly bleeding out his life預nd began to wipe the 
blood from his long, wide blade with a gore-smeared cloth. Before I could blink, 
the dying man had pulled out a dagger and, against every possibility, raised it 
high and let it fly toward Kasparian痴 back. Incapable of judging right or wrong 
in the combat, I cried a warning, sure it would come too late, but Kasparian 
swung around and blocked the flying weapon with his half-cleaned sword. The 
dagger glanced off the blade and spun through the sunlight・and vanished before 
it touched the ground, as did the blood-soaked victims. The explosion of power 
almost knocked me off my feet. 
典hey were enchantments,・I said aloud, though it was for my own enlightenment I 
spoke, certainly not his. 鼎reations, like the servants.・ 
Kasparian looked me over and snorted in contempt. 添ou are as blind as you are 
weak.・He went back to his cleaning. 
哲yel bids you come,・I said. 
The big man carefully wiped the crevices beside the guard and sheathed his 
weapon. Another mystery. The blood did not vanish with the corpses. These 
田reations・ were not wholly illusions, then. 滴e痴 taking you out already?・ 
典aking me out?・ 
的t痴 not my place to explain.・He stripped off his bloodstained shirt and threw it 
to the dirt, then doused his head and arms and shoulders with water from a 
spewing fountain set into one wall of the courtyard. When the blood was washed 
from his left arm, only a thin scratch remained of his severe wound. 
的 should think your place would be whatever you please after what you致e done,・ I 
said, even while staring at his arm. How many times over could I have used such 
healing power. 添ou致e given your life to serve濫 
He spun on his heel and grabbed the front of my shirt, pulling me to within a 
hand痴 breadth of his face. 泥o not tell me what I致e given, human spawn!・ he said. 
添ou can have no concept of it容ven now that you have taken on this broken remnant 
of a true being. I never had any use for you before, and now you come here in 
this mockery and I am expected to give way to you. I, a Madonai, his attelle. I 
would trade five thousand lifetimes in this prison for one moment痴 freedom to 
repay your treachery.・ 
禅ake your hand off me,・I commanded, knowing with unexplainable surety that to 
react less severely to Kasparian痴 insolence would be to invite yet another 
danger I was ill prepared to face. 
Droplets of water fell onto his fiery cheeks from his gray-streaked hair, 
rolling down into his mustache and beard. He was a portrait of fury, unless you 
looked close enough to see the pain in his eyes. Nyel痴 gift, whatever it might 
be, was not for him, nor were the old Madonai痴 tears. And I, ignorant of his 
grievance, did not even know enough to say I was sorry. 
He shoved me away and snatched a tan shirt that hung on a peg embedded in the 
wall. With long strides he led me out of the sunny courtyard, throwing the 
garment over his wide shoulders. I know him, I thought, with quick, confusing 
insight, the 的・that is not Seyonne. 
I also noted that, as soon as we walked into the shadowed passageways, the 
sunlit arch behind us was transformed into a very ordinary doorway with a dim 
and cavernous room beyond it. Was the courtyard no more real than the 
combatants? The blood had not vanished, though. 
Nyel was waiting at the game board. 的 told you he would come, old friend. Your 
doubts are proved unworthy.・ 
Kasparian bowed stiffly. 鉄o he has shown willingness to consider your offer?・ He 
had not behaved so formally on my ghostly visit. This tension between the two 
was new. 
Nyel fingered the obsidian king that sat well defended in one corner of the 
board. 的 thought to show him first・one venture・and then explain more fully. How 
can he choose without seeing? You will assist me yet again, good Kasparian?・ 
This question bore so much more than words葉he essence of Kaspanan痴 grievance. I 
was right in the middle of it and had no hint of the reason. 
的 am ever yours to command, my lord.・ 
Nyel nodded graciously, offering Kasparian dignity, if not the substance of 
whatever it was the big Madonai craved. Kasparian pulled a third chair close 
beside the table, facing the fire, as Nyel waved me to the empty seat opposite 
him. 鼎ome, lad. Don稚 be nervous. I知 not going to corrupt you further. Perhaps 
you値l have a new view of matters before we致e done. I am prevented from wielding 
power on my own預 condition of my confinement傭ut I was left one source of 
amusement. As you致e guessed.・ 
泥reams,・I said, lowering myself to the wooden chair opposite Nyel and to the 
right of Kasparian, all speculation as to these undercurrents erased by the 
promise of enlightenment. 添ou can shape dreams.・ 
溺y jailer was intelligent enough to realize that to live a Madonai痴 full 
lifetime without any contact with the world was cruelty far beyond death. And he 
was never cruel・ 
Nyel痴 eyes were so deep and so dark傭lue and black become one rich color葉hat as I 
sought for understanding, I felt myself sinking into their depths, cold and 
clear as blue-black water, engulfing me・The room, the fire, the daylight fell 
away behind me. I had no sense of danger, or perhaps it was that every breath of 
my life was fraught with danger in that hour and this journey was nothing 
different. If I was to learn, then I had to let Nyel show his hand. This was the 
path I had chosen .. .for good or ill, for death or life, Gaspar had said. 
And so I let him take me deeper yet, the icy touch of the dark water on my skin 
pricking my senses awake・ 
・A blast of bitter wind almost tore my fingers from the edge of the cliff. The 
clouds were on top of me, ragged, ripped with the wind and lightning. If it 
began to rain, I would be done for. Slowly, my shoulders on fire, I hoisted 
myself up・one mezzit・two・A bit more and I could risk moving one hand, reaching 
for the stump of twisted pine just beyond the rim. My broken legs dangled in 
useless agony into the chasm・no help there・Every breath was a fiery lance. The 
howling from below me・oh, holy gods, they were waiting for my fall・don稚 look 
down・don稚 listen・The wind blew dirt in my face, wafting the stench from 
below・devouring the last of the light・Another gust・tugging at my dead legs. 
Hurry・Fingernails ripped・a slip・the dirt so loose・spatters of rain・A glimpse 
downward where the howling grew louder・triumphant・The pits・the abyss・pain 
unending・darkness unyielding・forever. The dirt began to crumble beneath my 
hands. The stump of pine shifted farther away. I clawed at the earth. No! Oh, 
holy mother, please don稚 let me fall. I値l go mad in the darkness・/em> 
敵o on, lad・help him. It痴 what you wanted to do instead of coining here.・ The 
urgent voice drew me out of the vision. My hands still trembled, the wind still 
whined, and the howling still had my blood cold, but I could no longer feel the 
loosening edge of the cliff. 鄭nd well you should help, knowing that your own 
people have caused his torment. They sent him to this place. They caused this 
war for fear of me and have resisted the truth all these years, making matters 
worse, sending the poor Gastai back to Kir歎agonoth over and over until they went 
mad from it.・ 
展hat is this place?・I said, my voice shaking with the fear and pain of the 
desperate man as I watched the wind whip the crooked pine. 展hat痴 happening? What 
do I do?・ 
鉄ummon your power. Become his waking shadow. My jailer has bound me to this 
fortress, and so I can only observe and speak and counsel. This boy needs no 
counsel. He needs your hand, your strength, your care. He is on the verge of 
yielding his soul, and you, of all men, know these pitiful creatures that hunger 
for him. Do not condemn him to this perverse joining. Use the power you have 
been given.・ 
I struggled with confusion, half in, half out of the vision. 典his is someone痴 
dream.・ 
鄭 poor prisoner痴 dream. One of your own. You can help him, fight for him, take 
him where he never thought to go. But with caution always. It is so easy to 
break a mind if you reveal too much of yourself. Exactly as you learned in your 
training; those you helped never could know that a battle had been fought in 
their soul.・ 
One of my own預 Warden in the pits of Kir歎agonoth, clinging to his soul, dreaming 
his last dream of light. If I could help him・ 
鉄et loose your power. To save him you must give all of yourself・no holding 
back・no allowing fear to cripple you as you have done in the past・ 
With no more idea what I was doing than a youth pursuing his first love, I 
summoned my melydda・and unleashed the flood. 
My power had been building since the moment I stepped through the pillars of 
Dasiet Homol, and the torrent surged through my body and soul, through limbs and 
loins and heart, such grandeur, such harmony, such glory at my beck that I cried 
out with the awe and joy of it. I was newborn in that moment, a being of power 
who could live in dreams, who could cross the boundaries of worlds with my 
thoughts, who could shape enchantments so glorious as to burst the heart. 
This is but the beginning, lad. You are still bound to earth and flesh, but I 
can set you free. If you but say the word, everything will be yours as was 
ordained from the beginning of time. 
I would hear him. But I had things to do that could not wait. I closed my eyes, 
touched my power, and embraced the Warden痴 fading dream. 
CHAPTER 30
・Take my hand,・I said, stretching out as far as I could manage on the clifftop. 
的 won稚 let you fall. ・Through the murk I could see only his pain-filled eyes and 
the hands that clawed at the crumbling earth. 的t痴 all right. I知 here to help 
you.・Yellow lightning split the growing darkness, and the ground shook with 
thunder as the clouds released the deluge. 展e値l get you out of this.・With one 
more extension, I touched his fingers. A flare of hope in his despair and he 
lunged upward, catching my fingertips just as I clamped my left hand on his wet 
wrist and heaved. 哲ow, hold on tight,・I said, gritting my teeth against the pull 
of his weight. He held・ 
・and I opened my eyes to frigid darkness. 
What expression of words or images can conjure a moment of perfect horror? No 
matter what the mind痴 true voice professes, when you smell and feel, taste and 
see the stuff of your worst nightmare, it is difficult to believe you are not 
living it. Absolute darkness. Bitter cold. The stench of human blood and waste, 
and the acrid residue that torture leaves on unwashed skin. A floor that has no 
more substance than the unyielding midnight enveloping body and soul. For one 
terrible instant I believed that the past year had been but a delusion and that 
I was still captive in the pits of Kir歎agonoth. But then I felt someone beside 
me, sobbing quietly in the darkness. I recognized that anguish: the hopelessness 
of pain that never eased, of feeling reason guttering like the flames of a spent 
candle. 
泥on稚 be afraid,・I whispered, laying one hand on his huddled back and another on 
his arm to keep him from scrambling away in shock. His skin was cold and damp 
with sweat, and he was quivering like a frightened animal. 的致e come to get you 
out.・ 
展ho痴 there? I dreamed・ A trembling hand touched my arm, then recoiled sharply. 
哲o one there. No one. A trick aren稚 you? The devils・trick.・Through the palpable 
darkness, I felt him retreat into himself and begin rocking back and forth葉he 
prisoner痴 comfort and the madman痴. 的 won稚 tell you anything. Do as you will.・ 
Even in this dreadful place, I could smile. I recognized the voice and the 
determination. Drych. 
滴ush, stubborn lad, I知 no trick. Seems you池e not an easy man to kill. Last time 
I saw you, we were in another vile predicament, but we both survived it.・ 
The rocking stopped, and soon I felt the cold hand again, fumbling about my 
shoulder and then my face, until it rested on my left cheekbone, where I wore 
the Derzhi scar. 溺aster・is it you? Oh, gods, please be real・oh, holy gods・ 
的t痴 all right,・I whispered, gathering the trembling Drych into my arms as if I 
could shield him from one more moment of fear and pain if I could but get enough 
of myself around him. 的知 quite real, I think, though some questions remain as to 
how I got here. Can you walk?・ 
哲-not sure.・His teeth chattered so violently he could scarcely speak. The pits 
were buried beneath the surface of Kir歎agonoth, not so bitter as the windy 
landscape above, but carved from ice, nonetheless, with no scrap of softness or 
comfort to ease the brutal cold. 
鏑et痴 get you on your feet.・I draped his arm across my shoulders and hauled him 
up. A quickly muffled cry told me that his injuries were not confined to his 
dreams, but I dared not cast a light to examine him or keep him one moment 
longer in that place. I had no idea of how long I could remain with him on this 
magical journey or what power I might possess to fend off his captors. 
典his way,・I said, steadying him as we walked, using my senses and the memories I 
had inherited from Denas to choose our direction through the stinking 
nothingness, trying to ignore the surety of demons lurking nearby. We climbed a 
short sloping way, and I soon felt a hard surface beneath my feet, rather than 
the formless uncertainty of the pits. 
To walk out of the pits of the Gastai was no easy matter for either the demons 
or their unlucky prisoners. You could wander forever, yet have strayed no more 
than ten paces from where you壇 begun unless you had been told the secrets of the 
ever-changing passages・or happened to be the one who had devised the confusions 
of enchantment that kept the mad ones locked away. And so I had done in my 
thousand-year exile, trying to protect my people from their degenerate brethren悠 
who had made my home in Kir歎agonoth, not I who had been imprisoned here. 
My head came near splitting from the effort of thinking in such ways. How 
stupid, attempting to keep separate all the memories that insisted on jumbling 
themselves together. Though I had given Denas no time to remember his life 
before the split, all his knowledge and experience of this world lay at my beck. 
Become part of me at the moment of our initial joining, a thousand years were 
mine every bit as much as my childhood in Ezzaria or my years of bondage to the 
Derzhi. 
Piercing howls like the cries of the zhaideg, the desert scavenger wolf, broke 
out behind us. Drych faltered, moaning softly and sinking toward the ground, 
trying to shrink into a knot. 禅hey値l not have you,・I whispered, gently forcing 
him up again, trying to move him faster through the dark emptiness as the 
soul-shriveling noise grew close. 祢 swear to you.・ 
A quarter of an hour of hard going and I sensed a solid wall looming in front of 
us. I felt my way along it, searching the brittle edges and rough joinings for 
the exact spot, speaking the finding words until the cold stone gave way beneath 
my hand and we almost fell into a narrow passage. I urged Drych deeper into the 
warren until the hunting cries grew faint again, and we came to the seal of 
power that kept the first door hidden from those confined to the pits. 
鼎lose your eyes. No one can see us here, so I知 going to make a bit of light.・ 
Only a little, lest I sear his eyes, deprived of light for so many months. The 
muted gray gleam illuminated a small, circular chamber hewn from ice and stone. 
Drych leaned against one wall, his head bent almost to his knees, fighting to 
get enough air while taking only the shallowest of breaths. His emaciated body 
was bruised and crusted with filth, blood seeping from deep lacerations on his 
face and back and chest. Claw marks, it appeared. One eye was scarred shut傭urn 
scars預nd he held his left arm clamped tightly to his body. 
禅wo others,・he said between gasps, his good eye squeezed shut. 妊on稚 know where. 
Or even if they池e living. Demons tried to make me tell their names. I might have 
done it; gods forgive me, I don稚 even know.・ 
添ou致e done your best. You致e not yielded your own name, so I would guess you致e 
not yielded anyone else痴, either.・ 
徹lwydd is so young, Master, barely nineteen.・Drych himself was no more than 
twenty-three, though he must be feeling as old as time itself, I knew, after 
half a year in the pits. 的 heard him screaming long ago. Ages ago. Such horrid 
screams.・Tears rolled from his closed eye, streaking his filthy cheek. 的 don稚 
think he could be alive.・ 
Damnable dilemma. The howling, though distant, had not stopped, and I well knew 
the dreadful vengeance the mad demons would inflict on any remaining prisoners. 
Yet, since I could not understand the terms of my presence or the method of my 
departure, I dared not risk vanishing before helping at least one of them out. 
If safety was to be found in Kir歎agonoth預nd despite my swearing, there was no 
assurance of that葉hen I壇 best get Drych to it. 的知 going to take you out of here 
first,・I said. 擢ind you some help. Then I値l try to come back for the others. If 
I can稚 do it, it will be up to you, as soon as you池e able.・ Of course, first I 
had to make sure I remembered how to get anyone out of the pits. 
The chamber appeared to have no doorway save the one we had come in. But I knew 
another opening existed, one that led to a steep stairway and into yet another 
chamber with a portal to the outside world. Concentrate・think・ remember・back to 
the time when you finally realized that the mad ones could no longer be allowed 
to roam free and you shaped this place ・I traced the threads of memory until I 
found the right words, and then, with a surge of melydda, I unmasked the seal, a 
tangle of frosted light set into a frame of ice twice my height. To my dismay I 
found the seal in tatters葉he traces of colored light thin and faded, the 
enchantments weak or broken. Any of the villainous Gastai who had a dram of 
sense remaining would be able to walk right through the door. And where were 
those who should have been maintaining it, the healthy rai-kirah who had 
volunteered to stay behind and guard this passage? Another job to do before I 
left Kir歎agonoth: seal this opening and find someone to guard it. But first 
things first. 
鼎ome on, then. Just a little more and you can rest.・I got Drych up the steps and 
into another chamber, quite like the last, save for a raised black square of 
stone in its exact center. 滴old onto your stomach,・I said, taking firm hold of 
the flagging Warden and getting him onto the black stone. 典his will be a bit 
unsettling.・ 
At my invocation預 demon word that meant 菟roceed迫we were plunged into a 
nauseating blur of whirling gray. I pushed forward ten difficult paces. With the 
eleventh, Drych and I stepped into a snowy wilderness. A blast of frigid wind 
laced with sleet slammed into us, staggering my companion, raking our exposed 
skin, threatening to suck the air from our lungs. 
Kir歎agonoth was the place of our thousand-year exile, a sunless wasteland of 
constant storms, of unending winter, of savagery and despair that we had shaped 
into a semblance of life. We had made beauty even in such a place as this. We 
had survived. With a howl louder than the mad Gastai, the wind tore at my hair 
and my shirt and spit snow into my eyes, but I would neither cover myself nor 
bow before it. Rather I let it scour my face, relishing its brutal power, 
allowing it to feed the pride and anger that threatened to burst the bonds of my 
flesh. We who had survived here were the true beings, yet we had been discarded 
like scraps of putrid meat. How had such a travesty come about? 
溺-m-master・ Drych was clothed only in the ragged remnant of a tunic, and the 
moment痴 exposure to the wind had him shivering uncontrollably, his lips and nose 
quickly taking on the dead white of frostbite. 
What had I thought to do with the man? I was here by virtue of his dream, our 
contact made into flesh by my power and Nyel痴 gift. I had no idea of my limits, 
but logic and instinct told me that they would not encompass taking another 
being of flesh back with me to Kir誰avarrin. That meant I had to find out if any 
rai-kirah survived here besides the mad ones, and if so, to persuade them to 
care for Drych until an Aife could open a portal to let him out. I needed to 
find Vallyne, for her power and my castle would be the last stronghold in 
Kir歎agonoth. No time to consider the discomfort of such a meeting; poor Drych 
was freezing. Shaking off my distractions, I shifted quickly to my winged form. 
鏑et痴 see if we can find a bit of shelter.・ 
As if slammed by the wind, Drych fell back against the wall of ice that housed 
the portal and the gate to the pits and dropped to his knees, his battered mouth 
working without success to form words, and his dark eyes staring at me with such 
awe as if he壇 seen the heavens open up to swallow him. I couldn稚 understand it. 
He had seen me winged in our last battle and had heard the stories of my change 
since he was a beginning student. But when I reached out and said I壇 carry him 
for a while so we didn稚 have to slog through hip-deep snow to find a place to 
hide him, I realized that more had changed than wings. 
I was on fire, or at least had taken on the appearance of it. Golden light 
enveloped my entire body, which seemed still to be my own save for a slight 
increase in bulk and the absence of familiar scars. I could judge these things 
quite well, as I was now naked save for a sword belt of pale leather. Even the 
slave mark on my shoulder had vanished. I touched the left side of my face・ no, 
that one remained. The scaly imprint of falcon and lion on my cheekbone was 
still cold and dead, as was the long, knotted scar on my right side. But the 
other marks were gone, and the rest of me was quite warm, despite the radical 
change in dress. 
I shrugged. 的 must have done something different in my shifting.・But that wasn稚 
it. As I hefted the wretched, speechless Drych in my arms and took flight, I 
considered my shape and tried to slough off the glaring oddities熔r at least 
reshape some clothes傭ut I could not find the pattern. It was as if instead of 
imposing an enchantment, I had removed it, as if I wore my own true form and had 
forgotten the steps needed to modify it. But to investigate such a matter while 
battling the wind was impossible, burdened as I was with the awkward weight of 
the young man, and peering through the murk in search of familiar landmarks. 
First things first. 
I flew above the snowy landscape hunting for the houses built by the strongest 
of the rai-kirah. Though most had been abandoned when we left Kir歎agonoth, they 
should still stand to mark the way. Confusing. I couldn稚 find any of them. At 
last, a broken tower poking up from the snowfields drew me closer to the ground, 
and I discovered ruins buried under ice and snow. Staying low, I followed a path 
that told of long months of progressive war and destruction. Eventually I came 
to the Rudai city, the sprawling shell that we had built in imitation of the 
cities the Gastai saw on their sojourns in the human world. The towers, temples, 
walkways, and houses had stood dark and deserted for uncounted years, and 
remained so謡hat little of them still existed. The city was rubble. I flew 
onward, over the long, low workshop buildings where the Rudai circle had shaped 
everything from chairs to poultry, from gowns to wine to frost-carved roses that 
did everything but grow. All were now gutted and filled with drifted snow. War 
had passed over all of this land. Had anything・anyone survived it? 
Apprehensive, I flew on toward the castle I壇 had built to house both friends and 
enemies庸riends so I could protect them, enemies so I could watch them. One of my 
enemies had been left behind when we abandoned Kir歎agonoth宥ennod, who had tried 
to force the joining with the human・me・and lead the opening of Kir誰avarrin 
himself. He had intended to destroy the Ezzarians and free the prisoner in 
Tyrrad Nor. But I had outmaneuvered him and left him imprisoned in the pits with 
the mad Gastai. 
When I saw and felt and heard a whirlwind of darkness on the horizon where I 
should have seen ice towers piercing the clouds, I thought of the broken door 
seal on the pits. No Gastai could have wreaked such havoc on all we had built 
here. Only a Nevai熔ne of our most powerful circle幼ould have done so. Gennod was 
free. 
A little further and I glimpsed the castle towers above the whirlwind熔ne, two, 
three, at least, still intact. From inside the dark wall of the storm I heard 
the howling din of full-scale demon battle. 的 knew this was too easy,・ I said to 
Drych. 滴old on.・I gathered speed and streaked through the storm, penetrating the 
black wall. In the murk were beasts of every kind, changing shape even as I 
passed, clawing each other, flying, wrestling on the ground, their fur or scales 
or wings whipped by the circling wind. I dodged a dragon痴 blast of fire, barely 
missed having my legs sheared off by razor-edged wings, and then flew high to 
avoid a pair of bearlike creatures that tore at each other with steel claws. 
Three slavering wolves charged again and again at a breached wall where a single 
rai-kirah wearing a human form was trying to keep them back. The defender would 
not last long without help. 
Up and over I flew. Poor Drych whimpered softly as I shot almost straight down 
into the clear eye of the whirlwind. Half of my castle lay in ruins. What 
remained was still marvelously beautiful, its icy facets transforming the fires 
of destruction into jewel-like iridescence. On its highest battlement stood a 
figure of silver light, her radiance extending a shield of power to protect the 
citadel. Her golden hair flew free in the wind, and her white gown might have 
been a creation of swirling snow. As I circled and set my feet on the ice, her 
green eyes widened in wonder and touched me with true fire. 
溺y love,・she said. 徹h, my dearest love, how is this possible?・Surprise and 
disbelief must have shaken her composure. She would never have permitted such 
warmth to show had she been given warning of my coming. Her greeting bore no 
remnant of the fury of our last meeting謡hen she had cursed me yet again for 
abandoning her in favor of duty. We had known my choice would mean losing myself 
in a human soul, and she had sworn never to forgive me. So many years we had 
loved・ 
I wrenched myself away from these disturbing thoughts and emotions, the demon痴 
most private memories・and instantly felt shamed. Somehow in this dreadful place 
where Denas had lived and fought and raged against cruel fate, the true horror 
of what I had done to him for the last year of his existence struck home. I had 
walled him up in a prison of silence. To crush these last whispers would be 
murder, as surely as if I had taken my Warden痴 knife and plunged it into his 
heart. 
And so I put aside my own guilt and discomfort and set free the buried memories 
of Vallyne and unfulfilled love, allowing them to flood over me. I touched her 
face and saw her probing hunger. Oh, gods, a thousand years・But though her gaze 
searched deep for the passion to match hers, hollow memory was all that 
remained. All I had to offer was admiration, respect, and the traces of the 
enchantment she had laid on her captive Warden. I had killed the part of me that 
might respond. She needed to know the truth. 
的 am not the one you think,・I said, unlocking our gaze and crouching down to 
ease Drych to the ground. 哲o matter this aura I happen to have acquired. Or 
rather I am he, as we knew would happen, but I am myself as well. Mostly 
myself.・The only thing more difficult than defining my state of mind in my own 
head, was trying to explain it to anyone else容ven to Vallyne with whom I had 
discussed the implications of human joining for a hundred years. 
Vallyne folded her arms across her breast and bit her lip, smiling in resigned 
amusement. Then she walked around me slowly, examining every aspect of my flesh 
in minute detail. I wondered if the ridiculous rush of blood to my cheeks would 
be as obvious beneath the gold light I wore. Unlike the immodest Derzhi, 
Ezzarians usually kept themselves clothed. 添ou wear the color well,・she said at 
last, 鍍hough your body is not quite so beautiful as the one you・Denas・wore in 
your time here.・Only then did she look me in the eye again, genuine pleasure 
almost hiding the depths of her sadness. 的 am happy to see you, friend Seyonne.・ 

鄭nd I you, Lady,・I said. 的致e come seeking sanctuary for my young friend here, 
and your aid in retrieving two of our brothers who still languish in the pits. 
Will you grant us your favor?・ 
添ou致e no need to ask for whatever I have,・she said, shrugging off painful truth 
and shifting her attention to the dazed Drych. 展elcome, friend of my friend.・She 
crouched down beside the young man and extended her hand. He was staring 
awestruck at a rai-kirah wholly at odds with his training and experience預 being 
of light, color, and beauty that seared the heart, as unlike the monsters who 
had fashioned his torment as the soft breezes of Ezzaria were from the storm 
around us. Remembering my own first glimpse of Vallyne, I guessed he was no 
longer noticing the cold. 的致e already summoned someone who値l get you warmed and 
fed,・Vallyne went on. 的 regret that our hospitality has so sadly lapsed. No 
dancing at all. Quite limited sustenance, and we daren稚 ride out for pleasure. 
No charming, ever-confused guest such as this one迫she nodded her head at me and 
widened her eyes in teasing欄to read for us. And this濫 She waved her hand at the 
wild darkness that spun around the castle. 鉄adly, I might be feeding you in this 
hour, only to leave you starving and frozen again when the time vessel next 
empties itself.・ 
敵ennod let them loose. How was he capable of it?・ 
Vallyne flushed. 的知 afraid those you left here to guard were not such good 
jailers. We thought someone would come back for us, but no one did. And with no 
word of when we might expect it・Have you so soon forgotten the craving, my 
love?・Her voice was scarcely audible above the storm. 展e hungered so. Don稚 blame 
us.・ 
鉄omeone thought to let a few Gastai go hunting.・To feed on a human soul and 
bring back the experiences and sensations to share with those remaining in this 
wasteland. 鄭nd the hunters returned worse than ever.・ 
的ndeed so. Though we don稚 understand why.・ 
泥reams,・I said, thinking aloud, putting the evidence together at last, 
understanding how Nyel had been able to touch the rai-kirah all these thousand 
years. 迭ai-kirah living in Kir歎agonoth cannot dream. But when the Gastai possess 
a human soul, they dream, and those dreams can be changed・touched・by the one in 
the tower, just as my dreams were touched. All these years we Ezzarians have 
believed that we made the demons worse by our combat, but it was never our 
doing. It was his.・ 
滴is? So you致e gone there・ 
的t痴 complicated,・I said, and then took refuge in the problem of the moment. 
敵ennod痴 wearing you down.・ 
展e値l hold. Though I would not refuse a few more warriors were they available. 
You look quite capable.・ 
的致e come here by a means I don稚 quite understand,・I said. 典hat痴 why I知 not sure 
I can get my three young friends out of Kir歎agonoth as yet, and I知 not sure how 
long I can stay濫 An earsplitting screech and a burst of flame drew us to the 
edge of the battlement. The graceful turret of the outermost tower splintered 
under the assault of a monstrous bird, sending great shards of ice whirling into 
the storm. The fragments glinted silver and gold and blue in the firelight, 
dusting towers and windows and the three of us with new frost. 
The bird痴 head and long neck were that of a serpent roughly the diameter of a 
large tree, its body the size of a house, and its small eyes glowed red; only a 
demon of considerable power could shape such a monster. 敵ennod,・Vallyne and I 
said together. 
Two slightly smaller birds with sharp talons and hooked beaks flew out of the 
broken tower. They were certainly more agile than the serpent bird and ferocious 
in their defense, but they stood no chance, as the wingspread of the giant bird 
was so much larger. Even as we watched, one of the smaller birds raked the 
monster痴 back with its claws. The serpent痴 tongue whipped out and caught the 
harrying defender, who disintegrated in a burst of purple fire. The second 
defender shot high into the churning sky, then plummeted toward the serpent 
bird, talons fully extended. The monster痴 wings swept the air with such force as 
to flip the smaller bird upside down, the heavy wings slamming into the helpless 
defender and crumpling its lighter frame. Colored light oozed from the broken 
bird like living blood, beginning to take a humanlike form, but before it could 
reshape itself, the dazed rai-kirah was swept away by the dark whirlwind. 
With a scream of triumph and a flick of its ropelike tongue, the serpent bird 
returned to its assault on the tower, shattering first one and then another 
portion until all that remained of the graceful structure was a glassy mountain 
of blue-gray ice far below us. Then the bird rose into the air, circled lazily 
about the castle, and laid its red serpent痴 eye on Vallyne. 
Freed from the momentary paralysis induced by the duel, I ran across the frosted 
battlement. 鉄omeone will come for you, lad,・I shouted over my shoulder. 滴eal 
well and save your brothers.・And you, glorious Vallyne, live forever! Without 
breaking stride, I leaped up to the merlon and into the churning air, yanking 
the sword from the sheath at my side and spreading my golden wings. Drawing 
melydda from my blood and bone, I summoned file wind to my service and soared 
upward toward the monster. 
CHAPTER 31
A sharp edge bit into my hand, threatening to slice through to bone, and I 
loosened my grip on the hard, angular lump. What inept sword maker would leave 
such a ridge on a sword grip? Even as the stench of burning feathers and seared 
flesh yielded to scents of roses and tea and wet grass, and the harsh screams of 
dying monsters gave way to the hiss of quiet rain, the laceration on my palm 
stung more fiercely預 tether drawing me out of battle and storm. I opened my hand 
and stared. The black warrior・the obsidian game piece. 
的 had more to do,・I said. 典he gateway to the pits・the two other Wardens・ I set 
the piece carefully on the game board, forcing my hand not to tremble洋y quite 
ordinary hand with its familiar scars. My bones ached. My shoulders felt raw; 
the seepage from my throbbing left thigh was surely blood. My right side felt as 
if a spike had been driven inward and upward into my lung. At least I was 
clothed again; nonetheless, I felt vulnerable庸laccid, weak, as if half my blood 
had been drained away. 
添our dreamer must have fallen asleep,・said Nyel from across the game board. 添ou 
cannot remain with him once he sleeps again and begins a new dream.・ 
I could not take my eyes from the patterned game board, for in the trickery of 
light and dark, of pattern and form, I could still catch glimpses of a silver 
brilliance that pierced whipping clouds to give me heart, of long, difficult 
hours of combat in my golden form, slaying the serpent bird just when I had 
begun to fear that I could not. 滴is waking shadow,・I said. 溺ade flesh from his 
dream.・ 
典he vietto is the rarest of enchantments, even among the Madonai. Passed from 
master to attelle if the student痴 power is great enough. If the student痴 heart 
is generous enough. If the student痴 soul is rich enough to weave it with 
wisdom.・ 
的 need to get back to my sword practice.・Kasparian shoved his chair away from 
the table. 添ou致e no need of me anymore.・His heavy footsteps echoed through the 
silent house. The voiceless servants came in and stoked the fire and closed the 
garden doors against the splatter of rain and the rapidly cooling night. Night. 
I had been in Kir歎agonoth an entire day. 
典he vietto. This is how you traveled to the human world,・I said, looking up at 
my companion as the last vision faded. 添ou and your friend Hyrdon, who didn稚 
want to be a god.・ 
Nyel was leaning back in his chair, sipping a glass of wine. 的t took me quite a 
while to realize that I had taken flesh in a true world and was no longer part 
of a dream, that my deeds in that realm were true events, not just a passing 
vision. Who could imagine such a thing? I told myself it was dangerous to 
meddle, foolish to become involved with beings so ephemeral. But I could not 
stay away from the forest people. They lived in beauty, just as we did here, and 
I could not understand how they bore such hardships揺unger, disease, and early 
death遥et remained so in love with living. I tried to care for them, teach them 
whatever I could that might ease their way. As time passed, I decided to choose 
only one of them at a time to be my dreamer. Things get very confusing when you 
touch too many different minds. And indeed you remain somewhat・attached・to the 
person who brings you through. On your recent adventure, for example, you would 
have found it difficult to stray too far from the young man. You felt the bond 
with him, well beyond your shared experience of torment.・ 
True. All true. 展hy did I take on this altered form・the light・the sword? Is that 
part of it? I couldn稚 shape myself the way I wanted.・ 
Nyel rose and walked to the table in the middle of the room where carafes of 
wine and ale stood ready for his choosing. He refilled his glass, filled a 
second one, and brought it to me. A few stray red droplets fell toward the game 
board, vanishing the moment they touched it. 禅his enchantment is of the Madonai, 
not the rekkonarre. With the vietto, the enchanter becomes the physical 
expression of his power. His every other form is but a shadow of this one. And 
so this was your true Madonai form預 warrior痴 form, it seems葉hat tried to show 
itself. It would always be the shape of your greatest strength, though you 
surely could have changed to whatever you wished had you understood how to do 
so. But you are bound to human flesh, and so your transformation was flawed, 
incomplete.・He settled in his chair again and ran a finger along the smooth edge 
of the game board. 乃he pain and weariness you feel now are the cost of your 
human birth, as is the truth that you cannot do this thing of yourself. You 
needed me to guide the enchantment for you・and you needed Kasparian, of course, 
because the one who stole my name also stole my ability to initiate such 
workings or, indeed, to accomplish any save this one.・ 
Another piece slid into place. 添ou can speak in dreams and shape them to your 
design,・I said, 澱ut you can稚 travel through them anymore.・ 
鼎orrect. I was able to follow and observe you in your glory this day. But I 
could not have come to your aid had you needed me. My jailer intended for me 
only to observe.・Amusement glanced across his face along with the echo of his 
grieving. 滴e would not be pleased to know I had learned to shape or speak in 
dreams.・ 
So that was why Kasparian had let himself be imprisoned with Nyel. Without his 
attelle to initiate the enchantment, Nyel would have been without even the small 
amusement his jailer had left him. His jailer・his son, if the god story was 
true. A fitting explanation for his edge of bitterness. 
展hat of Kasparian?・I said. 滴e was allowed to keep his name.・I needed to 
understand about names. 
適asparian was・and is・limited enough that it was not necessary to cripple him. He 
has no power over dreams. Forgive him his faults. He is a good man. Truth is 
often the crudest torment.・ 
I stood and walked away from the game table, sensing I was at the verge of some 
discovery, yet so tired that it might pass without my notice. 的 thank you for 
your gift, Nyel. The young man I rescued was my own attelle. At least he is free 
of torment now. He has hope of getting home and some measure of safety, as do 
the others left there傭oth human and rai-kirah.・Gennod was dead; I could not 
argue with the satisfactory outcome, though I believed Nyel the entire cause of 
the problem. 添ou池e quite confusing me.・ 
Was all of this designed to demonstrate the power of the Madonai? If so, the 
designer had accomplished his goal. Beneath the mantle of weariness and the 
remnants of my intoxication, I could feel both the pulsing enormity of my own 
melydda and the clear and poignant understanding of my lack. I possessed such 
power as I had yearned for throughout my life, but my human hand could wield 
only a portion of it. Was that his objective? Was this growing hunger I felt 
gnawing at my soul a punishment for my ancestors・fault? Truth is often the 
cruelest torment. 
I pushed open the garden door that the servants had closed, allowing a 
wind-borne spray of rain to bathe my face, hoping it might prick my mind awake. 
Nyel came to stand at my shoulder. We were exactly the same height. 
泥id you think this small grace was what I planned to offer?・he said. 泥id you not 
hear what I told you? I致e not brought you here to tantalize you with things you 
cannot have.・ 
What had he said as I fell into his eyes? This is but the beginning, lad・ 添ou 
said I was bound by earth and flesh, but that you could set me free.・The old 
man痴 gaze compelled my attention. 展hat did you mean?・My stomach felt hollow, 
anticipation bordering on terror. 
徹f all the rekkonarre you have the heart and the wisdom to use the vietto. You 
think me mad, and indeed I confess it. I have lived too long. My griefs have 
festered into bitterness and misjudgment. I, too, have done things that I would 
have considered reprehensible in my youth. You致e seen them. But you can make 
matters right again・Is that not everything you have ever wished to do?・He 
grasped my shoulders and forced me to look into his eyes, and with a love I 
could not fathom, they begged me to believe him. 的 wish to free you from the 
cost of your compassion. I can change you, unbind you from all that holds you 
back, allow you to repair these horrors I have done. You will be as you are 
meant to be, and I will die unburdened of my sins. Can you comprehend what I 
offer? I will make you Madonai.・ 
A simple matter, he told me. Because I was newly joined. Because of the power I 
could bring to the working. My mind and soul, the joining of Seyonne and the 
demon, would remain as they were now. Only the nature of my body would change・ 
still flesh and blood and bone, but purged of those elements that hindered my 
easy movement through the portals of dreams, free of the scars that interfered 
with my transformation to a being that would feel neither pain nor weariness, 
cleansed of the frail heritage that prevented full use of my melydda. I would be 
able to touch dreams at my own will and become flesh through them, to fight 
unhindered for those things I believed were good and right, or to teach, as had 
ever been my truest pleasure. 
添ou were not born to watch events from the side, to let others take the lead, to 
lose your strength and die when you have scarcely begun.・ 
Oh yes, and I would live for uncounted ages of the world. An aging warrior in my 
own world, I was but an infant in the span of a Madonai lifetime. 
添ou see the burdens of such a choice. To remain apart庸or you could not allow 
such power to be skewed by trivial concerns or personal feelings. To live so 
long and to be the only one擁ndeed these are difficult, as I can attest. But as 
you grow in your own power, you can do this same for others you find worthy of 
our name. The Madonai race will be rebom in you. The balance of the worlds will 
be restored.・ 
But I would not be human. Nor could I live in the human world again. That had 
been one of the Madonai痴 problems. Humans could not live in Kir誰avarrin; as 
Fiona had seen, they sickened quickly. Nor could Madonai exist for more than a 
short time in the human realm. They had built the first portal between the 
worlds, but could not use it. Only the rekkonarre洋y people fully joined幼ould 
live in both worlds. Only those Madonai who possessed the secret of the vietto, 
who could take on flesh through enchantment and dream, could exist in the human 
world as often as they wished, for as long as their dreamer could stay awake. 
添ou could care for humans, if you judged it wise. Better than you have done thus 
far. Though I cannot mentor you in wisdom or in judgment, I can teach you much 
of power.・Think about it he said. No need to rush. At every step I could choose 
until the last when it was done. 
鼎ome, come,・said Nyel, shutting the garden door, reining in his eagerness so 
tightly that only the slight flush of his cheeks yet spoke of it. 添ou don稚 have 
to decide tonight. You池e tired and wounded傭leeding on my carpet. Go up to your 
bed and I値l send Kasparian to tend your injuries. Tomorrow, we値l talk again.・ 
I walked slowly through the quiet house. Always so quiet. I did not go straight 
to my bedchamber, but walked up and down the corridors and stairs, past 
paintings and statuary, workrooms and kitchens, courtyards and sitting rooms and 
sleeping chambers. I stood on a high balcony and stared at the stars, then 
wandered inside again, in and out of more rooms. I saw none of them. All I could 
see was Drych耀ick, broken, wretched Drych預live. All I heard was the infusion of 
blessed hope in his voice when I had proved myself real. 
Who could imagine such a gift? Melydda unbounded. And freedom庸rom pain and 
filth, from petty, senseless rules, from endless bloodshed and sorrows I could 
not heal. Exactly what I had always wanted葉o make things right. When I wandered 
into my room at last, I did not light the lamps that stood ready, nor did I 
snuff the single candle and fall onto the soft bed. Rather I sat on the bare 
floor in the corner, knees drawn up, my arms wrapped around my legs, and my 
forehead resting on my knees. Only in the hour of my demon-joining had I felt so 
frightened. The prisoner of Tyrrad Nor had offered to make me a god, and I could 
think of no reason to refuse him. 
Kasparian found me there. He brought a bundle of linen strips and a basin of 
water with steam curling out of it. 典he master says you are injured. Let me 
see.・Without touching the candle to the lamp wicks, he set the corner ablaze 
with light. 
的致e no need for your help.・I wanted no company, no intrusion on the chaos of my 
thoughts. 
泥o you think I値l poison you? Cripple you? Take petty vengeance in the guise of 
healing?・ 
哲o.・I was certain of that, just as I was certain he would like to do so. 
展here is your wound?・Whatever his reasons for doing Nyel痴 bidding, they had 
nothing to do with wishing me well. 
禅ell me,・I said, 播id I offend you at some time, or is my only crime that your 
master is offering me what you hunger for and believe you deserve? You know I 
can稚 remember.・As he seemed determined to hover over me whether or not I wished 
it, I stretched out my bleeding leg. 
Kasparian drew his knife and slit my breeches. An ugly gash on my thigh oozed 
blood and the serpent bird痴 sticky black venom. Only now that I saw the wound 
did I realize how wickedly it hurt. The Madonai began to sponge it clean with 
the hot water, and I pressed my back to the wall. 
的 am forbidden to speak of the past,・he said as he worked. 
添ou possess strength of enchantment that I do not. One may chafe at such a 
matter, but it changes nothing.・ 
He reached out and dragged a chair close by my left hand. 敵rab onto this and the 
chest on the other side and hold still. We need to get this poison out, or you値l 
lose all feeling in this leg.・Indeed my toes tingled ominously at the end of my 
throbbing limb. While my bloodless fingers gripped the carved seat of the wooden 
chair and the brass handles of the clothes chest on my right, Kasparian, with 
the skill of a surgeon, used his knife to enlarge the wound and allow the blood 
to wash the black vileness out of it. 
The prospect of a body that could fight without pain was extremely attractive at 
that moment. I needed to think of something else as he blotted, squeezed, and 
swabbed. 的f you could wield this power, Kasparian, shaping dreams and traveling 
through them, what would you do with it?・ 
釘etter for all that I never have such power.・ 
釘ut if you did?・ 
His answer was not at all what I expected. 的 would remove those you brought back 
to this land耀end you and them back to your cursed world預nd I would seal the last 
gate forever.・ 
Not set his master free. Nor himself. Nor wreak the vengeance that I yet 
believed was Nyel痴 true desire. 釘ut the rai-kirah somehow make him stronger,・I 
said, 殿nd clearly he wants me here. I thought you loved him.・ 
He washed the last blood and venom from my leg with uncomfortable vehemence. 添ou 
know nothing of love.・ 
I wondered if he was right. Surety in any matter was a thing of the past. 的 
could use some advice,・I said. 的 don稚 know what to do.・ 
His head remained bent to his work. I could not see his face, but only his long 
dark hair, thick and threaded evenly with iron gray. 添ou should question,・ he 
said softly, winding the clean linen about my thigh along with some enchantment 
that eased the most acute discomfort. 鉄eek answers beyond this house. Love 
speaks with many voices.・He tied off the bandage with a yank that made me wince, 
then gathered up his materials. 
的知 sorry for whatever came between us, Kasparian.・Such antagonism was not 
developed at a distance. 
He shot me a glance of purest hatred. 鉄ave your sentiment. 
You are the most despicable of beings, and I will curse your name until the end 
of time.・ 
At some time I crawled out of my corner and into the bed. Thus do fear and 
mystification often yield to more mundane concerns. The floor was very hard. I 
could easily become spoiled with sleeping in a bed again. 
My dilemma was not resolved by sleep. When sunlight crept through my windows, I 
washed, but in some childish show of truculence, I ignored the fresh shirt 
provided and put back on the bloodstained one of the previous day. I 
contemplated the weapons that were again laid out for me, but turned my back on 
them and went downstairs. Unready to face either of the Madonai, I was relieved 
to find myself breakfasting alone. Though fiercely hungry, I ate lightly, 
forcing myself away from the table and its inexhaustible supplies of meat and 
bread and fruit before anyone else showed up. 
The day was brilliant, the kind of clean-washed morning that can only come after 
a rain. The sunlight and sharp air drew me outdoors, and, my wound already on 
its way to healing, I headed for the path that led up the mountainside. I had 
always sought clarity on mountaintops. But as I crossed the garden, I caught 
sight of the black wall. Kasparian had advised me to seek answers beyond the 
house, and despite his hatred, his recommendations were not carelessly given. 
Could he have been telling me to cross the wall? 
The wall痴 surface was not so damaged as I remembered, only crazed with a network 
of threadlike cracks, like pottery with an imperfect glaze. As when I had come 
there in the siffaru, I laid my palm on the stone, carefully probing the 
enchantment of the wall, hoping to feel its shape and consequence, and so to 
learn of it. Somehow I expected the wall to be cold容nchantments often had that 
effect, as if they drew the substance from the artifact they touched. But the 
black stone was, in fact, quite warm, far warmer than the stone benches that 
stood nearby in the sunny garden. 
I yanked my hand away. I would have sworn the stone had moved・bulged・swelled, 
perhaps, around my fingers. At the same time I was stricken with such riotous 
emotion that I threw my head back and laughed even as tears streamed from my 
eyes and terror burst from my skin in acrid sweat. A fearful thing, this wall. A 
wondrous thing. 
