'Do you want us to sit in on your first meeting?'

  'This isn't an arranged marriage; we're not negotiating terms,' Isak said wearily. 'I'm sure they'll all want to sleep for a week – there's no urgent intelligence we need and the journey will have taken a toll on Xeliath's health.'

  'Should we leave?'

  Isak sighed and stretched his feet out, planting the heels of his boots on a slender mahogany table that wobbled alarmingly under the weight. 'Could you stay?' He stretched his neck and twisted his head to one side and then the other, trying to work out the cricks. 'I don't really want to talk about tonight; I'd like to just sit with my friends and pretend the Land doesn't want me dead, at least until they arrive.'

  The guardsman, a lone figure on the drawbridge, took long measured steps back and forth in the quiet cold of night as he waited for life to stir in the city. It was well past midnight and the streets were silent. Alterr was hidden by cloud and Kasi had fallen below the horizon long ago. The soldier resisted the urge to turn his head and glare at the guardroom, where his watch partner was sitting in the warmth. As he reached the end of the drawbridge he started walking backwards immediately, keeping his eyes on the empty roads ahead at all times.

  The fact that he was a white-eye and thus not required to walk the freezing streets keeping the peace did nothing to improve his mood. When at last he caught sight of movement in the distance, it was met with a hiss of irritation, one that increased as the horse-drawn carriage made its way up towards Barbican Square at little more than a gentle walk.

  There were two figures on the driver's seat and no luggage on the roof. The coach was plain – not a nobleman then, just a merchant with money to spare. Both figures were hooded and cloaked, and hunched over against the cold, their faces hidden. If it hadn't been lor Lord Isak's direct order, he would have summoned the duty squad on principle, but as it was, he stood still and patiently awaited the coach as it rumbled towards him. It stopped at the last moment, the front wheels on the very lip of the drawbridge. The passenger jumped down from his perch on the driver's seat and walked straight up to him, pushing back his hood to reveal a face he recognised.

  'Fetch your watch partner and a stretcher, now, please,' he ordered.

  The white-eye narrowed his eyes at the foreigner barking orders at him. 'Can't leave the gate unguarded,' he said in response, 'and last I heard, you'd been dismissed from the duke's service.'

  'And that would make you wrong on both counts,' Mihn replied. There was no antagonism in his voice but the white-eye bristled anyway, unwilling to be ordered around by a man without position, rank or weapon who stood more than half a foot shorter than him.

  'Who's in the carriage?' he asked brusquely.

  'Have you received no orders from your lord?' Mihn asked.

  'I have.'

  'So stop arguing and take Lord Isak's guest up to him. Then take the lady to the Chief Steward and get her the gold crown she's been promised.' Mihn jabbed his thumb towards the driver, who had remained hunched in her seat. Before the soldier had a chance to speak again the door of the coach opened and a man leaned out to look at them.

  'What's the hold-up, soldier?'

  The white-eye looked at the pair of them for a moment and decided discretion was the better part of valour. He stepped aside and waved the coach forward. The driver gave a click of the tongue and set the horses walking forward again, down into the tunnel that led underneath the barbican and into Tirah Palace. As it reached them, both men stepped up onto the coach to let it carry them through, Mihn hopping back up to the driver's seat like a mountain goat. The white-eye gave a short whistle once they'd entered the tunnel and the gate immediately started to close behind them.

  Instead of stopping outside the Great Hall they took the coach around to the rear of the main wing, where there was another way up to the state apartments, a rear door that was normally kept locked and guarded. While the stretcher was being fetched the white-eye watched as Mihn and Morghien helped the last passenger out of the coach. It was obvious they didn't want his help, and they took great care to keep her face in shadow. Their precautions made no difference; as soon as he got within a few yards of her, the white-eye felt every nerve in his body quiver.

  Instinctively he found his nostrils flaring, seeking her scent: she was the same as him, and more. When he lifted the stretcher the white-eye found himself taking great pains not to touch her in any way. As strong as he was, his hands trembled and his throat tightened at the power humming through her body. They started up the dark stairway and he kept his eyes on the stairs underneath him, not trusting himself to look at the hooded head inches away from him. All the way up he felt her attention on him, and a threat hanging in the air.

  Isak was up and on his feet long before they reached the door to his private chambers. Vesna and Tila hovered in his wake, broad smiles on their faces at the sight of Mihn hovering beside the stretcher.