I tried to clear my mind before I touched it again, but to no avail. As I 
brushed my hand along its flawed surface, faces came alive in my mind, and with 
them the continuing barrage of sentiment: a woman with startling blue eyes, a 
man with a bald head that shone like polished leather, a heavy-browed man who 
carried a giant bow and laughed until the earth rumbled, a round, pink-cheeked 
young woman of serious mind, a fair-haired young man熔h, gods, I could not 
remember his name, but in some long-ago time beyond the barriers of memory, he 
had been my dearest friend in all the world. More of them・ten, eleven・the 
twelfth place unfilled・No. I was wrong. One more face appeared預 wry, narrow face 
with a well-trimmed beard, who grinned at me over his shoulder, then vanished in 
a blaze of blue and purple and swirling gray green. Vyx. Though every face was 
familiar, he was the only one of them I could name, the only one who had been 
with me in exile in Kir歎agonoth. Twelve places・Vyx had always intended to come 
back here. His choice had not been a whim of the moment. Were the others the 
same, friends of mine who had given everything to keep this wall secure? Damn 
your stubborn pride for destroying any chance to remember more. You should know 
these people. 
I walked in the sunlight beside the wall, dragging my hand along it, fumbling in 
the many-roomed house of memory where such friends should have been safely 
tucked away. Halfway around the garden, I stopped abruptly. A single, deep crack 
split the black surface from ground to top. Though ugly and gaping, the crack 
had not yet broken completely through to the outside. My finger traced the 
jagged split. Was someone else waiting to come and fill it? I feared not葉welve 
seemed 途ight・somehow, complete・and yet I would not wish this wall in anyone痴 
future. A terrible fate. All these things I knew, but did not know. 
摘xplain it to me,・I said, sitting on the damp ground beside the wall, leaning my 
back on it, closing my eyes, and turning my face to the sun. 徹ne of you come and 
tell me, so I値l understand what you did. I致e got to know if this gift I知 offered 
is the grace you致e earned or the very act that makes your sacrifice a waste.・ 
I sat there a long time. I summoned the faces one by one and twisted my mind 
into knots trying to retrieve some memory of them, but I uncovered very little. 
The young man I壇 called my dearest friend loved sleeping in the open under the 
stars and swimming in the deepest pools of the world耀taying for weeks in the 
deeps, shifting himself to make it possible. The serious young woman had bested 
me in some contest of wits, and I had resented it very much. The bowman was a 
superb hunter and a merciless taskmaster, both loved and hated by everyone who 
knew him, and he had taken my friend and the serious girl and me on some 
magnificent adventure that entirely escaped my memory. 
Of course I remembered more of Vyx than any of the others, for I had lived with 
him in exile. But he should never have been in Kir歎agonoth. I could not shake 
that conviction・which made no sense at all. No one had planned that we, the 
rekkonarre, would split ourselves into two beings. And why would any one of us 
have been exempt from the price we had paid for the prophecy葉he seeing that had 
induced us to forsake Kir誰avarrin and destroy ourselves? 
As in Kir歎agonoth, I felt the shame of what I had done to Denas. A man of 
strength and duty who had known fully what he was doing when he took my hand and 
yielded his own life. Though his voice was silent, I once again vowed to heed 
whatever of him remained in me. 
When I gave up at last, no nearer to a resolution, I lay back on the grass and 
embraced the peace of noonday. A gold-brown bird soared high above the mountain, 
graceful, majestic as it caught an updraft and held almost perfectly still for a 
moment, poised on the cusp of the wind before disappearing behind the peak. The 
bird led me to think of Blaise, and then of the other friends I壇 left behind in 
the human world・the real world as I thought of it. They seemed so irretrievably 
remote, almost as distant as those whose faces I envisioned when I touched the 
wall. Yet the wall had been here for hundreds of years, while Catrin, Fiona, 
Blaise, Aleksander・ 
I sat up with a sudden start. The fifth day. If time ran anywhere near the same 
in the two worlds, this would be the day of the raid on Syra, the day when 
Aleksander痴 world changed for good or ill, for life or death. I should be there. 
I might manage easier to walk on the star Elemiel, I thought, so impossible was 
the distance between Aleksander and me and so unyielding the tether that bound 
me to Tyrrad Nor. Were he to be on the other side of that wall, I doubted I 
could have found my way to him. 
But then, of course, I remembered Nyel痴 offer and the promise that it gave. 
Perhaps I could be there. And that led me to consider Nyel痴 hatred of Aleksander 
and the Madonai痴 ability to influence dreams. With an explosion of dismay, I 
leaped to my feet and ran for the castle, yelling for my host. 
展hat is it, lad?・He stood on the wide steps beside the garden, just outside the 
doors to his sitting room. His old young eyes were red-rimmed and tired, and the 
creases alongside them were deeper than I壇 noticed before. 
I stood on the garden path at the bottom of the steps. 典ell me of your crimes in 
the human world, Nyel. Did you shape a Frythian assassin痴 dream? Did a Rhyzka 
bully abuse his child wife to death because of you? Where was your hand in all 
this trouble?・ 
展hy does it matter? You know I have no love for humans. I confess it freely.・ 
泥o you know what痴 happening today? Have you manipulated someone, done something 
to make it fail?・I was on fire with my conviction. Somehow he was going to get 
Aleksander killed. 
He shrugged. 的 can only share your dreams and visions, not read your thoughts to 
learn of your affairs. And I keep no tally of the other dreams I touch. I seek 
out dreamers that are interesting. So many dreams are fragments or too odd or of 
too little substance to be useful. But, yes, I致e found fertile ground in these 
warring Derzhi. They are everything I despise, and I take great pleasure in 
confounding them.・He started for the door. 
鉄end me there,・I called after him. 
He paused, but did not turn. 展here?・ 
典o Aleksander. To Syra. If you care for me as you say, if your gift is meant for 
good, for love, for the world痴 hope預nd my heart believes you, Nyel, though my 
reason screams at me to be afraid葉hen I beg you do this for me. Let me help 
them. I won稚 ask again. Afterward I値l choose yes or no, but if you fail me now, 
I swear the answer will be no.・ 
添ou threaten me over this human wretch!・He whirled about, and if the brow of an 
angry god could launch thunderbolts as storytellers claim, so his would have 
done. 
哲o. Not threaten. Never that.・And 渡ever・was the truth. Even in my fear of what 
he had done, I could not bear the thought of harming Nyel. 釘ut I致e told you of 
my belief in Aleksander痴 destiny. If you allow him to be harmed, then I can稚 
believe you fit to judge your gift good or evil, right or wrong. If you wish me 
to make things right, to substitute my judgment for your own, then you must 
begin now and not only when I allow you to make me other than human.・ 
He was quivering in his wrath, his presence swelling until I felt it loom as 
huge as the mountain itself. I was ready to take wing should he burst with his 
fury as I feared. But as the moment slid past us, he turned for the door again, 
merely human-sized. 的 will not send you to this prince, nor to the rekkonarre 
who flies with you. Someone else. A stranger.・ 
鄭s long as it is someone who wishes this venture to succeed.・No tricks, old man. 

添ou will remember that you are still vulnerable. I would not have you dead.・ 
的 will return here and settle this.・Fully aware of how vulnerable I was, no 
matter which side of the dream I walked, I climbed the steps and entered the 
game once more. 
CHAPTER 32
The desert was littered with corpses・vultures feeding・The birds glared at me as 
if I were intruding on their private amusement. The broken bodies were chained 
together and facedown, save for a few・the naked boys・turned so you could see 
what the birds had done with their razor beaks・the mutilation・though now the 
children were dead, the savage ruin of their manhood was only another twist of 
the heart. Too late・too late・/em> 
典his is the one you want?・ 
添es. This one.・We had touched a number of dreams, some fearful, some incoherent, 
some wholly unrelated to the coming events, but this one・Surely this dreamer had 
seen the slave caravan at Andassar to shape this horrific image of what might be 
discovered on the Syra raid. 
鄭nd you choose this path freely?・ 
添es, yes. Get on with it.・ 
鉄o be it.・ 
I waded through the bodies, thicker now, piled one upon the other・knee high, 
everyone dead. 典his time we値l save them,・I said. 典his time・ Over my head now, 
blotting out the sun・the choking stench・and so dark・ down, down underground and 
everywhere were more slaves ・all dead・ Where had he gone, the dreamer? Down deep 
into the cave・There・hacking at the chains, cursing as his blows shattered the 
iron links, only to have them flow back together like slips of tin in a smith痴 
fire. 
滴ello!・I called. 
The man whirled about and raised his ax. Smoking tears streamed down his face, 
eating deep grooves in his cheeks. His face was not familiar, but, then, who 
dreams of his own face? I blocked the descending blow; what would happen if he 
killed me in his dream? 的致e come to help. Wake up.・He looked puzzled and reached 
for my extended hand・/em> 
Brutal heat pressed me to the gritty rock. I blinked my eyes, trying to clear my 
head of the transition, carefully not moving anything else until I had a better 
idea of my surroundings. The desert, most certainly. The red rock under my nose 
felt like a baking oven, and though my head cast a long shadow to my left, the 
sun, whether rising or setting, drew the moisture from me. Further to my left, 
at something of a distance, were more rocks, jagged pinnacles of red, walls 
rippled like the dunes, but pressed hard together by the years. The ocher cast 
of the light falling on the rugged cliffs told me it was afternoon. Cautiously I 
rotated my head without lifting it, until I could see to my right. 
Sharp steel pricked my neck, and a boot smashed down on my hand as it flew 
instinctively to my weaponless belt. 展ho are you?・The nervous man with the 
high-pitched voice did not sound like anyone I knew. 
鄭 friend. Can I sit up and introduce myself before you break my fingers?・ 
鉄lowly. And stay on the ground. Put your hands on your head.・The timbre of his 
voice signaled no moderation in either his ferocity or his sincerity. Obediently 
placing my palms on my hair, I sat up and turned around to face him. No, not 
familiar. A stranger under his black-and-white paint. Perhaps he had only heard 
stories of the raid on the slave caravan at Andassar, to set him dreaming so 
vividly. His dark beard and ringlets strung with beads named him a Suzaini, and 
his sleep-heavy eyes blinked at me in uncertain recognition. 
的知 a friend of Blaise just arrived here to help,・I said. 添ou致e probably seen me 
at Taine Keddar, or perhaps・did we meet three nights ago at Taine Horet? I was 
with the Aveddi.・He could be one of the Suzaini palatine痴 men. One of the 
palatine痴 sons who had escorted us to the great tent・yes, the proud bearing 
hinted at it. 
The brawny young man withdrew his sword, but did not sheathe it. He held the 
weapon with a practiced hand, but the nervous excitement that gave edge to his 
voice and tension to his movements suggested that he had never faced a true 
battle. 滴ow have you come here?・He glanced uneasily down a steep track that 
seemed to be the only way down from the flat red rock on which I sat. 展hy did no 
one signal me that you were on your way up?・ 
We had an awesome vantage from the rock, and as I peeked over my shoulder, I saw 
what the man had been sent here to watch. Far below us, a fortress had been 
built right into the side of the cliffs. 撤erhaps someone was dozing off in the 
heat,・I said. 溺aybe they noticed that I知 not armed and didn稚 look inclined to 
push you off the rock.・I jerked my thumb at the fortress. 的壇 recommend you get 
your head down and your weapon out of the sun or you値l have someone less 
friendly than me up here.・ 
I suspected he flushed under his paint as he dropped into a crouch. With a wary 
eye on me, he sounded the harsh chucking cry of the cave swallow. Only when he 
heard an answering call from down below did he relax a bit, cram his sword back 
into its sheath, and stretch out on his stomach to resume his watch. 
的致e come to take a last look around on behalf of the Aveddi,・I said. 溺ake sure 
everyone痴 ready. Have you seen anything?・ 
哲aught. All痴 been properly quiet since well before dawn.・One might have thought 
the young man had ordered it that way by his own watching. 
He was correct that the fortress showed no signs of alert. No signs of life at 
all. Not even those it should have. 添ou致e seen no servants? Herdsmen? Hunters?・ 
The fortress fronted a dry, steep-walled gorge. The water stores would be deep 
inside the citadel, where it delved into the rock, but most of the garrison痴 
supplies would be brought in by caravan. And if a hundred and fifty men lived 
here as Aleksander claimed, then surely there would be small herds揚oats for milk 
and sheep or pigs for fresh meat楊ept back in the shady nooks of the rocks, where 
springs or seeping moisture allowed sparse grazing. Either that provender or 
fresh kill from a hunt would be brought in at least once a day. 的t seems very 
strange that no one痴 brought supplies to so large a garrison.・ 
The young Suzaini glared at me, swelling in indignation. Evidently he heard a 
personal reproach I did not intend. 的ndeed, sir, my eyes betrayed me only for a 
flea痴 heartbeat. The sun scarcely moved in the time. The Aveddi says a hundred 
fifty are housed here, and I respect his word, though were it not for his 
saying, I would mention otherwise that the fortress is oddly quiet for so large 
a force. So葉hey致e not a sign that we池e here, and the Aveddi will smite them with 
his mighty arm should they show a nose once we致e got into the mine.・ 
At only the slightest expression of my amusement at this earnest pomposity悠 had 
taken great care not to smile揺is wounded pride sagged into misery. His heavy 
brows came almost together in distress. 典ruly I am shamed at my laxity, sir預nd 
Gossopar surely punished me with the most dreadful dreaming. Last night, good 
Admet agreed that my friend Jakor could take this post at sunset, so that I 
could join the Aveddi in his first riding葉o represent all Suzai on this glorious 
occasion. You致e not come to tell me I have to stay here all night? I致e waited my 
whole life to get into a fight. Jakor is a good boy and will wind his horn if 
the Derzhi garrison rides out.・ 
His yearning to strike a blow was so vivid that my own fists clenched. You 
remain somewhat・attached・to the person who brings you through, Nyel had said. I 
sighed and smiled at the eager fellow. 哲o, you池e to come with me, and you値l not 
have to wait until sunset. What痴 your name?・ 
擢eyd al Marsouf de Sabon ak Suza, sir. Anything I can do. Anything濫 Suza was the 
ancient name of the vast lands east of Azhakstan. Only its Derzhi conquerors had 
named it Suzain・斗ittle Suza,・the first of so many humiliations. 
的知 Seyonne. You must learn to trust your own seeing, Feyd. The Aveddi relies on 
your skills to confirm or counter his information. If all he wished to hear were 
his own words, he would not have sent you. Now, go fetch this Jakor and his 
horn.・ 
While the young Suzaini scrambled down the track, I peered over the edge of the 
rock and passed the back of my hand before my eyes. With every sense I could 
bring to bear, I examined the Derzhi fortress. Though the distance was great and 
the fortress walls were thick, by the time my dreamer returned accompanied by a 
stubby youth who carried a curved bronze horn, my head was ringing with 
warnings. Feyd痴 instincts were right. No warriors were inside that fortress. I 
knew it as I knew my own name. 
釘e alert, Jakor,・I said as I grabbed Feyd痴 black shirt and shoved him right back 
down the path. 鉄tay down and stay awake.・ 
The thought of leaving Feyd behind never occurred to me, though traveling in 
bird shape would have been much faster than negotiating the hair-raising, 
one-boot-wide goat track to get down from the rock. And to explain to the small 
party of Suzaini raiders how I壇 gotten up the wicked thing without anyone 
noticing or why I needed to borrow one of the group痴 horses to be on about my 
business was deucedly awkward. 添ou値l understand everything later,・I said to Feyd 
as we mounted up and set out westward, leaving his small troop scratching their 
heads. 展e just need to get to the Prince葉he Aveddi熔r to Blaise as quickly as we 
can. The Danatos warriors are not in that fortress, and someone had damned well 
better find out where they are. Tell me what you know of tonight痴 plan, Feyd. I 
want to make sure you致e got it clear.・Being 殿ttached・did not mean I had to tell 
him everything. 
典he commanders entrusted their plan to me when they honored me with this post,・ 
said the young nobleman proudly as we rode through an interconnecting maze of 
narrow sandy-floored gorges. Twilight had already reached these shaded rifts, 
the red walls so high you could see only a ribbon of deep blue far overhead. 
釘laise alone will take on the archers at the watchpost, and remain there on 
guard to see that they池e not replaced. Farrol and three others are to silence 
the watch on the mine entrance just after the watch change at sunset. That 
leaves six hours until the next guard change. As soon as Farrol痴 signal is 
given, the Aveddi will lead Gorrid and Roche and five others to take on the 
guards in the mine and clear the way for the rest of us to come in and free the 
slaves. At the same time Admet will lead three fighters and Pherro the water 
worker to the sluice gate to open and ruin it so it cannot be repaired. It was 
my father痴 advice to bring Pherro, who devised the water system at Taine Horet. 
The Aveddi shows great wisdom. Have I said the plan rightly?・ 
展ell-done,・I said, my mind racing faster than we could ride through the twisting 
gorges. 的t痴 good to rehearse a plan in your mind before the time comes.・ 
溺ay I speak freely, sir? One matter troubles me. As you know him so well, 
perhaps you can tell me if I have mistaken the Aveddi痴 intent.・ 
鼎ertainly. With me you are free to question as you will. It does you credit to 
speak up.・ 
Feyd dropped his voice as if the breeze might waft his voice to Aleksander and 
again risk his participation in the night痴 doings. 鉄ome of these outlaw fighters 
are揺oly Gossopar save us, sir葉hey are women. We never thought the Aveddi would 
accept it, as Derzhi seem to understand the proprieties. The good Blaise has 
these odd ideas預nd we have great affection for Blaise傭ut we thought・ The Aveddi 
says he will accept all who raise a sword in faith and honor, but perhaps he 
might be saying this only to respect Blaise痴 wish on this occasion and so it 
would not be necessary to reconsider our own positions for the future. Can you 
explain the Aveddi痴 mind?・ 
I laughed and thanked Gossopar熔r whoever else might be in charge of the mystery 
I lived葉hat I was riding to Aleksander痴 side on this night. 典he Aveddi grows in 
wisdom every day, Feyd. Watch him and learn.・I spurred my horse faster through 
the towering rocks. 哲ow turn your talented observations to something else. What 
might need to be different about our plan if the Danatos were prepared for our 
arrival?・ 
Feyd痴 brow creased ponderously. 的 suppose they would alert the archers and those 
who watch the mine entrance, which would mean great danger for Blaise and 
Farrol.・ 
哲o,・I said, letting my own thoughts feed on his. 典hink. If those two initial 
ventures fail, the signal to go ahead will not be given and the rest of us will 
never show up at the mine. If the Danatos痴 only objective is to protect the 
mine, that would be enough. But if they致e been warned of this raid, then they池e 
going to be determined to catch whoever痴 planning it, don稚 you think?・ 
Feyd was quick. 徹f course! Then the Danatos might let their own watch be taken, 
even the archers, to deceive us.・ 
摘xactly. Once Blaise and Farrol have taken their targets, everything will go 
forward. Our leaders will be drawn out・ And Aleksander and seven others were to 
enter the mine first. What if there were a hundred and fifty to greet him inside 
the mine instead of only a few guards and overseers? No. The mine would be too 
cramped for so many. The warriors inside the mine would be alerted, but the main 
body of the garrison would be waiting to close in when the outlaws showed 
themselves. I explored every other scenario I could devise and discarded it 
almost as quickly. 鉄o how can we see if my fears are justified without 
jeopardizing our surprise?・ 
展e cannot search every rift and cave around here for the garrison. There are 
hundreds of places men can hide. That痴 what makes our own plan work.・ 
禅ell me, Feyd, do you know where the archers・watchpost is?・ 
添es, sir. Not far from here. But Blaise won稚 be there yet.・ 
鉄how me the archers. If I can get near enough to see who痴 at the watchpost 
without revealing myself, we値l have an idea of how much we need to worry.・ It 
would be less trouble than finding Blaise. My shapeshifting friend could be in 
any one of a hundred places at the moment, and he might be in no danger at all. 
We had perhaps two hours until sunset. A short distance further and we came to a 
break in the cliff wall, where several side rifts came together, much as a 
number of streams join to make a wide river. The cliffs were pockmarked with 
caves, and to my surprise, instead of taking me up one of the steep tracks like 
that back at his own watchpost, Feyd led me down another flat-bottomed gorge, 
plodding along, peering into holes and behind rocks, unsure of himself. After a 
few hundred paces, he dismounted and led his horse into a low cave. 
I followed him, protesting. 典his post would be high in the rock. I thought you 
knew濫 
泥id you not hear the Aveddi痴 tale of this place?・he whispered, looking at me 
askance. 的 thought you were his beloved friend.・ 
的 had to go away for a few days,・I said. 滴e didn稚 have a chance to tell me.・ 
Feyd pointed deeper into the cave. 的f I致e found the right place, then just there 
past the bend on the right, we should find a chute預 narrow, angled passage that 
leads steeply upward. The Aveddi says that if you climb this chute all the way 
to the top・a considerable way, he says預nd then step out on the ledge and ease 
around it to the left without falling to your death in the chasm, you値l come on 
the archers・watchpost. I don稚 know how Blaise is planning to come at it, or how 
you池e to get close enough without letting them see you, but I said I壇 show you 
and so I致e done.・His broad chest stretched a little further. 
I ought to have given Feyd a lesson in too easy trust揺e seemed to take my word 
in any matter. Perhaps our 殿ttachment・was working both ways. He was proud and 
foolish, good-hearted and inexperienced, and, against all reason and 
expectation, I would have trusted him with my life. 
添ou致e done well,・I said. 的知 not going to endanger Blaise痴 scheme, just see if I 
can get a peek. Stay close here. And, Feyd迫I gave him my most serious 
expression欄do not go to sleep. I壇 need to report it to your palatine, and he値l 
have your balls, if not your head, for it. Do you understand?・ 
Of course, the young warrior could not understand the true implications of his 
falling asleep, but I didn稚 think I had to worry. He hung his head like an 
overlarge child. 哲ever again, sir.・ 
敵ood.・I hurried into the cave, casting a faint light to search for the chute. 
Damn! It would take me a half hour to climb. I would have to change a little 
sooner than I壇 planned. I assumed Blaise was going to get there the same way I 
thought to do it・fly. Thankful for my newly easy shifting, I shaped my falcon痴 
form and fluttered up the long chimney, then swore at myself that I should have 
devised a shape more suitable than a large winged bird for the cramped space. 
But when I emerged in the evening sunlight, I was happy for the broad wings. The 
斗edge・that was the path around the cliff wall to the watchpost made the goat 
track down from Feyd痴 rock look like the Emperor痴 Road. 
Only a few moments more and I had my answer. To my immediate left was the 
stomach-heaving depression in the sheer cliff that was the archers・watchpost. 
From a perch on a nearby outcropping, I could look down and across the gaping 
chasm and see what the post was set here to protect. A sizable stream threaded 
its way across a broad green shelf, only to have its flow aborted by a rounded 
earthwork that caused the water to back up and form a small lake. A few goats 
grazed in the green little spot, and two men sprawled on the grass just beside a 
rectangular structure of iron and wood that was set into the embankment. This 
was the sluice gate that could allow the water to flow through the earthwork and 
into a series of rocky trenches that headed down the mountainside to service the 
mine. No sign of extra guards or watchfulness at the sluice. 
As for the watchpost designed to protect the sluice and its guards, the three 
men who sat in it were no elite archers whose families lived in gold-endowed 
luxury. They were not even common soldiers, but ruffians as one might find for 
hire in city alleyways or lurking in the wake of caravans looking for easy 
money. One of the slovenly trio was regaling the other with an unseemly story of 
a Zhagad brothel as the two played at ulyat with chips of rock. The third was 
pissing down the plunging cliff side and taking bets from the other two on 
whether he could hit one of the goats with a shot from his bow. 
典hey致e not put you in this crow痴 eye to shoot, Rak・,・snorted one of the ulyat 
players. 填ntil they pay you archer痴 gold, you壇 best not waste your pittance on a 
fool痴 gamble.・ 
鉄wallow your prick,・snarled the bowman as he tied up his breeches and snatched 
up a bow. His arrow came nearer killing his companions than touching a goat. 
Exactly as I had guessed. These three were naught but fodder for the outlaws・ 
strike. The Danatos knew we were coming. 
A few more questions to be answered before I joined Aleksander. Of primary 
importance謡here was the missing garrison? I made a quick survey of the terrain 
between the sluice and the mine entrance, which, according to Feyd, was half a 
league to the west. Surely somewhere I would glimpse the missing soldiers. But I 
saw no one, and instead of hunting farther afield, I found myself circling back 
toward the watchpost, the chimney, and the cave underneath it where the nervous 
Suzaini sat waiting for me. I couldn稚 leave him behind. Attached. Perhaps if I 
were to change to my own winged form rather than the falcon痴 shape, I might be 
able to escape my dreamer痴 binding, but for the moment I just swore a bit and 
sped downward through the chute. 
Somewhere out of my range of vision, the sun was plummeting toward the horizon. 
It had taken us far too long to get to this place where the slotlike rift we 
were traveling opened into another, wider gorge葉he spot at which Admet, the 
Suzaini outlaw with the crippled shoulder, had commanded Feyd to await 
Aleksander and report on the doings at the garrison. Feyd held up his hand for 
caution. We slipped off our horses and peered around a great pillar of rock that 
marked the junction. To our right, two thousand paces down the shadowed gorge, 
was the entrance to the mine, a large dark blot at the base of the cliff wall, 
obscured by thick yellow smoke from the burning octar seeps in front of it. 
Between our position and the entrance, deep wagon ruts and evidence of many 
horses suggested that the gold shipment had gone out on schedule. 
All was quiet, save the birds that screeched and twittered from their roosts in 
the rift walls. My imagination had to conjure the muffled thud of rock hammers, 
the creak of wooden ore carts, the curses and shouts of overseers, and the 
groans of the laboring captives chained in the flickering torchlight under the 
rock. I was almost sick with my sense of that wretched place and the dangers 
that hung about it as thick as the yellow smoke. 
Somewhere above us was the mine watch, where guards stood ready to signal the 
garrison should anyone untoward approach the mine entrance. Whoever watched 
there would be sacrificed, too, I guessed, to draw the outlaws deeper into the 
trap. And somewhere close would be the hundred and fifty warriors from the 
fortress. Despite a number of side excursions, including my circling flights in 
falcon痴 form, Feyd and I had found no sign of the missing Derzhi as we raced 
toward the mine. 
的知 going to shift again,・I whispered to Feyd. 泥on稚 be afraid.・ 
Poor Feyd had almost shed his young beard when I had come screeching down the 
chute, flown right into his face, and proceeded to transform into my own shape. 
But after his initial astonishment, he had accepted my hurried explanation as if 
he met shapechangers every day of his life. Only his mumbled prayers every time 
I shifted revealed the depth of his fear and his courage. This change was going 
to be a bit more difficult for him, I thought. Suzainis had a particular dislike 
of bats. Unlucky, they said. 
泥on稚 follow me, no matter what. If the Aveddi arrives before I return, it痴 up to 
you to warn him. Use my name. Tell him that Seyonne is sure the Danatos have 
been warned. Do you understand?・ 
釘ut I should be with you.・ 
徹nly if you can sprout fur or feathers in the next breath. I値l be back, lad. 
Your duty is here.・I was getting the feel of the distance we could be 
comfortable apart. And so, praying he would stick to his post and neither run 
away from me in terror nor after me in dream-induced fervor, I considered bats, 
swallowed my own unpleasant boyhood memories of the creatures, and shifted. 
Bats are not blind. So my teachers had told me. But then, neither can they see 
with as great a clarity as a falcon nor even so well as a sorcerer with or 
without his melydda to help him. I had thought to enter the Danatos mine 
unremarked, and that was indeed the case, but I was unprepared for the confusion 
of sight caused by weak bat eyes and sputtering torchlight and large men moving 
in and out of patches of unrelieved darkness. Somewhat disconcerting also was 
the need to hang upside down to do any stationary observations, as my wretched 
feet were too weak to hold me up. Bats don稚 perch. Fortunately I could hear very 
well, else I would have given it up and chosen another form. And eventually I 
managed to decipher what I was seeing. 
Massive beams supported the weight of earth and rock above the mine. The 
cavernous atrium was lit by torches set in iron holders bolted to the rock, and 
was piled with barrels and crates, coils of ropes and chains, grinding wheels, 
and bins of tools. The small two-wheeled carts lined up beside the doors would 
be used for distributing rations of water and food to the slaves bound within 
the mine, and for hauling out the gold they hacked from the earth. Under the 
supervision of a bearded overseer, two slaves were unloading barrels from a 
large wagon and stacking them. The smell told me that these particular barrels 
contained octar, not water. A great deal of octar. Two slaves began soaking 
fresh torches in the contents of one barrel and throwing them into the carts. 
Three more overseers hovered about a group of some twenty slaves, all strongly 
built, horribly scarred, and hobbled by short lengths of chain stretched between 
their ankle bands. The sullen group stood waiting in front of a massive pair of 
iron doors set into the back wall of the atrium葉he doors to the network of 
shafts that were reputed to riddle this entire ridge. Rumors said the tunnels 
spanned some twenty leagues or more. 
Everything was wrong. From the first moment, I felt it. Smelled it. Tasted it. 
Why so many barrels of octar? Yes, torches dipped in octar would be the only 
light inside the mine, but why so much at once? And where were the Derzhi 
warriors? I fluttered from a corner near the entrance back into the shadows of 
the cavern, dodging the disgusted swipe of an overseer痴 hand as I passed close 
over his head. I saw no one else. Not only were there no extra guards awaiting 
the outlaws・assault, but there were no guards at all. How could they have left 
the mine undefended? From their huddled terror and mumbled curses and prayers, I 
would have thought the slaves were new workers being introduced to this living 
death. But their scars were old, and even the youngest of them wore the 
distinctive hunch and permanent squint of mine slaves. And where was the noise? 
Truly the sounds I壇 heard from back in the rift had been my own imaginings, for 
the mine was profoundly silent, save for the activity I saw right before me. 
Slaves were commanded to open the iron doors, and only as two men lifted them 
from the brackets where they rested did I note the wide metal straps that had 
been laid across the tight-fitting doors. The mine had been locked. Sealed. 
Dread gnawed at my spirit. Two other slaves manned the gear wheels at the sides 
of the doors, and the moment the grinding clamor of the opening doors began, I 
abandoned my corner and flew through the slowly widening gap. 
The cool dry tunnels smelled foul葉he stench a familiar one for anyone ever held 
in close confinement for a long span of time預nd they were unremittingly dark. 
After a few brushes with solid walls, I let my instincts take over and guide my 
flight by the sound of my own high-pitched squealing. But my instincts led me 
nowhere that a man or woman of any shaping could wish to be. Nothing lived in 
those tunnels, nor in the wider rooms I felt expand around me from time to time 
before narrowing into another passage. Every once in a while, I would come to 
the end of a tunnel, the face of the rock where the veins of gold lay exposed, 
ready for the taking, and I would feel them there・soft bodies, still and 
lifeless. Not warm. Not anymore. Everyone was dead. 
I fluttered frantically from one passage to another, desperate to find any 
evidence to contradict my belief. The hobbled slaves were now chained to the 
two-wheeled carts, dragging them through the dark tunnels and lighting torches 
along the way, illuminating the buried horror. Seven hundred, Aleksander had 
said. And only these few souls had been spared, now charged to haul out the dead 
and burn them. Thus the octar. 
Time・The sun must be nearing the horizon. I was too slow to explore all the 
passages, hunting for one body that might still be breathing, something to 
relieve this vile darkness that enveloped the world and was seeping into my 
soul. I allowed instinct to guide me back to the mine entrance. No need for me 
to explore the passages so as to tell the full story. The others would come soon 
and discover the magnitude of our defeat. Perhaps they would find one who lived預 
small victory to wrest from the ruins of the night. For now, I had other duties. 
The missing warriors. Where in the name of all gods were they waiting? 
CHAPTER 33
I emerged from the cave into dusk, the last edge of gold outlining the rim of 
the cliffs far above me. With only a thought I changed from bat to falcon, 
stretching my wings to catch every shift of the air, rising and circling wide 
over the rift and the pockmarked cliffs. No sign of the missing Derzhi. No sign 
of anyone save the small party of horsemen riding toward the stone columns where 
Feyd stood, a tiny dark figure waiting for them. Heedless of secrecy or wonder, 
I touched earth behind the Suzaini, changed to human form, and waited for the 
horsemen to halt. 
展here痴 the Prince?・I said harshly, sparing no time for explanations. 的 thought 
he was to lead this assault.・ 
鉄eyonne!・Three voices said my name at once預nd the three painted faces each 
revealed something of truth. Feyd痴 lips ・murmured an invocation to his god, his 
expression already reflecting the horror that I knew. Roche痴 pleased surprise 
quickly faded into a puzzled frown. And Gorrid・was I wrong to think the dislike 
in his hard eyes was laced with fear? 
典here was word of trouble,・said Roche. 鏑ord Aleksander has gone to濫 
泥on稚 tell him anything,・Gorrid commanded. 添ou heard the stories of Dasiet Homol, 
how the women said he was possessed by some fearful being. We daren稚 trust him.・ 

I ignored Gorrid. 迭oche, tell me where I can find the Prince. Everyone on this 
mission is in danger. Feyd will witness as to what we致e found at the fortress, 
and in the first moment you step into the mine, you値l know of treachery so foul 
you壇 wish your children blind before they laid eyes upon such vileness. Remember 
what you know of me from Andassar, from Taine Keddar, from Blaise痴 trust. You 
must tell me where Aleksander痴 gone. His life depends on it.・ 
In the moment I spoke the words, I knew them true. What could have compelled the 
Danatos to take such a drastic step・to murder their own slaves? Only the need to 
use their troops for something other than securing the slaves, along with a 
despicable determination to deny the freedom they could no longer prevent. 
Perhaps they didn稚 realize how few outlaws were coming, or perhaps there were 
not a hundred and fifty warriors garrisoned in their fortress. But no matter the 
numbers or the plan. I could think of only one reason that could inspire greed 
of such monumental consequence葉he prospect of something infinitely more valuable 
to replace their dead property. The Kinslayer. They were after Aleksander. 
Feyd broke in. 典he fortress is empty, Roche, and the archers have been withdrawn 
from the watchpost. It痴 surely a trap. You must tell us where the Aveddi can be 
found.・ 
展e got word that there were more warriors at the sluice gate than we thought,・ 
said Roche, convinced more by Feyd than me, it seemed. 典he Aveddi said I should 
take command here葉o reap the glory in his stead, he told me預nd he took out alone 
to help them at the sluice.・ 
Of course. Stupid of me not to see it. Slaves could be replaced, but the mine 
could not. The Danatos could never allow the mine to be flooded. And, too, the 
dark hillsides that opened onto the green shelf and the lake were perfect places 
for warriors to hide and so to capture their wayward Prince. If they were sure 
he would be there, if someone had betrayed him, sent him there believing he was 
needed・ 
敵averna,・I said to a Basran woman who was one of Blaise痴 fiercest fighters, 堵et 
up to the mine watch. Tell Farrol that only twenty slaves are left living, all 
chained to the carts. Only four overseers to deal with, no guards, no warriors. 
Set a watch and do whatever you can to confirm that no one else survives, but 
make it quick and get out.・ 
徹nly twenty濫 Gorrid and Roche spoke together, aghast. Gorrid痴 bronze skin lost 
color. 
典he Danatos decided that their slaves were not to be free,・I snapped. 典he rest 
of you葉he battle is at the sluice gate. If not for Aleksander痴 sake, then ride 
for Blaise; his life is at risk as well.・For if Blaise, manning the watchpost, 
saw Aleksander in trouble, he would surely fly across the chasm to his aid. And 
if we didn稚 get there in time, every man and woman of the outlaw party would 
die・except for Aleksander. Aleksander痴 death belonged only to the Emperor. 鄭nd 
if not for Blaise, then ride for the seven hundred dead.・ 
I turned to my dreamer. 添our fight is waiting, Feyd. Will you come with me?・ 
Feyd straightened his back and loosened his sword in its scabbard. 擢our hundred 
years ago, on the first day of Wolf痴 Moon, Parassa, the royal city of Suza, fell 
to the Derzhi Empire,・he said. 徹n that cursed day, every girl child of Parassa 
was slain. Every woman was ravaged, bound, and sent to the slave markets of 
Parnifour and Vayapol. Every boy child was cut to ensure that the noble houses 
of the Suzai would come to an end, and the men and boys were condemned to dig 
mines like this under the rocks of Suza. All these years the Suzai have waited 
for the Firstborn of Azhakstan to return to the desert and make amends for the 
deeds of his fathers. I will not fail him.・He mounted his horse. 鏑ead us, 
Master.・ 
With a surge of melydda, I shifted into my warrior痴 form, and as the last of the 
sun痴 gold vanished, my own golden light flared bright, and I took wing. 
No perspective of a battlefield can rival a view from the air. As I raced 
westward, following the dark network of the rifts that would lead me to the 
green meadow, the sluice gate, and the trap laid for Aleksander, I could see the 
darker smudge that was Feyd and Roche and the ten riders galloping along the 
same route below me. The moon already hung over the desert beyond the wall of 
these mountains, and as I veered to the right over the green shelf, its wavering 
image was reflected in the evening ripples on the lake. At its northern edge, 
the level meadow broke over into a steep slope, crisscrossed by a narrow track 
leading downward to the valley floor. 
I caught one glimpse of deceptive peace. Five Derzhi warriors protected the 
gate, two of them mounted and riding slowly about the rim of the lake on patrol, 
two standing stiffly, spears in hand at either side of the sluice gate, one 
tending a fire. Three horses grazed nearby. But at the very moment of my 
arrival, five riders reached the top of the steep track and shot across the 
meadow toward the gate and the guards, four painted outlaws led by a Derzhi 
voicing the wild and throaty war cry of the desert. Aleksander. Four of Blaise痴 
outlaws could never outmatch five Derzhi warriors, but with the Prince at their 
side, they would believe the balance tipped in their favor・except that I knew 
better. 
For the moment I stayed high and circled the meadow, anxiously searching the 
cracked shoulders of the adjacent ridge, the narrow slots in the cliffs where 
men and horses could hide until they heard a signal to descend upon the 
unsuspecting raiders. There! Even so high above the ground I felt the quiet 
tension in the dark gully below me・twenty・thirty men and horses, surely no more 
than forty, well disciplined, waiting until the attacking outlaws were fully 
committed. Of course the Derzhi would believe forty enough to take the Prince 
and a handful of outlaws. But then where were the rest of the warriors? I 
assumed that the Danatos, determined to take their prize, had sent all of the 
garrison into this combat, prepared in case the outlaws got wind of the 
treachery and sent their entire force to attack the gate. But my search revealed 
no more warriors, and the clash of steel and angry shouts below told me that I 
had no more time. The hidden horsemen burst from the slot in the cliff. I 
circled back, drew my sword, and descended on the line of Derzhi spilling out 
across the meadow. 
Surprise is a formidable weapon in combat, and awe and astonishment are its 
worthy companions. My wings were fully spread, and my body glowed fiery gold. I 
killed seven Derzhi before even one thought to aim sword or spear in my 
direction. Even then I had half of them circling and running into each other 
trying to see what I was and from what quarter I would come next, while others 
remained cowering in the gap in the cliff, afraid to face me. But while I reaped 
the benefits of successful surprise, I saw Aleksander suffering the consequences 
of the reverse. The five guards who had seemed to be pursuing quiet routine were 
mounted and battle ready before the outlaw party had crossed half the distance 
from the edge of the meadow to the lake. Perhaps Aleksander suspected the trap 
even then, for he tried to pull up, but his four companions were not so 
observant and rushed on headlong. Not one to retreat at any time, the Prince 
released his mount, and when the two parties clashed, he was again at the head 
of the outlaw band. 
By the time thirteen of the hidden warriors lay dead beneath me, a few of the 
troop had recovered their wits and were trying to reform their party. One on one 
they could not touch me. Three on one kept me busy. Each time I seemed to be in 
trouble, I thought of the seven hundred helpless souls murdered in their dark 
prison, and my anger gave strength to my arm and power to my enchantments. Even 
so, some of the Derzhi slipped away and rode for the gate and the Prince. I 
could not allow it. 
I wrenched out an arrow that had pierced my left shoulder, set the bloody shaft 
afire, and threw it with such force it pierced the archer痴 neck. A last sweep of 
my blade beheaded one warrior and unhorsed another, and I soared upward and flew 
toward the lake. One by one I cut down the escaping Derzhi, unheeding of their 
groans and screams. I called up the wind and the water, causing a monstrous wave 
to climb out of the muddy basin and sweep two horsemen into the lake. Another 
was trampled when I drove his horse mad with stinging bees. 
By the time I reached the sluice gate, Aleksander was engaged with two of the 
gate guards who were pressing him hard. Two Derzhi were on the ground熔ne dead, 
one injured預long with an outlaw missing his head. The remaining Danatos guard 
fought two outlaws at once, while a man with a painted face worked on the gears 
and latches of the gate, ducking and dodging the flying weapons and hooves when 
the battle came too near him. 
Aleksander caught his first sight of me. 敵reat Athos, save us!・ 
典hey池e coming for you,・I shouted to the grimly smiling Prince, who used the 
occasion of my arrival to skewer one awestruck opponent while I unhorsed the 
other. 
Aleksander pulled his horse around to look for his next opponent and kicked the 
unhorsed Derzhi in the head lest the man stab the preoccupied Pherro. 展hat in 
the god痴 holy name have you done to yourself?・ 
Lungs burning from the heavy fighting, I forced myself to inhale before trying 
to speak, and even then I could not afford to waste strength on explanations. 鄭t 
least twenty more coming around the lake. Over a hundred of the garrison 
unaccounted for.・Where were they? 
I touched earth between the two struggling outlaws and the remaining gate guard. 
The Derzhi guard staggered backward and dropped to his knees. Before the gaping 
warrior could make a god sign against evil, I cut him in half. None too soon. 
The first rider of the larger party rounded the end of the earthwork, sword 
raised and heading straight for the Prince. As he blazed past me, I pulled him 
off his horse and severed his neck. A second rider followed close on his heels. 
This one swerved to avoid me. The wind rose at my command, and I raised my 
bloody sword one more time, but before I could take flight, a dark shape 
streaked screaming across the sky and flew into the man痴 face. The warrior痴 
mount reared and threw him to the ground, where he lay unmoving. The bird 
circled once, and after a blurring moment, Blaise was running toward us. 
展hen I saw the fire預nd you悠 decided there was no more point in holding the 
watchpost,・he said, staring at me unabashed. 鉄tars of the heavens, man, what 
have you・・ 
敵et everyone away,・I said, still heaving, warm blood dribbling from my shoulder, 
though I felt no hurt from it. 添ou were betrayed.・I hacked off the head of the 
unhorsed Derzhi, and then spread my wings, ready to take on the remainder of the 
Derzhi riders. Feyd and Roche and the rest of the raiding party were riding over 
the lip of the meadow, and I yelled for them to follow me. 
鉄eyonne!・Aleksander called after me. Though his command was quiet, somehow my 
name on his tongue reached me in the grim place where I had existed since I壇 
seen what was done in the mine. 
I held the wind under my wings so as to hover over him, my gold fire bathing his 
worried face. 溺y lord?・ 
展atch your soul, my guardian. I would not buy my life with it.・ 
典hey should not have left the mine unguarded,・I said. 典hey killed them all, my 
lord. Seven hundred, less twenty they saved to stack and burn the others. I have 
no mercy left in me.・ 
The battle was joined again a few hundred paces from the gate. Feyd struck his 
blow for Parassa, for lost Suza and four hundred years of humiliation. I sent 
Blaise hunting for the rest of the warriors, while I killed again and again. 
Aleksander fought with deadly success, but only until the first Derzhi 
dismounted, knelt, and begged quarter. 哲ot one more drop of blood,・he shouted, 
dashing to every duel, halting the slashing swords with his own if his voice was 
not enough. 哲ot one more hair will be touched.・ 
He forced the seven surviving Derzhi to kneel and place their hands on their 
heads while the outlaws disarmed them and led their horses away. And then he 
rode before the line of prisoners, back and forth, as if to make sure that each 
one saw his face・especially those who wore the gold trappings of nobility. One 
of the kneeling Derzhi spat at the Prince, but Aleksander stayed the hand of the 
Manganar raider who raised his hand to strike the man. 迭ope these seven 
together. While we take care of our fallen, they will gather my brothers and 
bury them,・he said to the raiders. 的値l leave no Derzhi warrior for vultures, no 
matter his crimes. When the work is done, we値l take the prisoners down to the 
mine and see how they should be judged.・ 
As the prisoners set about the grisly task, and the raiders stripped the bodies 
of weapons and tended to their own dead and wounded, I touched earth near the 
Prince. Everyone withdrew hastily, leaving us alone in the center of the 
battlefield. 添ou need to find out where the rest of the garrison is waiting,・I 
said. Your prisoners know. Did you see the smug looks on their faces?・ 
Aleksander dismounted, crouched down beside a fallen Derzhi, and began cleaning 
his hands on the man痴 ripped cloak. 徹f course, I saw it. They expect me to 
torture the information out of them, but I won稚. They壇 die before they told me熔r 
near enough. If things are going to change, then it must begin now. I want these 
seven to carry the tale of it to Zhagad.・Before standing up again, he rolled the 
dead warrior to his back, closed the staring eyes, and straightened the cooling 
limbs, laying the man痴 sword on his chest until the outlaws could collect it. 的 
hoped you would agree.・He stood up and faced me square on, his whole posture a 
question I could not answer; I did not yet know who or what I was. 
禅hen we値l have to learn what we need to know some other way,・I said, yielding 
the point. Reluctantly. Abandoning wings and light, I shifted back to my own 
form, rubbing my head to try to clear the muddle. 
Aleksander nodded, satisfied, and then he mounted and rode off toward the 
others, encouraging the outlaw fighters, ignoring the scowls and curses of the 
Danatos warriors, watching carefully to see that they did not break their 
parole. Impatient at the delay, I stood at the top of the embankment, where I 
could see, trying to find the missing piece of the night痴 puzzle. Blaise 
returned after a while, reporting that he saw no evidence of the other Derzhi. 
撤erhaps the garrison has been reduced,・he said, sitting down on the grassy 
hillock and offering a waterskin. 
I sat next him and took the cool leather pouch. Only as I drank did I realize 
how thirsty I was. 的t doesn稚 make sense,・I said. 典hey can稚 be sure we値l go back 
to the mine. We致e no reason to but to help the last twenty before they池e thrown 
on the pyre with the dead. But if not here and not at the mine, then where else 
could they be planning to hit us?・ 
敵ods of night, would they do that? Burn the living?・Blaise paused before taking 
another swig from the waterskin for himself. 
典here is no evil one human will not work on another,・I said. And no betrayal. 
Who had told the Danatos that Aleksander was coming? 
釘laise!・Roche called from the sluice gate. 撤herro says he痴 ready to open the 
sluice.・ 
Blaise glanced at me as he stood. 滴ave a care, Seyonne.・He dropped the waterskin 
in my lap, then slid his way down the steep embankment toward the gate and his 
men. 展e致e got to make sure Farrol has everyone out of the mine first,・I heard 
him tell Roche. 的値l go find out. When the Aveddi starts down, he wants you and 
Pherro to stay behind・ They walked off together, leaving me to solitude and 
worry. 
Who was the traitor? Despite my suspicions, I could not accuse Gorrid just 
because he hated Aleksander. Everyone at Taine Keddar bore some grievance 
against the Prince or his father. The matter of the slaves was the biggest 
stumbling block to pinning this villainy on one of Blaise痴 people. No matter 
their feelings about Aleksander, none were callous enough to jeopardize the 
outcome of the raid for personal vengeance. This was not some angry outlaw 
running to the Danatos unthinking. Someone had conceived a plan. That eliminated 
Gorrid. He was not a complex thinker; he hated Aleksander, but he hated the 
Derzhi even more, and his loves and hates would always define his actions. So 
who was it? I could not leave this world until I knew, if I had to prick young 
Feyd to sleeplessness for three days. 
The last vestiges of daylight faded from the sky, my friends and enemies left 
indistinguishable in the murky borderland of night. My senses were tuned with 
every scrap of power I could muster, listening for hoofbeats, for muffled 
voices, for harness bound with strips of leather to mute its telltale ring, for 
swords and knives being carefully unsheathed. The missing warriors were poised 
to cut our throats, but where? I riffled through the exchanges of the day. 
Through Feyd痴 recitation of the plan. Through the meeting with Roche and Gorrid 
outside the mine. Through weeks of listening to the outlaws at Blaise痴 fire at 
Taine Keddar. In the fifth time over, I knew the answer. 
迭oche!・I said, slithering down the embankment and calling to the quiet young 
Ezzarian as he helped a group of his men and women load up the sizable pile of 
confiscated Derzhi weapons by tying them to backs and belts and saddles. 展ho 
scouted this raid?・ 
The dark-haired man buckled a fine leather sword belt atop three others around a 
Kuvai woman痴 shoulder. 鄭dmet,・he said. 鄭fter our bungling at Andassar, he said 
he wanted to check the terrain for himself, so he came out here three days ago 
to see to it.・ 
鄭nd who was with him?・ 
哲o one. Easier for one to keep hidden.・ 
鄭lone? But he can稚 travel the way you do.・Admet was human, not a joined 
Ezzarian. 
Roche glanced about noting who was in earshot. 泥id no one ever tell you the 
location of Taine Keddar? That was the beauty of this plan. The valley is only a 
few hours・ride庸or anyone・from Syra.・He shook his head. 典hat痴 why we thought we 
could get so many slaves away safely, because with Blaise, Gorrid, Brynna, 
Farrol, and me taking them through the ways, we could have had them in Taine 
Keddar in half an hour.・The young Ezzarian pulled another sword belt from the 
pile, jerking on it impatiently when the long sheath caught in the tangle. 哲o, 
Admet came on his own to do the scouting, and he was right in every point. I 
suppose we fouled it up some other way this time.・ 
Admet. And Feyd had said that Admet was to lead the fighters to the sluice gate. 
滴ave you seen Admet tonight?・I asked. 溺aybe he can give me some idea as to 
whether the garrison was in place that day or if they致e moved out since.・ Or how 
the Danatos got wind of the Prince・ 
Roche took a bundle of knives from a stocky youth who had rolled them in a dead 
man痴 shirt, and he stuffed them into a saddle pack. 滴e brought us word of the 
extra guards at the sluice, but then Brynna took him back to Tafne Keddar to 
help make ready for the slaves. Admet can稚 fight you know溶ot with his back the 
way it is. He was a slave himself as a child. The Derzhi broke him. Left him 
crippled.・ 
And so a great deal became clear. 鉄o he guided the four fighters to the sluice・ 
and then he came to fetch Aleksander.・ 
典hat痴 right.・Roche called after me as I turned to walk back up the embankment. 
的t was good you were here, Seyonne. You saved us again.・ 
I just shook my head. Seven hundred dead. 
Admet, the wily Suzaini strategist. A complex thinker. A man who might believe 
he could punish Aleksander while somehow managing to rescue the slaves. Gods・ 
that was it. He壇 made a bargain with the Danatos. We値l hand over the Kinslayer, 
but you値l allow us into the mine・leave it unguarded. We値l trade one man for 
seven hundred. And you値l get to keep the mine, for we値l set the trade at the 
lake and leave before breaking the sluice gate. The Prince alone was to be 
taken. Not the other fighters. 
But the Danatos had been wilier than Admet. We値l take the Kinslayer, and we値l 
leave the mine unguarded, but you値l never take our property. We値l kill them 
first. We値l take the prize and leave you nothing・nothing・ 
哲o!・As the pieces settled into position, I was appalled at the image I had 
built. Of Admet hating Derzhi so much that he believed them stupid and could not 
distinguish one from another. Of the Danatos first lord, denounced by his own 
mother for his continuing dishonor, swearing to abide by the agreement, while 
planning from the first how to twist it to his advantage. Of Admet riding home 
after his clever bargaining, smug in his success. And of some Danatos spy who 
followed the broken Suzaini on his human path・all the way to Tame Keddar. First 
ensure the capture of the Kinslayer, and then wipe out the Yvor Lukash. Seven 
hundred slaves were nothing. For this, the Emperor would yield them half the 
Empire. 
Mad with rage and terror, I shaped wings and shot into the sky, crying out for 
the others to abandon their useless tasks and follow me. I knew where the 
remaining Danatos had gone. 
CHAPTER 34
Tame Keddar was in flames. The houses and tents were already ash, the ancient 
olive trees but dark, twisted scars on a sky of garish orange and red. By the 
time Aleksander, Blaise, and the other riders crested the encircling ridge, I 
had surveyed the valley and found it devoid of life. Flames licked at a few dark 
forms lying here and there amid the burning fields and groves. Everyone else葉he 
attackers, as well as those who lived in the valley揺ad disappeared. 
展here would they go?・I screamed at Blaise over the roar of the flames, 
knowing葉errified謡hat he would answer. Ash swirled lazily in the torrid air like 
enchanted leaves that vanished at a touch. A pine exploded into flame just 
behind me. 
典aine Horet,・he said. His bony face was distraught, his serenity shattered as he 
pointed to the path that wound through a stand of burning trees and led deeper 
into the mountains toward the old kings・stronghold. Aleksander slammed his heels 
into his horse痴 heaving flanks before the word had left Blaise痴 tongue. I was 
the only person ahead of him. 
Whether it was Blaise or I who worked the enchantment to speed us through the 
rugged terrain, I never knew. The riders did not slow as they passed the hacked 
remains of the settlers・rear guard, but thundered after me as they had since I 
told them of my terrible suspicion. No man or woman of the raiding party but had 
a child or lover, kinsman or friend among those in the valley. I could not think 
of Evan. Anger already ruled my arm, and I needed to keep some semblance of 
reason. 
The Danatos had many hours・head start on us, but when we hit their backs, they 
had only just collapsed the first ring of Taine Horet痴 defense. Their rear guard 
was positioned in the rocks and trees at the base of the ridge. Halfway down the 
descending path, Aleksander silently motioned his meager troop into a wedge, set 
himself at the apex, and gave the signal to charge. I soared from the heights 
and flew in just ahead of him. My first victim was still wide-eyed and gaping as 
I shoved his warm body off my sword and smashed another man in the face with my 
bare foot. Two other warriors fell back at the sight of me, the light of my 
Madonai body coloring their pale faces sallow. Roche rode up and skewered one of 
them in the back, and I spun in the air and swept my blade, taking the head of 
the second man. Enchantments lay in my hand like a second sword that night, 
impossibility and distance and bone-deep weariness of no more import to me than 
gnats to a mountain. 
The battle was a bloody one. Between the raiding party, the remaining Yvor 
Lukash from Taine Keddar, and the people of Taine Horet, we had superior 
numbers. But most of Blaise痴 people were city-bred poor or peasants, strong, but 
untrained in combat, or freed slaves, trying to substitute vengeance and spirit 
for the weakness of their broken bodies, or old people, or children; there were 
a great number of children. And the others葉he Manganar, Thrid, and Suzaini who 
dwelt in Taine Horet揺ad hidden in these rocks for decades, hoping, waiting, 
planning, and training; but their enemies had been images from history, not 
superbly trained warriors wielding swords and spears with ferocious precision. 
Indeed the Danatos fought as if possessed by the mad Gastai. They believed their 
prize very close用ower next to the Emperor痴 own預nd they recovered quickly from 
our surprise assault. The outer ring of warriors, so easily penetrated by our 
initial attack, hardened into a wall of steel, threatening to close about our 
wedge. They held us at bay while their lines pressed forward, orderly, 
methodical, scouring the valley, pressing men, women, children, goats, donkeys, 
and horses before them, killing any person who resisted. 
Aleksander, seeming to be everywhere at once, molded and shaped his sixteen 
fighters, teaching and encouraging them even as he threw himself against the 
Danatos lines. But the Derzhi ranks refused to break. Our riders were too few, 
and when the Danatos・inner ring had captured or slaughtered those within their 
grasp, they would turn and crush our pitiful band like a lion痴 great paw 
smashing an annoying dog. 
I strove to protect both Aleksander and Feyd悠 could not afford to have my 
dreamer slain預nd I killed any Derzhi within reach of my blade. Always I kept my 
eye out for Admet. I had not told the others of my suspicion, but I had sworn to 
myself that he would go on trial before I left the human world. If he had done 
what I believed, he would die for it. 
展e致e got to get through,・Aleksander shouted up at me as I slashed at a warrior 
threatening his back. It was difficult to see in the dark, the only light the 
wavering glare of the fires the Derzhi set as they passed. 鼎an you find us a 
way?・ 
泥one,・I cried. 迭oche, you致e got the Prince痴 back.・ 
I shot upward to look about, trying to make sense of things through the smoke 
and screams and flailing weapons. The three camps were in chaos, the sentries 
and guards who yet lived barely managing to hold their own as they retreated. 
The people of the valley hadn稚 enough horses to mount their defense, and the 
mounted Derzhi swept through the slow-footed fighters like fire through dry 
grass. Fifteen or twenty defenders fell for every Derzhi. I flew the length of 
the Derzhi front, trying to find some small gap, some weak spot where the ranks 
of disciplined Derzhi might be breached, hoping to discover some firm center 
where Aleksander might rally the frantic people and take advantage of his 
numbers. 
A force of some twenty to thirty Thrid charged out of the burning groves to 
attack the Derzhi left flank, only to see half their number cut down in the 
first engagement. I showered the Derzhi with sparks I gathered from the fires, 
enabling a tattooed woman to rally the Thrid fighters. Soon, more joined her, 
and she began to form up a small line of resistance. I flew on. 
Several of the Yvor Lukash fighters were trying to make a stand near the Suzaini 
encampment. The Palatine Marouf・Feyd痴 father謡as off at the front of the battle. 
A small party of Derzhi had outflanked them and now threatened to wipe out their 
families. A Suzaini woman lay on the ground unmoving, bloody and exposed, and an 
old woman sat in the dirt wailing, trying to cover the pitiful remains with 
hands and skirts. Other women, responsible for their husbands・wealth, were 
trying to retrieve their children and their hoards of silver before a similar 
fate befell them. 
A fresh wave of Derzhi swept out of the darkness, driving the Yvor Lukash 
fighters and the panicked women away from the Suzaini tents. A blood-smeared 
youth leaped out from behind a bush and slashed wildly at a Derzhi rider who was 
bearing down on a woman carrying two small boys. The youth didn稚 see a second 
Derzhi ride up behind him, sword raised. 
溺attei, behind you!・I dived into the fray, shoving my young friend to the ground 
and stabbing at the attacking warrior, while using my wings to sweep Mattel痴 
target from his rearing mount. 鉄tay back, lad,・I cried as the unhorsed warrior 
scrabbled quickly to his feet. A few strokes later and the Derzhi choked on his 
own blood and fell to earth, trying to prevent his entrails escaping through the 
gaping hole I壇 left in his belly. 
I spun on my heel. Mattei was staring at me as he crept backward over the rocky 
ground. I reached out my hand to haul him up, feeling like smiling for the first 
time in hours. 鼎ome on,・I said. 鏑et痴 get you someplace less dangerous.・ But my 
simple gesture scribed his young face with mortal terror, and uttering a 
whimper, he scrambled to his feet and ran off into the darkness. 
溺attei, wait・ No time to go after him. I had to hold back the attacking Derzhi 
while the Yvor Lukash fighters got the Suzaini women away. 
Another sweep of the front showed me that the Thrid woman had positioned her 
fighters securely among the trees, and her archers and bold swordsmen had slowed 
the Derzhi advance and stretched the enemy痴 lines. A small victory, but the best 
prospect I壇 seen. I raced back to Aleksander and Blaise, who were being sorely 
pressed by a Danatos second lord. The Derzhi noble was screaming at his men that 
the Kinslayer was among them. 
敵o left!・I shouted, pointing the Prince toward the Thrid. 展但ssani痴 people hold 
the way.・ 
While I used fire and sword, wind and terror to prevent the Derzhi from closing 
ranks behind him, Aleksander fought his way toward the valiant Thrid. A half an 
hour later, a path of fallen Derzhi behind him, he broke through into the heart 
of the battle. From the center of the valley a murmuring tide of sound swelled 
to drown out the screams and shouts and the roar of the flames. 鄭veddi!・ The 
cries echoed from the cliffs, and soon the very shape of the combat changed. 
Outward pressure from the center halted the Derzhi advance, and before another 
hour had passed, the rear guard began to fall back toward the hills. Once there, 
they had to deal with me. 
Every hour that I fought in my golden form I felt stronger. Yes, I was tired. 
Yes, I had a dozen bleeding gashes and punctures. Yes, I still felt a tearing 
fire in my side whenever I raised my right arm. But with every passing moment, 
my reactions grew faster, my strokes more powerful, my movements quicker and 
more sure. I had been born to wear that form of light, to fight such battles, to 
use the power I had been given to protect those who needed it. I could sense the 
slightest movement behind me, and I could hold a part of my mind outside the 
combat, using it to ready my weapons of enchantment. I could see with such 
clarity葉he fighters at my hand, the shifting lines of combat, the dark, surging 
mass of Blaise痴 people. The bony outlaw himself was leading the right, with the 
two Manganar Yulai and Terlach beside him. The Thrid woman held the left, and in 
the center stood Aleksander, the Firstborn of Azhakstan, his red hair flying, 
fighting with the measured fury of a king defending his citadel. Behind his 
sword my child was safe, as was his own, but only if no Derzhi left this valley 
with the tale of its location. Let them fear me. And so I gave myself willingly 
to combat, and killed every warrior my hand could reach. 
Everything wore the varied colors of blood葉he dark, gore-soaked earth beneath my 
feet, my naked flesh smeared with red and rusty brown, even the rocks above and 
beside me, flushed with the scarlet dawn. Quiet had descended on the valley, but 
I hadn稚 noticed, for the battle raging in my veins had only now found its final 
release. I yanked my sword from the twitching body at my feet, then dropped to 
my knees and made sure of him, driving my knife into his heart. 哲ot my son, you 
bastard,・I said, the hoarse whisper that grated in my throat all the sound I 
could muster. Blood matted his dark beard and his striped haffai. His sword hilt 
slid from his limp hand, and I kicked the weapon away when I stood up again, as 
if to be sure he could not rise from the dead and bring more treachery into the 
world. 哲ever him.・ 
滴oly gods, Seyonne, what have you done?・ 
I whirled about and saw them standing there唯laise, the stunned accuser, cradling 
one arm, his paint half washed away by sweat and blood, and gray-faced Elinor, 
her blue skirt stained and torn, a well-used sword at her side, her hand 
steadying her wounded brother. Elinor gazed at my last victim expressionless, as 
if the burden of horror that she already wore could not accept yet another 
portion. The sight of her there, in such a state, set off a firestorm in my 
soul. 
典ell me!・I bellowed. Flames burst from my hand and sword, and the two stepped 
backward, almost tumbling down the steep path. I summoned the dregs of my 
strength to restrain my fury. 撤lease tell me・Evan・ 
滴e痴 well,・said Elinor. 鉄afe with Magda. Safe.・ 
Blaise was still staring at the dead man in the striped haffai. Heavy footsteps 
brought Roche and Gorrid to join him, their tired faces glazed with shock and 
dismay. And behind them, surveying the sea of corpses around me until his gaze 
rested on the dead man at my feet, came Aleksander. 
典he devil has murdered Admet!・screamed Gorrid, drawing his sword, his face 
becoming a mask of hatred. 滴ow many others of our own have fed his blood 
thirst?・ 
Aleksander reached out and stayed the outlaw痴 arm. 添ou cannot challenge him, 
Gorrid,・he said softly, stepping in between us. I held my weapon at the ready, 
the pounding of my blood vibrating the fouled blade in rhythm with my heart. 
鏑ook around.・No fewer than forty Derzhi warriors had felt my sword as they tried 
to escape the valley. The Prince nodded his head at the dead Suzaini and raised 
one eyebrow. 展ill you tell us why?・His voice was calm and steady, but in his 
amber eyes・He was afraid of me. 
With a word and a thought, I shifted form, feeling the light go out of the. 
world along with my golden radiance and my strength. Indescribable weariness 
settled in my bones. My body felt gray and heavy, my clothing restrictive, my 
senses crippled and dull. I tried to form an answer, the fewest possible words 
to tell them of Admet痴 prideful, treacherous bargain. But my tongue was 
confused, as if accustomed to another language, and my mind could not seem to 
shape the evidence into a sequence they might understand. As I struggled to 
speak, yet another man came staggering up the hill. The curling hair and beard 
named him Suzaini, and his broad shoulders identified him as Feyd well before we 
could see his face. 
Feyd痴 breath was ragged when he stopped beside Admet痴 body. My dreamer痴 wide, 
dark eyes flew to mine. 
典he betrayer,・I said, those two words all I could manage. 
Feyd seemed to understand. He closed his eyes and said, 敵ossopar forgive him. 
Such shame for Suza.・The young man wavered for a moment, and then gathered 
himself and bowed to me. 溺y honor is yours forever, holy lord.・Before he could 
come up again, he fell face forward into the dirt. I glimpsed a ragged, bloody 
hole in his back just as the world vanished. 
泥id you accomplish what you set out to do?・The question came from an infinite 
distance. I had only to open my eyes, but the slightest movement felt like 
dragging myself through a sea of mud. 鼎ome, Kasparian, bring him wine. Human 
bodies are not meant for this.・ 
的 had to kill him,・I said, shoving away the wine cup being pressed into my hand 
and resting my forehead on the cool glass of the game board. My lips were not 
trying to answer Nyel痴 question, but the questions left on the tongues of my 
friends. 滴e was running away, half mad with guilt. He would have betrayed you 
again悠 saw it in him葉o justify himself.・I had not slain Admet solely in anger, 
nor had I wreaked unthinking vengeance. I had given him a chance to explain, to 
tell me how he had never meant to cause the horror he had unleashed. But all he壇 
done was curse Aleksander and me, and say that we had killed the seven hundred 
in the mine and the uncounted dead of that night痴 battle. Admet had sworn to 
bring down Aleksander no matter what he had to do to accomplish it. Even then, 
despite the demands of vengeance and fury, I had not struck him until he drew 
his sword, vowing to kill me・and then do the same to my son. Gods of night, how 
did he know about Evan? I didn稚 think Blaise had told anyone of my kinship to 
Elinor痴 foster child. And now .. .fool・Why hadn稚 I found out before I killed 
him? 
徹f course you did what you thought was right.・The voice was closer now, just 
across the table from me and not unkind. 
The cost of the night痴 venture would be dreadful. We had won a victory in name 
only, wrested from such a vile and monstrous defeat. The war we had begun would 
be long and terrible, and my friends would have no time to plan, no time to 
prepare, no place to hide. Aleksander could not fight it alone. 
I shoved my chair back from the little table and stood up, noticing in passing 
that it was raining again in Nyel痴 garden. The movement had my wounds clamoring 
for attention, and I had to grab the table edge to keep from collapsing from 
sudden dizziness. The thigh wound of the previous day was reopened. Between that 
and my shoulder, I had lost a good deal of blood. 撤lease, if you would have hot 
water sent to my room, and medicines for healing. And bandages. I致e no wish to 
trouble Kasparian this time.・ 
的t will be done.・ 
I hobbled to the doorway and leaned on it for a moment, my back to the room and 
Nyel. 展hen can we begin?・I said. 
A moment痴 silence. 的t will take me some time to make preparations預 moon痴 
turning. Perhaps twice that. Then we can proceed as rapidly as you wish, every 
step your own choice.・No unseemly eagerness marred his speech. I appreciated 
that. 
的 must go back to help them,・I said. 典hey池e too few and too unskilled.・ 
Of course I could walk back through the gateway to the human world and serve 
Aleksander in my mortal form, but I dismissed the thought the moment it passed 
through my mind. What man, offered sight and strength and freedom, could live a 
blind and crippled slave? I believed Nyel would keep his promise and allow me to 
act freely. I had made my own choices as I fought, and any judge who witnessed 
the entirety of my actions at Syra and Tame Horet would say I had done only what 
was needed to save my friends from disaster. Truly there was a price. There was 
always a price. I had seen it in Mattei痴 face・and in Aleksander痴. 
典here is a great deal that you can learn as you wait.・Nyel didn稚 understand. 
的 can稚 wait until I知 changed. I need to go back as soon as they池e ready to fight 
again. That will be days, not weeks.・ 
I glanced over my shoulder. Nyel was staring at me, weighing his answer. He 
dearly wanted to refuse. So choose, I thought. Turn me down and force me to 
leave this place. Truly at that moment I could not have said what I wanted him 
to answer. But my aching body knew. 
禅hough I believe you壇 do better to delay your return to the human world until we 
can rid you of your inborn flaws, I知 willing to accept your sense of urgency. 
Your judgment must prevail・as you informed me so clearly.・No, he had not 
forgiven me for using his own words against him. I should take that as a 
warning. But I wasn稚 really afraid. He knew he壇 won, and his quibbling was for 
his own gratification, not my discomfiture. 祢 will send you back through dreams 
as you require. The experience will allow you to develop your skills. But I値l 
not have you become more entangled with these humans, just when you should be 
learning the detachment proper to one who will hold such power. You will 
exchange speech only with your dreamer, no other human, until you are Madonai 
and can do as you please. Will you accept this condition?・ 
的f it痴 the only way I can continue,・I said. 
典he only way. If you cannot live without human thanks and glory, or if you must 
depend on a human voice to command you, then you are not worthy of my gift. ・ 
鄭nd so tomorrow you値l help me explore dreams so I can choose where and how I知 to 
go back? I don稚 know if my last dreamer yet lives.・ 
鄭s you wish. Tomorrow. And in the meanwhile, I値l prepare to set you free.・ 
CHAPTER 35
How rarely humans consider the other world that lies alongside the one we walk. 
Not a separate physical world like Kir誰avarrin or Kir歎agonoth, but the plane of 
existence that every man and woman and child inhabits for a portion of every 
day葉he world of dreams. A place where any man can work magic or any woman fly. 
Where events can repeat themselves over and over again, allowing us to examine 
every nuance. Where fantastic creatures live, and we see colors the sunlight 
cannot show us. Where we can walk with terror and test our mettle, yet withdraw 
in safety, with no more consequence than racing hearts and pillows damp with 
sweat. We致e learned to fear the world of dreams, thinking of it as a place where 
madmen dwell, and yet I致e heard it said that those who fail to dream can 
themselves go mad. Perhaps that was the source of my madness. My dreams had not 
been my own for a very long time. 
滴alloo! A fine afternoon, is it not?・Nyel痴 cheerful greeting halted my steps 
halfway across the garden, well before I reached the wall. Exhausted from the 
events at Syra and Taine Horet, I壇 slept the day and night around. And finding 
no one about when I finally abandoned my bed, I had decided it would behoove me 
to stretch and walk a bit before beginning whatever business awaited for the 
remainder of the day. As long as I was outdoors, I壇 thought to try again to 
understand the mysterious structure of Nyel痴 prison. Despite the rigors of the 
previous day痴 combat, my mind and body felt fresh and rested, and I hoped I 
might muster more insight into the puzzle of the wall than on my last attempt. I 
even dallied with the idea of changing to my winged form・my 溺adonai form,・Nyel 
had called it. Perhaps strength and melydda could reveal more of the wall痴 
nature than my limited human perceptions. The light glinted brightly from the 
wall as if the black stone was newly cut and polished. 
鄭 fine afternoon,・I said, pausing while Nyel caught up with me. His steps were 
brisk and sure on the gravel path. A breeze stirred my damp hair, and despite 
the cloudless sky, I shivered beneath my linen shirt. Autumn was coining to 
Kir誰avarrin. Though the grass and foliage were still luxuriant, here and there 
among the trees I caught a glimpse of gold or red, sometimes a single leaf, 
sometimes a small branch, arrived early at the culminating glory of its season. 
How was it that the most perfect of seasons was the precursor to the cruelest? I 
hated winter. 
的s it your injuries kept you abed so late? Do you need Kasparian to tend you?・ 
The Madonai examined my clean clothing with an air of distaste, as if looking 
for fractured bones poking out or unseemly spots of leaking blood. 
Irritated by his rude inspection, I started walking again, though I soon found 
myself following his course instead of my own. 
添our remedies seem quite effective.・Indeed that was far short of the truth. I 
had dressed my wounds after leaving Nyel the previous afternoon, and when I 
examined them again upon rising, I found most were near healed already, only the 
most severe, the gashes in my thigh and shoulder, at all troublesome. 
鼎learly you are experienced in caring for yourself. When you didn稚 come down 
this morning, I sent Kasparian to make sure you had not died in your bed. He 
reported you still snoring.・He turned off the main path abruptly and led me into 
a rectangular enclosure bounded by tall hedges. In the center of the small patch 
of lawn sat a white-latticed arbor overgrown with trumpet vines. Though the 
grass and hedges and vines were still summer green, the yellow-orange trumpet 
blossoms were overblown, limp and wrinkled. 添esterday you seemed eager to learn 
more.・He motioned me to sit in one of three graceful white chairs set in the 
shade of the arbor. A small table sat in the middle, and on it were the game 
board and the black and white pieces. 
的 am certainly eager,・I said, 澱ut not so much as to rush forward completely 
unprepared. When gaming with a master, one should make no move without wits. I 
needed the sleep.・ 
徹f course. I want you to feel comfortable with your decision,・he said, easing 
himself into the chair opposite me. 典oday you値l just explore dreams. Not move 
into them. Not shape them. Only observe. That痴 what you want?・ 
I nodded. So much to learn. How did you follow the progress of a war through 
dreams? How did you find the dreamers you desired out of the countless souls in 
the world? How could you judge your timing and make sure you arrived at the 
critical points? And once those things were sure, whether traveling by my own 
power or by Nyel痴 grace, how would I decide where my help would make the most 
difference? 的致e a great number of questions,・I said. 
Without warning and without greeting to either of us, Kasparian strode into the 
garden and flopped his huge frame into the third chair. Sweat beaded his broad 
face, and fresh blood spattered his white hose. He had been sparring again. 
鏑et痴 have no questions right now,・said Nyel, his eyes not wavering from my face, 
ignoring the grim and graying Madonai as if he were nothing more than one of the 
rasp-voiced jays that had boldly moved from tree to grass to table, 
investigating us. 摘xperience the lesson, and then ask what you will. In your 
previous ventures, I have taken you into only one dream at a time. This time, 
you wish to see them all. Do you choose this freely?・ 
添es, of course.・ 
鄭ttend me well・ 
I gave myself willingly to the exercise, noticing, as the world began to slip 
away, that the season had begun to change in Nyel痴 eyes as well. Interlaced with 
the springlike glory of his youth and the summer痴 abundance of his care for me, 
I felt the thin steel edge of winter. Even one day removed from the events at 
Syra, my hasty decision suddenly seemed ill considered・until I closed my eyes at 
Nyel痴 bidding and discovered the world of dreams・ 
Chaos. Cricket痴 chirp・roar of forest痴 burning・the cracking of the earth痴 own 
heart・smearing scarlet, emerald, glaring yellows・sun scorching, exploding into a 
sky of fire, scalding ocean・soaring music, flutes and viols・mellanghar 
droning・birds・thousands screeching・sobbing・longing・Baking bread・roasting 
meat・Bells ringing, tolling・Storms・of biting sand・of crashing ocean and lowered 
sky・drenching torrents・Sweet skin・smooth・coarse, wrinkled・flaking away・yielding, 
rotting, punctured, bleeding flesh・The wild, eternal hunt・ galloping・slavering 
jaws・ripping teeth・wailing, nauseating, maddening・and falling, falling・Stabs of 
bitterness・roses, sweet hay・Despair, dread, soul-searing joy and terror・/em> 
鏑et go, boy! You do not have to experience each one. Hold back. Observe. Let 
them flow as they will, but not through you. Not unless you choose.・The dry 
voice was deep inside my head, its intimacy cutting through the clamor. 
Panting・gasping・chest constricted with pain, my overwrought heart was hammering 
to escape my ribs, lest it burst from incapacity. I was being swept along by 
currents of sensation, tumbling out of control, on the verge of weeping with the 
assault, choking, drowning. 
A firm hand grasped my own. 鄭nchor here. Control it. Take the time to clear your 
mind and look again.・ 
Desperately I sought refuge in sensory isolation預n exercise I had perfected in 
captivity. Only when I regained my composure did I release my senses, allowing 
them to function only as I commanded. Soon I was drifting in the teeming ocean 
of dreams, and then floating above it, able to watch the patterns forming and 
reforming themselves beneath the surface like reflections in a dark glass. 
釘etter?・ 
釘etter,・I whispered, in awe of what I could see in the dark, satiny swells: a 
man being chased by wolves・a woman exploring a tall house with no floors, only 
bare beams, unable to remember what she was searching for・a child tumbling off a 
horse・falling・falling, much farther than from saddle to earth・With no more than 
my desire, I traversed a wide swathe of ocean and viewed an endless variety of 
dreams. Lengthy stories and minute fragments, many of no more duration than a 
heartbeat. Only a few worth study at any one time. 
撤ause above one that interests you and reach beyond it, as if you were casting 
your net into the sea to catch up this vision. Draw your net together and 
explore the mind beyond it・shape the dreamer. When you are skilled, you will be 
able to see the dreamer痴 surroundings and circumstances, perhaps catch a glimpse 
of his life.・ 
These things were far more difficult than Nyel痴 vague instructions implied, even 
for one accustomed to walking the portals of human souls. By the time he had 
coaxed, advised, and taunted me into one small success幼onjuring the hazy 
impression of a grizzled donkey driver who plied the long and boring road from 
Vayapol to Karesh悠 felt as though I壇 fought another battle. 
摘nough for now,・said Nyel. 滴uman flesh is not capable of more. We can try again 
tomorrow.・ 
But I had no intention of stopping the lesson so soon. 鄭nother,・I said. 鄭nd, 
yes, I choose this freely.・Again, I flew over the patterns floating in the 
deeps. Three more dreamers came to life by my hand: a shepherd in a highland 
meadow, dreaming of a pliant village maid, a woman racked with nightmares of a 
monstrous birth, and a slave enduring another night of torment and loss. With 
the third I began to get the feel of space and time, the uneven texture of the 
deeps. I could touch the dreamers beyond the floating visions, and imagine that 
when I was truly proficient, I would be able to bypass the entangling dreams and 
see only the landscape beyond. 
By the fifth day of Nyel痴 instruction, I was in control. I could now see the 
human world spread out before me・distorted, obscured, dim, and colorless behind 
the vivid flotsam of visions, but enabling me to identify towns and cities and 
landmarks to locate my dreamers. Though Kasparian struck the spark, and Nyel 
worked the dream enchantment called vietto, I had learned to harness my own 
melydda to my efforts, sorting through the manic eddies of the dreamworld. And 
from the texture of dreams, I could discover the days and nights and seasons of 
the world, its plagues, famines, and battles, the nuances of pleasure or 
torment. 
On the tenth day Nyel taught me the art of shaping dreams・gathering the image 
and imposing my own design. 鄭lways with care,・he said, 吐or you are touching the 
soul as intimately as is possible for a mortal being.・As well we both knew. Why 
else was I sitting in his garden preparing to abandon my human self? 鏑ook 
here,・he said, 妬n this desert place I致e found a typical woman痴 dream, a mother痴 
dream・ 
Searching・searching・through the crowds that grow denser with every passing 
moment. Where is he? Lost・wandered away・Music playing across the field・pipe 
music that he loves. Hear the laughter・of course, it痴 he・unharmed, unafraid・ but 
all these people are crowding in between us・Push through. Hurry. The toothless 
beggar laughs at my plight・the old women pawing over dead things. 徹urs are long 
gone,・they say. 迭otted in the ground. Why should you have one living? Barren 
crow・losing the one given you.・/em> 
鼎hild! Come back to me!・Hurry. The music fades・Hurry! 
鉄o ease her search. You can do it. Part the crowd. See? Yes, that痴 it. You can 
get to the pipers first and hold the child for her, so he won稚 wander away・ 
The dark-haired child stands beside a cart, where, within a framed box, two 
dolls dance, moved by sticks held by the piper痴 wife. The boy stands on his toes 
to see. I gather the small body into my arms, lifting him onto my shoulders, so 
he can watch the dancing dolls. 
鼎hild, where are you?・The call comes from behind us, and I turn so the mother 
can see her boy safe on my shoulders. 
滴e痴 safe here with me,・I call, hoping to ease her worry. 的致e got him.・/em> 
I can稚 pick her out among the myriad faces of the crowd. Everyone looks worried 
and frantic, and there are so many・But as I wave a hand, trying to catch her 
eye, her voice screams out, 哲o! Not you!・/em> 
.. and the dream faded from the ocean. 
鉄ome human fears you cannot ease,・said Nyel, and we went on to another lesson. 
On the fourteenth day, I encountered Aleksander. 
I had been searching for my friends in the unsettled dreams of Azhakstan. They 
would have had to move away from Tafne Horet, regroup after the disaster; no 
matter how many Derzhi I had killed, simple reason said that the valleys were no 
longer safe. Others would have been told of the refuge in the desert. But 
neither Aleksander nor Blaise would wait too long to strike again. 
I drifted over the silken waters, observing the play of light and color and 
form. The landscape I explored was desert and night. So many dreams, fearful, 
anxious dreams葉he night before a battle. I paused. This one・how could I fail to 
recognize the soul where I had lived for three days so long ago? I bent down and 
touched the waters with my mind痴 finger, watching the ripples roll outward as I 
permitted my senses to embrace his dream. Galloping, racing・the choking sand 
billowing in waves, obscuring the quarry・only a white tail visible through the 
storm, braided as the Basrans braid their horses・tails. No glimpse of the 
rider・the child・too small to ride alone・too small to be lost in the 
desert・hurry・faster・dead men and women on every side・more and more of them・ From 
the paraivo emerges a stark image, a man hanging by his feet, rats feeding on 
his ripped belly as his body sways in the wind・his amber eyes alive・unable to 
scream, because of the red braid tied to his tongue. The biting sand becomes a 
hail of arrows・/em> 
・I知 coming!・My cry was unintended, but his fear was so great, his intent so 
unshakable・ 
哲o! You will not!・ 
Abruptly the visions fell away, leaving me hanging over the table heaving, as if 
my entrails had been drawn out through my eyes. A dull crash across from me was 
accompanied by the sound of splintering wood. 
的 gave you no leave to speak to him. I told you I would not send you to this 
charming beggar who uses you like the slave you were. What courage does he show, 
hiding his petty blood feuds behind a Madonai warrior?・ 
My eyes came into focus to see Nyel, red-faced, standing across from me. His 
white chair had toppled to the ground, cracking one of its delicate arms. 
的 was not going to him,・I said as soon as I recovered from the sudden change. 的f 
you remember, I don稚 know how as yet. And I intend to honor our bargain. But 
once changed, I will go.・Silly to leave these things unspoken. Nyel had won a 
great number of points, but the outcome of our joust was still in doubt. I could 
not waste time dissembling. 
的 have hopes your judgment will improve by the time you are Madonai.・ 
的n a few hours, I値l wish to return to the human world,・I said. 禅o a different 
dreamer, if you insist, but in the flesh as we agreed. I知 healed and rested, and 
they池e going to need me today.・Aleksander was not waiting until the refugees 
were settled, but was riding for Tanzire. A small target, but a symbol. Those 
who slaughtered Sovari, Malver, and W但ssani would recognize its meaning, would 
spread rumor throughout the Empire, all the way to Zhagad痴 palace. And I needed 
to be part of the talk, I knew. Lydia had told me how Edik feared the tale of 
the winged warrior more than anything葉he speculation that the gods protected 
Aleksander. Aleksander would need every advantage he could muster, even tales 
and rumors. 
滴ow can I send you to serve this human prince as I prepare to make you Madonai, 
your smallest finger worth more than the entirety of his life?・Nyel痴 trim gray 
beard quivered. 
的 do thank you for this gift,・I said. 的 wish I understood more of your aims. 
What am I that you should give so much to me?・The ever-present question. 
He didn稚 answer. Just turned his back and stomped away. 
Kasparian picked up the broken chair and slammed it upright. 添ou are in a combat 
above your head, boy,・he said through gritted teeth. 添ou, of all warriors, 
should know that any hold can easily be reversed.・He didn稚 elaborate, but 
crashed through the shrubbery and disappeared. Some unlucky opponent羊eal or 
illusory謡as going to suffer that afternoon. 
Nyel痴 fury was unsettling, evoking the memory of my own mad rages, like a scent 
or a taste can raise long-buried events. A potent reminder not to lose all 
caution. Yet I also chose to see it as a measure of his generosity in allowing 
me the freedom to act against his own desires. I was not deluded into thinking 
him entirely benevolent, but neither could I believe him insincere in his 
efforts to give me something magnificent. 
I could have explored the world of dreams for the next few hours, perhaps picked 
my dreamer and learned more of Aleksander痴 plan. But the exploration was itself 
exhausting, so that even if I had been in control of the event, I likely would 
have deferred my curiosity until I took flesh through the dream. Instead, I 
stood in the clear space of the tiny lawn and began the kyanar, stepping through 
the movements to prepare myself for battle. Slow. Focused. Calming. As long as I 
wore this human body, I would maintain the habits that had served me well. And 
when I shifted洋y skin prickled with anticipation, with hunger for the golden 
warmth and strength and the fiery melydda that would flood my veins悠, Seyonne, 
would remain in control. 
CHAPTER 36
Aleksander痴 face was ruddy in the firelight. 展e need a way to neutralize the 
watch and get through the gates. Our informants say the Bek lords are locked in 
the cellar of the guard tower near the northern gates. The southern gate tower 
is the stronger defense, and the barracks are right beside it, but they don稚 
want to parade the prisoners through the town once the gates are open tomorrow 
morning. Too easy for stray Bek warriors to disrupt the executions. So they致e 
made it easier for us. Once we池e through the gates, we can surprise the guards 
and, if we don稚 take too long about it, have the prisoners out before the next 
guard change. Then we値l join Terlach and Marouf to take Gan Hyffir. So・I 
understand that some of you have the talent to get inside, take down the watch, 
and get the gates open・is that right?・The Prince stood in the center of the 
small group, looking from one face to another as his fingers tapped the hilt of 
his sword. 典hat would make things a great deal easier.・ 
The ten men and women in the circle shifted uneasily and looked at Blaise, who 
was sitting on the sand, his right arm bound tightly to his chest. 徹rdinarily, 
that痴 my responsibility,・he said. 的 think I can濫 
的ndeed you cannot.・The woman came from out of the night behind the circle and 
handed Blaise a cup before sitting down beside him. Elinor. Her hair was braided 
and bound up around her head. The flames made her skin glow like burnished 
copper. 填nless some god has magically knit the bones in this arm, you池e not 
going to be able to fly or even defend yourself, much less take care of eight or 
ten Derzhi warriors. Someone else will have to do it. Gorrid, I know your 
easiest form is a zhaideg, but you致e shifted to birds before. Roche has never 
had success with birds, and Brynna is at Gan Hyffir.・ 
的 won稚,・said Gorrid, stretching out his legs, folding his arms across his chest, 
and leaning back against a saddle pack, as if to distance himself from the 
others in the huddled circle. 的 won稚 risk my neck for any thieving Derzhi 
nobles. Let them all hang.・ 
鄭s I said, I値l not hold it against anyone who wishes to stay behind,・said 
Aleksander. 釘ut the Bek are not your enemies. They are a family of great honor 
that does not deserve what痴 going to happen tomorrow. If we can set them free, 
they値l listen to what we have to say. And if we can give them back Gan Hyffir, 
they値l hold this region and bring others to our cause. You need to understand・ 
禅ell them,・I whispered as I elbowed my companion and shoved him out from behind 
the tent where we were crouched in the deepest shadows of the desert night. 
溺y lord Seyonne will open the gates of Tanzire,・said Feyd as he stepped into the 
circle of firelight. Eleven startled faces turned to the young man who bowed 
respectfully to Aleksander. 滴e would be very pleased if you will permit him to 
take on this duty, Aveddi.・ 
Aleksander痴 sharp gaze quickly searched the shadowed encampment. 鉄eyonne! I knew 
he壇 come. Where is he?・ 
滴e came to me this night・in a dream,・Feyd stammered, his ivory skin flaring deep 
red as everyone stared at him. The young Suzaini痴 broad chest was bare but for 
the strip of linen wrapped about his shoulder, covering the laceration in his 
back. In fact, other than the bandage and a great deal of curling black hair, he 
wore only the short, loose undergarment called 吐enzai.・Once recovered from his 
astonishment at finding me in his tent as well as his dream, and having listened 
carefully to what I required of him, Feyd had insisted on dragging me 
immediately to the meeting where the Aveddi and his leaders were finalizing the 
plan for that night痴 venture. He had been so eager to be of service, he had 
forgotten to put on his haffai, an excruciating oversight for a modest young 
Suzaini. 
鼎ame to you in a dream・is that possible? Has he been able to do this before?・ I 
could not see Elinor痴 expression, but her voice was troubled. 
哲ot to my knowledge,・said Aleksander. 釘ut now, I would swear I致e seen him 
in・Gods, who knows what痴 going on with the man? Tell us about him, Feyd.・ 
徹f course, Aveddi. I was dreaming of my father宥ossopar protect my sire on his 
mission this night預nd in this dream, as my good lord father chastised me for my 
wounding in our last battle, the Lord Seyonne prevented me setting my father痴 
beard on fire. The Lord Seyonne expressed to me his deepest regards, Aveddi, and 
his unyielding faith in you. And the same for Blaise and Mistress Elinor and all 
the company, and he assured me that he will stand with us in all our ventures as 
far as is possible for him to do.・ 
敵o back to bed, Feyd. You池e still asleep,・Farrol called. 添our father痴 beard is 
safe from you this night.・ 
A few others laughed with him. I壇 be happy for the sorcerer to come along, as 
long as I don稚 have to be too close to him・I dreamed of my mother-in-law last 
night. Will she be in Tanzire, too?・Saved my life at Andassar, and at least 
twice at Taine Horet・thankful he痴 with us・ 
滴ow can you speak lightly of this cursed Ezzarian?・Gorrid leaped up from the 
sand. 的f he does come, he値l likely slaughter more of us as well as our enemies. 
Do you so easily forget our brother Admet?・ 
The accusation hung in the air like smoke on a windless night. It was left to 
Blaise to answer. 的f Admet betrayed us at Syra, as Feyd claims濫 
鄭dmet could never betray us to the Derzhi. The traitor was someone else. Someone 
who loves them, who thinks Derzhi pigs can be 蘇onorable.・・Gorrid glared at 
Aleksander. 典his cursed godling Seyonne murdered Admet to hide the treachery, 
not to avenge it.・ 
添ou may accept my word as I have given it to this company,・said the Prince in 
the quiet voice that was his most dangerous, 登r you may challenge me as is the 
right of any man, but you will not impugn Seyonne痴 honor, nor use the incident 
to divide us. Whatever Seyonne did, he did with reason and justice. I will 
believe that until someone brings me clear evidence otherwise.・He beckoned Feyd 
closer to the fire and turned his back on Gorrid, as if daring the angry man to 
strike. 鼎ome, Feyd, where is Seyonne? I need to talk to him, to tell him our 
plan.・ 
Go on. Say it as I told you, lad. I pulled back behind the tent, leaned my head 
against the warm canvas, and listened. 
擢or the moment he chooses not to communicate with any human in the ordinary way, 
my lord. Even you should not expect it. But he says he will be with you and do 
whatever is needful.・ 
的 see.・A moment痴 pause and then I heard Aleksander pivot on his heel. 展ell, we 
must take him at his word, then, no matter how or when he chooses to speak it. 
Seyonne will open the gate. Roche, Petra, Cawsho, and Denys will come with me.・ 
溺ay I be permitted to ride with you also, my lord?・said Feyd nervously. 的 should 
be at the gate・at Tanzire・I believe・if you would allow me the honor.・ 
There was a brief silence. 的 heard good reports of you from Syra and Taine 
Horet. Your wound is not a problem?・ 
的t is well healed, Aveddi.・ 
鄭ll right. Ride with me. I need to learn more of you, I think.・Good. Aleksander 
was putting the pieces together at least a little. I wanted to keep Feyd at 
Aleksander痴 side. There seemed to be no strict limit on the distance allowed 
between me and my dreamer; we just grew increasingly anxious the farther we 
stretched our bond. If I was going to concentrate on my business, I needed him 
close. 
釘laise, you値l see to the reserves, then?・Aleksander was still at work. 
展e値l have five wait at the first break of the dunes in case you need help,・ said 
Blaise. 敵ar, Katya, Bertram, Yori, and myself. Farrol will lead the rest of the 
fighters straight to Gan Hyffir.・ 
添ou? I thought that was settled.・ 
的 promised Linnie I壇 go no farther than the dunes,・said Blaise, his unaccustomed 
grumbling attesting to the frustration of his injury. 徹ne of us should be there, 
just in case someone needs to get away in a hurry. I can do that much at least.・ 

Departing footsteps and side conversations told me that the group was breaking 
up. Aleksander continued to review his plans and would do so until they rode 
out. Every man and woman would know exactly what was expected in the coming 
hours, and Aleksander would know exactly what to expect of them. He was a 
masterful commander. 溺istress Elinor, I trust you to implement your arrangements 
for the horses.・ 
溺attei and Gerla have five extra horses fitted with weapons, water, and the 
clothing and banners you requested,・said Elinor. 典hey should have arrived at 
Tanzire just after the gates closed at sunset, and will be camped outside the 
walls with the other latecomers. The gate guards are very strict about the 
closing. Gerla grew up in Tanzire and knows the town, if you should have further 
need of her. They値l be expecting you at first watch, ready to see to your mounts 
as you go inside. If you致e nothing more for me tonight, I知 needed back in 
Zif但ker.・ 
徹f course. Thank you, Mistress. The boy is better?・ 
溺uch better. It was just a childhood fever.・ 
Fever. Evan. Say more. My mother had died of fever, and other people I壇 known in 
Ezzaria. Children. Were fevers not worse in children? But the stream of the 
night flowed onward. 
敵orrid!・The Prince called a little louder. 撤erhaps you could accompany Mistress 
Elinor back to Zif但ker. Capable though the lady be, two pair of arms and eyes 
are safer, and we cannot afford to lose either of you. Unless there is anything 
else・? Safe riding to all. May all of our gods stand with us in this night痴 
work.・ 
Shuffling footsteps approached my position葉wo men talking low. I ducked into 
Feyd痴 tent and awaited the young man痴 return, drawing darkness about myself in 
case Aleksander thought to poke his head in looking for me. Are you satisfied, 
old man? I知 hiding from him. Though perhaps it was as well we could not speak. I 
was confident in my decisions, but not yet ready to lay them out for scrutiny by 
those who could not possibly understand. 
And Evan・ill. I pictured him as I壇 last seen him, standing wide-eyed in the 
firelit circle of old Yulai痴 camp・running to safety in Elinor痴 arms. It was all 
I could do to refrain from following Elinor back to him. It痴 not the time, I 
told myself. Not yet. Someday. But if I were to be a Madonai・ what then・? 
A large body bulled through the small tent opening. 鏑ord Seyonne!・The 層hisper・ 
was loud enough to wake a tree. 
展ill you please lower your voice? No one is to know I知 here.・ 
典he Aveddi asked me privately of your whereabouts, just as you predicted. But I 
answered just as you told me. He didn稚 like it when I said you would accept no 
private messages from him. He was ready to walk away, but then he stopped and 
asked if you seemed 層ell・and 粗asy.・I said that you seemed quite healthy and had 
no particular difficulty with any matter that I could see, if that was what he 
meant by 粗asy.・My lord suggested that if you had made at least one bad joke in 
all your speaking, then such would signify that you were 粗asy,・and he wouldn稚 
worry so much about you. I thought for a moment, and then I described how you 
had said you threatened a number of times to haunt his dreams, but had decided 
that mine were 鼠ess pompous and more artful.・I wasn稚 sure this was what the 
Aveddi meant, but he laughed most robustly and seemed satisfied. Is this 
permissible to report, sir? Since he was addressing me and not sending any 
message to you, I thought it would be acceptable to repeat it in your 
hearing.・Feyd痴 pale bulk filled the dark tent, along with the smell of his dried 
sweat and the scented oil he used to curl his hair and beard. 
添es. It痴 all right.・Out of all expectation, wrapped up as I was in fear and 
mystery of such magnitude, I felt like laughing, too. But I had no wish to 
insult Feyd痴 zealous obedience. 典hank you, Feyd. Thank you very much. But no 
more. As of now, my words are only for you, and I must hear only your own 
thoughts and observations in return. It is a condition of my presence.・I had 
agreed to speak only with my dreamer and had already stretched the meaning of my 
vow. 
徹f course, my lord, I understand. Our holy god Gossopar went through many trials 
as he ascended to his power in Kalliapa Gran. He once had to remove every hair 
from his body with fire容ven that in the most private of his nether parts預nd stay 
smooth-shaven in that manner for a year. To be forbidden speech with one痴 
comrades, even in time of battle, is perhaps less torment, especially if you 
have the hair of a Suzai!・ 
的ndeed,・I said, no longer able to withhold a smile at my dreamer痴 earnest 
comforting. 典hough Ezzarians are notoriously sparse of hair, I would not welcome 
such a trial.・ 
However, I did not welcome this trial, either. Feyd excused himself from further 
conversation, as his custom was to offer prayers to his god as he arrayed 
himself for combat. And so I huddled in his tent and listened to the sounds of 
the outlaw band preparing for battle. Along with creaking leather and metallic 
echoes of blades and harness came the nervous laughter, the last reminders of 
position and tactics, quiet encouragement, the generous assurances of manhood 
and courage and faithfulness, shared solace over fallen comrades, all the human 
intercourse that was now forbidden me. A number of people passed along messages 
to be sent back to loved ones with Elinor, and I silently passed along my own. 
For you, my son. If I can do this thing・make the world whole and healthy for 
you・ Whatever is necessary to make it so, I will do. 
Heavy footsteps paused just on the other side of the tent wall. 
添our sister is right, you know,・said Aleksander quietly. 鉄tay out of action 
until you池e fully healed. Believe me, I understand how it leaves your gut in a 
tangle to stay behind.・ 
的致e never had to send them into this kind of danger without me.・ 
泥espite my multitudes of faults, which were duly noted and gossiped about, the 
courtiers in Zhagad forever praised me as bold and brave because I insisted on 
riding out with my warriors on a mission. They didn稚 understand that I took the 
easier path. We致e a long siege ahead, Blaise. You値l have more chances than you 
could ever want.・ 
典he gods ride with you this night, Lord Aleksander.・ 
的 wish I understood・Would you walk with me for a bit? I壇 like to know a little 
more about a few of the men. This man Feyd, for one・ 
I could have shifted form and gone with them to eavesdrop further on their 
conversation. But even such a one-sided 兎ntanglement・seemed a violation of the 
spirit of my agreement. A month or two, the Madonai had said, and then I could 
do as I wished. Until then, if the condition of my presence was isolation, so be 
it. 
In the months since our escape, the powerful Rhyzka heged had gotten their wish 
and moved one of their lower-ranked lords into Gan Hyffir, the last holding of 
the Bek heged. The Bek first lord, taking a lesson from the dreadful punishment 
wreaked upon the Naddasine, had not protested directly to Edik, but rather 
withdrawn into Tanzire. From a small town house he had tried to maintain his 
dignity, his tenants, and his purse strings by continuing to manage the Gan 
Hyffir farms and find markets for their wheat. He had proclaimed loudly that his 
generous Emperor, though desiring a well-made fortress for his powerful Rhyzka 
allies, could surely not have meant for either a Derzhi noble or his loyal 
tenants to starve. But old Bek痴 restraint had not saved him. The first lord, his 
three sons, and one son-in-law had been scheduled for execution, their women 
strongly encouraged to take poison. The Bek warriors remained quartered at Gan 
Hyffir, but were stripped of their yellow-and-blue Bek scarves and conscripted 
directly into the Emperor痴 service under Rhyzka command. Aleksander planned to 
change all that. 
When the Aveddi and his riders set out for Tanzire, I flew with them in falcon痴 
form, high above them in the moonless night, so that Aleksander would not guess 
that I had been in his camp. I would abide by the agreement. Indeed, 
self-isolation had served me well when I was a slave. But detachment did not 
require me to insult my friends. 
Blaise had us within sight of the walls of Tanzire a mere half hour after 
Aleksander痴 signal. I left the party then, and flew ahead to open the way. 
Tanzire slept. Perhaps my new-learned skill with dreams was what told me that it 
did not sleep peacefully. Sovari痴 bones no longer hung from the ramparts, nor 
were there any visible remains of W但ssani or Malver left upon the desolate land 
outside the walls, but I felt the three restless spirits close that night, and I 
had no doubt that Aleksander would feel them, also. 展e will remember you with 
more than blood,・I said as I perched upon the very post where the faithful guard 
captain had been so grotesquely displayed. 釘ut tonight blood will be paid.・I 
shifted to my true form, and, one by one, I settled silently behind each of the 
Rhyzka archers on the wall. I touched each man on the shoulder and let him turn 
and gape at my wings and golden light. Then I killed him, saying, 典his for the 
faithful Sovari,・or 典his for the noble Malver,・or 典his for the glorious 
W但ssani.・When all was done, I touched earth and unbarred the gates that I had 
loosened from the sand so many months ago. Without benefit of cranks or gears or 
even the wind, I shoved them open just enough to let the raiders in. 
Easy to see what had been planned for the lords of the Bek on the morrow. Across 
the wide expanse of the marketplace stood the ancient guard tower, and between 
the tower and the gates, five gibbets stood waiting. They occupied the very spot 
where W但ssani痴 wagon had been abandoned, and where we had fought our way out of 
the city to meet crushing defeat when we thought our victory won. I would allow 
no repetition of that horror on this night. 
Outside the walls was the motley sprawl that sprang up outside of any closed 
city. A few small fires marked the travelers・camp, and the quiet sounds of 
restless beasts and wakeful children hung in the still air. Two young merchants 
lounged by a muddy trough watering their string of horses. 
The stars slogged relentlessly along their night痴 path. Seven horsemen rode out 
of the desert, slowly, as if tired from long journeying. They merged easily into 
the drowsy camp, and soon the slight wrinkle their arrival caused in the fabric 
of the night was smoothed again. Only from my vantage could one see the seven 
dark-clad strangers slip through the open gates a short time later. They looked 
up as they passed below me, of course, and I raised my hand in greeting, but did 
not go down to meet them. 
I remained on the walls, making sure that no one came to close the gates, to 
replace the guard untimely in the mud-brick guard tower, or to bother the two 
young merchants who seemed to have acquired a few more beasts than they had 
brought to the watering trough. Only a suspicious eye would have remarked that 
the two had saddled the string of horses they壇 told their fellow travelers were 
to be up at auction the next morning. 
In less than half an hour, the first two raiders slipped out of the alleyway 
beside the guard tower. The rest soon followed, along with five new 
companions葉he freed prisoners. Almost done. But the group had only just passed 
the waiting gibbets when I heard urgent hoofbeats from the direction of the 
guard barracks. Another betrayal? More likely some signal not given, some report 
not made. Whatever the reason, we needed to be away. 
Sword drawn and ready, I shot downward and touched earth at the far edge of the 
marketplace, where the guardsmen would emerge from the dark street and into the 
open. Aleksander, who was bringing up the rear of the rescue party, left the 
others and hurried toward me across the expanse. 展hat are you doing?・I held up 
one hand to stop him and pointed my sword in the direction of the approaching 
danger. Though he could not yet have heard the horsemen, he reversed quickly in 
his tracks and called to the others, 迭un!・ 
He heard the pounding onslaught soon enough, as well as the terrified cries of 
townsmen who peeped out of their shutters and observed my blazing form as I 
raised a towering whirlwind of sand. Once I had the wind churning, I could not 
judge time, for I was fully occupied with some twenty Rhyzka warriors. 
How long to hold? I ducked a slashing blow from a Derzhi horseman and brought up 
my sword in a counter. Three, four blades at once. Long enough for them to get 
through the gates, onto the mounts that Mattei and Gerla have ready, and far 
enough away that pursuers won稚 know their direction. Not too long, though. I 
couldn稚 hold twenty indefinitely. 
But I got caught up in the battle, in the challenge of opposing so many. Each 
time a party threatened to break free of me, I lashed out with another blast of 
flaying wind and called down a rain of fire. The horses screamed and reared, and 
I laughed when I got them so tangled they could not pull away from each other. 
哲ot so fast!・I bellowed, and pounced on a determined warrior who was heading for 
the gates. I lifted him out of the saddle with one arm and threw him to the 
ground. Not gently. Ducking two blows, I stabbed upward to catch one of the 
attackers, yanked the other from his saddle by the leg, and managed to snatch a 
glance at the gates. No sign of my friends. The uncomfortable tightness in my 
chest told me that my dreamer was well out of the city. 
How long has it been ? A spear grazed my back in the sensitive area where my 
wing joined my flesh. Fortunately it did not penetrate deep, but only gouged a 
stinging hole and fell away. I spun in the air and saw three arrows, two spears, 
and at least ten blades headed my way. Long enough. Soaring upward, I pounded 
the gates shut with a final burst of enchantment. Then I abandoned Tanzire and 
sped through the desert night toward Aleksander and the besieged Bek fortress. 
CHAPTER 37
I had fought at Tanzire much longer than needed. By the time I made my way to 
the squat, cheerless fortress of Gan Hyffir, Aleksander had taken charge of the 
battle begun by Feyd痴 father Marouf and Terlach, the son of the Manganar king. 
Before the assault, Brynna, one of the demon-joined Ezzarians, had slipped 
unobserved into the fortress and opened the way for two more of Blaise痴 people. 
The three of them had made their way into the guard barracks and told the Bek 
warriors that a new leader from the desert預 Derzhi lord who was favored of the 
gods and was called the Aveddi, the Firstborn of Azhakstan謡as coming to reclaim 
Gan Hyffir and prevent the unjust execution of their lords. And so, at dawn, 
when the Manganar and Suzaini troops struck, the Bek rose up inside the fortress 
and threw open the gates. 
This is not to say the battle was easy. The Rhyzka were well disciplined and 
outnumbered us three to one. A determined troop of archers occupied the highest 
tower of the fortress and rained down death on our fighters. In the space of ten 
heartbeats three arrows narrowly missed Aleksander, who was riding back and 
forth along his front lines, trying to keep his inexperienced troops from 
falling back under the barrage. I took care of the problem. The archers were 
well protected by Rhyzka swordsmen, but it was only a matter of time and work to 
clean them out. 
Blood flowed freely that morning, but by the time the sun hung at its zenith, 
Aleksander was embracing the Bek first lord and his sons, and introducing them 
to the commanders who had retaken their stronghold. Together the Prince, Marouf, 
and Terlach ushered the Bek through the gates to the cheers of Bek warriors and 
the odd company of Manganar and Suzaini fighters and painted outlaws of the Yvor 
Lukash. The symbol of a flaming arrow, the Bek banner that Aleksander had 
brought as a gift to the beleaguered heged, flew once again on the ramparts of 
Gan Hyffir. Above it flew another banner. Many were asking whose crest was a 
woven pattern of gold, red, and yellow that looked like a sun rising over a 
field of golden grass. I knew, though I had seen it only in books of history and 
lore. It was the royal crest of Manganar. 
As my blood-fever cooled, I circled over the battlefield like one of the 
vultures, watching the victors care for their wounded, lay out the dead as their 
customs specified, and round up Rhyzka prisoners who knelt waiting, hands on 
heads. The fortress stood on a rugged hilltop, and the battle had spread over 
the flanks of the hill as the Bek drove the Rhyzka out of the castle and into 
Aleksander痴 arms. From the wide vantage of the cloudless sky, I glimpsed the 
flash of a raised weapon in the folded rocks at the base of the hill and heard a 
faint cry・and then another. No one else in the milling, exhausted aftermath of 
battle seemed to notice. 
I drew my sword once again, dived, and touched my bare feet to a shelf of warm 
sandstone. While one Derzhi stood guard, a second Derzhi raised his sword above 
the head of a kneeling Thrid. Three other men had already met the fate that 
awaited the captive. The two Derzhi wore the colors of the Rhyzka. I neither 
challenged nor warned the executioner, just knocked away the upraised sword and 
kicked him in the head, dropping him on his backside. A wave of my weapon 
discouraged the other warrior from making any move・or perhaps it was the sight 
of my wings unfurled or all the blood on my golden skin. The Thrid man looked 
up, trembling, and I jerked my head toward the fortress and the battlefield. He 
bowed, grabbed his horses, and ran. 
I had every intention of shepherding the two Derzhi back to the first Bek 
warrior I could find, but the one sitting on the ground, a thick-chested, 
youngish man with the puffy eyes, coarse skin, and red-veined nose of one much 
older, shot me a glance of such malevolence that it stopped me in midmotion. 
Though I was not threatened in the least by human hatred, his vicious demeanor 
caused me to look at him more closely. That痴 when I noticed his earring. Derzhi 
earrings often designated heged rank, the size, materials, design, and gemstones 
combining to allow easy distinction of a first, second, or third lord from a 
lowly tenth. We had heard that the Rhyzka sixth was the resident of Gan Hyffir, 
but this man was of much higher rank・the second lord of his heged. The second 
lord of the Rhyzka was the first lord痴 son, which meant his name would be 
Bohdan, the brute who had taken his ten-year-old bride named Nyamot and used her 
to death. 
We were likely a strange sight for those who stood on the battlefield or on the 
ramparts of Gan Hyffir葉he naked, blood-marked warrior with wings leading a man, 
also naked, by a neck halter. When he fell, I dragged him until he could get up 
again. It had been the hardest thing I壇 ever done to keep from mutilating him. I 
had stripped and bound him, my knife poised over the flaccid weapon he had used 
to murder a child. As is the way with brutes, his courage deserted him quickly, 
and he screamed and begged and wept. Mercy did not stay my blade. Rather this 
matter was so charged with significance that I could not deprive Aleksander of 
its resolution. 
And so I kicked and prodded Bohdan onward toward his proper judge. By the time 
we reached the fortress gate, an expectant crowd had gathered, including 
Aleksander and the Bek lords. I touched earth, forced Bohdan to his knees with a 
yank on the halter, and passed the rope to a puzzled Lord Sereg, the Bek fourth 
whom Aleksander had met in Tanzire. Then in Aleksander痴 hands I laid the Rhyzka 
tef-coat and the bloody earring I had ripped from Bohdan痴 head. 展hat痴 happening 
with you, Seyonne?・he said, studying my face. 展hat痴 all this?・ 
Without a word I summoned the wind and flew upward, circling about to hover over 
the Prince and his prisoner. Having no answer from me, Aleksander shifted his 
attention to what I壇 brought him. He touched the earring, and I saw the change 
when the understanding came. His fist clenched about the earring, and he raised 
it high with a blood-chilling cry of triumph. I did not stay to watch his 
resolution. I trusted him to act with wisdom・more than I trusted myself. And 
indeed, I had other matters on my mind. I returned to the battlefield. 
Feyd was walking beside his father as the Suzaini palatine spoke to his 
fighters, healthy and wounded, and heard each man痴 report of his role in the 
battle. The bearded noble berated each wounded man, encouraging him to combat 
the weakness that had led to his injuries and demonstrating his expectation that 
in the warrior痴 next trial, the man would strive to triumph over such 
imperfection. As the father and son walked away from a cluster of men who were 
preparing a dead fighter for burial, I touched earth and nodded respectfully to 
Marouf. 
溺y greetings to you, most holy one,・said the Suzaini noble, bowing deeply, his 
eyes flaming in wonder. 展hat service may I offer you?・ 
I did not answer, but only beckoned Feyd. 
滴onored father,・said the younger man, 杜y lord Seyonne has need of me. May I be 
excused from your side to accompany him?・ 
徹f course. Certainly. I am pleased that my son is of use to one so favored of 
the gods.・The palatine glanced from side to side as gawking fighters moved close 
to see and hear. His voice rose a bit louder. 滴oly warrior, you honor the house 
of Sabon and inflame the glory of Suza by choosing one of our own as your 
companion. For so long our history has been diminished・ 
滴orses,・I murmured to Feyd, and the young man scurried off as I heard out the 
nobleman痴 few moments of rhetoric. I was dreadfully impatient, but to listen 
respectfully was little enough to do for a proud people who, in the span of a 
few centuries, had been reduced to a caricature of themselves. Every Suzaini 
back grew a little straighter as Marouf spoke. 
When Feyd returned, mounted and leading an extra horse, I nodded wordlessly to 
Marouf and to the small crowd who had gathered. Then I gathered the wind and 
took wing, motioning Feyd to ride after me, thinking that to change to human 
form right then would diminish what small gift I had given the Suzaini. And 
though it precluded much conversation, once we were away, it just seemed easier 
to fly. 的 need to go to Zif但ker,・I called down to Feyd. 鏑ead me there.・ As in 
everything, Feyd did as I commanded. 
迭ide into the settlement and tell everyone the news of the raid,・I said, leaning 
heavily on a dusty lemon tree and looking down on Zif Aker, a dry little valley 
in southeastern Azhakstan that was Blaise痴 new hiding place. Shifting to human 
form when we had come within sight of the bleak encampment had been a mistake. 
My side ached fiercely, and every bone felt like lead. Clothes felt awkward and 
stiff. 典ake your time about it. Are you sure that痴 the right tent, the third 
from the end?・ 
的知 certain of it. And what shall I do once I致e told them of our victory?・ Feyd痴 
eager young face showed no lack of will, though he had dismounted slowly and 
lost his footing several times as we descended the steep hillside toward the 
lemon grove that overlooked the latest resting place of the refugees from Tame 
Keddar and Tame Horet. He was tired, too. 
敵o to bed,・I said. 添ou値l have done good service this day.・ 
添ou値l be gone when I wake tomorrow, won稚 you?・ 
I smiled and touched his broad shoulder. 徹nly for a while. Keep yourself safe, 
and I値l be here when you need me again.・ 
的致e no experience of sorcery, save this strange traveling with the good Blaise 
and his kind,・said Feyd. 展ill you ever explain this to me?・ 
I fixed my eyes on the small figures far below me, hurrying about their evening 
tasks in the dusky gold light. 哲o,・I said. 的 probably won稚. But don稚 think it 
any lack in you. I am very grateful for your companionship.・ 
禅o serve you is my honor, holy lord, and I could wish for no more.・His weary 
steps receded, back up the hill to where his horse was waiting. 
Holy lord・I wished they wouldn稚 call me that. Absentmindedly I rubbed at my 
leather vest, trying to ease the soreness in my shoulder and wishing I could 
reach the middle of my back where my shirt was sticking to the seeping spear 
gouge. One advantage of fighting naked遥our clothes couldn稚 irritate the 
injuries. I pulled off the vest, threw it on the ground, and tugged at my shirt 
until it came unstuck. 
About the time the sky had faded from bronze to deep gray-blue, I saw the 
shadowy horseman ride into the settlement, and the inevitable lamps and torches 
gather around him like fireflies about a rain puddle. I shifted to falcon痴 form, 
flew down the hill, and circled the crowd. A glimpse of the tall, slender woman 
near the center set me at ease. Soon thereafter, I pulled aside a flap of 
canvas, ducked my head, and walked into Elinor痴 tent. 
The space was not large, scarcely enough for two pallets, a pile of leather 
saddle packs, and a small wooden chest. A strip of leather brushed my face as I 
stepped in. High above the chest hung a flat tin plate with a candle set on it. 
The candlelight revealed a sword belt hung from the roof pole, sheath and weapon 
well out of reach of a small child. The child himself lay sleeping on the 
pallet, his dark lashes resting on rose-gold cheeks, one fist drawn up under his 
chin, the other clutching a threadbare blanket. Only when I passed my hand over 
his face to rest on his dark hair did I feel the soft stir of his breathing. He 
was warm with bed and blanket, but not fevered. I took a deep breath, as I had 
not since I壇 heard the word fever. 
A breeze found its way through the tent flap, causing the candle to flicker. I 
should leave before Elinor returned, but I could not will myself to move. So I 
sat beside the rumpled bed and watched my son sleep, trying to keep my thoughts 
at bay lest they somehow sully his innocent dreams. 
展hat痴 going on? Who are・ Seyonne!・ 
The exclamation jolted me out of that peaceful confusion that is just beyond 
thought, yet just short of sleep. I blinked in the sudden brightness. Feyd must 
have drawn out his storytelling, for on the tin plate hanging above the wooden 
chest, the gasping candle flame floated on a puddle of wax. The brighter light 
glared from a battered oil lamp in Elinor痴 hand. 
My hand still rested on Evan痴 head. Only as I felt Elinor痴 eyes on me did I 
notice the dried blood under my nails and in the creases of my skin. I quickly 
withdrew my hand. Was I forever to be steeped in blood when I encountered 
Elinor? 
展hat are you doing? Is he all right?・ 
Shaking my head and holding out empty hands, I stood up to go. I doubted Elinor 
truly wanted words from me, and even if I were permitted to speak, she would 
likely not believe the things I wished to say. And so I turned for one more 
look, a glimpse of beauty to fill my memory and of innocence to fill my soul, 
and then came near jumping out of my skin when a hand touched my back. 
添ou池e bleeding.・It was not quite an accusation. 
I shook my head again and waited for her to move out of the doorway. 
鏑et me look at it. The others will be back soon, and from what Feyd says, the 
healers will be busy.・She took down the tin plate, blew out the failing candle 
flame, and hung the lantern from the hook on the roof pole. 的 didn稚 know gods 
could bleed.・ 
What use was there to protest, even if I could do so without speaking? We had 
fought this battle already. And indeed my human flesh betrayed me. Even 
copper-colored Ezzarian skin would reveal such throbbing heat as I felt in my 
face. 
Evidently Elinor misinterpreted my heightened color. 鄭ll right, I知 sorry. That 
wasn稚 fair. I never know what to say to you, Seyonne. You frighten me・ This 
modest overture left me completely off guard, and so I did not resist when she 
took firm hold of my arm, spun me around, and pulled up my shirt. 套 and yet祐tars 
of night!・ 
Not a pleasant sight, I knew. Not with a raw, seeping wound right in the middle 
of a slave痴 legacy of scars. I quickly yanked the tail of my shirt down again, 
held up one hand to signify that she needn稚 say or do anything else, and with 
the other I moved her aside so I could get out of the suddenly sweltering tent. 
I did not meet her gaze, nor did I look over my shoulder to see if my back was 
truly on fire where her hand had so gently brushed my horrid skin. 
Somewhere between Elinor痴 tent and Feyd痴, the world went dark and disappeared. 
When I dragged my heavy eyes from the game board, Nyel and Kasparian had already 
moved to the far side of the room and stood talking quietly together. I did not 
wait to hear what they might have to say. Outside the wide-open doors, the moon 
was high, the night cool; the garden smelled of late summer herbs and drying 
leaves. Though I was physically tired, I had no desire to sleep. Food had been 
laid out on a table in Nyel痴 sitting room, but I wasn稚 hungry, either. I needed 
air, solitude, and time to think. 
I wandered down the gravel paths in the silver light and forced myself to go 
through it all again葉he reasons I had to undergo this change. I had eased 
Aleksander痴 dream-spoken fear by telling him that I would help him. And his 
chances of success were so slender, so impossible, that he needed every 
advantage I could bring him. Yet who could explain the consequences of even so 
benign an interference? What if my comfort had made him less cautious? What 
betrayal would he have felt, what loss, if I had failed to keep a promise so 
rashly given in the intimacy of his dream? And then there was the bloodshed. I 
had killed without remorse to protect those I loved, and would do so until they 
were safe. Truly I had no need to explore my reasons for accepting Nyel痴 gift of 
power; their safety was everything. But experience told me that the human world 
would never be perfectly safe. Would I ever be able to stop killing? 
Nyel was right to insist on my isolation. Already the power I held was immense 
and my hunger for it almost uncontrollable; even as I thought of it my breath 
came short and my body spasmed with the desire to shift, to shed my constricting 
clothes and feel the surge of melydda. Yet what dangers did I risk, tangling 
such power with love and anger and fear? And could I bear the cost? 
Yes, that was the difficulty. I had known every kind of pain of both body and 
mind, yet seldom had I felt such piercing hurt as I had just experienced. My 
back yet burned with the touch of Elinor痴 hand, a human hand that spoke more 
eloquently of kindness and forgiveness than any words. Was I willing to 
relinquish such contact? Could I do such a thing and remain whole? Perhaps this 
was the hard lesson Nyel was trying to teach me whenever his eyes filled with 
tears: that the price of power and destiny was certain to be pain and loss on a 
scale with his own. 
As I walked the paths of Nyel痴 garden, lost in such uncomfortable musings, I 
began to feel nauseated. At first I thought that fear and moral discomfort were 
upsetting my empty stomach and making my hands clammy. Or perhaps the illness 
was some delayed response to the night痴 hard fighting. When I began to feel 
dizzy and feverish as well, I thought the symptoms must be a reaction to the 
wound in my back. Maybe the injury was worse than I thought or the weapon had 
been tainted with poison. I decided to return to the castle. 
For the first time in an hour, I glanced up to get my bearings and realized that 
I was on the verge of walking straight into the wall, right at the point where a 
jagged line marked the crack in the stone facing. Though its position was 
correct and the shape of the inky crack familiar, the flaw appeared narrower 
than before, and the tracery of smaller lines extending from it no more than 
surface imperfections. Curious. But I could not pursue an investigation on this 
night. I felt near collapse. 
I reversed course and staggered toward the lights of the fortress, only to find 
the wave of sickness receding as quickly as it had come. By the time I reached 
the path that led to the steps, I felt hale again. Even the gouge in my back no 
longer nagged at me. I stopped for a moment and stared at my hands. Dry. Steady. 
In fact悠 stepped into the light and turned them over to be sure葉he scars on my 
hands had vanished, including the callused ridges about my wrists left by Derzhi 
slave rings. A quick examination told me that all my other scars remained where 
I expected them. But every mark on my hands was gone. 
I was still unsettled when Nyel walked out onto the broad porch. His straight, 
slender form was cast into silhouette by the brightly lit doorway behind him, 
leaving his features in darkness. Which face did he wear this night? His voice 
sounded youthful as he called, 鄭re you not tired, lad? Or hungry? Do you not 
need a bed after such a grueling adventure?・ 
的 don稚 want to sleep yet.・ 
典hen let痴 talk.・He walked down the steps past me and across a small lawn, 
settling onto a stone bench that overlooked a pond. On the still black water 
floated the yellowing leaves of pond lilies. Though his back was to me, I could 
hear the old sorcerer clearly. 典ell me about your son.・ 
A chill that was no remnant of my brief illness danced across my back. Why was I 
so sure Nyel wished me well? 溺y son is none of your concern.・ 
摘verything of your life is a concern to me. Did you think I didn稚 know of the 
child? I first learned of him when you lay dying, and now I致e seen him through 
your eyes. A beautiful boy. What hopes you must have for him. You need have no 
secrets from me.・ 
Easy for him to say, who had a treasure house of secrets. 撤erhaps I値l tell you 
of my son when you tell me of yours.・His son・his jailer. 
In the space of a heartbeat, winter settled on that autumn garden. In frigid 
silence Nyel rose and walked away, abandoning his questions and mine. 
CHAPTER 38
Over the next weeks I had no time to consider either the unsettling exchange 
with Nyel or the inner questioning that had preceded it. Nyel did not mention my 
son again and showed no further signs of displeasure. I continued my work with 
dreams, though only for an hour or two a day. Nyel said he needed time to 
prepare for the enchantments that would effect my change. He gave no hints as to 
the timing, method, or duration of that event, only promised once again that I 
would be given a choice at every step. Mundane occupations like eating and 
sleeping seemed to demand less and less of my time, but the hours were filled to 
bursting, nonetheless. Though he did not respond to my particular questions, 
Nyel made sure I did not lack for answers. 
He set me to reading his library of scrolls揺istories of the Madonai, their tales 
and poetry and learnings. Theirs had been a rich life, pondering the mysteries 
and beauties of the universe. A life of adventure, exploring their wide and 
varied world from mountaintop to ocean痴 depth, vying with wild creatures of 
varieties not known in my own world. A life of study, examining the growth and 
change of animals and plants, the marvels of weather and storm, the nature of 
color and art, the nuances of music and its effect upon the soul. Days of 
reading and I had touched but a particle in the vastness of their knowledge. 
In other hours, my mentor provided certain enchantments for me to try葉he 
simplest ones that did not require the full power of a Madonai. With Kasparian 
to initiate the working and Nyel to guide me, I spent one entire day exploring 
the world within a tree. Floating in the veins of life that threaded its body, I 
traveled from root to trunk to branch to stem to leaf. I walked the rings of 
growth that told its history, of years of drought and plentiful rain, of fire 
and storm and blight. Sitting within the green world of a single leaf, I 
experienced the pulsing, infinitesimal unfolding of its growing; I felt the sun痴 
hot caress upon my back and tasted the liquor of life. I emerged from the 
enchantment awed with its power, beauty, and mind-stretching understanding. The 
smell, the taste, the feel of that tree, the life that set it apart from every 
other, had become such an intimate part of me that I could truthfully say, I am 
oak・ this one of all oaks in all worlds. I could have spoken its name if tongue 
and lips could have articulated such a word. 
展as it well-done?・said Nyel, his gray brows knitted together, his old young eyes 
probing as I sat on the grass under the canopy of that tree, lit by the 
double-sized moon. 的 cannot follow you into these places as I can through the 
dreams. Such workings are forbidden me.・Forbidden傭ecause his name had been taken 
away, the conduit of the soul that enabled the use of power. A dreadful thing, 
to strip a man of his name, so that even those who knew him would forget, all 
encounters and relationships fading like dew at noonday. When the person died, 
all trace of his existence would die with him, wiped from the scrolls of history 
as if he had never been. 
展ell-done. Very well,・I said. 哲o matter what else happens between us, Nyel, I 
thank you for this. I never imagined・ 
禅o experience the infinite varieties of life・yes, I thought you壇 like that. 
Every journey such a wonder. Beauty and complexity to grow the mind and enlarge 
the soul. And all of it waiting for you,・he said, smiling, the first genuine 
pleasure I had seen in him since my return to Kir誰avarrin. 祢 can teach you a 
thousand more such workings. I致e waited so long to share them with you.・ 
As in our first encounter, his smile transformed him. But unlike the first time, 
I did not drop my eyes. Rather I tried to probe that figure of beauty and wisdom 
and power much as I had explored the oak, to travel the paths of his thoughts, 
to unravel the mysteries of his intentions. But I had not the power, and the 
vision soon faded. Nyel was but a lean, gray-haired man with marvelous eyes, 
eyes that were filled with kindness and love and long-held sorrow. 
I told myself that he was mad, and so these things I felt from him were surely 
some false creation. But I was a Warden, trained to see and feel the truth 
within the soul, and he was not false. Everything he expressed was reflected in 
me, as if I were a mirror of his heart. And so I was forced back to the 
question. 哲yel, please tell me why I知 here. Why me?・ 
His smile vanished, and he would not answer. 
Every few days, between my studies and enchantments, I would traverse the ocean 
of dreams and return to Aleksander by way of my dreamer. The Bek rescue and Gan 
Hyffir raid had been successful, a needed victory, a tale that would take on its 
own life and spread throughout the Empire. The Prince had sent Bohdan to Edik 
just as I had delivered him, naked and bound. At risk of their own lives, four 
warriors of the Bek had pledged to throw the brute at the Emperor痴 feet, leaving 
Edik with a cruel dilemma. Would he give Bohdan up to the Hamraschi, risking his 
alliance with the powerful Rhyzka, or would he refuse his Hamrasch allies their 
blood price, risking the same vengeance that had fallen on Aleksander? Along 
with Bohdan, the Bek warriors presented Edik with one more gift預 falcon痴 
feather. No one in Zhagad would fail to know its meaning. The Denischkar falcon 
was in flight. Aleksander was coming. 
Gan Hyffir was a foothold, but a precarious one, and its winning left Aleksander 
with his own dilemma. The battles at Syra, Tame Horet, and Gan Hyffir had cost 
him no less than fifty of his best fighters, as well as more than a hundred and 
fifty others dead. Though the Bek were a valuable ally, they brought no more 
warriors to Aleksander痴 side, for the small Derzhi house had agreed to take on 
the difficult task of retaking northern Manganar, with the understanding that 
they were to train Yulai and Terlach痴 Manganar troops to fight beside them. They 
would need every man they could muster to withstand the Rhyzka, not to mention 
whatever retribution Edik sent from Zhagad. Unless he found more fighters 
quickly, Aleksander would run out of soldiers with his war scarcely begun. 
The answer was Blaise. Aleksander asked the shapeshifter to take on the task of 
recruiting fighters to the cause. The move was brilliant. Blaise痴 strength had 
always been his passion and commitment rather than his sword arm or his 
strategies, and now he carried word to the Manganar and Suzai and Thrid that the 
Aveddi had raised the banner of their lost realms and fought shoulder to 
shoulder with their own lords. Over the next weeks, as I watched the ragtag 
bands of ironmongers and shepherds, drovers and farm girls arrive in Zif・Aker, 
all of them both terrified and determined, I knew that Blaise had found his 
proper calling. 
As for more skilled recruits, the Prince devised a plan for that, too. Lord 
Sereg, the well-spoken and intelligent Bek fourth lord, had chosen to remain 
with Aleksander. Before many days had passed, Sereg and Roche were off to speak 
to the Mardek in Karn辿egeth, to the Fozhet in Vayapol, and to the other minor 
houses who had promised to support Aleksander if he could prove that anyone else 
was with him. Sereg himself would stand as the proof, while carrying the message 
that Aleksander was fighting not for the throne of the Derzhi Empire, but for a 
newly forming vision of the world. 
While Blaise and Sereg expanded his army, Aleksander took up raiding again, 
causing Derzhi nobles and their henchmen many a nervous night. Everything he 
knew of politics and grievance throughout the Empire he used to choose his 
objectives. We kidnapped tax collectors, not the cruelest of their ilk, but ones 
who could be convinced by fright, mystery, and a touch of royal persuasion to 
forego their exorbitant overcollection, thus easing the burdens that caused 
local merchants to starve out their poorest customers. Rather than attacking 
individual slave caravans, we hit the three trading centers in the desert that 
spawned them, thereby disrupting the vile traffic between the more recently 
conquered territories and the heart of the Empire. We raided a Veshtar camp 
where spies had reported the sons and daughters of the Naddasine were kept in 
cages. From my perch on a spit of rock overlooking the bloody remnants of that 
battle, I watched Aleksander oversee the release of two hundred slaves, offering 
his own hand to gaunt scarecrows who could scarcely move and his own waterskin 
to walking corpses half mad with thirst. Secret grain stores, disputed lands, an 
armory owned by a divided family, a horse merchant hoarding prize breeding 
stock・all the tenderest spots in the Empire were ripe targets. 
I joined the raiders on most of these ventures. Whenever I traveled in the 
dreamworld and sensed a raid was imminent, I asked Nyel to send me to Feyd. The 
Madonai always resisted my petition, insisting that I wait until I took my 
菟roper form・to reduce my chance of injury. 的s this foolish path your free 
choice,・he would say, 登r is this more piteous begging from this human princelet 
who cares naught for your wounding? Wait but a little while, and you will be 
stronger than you can imagine.・ 
添es, this is my choice. I accept the risk, because the risk of not going is far 
worse.・ 
No matter how I wheedled, coaxed, or railed at him, Nyel refused to tell me when 
or how my change would come about. He would not 都oothe the impatience of a 
short-lived species・by rushing a working of such complexity. And so I buried 
cravings and curiosity by continual work to increase my imperfect strength and 
power. 
At no time in those long months did I speak to any human but Feyd. Though I 
assumed such restraint would be difficult, I soon became accustomed to it. My 
dreamer would tell me the night痴 plan and, if there was clear need of my skills 
in some part of it, I would dispatch him to Aleksander with my intent to take on 
the task. Otherwise, I would appear at the scene unannounced and do whatever was 
needed most, sometimes ensuring the victory, sometimes holding back the enemy so 
that the Prince and his fighters could escape, for by no means did they win 
every skirmish. With my help, they avoided the most severe consequences of 
defeat. No matter Nyel痴 constant opposition or my own growing impatience with 
the war, I could not abandon my friends. 
I was sorely tempted to find a dreamer in Zhagad itself and take down Edik or 
the lords of the Twenty to speed the progress of events. But my place was at 
Aleksander痴 side. My Warden痴 oath, that human-wrought fetter still fixed at the 
core of my being, bound me to protect and nurture one who bore the gods・ mark, 
and so I would do until my last breath. 
At first Aleksander questioned Feyd about me and tried to send me messages along 
with his plans. Whenever I appeared at his side, he would grin and raise his 
eyebrows as he had always done when trying to probe my private mysteries. But as 
the weeks passed and I remained aloof, he gave up trying to bridge the distance 
between us. If circumstance permitted, he would greet me with a slight bow. No 
smile. No greeting. No expectations. Soon, even the bow became less frequent. My 
presence was appreciated as happy chance, like good weather or favorable 
terrain, but Aleksander no longer tried to direct my actions or outguess me, any 
more than he could manipulate wind or desert. I felt a certain freedom, no 
longer bearing the burden of his concern and curiosity. And if I felt a faint 
twinge of regret as he laughed with Farrol or huddled with Elinor and his 
commanders over a map, I promised myself that everything would be different as 
soon as Nyel got on with his business. Meanwhile my power grew, as did my 
craving for it. 
When not fighting or studying, I walked and ran and climbed the mountain path, 
trying to keep my body loose and take my mind off my compulsion to shift. On one 
day almost four months from my arrival in Kir誰avarrin, I glimpsed Kasparian 
hurrying through the passageways and followed him. His dour expression told me 
he was off to practice his fighting again. 
滴ave you some dry place to work?・I said, matching his long strides. 的 could use 
some exercise.・The weather had turned foul a few days before, Aleksander had not 
needed me, and after enduring two rainy days of idleness, I was ready to tear 
down the castle with my teeth. 
After a dark stare that clearly indicated he would prefer to use me for his day痴 
victim, he said, 鼎ome along if you will.・He hurried down the broad stair deep 
into the bowels of the castle, halting at the arched doorway where I壇 found him 
on my first day in Tyrrad Nor. The door opened onto a cavernous darkness. A wave 
of his hand lit fifty torches, revealing a long, narrow room so vast the 
Frythians could hold their famous jousting tourneys inside it. The low ceiling 
was supported by ranks of stone arches that ran the length of the room on right 
and left, further narrowing the space. At the far end was a long bench with a 
variety of weaponry laid out on it耀words, knives, and spears of various weights 
and edges, bows, arrows, and lances, quarter- staves, cudgels, and whips, and 
every variety of shield and protective clothing. A well-stocked armory for a man 
who had no opponents save illusions. 
溺adonai were not always a peaceful race,・he said, as if he壇 heard my unspoken 
questions. 展e grew beyond it, but some of us chose not to lose the skills. There 
were always beasts to deal with, many of far more sophistication than those of 
your world.・As Kasparian arrayed himself in leather armor and whetted the edge 
of a massive broadsword, he told me Madonai stories that I had not found in 
Nyel痴 library, of wild hunts and armies of beasts, of manlike creatures who 
drank blood, of creatures of fire whose touch incinerated the soul. 哲ow I pursue 
only one quarry,・he said. 
A surge of enchantment and we stood in a field of tall grass extending to right 
and left and before us in gentle dips and swales to a distant horizon. White-hot 
sun glared from a silvered sky. Astonished, I whirled about and found the 
columned room still stretched out behind me, though its angles were skewed, its 
edges blurred like the portals of my demon warding. Five armored figures took 
shape between me and the chamber doorway. 
的 would advise you to arm yourself or hide until I have them all occupied,・ said 
the Madonai. 
Stepping backward from the severe landscape, I felt the shift from hot, dry wind 
to cool stone and hard floor. I lifted a leather vest down from a hook on the 
wall, hefted a few of the weapons, and started to buckle a scabbard about my 
waist. But Kasparian痴 stories had taken my mind elsewhere. I had no desire to 
join his battle. I saw enough true killing. 
So, as the five warriors spread out and moved toward the sunlight and Kasparian, 
I slipped into a deep corner of the shadowed colonnade, intending to take my 
leave of the arena. Kasparian went on the attack, moving faster than any 
two-legged creature I had ever seen. By the time I set out for the doors, I had 
to step over one of his opponents who had crawled under the colonnade after a 
blow to its belly had all but ripped it in two. 
溺ercy・ I was halfway to the door when I heard the agonized whisper, almost 
drowned out by shouts and the clash of swords. Back in the darkness, the still 
form lay curled about its grotesque wounding. What illusion was so real as to 
beg release when out of the earshot of its creator? 
I hurried back to the fallen warrior and dropped to my knees. 展ho are you?・ I 
said, tugging at the leather helm. 展hat are you?・ 
Fair hair, drenched with sweat, spilled over my hands, and the movement must 
have jarred him from the brink of death, for he spasmed and groaned, throttling 
a scream. 
敵ods, I知 sorry.・I brushed the hair back from his pain- ravaged face and my mouth 
fell open in horrified astonishment. 適ryddon?・ 
The rai-kirah痴 fading blue eyes widened for a brief moment, and he struggled to 
speak. 擢riend Seyonne, noble Denas・ With impossible strength his hand gripped my 
shirt and dragged my face down to his. Blood bubbled from his lips. 鉄ave 
yourself. Go to the Lady. We池e dying・ 
Before I could question him, his hand fell away, and I felt the unsettling jolt 
in the universe that always resulted from a rai-kirah痴 death. What was happening 
outside the black wall? How did Kryddon happen to be caught up in Kasparian痴 
enchantments? I had believed that Nyel was taking power from the rai-kirah in 
Kir誰avarrin through their dreams. Were Kasparian痴 morbid entertainments 
involved, too? And who was Kryddon痴 鏑ady・ Was it possible she wore green and 
lived in the gamarand wood? But I had no opportunity to ask my questions, for 
Kasparian settled in for a long night of sparring, and Nyel was nowhere to be 
found. Nyel allowed no talk before our scheduled hour of dream work in the 
mornings, but I vowed to get answers right after. 
On the next morning, however, my intention came to naught. Human dreams told me 
that serious plans were afoot in Aleksander痴 war, and so I stepped into the 
human world instead. 
CHAPTER 39
典he Aveddi says that he will set his foot in every captive land before he goes 
to Zhagad,・said Feyd that night as we sat on a windswept knoll overlooking 
Aleksander痴 base camp, 殿nd he will raise the banner of that land and see its 
rightful defenders given the chance to hold it.・As had become their habit for 
larger or more intricate operations, Aleksander痴 troops had made a staging camp 
close to their target to rest their horses and snatch some sleep before making 
their assault. This gave the joined Ezzarians time to bring more fighters from 
the growing number of camps scattered through the Empire. With Blaise traveling 
the Empire spreading news of the Aveddi, and Roche taking Sereg out among the 
Derzhi, only Gorrid, Brynna, and Farrol were left to guide Aleksander and all 
his fighters. To everyone痴 surprise, including his, Farrol had become 
Aleksander痴 right hand, learning the art of command from the Derzhi he had once 
despised. 
展hy venture this now?・I said, puzzling yet again over Aleksander痴 choice of 
Parassa. The heart of ancient Suza had died on the long-ago day of the Derzhi 
conquest, when all its residents had been killed or enslaved and the last 
stronghold of the Suzai palatinate razed. But the city痴 situation on the eastern 
flanks of Azhakstan, where the wide and shallow Volaya River created a 
ten-league-wide strip of fertile ground stretching all the way from the northern 
mountains to the oceans beyond the eastern wild lands, was too valuable to lie 
fallow. A new city had grown up from the ruins. 禅hough I know he wants to give 
your people this gift, it will cost him dearly. Even more when he has to leave 
your father and his men to hold it.・ 
Feyd offered me a portion of the dried meat he had pulled from his saddle pack. 
I shook my head. I hadn稚 eaten in three days, but I wasn稚 hungry. It didn稚 seem 
strange anymore, just as I no longer kept count of the scars that vanished after 
each of my forays through the portal of dreams. Something about changing back 
and forth to my Madonai form was eliminating them, I supposed. Only the two葉he 
slave scar on my face and the knife scar in my side謡ere ever visible on my true 
form, and apparently my human flesh would soon be the same. Good riddance to all 
such annoyances. 
的t was a sudden thing,・Feyd said, wrenching a bite from the leathery strip and 
chewing it slowly. 展e were going to take the water sources near Karn辿egeth. The 
Aveddi thinks the Fontezhi might put a stranglehold on the water in retaliation 
for our attack on their grain stores. But then, two days ago, Roche brought Lord 
Sereg back to Zif但ker, and they conferred with the Aveddi and Farrol for an 
hour, and immediately the Aveddi changed our plans. He said that a new garrison 
was being sent from Zhagad, and the commander was bringing orders to burn out 
the entire lower city without warning the people who live there. The Emperor 
commands a new racing drome be built on the site for horse races and such like. 
But everyone knows that Parassa has been fertile ground for the Yvor Lukash and 
his message. The Emperor wants to punish any city that sends us fighters.・ 
釘ut these things are happening everywhere. Why start with Parassa? Why risk so 
much and with such a sketchy plan just when he痴 building his ring around 
Zhagad?・I peered down at the quiet camp. No fires cheered the night; only a few 
lanterns and the brilliance of a half-grown moon revealed the dark forms of some 
seventy men and women along with their horses. Some of the raiders were asleep, 
some in quiet conversation. Every once in a while, someone would stare up at 
where we sat. I had already shifted and so was easily visible at the top of the 
hill. I could watch more effectively and think so much more clearly in my 
Madonai form. But on this particular night, my attention would not stay on the 
watch. The image of Kryddon痴 anguish would not leave me, and I felt uneasy and 
angry and irritated at everyone湧yel, Aleksander, and even Feyd, who seemed more 
and more timid every time I came to him. I was sick of fighting, yet I could 
scarcely hold back from flying over the next ridge to Parassa and destroying the 
fools who ruled it. Short of such immediate release, I wished that I could 
understand Aleksander痴 reasoning. Why didn稚 he hit the fresh troops the moment 
the old garrison had gone? Had anyone thought to warn the people of Parassa? 鄭re 
you sure you致e been told everything?・ 
Feyd痴 mouth was still full of meat, and he swallowed hurriedly. 禅he Aveddi says 
that secrecy is paramount on this mission. 
That痴 why he brought so few fighters and why he will give detailed orders only 
as we proceed.・He raised his strip of meat to his mouth again, but lowered it 
without taking a bite, wrinkling his brow and fixing his eyes on the ground. 
葱nowing that I speak with you, the Aveddi has been most careful that I am given 
all the information that our commanders are given. Everyone knows that I am 
privileged far beyond my unworthy fighting skills. Sometimes my father is not 
told so much.・He wiped his mouth and offered me his waterskin, but I shook my 
head again. 乃hey treat me as if I am a priest.・ 
My attention had been fixed on the camp for the past hour, as if I could wring 
Aleksander痴 thoughts out of the night. But the wistful strain in Feyd痴 words 
forced me to attend the young noble at my side. My gold light reflected in his 
eyes and made the silver beads woven into his hair and beard shine庸ull regalia 
for a son of Suza come to fight for his homeland. Weeks had passed since I壇 even 
considered his odd position. 展ould you like me to find someone else, Feyd? I 
know it痴 not easy being set apart from your comrades. I致e never asked you濫 
徹h no, holy lord!・His ivory skin flushed, and his dark eyes grew wide. 的 am 
honored to be in your service. Privileged beyond all men. Every day I thank holy 
Gossopar for sending you to our aid, and I pray him to lift this darkness from 
you and draw you into the light at his side.・ 
典his 租arkness・ Why do you say that?・I was on my feet without knowing how I got 
there, yelling at my dreamer, though his words were all innocence and my sudden 
fury unreasonable. Insolent beggar. 的 am not the one of darkness! I make my own 
choices and will always濫 
撤ardon, my lord.・Feyd threw himself prostrate at my feet, which only served to 
infuriate me the more. 撤lease, holy lord, forgive my foolish tongue. I am but an 
ignorant man, unworthy to consider the workings of the gods. Chastise me as you 
will for my offense.・ 
展hy do you speak of gods and darkness? Tell me what you mean.・The fighters in 
the camp likely heard my bellowing, as the day痴 disquiet came boiling out of me. 
鄭nswer me!・ 
Feyd spoke in a tremulous whisper. 釘ecause you are with us through the night, 
holy one, coming always with the close of day. You live in my dreams; I feel you 
there・see you there, majestic in your fortress in the realm of night, even when 
you choose not to manifest yourself to me in flesh. And even when your presence 
in our world lingers into daylight, the night enfolds you. This dark burden of 
your trial, of your sorrow that even the Aveddi himself does not understand, 
cloaks your deeds in terror as if your glorious light is but a deeper darkness. 
Forgive me, holy lord. Clearly I am wrongheaded and see falsely.・ 
I fought for control, barely restraining my hand that was raised to strike him 
for his mewling cowardice・for his fear. Why should he fear me? I was not his 
enemy. And, of course, even as I voiced that claim, the absurdity of my upraised 
hand with angry flames shooting from the fingertips was not lost on me. 展hat do 
you see in your dreams that makes you fear me?・I asked, forcing my hands 
together behind my back. 的 fight at your side. I shed my own blood in your cause 
just as you do. Tell me, Feyd.・ 
Though his words were muffled by the ground, each sounded clearly like a lash 
striking flesh. 添ou stand upon the ramparts of a mountain fortress, holy lord. 
Always it is night, and the wind lifts your black cloak and fills your wings. 
But in my dream they are not wings of light, holy one, and your face is 
terrible, as when you are in battle. Please forgive me, lord・ 
Of course. I should have expected nothing else. Hating・despising・my own fears 
that were exposed by the young man痴 honesty, I nudged him gently with my foot. I 
held my voice quiet. 擢eyd, stand up. Now. Come on.・ 
Slowly, trembling, the young man got to his feet, his eyes cast down. 
I spoke a word of enchantment, waited a moment, and then lifted his chin. His 
eyes were closed. 鏑ook at me, Feyd. Come, look at me.・ 
Reluctantly, he raised his eyes, which now reflected only moonlight, no Madonai 
brilliance. 
的 am a man, Feyd. A sorcerer, not a god. I am not holy. Far from it. Truly I 
need whatever help I can get, whether Gossopar痴 or that of a brave Suzai warrior 
whose fighting skills are not at all unworthy. But neither do I come from the 
darkness.・ 
徹f course, ho・Of course.・His eyes fell to the earth again, and he did not raise 
them as we sat down on the grass, and I took up my watch. Neither of us spoke 
again. 
When I saw the stirring in the camp below us and heard Aleksander痴 command, I 
shifted back to my Madonai form, uneasy with it as I had never been. Feyd bowed 
to me and mounted his horse, ready to follow Aleksander into battle. 
敵o with Gossopar, my friend,・I called after him. 
鄭nd you, holy one,・he whispered. Perhaps he thought I couldn稚 hear him. 
To survive this night we were going to need Gossopar and any other god that 
might be available. Parassa had a Derzhi governor, usually a low-ranking noble 
of a major house, and a garrison of a three hundred Derzhi warriors. When 
assigned to Parassa, the governor would bring a small troop of personal warriors 
of his own house, but the responsibility of the city garrison rotated through 
the hegeds every half year, as Parassa was considered an immensely undesirable 
posting. Though prosperous, the town was of little strategic importance, located 
far from the frontiers and on only one minor trade route. And the Suzaini had 
been pacified for so long and were so widely dispersed throughout the Empire, 
rebellion was of little concern. No glory could be found in Parassa, and no 
amusement in a dull farming town so remote from court life. 
Though the garrison numbered only three hundred and the governor痴 party perhaps 
fifty more, Aleksander was mad to think he could stop the burning, much less 
hold the city afterward, with only Marouf, his forty eager Suzaini fighters, and 
thirty Thrid. Perched atop a ruined watchtower and looking down on the dark city 
as Aleksander revealed his plan to his commanders, I was even more convinced of 
his foolishness. 
展e take the citadel first,・said the Prince, pacing briskly in front of Marouf, 
Feyd, Farrol, Gorrid, D担kaya, the tattooed Thrid woman who had developed into a 
formidable commander, and two men I didn稚 know. 徹nly the governor and his 
personal troop occupy the citadel tonight. The governor will give the signal to 
begin the burning as soon as he hears that all is ready. The garrison is to be 
deployed about the entire lower city, so they池e spread thin・and we値l make sure 
the governor痴 signal is never given. Marouf and I will take the front gates of 
the citadel, just as at Gan Hyffir. Once the alarm is sounded, D担kaya will give 
the defenders just enough time to surge to the front gate, and then she値l hit 
them from the rear. Hardile, you and Soro will follow me. Farrol will hold the 
reserve, twelve men, at the customs house halfway between the citadel and the 
lower city曜ust in case someone from the garrison decides to break discipline and 
ride to the governor痴 defense. Gorrid will patrol the citadel periphery to 
intercept any messengers trying to sneak out.・ 
Though temporarily in falcon痴 form so I could listen without detection, I had a 
clear view of our dilemma. Parassa was not a closed city, so the gates were no 
obstacle. Kill a few guards and we were in. But the governor痴 citadel was at one 
end of the city, high on a bluff, far from the smells and diseases of the river, 
while the lower city that we had come to protect was sprawled for half a league 
along the waterfront, separated from the more prosperous quarters by a narrow 
finger of the river. To bottle up the governor and his guardsmen while 
preventing the garrison from torching the poor quarters would require splitting 
Aleksander痴 troop into two pitifully inadequate forces. Even with my increased 
strength and melydda, I could accomplish neither task alone. Surely Aleksander 
knew that. 
徹nce we致e taken the citadel,・Aleksander continued, 努e値l join Farrol and use the 
customs house for our base as we deal with the garrison. Handling the garrison 
warriors will be easier than you believe. Remember, they池e likely uncomfortable 
with what they致e been told to do. Just stay alert and follow my lead. Remember 
that if anything happens to me, Farrol will be in command.・ He stopped and faced 
each one of his commanders. 適ill no one and allow your fighters to kill no one 
who does not challenge you. Is that clear? Swear to me that you understand 
this.・ 
All of them swore as he asked, and with handclasps and shoulder grips and wishes 
of good fortune, they mounted up and headed back to their waiting fighters. 
Aleksander was the last to go, perhaps because Feyd was waiting beside his 
horse. 鄭veddi, if I might・ 
Aleksander looked down at the earnest young Suzaini. 滴e is here tonight?・ 
的ndeed, my lord, I believe he is.・ 
敵ods, Feyd, convince him to talk to me. I need to explain all this. Some matters 
are too dangerous for anyone容ven you葉o know.・ 
Feyd answered as I had instructed him. 滴e chooses not, my lord, and this will 
not change for a time yet. But if you tell me what part you need him to play 
this night濫 
的 need him not to slaughter every blighted warrior that holds a sword! I need 
Seyonne痴 eyes and Seyonne痴 wisdom. That痴 what I need. Tell him that. Otherwise 
he can fly off somewhere else and do as he damned well pleases.・ 
Feyd stood openmouthed as Aleksander rode away, and then he glanced uneasily to 
the top of the ruined tower. 的 heard,・I said as I shifted form, illuminating his 
pale skin with the golden light that his human eyes perceived as darkness. 添ou致e 
no need to repeat it.・Likely Feyd thought the words would burn his tongue or 
perhaps that I, the one of darkness, would cut out the offending organ. 鉄hall we 
see if we can find something useful to do?・ 
Clearly Aleksander痴 proscriptions had nothing to do with the defenders in the 
citadel. The fighting was fierce, and the Prince did not object when I 
eliminated the soldiers dropping hot balls of tar on top of him or the warrior 
who nearly decapitated Marouf. When the short, fierce combat seemed under 
control, I went searching for the Derzhi governor and found the soft, balding 
man cowering in a wardrobe. Leaving him trussed and gagged, his satin breeches 
fouled from his fright, I flew out over the walls in falcon痴 form to see why in 
Verdonne痴 name the garrison had not rallied to the governor痴 defense. Surely 
someone would have heard the sounds of fighting. It made no sense. 
I circled the citadel and spied someone running through the tightly shuttered 
streets, away from the citadel and toward the lower city. Sword and vest named 
him a soldier. Not Derzhi・I swooped low, only to see his dark outline blur and 
resolve itself into the form of a zhaideg. Gorrid! Only the surly Ezzarian 
shaped himself as the scavenger wolf. Where was he off to? He was supposed to 
prevent any Derzhi messengers passing the citadel gates. 
Gorrid loped across one of the stone bridges that spanned the Volaya tributary, 
then into the streets, skirting the palatial customs house where Farrol hid with 
Aleksander痴 reserves. Farrol痴 watchers must have missed him. 
The lower city was as dark as the pits of Kir歎agonoth, and the only sounds 
marring the stillness were the slop of the river backwaters under the docks and 
the occasional shriek of a gull. One might think the people had smothered their 
children and animals to keep them silent. The zhaideg trotted about the dark 
periphery, slowing as he passed the still figures, the soldiers standing poised 
and ready for the signal that their murderous ring was complete. Amid the stink 
of gutted fish and decaying vegetation, I smelled octar-soaked torches and straw 
bales ready to be lit. Along the riverbanks every quay and dock was guarded. 
Boats drifted away from their moorings, sagging low in the water, holed to 
prevent their use for escape. Demonfire・this was not to be just a cleansing, but 
a slaughter. 
The zhaideg bypassed three boxlike warehouses along the waterfront before 
slinking close to a fourth. Faint lantern light shone through the shuttered 
windows, and Derzhi warriors guarded the cavernous doors. The wolf paused in the 
shadows and with a blur of enchantment reshaped itself into Gorrid. To my 
dismay, he walked up to one of the Derzhi guards, spoke a few words, and was 
quickly escorted inside. 
Treachery! I dived from the sky, but the door had been shut firmly behind 
Gorrid, and it took me a frustrating eternity to find a way in. I lit on a 
windowsill, nudged open the shutter, and fluttered through the dank maze of 
stacked crates and barrels toward the cluster of lights at the far end. But I 
was too late to hear anything. Everyone was shouting・calling・laughing. Spirits 
of darkness, what sort of creatures laughed as they set out to slaughter their 
own kind? The warehouse doors swung open, and two riders spurred their horses to 
a gallop, one turning to the right, the other to the left, both of them bearing 
lighted torches. Gorrid stood watching the rest of them, a small troop of 
Derzhi・ some twenty or more・race through the gaping doorway and onto a road that 
would take them straight to the customs house, where Farrol was waiting and 
where Aleksander would be joining him at any moment. 
釘astard!・I screamed as I shifted. 典raitor!・I kicked the startled Gorrid in the 
face as I flew toward the door. He toppled to the dirt, blood spurting from his 
nose. I circled and swept my sword delicately across the back of his thighs, 
relishing his scream. Hamstrung, he could go nowhere until I came back to 
question him. Then I would kill him. For the moment, I had to stop what was 
about to happen. In less time than it took to think about it, I beheaded the 
first rider before he could signal the waiting soldiers to fire their torches. 
By the time I swept the second rider from his saddle with his spine severed, he 
had left three torches burning behind him. But either I had begun moving faster 
than I had ever moved or the three Derzhi sentinels were inexplicably slow, for 
they had not shifted from their positions when ! snuffed out their torches and 
their lives in the same instant. 
A quick circle from a greater height, and I saw the trap ready to spring. 
Aleksander was already crossing the bridge to the lower city, accompanied by 
only five men. He must have left the rest at the citadel. What in the name of 
the gods was he thinking? The troop of Derzhi would arrive at the front of the 
customs house at exactly the same time Aleksander reached the back. 
Weaving an enchantment that I had never before attempted, I sped downward toward 
the pillared customs house. I flew through the open galleries near the roof and 
into the vaulted vastness where the outlaw reserves sat mounted and waiting for 
some signal they were needed. 敵et them out!・I screamed at Farrol, who spun and 
gaped at my sudden appearance as I touched earth beside him. 展hatever you do, 
keep Aleksander out of here.・I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. 泥o you 
understand me? Keep him out!・ 
鉄eyonne, wait・ Farrol tried to catch my arm, but I shoved him away and shot 
upward out of his reach. 
適eep them out or they die with the black-hearted Derzhi.・Already the stone walls 
were quivering as the enchantment flowed from my hands into them. 
Quickly Farrol yelled at his men to vacate the customs house and bar the Aveddi 
from entering. They needed no encouragement as I laid my hand upon one and then 
another of the columns that supported the roof, and cracks appeared in the 
massive stone cylinders. But the stubborn Farrol did not follow his men. Rather 
he stood in the center of the room and called up to me, a sturdy, round man of 
good heart, never temperate in either opinion or action. 鉄eyonne, don稚 do this. 
It痴 all right.・Hooves thundered up the road toward us from the city. Falling 
dust dulled the sheen of sweat on his round face. 敵ods of night, Seyonne, it痴 
his cousin・ 
Even as I touched the last pillar, as dust and shards of marble and plaster 
showered from the shuddering vaults, the word lanced through the storm of 
madness. The secrecy・the strange plan・the dangerous matters・kill no one who does 
not challenge you・Handling the garrison warriors will be easier than you 
believe・Aleksander had known these warriors would be no challenge. His 
cousin・Kiril. The Parassa garrison were Kiril痴 men. 
What had I done? Kiril・Aleksander痴 dearest friend, his brother in all but 
parentage, a piece of his heart・and twenty others of his command racing here in 
laughter to greet their Prince, their Aveddi. And just below me was Farrol・ 
foster brother to Blaise and Elinor・the man who had saved my son痴 
life・stubbornly risking his own to prevent my killing innocent men・ 
With an ear-shattering crack, one of the columns shattered, crumbling in a 
torrent of rubble. The roof and walls groaned in agony. The great doors at the 
front of the customs hall burst open, and I had to choose葉he one or the twenty. 
迭un, Farrol! For the gods・sake, run!・I spread my wings and dived for the doors, 
bellowing my warning. Another crack behind me, and another, and the roaring 
rumble of an avalanche. Before me rearing horses, screaming, men crying out in 
terror as I swept them backward and made myself into a wall of fire to keep them 
out. One man died, trampled by a frenzied horse, and then another when he was 
split open by a toppling cornice. At least two more lay on the ground when the 
living had retreated into the night. Only then did I summon the wind and turn 
back to the hellish scene of my creation. 
The sky was raining stone. One by one the pillars snapped as I dodged the 
toppling slabs and the unending cascade of brick and mortar. Only moments and 
the whole structure would collapse. My working had been excellent, a model of 
destruction. My own light reflected on the swirling dust was the only 
illumination, and to hear anything above the noise was impossible. But even as 
the sky fell, I searched. A jagged portion of the ceiling caught one wing, 
pinning it to a broken column. Rips in my wings were .excruciating, but I felt 
nothing as I yanked it free and left a ragged tear. The falling stones glanced 
off me like pebbles off a mountainside as I plowed through the piles of rubble, 
hunting for any sign of movement. 擢arrol!・Sweet Verdonne, let him live. 
He lay beneath a slab of the ceiling, a curved panel painted with the likeness 
of customs officials offering tribute to the Emperor. I wrenched the massive 
piece away and gathered his broken body in my arms. As the wall beside us 
crumpled with a roar, bringing down the remainder of the roof, I soared upward 
toward the cold stars, crying out my agony of shame. I could not remember how to 
express human grief. My Madonai eyes seemed incapable of tears. 
CHAPTER 40
The storm raged over Tyrrad Nor, a howling, bitter wind stripping the garden to 
its twiggy bones, a driving rain turned to sleet with the night. The first harsh 
taste of winter had come to the mountain, although the lands beyond the black 
wall still basked in mellow autumn. 
Icy droplets rolled down my naked back, each one a lancet of fire on abraded 
skin. I knelt in the corner of the castle ramparts and fought to keep from 
crying out. Never had I known such pain, not even in the pits of Kir歎agonoth. 
One more try. Just one more・say the word・make the shift・fly・ 
添ou池e wasting your time.・The newcomer might have been deposited on the exposed 
heights by the storm. The whine of the wind and the howling protests of my body 
had disguised his coming, but I was so far gone in my misery, I felt no 
surprise. What man beset by demons is surprised when one of them appears in the 
flesh? 滴aven稚 you learned enough yet?・Kasparian痴 expressionless comments came 
with a proffered towel and cloak. 
Ignoring his outstretched hand and its promises of comfort, I hauled myself up 
onto the gap in the stone wall overlooking the abyss of storm and night. 
Weak-kneed with exhaustion, I invoked my melydda yet again. I was determined to 
be away, to leave this place of seduction, of deception, of corruption. Yet, to 
my disgust, even though I stood at this point of abdication, I still craved the 
sensations of power. First the word. Then comes the first flush of enchantment, 
the breathless pleasure as blood and bone and muscle feel its touch, the 
stretch, the pulsing growth as the wings begin to unfold・if is what I am meant 
to be・But again my shoulders ripped apart, flayed, raw flesh on fire, exploding 
agony in every scrap of my being. In moments I was slumped in the corner once 
more, a quivering heap of wretchedness. 
的t痴 the prisoning spells.・He spoke as if I were a mewling child. 
Naked and groaning as I was, curled up in a ball, head bowed to the sleet and 
storm, anyone might think the same・or recognize me as an arrogant fool driven to 
despair by guilt and horror. I could not even call upon my gods. I was 
dreadfully afraid that they, who had given me gifts beyond mortal imagining, had 
watched me turn them all to murder. Afraid that they would peer into my soul and 
see that I could not weep. 
敵ive it up before you池e naught but an ugly mess on the garden walk. You can 
initiate no enchantment in Tyrrad Nor.・ 
Kasparian痴 assertion made no sense, even to a mind dulled with pain and 
self-loathing. Of course I could use power in Tyrrad Nor. On the first day of my 
return I had called up a wind・and after・yes, Nyel and Kasparian had initiated 
the enchantments, but I had used my own melydda to shape them. 的 am not a 
prisoner here,・I croaked through chattering teeth. 的 came here of my own choice. 
I can leave of my own choice.・A foolish claim when I had been trying to leave 
for more than half a day葉o climb over the wall, to shift my form and fly from 
the garden, from the mountain crags, or here in the rain from the ramparts of my 
nightmares, stripping the clothes from my back in an attempt to free the power 
that would not come. Always failing, each time left in greater torment than the 
last. 
展here is it you think to go?・ 
鄭way.・Reason had no claim on me that night. Going had nothing to do with 
destination, everything with origin and movement and change. I could no longer 
travel my present course. For good or ill, for death or life, Gaspar had said, 
but the path of my choosing had led only to death and corruption. Warriors make 
mistakes. We have to live with them and accept our limitations. Guilt is 
self-indulgence. Nyel was not the only mentor who had tried to teach me that 
lesson. But the deaths at Parassa were more than a mistake. Enough was enough. 
展hy can稚 I shift?・ 
哲o Madonai can initiate his own enchantments within these walls, save myself, 
who was considered too weak and useless to be a threat. Even I cannot cross the 
wall. The ice wind froze my hair and circled my limbs with its razor fingers, 
but it was the truth in Kasparian痴 words that made me shudder. 鄭nd truly, you 
have very little power as yet. What you have used in the human world is dross.・ 
My throat tightened. 的 am not Madonai. We致e not even begun・ 
But Kasparian痴 unsmiling laughter told me differently. 
Was it possible? Nyel had repeated the question so often I壇 not heard it: Do you 
choose freely? Every time I壇 gone to Aleksander. Every time I壇 learned a new 
enchantment. Oh, gods, every time・a step along the way. Thus, the lack of 
appetite, the waning need for sleep, the vanishing scars・One of my hands flew to 
my face and felt the rough deadness of the slave mark, while the other clutched 
my side, and for once I was glad of the familiar ache. 的t is not done. Not yet.・ 

There had to be one more step, at least, one more offer that I would hear, 
knowing, and could refuse. So that I would not murder all my friends in frenzied 
madness. So that I would not become the thing I feared. So that I would not 
stand atop these ramparts and destroy the world. 
典o inherit true Madonai power you must submit one last time. But your body is 
Madonai as much as it will ever be. For now, you, too, are bound by our prison. 
These last flaws are retained by your own weakness遥our human memory預nd will fade 
with time. Once your journey is complete迫he shrugged・土ou may have power enough 
to break the infernal wall or you may not. But then there is always dream 
traveling.・The dagger of his bitterness twisted in my gut. 
滴e said that at every step I could choose・ 
套 and so you have chosen.・He dropped the cloak over my hunched shoulders and the 
towel onto the paving. 典he servants will bring hot water to your room whenever 
you decide to leave off this pitiful display.・ 
My forehead rested on the paving. Perhaps the pressure of cold stone might ease 
the pounding in my skull. I thought Kasparian had left the ramparts, for the 
night felt empty, as if the wind and the darkness had devoured every soul in the 
universe. But as I wrapped my arms about my belly, words spilled onto my back, 
scarcely distinguishable from the freezing rain. 的 would recommend you seek 
advice before you refuse him the last step.・ 
Seek advice. Would that I could. Would that there was someone who might listen 
and understand and tell me what to do. But the only advice I heard was my dead 
father痴 gentle remonstrance. Unfair, Seyonne. Unjust to raise your hand against 
one who cannot fight back on your terms. Did you even think? Even with such 
poignant memory, tears would not come. 
When a pale sun rose in a winter-blue sky, I was still huddled in the corner of 
the ramparts, sure of nothing but that I would throw myself wingless from the 
tower of Tyrrad Nor before I would accept another gift from Nyel. No more game 
playing. Oh, I did not blame him. If he had told me from the beginning that my 
participation in his enchantments was the mechanism for my change, I would have 
chosen no differently. 
Unjust. Unfair. To thrust the power of a Madonai into a human conflict. That was 
the sin of my arrogance: to believe that strength and honorable intentions 
justified such violation of the world痴 ordering. Your strength will be your 
downfall, my demon had said. And so it had been. Nyel had warned me that the 
entangling of human emotions and Madonai power was dangerous. Now I had seen the 
consequences of detachment and could not stomach them. So, as I gathered the 
cloak about my clammy flesh and descended from the ramparts of my prison, I told 
myself I壇 best prepare for a lengthy stay in Tyrrad Nor. If the only possibility 
of escaping this prison was to follow my current path to its end, abandoning 
what scraps of my human self remained, then I would never leave. 
Clean clothes and a tub of steaming water were waiting in my room, as Kasparian 
had promised. I soaked for an hour and then fell onto my bed, forcing my body 
into a sleep it no longer needed. 
A full day passed before I allowed myself to wake. After bathing and donning the 
clothes that were laid out for me, I paced the castle corridors. I needed to get 
my blood moving. The day was uninviting. Windy. Dull. I did not avoid Nyel, but 
neither did I seek him out. Confrontation would come soon enough. He knew all 
that had happened at Parassa and how I felt about it. His attempts at comfort 
when I had first emerged from the disastrous venture had been quite sincere, 
voiced in his kindest and most reasonable tones. But I had desired no 
consolation, especially that which told me such mistakes were the result of my 
improper fawning over a race of liars, that by caring too much for those who 
were not worthy, I corrupted my own judgment. Innocent people had died at my 
hand. Curse the devil痴 soul forever, I had murdered my friend. 
I wrenched my thoughts to present and future. What did it mean to be neither 
human, nor rekkonarre, nor fully Madonai? I tried a few enchantments as I walked 
through a courtyard of hissing fountains: summoning a wind, casting a light, 
shaping a minor illusion in the way I had always done it. But the words and 
spells I had learned in Ezzaria had withered away. Like dry riverbeds, their 
familiar courses were devoid of that which gave them life. The failure left me 
dry and incomplete, as I had been in my slave years. The gift of sorcery that I 
had carried with me since my birth had been transformed into something new, a 
furnace laid with glowing embers that pulsed with the beating of my heart and 
roared into life whenever I shaped wings. Knowing full well the likely outcome, 
I breathed upon the embers and tried the spells again・and in moments I was 
clutching a fluted column, trying to stay upright until invisible bludgeons and 
axes stopped shattering my bones. The Madonai core existed, but was 
inaccessible. Nyel had insisted that I would wield my own power when I was 
wholly changed, but had promised nothing if I stopped short of that. 
And so what of my third part, the human part? I returned to my room, picked up 
the knife that had been laid out for me at every waking and dragged the blade 
across my left arm. I scarcely felt it. Blood welled from the thumb-length gash, 
but slowed to a trickle in only moments. By the time I grabbed a discarded towel 
to blot it, the wound was already half closed. It appeared that if I remained as 
I was, I could live a very long time with frustrated desire and limited 
occupation. A most dangerous combination. 
Where did Kasparian think I was to get advice? Certainly not from Nyel, who did 
nothing but confuse me. Nor from the bitter Kasparian himself or his silent 
servants. If I could not cross the wall, I could not question the rai-kirah, 
themselves victims of this perverse power, or make my way to the gamarand wood, 
where, so visions and the dying Kryddon had told me, enlightenment awaited. What 
of history, then? Was there some writing that might tell me what I was or how to 
reverse what had been done? My restless feet took me to the fortress library, a 
warren of rooms housing thousands of books and scrolls, maps and drawings. But a 
few hours flipping through brittle pages and unrolling fragile manuscripts only 
to find more spells I could not use and adventures I could not share left me 
with such craving for melydda I could scarcely breathe. I was so cold. So empty. 
And the embers within me pulsed, waiting to fill me with warmth and light. Only 
a few hours into my rebellion, and I was on the verge of capitulation. 
展eak-willed murderer!・I threw an armful of ribbon-tied rolls to the flagstones. 
Before the dust and fragments of shattered parchment had settled, I was striding 
down the broad stairway and out of the front doors, inhaling deeply, trying to 
gauge the best path to set off running. Perhaps exercise would dull the hunger 
for today. Would it suffice for a thousand years or more? I started jogging 
toward the wall, thinking to take the longest path around the edge of the garden 
and up the track that ascended the mountain. The closer I got to the wall, the 
more unsettled my stomach became. Now I understood the sickness I had 
experienced on the night after the battle at Gan Hyffir, just as I understood 
why Nyel never walked near the wall. The 菟risoning spells,・as Kasparian called 
them, would be designed to keep a Madonai away from it. But I continued on and 
ran the circuit of the wall and the mountain path three times before 
deliberately dropping to the damp turf at the base of the wall. 敵o ahead,・I 
said, settling my back against the cracked stone. 泥o your worst.・ 
I expected to feel the full impact of the binding enchantments when I touched my 
back and head to the wall. Indeed a dull ache crept into my muscles and streaks 
of red light pierced my eye sockets, distorting the weak daylight. When I closed 
my eyes to will away the discomfort, however, I was distracted by more visions 
of the Twelve Friends葉hose who existed somehow within the enchanted barrier. The 
images left me wondering again how they had crafted this prison and why. I ought 
to know. All of them had been my friends in that distant life. Had I helped 
design these very enchantments that threatened to tear me apart? A fitting irony 
that I had destroyed the part of me that might have remembered how to break 
through them. 
These considerations led me to think of Fiona and her discovery葉he tower in the 
gamarand wood where the Twelve had planned this fortress. How had Fiona 
described it葉he tower without a door? Smooth and warm・stone that was alive・ This 
wall could be described just the same. I pushed gently, she had said. Eased 
myself through, using words of opening and passage. 
I leaped to my feet and faced the wall. Laying the flats of my hands against the 
warm stone, I pressed gently, and as before, the stone seemed to swell about my 
fingers. But when I tried to weave words of opening and passage, my throbbing 
discomfort exploded into agony. I held as long as I could, convincing myself 
that I felt some softening beneath my fingers, some movement, some release, but 
I soon fell to my knees, retching. Empty and sick, I gripped the edge of a deep 
crack to push away from the wall, mumbling, 的知 sorry, Lady. All of you, forgive 
me.・And the stone swelled up around my hands and drew me in・ 
Eternal grayness・daylight filtering through the pores of the black stone. Chill, 
airless solidity as when you walk into a tomb. The warmth of the wall was a sign 
of those who existed here; what they themselves experienced was unyielding cold. 
I reached out my hands like a blind man and felt the fluttering softness of 
their touch, like moth wings propelling me on my way through the grayness. 典ell 
me who you are,・I said as I moved through them. 的 can稚 remember. Can you show 
yourselves? Tell me what to do.・I reached out to touch their minds, but 
discovered only living stone. So many years. So grim a duty. Voices long faded. 
Yet even in the cold and silent grayness, I felt no hatred. Not for me, not for 
the prisoner they were there to confine, not for the world that had forgotten 
their sacrifice. A last firm shove on my back.
I would have sworn I heard the faintest echo of Vyx痴 laughter, he who had come 
late to his post
And I opened my eyes to a small, neat room. The curved walls were undecorated, 
save for a single window that looked out upon a woodland of yellow trees, alive 
with the twitters and whistles of wrens and robins and orioles. The gamarand 
wood, and beyond it, the mountain of Tyrrad Nor. This was Fiona痴 tower. 
滴ello?・My call was only for form痴 sake. The still air had already told me that 
no one was there. 
A table of pale wood stood in the center of the room, fifteen backless stools 
drawn up around it. Laid out on the table were pens and ink, a pewter pitcher 
half filled with fragrant red wine, fifteen wine cups, and the scrolls Fiona had 
transcribed葉he drawing of the fortress and the manuscript. Language was no 
longer a barrier. A quick perusal of the manuscript told me nothing that I did 
not already know about Tyrrad Nor: its size and shape and accoutrements, its 
barricade of spells. The black stone was slightly more mysterious. I opened the 
wooden case and read the word scribed on the stone: Kerouan. Unlike Fiona痴 
experience, closing my eyes or looking away from the stone did not erase what I 
had just read. I traced a finger over the word, wondering, then dropped the 
stone in my pocket. If I found someone to ask questions of, I could ask this 
one, too. 
I descended the curving staircase. What would I do if I found no one in the 
wood? Though I had spent a frenzied night attempting to leave Tyrrad Nor, now I 
was beyond the wall, I had no idea where to go. Find my way to the gateway, I 
supposed. Or see if any of the rai-kirah survived; my body痴 change might prevent 
me living in the human world again. 
As I opened the lower door, I laid my hand on the tower wall and closed my eyes. 
The warm stone softened at my touch. A lonely vigil, I thought, as I envisioned 
a sour old woman痴 ruddy face. You don稚 even have the comfort that there are 
others beside you. But the birds are here, at least. Whoever she was, she had 
loved birds better than men or women. I greeted her and thanked her, and then 
stepped out into the forest of gold. 
Marveling, I touched a pair of the twining yellow trunks, one rough, one smooth, 
a single tree at root and spreading crown, yet always a duality. The smooth 
trunk birthed the dark green leaves that turned to yellow fire in autumn, as 
well as the white blooms of spring; the rough trunk curved about the first, 
protecting it, producing the liquor of life from water, sunlight, and its own 
nature to feed the crown and root. The branches were bare, the fading brilliance 
of leaves and blossoms a carpet beneath my feet. Through the tangle overhead 
loomed the mountain痴 granite knee, and high above me sat the thin girdle of 
black stone that was the wall. The steep angle and lowering clouds prevented any 
view of the fortress behind it. Good. I didn稚 want to see it ever again. 
The forest had fallen still when I stepped out of the tower. No sound of bird or 
insect marred the palpable silence. The air was cool on my cheek, and the scent 
of old leaves and damp earth filled my nostrils. And more・traces of intelligence 
pervaded the woodland, the unmistakable residue of sentience. The vibrant 
threads were so distinctive, I could name them neither human nor Madonai, but I 
could surely name them. 
滴e loved you, didn稚 he?・My voice jarred the quiet. 添ou池e the one.・The mortal 
maiden chosen by a god. 
No one answered, and I walked on, the trees shaping my path. Though my instincts 
bade me flee, only one way was open to me, every other blocked by drooping 
branches or fallen trees. I would clamber around them only to find myself 
trudging uphill again, back toward the fortress and its cruel temptations. 鏑et 
me go, Lady,・ I said to the wood, 登r give me answers.・The breeze riffled my hair 
and fingered my cheek softly. 的 cannot grieve. I don稚 know how anymore.・Somehow 
I believed that she was listening. 的s it because I知 neither one nor the other? 
He is Madonai, yet he still feels. He loves me, and he grieves for me as the sun 
mourns for the earth that it can never touch. Why? I致e let him blind me, cripple 
me, make me everything I despise, and yet I cannot hate him for it. If I don稚 
understand, how can I know what to do?・ 
Silence. I turned downhill again, swearing under my breath. Faced with yet 
another blockage, I raised my hand and summoned melydda. but was instantly on my 
back with a stinging bruise on my face. The blast of power had been breathtaking 
and from no source that I could see. I mumbled an oath, making sure my hand was 
still attached to my arm. 鄭ll right. AH right.・I stumbled to my feet and 
followed the path chosen for me. 
Now, with every step, the sweet woodland smell became more tainted with the 
acrid scent of ash, of freshly charred wood and burned grass. A few more steps 
and I emerged from the trees. The Lady was seated on a rock overlooking a 
scorched vale, stark black skeletons of gamarand trunks. The steep rock face 
across the burned vale was stained dark red, as if some horrific carnage had 
taken place nearby, splattering it with blood. Wisps of smoke still curled from 
a few thick stands of trees, while the breeze stirred the hot ash and scattered 
it on the Lady痴 green gown and dark hair like gray snowflakes. 
When her luminous gaze came to rest on me, I sank to one knee and bowed my head. 
溺y Lady Verdonne,・I whispered. Why had it taken me so long to understand who she 
was葉he one who stood between the god and the human world, the forest maiden who 
had been made immortal? Not a goddess, but a woodland, a boundary between light 
and darkness, trying to shield both humans and rekkonarre. My day within the oak 
had taught me of the immortality of a forest蓉nless it burned so hot that its 
seeds and roots were destroyed, unless its home ground was made sterile by 
flames. 擢orgive my blindness, Lady. Help me see my path.・ 
鼎an I command you to be other than you are?・Her chin rested in her hand, and her 
voice was as much a part of that woodland as the rustling leaves. 撤erhaps then 
this business would be easier, for I would not care what became of you.・ Her 
sigh was the breeze that shifted the layers of ash. 擢or so long I致e believed 
that if you could but find your way here again, we could devise a way to hold 
him. But never did I think your journey would be so filled with pain. How can I 
ask more?・She rose and came to me. Her hand touched my shoulder and drew me up, 
and another on my cheek lifted my head to look on her. Her bronze skin was 
shaped by fine bones, and her spare features, the burnished glow of her hair, 
and the faint lines about her eyes spoke more of mature wisdom than blooming 
girlhood. She reminded me of Elinor. Only the immensity of her presence named 
her far, far older than my son痴 foster mother. 鄭h, beloved, what am I to say to 
you?・ 
的値l stay here a prisoner if need be,・I said. 徹r I値l walk back through the 
gateway and into the desert to live a powerless hermit. I値l take my place in the 
wall, if that is necessary. But I cannot take another step along his path, 
though I go mad with it.・And I would go mad. I knew I would. 笛ust help me 
understand, Lady. Command me.・For so long I had tried to control my own future. 
Whatever life and fate had put before me, no matter what pain my choices cost 
me, I had insisted on shaping the event to my own design. Now I was tired of 
choosing. No more of it. 
She put her arm through mine, and we strolled along the edge of the burned 
forest. 展e致e so little time. It痴 enough to make one shake the World痴 Tree until 
its roots break loose!・Jerking me to a halt almost immediately, she bent over to 
brush the choking ash from a young gamarand. As she wiped her gray-smudged 
fingers on her green mantle and propelled me forward once more, she shouted in 
the direction of Tyrrad Nor. 溺ay its fruits bruise your balls, Madonai, and its 
trunk bash your hard head!・She punctuated her outburst with a bone-bruising 
squeeze of my arm. I jumped a little and gaped at her. She crinkled her lovely 
face into a rueful smile. 展hat is it? Do our people no longer swear by the 
World痴 Tree?・ 
Swear・In that crystalline moment, the name that I had bandied about for 
thirty-eight years assumed the shape of a human woman instead of a goddess預 
human woman who, after more than a thousand years of guardianship, could still 
rail in good-humored ferocity at what fate had brought her. I could not help but 
grin. 溺y lady・our people swear by your name!・ 
Amused resignation danced on her face. 的 suppose that makes as much sense as a 
tree. The powers who truly shaped the world must be accustomed to odd guises.・ 
So small an exchange, so trivial to ease a man痴 awe and desperation. Yet it drew 
me back to our business, too, for Ezzarians also swore by the name of her 
son・the jailer. But it was with rational need and no longer with panicked frenzy 
that I phrased my request. 典ell me the story, Lady.・ 
擢irst, look up there.・She pointed to the wall. 鏑ook closely.・For the first time 
in a long while I called upon my Warden痴 senses, the human skills of far-seeing 
and sharpened hearing that were nothing of enchantment, only long training and 
practice. The entire outer surface of the wall was crumbling, as if someone had 
taken a battering ram to it. 
典hree days ago the wall was almost whole,・she said. 的t was an astonishing sight, 
for our enchantments have been on the verge of failure for many years. Even when 
Vyxagallanxchi took his place a year ago, his gift葉he last of the Twelve謡as 
quickly used up. But in the last few months the damage has been reversed, the 
cracks sealing themselves, the wall reabsorbing its broken pieces.・She paused 
and fixed me with her gaze. 泥o you know why?・ 
I shook my head. 
釘ecause of you. Because of his love for you. And perhaps because of yours for 
him.・ 
The day shifted, as if the sun痴 great eye had blinked. 釘ut now it痴 broken 
again,・I said, swallowing hard to keep my nervous stomach in place. 展hat痴 
causing it to fall apart?・ 
添ou know the exact events more than I,・she said, resuming her pace, drawing me 
along in her wake as a ship guides a floating leaf. 徹n the day of our wedding, 
my husband gifted me with the heartbond of the Madonai, and so I am one with his 
joys and sorrows, though I rarely know their cause. I know he travels in dreams, 
and I know what he痴 learned to do with them洋y fault, I知 afraid, for it was my 
suggestion to leave the breach in his bonds that has caused the world such 
distress. I can see the visions he creates, and so I learned of you葉he cause of 
his great joy. I tried to reach you, to warn you, but I致e nothing like his 
power, of course, even contained as he is・・ 
痘and I would not listen either to you or to this rai-kirah that痴 joined with me; 
I shut him out, silenced him before he could remember.・I had destroyed him with 
weapons forged of my lifelong fears, of the need to control my own destiny, of 
my reluctance to allow anyone洋y wife, my friends, and especially a powerful and 
angry rai-kirah預ccess to my soul. 
Her red-gold cheeks deepened in color, and a wind of sadness wafted through the 
woodland, shifting the fallen leaves. 添ou must not blame yourself. Never, never 
do that. There is too much weight in these matters to think they hinge upon a 
single pivot. Every deed we do, every happenstance, even our own sense about 
what we致e done and seen預ll have their places in the great puzzle of the world. 
Just tell me what痴 happened in these few days, and then I値l explain more. To 
understand what must be done, you need to see the past more clearly. If it 
cannot be from your own remembrance, then it must come from me.・ 
And so we walked the forest paths, through the trees and out again into another 
desolation of ash and smoke, while I poured out the story of my bargain with 
Nyel and its terrible consequences. I told her of my inexplicable reliance on 
his good intentions and my foolish belief that if I could not save him, I would 
at least be able to kill him. 釘ut I know now that such a deed is inconceivable,・ 
I said. 滴e has me in such thrall that my hand could never raise a weapon against 
him, even if I knew what one to use. I fear for my soul, Lady. And if I lose it, 
the world will suffer.・Astonishing how the very act of speaking such perilous 
truth can soothe its mortal dread. Or perhaps it was only the Lady and my belief 
that she could forgive me anything, even to the destruction of the human race. 
We had come to a slow flowing stream, a ribbon of floating gold, and we sat on 
the leaf-strewn earth beside it. She drew up her knees and hugged them. 滴e 
believes you will refuse him. That痴 what痴 happened to the wall. All his hopes, 
both for good and evil庸or he is truly mad and cannot see the difference預re bound 
up in you. And without hope, he is lost again, and we are all in danger. The 
wall will fail.・ 
的 have been a naive fool,・I said. 禅o let him do this to me欄 
She laid her hand on my knee and leaned forward. 哲o, no! Do not doubt your own 
mind, dear one. Everything you致e seen of him, everything you致e felt of his 
goodness, is absolutely true. When I waked beside my father痴 fire to see the one 
from my dream sitting beside me, those glorious eyes gazing at me in wonder and 
curiosity and no small portion of lusty interest, I first learned the meaning of 
beauty and love and kindness. For twenty years I learned nothing other from him. 
Oh, we argued. Everyone would tell you of it. He was strong-willed and proud and 
used to having his way. And I was my father痴 only daughter and very like. But 
our disputes were always rooted in good humor, and our delight in each other, 
both body and mind, soon mended them. Everyone who knew him柚adonai, human, and 
rekkonarre・felt the same. No one in any world has been better loved than he who 
dwells in Tyrrad Nor or more deserving of it.・ 
She withdrew her hand and laid it in her lap, staring at it as if it were a part 
of someone else, not quite belonging to her own body. 摘ven when his people began 
to die, things did not change between us for a long while. He would come to me 
and lay his head in my lap as I sat beside our fire, telling me who had sickened 
that day and who had died, and of his endless investigations to discover the 
cause of their decline. I would wipe his tears and tell him news of the 
children. Seventeen of the rekkonarre dwelt within a day痴 walk of my hearth 
fire. Though he came always in the night, he would often linger into the day, so 
that he could spend time with our own son.・ 
Son. The word was like a spark of lightning over distant hills, a portent of the 
coming storm. 
典he children were the joy to balance out his grieving,・she went on. 的magine the 
horror of this early death for the Madonai. Think of how we feel when a youth or 
maiden dies庸ar worse than for an infant death, because a youth or maid of twelve 
or fifteen summers has begun the journey, brought joy to her family or strength 
to his village, but has yet to realize the full promise of life. So many things 
undone, untried, unknown. Such was this for his people, for a Madonai who has 
lived only a few hundred years is but a youth. Now think of a plague that takes 
our young people one by one, the most generous and most joyful first庸or those 
are the Madonai who first mated with humans. When the younger ones were dead, 
the elder tried to make children, too, and then the elders, too, began to die. 
All in the matter of a heartbeat in the span of their long lives. Why did my 
love not die with them? He didn稚 know. Was it because he was the first? Because 
he was the strongest? Because he loved to travel through my dreams and had never 
stepped through the gateways in the flesh? More and more he remained in his 
world, pushing himself to find the reasons and the remedies, giving everything 
he had to make things right again. When he stopped coming to me, I tried to send 
messages, and I tried to go to him. But he would neither see me nor would he see 
our son, for he had found his answer and could not bear it.・ 
I dislodged a snag in the stream, where a charred limb had stuck in the earthen 
bank and caught the drifting leaves, holding them until the mass had turned 
black and clogged the flow. The rotting mess swirled and broke apart, moving 
away slowly until the golden stream ran free. 滴e told me he planned to destroy 
the gateways,・I said, 殿nd because it would have prevented the rekkonarre from 
spending time in both worlds, thus dooming them to madness, he was called a 
child-slayer.・ 
適asparian told him that story when his mind was still quite fragile. To know the 
whole of it would have destroyed him again when he was only just recovering. I致e 
no way to know how much he remembers now.・Verdonne clasped her hands in her lap. 
溺y husband was going to destroy the gates. That痴 true. But the danger to his 
people still existed. He could not destroy the enchantment, the vietto that had 
brought the Madonai to our world in the first place, could he?・And so the storm 
broke. 
滴e came to me in the night,・said the Lady. 鏑ay with me as he had not done in a 
year, weeping every moment even as he pleasured me beyond mortal imagining. When 
we lay sated beside my hearth fire, he reached for his tunic and pulled out a 
jewel, a diamond that could have been a star brought down to earth in his hand. 
His body would take fire with golden light when his power was flowing. On that 
night, the jewel grew golden, too, so that his tears reflected its light, and I 
asked what was this working that grieved him so sorely. 選t is the answer,・ he 
said as wailing rose from the forest, first from one direction and then another. 
The sky darkened with the sound as if clouds had covered the stars. The night 
bled. And he lay in my arms with his jewel and his tears, as the wailing rose 
from ever more distant settlements. 
・糎hat terror is abroad this night?・I said. 糎hy do you lie here weeping and do 
nothing?・Never had he failed to answer our distress, giving everything of his 
heart, of his labor, and of his power to ease our human travails. But on that 
night he just gathered me in his arms and stroked my hair, and sobbed that no 
one suffered or was afraid. He壇 seen to that, he said. I felt him quivering, 
cold sweat on his forehead and his breast. Soon he rolled to the side, groaning, 
still clutching the jewel, and I saw he was in terrible pain. 銑ove, what is 
it?・I said. 閃ake it stop.・ 
・選 cannot,・he said. 選 tried to find some other way. Truly, my darling one, I 
tried. But it is my people. Unless I do this, I値l have killed them all.・ But, of 
course, that痴 exactly what he was doing to the humans and the rekkonarre・ 
killing them all and taking their pain and fear into himself to ease their way 
into the realm of death.・ 
鄭nd who stopped him?・I said, knowing the answer even before she spoke it. 
添ou did, my darling葉he son he cherished beyond all telling. When you woke from 
your sleep at my call and challenged him to end the slaughter, he could not 
bring himself to slay you. For love of you, he shattered his jewel before it was 
spent. And once he broke the spell to stop the killing, the guilt of his race痴 
ruin and the pain and fear of ten thousand dead tore his mind apart.・ 
CHAPTER 41
Nyel. The Nameless God. My father. Mine and not mine・for even when my flesh and 
spirit knew and believed and witnessed to my mind that Verdonne did not lie, my 
soul clung to the gentle man of books and earth who had sired me in Ezzaria. 
Gareth of the line of Ezraelle was my soul痴 father, not a proud, tormented 
Madonai who had tried to exterminate the human race. No matter that he had 
sought to ease their way into death, the Madonai had chosen slaughter to remedy 
a grievous tragedy. And because he had been a good and honorable man, he had 
gone mad from it. 
His son had become his jailer and lived on until the split that had sent the 
rai-kirah into exile and the human sorcerers back to Ezzaria. And though his 
physical body had died a thousand years in the past, that son still lived, an 
inseparable part of me. 
鉄o what are we to do?・I said. The day痴 false warmth had fled, and I hunched my 
cloak about my shoulders, turning away from the rising north wind so I would not 
have to look upon the fortress and the wall and a future that terrified me. 
敵ive him back his hope.・ 
Such a simple, pleasant phrase to describe a nightmare. I turned on the Lady, 
such fear and anger rising up in me that my body quivered. 鏑et him make me a 
monster to follow him? I cannot do it.・For I could see his strategy now. Yes, he 
wanted his son strong and powerful, a true Madonai・a god. But he also wanted me 
ruthless, free of the weakness that had caused him to fail. No wonder he hated 
Aleksander. No wonder・holy stars of night, no wonder he wanted to know more of 
my own son. 添ou池e telling me to give up my human soul. Don稚 you understand? I致e 
seen what I値l become. I can稚 do it.・ 
The Lady痴 calm reason was terrifying. 添ou tried to contain his power with your 
enchantments, and for a very long time you succeeded. But the Twelve are tired, 
fading, and no Madonai are left to give themselves to the wall. Our friends paid 
a terrible price to allow him to live, hoping that someday his madness would 
heal and that he would again bless both worlds with his love.・Verdonne laid her 
hand on my arm, trying to soothe my agitation, strolling through the yellow 
trees as if we were discussing the weather or the price of flour in the market. 
She told me how I遊aldis揺ad no more been able to slay my father for his crime 
than he had been able to hurt me, and so I had designed a way to contain his 
power. Twelve Madonai熔ut of so many who loved him, I壇 had to choose揺ad allowed 
me to weave their essence into a wall, for pure Madonai power was all that could 
hold him. A thirteenth had become the tower guardian to provide the way in and 
out of the fortress. Verdonne had paid the price, as well, bound to this forest 
forever, giving it her strength and living with its pain. And then I had woven 
enchantment that stripped my father of his name. I had led him into the fortress 
and soothed his raving terrors, for it was to be a very long while until his 
mind regained any semblance of balance. 
釘efore many years had passed, the rekkonarre began to forget the prisoner, just 
as you intended when you took his name,・she said. 典he Madonai were long dead, 
save for Vyxagallanxchi. Verdonne and Valdis and the Nameless God became the 
stuff of myth. But every day you saw the fortress was a knife in your heart, and 
as your father regained this show of reason, you were afraid the love you bore 
him would weaken your resolve. That痴 when you and Vyx decided to destroy your 
own memories of him. You came here and told me what you planned, knowing that 
you would forget me, too.・ 
Time slowed to a crawl as my fingers wrapped around the black stone in my 
pocket. 釘ut I recorded his name, didn稚 I? So that if he were ever to recover濫 
天yx wrote it. He put it under an enchantment so that no one but you could read 
it.・ 
Vyx had not been one of the rekkonarre, but my tutor, my protector, my mentor, a 
young Madonai devoted to me揺is half-human attelle. Vyx had remained with me 
through the long years of forgetting, through the frightening time of the 
prophecy when I had been persuaded that if we didn稚 take drastic precautions, a 
winged shapeshifter was going to set the Nameless God free to destroy the 
world溶ot remembering that the one we feared was my own father. After we who 
remained葉he rekkonarre, the builders揺ad worked the enchantment that split our 
souls, Vyx lived with me through exile in Kir歎agonoth, remembering only that 
someday he would have to return to a black wall in Kir誰avarrin to complete his 
life. 
Truth and awe had sapped my fury. 的f we cannot rebuild the wall, then what・・ 
典he time has come for him to die, beloved. Let his devotion to you be our last 
remembrance of him. You could try to slay him now as you are, challenge him in 
some 蘇onorable・combat or destroy him in his sleep. But we have no way to gauge 
his true strength save by the wall, which says he is stronger than we would 
wish. With Kasparian to aid him in taking power from these poor shadows that 
inhabit Kir誰avarrin, the risk of his victory is too great. But the only way he 
can make you fully Madonai is to gift you with his own power, weaving it with 
that which was born in you. He cannot create Madonai sorcery anew, only transfer 
it, and at the moment of his yielding, he will be at his most vulnerable.・ 
Nyel was not my true father. I did not owe him a son痴 loyalty. But Denas・ 
Valdis・was a part of me, and if I was to live with myself, I needed to tread 
carefully in these matters. 展hat if I don稚 kill him, Lady? What then?・ 
Our path had led us back to the tower. Verdonne pulled aside a vine and laid her 
hands on the stone, smiling sadly and murmuring something that was beyond my 
hearing預 greeting to the tower guardian, I thought. Then she lifted her gaze to 
mine. 撤erhaps nothing. He may yield you his power and fade away in his fortress, 
content that he has done everything possible to redeem his sins. Perhaps with 
the strength you bring to this completion, you will then be able to leave the 
fortress and do as you will. But he has had a very long time to consider his 
plan, and my husband was the most intelligent, most powerful of his kind, which 
is saying a great deal. It is possible that he could revoke his gift if you 
failed to live up to his expectations and complete his dreadful work.・She took 
my hands in hers. 擢ix this duty in your mind so that you will not forget your 
purpose amid the magnitude of your change. You must finish what you致e begun. 
Accept his gift and take his life while he feels the joy of the giving.・ 
Truth weighs heavier than other words, my soul痴 father had once told me. It 
bears a substance of its own, like an ingot that comes from the forge glowing, 
yet unmalleable. It rings clear like crystal when tapped, shines like silver 
beside lead. 鄭nd if I do this,・I said, scarcely able to form words for the 
constriction in my chest, 努ho will contain me?・ 
添ou will find your way. You are a man with two noble spirits, one that I know as 
I know my own heart and one that I have only glimpsed. What my son could not do 
alone, you, the stranger, will enable him to accomplish. The true powers of 
earth and sky have brought you to this place, forged you, shaped you, honed you. 
I trust them. And I trust you, my son and my friend.・ 
There was no more to be said. In only a matter of moments I had passed through 
the tower wall and climbed the stairs to the quiet room. I carefully placed the 
black stone back in its wooden box. Kerouan. The Nameless God. I looked out 
through the window at the bright woodland, and then stepped across the 
fathomless gulf. 
添ou confound me!・Nyel痴 hand was poised above his game board, halted in midmotion 
at my declaration. 鄭fter your unhappiness of these past days, I assumed濫 
的 would be grateful if you would stop 疎ssuming.・I am not a child. You can allow 
me to make my own decisions, and you needn稚 hide the difficult bits. I 
understand the consequences of my choices, have accepted them freely, and will 
do so until the end. I was unhappy because I killed innocent men, forced into it 
because my friend Aleksander refused to trust me fully. And then I discovered 
that I cannot walk through these walls, because you have already begun my 
change. Clearly you don稚 trust me, either. What man, Madonai or human, would not 
be 爽nhappy・to discover that the two souls he trusted above any in the world 
could not reciprocate?・ 
的 have been, perhaps, overeager in my gifting.・ 
An understatement of the case, to be sure, but as near to an apology as I was 
likely to hear. 鉄o will you do as I ask?・I said. 
Nyel carefully replaced the game piece葉he white warrior king熔nto the 
black-and-gray board. He rose and walked briskly to the windows, clasping his 
slender hands behind his back. 鄭s you wish. I will send you to a new dreamer 
with the same conditions as before. But now to satisfy your need for truth: this 
venture, whatever your purpose, will be the last step of my working, save for 
the full gifting of power. When you return you will be Madonai, body and mind. 
Your human frailties will be eliminated, but not without cost. Certain portions 
of your past・memories, feelings・will have faded.・ 
鄭s my scars have done? Kasparian says that even these two that remain may vanish 
in time.・I helped myself to a glass of wine, marveling that my hand was steady. 
撤erhaps you致e allowed them to stay to remind me of human perfidy.・ Let him make 
what he would of my bitterness. I was interested only in his answer. 
鄭h, you are indeed perceptive. These two blemishes・rascally difficult to erase. 
Their roots delve so deep. We致e scarcely begun your education耀o many, many 
lessons to be learned・but we致e no need to rush, and reminders will be 
valuable.・He whirled about, his face alight as if the moon had risen in the 
southern sky beyond his garden windows. 摘verything of your human past will be 
altered in the moment of your change. Not lost, but made remote, as if it 
belonged to someone else, like a story told you in your youth. Without some 
mitigation, such a drastic shift of mind would be frightening, I think, and I 
would not have you feel that I致e stolen your life. So I致e allowed these last 
physical anchors to remain until you can release them yourself, along with the 
painful memories they represent.・ 
Gods have mercy, he was proud of his plan. He was doing me a 徒indness.・I 
breathed a little easier and, behind my folded arms, kneaded the ache buried 
deep in my side beneath the 澱lemish.・A flimsy plan had come to me in the hours 
since I had returned from the gamarands. A dreadful gamble with incalculable 
stakes. And I would not be able to depend upon myself to make the proper moves; 
the very thought made me queasy. 
敵ood enough,・I said. 的 just want to be done with the business. Leave me the 
reminders. I壇 rather not be drawn into stupid plans like this last one・ gods, 
their ignorant, foolish schemes. All it would have taken to prevent this 
disaster was for Aleksander to entrust his plan to the intermediary I had 
chosen. What arrogant stupidity. I thought he had learned better.・ 
添ou are a tool they use for their own purposes,・said Nyel. 展hat friend forces 
his comrade into violating his conscience?・ 
Night settled on the mountain, the day痴 clouds scattered with the north wind. 
The clearing weather left the air cold, and the stars that popped out of the 
blackening sky were hard-edged like glass. As Nyel summoned Kasparian to send us 
into the world of dreams, I paced and fidgeted, grateful at the Madonai痴 
occupation that allowed my thoughts to focus on my dreamer and what I was going 
to say. 
Before I had composed half the words I needed, Nyel returned with Kasparian in 
tow. The bullish Madonai痴 dislike burned steady as he arranged the chairs about 
the game table. Verdonne痴 revelations had explained Kasparian痴 hatred and 
jealousy. How bitter to see your master bestow his gifts upon your jailer・ upon 
one who was not born Madonai・upon the son who had not loved his father as well 
as the attelle who had given up everything to share his master痴 exile. How 
unjust must fate appear to such a one. 
Kasparian lit a candle as we settled around the table. A spider crawled up the 
pillar of wax. Nyel, his lean face eager, had the enchantment poised on his 
tongue, and before the first drip of wax had slumped down the candle, engulfing 
the struggling spider, I was floating above the sea of dreams. 
She was only dozing. The trail of her dream was so faint and so quickly passed 
that I came near missing it. But explosive enchantment had possessed me from the 
moment of Nyel痴 touch, and I would not have failed to take the path of my desire 
had her dream been the length of a snowflake痴 life in desert noonday. 
鉄eyonne!・Elinor pressed her back against the lemon tree, sleep startled from her 
dark eyes. 展hat are you doing here?・Her aspect was wary, but not cowering, which 
spoke everything necessary about her courage. To wake from an afternoon drowse 
and see a man standing over you clothed in naught but a sword belt and garish 
light could be nothing but disconcerting, especially when the last you壇 heard of 
him was that he had brought down a building to crush your foster brother痴 head. 
Unfortunately I was not going to ease her mind on that afternoon. 
的致e come for my son. It痴 time for him to live with me.・ 
I might well have struck her. She leaped to her feet, face flushed, all 
uncertainty dismissed. 添ou gave me your word!・ 
典hings change,・I said. 
添ou said you would suffer anything to keep Evan safe and loved and happy,・ she 
said. 的 believed you.・ 
鄭nd so I will do. Where is he?・ 
鏑ook at yourself, Seyonne! You値l frighten him. You frighten all of us now.・ 
泥o you doubt me, too, Mistress? What more must I do to prove myself?・We stood 
face-to-face on the steep, dry slope overlooking the crude tent settlement where 
I had last visited my child. The sun angle was low, the world streaked and 
splashed with red-gold light that no one would mistake for darkness. 的 will not 
discuss this. It痴 time Evan learned of me and of his rightful place in the 
world.・ 
Her graceful jaw grew hard. 鄭nd what would he learn? We don稚 even know what you 
are anymore. Even the Prince fears you致e changed into something other. How can I 
hand over my child to one who・・ 
摘van is my child. He should be with me, not running about the desert with a band 
of miserable outlaws in the middle of a human war. With your stupidities and 
your ignorance, you値l all be dead within the year.・I gathered a wind to fill my 
wings and took a step toward the tall woman. 泥o not doubt my intent, and do not 
test me. Remember Parassa.・ 
Her bold flush had faded, but she neither backed away nor withered under my 
glare. 哲one of us will forget Parassa. Was it not Parassa where your blind blood 
thirst killed my brother Farrol預 man who called you friend and crippled Gorrid預 
man of honor and faith who has sacrificed his personal vengeance to serve your 
Prince? Where seven of Lord Kiril痴 men fell at your hand because you would not 
lower yourself to speak to the Aveddi? What makes you think you are fit to care 
for a child?・ 
True. All true. Her accusations stung like the tail of a whip. And now I was to 
violate the one vow I had thought inviolable. I was to put my child in danger. 
But I knew my friends, and nothing else would make them believe・典ell me where he 
is, or I値l burn every tent in this camp to find him.・My voice thundered through 
the dusty air, threatening to crack the rocks and split the trees. 的値l wring the 
necks of your people one by one if you try to keep him from me.・ 
擢ires of heaven.・At last she began to believe. 
I swept my wings and took flight, circling about her like a vulture over 
carrion, shouting so that all in the settlement below would hear me. 展here is my 
son?・ 
鄭ll right, I値l show you.・She picked her way down the slope, stumbling a few 
times in her hurry. However, she did not stop thinking. 添ou値l take him to 
Kir誰avarrin?・she said, calling up to me. 
的t is his home. His right.・ 
添ou値l need someone to care for him. He痴 so small・ 
的 can conjure servants to see to his needs.・I swept my wings again, swirling the 
dust around her. 
鼎onjure servants・ She squinted up at me as if trying to see through my skin, and 
then she shook her head. 泥on稚 you understand? He痴 afraid of strangers. It痴 usual 
for children of his age. You can稚濫 
滴e値l learn.・ 
She slipped on a patch of loose rock and almost lost her balance. Her breathing 
ragged, she stopped for a moment to test her footing and scan the slope for a 
safer route. The people of the encampment had started to gather, shading their 
eyes against the last sunbeams and staring up at us. 哲o matter what you致e 
become, you cannot be cruel enough to take a child away from everyone and 
everything he痴 ever known.・ 
泥o not tell me what I can and cannot do! Am I still a slave? Everyone tries to 
set my course, telling me do this, do that, hold back, take care, you must, you 
must not. But things will be different now. I have found my true home, my true 
form. I have inherited such power as you cannot imagine and will have scarcely 
come into my prime long after you and these human creatures are dust. I wish my 
son to inherit my father痴 legacy. And I will have the boy out of danger. Damn 
your insolent濫 
鄭nd are there no dangers in your new realm?・She interrupted my bellowing, her 
gaze unwavering. 
An arrow of fear pierced my wits as if shot straight from Elinor痴 eyes. Careful. 
Careful. I had planned to say these things・to make her fear me. But power was 
swelling my shoulders and my chest and my loins, was stretching my wings, 
threatening to distract me from my purpose. I was ready to lash out at her in 
ways I never intended. 
Brutally, I forced myself to concentrate. I would be changed only when I 
returned to Nyel, when my dreamer slept again. Keep to the plan. Nyel is 
watching ・的 am not unreasonable. You may send one person with him.・Unless I 
could make this plan work, my child was safe nowhere. 
I soared upward before she could answer and flew toward the settlement. As 
Elinor ran the last steep descent, I furled my wings and touched my feet to the 
dusty road a few hundred paces from the gathering crowd. I folded my arms and 
turned my back to them. 
Behind me, shuffling steps and low murmurs gave way to a firm tread and familiar 
voice. 鉄peak with me, Seyonne.・Aleksander痴 footsteps stopped at a considerable 
distance. 
I fixed my eyes on Elinor and said nothing. Only a few moments later, when the 
woman ran breathlessly down the road to join him, did I turn to the Prince. The 
crowd had parted to let him pass, and he bore himself as a king confronting a 
messenger from an unknown realm. Feyd stood behind, his head bowed where I could 
not see his face. Was the Suzaini youth shamed that I had come to someone else 
or was he hiding his relief? Beside the Prince stood a stone-faced Blaise, 
holding my son. Evan was looking at me curiously, a finger stuck in his mouth as 
he clung to the bony Ezzarian. 
I forced my attention to Elinor. 展ho will accompany the child?・I said, taking up 
as if there were not a hundred new witnesses to our conversation. 
Elinor looked from me to the others and back, beads of sweat glistening on her 
forehead. 鉄eyonne has come for Evan,・she said to the others. 滴e wants to take 
the boy to safety in Kir誰avarrin.・Her words spilled out quickly, shutting off 
the protests that Aleksander and Blaise had ready. 滴e is・adamant・so there痴 no 
use arguing. Please don稚 fuss. And someone must go with them so Evan won稚 be 
afraid. I知 going to go.・ 
鏑innie, you can稚,・said Blaise, biting back his fury. 添ou heard Fiona tell us of 
her sickness. You wouldn稚 survive for more than a few months.・ 
展e値l face that when it comes,・she said. 
的値l go,・said Blaise. 典he boy is comfortable with me, and I can濫 
Elinor shook her head. 添ou池e needed here; the Aveddi depends on you, and the 
future of this Empire is more important than any one of us. Besides, Seyonne 
charged me with Evan痴 care. I will not abandon my child.・ 
鄭s you wish.・I nodded to Elinor as if the others had not spoken. 溺ake what 
preparations you need. I will require your brother to escort you through the 
gateway of Dasiet Homol to the tower in the gamarand wood. Once there, he will 
open the way as Fiona described it, but only you and the child will proceed to 
the room at the top of the tower. Be warned that I will permit no deviations 
from my commands. In the tower room, you have but to request entrance to the 
fortress, and you will pass through. Is all clear?・Elinor nodded, and I 
continued. 典his is for the child痴 safety. For his future. Fathers must do what 
is necessary for their sons, and sons must know their fathers and remember 
them.・ 
鏑innie・ Blaise痴 plea was to no avail. Elinor kissed him and said he needed to 
see to horses and water while she gathered up Evan痴 things. 
I walked away from the crowd to wait, deliberately ignoring them again. Their 
hostility was like a bitter wind, and I felt the furtive movements of hands to 
knives and swords. When the first boot moved in my direction, I whirled about 
and snarled, filling my wings and shooting fire from my fingers. 
徹ff with you,・said a quiet command. 添ou致e not skills enough to face him.・ When 
the crowd withdrew, I turned away again, watching the moon climb off the eastern 
flank of the valley. Soon only Aleksander stood behind me; I felt his eyes hot 
on my back. 禅alk to me, Seyonne. Or must I call you some other name? Where is my 
friend・my brother・the man who saved my life and my soul and taught me how to use 
them? There are things I would tell him, news he would be glad to share.・ 
I made myself stone・or as near to it as a shapeshifter dares go. 
的 need to know if my friend intends to return, for I sorely need his help and 
his wisdom. But only his.・Steps brought him closer. 的 understand what happened 
at Parassa. Everyone understands容ven Blaise. Holy Athos, Seyonne, I hold no 
blame to you that I don稚 hold to myself. More live because of you than died 
because of you. But it can稚 happen again. Please, let me know that you hear me.・ 

But I did not turn, and I did not speak, and, after a while, he walked away. 
Within half an hour, Blaise brought the horses. While others loaded bundles and 
waterskins on the saddles, Aleksander stood to the side. Soon Elinor came to me, 
carrying my wide-eyed son in her arms. 的s there nothing I can do to persuade you 
to wait awhile?・she said. 填ntil he is a little older and can understand what痴 
happening?・ 
徹nly if you can assure me that this war ends today.・I paused for a moment, 
glaring at her. 的 thought not.・I made sure my voice could be heard by all. 添ou 
may inform any who are interested that since he cannot trust my judgment, I no 
longer serve your Aveddi, but only my own purposes. You are correct that I am 
not as I was. But I値l not abandon this world to chaos and confusion. I will 
continue to aid in this conflict as I promised, and I will expect all agreements 
and compacts with me to be similarly upheld. Humans are renowned for breaking 
faith. I still wear two scars that remind me of it every hour.・I pointed to the 
two that remained. 
I believed I felt a change in Aleksander・a caught breath・a stiffening back・ a 
grave surety. But I was not looking at him, so I could not be certain. Faith. 
I flew high, watching as Elinor and Blaise held a last hurried conference with 
Aleksander, made hasty farewells to the rest of the assembly, and set out riding 
through the moonlit desert, their forms blurring on occasion as Blaise worked 
his magic. Elinor leaned forward in the saddle as if riding into battle, the 
wind catching tendrils of her long hair and whipping them across her face. Evan 
rode in front of Blaise, the man痴 body a shield around the sleepy child. Near 
moonset the weary horses plodded up the hill to the Place of the Pillars, the 
twin ranks of white stone that stretched moon shadows across the grass. Blaise 
built a small fire. As her brother began the work to open the gateway, Elinor 
wrapped Evan in a blanket and held him in her lap, rocking him slowly. I sat 
atop a distant pillar and watched them, weaving an enchantment of drowsiness and 
casting it over the woman. 
My choice was made for Evan痴 safety. For all of them, so I told myself, though 
the cold sweat that trickled down my spine spoke of doubt. For Evan to be 
secure, I must put him in danger, trusting Elinor to shield and comfort him 
through whatever was to come. But I had been wrong so many times, had misjudged 
so sorely, and my craving was so great that it could be clouding my judgment. 
These seeds I sowed could be the very kernels of destruction. The prophecies 
that had shaped my people痴 history had described a dreadful ending. A square of 
stone from a mosaic portrayed one possible future of my deeds as unrelieved 
blackness, and to touch that palm-sized square was to feel the despair of the 
world. But I clung to Gaspar痴 words. You must walk the path you致e chosen. For 
the light to triumph, there must be darkness. An old man痴 rambling was my hope. 
Not my sword arm, not my senses, not my insights or intelligence or experience. 
Only a desert-born vision, a woman痴 courage, and a prince痴 strength and 
faithfulness. 
Elinor痴 head began to droop. I inhaled the clean, sweet air of the human world, 
and as the woman settled beside her child to sleep, I turned away and embraced 
the darkness of my dreaming. 
What must it feel like for the shore when the ocean痴 tide rolls out? Teeming 
life withdrawn. Ceaseless activity stilled. The land痴 edge washed clean, only 
flotsam and jetsam remaining to be withered by sun or picked at by birds. 
Ponderous weight removed, and the essence of sand and rock left exposed to bask 
in the day痴 warmth. Glorious simplicity. So I felt when I stood up from Nyel痴 
game table no longer human. 
I stretched out my arms and examined them. Both hands present, forearms ridged 
with sinew, elbows, broad shoulders・nothing to disturb the eye. Nor anything to 
restrict further examination, for I stood halfway between the fire and the 
garden window, unclothed save for my sword belt. Outdoors it was snowing. Legs 
whole and well formed. I did not glow golden in this realm. Chest. Little hair 
・I壇 never had much. The knotted white line just below the ribs on my right side 
speaks of unfaithfulness, mistrust, betrayal, ignorance. Belly. Loins. Yes, 
still male, too, all parts intact. Wings ・a thrill in my gut when I felt them 
tightly furled against my back. Was I to be winged forever? Everything accounted 
for. My hand touched the left side of my face・brutality, cruelty, despair. These 
scars were like drips of acid touching pleasured skin. I would be rid of them as 
soon as I knew how. And I knew・by all the world痴 wisdom, I knew so much already, 
now the tide of pain and ugliness had receded and left me Madonai. 
Other eyes were examining me. Young old eyes alive with exultation. The old man 
stood beside the frosted window, his face reflecting the hearth fire. Not 
smiling yet, for there was still the final gifting to accomplish once he was 
sure of me. His hair seemed grayer and his lean face dry and soft, as though the 
robust flesh beneath his skin had already turned to dust. 
I spread my arms wide and bent my knee. 溺y lord father, I am as you have made 
me. Teach me as you will. You know my hunger.・ 
No longer could we maintain secrets of the heart. His joy and triumph were as 
exposed to my viewing as my own desires were bared to him. Yet I was in the more 
vulnerable state. I was an artwork newly created from a malformed original, and 
the artist yet maintained his control over my shaping. Indeed, as he walked 
across the patterned carpets of dark green and red, his midnight eyes locked to 
my own, I felt his breath blowing on the fire within me, nurturing the white-hot 
flame that was scouring my soul and memory, cleansing me of the impurities of my 
hybrid birth. I was starving for fuel that only he could give, the power that 
would transform this flame into a holocaust. I gave no consideration to what was 
being destroyed, only to the magnificence that would remain. 
From behind me came a loud crack. Kasparian had snapped a stick as thick as my 
wrist and thrown it on the hearth fire. He snatched another stick from the 
basket and then drew his knife, and began to shave long slivers of wood from the 
dry stick with the ease of slicing cake. The splinters fell onto a pile on the 
clay-colored hearth tiles at his feet. 
My father痴 eyes never left me nor did my own stray from his face for long, 
though the image of Kasparian痴 hungry knife now lay atop my mind like a thin 
coverlet, a distraction. My own dagger, sheathed in finely tooled leather, lay 
heavy against my bare flank. Ironic that Kasparian痴 interruption should remind 
me of it. The devoted Madonai would be appalled. 
鉄o at last you have answered your own question,・said my father. 展hen I first 
discovered you among the shadows in such bitter exile, I wanted to tell you then 
of your true identity. But you were so full of anger羊ightly so預nd you had so 
little memory of your heritage. Not enough to build on.・ 
鄭nd I refused to dream in Kir歎agonoth,・I said, gasping for air enough to speak 
beneath his smothering attention. 的 hated taking on flesh, and so you had no way 
to speak to me.・ 
哲o matter. I was so proud of your strength and grace. And then you found the 
other, your human partner, your match in every way. How the powers of the 
universe have blessed us, my son, after so long an agony to send this good 
Warden to save us both. When I learned how you planned to join with him, I 
decided to do whatever I could to bring you here, giving you some hint of your 
rightful place in the world. You needed to understand that I bore you no ill 
will. Far from it. I wanted to give you everything.・My father laid his hand on 
my cheek, leaving every nerve, every muscle, every fiber of my body awake and 
quivering as if a knife blade had traced their shape. 鉄till, I could not let 
myself believe you would forgive me, and so I laid these petty traps and snares. 
You致e seen more clearly than I. And now I am humbled by your trust・to bring this 
child of your body to live here.・He withdrew his hand, and I leaned forward 
trying to hold the connection. But he folded his arms across his green-shirted 
chest and did not seem to notice. 鄭nd so we come to the culmination. You are a 
vessel, prepared to receive a gift unlike any given since濫 
撤lease, Father.・I could scarcely hear his words for my raging hunger. Without 
his power to complete my own, I was little more than a withered husk, 
incomplete, unviable, an aberration, born not of nature but of enchantment. 
He laughed and opened his arms, spreading his cloak wide as if he had wings of 
his own, transformed in that instant to the young god who had sired me. 徹pen 
your heart, Valdis my son, and receive what you need of me.・ 
The sight of his broad chest, exposed and vulnerable, led my hand to my knife 
hilt. Somewhere beyond the tumultuous madness of my desire lay the certainty 
that this was a moment that would never come again, a moment of safety, of 
necessity, of duty. But I could not kill him. The being named Kerouan had once 
been beautiful and holy, and even now he wished me only good. He was my father. 
I loved him and could consider no demand of duty that would do him harm. A 
fading voice within me affirmed this resolution, insisting that violating this 
conviction would be my own surest road to corruption and madness. Faith, said 
the voice. It all comes down to faith. And so I let the moment pass and fell 
into a blue-black sea. The Nameless God embraced me, and I was filled. 
CHAPTER 42
典here痴 three persons come to the garden,・said the conjured servant, a 
plain-faced woman who looked as though she might dissolve in the storm wind that 
raked the castle ramparts. 禅hey say they池e here at your command, Lord Valdis, 
though they do not address you by your proper name.・ 
I stopped in mid-stretch. My shoulders were tight after three days of nasty 
winter weather, and though I had no intention of flying off into the howling 
wind and sleet, I had come to the open heights where I could extend my wings and 
flex them properly. I could shape the wings at will, and thus had no reason to 
retain them all the time, but I felt unsettled, cramped, incomplete when I went 
too many hours without. Wings were the outward expression of my power, the first 
enchantment that I could initiate on my own. 
典hree?・That wasn稚 right. 的 commanded that a woman and a boy pass through the 
tower portal.・ 
的ndeed, my lord, they are a woman, a male child, and a man who claims to be 
their protector. Master Kasparian says that the man, like the child, carries a 
true being within him.・ 
Blaise. The name came instantly. One of the rekkonarre. A good man, but 
disobedient. I had no use for him here; he did not think my child belonged with 
me. 典ake the woman and the boy to the quarters I致e had prepared. Make them 
comfortable with food and dry clothing, and bring them to my father痴 study an 
hour from now. The man may stay in the garden and freeze or return the way he 
came, as he chooses. He is forbidden to shapeshift here or to proceed beyond the 
garden. Have Kasparian see to it.・ 
Kasparian knew my orders. He was to prevent interference by my human 
acquaintances, but he was not to harm them. Once I could command my own power in 
this world, I would rethink the prison and its barriers and its occupants. And 
that time would come very soon. Only three days since my father had transferred 
his power to me, and already I could feel it swollen like a snow-fed torrent in 
spring. 
For the moment, the binding spells I had created so long in the past left me 
unable to initiate any Madonai enchantment, save my own body痴 shaping. I, too, 
was dependent on Kasparian. But, unlike my father, I could do very much as I 
pleased once the first spark was struck even by so dull an edge as my father痴 
attelle. Only crossing the wall was impossible. Any enchantment that my father 
could teach me, I could shape and wield once Kasparian had given it life, and I 
had confidence that I would control the wall itself once my strength had grown 
enough. I had plenty of time. I would be released from this confinement. 
As for my father・I wasn稚 sure what I was going to do about him. He was still 
mad. Humans and rekkonarre had rightly feared him all these years. I understood 
his power, his deeds, and his reasoning預nd the flaw that had torn him apart. He 
had done his best to cure me of that weakness, not so that I could carry out his 
slaughter as I had so foolishly feared, but to enable me to make reasoned 
judgments without going mad. Free of human sympathies and confusions, I would be 
able to sort out problems that only a Madonai had the power to address. Time 
would tell how well he had done. 
I finished my stretching, watching the ice crystals form on the leading edges of 
my wings, pleased to note that even the sensitive membranes were not bothered by 
the cold. Just as I started down the tower stairs to my apartments, a loud 
screeching broke out beyond the battlements. Retracing my steps and peering over 
the wall, I saw a large brown-and-white bird struggling to fly toward the 
fortress from the direction of the garden. Its valiant efforts were doomed to 
failure. Besides the constant buffeting of the wind, the bird was caught by a 
rope of light tossed from Kasparian痴 hand. The harder the bird fought, the 
tighter drew the noose about its neck. 
的 told you that you are forbidden to approach the castle in any shape 
whatsoever,・ shouted Kasparian above the bluster of wind and the indignant 
squawks of the bird. With a few snaps of the rope, he had the bird back on the 
ground, where it quickly reshaped itself to a bedraggled man who knelt clutching 
his neck and gasping harshly. 
I jumped up and onto the merlon. 撤erhaps we need to illustrate the penalties for 
disobedience,・I called down to Kasparian as my wings filled and my cloak flapped 
and billowed. 鉄take him out in the garden until tomorrow midnight.・ 
The man Blaise gawked stupidly as I stepped off the ramparts and spiraled 
downward on the storm wind to stand over him. 
的致e no wish to harm you,・I said to the kneeling man, touching Kasparian痴 hand 
and casting the spell that would prevent the captive rekkonarre from 
shapeshifting throughout the coming day. The man groaned a little as his bones 
felt the binding of my enchantment. 釘ut I am not to be trifled with. You will 
tell your fellows when you return to your world.・ 
Blaise tried to speak, but Kasparian jerked on the rope and left him choking. I 
caught the air and soared upward. The man seemed very small as Kasparian dragged 
him away. 
I returned to the tower stair and my own business, shaking off the damp while 
unshaping my wings. Once in my apartments, I donned gray breeches, boots, and a 
loose shirt of black silk, and I tied back my hair with a silk ribbon. A short 
time later I joined my father in his study. 
鉄o your boy is come,・said my father, using one finger to move a piece on his 
game board. He had scarcely stirred from his chair by the fire since my change, 
claiming that the years weighed heavy on him now that his essence was so 
diminished. Not wishing to seem greedy or presumptuous, I had not pressed for a 
clearer estimate of his condition. An undeniable peace had soothed his edgy 
humor, though indeed the transfer of power seemed to have left him vulnerable to 
his declining body. But the threads he cast into the world and into my soul even 
now were no weakling wisps. Any who discounted my father from the game of power 
before he breathed his last would rue the miscalculation. 泥oes the child know 
you at all?・he asked. 
哲o more than I knew you when first I came here,・I said. 釘ut that will change. By 
the time he is grown, he will remember nothing but his true home and family, 
unusual as we are.・I bowed slightly and smiled. 
添ou need to find some way to placate Kasparian,・he said, chuckling. 滴e threatens 
to step on the mite without remorse if the boy gets in his way.・ 
的致e already spoken with Kasparian. We致e come to an understanding.・In exchange 
for his tolerance, I had promised the Madonai that he could stay with my father 
no matter how I chose to control Nyel in the future. 
From the hallway sounded footsteps and a quiet whispering. A servant held the 
door, and through the opening we could see the boy hanging back, clinging to the 
woman痴 dark blue skirt. She stooped down to speak to the child for a moment, and 
then straightened, took him by the hand, and led him into the study. Neither 
showed any sign of fear as they crossed the room. I nodded my approval to the 
woman. The child gaped about the spacious room with its shining lamps and 
ornaments, his dark eyes growing wide at the sight of the black and white game 
pieces that glittered in the lamplight. 
溺ay I present my son Evan-diargh?・I said, bowing first to my father and then to 
my son. 鄭 proper introduction will have to wait until I know him better 
myself.・The child, paying no mind to either of us, pulled loose from the woman痴 
hand and wandered forward, stopping halfway between the woman痴 position in the 
center of the room and the alluring game table. He eyed my father, judging, I 
supposed, whether to risk proximity to the stranger in order to gain access to 
the intriguing shapes so near the old man. 
滴ere, lad,・said Nyel, taking one of the small rounded warriors from the game 
board and rolling it across the carpet to the boy痴 feet. The child snatched it 
from the floor, smiled shyly, and stepped a bit closer to the table. 
摘van,・said the woman softly, and the boy quickly retreated to her side, poking 
one finger in his mouth while clutching the ivory warrior. 
鄭nd this is Mistress Elinor,・I continued, 努ho has cared for my son since his 
birth.・ 
徹ne of the rekkonarre,・said my father. 釘ut lacking her true being. Pity.・ 
鄭nd who and what are you who presumes to pity my birth, sir?・said the woman. She 
spoke quite boldly for one whose hands were clenched into bloodless knots at her 
side. 
的n this place I am called Nyel for lack of anything better,・said my father with 
a great sigh. 典he names given to me in the human world, you know better than I. 
As for what I am, a tired old man is the most accurate description. One who has 
seen his fondest wish fulfilled and is deciding what lesser pleasures to enjoy 
for his waning days. You have clearly done good service in the nurture of this 
child, and so have no need to fear me or my son.・Nyel laid his hand on my arm. 
添our son・ The woman glanced sharply from Nyel to me. 
典he matter is too complicated to explain,・I said, clasping my hands behind my 
back. 鄭nd is none of your business. Are your quarters adequate?・ 
擢or a prison,・she said, emboldened, no doubt, by my father痴 gentle air. The more 
fool she, if she underestimated him. 
添ou are not confined to your rooms,・I said. 溺y son may roam where he pleases in 
the castle and grounds, excepting only the private apartments of my father and 
his companion, Kasparian. Kasparian also has a sparring arena just below this 
center part of the fortress. The arena is a dangerous place for a child. I have 
commanded Kasparian to keep it locked, but it is your responsibility to keep the 
boy away from it. You will accompany the child as is necessary to teach and care 
for him. You will find no dangers here beyond those of any house with stairs, 
towers, and windows庸ar fewer than where you were. Fewer than in any human 
dwelling of my experience.・ 
She would not be cowed. 添et you cannot deny that we are confined.・ 
・You may leave Kir誰avarrin at any time, Mistress.・ 
That silenced her impudence for the moment. She knew very well that she would 
leave alone. 
The boy was tugging at the woman痴 skirts, whispering, 溺am. Mam. Can we go home 
now?・ 
The woman laid a hand on his head, quieting him. 的 beg you excuse us, good sir, 
but I should put Evan to bed. We致e traveled a long way. If you will accompany 
us, Seyonne, I値l show you how he likes to be put to bed. If you池e to care for 
him in the future, you壇 best learn.・ 
My father chortled in delight and rocked back in his chair. 的ndeed, my son, I 
believe you致e brought a determined spirit into this house. And I thought the 
child would be the most interesting visitor we致e seen in a millennium.・ He waved 
his hand at the three of us. 敵o on. Go on. Indeed, lad, you should learn what 
she has to teach. When she sickens or dies or decides that her loyalties are to 
her own kind instead of this boy, we値l not wish the child痴 habits disrupted.・ 
Irritated by the woman痴 presumption and my father痴 encouragement of it, I bowed 
curtly to my father and gestured the woman toward the door. 
The woman murmured quietly to the child as we climbed the curved stair, pointing 
out the bird-shaped carvings on the staircase, telling him not to scrape the 
game piece on the polished wood, and dragging him away from the fountain on the 
landing before he tumbled into it. Her words and actions were directed to the 
boy, but her eyes kept flicking to me until I was tempted to see if some 
unsightly growth had appeared on my forehead. When she hesitated at the 
convergence of four corridors, I indicated the way, and we soon arrived at my 
son痴 apartments. 
The main room was large and would command a fine view of the gardens. Shelves 
lined one wall, filled with toy ships and balls, books and paper, and sticks of 
coal to draw with. Under the wide casements stood a clothes chest stocked with 
new shirts, breeches, undergarments, and boots of the proper size. A conjured 
servant was just laying out a supper of cold meat, apples, and toasted bread on 
a small, low table. While I stood in the doorway watching, Mistress Elinor sat 
on the rug beside the bedroom fire and helped the boy change into a well-worn 
nightshirt pulled from a traveling bundle. I considered leaving. I had no 
interest in bedroom rituals; servants could learn such things and carry them out 
when the nursemaid was dead or gone. Yet I stayed, listening and watching. 
套 But this is your new house・ said the woman, when the child popped up from her 
lap and tried with pokes and shoves to stand her up, demanding to go home. 套 and 
it is a very nice house with many new things to see. Here, have some supper. 
You致e not eaten in ever so long.・She pulled the boy onto her lap, coaxing him to 
try a bite of cold fowl. He shook his head, but accepted a square of toast, 
watching the servant make up the small bed that stood against one wall. 
The bed prepared, the plain-faced serving woman picked up several cloth-wrapped 
bundles that lay by the outer door and pointed to a smaller doorway off to one 
side. 的値l put your things in your room,・she said to Elinor. 
鏑eave them, please. I値l be staying in here.・ 
添our room is next to this. Not so large, but sufficient.・The servant was of 
Kasparian痴 creation and bidding, and so, of course, quite expressionless and 
unintelligent. 
鄭s I said, I値l be sleeping in here with my son.・ 
釘ut you致e no bed here for sleeping, and I値l not be moving any furniture without 
I知 told by Master Kasparian.・ 
The human woman shrugged and shifted her attention back to the child, picking up 
the dropped toast. Clearly the argument was concluded, though the simpleminded 
servant who disappeared through the door with the traveling bags did not 
understand who had won. 
I admired strength in a woman, though I knew better than to trust the one who 
possessed it. As I crossed the room to join the woman and boy by the fire, my 
hand rubbed the nagging reminder on my side. This woman must be taught to bend; 
she claimed my child as her own. 
滴ello, Evan. May I join your supper?・I said, bowing to him slightly. 
The child buried his face in the woman痴 breast. Of course any child was fearful 
of new circumstances and unfamiliar faces. I seated myself in an armchair a few 
steps away from the two, thinking that perhaps he would be less shy if I were 
not so tall. Taking an apple and a knife from the table, I cut off a thin wedge 
and offered it to the boy. 的知 pleased you致e come to live with me, Evan. I致e been 
waiting a very long time for us to be together.・A very long time. I looked into 
the past to review the course of our separation and was appalled at what I could 
remember of it預 legacy of rampant ignorance and fear, injustice and cruelty. I 
recalled an image of this woman staring down at a crippled man who had been 
dreadfully mutilated and other humans hacked into bloody refuse, and her face as 
she blamed me for the carnage・ 
The boy snatched the piece of apple from my hand. 
鉄ay thank you to迫the woman looked over at me欄what should he call you? He still 
thinks of Gordain as his da.・ 
Gordain. A human man, not even rekkonarre. 添ou will speak no more of Gordain to 
my son. I would not have him mourn a human. In a Madonai house, the male parent 
is addressed as 詮yothe.・The closest human word would be 善apa.・・ 
The woman nodded, burying any retort, as well as the questions that came so 
clearly to her tongue. She would not even know the term Madonai. 摘van, say, 
禅hank you, Papa.・・ 
The boy squirmed and murmured something like, then buried his face again while 
beginning to nibble at the bit of apple. I cut off another wedge. 的 will not 
tolerate your teaching him to fear me.・I made sure my tone was nothing that 
would frighten the boy. 
鉄eyonne迫the woman lowered her voice, glancing sidewise at the doorway to the 
adjoining room欄we need to talk privately.・ 
展ith regard to・?・ 
She examined my face carefully, perplexed and hesitant, all her bravado fallen 
away. 敵ive me a sign, Seyonne,・she whispered, pleading in a most pitifully human 
way. 展e thought・The Prince was sure・After what you said about promises and 
faith濫 
The servant returned and began to bank the fire for the night. The woman glanced 
at the servant痴 back and spoke in a normal tone again, though her face had not 
lost the probing worry. 添our somber manner surprises me. Prince Aleksander says 
you are prone to telling bad jokes at awkward times such as these.・ 
I could not understand her strange manner. 的 find little humor in anything 
human, Mistress Elinor. My experiences in your world belie any inclination 
toward it.・The servant left again. I jumped up from my chair, unable to sit 
still. The woman痴 comments unsettled me, as if a spark had shot from a too close 
fire and stung my forehead between my eyes. I hated the sensation. 鄭nd do not 
presume. As I致e told you before, I am not the man this human prince knows; I 
have discarded that part of my existence. You are a servant, remaining here by 
my forbearance, and I would advise you to remember it. You should address me as 
Master Valdis.・ 
A certain brightness deserted the woman痴 face, as when the last vestige of the 
sun痴 disk slips below the horizon, leaving the actual daylight little changed, 
but its quality irrevocably altered. She began to rock the boy slowly, laying 
her cheek on his dark head as his heavy eyelids sagged. 天aldis,・she said. 禅he 
name of the Ezzarian god. I thought you disdained the role of god.・ 
摘zzarians have no concept of what or whom they speak.・ 
典hen tell me, Master Valdis, why is it so important that Evan should be moved 
here now, and so quickly? We致e tended him well, kept him from harm, loved him as 
is a child痴 right. The war has moved farther from our settlement, and so there 
is no immediate threat to his safety. You致e had little time to spend with him in 
the past, and if you continue your participation in the Aveddi痴 war, that will 
likely not change. What do you think is going to happen in the human world that 
you no longer trust us to protect the boy?・ 
I tossed the knife and the remains of the apple onto the table. 
的 wish my son safe. I don稚 remember exactly why I felt it necessary to move so 
quickly.・ 
添ou don稚 remember?・Her head popped upright. 擢our days ago you threatened to kill 
two hundred people if I didn稚 get him here immediately!・ 
釘ut that was before.・ 
釘efore what?・ 
The woman was a morass of impertinent questions, but I knew that daily life 
would be easier if we remained on reasonable, if proper, terms. So I answered 
her. 釘efore my change. Before I became wholly Madonai.・Explaining would have 
been easier, of course, if I had known the information she wanted. But, as with 
so many pieces of my discarded existence, the logic behind my actions was hazy. 
的 believed quite urgently that my son should be here with me, but I don稚 recall 
the entire chain of reasoning that led up to that belief. I was still human 
then. Human 喪easoning・is inextricably entangled with human emotions, and such 
convoluted paths are difficult to recapture now that my body that generated and 
supported those emotions has changed so radically.・ 
添our body has changed・not human・ Her bewildered expression was but another 
annoying question. 
的 am now Madonai, as are my father and Kasparian, although they were born and I 
was gifted・transformed. The rekkonarre遥ou and the rest of your race預re the 
product of human and Madonai mating twelve hundred years ago, a grievous mistake 
that has corrupted the world. In me, my father has remedied that mistake. Do you 
see now?・ 
的知 beginning to understand. And now you are・changed・in this way, you remember 
only facts from the past容vents, decisions, names溶ot how you felt about them or 
why.・ 
展hatever else was involved in my decision, I will likely remember it later. Not 
that it matters. My son痴 proper place is with me, not in some human war camp at 
risk of slavery or mutilation, or cruel, wasteful, useless death葉hese damnable 
human plagues. He will be raised as Madonai, and when the time comes, I will 
give him the gift that my father has given me.・ 
The woman pressed her lips together, stroked the child痴 hair, and shifted him 
onto her shoulder. Her gaze did not leave my face. 
Now that her questions were mercifully silenced, I took my leave. 典he child 
sleeps. I値l see him in the morning.・I felt her eyes still fixed on me as I 
walked out of the door. 
Disliking the murky confusions the woman raised, I returned to the ramparts, 
shaped my wings, and leaped into the air. Unfortunately, battling the storm wind 
and the annoying limits of the cursed wall did not silence the fool woman痴 
question. Why had I brought the boy here so soon and so fast? 
Indeed I had told her one part of the answer. My soul revolted at the thought 
that my son might someday wear scars like those on my face and my side. And the 
boy was rekkonarre, thus would need to spend time in both worlds. But not yet, 
so why was his presence so urgent? 
A second part of the answer was surely that bringing Evan here would convince my 
father of my intent to complete my change. And so it had done. But a fortress 
prison housing a mad Madonai and his two companions was not a rational choice 
for raising a child. Until I could break the wall and decide what to do about my 
father, having the boy here held its own dangers. 
Which meant there was a third part to the answer, and that one, to my 
head-bursting frustration, I could not remember. And so I twisted and dived in 
the wind over the mountain, letting the storm batter my body and monopolize my 
attention. 
When morning came, cold and overcast, I bathed, dressed, and resisted the urge 
to make my way immediately to my son痴 chamber. He was still half human. He would 
be sleeping or breakfasting. I needed to go dream traveling, and so I met 
Kasparian in the library, the room I had chosen for my own study. But no sooner 
had the sullen Madonai sat down at the worktable and begun his enchantment, than 
I pushed his hand away and dismissed him. 展e値l do this tomorrow,・I said. 的 need 
to reconsider my objectives in this war.・ 
Before a quarter of an hour had passed, I was watching from a tower window as 
the woman and Evan walked out into the winter garden, bundled in cloaks and 
scarves. The child ran from pond to statue to frozen fountain, laughing and 
teasing, climbing and hiding and running. The woman was always there to pull him 
away from the frozen ponds, to brush the snow from his clothes before it could 
melt, to help him down when he had climbed too high, to laugh with him when he 
bumped a tree trunk and showered the two of them with snow. Soon they wandered 
deeper into the garden, where I could no longer see them. Before I could decide 
whether to go out and join them, I heard a terrified wailing. 
I sped through the castle, shaping my wings and taking to the air the moment I 
was out of doors, following the sound to its source. The woman stood on a 
snow-covered knoll, clutching the sobbing Evan. Though I saw no blood, no hurt 
on the boy, no evidence of broken limbs, the woman痴 cheeks were also streaked 
with tears. Only when I touched earth beside them did I grasp what distressed 
them. Down a short incline the man Blaise lay on a flat section of the lawn, 
faceup, his limbs bound and stretched between four stakes. His garments were 
stiff with ice, his hair and brows frosted, and he was shivering violently. The 
rope of light still circled his neck, preventing him from speaking. 
滴e will not die,・I said. 滴is punishment lasts only until midnight. He will be 
very cold, but perhaps he will remember to obey my commands.・Snow drifted from 
the heavy clouds. 
Pressing the sobbing child to her shoulder, the woman walked slowly down the 
slope until she stood only a few paces from the prisoner. 滴ow can you do this? 
Blaise is your friend. He helped save you from despair. He has loved and cared 
for your child濫 
痘and I have saved Blaise from madness and preserved his life countless times. 
But does that give him leave to violate my home? Does appreciation for past 
deeds oblige me to allow him opportunity to steal my child away?・Why was reason 
so alien to human thought? 
鉄eyonne is truly dead, then,・she said, shifting her gaze from the shivering man 
to me. 典his change that has transformed your body has also destroyed your 
heart.・ 
的ndeed,・I said, looking down at the man and feeling nothing. 的 believe that was 
the point.・ 
The weather worsened all through that day. I had Kasparian watch to ensure the 
man did not die or lose a limb to frostbite, and at midnight I went myself to 
set him free. What pain he suffered was likely the result of restored 
circulation and cramping muscles. But the discomfort was evidently considerable, 
as his eyes glistened with tears as he watched me unbind him. Unfortunate, but 
necessary. I gave him my hand, and he stumbled to standing. 
典ell your fellows,・I said. 
He nodded, pressed his bony hands to the black wall, and vanished. 
Evidently the incident served warning enough to still the woman痴 combative 
nature. Her font of questions dried up, and her attempts at familiarity ceased. 
Only her unrelenting observation was left to irritate me. Unfortunately, the 
child was bothered enough by the memory of Blaise痴 punishment that he would 
neither leave his room, nor engage with anyone but Elinor. In order to confront 
this distancing before it festered into fear and to ensure the woman did not 
encourage it, I spent most of Evan痴 waking hours with the two of them, delaying 
yet again my return to the human war. 
For a day after Blaise痴 release, the boy would pursue no activity, no matter 
that I had a set of gaming pieces made for him, and some magical toys: a small 
wooden horse that galloped about his chambers, and a palm-sized sailing ship 
that flew upon the air. I had the woman stay back while I gave him his food, but 
he would not eat. By evening I deserted their company, exasperated. But after a 
glass of wine and an hour痴 running, I regained my perspective. Gods・ teeth, the 
boy was not yet three years old and had witnessed a close acquaintance in 
considerable discomfort. He was not afraid of me, only of the harm that had come 
to his friend. I climbed the stairs again, thinking to bid him good night. A 
quiet voice came from the room, and I paused in the doorway to watch and listen. 

套 He would carry his boy on his shoulders in the bright mornings, and they would 
walk through the green forests, and over the green hills, and into the 
fields.・The woman was sitting on the edge of the small bed, and the child was 
curled up in his blankets listening. 鄭nd there the man would dig in the soil and 
teach the boy of plants and roots and growing things, of worms and mice and・what 
else?・ 
迭abbits!・said the child. 
迭abbits, indeed. And as they worked the soil and planted seeds, the man would 
tell his boy stories of rabbits and their life in their burrows濫 
展hat tale is this you tell?・I blurted out, feeling a sudden pain like a knife痴 
point behind my eyes. 
The woman tucked the blanket around the child, not taking her eyes from the 
small, worried face. Her answer was spoken in the soothing rhythm of the 
storyteller. 的t is the story of Evan痴 family, of his grandfather, I believe. But 
perhaps I am incorrect about that. I learned it from my brother, who learned it 
from・ one who knew it well. It has been Evan痴 favorite since he was a babe, the 
only tale sure to quiet him when he痴 upset.・ 
I could not stay. I was near blinded by the pain in my head, and it was all I 
could do to keep my voice steady. 典omorrow. I値l come again tomorrow.・ 
Once back in my own chambers, the pain receded quickly. After all, I was 
Madonai. 
The morrow was little different. The woman watching. Evan skittish. Myself 
playing the fool to gain the favor of a child. Ludicrous. On the next day I 
returned to my studies in the library. My father taught me enchantments to 
control the movements of water. Much more satisfactory. I looked in on the boy 
in the evening, and he bowed quite properly when I entered his room. I returned 
his small courtesy, and then sat with him while he ate a reasonable portion of 
broth and bread. I sailed his wooden ships on the air, but he did not try to 
play with them. None of the three of us said much of anything. When the woman 
began preparing the boy for bed, I bade him a good night and left. 
On the next day I went traveling in dreams and found the human war quiet. Forces 
were mustering in northern Azhakstan, near Capharna, the Empire痴 summer capital 
in the mountains. Capturing Capharna was a logical step for the Prince to take, 
but a massive one, requiring considerable preparation. Disappointing. I had been 
hoping for a fight. 
For the remainder of that day and through the next, I could find no occupation 
to settle me. Was I already going mad from my confinement? The air felt brittle, 
the shivering world on the verge of crumbling. I could neither sleep nor 
concentrate on studies or enchantments or exercise. My father痴 concerned 
inquiries were constant irritation. 的s it not enough that you made me?・I 
snapped. 溺ust you think and feel for me, too?・I screamed at the woman to stop 
staring at me or I would strangle her, and then cursed myself for losing my 
temper at a nursemaid. What was I waiting for? 
On the afternoon of the fifth day from Blaise痴 departure, I learned the answer. 
As I paced an inner courtyard, Kasparian brought the news that a human man was 
waiting in the garden, demanding to speak with me. As if the key had been fitted 
into its proper lock, all the jarring edges within me settled into place. The 
red fire of sunset shot through the lowering clouds like a crack in the sky as I 
took wing and settled upon the ramparts of my fortress. Of course he would come. 
The wheels of inevitability had turned, shifting us all into position. 
溺y lord,・I said. 展hat can I do for you this evening?・He looked up, the amber of 
his eyes visible even from my high perch, his red hair taking fire with the 
dying sunlight. 的致e come to keep my promise, Seyonne. Shall I come up there to 
kill you, or do we finish it down here?・ 
CHAPTER 43
典ell me who you are.・He leaned against a barren ash tree in the snowy garden, 
appearing as easy as a shengar settled under a tar-bush in desert noonday. I was 
not deceived. His hand rested on his sword hilt. 
鼎an you not use your vaunted skill to judge me, Prince?・I had flown down from 
the tower, unshaping my wings once I stood on the steps that overlooked the 
garden. I did not wear a weapon as yet. My visitor hardly frightened me. His 
vest and breeches of thick, padded leather and the boots that reached to his 
thigh spoke of serious caution on his part; he hated such protective garb. I 
knew a great deal about this man. 
He shook his head. 擢or this matter I cannot trust instinct. Nor even Blaise痴 
word. Not when it is Seyonne痴 life in the balance.・ 
I laughed and swept a broad bow. 的 thank you for your caution, my lord. But I 
can put your mind at ease. I have Seyonne痴 knowledge, memory, and form, but his 
body is now Madonai, not human, and I am no longer subject to his emotional 
confusion. The part of him that served you迫I touched my left cheek・鍍hat scrubbed 
your floors of vomit, wrote your letters, and guarded your back, is no more.・ I 
drew my cloak about my shoulders. Without the wings I felt the cold. 禅ell me, 
what is Seyonne痴 crime that you, who purport to be his friend, would slay me? 
Has he mislaid your crown or failed to wipe your feet? Perhaps he has shed too 
little blood for you that you thirst for his.・What kind of fool is so beguiled 
by strength and charm and leadership葉ruly Aleksander had those in abundance葉hat 
he translates them into the kind of bondage I had served? How stupid I had been 
to think this prince could bring reason and order to the human world. 埜hy are 
you here?・I said. 
Kasparian appeared at my side, my sword belt laid across his arms. 
The Prince did not move, but I felt the subtle shift in readiness ripple through 
him. 的 made Seyonne a promise, and I never break faith with a friend. Do you not 
remember?・ 
From the time I had run to Zhagad to warn Aleksander of assassins, my thinking 
had been clouded. I owned all of 鉄eyonne痴・memories, just as I remembered my 
thousand years in Kir歎agonoth and the pitiful smatterings of my life before the 
split that sent me there, yet I could not remember half of my dealings with 
Aleksander for the murk of human sympathies that surrounded them. But enough was 
clear. 的 recall a number of promises. A promise to disembowel me if I failed to 
deliver a message to your guard captain. A promise to slaughter every Ezzarian 
should I attempt to return to my home. And once, I think, vou swore to cut off 
my hand if I did not drop my eyes from your face. I値l not drop my eyes, Prince.・ 

He cocked his head. 鉄o tell me謡ho was it came to my camp eight nights ago and 
stole away my counselor and her fostered child?・ 
鄭h! Is that my offense?・I took my sword belt from Kasparian and leaned toward 
him in mock severity. 鉄ummon the woman immediately, Kasparian. We need her sharp 
eyes to bear witness to my good heart.・The Madonai bowed and disappeared inside 
the fortress doors as I buckled on the wide belt of soft leather and strapped 
the scabbard to my thigh. 鄭sk her who I am,・I said to Aleksander. 鉄he can 
vouchsafe that I have maltreated neither her nor the boy, and then you can 
explain why you would kill me for claiming my own child. I recall you mentioning 
a number of times that I should leave you to your own fate and spend more time 
with him. Was there some promise involved with that?・ 
Though I quipped and cut at him, I searched my mind for reasons. Yes, on my 
visit to retrieve the boy, I had reminded the Prince of promises and 
faithfulness, but as a warning against this very kind of perfidy. Aleksander had 
called me his friend and brother, and now he was here to kill me. Humans knew 
nothing of faith. 
典his vow is of longer standing,・he said. 
Kasparian soon reappeared on the fortress steps with the woman. The boy was not 
with them, a wise choice on Kasparian痴 part. I would commend him for it later. 
At the woman痴 arrival, the Prince sloughed off all pretense of ease. He moved 
toward the steps, his eyes fixed on the woman痴 grave face. 滴ow fare you, 
Mistress? And the boy?・ 
溺aster Valdis and his father are all courtesy,・she said, dipping her head to me. 
摘van and I are well-provided for.・ 
No further words were exchanged, but she shook her head slightly and, for one 
fleeting moment, the Prince痴 ruddy complexion lost color. 鉄o be it,・he said 
softly, and shifted his gaze to me. 的f you plan to use your sorcery to prevent 
me, Master・Valdis・then do so now, for I do swear that I will take your life this 
day.・Watching him and listening, one might almost believe he could do it. 
添our time and place are well chosen,・I said. 鄭t present, unless I carry 
Kasparian here in my scabbard, sorcery profits me little in this realm. But I do 
not fear to face you on mundane terms, Madonai to human. As you致e brought no war 
steed, I will even forego my wings.・Whatever the mystery of this determined 
blood lust揺ow did he think to benefit by slaying the one who had brought him to 
the brink of a new kingdom?悠 relished the prospect of a fight. Too much concern 
with children and women threatened to sap my developing strength. 鉄o where shall 
we test ourselves, my lord Prince? We can duel here in my garden and my 
fortress, but my knowledge of the terrain would give me unfair advantage. 
Kasparian can create us any venue we choose in his sparring arena妖esert, forest, 
wilderness, familiar to us both or strange洋uch like the portal landscapes I致e 
described for you. And you needn稚 fear that he will build me an advantage. I am 
the only being he despises more than human princes.・ 
的 don稚 care where we fight. Only that I fulfill my bond.・ 
I considered the problem. 撤erhaps we should start where all this began・ 
I drew Kasparian aside and described what I wanted, allowing him full access to 
my memory of the place. He departed, and I motioned to the Prince and the woman. 
鼎ome along then. By my child痴 head, you have nothing to fear until I draw my 
sword. And you, too, Mistress. I would have you witness that I fought him 
fair.・As I led them into the heart of the fortress, they followed at a distance, 
talking quietly. I did not eavesdrop. Their concerns were none of mine. 
To begin a duel cold is an awkward thing. In my Warden痴 days I had entered 
combat in a state of studied calm, but always imbued with the fire of 
righteousness and duty. Of late my arm had swung with vengeance and anger and 
other feelings that my mind could name, but no longer comprehend, remote 
sensations, like an unpleasant taste lingering in my mouth. Blood should be shed 
for reason, not passion. And yet, when I jumped lightly onto the square wooden 
platform in the barren courtyard of Kasparian痴 devising, reason was not enough 
to draw my hand to my blade. 
Kasparian had done well, even conjuring the bitter wind that had broached the 
gray walls of Capharna痴 slave market courtyard on the day I had stood naked and 
chained on display for my new master. The ground was pitted and puddled with 
frozen slush, and the iron loops set into the walls for attaching slave chains 
still spoke of degradation. 
I could see neither Mistress Elinor nor Kasparian. Somewhere in the fortress 
they would be watching・as would my father, too, I guessed. All his feelings 
about humans had coalesced in his hatred for this prince. He would not wish to 
miss my triumph. 
The Prince痴 demeanor was admirable. He wasted no time and lost no focus at 
walking from a buried passage in Tyrrad Nor into the replica of a long-ago 
winter痴 day in his empire痴 summer capital. His face was as stark and barren as 
the walls, and his gaze was only for me. He drew his sword and dagger and 
attacked. 
Reluctantly I drew my weapon. 添ou must explain this vow you service,・I said, 
countering his first blow and shoving him away after a brief closure. 溺y father 
has freed me of human weakness, which means that even this despicable venue 
gives me no lust for personal vengeance.・ 
Another brief, violent exchange. Every sinew of Aleksander痴 body was prepared. 
Every part and portion of his being was intent on his movements and mine, but he 
was not yet fully committed. His strokes were quick and light and precise. He 
was feeling me out. Was he not yet sure of his purpose? 
In the center of the wooden platform was a post and crossbars to which the 
living merchandise at auction was bound for inspection. I danced backward, using 
the structure to separate myself from the Prince. 鄭 matter of honor is it not, 
to tell a man why you plan to kill him? But then, what do human princes know of 
honor?・ 
Aleksander moved slowly to his left, leaving the post out of the way again. 的 
promised Seyonne that if ever he became the dread being of his visions葉he 
monster he believed would destroy our world悠 would slay him. I hoped the changes 
we saw in you were but for show, some tactic in a war we could not see. I prayed 
that you knew what you were doing, and that at any moment you would tell me a 
bad joke and show me how you had saved us all yet again. But then you took your 
son・brought him to this place you feared・into this danger・and I knew・ He circled 
slowly to his left, and his fingers shifted slightly on his sword grip. 禅he 
curse of Athos be upon this fortress and whatever power dwells here who has done 
this to my friend・ And with a savage cry he fell on me with a blow that could 
sever a thousand-year oak. 
Madonai though I was, the bones of my right arm came near shattering at the 
meeting of our blades, and I dropped backward off the auction block to give 
myself a moment to recover. But I had scarce swiveled into position and yanked 
my dagger from its sheath to join my sword, when he leaped across the wooden 
platform and unleashed his steel on me again. One blow and then another and 
another, not a heart痴 pulse between them. Around the wooden block, up and over, 
from wall to wall we fought熔r rather he attacked and I defended蓉ntil I was 
backed against the rusty iron gate. To my salvation, the gate swung open, and 
our battle moved into the cobbled slave market, surrounded by cheerless walls, 
low roofs, and guard towers that mimicked those of the Derzhi mountain city in 
all save living inhabitants. The afternoon was gray, the heavy clouds pregnant 
with winter. A dirty blanket of melting snow lay over the deserted stocks and 
pillories, and long icicles hung like frozen daggers on the ragged awnings and 
stone facades. 
The Prince drew me into a high counter, then spun about and aimed to take 
vicious advantage of my vulnerability, but I retreated once again, saving myself 
from a blow that could have sliced through my rib cage. I stumbled backward 
through a blacksmith痴 shed, tripping over a pile of leg irons and chain. 
Reluctance and curiosity fell victim to necessity as I countered Aleksander痴 
ferocious assault again and again. 
Through the slave market gates and into the city streets we circled and 
scrambled, and only when we reached a wide bridge over a half-frozen river did I 
have an instant to consider strategy. The Prince痴 thickly padded vest was 
restricting his movements, a flaw that I had already exploited. A scratch on his 
neck was bleeding, and another on his forearm. And so he yielded the advantage 
of his relentless fury by pausing at the bridge gate to remove the vest. He 
should never have done it. When he came after me again, I was ready. 
Aleksander was strong, and his skill, speed, and endurance were legendary among 
his warrior people. Our fighting skills were well matched; either one of us 
could prevail. But my Madonai body would not tire, nor would minor woundings 
deter me. Aleksander was young and fit, but he was human. And so I would let him 
continue to attack for as long as he could stand up, but I would lead him and 
tease him and bleed him, and when he was half dead from it, I would kill him. 
I turned and ran across the bridge, taunting him, shouting to be heard over the 
ice-clogged torrent of the river. 鼎ome, human, take me if you can!・ 
He gave chase, splashing through the ankle-deep slush of ice and filth in the 
narrow streets of the poor quarter. Every few hundred steps, I would halt and 
allow him to engage me, not too close, but yielding him five hits for every 
scratch I put on him. Then I would duck and dodge his next blow and run away, up 
and down the refuse-strewn alleyways. By the time I stopped again, my nicks and 
scrapes had faded, while the Prince looked as though he壇 run through steel 
brambles. I laughed and let him come at me again. 
At one stop, as we circled like two dogs eyeing the same piece of meat, he 
started talking. 摘linor says you answer to the name of your god Valdis. Is it 
so?・ 
I spun to meet his lunging step, left a dainty blood streak on his cheek, then 
stepped back. 的 am everything that remains of Valdis and his memories, and I 
possess the power that has been waiting for him since his birth. If humans view 
Madonai power as the sign of a god, then that is their own limited vision.・ 
Circling. 鄭nd this prisoner you致e feared・this sorcerer・you call him father・ the 
Nameless God・ He feinted left, then swept another powerful blow to my right. 
My counter drove him backward. His back slammed into a tenement wall, loosing a 
small avalanche of ash-grayed snow upon his head. 溺y father was once the 
greatest of the Madonai,・I said. 滴e has made me Madonai, too, gifted me with his 
power濫 
痘and his hatred of humans. You told me of that.・He brushed his face with his 
sleeve and spit the snow from his mouth, never lowering his guard. 
的 do not hate humans. Neither do I care for them. I have been freed of such 
weaknesses so I can make reasoned judgments.・I lunged forward and pressed him 
with a series of intricate moves that left him bleeding in ten places. 
But he did not lose focus. He beat off my attack until we both stepped back. 添et 
your care, your compassion・was always more effective than your sword. Don稚 you 
see that? Fiona could tell you. Blaise, too.・He waved his sword to the scene 
around us. 滴ere in this very place you once stopped me from razing the poor 
quarter of Capharna. You were always watching me, and on that day I began to see 
things through your slave痴 eyes. I hated you for forcing me to see.・ 
I glanced at the ramshackle warehouses and mean dwellings on every side of us. 
Indeed I recognized the place. A Derzhi heged had wanted to burn out the quarter 
and all its poor inhabitants to build a palace. Aleksander had refused them. On 
that same day in this street, the Prince had commanded a servant to give me a 
cloak and shoes against the freezing wind. 
For one brief moment, I thought I had missed a move, and his dagger had caught 
me behind the eye. But I had no wounding. Why did my head keep hurting so these 
past few days? Was some spell carried by the woman and the Prince? Nonsense. 
They have no power. I tried to concentrate. 泥o you think to distract me with 
sentiment, Prince? Remember, I have none.・ 
Dismissing the piercing discomfort, I lunged, staved off his dagger with my 
right foot, and ripped my knifepoint across his chest. His quickly muted oath 
punctuated our conversation, and blood stained the ragged tear in his shirt. I 
smiled and danced away. He resumed his attack. I dodged a ferocious strike and 
took off running. We had been fighting for two hours, but I felt as fresh as if 
I had just stepped onto the field. 
Through the streets and back across the great bridge I led him, up the causeway 
toward the palace where I had been his slave, and then back toward the city 
marketplace. Our clashing steel and grunting efforts were the only sounds in the 
ghost city save the river and the wind gusting weakly from the heavy clouds. I 
began to question his tactics. He would feint a blow at my legs, his favorite 
target when dueling, but strike at my neck and shoulders・a reasonable ploy, but 
becoming predictable. He was tiring, perhaps not thinking clearly. I led him and 
teased another bloody hole in his sleeve. He looked like a juggler in his 
tattered garments, striped with red. Blood flowed freely from the shallow chest 
wound, a deep cut in one leg, and another gash in his left forearm. 
A flurry of blows and another chase through the gloomy afternoon. The Prince 
drove me backward into Capharna痴 vast central marketplace, through abandoned 
stalls and into a potter痴 booth, knocking over tables stacked with bowls and 
cups and painted jars that shattered on the ice-slicked paving. I backed away 
into the center of the square, beckoning him as a drover calls his mule, only to 
be brought up short by some obstacle, a pedestal of stone. I tried to slip left 
around the shoulder-high block of marble, but a wood-vendor痴 wagon was in the 
way, piled high with sticks and logs and staves. Before I could go the other way 
around, Aleksander attacked again. 
展hy do you bring me to this place of all of them?・he said, panting with his 
efforts. Yes, he was tiring at last. But still foolishly confident. He closed 
the gap between us, sweeping my sword aside, closing in and aiming his dagger at 
my heart. For one moment we grappled, a knot of straining muscle and damp skin 
and edged steel. Even tired and bleeding, he was as strong as a Makhara bear. 
徹h, gods, where are you, Seyonne? I don稚 want this.・ 
He was too close; his left hand was pressing my right arm up over my head, 
exposing my side. Feeling suddenly vulnerable, I gathered my strength and shoved 
him away. I was Madonai. No human could best me. As he stumbled backward, 
crashing into the wood wagon, I kicked his sword out of his hand. It skittered 
under the wagon. I dodged about the pedestal and backed away yet again, taunting 
him to charge me, daring him to turn his back on me and crawl under the wagon to 
pick up his sword. He held back for one moment, bent over, his fists on his 
knees, and breathing harshly. My shirt and hands were sticky with his blood. 
Soon I would take him. Soon. 
I gave him a moment to recover. No need to run too far ahead now. No need to 
rush. While he caught his breath, I glanced up to the bronze statue that topped 
the pedestal預 dying Derzhi warrior, slumped beside the corpse of a mythical 
creature called a gyrbeast. In the counterpart of this very statue, back in true 
Capharna, had my people hidden an enchantment that had led the two of us to 
their place of exile. At the feet of this dying warrior, Aleksander and I had 
begun a journey・ 
My eyes fell to his blood on my hands. Like the glowing iron that had seared the 
slave mark on my face, so came the white-hot pain behind my eyes once more. The 
wounds of my flesh were already closing, but this one・oh, gods of night・ this 
one・ 
・a journey through a frozen forest・a steaming pool and a white-haired man with a 
staff・a lion shape streaking through the woodland, bloodied・torchlights flaming 
in the night・four slave rings broken, lying in the grass・a fortress of strength 
in the midst of desolation・the life-giving waters from a fountain of joy and 
light・ 
Like the gasping Prince, I could not breathe, could not speak. What weakness had 
been left beneath my skin? For that moment I felt powerless, and I staggered 
backward, trying to focus my vision through the glaring ferocity of pain. 
Powerless when I needed strength・Powerless. As if one ray of dying sunlight 
pierced the lowering clouds, as if the knife blade behind my eyes ripped open a 
pall of darkness to reveal one spark of life, so came a shattering truth. Tell 
me who you are, the Prince had said, and for that single moment, I knew the 
answer. 
的 am my father迫the cry burst from me as the Prince snatched a thick branch from 
the wood wagon, heaved a ragged, sobbing breath, and charged欄and his father 
before him.・My sword was high, ready to slash through the human warrior that 
rushed toward me, bearing death in his hand. But my weapon did not fall・not for 
the moment痴 breath that made it too late, when the wooden club smashed into the 
scar on my right side, and I could no longer move. 
Nerveless cold radiated from the fiery explosion in my side until half of my 
body was numb. My arm fell limp; my sword clattered to the paving. My right leg 
folded underneath me, and, even had I the strength to do it, there was nothing 
to catch hold of. When my left elbow struck the ground, my knife went flying, 
and then my executioner was kneeling at my side. Through the haze of shock and 
pain and flying snow, I could see his dagger poised above me and the white blur 
of his face, anguished, as if he were preparing to cut off his own flesh・ 
哲o!・The mountain痴 root beneath us shook with Nyel痴 wrath. If I could have 
sharpened my blurring eyesight, I would not have been surprised to see the earth 
crack and molten rock spew forth in that moment. But as it was, I saw only the 
nauseating result as the stones and structures of Capharna sagged, shifted, and 
reshaped themselves into the stone floor and columned vault of Kasparian痴 
torchlit arena. Three forms took uncertain shape a few tens of paces away湧yel, 
Kasparian, and the woman. Only Aleksander was held motionless, a solid center to 
the blurring universe, as unmoving as the bronze statue, though his eyes were 
living, and tears rolled down his blood-smeared cheeks. I lay crumpled in the 
dirt below his abruptly halted knife, fighting for breath, not sure my heart was 
still beating. 
哲o human will touch this misbegotten weakling, this sniveling creature I have 
called my son.・Nyel痴 face appeared in the spinning maelstrom, his skin flushed, 
his mouth contorted, and his eyes・the gods save us all・his eyes wearing the hard 
glitter of madness. 展hat are you?・He was near spitting with disgust and loathing 
as he stood leaning on Kasparian痴 arm looking down at me. 添ou預 Madonai揺ave 
allowed a human to defeat you. Whether from intent or your own incapability, it 
is all the same・this shame・all my hopes・our history. I gave you everything. You 
were to bear the glory of the Madonai upon your shoulders, and now you lie here 
groveling before this human worm. You have ever been his slave, groveler, and 
only an old man痴 foolish desire saw you else.・ 
The clouds had gathered again. The pall had sealed itself. I could not say what 
I had done or why, but I tried to assert control of my body, so that perhaps I 
could still determine my own fate. 展ait, Fyothe・Father・ 
But one half of me was dead, the other lost to weakness for the moment. I could 
not yet move, and Nyel would not listen. 添ou are unworthy of my gifts. Vile, 
human-tainted flesh・ 
I knew what was coming. Nyel had only one answer to raging disappointment, and 
it had ever been death. Fear had no power over me, and so it did not much matter 
which of them, human or Madonai, did the deed. Regrets without shape flitted 
through my head as Nyel痴 quivering hand snatched Aleksander痴 knife. I closed my 
eyes, reached for clarity, and awaited the cold steel・ 
But the harsh cry that echoed from the vaulted ceiling, that pierced the shadows 
behind the ranked columns to either side of us, that shook the foundations of 
the world, was not mine. I blinked open my eyes to discover a stone-faced 
Kasparian lowering Nyel gently to the earth. 
展hat have you done, attelle?・whispered Nyel. 
添ou were going to kill your son in anger, Master. The deed would have destroyed 
you.・ 
Necessity overcoming incapacity, I struggled to my knees and saw the knife hilt 
protruding from Nyel痴 chest, and Kasparian rising to his feet. 
適ill Valdis? Never・never could I do such a thing.・Nyel痴 voice was weak, but did 
not quaver. 滴ow could you think it? I gave everything to spare him洋y freedom, my 
life, all the others容very Madonai dead. I have made him a god.・ 
Never before that hour had I seen such clear evidence of Nyel痴 madness or the 
subtlety of it・how he could shift from virulent loathing to reasoned hurt with 
no deception, no contrivance of manner. Far, far more dangerous than a monster 
is the honest madman. And I had once thought to set him free. 
His hand reached out weakly. 天aldis? Where are you, lad? Remove this traitor痴 
knife. It pains me.・ 
的知 here,・I said, dragging the weight of my half-dead body to his side. I knelt 
over him and considered the weapon. The knife had been carefully positioned. 
Once the blade was removed, even Madonai healing would not be fast enough to 
stanch the flow of blood. The Nameless God would die. 
I laid my hand on the dagger hilt and looked into his old young eyes, no longer 
wild and dangerous, but bleak. Resigned. He knew the consequences of his death. 
He had no name. No one in any world would remember him beyond this day. 
的 wanted to teach you more, my son. So much for you to learn.・He laid his hand 
on my arm, searching my face. 的 have loved you beyond all others in the world. 
You will remember me?・ 
But what he asked, I could not give. Even those who had lived with him and 
talked with him would forget. I would forget. 鄭s I am, I can neither love you 
nor grieve for you,・I said. 添ou have cured me of it. I will leave you behind as 
I have forgotten my human loves and griefs.・My head was clear again. I was as 
Nyel had made me. 
Nyel痴 hand gripped my bloodstained shirt. 釘ut you will be strong, free. You can 
do as you wish. Force Kasparian the traitor to help you remember; surely he値l 
not forget me. He is Madonai, my attelle. Command him.・ 
Kasparian was standing behind me like one of the stone columns. At this he 
walked away. He kicked Aleksander痴 knife, fallen from Nyel痴 hand, all the way to 
the wall, and, with a ferocious snap of sorcery, he freed the Prince of his 
paralyzing enchantment. Aleksander sat back on his heels, coughing and shaking 
his head. The woman hurried to his side, knelt beside him, and began to bind his 
injured arm with her cloth belt. His blood still smeared my hands. 
I watched the two of them and felt nothing. No pain behind my eyes. No gaping 
wound. No comprehension of the determination that racked the Prince痴 face or the 
hand the woman laid softly upon his shoulder. Only reason served me anymore. 
Only reason. Forever. I turned back to the dying Madonai. 撤erhaps I can offer 
something that will serve us both. I have a bargaining chip you cannot imagine.・ 
I bent down to his ear and spoke my terms. 
哲o!・His weak protest was almost unhearable. Dark blood welled from around the 
knife. We did not have long. 的 will not.・ 
I had no passion with which to beg. Only reason. 鄭s you have loved me, Madonai, 
love me now,・I said. 摘ach of us will get what he desires. I will be as I am 
meant to be. You will not be forgotten.・ 
溺y good and glorious Valdis, do not ask me・ But I did not relent, even to this 
pleading, and at last, as the death rattle robbed him of speech, he gave in. 
適asparian,・I said. 的f you please. One last service for your master.・ 
It seemed, at first, as if the old sorcerer might refuse. But he was incapable 
of denying Nyel for long. So he knelt on the dirt beside us, and when I told him 
what was required, he showed the first sign of astonishment I had ever seen from 
him. 展hen it is done, you will set the Prince free,・I said. 滴e may take the 
woman and the child and go about his business.・ 
Kasparian nodded, laid one wide hand on Nyel痴 head and one on mine, and then 
struck the spark of Madonai enchantment as only he could do within the precinct 
of Tyrrad Nor. 
When the deed was done, I imagine that he leaned toward the dying Madonai and 
spoke softly, saying, 溺y good master Kerouan, rest well and know you will be 
remembered and honored until the end of my days.・But I could not claim 
truthfully that I heard him say it, for I was screaming with such pain as I had 
never known, as my power was stripped away, my mind turned inside out, and my 
body forced to remember what it was like to be human. 
CHAPTER 44
I longed for the flame. It was so tiny, a wisp of gold flecked with blue, so 
distant from the dark and lonely place where I existed, but I had such hope that 
it might warm me. Sometimes it grew larger, and I would hear hissing, sputtering 
whispers that tickled and teased at my hearing, but refused to shape themselves 
into words. Patience. Patience. Listen long enough and you will hear・if they are 
truly words and not just the echoes of dying dreams. A fearsome thing, that 
flame. What might its light expose? Perhaps darkness, cold, and silence were 
better. Sometimes it winked like a cat痴 eye. And though I dreaded the 
revelations of its light, each time it flicked out, I cried out in despair that 
it might never shine again. 
My cries made no sound, of course. My voice had been used up long ago, 
screaming. For a very long while, I had known nothing but chaos. Profound 
darkness. Rootless terror. Agony without form or focus. But at some time I had 
crawled onto this desolate shore, and here I sat, shivering, hoping, afraid, 
bereft of sense and memory, watching the distant light. Patience. 
的f we could just take him home, where there痴 sun, and life, and food with 
substance that is not enchantment. I can get so little down him; he痴 wasting 
away.・ 
展e daren稚 take him out of here, Linnie. He could die from it・or worse. Stars of 
night, it痴 only your word that prevents the Aveddi killing him. If we only knew 
what really happened, what he was, what he is. Will this Kasparian tell you 
nothing?・ 
的 think he grieves. He sits by that game board day and night, never sleeping. At 
least he sustains us. I believe that if he chose, the servants, the food, 
everything would disappear・ 
I could not open my eyes for the brightness. And though the whispers had at last 
taken form, their shapes were drawn with such pain, I could not bear listening. 
Nor could I decipher the meanings as yet, only that I did not want to know. I 
turned and fled back to the darkness. 
展hy won稚 he wake up, Mam? My ship won稚 fly anymore. He値l make it fly.・ 
的 don稚 know, child. Perhaps he needs to sleep for a while yet. He痴 very ill.・ 
滴e said he would teach me to make it fly when I was bigger. Will you teach me?・ 
的 wish I could, but I need more teaching myself. Here, come sit with me beside 
him. No, it痴 all right. He would never hurt you. He loves you very much, more 
than you will ever know, I think・ 
套 swear he痴 better. Closer. His left hand moved yesterday when Evan started 
climbing on the bed.・ 
鏑innie, you致e got to go back. Your cough is worse, and I see no change in him at 
all. I値l stay. Or Gorrid揺e痴 offered to take your place.・ 
展e致e discussed this before. I won稚 leave without Evan, and I知 not taking 
Seyonne痴 son away from him.・ 
I stood at the brink of the light again, undecided, shivering. I could come now, 
of my own will, to the place where the veil of fire filled my vision and the 
darkness was behind me. Patience. The heat is still too intense. But as I turned 
to leave, something small and soft reached through the veil of fire and touched 
my cheek, smearing a spot of dampness. 
泥on稚 cry・came the whisper. 溺am will take care of you. Go back to sleep.・ 
I went, but not quite so far as I had thought to. 
溺y lord, you must persuade her to go back. I don稚 know where in the name of the 
stars she came by this infernal stubbornness.・ 
撤erhaps it runs in the family. You致e got your own measure of it. You say she痴 
well?・ 
適asparian痴 concoction has helped her a great deal, but I don稚 trust it・ or him; 
he still refuses to speak with us. And she won稚 leave without Seyonne.・ 
I had learned to recognize the difference in the voices, to think of them as 
different minds expressing themselves. A very basic concept, but the best I 
could do. 
鄭thos・balls, he痴 naught but bones.・The newcomer stood very close, smelling of 
sweat and horse and leather. It surprised me that I could picture horses and 
leather and know what they were used for. I could almost visualize the speaker 
himself. His every word was packed with images, as if he were an entire world 
all unto himself. 添ou致e seen no sign of change?・ 
的知 no good at looking. I see what I hope to see預 twitch of an eye, something I 
think is a smile, especially when the boy is close. Linnie痴 worse than me about 
it. That痴 why I dragged you here. You池e the one to say if we dare take him 
out.・This speaker came often. Kind. Worried always. He loved. 
I was waiting for the other voices, the two that were with me all the time. The 
ones who spoke to me, sometimes with words, sometimes with touch, strong and 
sure or soft and teasing, prodding me to move, beckoning me to venture farther 
into the flame. 
鄭veddi! It痴 been too long.・ 
There. Better. Just the sound of her made me wanner. And he would be nearby葉he 
small one who told me stories, who whispered secrets that made even less sense 
than the other talk, who bounced and jostled until the woman told him to settle 
or she would send him away, but in a tone that told me and him that she would 
never send him away. The small hand slipped into mine. 的t痴 Uncle Blaise has 
come,・he said, tickling my ear, he was so close. 鄭nd he痴 brought the 宋eddi 
Zander. Do you want some milk? Mam said not until she痴 talked to Uncle Blaise 
and Zander. It痴 very important.・ 
Milk was good. Cheese would be better. But I was happy to listen, too. Perhaps 
this time something would make sense. 
溺istress! I知 glad to see you well,・said the horseman. 摘very day for two months 
I致e wanted to come, but Capharna would not lie down for us.・ 
釘ut now you致e won it, all gods be praised, and Blaise tells me that your cousin 
has taken Vayapol. I want to hear everything, and I would guess Seyonne does, 
too.・ 
鉄eyonne! Has he・・ 
滴e痴 not spoken, no. And he痴 not yet opened his eyes.・I felt her move close. A 
scent of winter air and wood smoke. A cool hand on my brow for one brief moment. 
Sweet breath feathering my skin as she spoke. 釘ut I watch him as we talk, and I 
believe there痴 sense in him. And if he痴 here with us, then he cares about what 
you have to tell.・ 
The one who smelled of horse and leather came closer, too. A massive presence. 
鄭nd you truly believe he is Seyonne and not the other?・ 
溺y lord, did you not feel him with you on that day?・ 
的 hoped for it until the end熔f course I did傭ut what I felt was his sword. I致e 
got the scars to prove it. There was no mistaking his intent, Mistress. It was 
no friend I fought.・ 
鼎ertainly you池e right. The change I saw was only for a moment. But for that 
moment, it was so clear. If you壇 not been half dead yourself, you would have 
noticed. Secrets were bursting from this woman. I clung to her voice, believing 
she held the key to my future. 滴e let you take him, Aveddi. I知 sure of it.・ 
The child began tugging at my hair. Damn! A painful, scraping yank indicated an 
inexpertly wielded comb. 
鉄orry,・he whispered, and began again. No one seemed to be paying him any mind. 
滴e gave himself the name of the Ezzarian god,・said the horseman. 釘ut Blaise saw 
him悠 saw him預s the very image Seyonne described to me from his dream, the 
sorcerer who despised humans and would see us all in torment葉he one he feared.・ 
鄭nd he was that sorcerer. No mistaking it. But he was Seyonne, too, no matter 
what he claimed or believed. Remember what he said just before you struck him 
down. Think of the words. The exact words.・ 
・選 am my father, and my father before him・・The horseman痴 voice trailed away. I 
wanted to retreat into the darkness, to run from the wounding, but the child had 
taken my hand again, and I had not the strength to pull away. 
The woman broke the silence. 滴e was staggering as he said it, and holding his 
head. I had seen him do that once before, on the night he heard me telling Evan 
his father痴 stories. And then, what did he do? He raised his sword against you, 
and every law of combat, every evidence of that day遥our condition, his strength, 
his skill葉ells me that you should be dead, Aveddi. Only you池e not. Which father 
was he was invoking in that moment?・ 
的 need to think on it, Mistress. I swore to him濫 
The child bounced and jerked away. 溺am. Mam, we池e hungry. We want cheese and 
milk.・ 
The talk changed after that, first to food and drink, and then to tales of war. 
The horseman葉he Aveddi謡as preparing for a dangerous battle, and I found myself 
drawn into the complexities of the plan he laid out. The names of places and 
people appeared as small gray voids as his voice led me through the map of his 
tale, but as the time passed I saw them take shape in the landscape unfolding in 
my mind: Kiril, Gorrid, Bek, Naddasine, Mardek, Capharna, Vayapol, Karn辿egeth, 
Parnifour・Zhagad. Aleksander. 
套 But even if I can take Edik alive and put him on trial, as Blaise suggests, 
who can I get to sit as judge? Who has the strength, the power, and the 
neutrality to make it honest? I won稚 see this new world birthed in vengeance, 
but everyone is caught up in the war・ 
The new world. Someone was needed to mete out justice to end the old order so 
the new could take its place. Such a one would need to be fearless, stubborn, 
above reproach, uninterested in the spoils of power and able to convince the 
weary thousands of it. I knew someone like that, if I could but remember the 
name・ 
The talk went on around me, the easy talk of friends in hard times, the subdued 
laughter that makes no attempt to mask the sorrow and worry that exist alongside 
it, but only to balance and soothe and witness to ongoing life. The woman 
spooned milk into my mouth and shooed the child away, lest he bounce it all out 
again. But my mind was off racing, hunting for the name and considering the 
consequences. Yes, that was it葉he answer he needed. I was bathed in fire. 
Come on out. I imagined the boy just behind me, shoving me forward. It won稚 
hurt. I promise. Mam will take care of you. 
摘van, what are you dreaming, child? Eat your supper.・The talk went on. The 
clatter of dishes, a soft laugh. 
The small hand nudged me again. Come on, Papa. 
擢iona.・ 
The room fell silent, and I had to force my eyes open to make sure anyone was 
still there to hear. The effort to speak was so great that I saw no use in 
wasting it. But they were there, the four of them sitting at a round table lit 
by candles. I was propped up in a chair by the hearth, a red blanket laid over 
my lap. 
展hat was that?・The three adults spoke as one. 泥id you say something Blaise・ 
Linnie・Aveddi?・The child was intent on carving a block of cheese into giblets 
with his small knife. 
添ou need Fiona. To judge.・My voice was little more than a whisper, but it might 
have been a lightning bolt, for it loosed such a storm of words and questions 
and solicitations that no hurricane could rival it. 
Aleksander reached me first, leaping over a chair and then kneeling on the floor 
in front of me, the better to examine my face. 鉄eyonne?・he said. His gaze was 
raw. Bleeding. 
溺y father・is Gareth・of the line of Ezraelle,・I said, reaching deep for the right 
words, able to push them out only slowly with long gaps in between. 鄭nd if you 
don稚 stop mooning about, my lord, these people will start to think you have a 
heart.・A very bad joke. 
One might have thought the sun had taken up residence in that cold room. 
I was infernally weak. And no wonder to it. Nyel痴 changes to my body and mind 
had taken almost four months of enchantment to accomplish, and all had been 
undone in a single instant. So devastating was this reversal that for more than 
eight weeks I had lain in unmoving stupor, losing almost a quarter of my weight. 
Aleksander痴 blow to my side had taken its toll as well. My right arm remained 
almost useless, only a slight prickling in my fingertips hinting that the limb 
was alive. I had to hold it close to my belly with my left hand to prevent it 
dangling at my side or flopping on the bedclothes like a dead fish. It would 
take some getting used to. As for my mind, both knowledge and memory seemed 
intact, though distant, which left my speech slow and hesitant, and my thinking 
easily confused. 
From that first night of my awakening, Elinor seemed to understand what I 
needed, shushing Blaise and Aleksander every time they began to question me and 
insisting that they allow me some breathing time. 鼎ome back in seven days,・she 
said. 的値l have him ready to go home.・ 
After much argument to which I was not privy, the two men returned to their war 
and Elinor went about her own business. In the next days she spoke to me only of 
mundane things: Was I comfortable, was I hungry, did I wish her to continue 
exercising my arm as she had done when I was insensible? She had seen such 
weakness mended, but only if the limb was not allowed to wither. Now that I was 
awake, she said, I could move everything else myself. 
Somewhere I found the words to say that I would appreciate her help very much. 
的致e not been truly asleep,・I said, unable to look beyond her scuffed boots. 的 
know all you致e done for me濫 
She would not let me continue. Rather she straightened my blankets and went off 
to call the servants to bring supper, dismissing my verbal fumbling. 禅ime enough 
for such talk later.・And so, other than feeding me, exercising my arm several 
times a day, and providing me the means to wash and relieve myself, she left me 
very much alone with my thoughts. I needed that, but II looked forward to the 
hour of our exercise. I had grown accustomed to her touch. Evan, whether warned 
by Elinor or following his own intuition, played quietly with his ships on the 
floor at my feet, making noises of ocean, birds, and sailing men. I never tired 
of watching him. 
I spent a great deal of time in a chair by the window, looking out on the 
snow-covered garden and the ring of black surrounding it, not thinking so much 
as gathering thoughts for future consideration, letting the events of the past 
months and years ebb and flow around me. Outside of this room, this small island 
of vibrant life that Elinor and Evan made for me, the fortress was silent and 
empty. I could grieve for Kerouan now, and for the universe, which had lost such 
beauty and grace and power as he had once been. On one winter afternoon, a great 
slab of the wall gave way and collapsed into the snow. So the Twelve, too, knew 
their long vigil was ended. I wept on that day. Though unable to articulate the 
sorrows that welled from me, I would not suppress or discount them. They were 
mine as surely as was my grief for Ysanne and Farrol and all the others. 
By the day Aleksander and Blaise returned, I could stand up without immediately 
toppling over and even take a few shuffling steps when supported. 添ou池e not 
going to carry me,・I said, fumbling with the fastening on my cloak, wishing they 
would look away and not see how awkward I was left-handed. 的 will walk out of 
this place on my own feet.・ 
鄭nd if we should find you in a heap on the path, will we be allowed to scrape 
you up?・said Aleksander, slipping his shoulder under my dead arm just as my weak 
right leg wobbled, threatening to give way. 
Blaise hefted one of Elinor痴 green cloth bags and scooped up Evan, who had 
managed to escape Elinor痴 hand and climb onto a table. Elinor took the other bag 
and led us out of the room and down the stairs, past the two expressionless 
servants who had brought us food, drink, and whatever was needed for more than 
two months. When I looked back over my shoulder, the man and woman were fading 
out like morning haze. 
Aleksander was all for heading straight out the front door, but I shook my head. 
滴e saved my life and has seen to our care. I can稚 leave without a word.・ 
The Prince waited at the door while I stepped into the sitting room, supporting 
myself with a table edge. As Elinor had said, Kasparian sat at the game table by 
the hearth fire, his elbows propped on the table beside the gleaming black and 
white game pieces, his head resting on his hands. His long brown hair, threaded 
with gray, hid his face, while the carved figures supporting the mantel gazed 
down at the room in solemn unconcern. 
的値l not thank you for my life,・I said, concentrating to find the words I wanted 
and get them out in a reasonable time span. 的 don稚 deceive myself that you did 
any of this for me.・ 
He did not acknowledge my presence. I didn稚 expect it. 
的 do thank you for sustaining my child and his mother. That was driven by your 
own goodness of heart, not by your love of Kerouan. Even so, I know you would 
rather not hear anything from my lips.・No disagreement from the still figure. 
釘ut I wanted to ask you one more boon. Someday, when I can get about again, and 
I致e had time to think about what痴 happened, I壇 like to come back here and speak 
with you. I was foolish and destroyed the memories of this life遊aldis痴 life洋y 
life. I want to remember. As I promised my father. May I come?・ 
After a long stillness, he spoke, still not looking at me. 添ou致e naught left, do 
you? Not a scrap.・ 
Glancing behind me to see no one listening, I answered. 哲o.・ 
添ou値l go mad with what you致e done.・ 
撤erhaps. But at least I won稚 be dangerous. May I come?・ 
的値l be here.・ 
I turned my back on the last of the Madonai and hobbled to the front door, where 
Aleksander waited in a beam of winter sunlight. 鄭re you all right, Seyonne?・ he 
said. 
Blaise, Evan, and Elinor were already halfway to the wall. I nodded toward the 
black barrier. 鄭s soon as I知 past that, I値l be fine.・ 
They took me to one of Blaise痴 hidden settlements in the thick forests of the 
Kuvai hills, an encampment of some fifty war refugees, none of whom knew me. I 
shared a ramshackle cottage with a deaf-mute named Kesa, and I learned how to 
speak with gestures. As I could use only one hand, it was good he was not 
talkative. I felt as though a castle tower had fallen on me, scattering the bits 
and pieces of mind and body across the world痴 landscape. Every human engagement 
was a journey to find the proper pieces and fit them together again. 
Fiona came to visit me in Kuvai as soon as she got word of my return. She wore 
the gold Queen痴 Circlet that I had last seen on Ysanne痴 brow, though she 
snatched it off as soon as the cottage door closed behind her, leaving the two 
of us alone. 
撤ut it back,・I said. 的t fits you well.・ 
敵audy thing,・she said, twirling it in her fingers. 添ou don稚 mind?・ 
I did not speak, but only shook my head, not wishing my voice to betray some 
lingering sentiment that might put the lie to my true belief. Fiona would be a 
worthy queen. 
Sitting beside me on my bed, she told me how they had recovered Drych and Hueil 
and poor lifeless Olwydd from Kir歎agonoth, of her acceptance of Aleksander痴 
offer to sit in judgment of Edik and the Derzhi, and of her belief that it was 
time for Ezzarians to reveal ourselves and the history of our demon war to the 
world預 monumental step and irreversible. 的 think you致e infected me with your 
disease,・she said. 滴ere I am, risking everything I know, just because I think it 
right. A number of our countrymen and women think I知 mad to do it.・ 
I kissed her hand and told her that Ezzaria was blessed to have her. Our old 
charge was not done葉he mad Gastai still took souls傭ut Drych and Hueil had come 
back with ideas of joining forces with Vallyne to control the demons in 
Kir歎agonoth, making our demon battles a thing of the past. Ezzaria would need to 
change. 
Fiona did not stay long on that visit. I still tired easily and was not yet 
ready or able to explain all that had happened to me. But before she left, I 
asked her to examine me, to look deep with a sorcerer痴 seeing so that all might 
know預nd so that I might be reassured葉hat naught was hidden. Though hating to 
intrude on me in that way, she did not hesitate. She knew her duty. When she was 
done, she embraced me fiercely. 展elcome back, my friend,・she said. 添our demon is 
still a part of you and will ever be, but your soul is entirely your own.・For 
the first night in more than two years, I slept easy. 
Elinor took up residence in a nearby cottage, and Evan spent most of every day 
running back and forth between us, hiding, climbing, teasing, an everlasting 
exasperation and delight. As I grew stronger, Elinor and I spent a large part of 
every day together, making shoes and clothes for him and nursing him through 
scrapes and scratches. Our relationship was awkward. I tried to let Elinor know 
that she need not feel obliged to spend further time in my company. If she was 
worried about leaving me alone with Evan, I would accept whomever she might 
select to be with us. She dismissed my offer, saying that she preferred to see 
to things herself. And then she added that, as long as we were spending time 
together, she might as well continue to exercise my arm. Over the winter months, 
the prickling in my fingers spread to the whole limb, and I began to hope that I 
might regain its use. 
In truth I had no greater pleasure than watching Evan and Elinor together. 
Indeed, I took equal pleasure watching the mother as the child. Elinor痴 
countenance was a subtle canvas, a background of intelligence, illuminated by 
patience and compassion, touched lightly by her moods and humors. The left 
corner of her mouth twisted upward at a childish folly. Her brow dipped and her 
eye widened slightly when listening to a small boy痴 tale of wonder. Her red-gold 
coloring deepened just a bit when she chased him laughing through the Kuvai 
woodland. 
At first I held back, content to watch them, scarcely even speaking, save in 
answer to a direct question. My speech was halting and awkward, and I would 
often come across dead spots in my memory, causing me to stop in mid-sentence 
while I groped for a word or idea. Elinor noticed this, of course, and after a 
few weeks, she quietly insisted on a new exercise. 的 think you should hold an 
hour痴 conversation with me every day. How will you ever be able to teach Evan 
the things he needs to learn from you, if you can稚 get out five words in an 
hour?・ 
We met every afternoon while Evan slept. She would work my arm, and we would 
talk of ordinary things. Of food and weather. Of people in the village. Of the 
war. Of Evan痴 needs and behavior. Occasionally of our own childhoods. Safe 
ground. By midwinter I was so much improved, she had me teaching Evan the lore 
of trees and forest, saying that he should learn from me those things that were 
of such importance to Ezzarians. Even then we did not give up our hour. Though I 
wondered where words might take us if our conversations were ever to wander 
farther afield, I held to the familiar and mundane, refusing to risk her 
discomfort or displeasure. The imagining was pleasant, though. Very pleasant. 
Beyond this, I ate and slept and walked when I was strong enough, and ran when I 
was stronger yet. As soon as I could manage, I helped the villagers haul wood 
and water and clean the meager kill their hunters brought in, and I listened to 
their music and their god stories as they sat by the fire on the long winter 
nights. I shared their hunger for news of the Aveddi and rejoiced with them at 
the tales of his safety, his valor, and the victories he won. The vicious heart 
had gone out of Edik and his henchmen, so the fireside gossip said, the turning 
point having come soon after the victory at Parassa. The despicable Emperor was 
holed up in Zhagad. It was only a matter of time until the war was won. Even the 
gods saw victory at hand, so an old woman told me, for they no longer felt it 
necessary to send their winged spirit to aid the Aveddi Aleksander. 
Aleksander came to me as often as he could throughout that winter and spring. 
Blaise would bring him whenever events allowed the time. While Blaise visited 
with Elinor and Evan and his other friends in the settlement, Aleksander would 
lean back on the rough walls of my house, drink wine, and ask advice or talk 
about his plans and strategies, his commanders and troops. Once or twice, he 
fell asleep. On one spring midnight, as he applied ground yellowroot to his feet 
that were tormented by boot-rot, he spoke of his uncertainty as to his place in 
the world once the war was won. With the lands of the Empire returned to their 
rightful owners, he believed his day as a ruler was over and that his best hope 
to escape vengeance would be to seek the protection of one of the old kings. 的致e 
thought to offer service to Yulai,・he said. 泥担kaya has said she would have my 
arm in Thrid, but the jungles would grow mold on me, I think. Look what a wet 
spring in the northern marches has done to my feet! Manganar has deserts and 
will likely occupy a good share of Azhakstan after the war. And Manganar 
warriors ride horses, while the Thrid fight afoot. My legs don稚 like marching.・ 
添our destiny still awaits,・I said, smiling as I passed him another packet of the 
powdered roots. 添ou値l find your way. I have faith in you. More than ever.・ 
He knew exactly what I meant by this, and as ever when he thought of our duel, 
he grew somber and tried to ask forgiveness. I did my best to reassure him. He 
had kept faith as I had counted on him to do. In the end he had not needed to 
kill me as I had intended, but if things had fallen out differently, the world 
would have been glad of his service. 
As to any further explanations, he knew better than to press. Always he would 
ask how my healing progressed, and I would say, 的mproving.・He would look at me 
and judge, and then make some pointed comment: 添ou need to drink more nazrheel,・ 
or 鄭 woman in your bed would be the best exercise for your arm,・or 的値l expect a 
footrace to that oak and back on my next visit, and this time I値l trounce your 
sorry bones.・We would laugh, and he would go, promising to come again when the 
war permitted. The light still shone in him, brighter than ever. 
CHAPTER 45
On the day of the spring equinox, the Aveddi of Azhakstan, the firstborn of the 
desert, rode down the Emperor痴 Road toward Zhagad. A white cloak billowed from 
his shoulders, and his red braid was wound with wooden beads. He wore no 
adornment that might signify rank, and indeed, he claimed no rank, not even on 
this, the day of his triumph. On his flanks rode Yulai and Magda, the King and 
Queen of the Manganar, and their son Terlach; Marouf, the Palatine of Suzai, and 
his five sons; and W丹sti, the Thrid chieftain and his war leader D担kaya. On the 
Aveddi痴 immediate left rode his cousin Kiril zha Ramiell, leading the first 
lords of more than fifty Derzhi families, along with the Yvor Lukash, his face 
painted black with white daggers, and a tall woman, her face painted likewise. 
On the Aveddi痴 right rode his wife, Lydia, carrying their infant son on her back 
as the women of the desert have done since ancient days. The child was yet 
unnamed, for his father was at war, and Derzhi custom forbade naming a child in 
wartime, lest the child be marked with death. 
And, yes, just behind the Aveddi rode a man in a gray cloak, a slender man that 
few could name, his black hair showing signs of gray. Though he wore no weapon 
and seemed quite ordinary, many of the Aveddi痴 company watched him warily. I had 
asked to observe the day痴 events from the gate tower, pleading lingering 
illness, but Aleksander would not hear of it, saying that any man who was 
running three leagues through the Kuvai hills every morning could not claim 
weakness. He wanted me with him. 
Behind this noble vanguard rode five thousand men and women from every corner of 
the land. Uncounted thousands more stood along the roadside, hung over the city 
walls or out of windows, or lined the streets within the royal city. No 
musicians or jugglers or dancers were performing. No hawkers or vendors plied 
their trades with paltry tokens of celebration. This day was solemn・a day of 
judgment and witness. 
Awaiting the Aveddi on a hurriedly built dais at the gates of Zhagad stood a 
small figure dressed in a green gown, a circlet of gold banding her forehead and 
her short dark hair. I smiled as I noted her almost imperceptible fidgeting. 
Fiona had worn men痴 clothing for most of her life; she hated skirts. On either 
side of her stood a man dressed in a dark blue cloak trimmed in silver, each 
carrying a silver knife sheathed at his side葉he two young Wardens, Drych and 
Huiel. 
As the Aveddi痴 party approached the gates, Fiona stepped forward and raised her 
arms. Slowly, from the sand to either side of her, rose twin white poles, and 
from them banners unfurled, white, sewn with the likeness of a dark green tree, 
a silver dagger, and a small oval mirror葉he Queen痴 banner of Ezzaria, which had 
never flown in view of the world outside our borders. Tears pricked my eyes. 
敵reetings to this noble assembly from the Queen and the Mentors・Council of 
Ezzaria.・Her voice could be heard by every man and woman present耀triking even 
deeper awe into the onlookers. 展hat seek you at the gates of Zhagad?・ 
禅idings of justice, gracious Queen,・spoke Aleksander, 蚤nd our lands・peace.・ 
典hen hear me, honored petitioners,・said Fiona. 典he tyrant Edik, whom we have 
judged guilty of crimes too numerous and too terrible to speak on this fair day, 
is dead by our device, as are the First Lords of Hamrasch, Rhyzka, Nyabozzi, and 
Gorusch, who have carried out the tyrant痴 wickedness upon the people of your 
lands. Seven and forty lower-ranking commanders and nobles we have judged to 
have deliberately and murderously executed the tyrant痴 will, and upon these 
accused we have placed a bane of sorcery. They have been sent forth upon the 
roads of this land impoverished, forbidden to have contact with their kinsmen, 
forbidden to settle in any place for more than a day, their magical bonds 
preventing all speech and hearing until the day they are adjudged repentant for 
their deeds or they are dead. Those who wish to see them punished should refrain 
from a moment痴 pleasurable vengeance. Rather watch them live and learn of what 
they致e done. As you have recommended, Aveddi, the remaining nobles and common 
soldiers who have participated in these crimes have been dispersed and given our 
parole, enjoined to seek the forgiveness of their countrymen by word and deed, 
lest they too be subject to our penalties. We have marked their names and will 
be watching.・ 
Fiona spread her arms and touched the shoulders of her Wardens. 適now this, 
petitioners,・she said. 擢or a thousand years my people have given of themselves 
to ward human souls from demon ravaging, yet we neglected the true demons that 
live here in our world, even those who tormented our own brothers and sisters. 
Never again, Aveddi. We swear to you and to this mighty assembly that from this 
day forward, we will be vigilant.・ 
As the crowd murmured its wonder and approval, Aleksander nodded and motioned 
Yulai and Marouf and W丹sti forward. 典hen my mission is done, Lady, and I yield 
the leadership of these forces to those whose rightful place it is.・He held out 
his hand to his wife, and they withdrew their mounts behind the three rulers. 
But Fiona held up her hand to stay him, and silenced the swelling voices of the 
crowd. 
添ou have come here today as a war leader, Aveddi, forswearing all state beyond 
victory in the name of these who follow you. You have raised the banners of 
these rightful rulers as they reclaim sovereignty of their own lands. But what 
of Azhakstan itself? For five hundred years, the Derzhi kingdom of Azhakstan has 
perpetrated crimes against these brother kings and their subjects. And before 
the sun sets on this day of judgment, the matter of your own history must be 
considered. You were once the voice and hand of a cruel empire, sharing in the 
miseries it created, heir to its tyrant痴 throne, and so you, too, must submit 
yourself for sentencing. What say you all, noble kings and princes?・ 
Shouts of agreement rang out from every side. 
Fiona gave Aleksander no opportunity to protest. 的f you accept your culpability 
in these matters and yield your future to the wisdom of this company, then 
dismount, Aveddi, and stand before me, as a sign to us that you indeed abjure 
rank and privilege and right of birth.・ 
Aleksander hesitated only long enough to lay his hand on that of his wife and on 
the head of his sleeping son. Then he slipped gracefully from his steed and 
walked forward, only the set of his jaw and a slight flush betrayed any ruffling 
of composure. The crowd gasped as one as he unsheathed his sword, and breathed 
again when he laid it across Fiona痴 outstretched hands. Though his head was 
unbowed and his lean form towered over Fiona, any observer would know which of 
the two was supplicant. 
The young Queen nodded in satisfaction, and her voice soared through the bright 
morning. 典he Ezzarian Council has considered the matter of Aleksander, once heir 
to the Derzhi Empire, and has taken counsel from these assembled lords of 
Manganar and Suza, of Thrid and Kuvai and Fryth, and all the lands that the 
Empire once claimed, and we have spoken with these noble Derzhi who have pledged 
life and honor to right the wrongs of the past. Aleksander Jenyazar Ivaneschi 
zha Denischkar, have you anything to say in your own defense?・ 
Aleksander shook his head. 
Fiona nodded and continued. 釘ecause the Derzhi have broken the ordering of the 
world, so must the Derzhi repair it. Because the Derzhi have stolen their 
neighbors・wealth, so must now the Derzhi return their good service to these same 
neighbors. And as the Derzhi have assaulted their neighbors, so must they now 
stand in their neighbors・defense. To repair and serve and defend, so must 
Azhakstan be strong and capable of bearing such responsibility. Therefore, the 
Council has decided that the Derzhi Kingdom of Azhakstan will stand, with 
boundaries as writ in this map from ancient times before the bloat of empire. As 
repair for past injustice, the Kingdom of Azhakstan shall claim no seat of 
power, no royal capital; Zhagad and Capharna will now be as any other city, with 
no restriction and no preference in trade or residence. The imperial palaces 
will be sealed by my hand, their continued existence a reminder of greed and 
tyranny. And to rule this kingdom, an Azhaki king or queen shall be named by the 
Derzhi tribe痴 good counsel and serve with the consent of the neighboring rulers, 
the candidate痴 own strength and wisdom to be his or her only recommendation.・ 
Fiona pointed toward Kiril and the Derzhi, and so forceful was her query, I 
thought flame might shoot from her fingertip. 哲oble lords of the Derzhi hegeds, 
who say you all should be the First of Azhakstan to lead you in this service of 
redemption?・ 
As one voice, the Derzhi lords cried, 鄭leksander!・ 
Then Fiona swept her arm across the multitudes and cried out, 鄭nd you who are 
owed this service and defense, would you have this Aleksander, the Aveddi, 
firstborn of Azhakstan, become your Protector?・ 
And the ayes rang out in thunderous splendor, echoing across the desert, joined 
with shouts of 鄭leksander!・and 鄭veddi!・ 
Fiona nodded. 鉄o be it. We render this judgment: Aleksander zha Denischkar, at 
dawn tomorrow, if you be willing, you shall be anointed and crowned King of 
Azhakstan and Protector of the Living Kingdoms, charged to spend your remaining 
days, not in aggrandizing your own realm, but in rebuilding and defending these 
which you have helped rebirth.・She offered Aleksander his sword. 展ill you serve, 
Aveddi?・ 
Aleksander reclaimed his weapon, and in a voice as clear as the desert morning 
and as strong as a paraivo, gave his answer. 的 will. By mighty Athos・head, I 
will.・ 
The cheering could have been heard all the way to Kir歎agonoth. 
And so came the time for me to look to the future. 
In the mild evening of the day of judgment and witness, Aleksander asked Fiona 
and me to accompany him to Drafa, where he would keep vigil in the holy city on 
the eve of his coronation as had been the custom of the ancient kings of 
Azhakstan. Qeb stood waiting by the tamarisk grove, unsurprised as we rode out 
of the desert, his sightless eyes as brilliant as the starlight. As he led 
Aleksander to his cave, a solemn, wide-eyed girl-child of six or seven years 
guided his steps. 
After Sarya and Manot had their fill of smiles and weeping at our return, and a 
quick approving assessment of Fiona, the two old women took up a guard beside 
the cave entrance, and Fiona and I strolled through the ruined city. We talked 
of Catrin and Hoffyd and their child, expected any day, of old Talar and her new 
school of forest lore, of friends and pairings, weather and trees. 
But Fiona was not one to shy away from more personal conversation. As the hour 
grew late and we crested the rise, dragging our fingers over the fallen stone 
lion, she looked up at me expectantly. 鄭nd now of you, my friend and mentor. How 
are things with you?・ 
的mproving overall,・I said. In most ways, at least, that was true. Time and quiet 
living had done me a world of good. 滴aving the chance to be with Evan has been 
the best medicine.・ 
鄭nd his mother, too?・ 
I glanced quickly at Fiona to see what she was asking. Few things could make my 
face hot anymore, and I kept telling myself that Elinor should not be one of 
them. Despite the pleasantries of the last months, some things were impossible. 
的 could ask no better loving for Evan,・I said. 鄭nd she has helped me 
immeasurably. Did you note that I can hold a wineglass now? And speak a whole 
sentence without forgetting who and where I am?・ 
To my relief, Fiona痴 question was innocent and quickly past. 的t痴 fine to see 
your arm stronger, and that you致e put on enough weight to cast a shadow. But 
back in Kuvai, when I examined you, you said that you might need something from 
me later, and I had the notion that it might be something important. Is there 
anything I can do for you before I go home?・ 
My steps slowed with a burden I had explained to no one and wasn稚 sure if or 
when I could. 徹nly one thing. Someday・I壇 like to come back to Ezzaria.・ 
She burst out laughing, but sobered quickly when she looked at my face. 展hy ever 
would you need to ask?・ 
鏑ast time I heard, I was forbidden on pain of death to return. You致e seen for 
yourself that I am demon-joined. And you don稚 yet fully understand what I was 
those months in Tyrrad Nor or what I could have become.・ 
She pulled my head down and kissed the top of it. 敵ods above, foolish man, I 
trust you beyond anyone I know. Ezzaria is your home. We will be honored by your 
coming.・ 
I was gratified by Fiona痴 trust and acceptance, but I came to the conclusion 
that I could not take advantage of it. Not yet. I yearned for Ezzaria痴 green 
embrace, the peace and healing I believed existed in its hills and forests. But 
I could not abandon my child and his mother. This decision was not based solely 
on my desire to remain near Evan, but on hard reality. 
The world had changed from top to bottom. Aleksander was a king without a 
palace, and would need to learn how to live and work within the bounds of his 
new role. He would spend a great deal of time outside of his own kingdom, seeing 
to the borders and the safety of those he served. His wealth was now limited to 
his personal holdings in Azhakstan, and he had already asked the lords of the 
Mardek to determine how to divest him and other Derzhi of the houses and lands 
they could no longer afford. Kiril was to be the commander of the young King痴 
troops, charged with retraining Derzhi warriors to be defenders and not 
conquerors, and Blaise was no longer the Yvor Lukash, but Aleksander痴 First 
Dennissar, the King痴 personal representative to the adjoining kingdoms. Blaise痴 
outlaws were returning to their towns and villages; everyone who had depended on 
the outlaw band for sustenance was going to have to find a place to live and new 
means of support. That included Elinor. Our refugee encampment in Kuvai was 
already half deserted, so I壇 heard. 
On the road from Drafa to Zhagad on the morning of his coronation, Aleksander 
had asked me to remain with him as his First Counselor. 鄭thos knows, I need 
someone to help me figure out how all this is going to work. It痴 not exactly the 
living I offered you four years ago, but you値l never want. And as it痴 all your 
doing, it seems only fair that you should haul about with me to see it 
finished.・ 
I told him I would think about it. And so I had, and about Evan and Elinor and 
Ezzaria as well. 
On a late afternoon, five days after Aleksander痴 coronation, I knocked on the 
door of a modest dwelling in the outer ring of Zhagad with a brace of chickens 
hanging over my shoulder. Blaise, Evan, Elinor, and several of Blaise痴 outlaws 
were temporarily housed with a dye maker, the father of one of the outlaws, who 
still wept with relief every time he saw his daughter walking openly about the 
city, wearing a badge of valor granted by the new Azhaki king. 
的致e brought dinner,・I said when Elinor opened the door, 田ourtesy of Yulai and 
Magda.・ 
Elinor expressed surprise to see me. 釘laise staggered in an hour ago,・she said, 
pointing to the body sprawled across one corner of the hot little room, snoring 
profoundly, 澱ut he fell asleep while taking his boots off. He said he痴 been 
talking for five days straight, and that the King looks to go five more without 
stopping. I assumed you were with him.・Gingerly she took my proffered fowl. 
鉄hall I cook these or are you going to join the snoring?・ 
鼎hickens are hard to come by right now,・I said. 的t would be a shame to waste 
them. But first, I壇 like to talk with you a bit about濫 
Evan barged into the room just then, insisting on showing me a new sling that 
Roche had made him for his third birthday. 溺am said that you will show me how to 
use it properly. I am to use the very smallest stones, and call out before I let 
one go, and never, ever, ever use it inside a house.・His blue-black eyes were 
wide and solemn as he pronounced the rules. Elinor痴 wry expression, along with a 
pile of broken pottery sitting on the table, told me the source of his 
solemnity. 
典hose sound like very good rules,・I said. 鄭nd it looks to be a fine sling. When 
the day cools a bit, we値l go out and try it.・ 
While Evan regaled me with unending chatter about Roche and the sling and his 
small disaster with Dyana痴 favorite pot, Elinor shrugged and took the chickens 
out into the courtyard behind the house to clean them. All through the cooking 
and eating, as I held Evan on my lap and showed him how to hold his sling, as I 
listened to the exuberant conversation of the dye maker and his family, and 
laughed as they made jokes about Blaise痴 trumpeting snores, I watched Elinor 
move through the noise and heat of the cramped house with quiet humor and grace. 
When the shadows were long across the city, the dye maker痴 family set off for 
the market to drink nazrheel and listen to the day痴 gossip. I took Evan into the 
courtyard and spent an hour laughing and dodging his small leather pouch as it 
whirled about his head and showered us with pebbles. When the boy and I had 
collapsed on the paving, spent with our efforts and good humor, I noticed Elinor 
standing in the doorway of the house watching us. 
添ou wanted to talk,・she said. 
Evan痴 head was bent over his pebbles as he began arranging them carefully by 
color and size in the cracks of the paving. Though he took no notice and 
concentrated on his private game, I stroked his dark hair. 的 heard this morning 
that Aleksander had asked you to travel with Blaise預 dennissar in your own 
right・but that you had refused him. I assume you understand what it meant for 
him to offer葉he respect he has for you濫 
痘and that I知 a woman. Yes, I understand. And I was honored. But I told him I 
wished to live quietly for a while. A child should not grow up knowing only war 
and politics.・ 
She said nothing more. Just stood there. Waiting. She didn稚 make things easy. 
添es. Exactly so・ What was it I had come to say? It seemed so feeble. So 
presumptuous. 套 and so I thought・you値l need some way to live wherever you plan 
to settle・ and I could find work as a scribe, perhaps, now my hand is working 
better・so I could be close by・ 
釘ut the Aveddi relies on you. His First Counselor, I致e heard. Will you not roam 
the deserts with him?・ 
Her manner was impassive, curious, while my face was surely as hot as the 
aforementioned deserts. 滴e can come wherever I happen to be or call on me as he 
wishes. I値l always answer his need. But I致e no more yearning to roam the deserts 
than you do, and some things are more important even than Aleksander and his 
kingdom.・ I pushed a pile of black pebbles toward Evan痴 hand and watched his 
small fingers place them in the cracks. 填nless you tell me not, I値l go wherever 
you go.・ 
鄭nd what if I say I choose Parnifour or Hollen or some other place far from 
Azhakstan・far from Ezzaria? Would you truly go there and do scribe痴 work to keep 
us?・ 
的 will do whatever is necessary. I told you that before. It has not changed.・ 
鄭ye, so you said迫a change in her voice drew my eyes upward to meet her own欄and 
so you have done.・ 
So much spoken in those simple words. Faith. Trust. Understanding. A generous 
spirit・waiting. Her utterance opened a door in my heart and gave me a glimpse of 
possibility. I searched her strong and lovely face and saw nothing to contradict 
my hearing. 
Quickly I packed Evan痴 fist full of pebbles, hefted him onto my shoulders, and 
stood up, praying he would stay occupied and quiet for a little while. 溺istress 
Elinor, would you honor me by walking out this evening・to the market・for a cup 
of nazrheel?・ 
She tilted her head as if giving the matter due consideration. Then she nodded. 
撤erhaps we need to take up our conversation exercises again. This would be a 
fine evening for it.・Her mouth curled ever so slightly at the left corner. 
Before I could so much as get across the courtyard and take Elinor痴 arm, a 
barefoot, yawning Blaise walked out of the dim house behind her and, without a 
single word, snatched a giggling Evan from my back and disappeared back into the 
house. One might have thought he was standing there waiting for the opportunity. 

Our conversation exercise wandered slightly farther afield that night; Elinor 
wanted to know all about Ezzaria and what it might be like as a place to raise a 
shapeshifting child. We would need to discuss a great deal more as the days 
passed, but the evening痴 conversation was pleasant. Exceedingly pleasant. 
Seven days after the Day of Judgment, and six days after Aleksander痴 coronation, 
I stood in the evening light at the top of a towering dune awaiting the King of 
Azhakstan. He had sent word that he was determined to ride out on this evening, 
to take one hour away from advisers, petitioners, stewards, and job seekers, and 
that he would appreciate the company of someone who didn稚 want him to do 
anything. 
I was smiling when he rode up the dune, his red hair flying, for I had just 
spent an afternoon with Lydia and young Sovari Lydiazar Aleksandreschi zha 
Denischkar. Life would never be dull for the royal family of Azhakstan. The tiny 
boy痴 hair was fiery red, and after giving me a toothless grin charming enough to 
melt stone, he took up yelling louder than a chastouain prodding his balky beast 
through the desert. 
Aleksander slipped gracefully from his white horse and whispered whatever 
command ensured the beast would stay patiently where it was left. Part of his 
own special magic. 滴oly Athos, I had to threaten everyone with hanging to get 
them to stay behind. You haven稚 let anyone slip you a petition just in case you 
saw me, have you?・ 
哲ot a one. Perhaps I could come up with something, though.・ 
He groaned and motioned me to walk with him across the crest of the sand until 
we were out of sight of the haffai-clad guards clustered at the base of the 
dune. The empty desert stretched out before us, splashed with purple and gold. 
As we slipped and slid our way to a second crest where we could see no one and 
hear nothing but the quiet stirring of the wind, his shoulders relaxed and he 
sighed in pleasure. 滴ere, let痴 sit for a while. I need this.・ 
He spread his cloak on the sand and settled there, leaning back on his elbows. 
He cocked his head as I sat beside him. 添ou池e not going to stay with me, are 
you, Seyonne?・ 
I laughed and shook my head. 滴ow can you tell so quickly? We haven稚 spoken in 
almost a week. And I only just decided.・ 
典his time I cheated. Fiona told me you were talking of going to Ezzaria. And 
something痴 been troubling you since you came back溶o wonder that. So, will going 
home remedy it?・ 
Of course Aleksander would be the one to notice. I scooped up a handful of the 
warm sand and let it trickle through my fingers. 的 hope.・ 
典ell me, Seyonne. You owe me that. I came a gnat痴 eyebrow from killing you, and 
you insist that you intended it, though you knew it would be a deed that would 
haunt me the rest of my life. You took your son to that place not knowing how 
things would fall out. That tells me the magnitude of your fear, and that you 
have accomplished some dreadful task that we ordinary folk will likely never 
comprehend. Whatever happened between you and the old man before he died brought 
you back safely, and I thank the everlasting gods for it. But you are my friend 
and brother, and I would know what grieves you.・ 
He was right. I owed him everything, and so, against all intent, I told him 
everything. As the purple shadows lengthened across the dunes, I spoke of 
Kerouan and Valdis and Verdonne, of traveling in dreams and the bargain that 
allowed me to participate in his war, of the crumbling wall and my unquenchable 
craving for sorcery. I told him of my dilemma: how I could neither allow mad 
Kerouan to keep his power nor risk him recouping it from me in displeasure, how 
I could not slay the old sorcerer and keep the power myself without ensuring my 
own corruption, certain that if I violated my demon痴 warnings while I possessed 
the unfettered melydda of a Madonai, I would become the tyrant to end all 
tyrants. 套 and so I had to take the power and die with it. Your promise was my 
only hope, and dragging Evan into danger and trusting Blaise and Elinor to 
witness to my change were the only ways I could think of to convince you. Thanks 
to Kasparian, we were given another choice. And in the end・seeing you and Elinor 
there・thinking of Evan・I had enough memory of my true life and enough reason to 
know that I did not want to continue without feeling. I could see no point to 
such an existence, no matter how long. Unlike Kerouan痴 expectation, I would have 
felt no satisfaction in killing you or any human. So I told him I would give him 
back his name, if he would take back what he had given and die with it・ My voice 
trailed away much as the sunlight was fading from the sky. 
鄭nd you were left・Oh, mighty gods, Seyonne. You have no melydda.・ 
I brushed the sand from my hands and from my boots. 哲ot a scrap.・I tried to 
smile it away. 的t feels a bit more final than before, when I was a slave. But 
you never know.・The loss itself was bearable. I had lived powerless for many 
years. But it was very hard that I would never be able to show my son how to 
enchant a light with his fingers or to fly with him through the heavens and 
catch him if he fell. 的 appreciate your concern, but you mustn稚 worry. My father 
lived a blessed life without melydda. I値l not spend the rest of mine mourning a 
gift that most people never dream of.・ 
鏑ike lost empires?・ 
I grinned. 釘ut you値l not rot in some Thrid jungle, either.・ 
的ndeed.・He sighed and twisted his face into a rueful grimace, still laced with 
worry about me. 
Only one sure path to get him off this morbid sympathy. I had told him so much; 
I might as well tell him the other thing. 鄭s long as you are dredging up my 
deepest secrets, I致e one more to confess.・ 
展hich is?・ 
的 walked out with a woman last night. Just walked, talked a bit, nothing else. 
But last summer you made me promise to tell you whenever the great day came.・ 
Aleksander stared at me in wonderment and then exploded into laughter, flopping 
onto his back and clapping his hands to his head. 
的 didn稚 think it was all that unlikely,・I said, a bit miffed at the level of his 
hilarity. 
鄭thos be praised,・he said when he finally regained control of his humor. 鉄he 
finally got you to look at her and not just the boy. Gods, you didn稚 take him 
along with you when you walked out?・ 
釘laise watched him,・I said, wondering if I would ever be able to surprise 
Aleksander with anything short of the destruction of the world. 鄭nd what do you 
mean 組ot me to look at her・ She痴 despised me for a year.・ 
We talked into the midnight hours, Aleksander shooing his worried guards away 
with a message for his wife and another for his aides, saying that business 
could wait until sunrise. At last, as the moon settled onto the silvered desert, 
our conversation slowed, and, knowing our hour had long passed, we stood to go. 
I watched from the crest of the dune as he sprang onto his horse and started 
down toward his kingdom. He looked back once and raised his hand. 釘e healed, my 
guardian, and happy.・ 
And I called after him. 釘e wise, my king, and glorious.・ 
Before another week had passed, Elinor, Evan, and I set out for Ezzaria. Blaise 
left us at the border, the rocky cleft that would lead us over the mountains and 
down into the green and sheltering forests. He would have led us all the way to 
my destination, the nameless settlement where my mother, the Weaver, and my 
father, the farmer, had taught me how to live, but I wanted to savor every step 
and introduce Elinor and Evan to every rock and tree along the path. We took a 
week to travel the rest of the distance, and never had I known days of such 
peace and delight. 
Now midsummer has come and gone, and on this starlit night I sit alone beside a 
steaming pool, deep in the forests of Ezzaria. The pool is very like the one in 
Dael Ezzar, where my old mentor helped me rediscover the melydda I believed lost 
in my years as a slave. Today I tried to step into the scalding water, calling 
on my senses to protect me long enough to endure immersion, a good first lesson 
in preparation for true sorcery. For the fiftieth time, I failed, though I think 
perhaps this failure was slightly less abject than the previous forty-nine 
attempts. Faith links the senses to one痴 power, so Galadon taught me. And so I 
must have faith that someday the rains will fill the dry watercourses of my 
soul, allowing that part of me to live again. Tomorrow I値l come back and step 
into the pool once more. Or perhaps the day after. 
Meanwhile my days are filled with quiet joys. I致e begun to teach my people of 
our beginnings and to write down the story, so we will always remember. Come 
autumn, I値l return to Kir誰avarrin and have Kasparian tell me more. 
Blaise reports that some of the rai-kirah who remain in Kir誰avarrin are shaping 
bodies again, though a number have bade farewell to their comrades and walked 
into the gamarand wood. The rai-kirah say that these have unshaped even their 
light-drawn forms and returned their true being to the land. The tower has 
crumbled to dust, and no one has seen anything of the Lady. The woodland 
thrives. 
Catrin and Hoffyd痴 black-haired daughter, Chloe, was born demon-joined. Two more 
Ezzarian children have been born since Chloe, and they, too, are whole. Elinor 
looks to become our newest mentor, telling these parents stories of Blaise痴 and 
Farmi痴 childhood, and preparing them預nd me葉o manage childish shapeshifting. 
Elinor and Evan remind me every day of the richness of life, and I regret no 
choice that I have made. But after my experiences of the past few years, a man 
cannot but consider・ 
Had I given up the chance to be a god, to learn answers that those of us born in 
the human world have yearned to know since the beginning of time? Was Kerouan 
himself a god in the days before his madness? And if not Verdonne and not Valdis 
and not Kerouan, then whose hand has shaped us? And if not in Tyrrad Nor, then 
where are the gods and how are we to learn of them? I contemplate these things 
as I walk these beloved hills and forests and struggle to learn again from the 
beginning. I have found no answers as yet. 
But, of course, in the end, the exact truth of it doesn稚 matter. My child and 
his mother hold me fast in their love, and I am set free to think and remember. 
I think of Blaise, sharing his sublime and passionate wholeness with the hungry 
world. I remember Sovari and Malver, W但ssani and Galadon, Farrol and young Kyor, 
and, yes, Ysanne, too, offering life itself to sustain us. I watch Fiona, 
determined and stubborn, guiding my beloved Ezzaria into a new service. And I 
imagine Aleksander, riding his desert kingdom, bearing the weight of our lives 
and safety upon his strong shoulders, sheltering us all under his mantle of 
light. It is, after all, tales of strength and honor and purpose that reflect 
the true glory of the gods, no matter who they are and where they may reside. 



Verdonne was a beauteous woodland maid, a mortal, who caught the eye and heart 
of the god who ruled the forest lands of earth. The lord of the forest took 
Verdonne to wife, and she bore him a child, a fair and healthy son named Valdis. 
And the mortals who lived in the lands of trees rejoiced at the alliance between 
their own kind and the gods. 
The forest god grew jealous of the love the woodland people bore for Valdis, 
angry at the thought that this boy・half mortal・might someday steal his throne, 
and the god plotted to kill the child and all the mortals who loved him so. The 
grieving Verdonne, unable to persuade her husband of Valdis痴 guileless nature, 
sent the boy into the sheltering trees to save him, and she herself took up a 
sword and set herself between the god and the world of mortal men. 
Verdonne battled with the god all the years as their son grew to manhood. The 
cruel god stripped his wife of her clothes to shame her, melted her sword to 
taunt her weakness, and burned the fields and forests around her so that she 
would have no sustenance. 添ield, ・bellowed the forest god. 的 will not sully my 
sword with mortal blood. ・But Verdonne would not yield. 
The elemental spirits, who ordinarily care nothing for the affairs of gods or 
mortals either one, watched as the mortal woman challenged the mighty god. They 
marveled at her courage and took pity on Verdonne. They gave her sunlight as her 
cloak when the god took her clothes, and thunder and lightning for her weapons 
when he melted her sword. They gave her rain to wash her wounds, wind to bear 
her up, and fire to sustain her. 
添ield,・bellowed the forest god. 添ou are mortal, and when you die I will have my 
way. You have no hope.・But Verdonne would not yield. 
Then came the day when Valdis reached his manhood and laid his strong hand upon 
his mother痴 shoulder. Verdonne smiled and stepped aside, and Valdis wrenched his 
father痴 sword away and stripped his father of his power. But instead of keeping 
these things for his own, he laid them at his mother痴 feet. 添ou have shown your 
people the selfless strength and faithfulness of a true sovereign ruler. These 
are rightly yours.・/em> 
Verdonne ruled the sweet forest lands until she grew tired, for her body was 
mortal. But Valdis honored her and made her immortal, and even unto this day she 
rules the forests of the earth and he remains her strong right arm. 
Valdis built a magic fortress, a prison furnished with beauty and comfort, and 
because Valdis would not be a father-slayer, he locked his immortal father away 
in that fortress. And the young god took his father痴 name from him and destroyed 
it, so that no man or woman could invoke it ever again. But woe to the man who 
unlocks the prison of the Nameless God, for there will be such a wrath of fire 
and destruction laid upon the earth as no mortal being can imagine. And it will 
be called the Day of Ending, the last day of the world.