  'Take her into my bedroom, then leave,' Isak commanded before grabbing Mihn in a bearhug.

  'It's good to see you again, my friend – but why the stretcher? Does she need a doctor?'

  The smaller man smiled up at his lord and shook his head. 'She's well enough, merely exhausted. The journey took a great toll, but I wouldn't want to be the one to force a doctor on her!' He looked a little thinner than the day they'd parted, but that was the only indication that the failed Harlequin had just returned from a long and gruelling journey.

  Mihn embraced Tila and Vesna before following the soldiers into Isak's bedroom. The young lord gripped Morghien by the wrist as he followed them in, but the ragged-looking wanderer cut short the pleasantries. 'That can wait; right now you must go and introduce yourself. We can talk while she sleeps.' It looked like the journey had taken its toll on Morghien, who was tired and drawn, but his grip was as strong as ever. Isak had to remind himself that Morghien, known as the man of many spirits, was far older than he appeared – he should be permitted some trace of fatigue.

  Isak patted his shoulder and went to his bedroom. The soldiers had put the stretcher onto the bed and were about to slide it from under her when Isak bustled past.

  'Leave that,' he said, 'we can manage. The kitchen should be sending up food for my guests; check it's ready, then return to your posts.'

  He didn't even wait to see they'd left the room before he was leaning over the bed. He gently pushed back Xeliath's hood. The young woman blinked up at him and Isak barely managed to hide his shock. Gone was the healthy, radiant girl he'd seen in his dreams. Instead, he saw a near-parody of that beaming beauty.

  Trails of sweat ran down her twitching cheek and the crumpled skin of eyebrow and eyelid drooped limp over her left eye. As well as the permanent damage done to her body, her soft brown cheeks were flushed with spots of colour that made him think she was feverish.

  'Isak,' Xeliath whispered. Her lips curled on one side and trembled on the other. She was trying to smile. His name on her lips was tinted by the heavy rolling sounds of the Yeetatchen dialect.

  'Xeliath,' he replied softly, smiling down at the wan face below him. He eased her legs onto the bed and slid a hand under her body so he could pull the stretcher away. Her thin limbs reminded him of a pigeon he'd shot; lying dead in his hands, the bird had felt far too light, as though something was missing now it lacked life.

  Xeliath looked tiny, even bundled in her heavy woollen cloak. He raised her hand and placed a courtly kiss in her palm. He folded her fingers around it and said, 'Sleep now, you need to rest. I'll bring you some soup later.'

  'Wait, listen,' Xeliath whispered, straining to form the unfamiliar words. Isak remembered his first meeting with her, on a featureless, rolling field in his dreams, where she'd told him she couldn't even speak his language. That night, and every other time they'd met, she'd spoken directly into his mind. Now, as he strained to make out each syllable from her ravaged throat, he realised Mihn must have been teaching her FarIan as they travelled.

  Her right arm fought its way free of the folds of the blanket, and Mihn had taken a half-pace forward even before she beckoned him over. Isak, shifting slightly so that Mihn could take her hand, sensed a sudden flicker of power from her left hand which was obscured by the cloak. He pushed it back, and gasped when he saw the Crystal Skull fused into the palm of her hand, her long, thin fingers clawed around it, drawn a little way into the body of the Skull. Isak ran his finger down the side of her thumb: the skin was fused to the Skull, so perfectly bonded there was no seam between the two but a complete melding of materials.

  'Take it, cut it from her flesh', hissed a voice at the back of his mind.

  Isak bit back a growl and drove the spirit of Aryn Bwr from his thoughts. That was one blessing over the last few months: the voice had become quieter of late, cowed almost, and Aryn Bwr had been more willing to withdraw when pushed. It was a mixed blessing, though, for it served only to increase Isak's suspicions that it was the Reapers lurking on the edges of reality.

  Again he felt a flicker of power from within the Skull. Isak withdrew his hand, an apologetic look on his face until he realised that it was not anger he felt. Xeliath was staring into space, her good eye looking past him, while erratic spark's of magic started to dance from one finger to another over the surface of the Skull. He sensed pulses of energy flowing up her arm.

  'What- what's happening?' he asked softly.

  'She's drifting,' Mihn replied quickly. 'This has happened a few times – usually after she's contacted you in her dreams. There's nothing to worry about, it's just the effect of being tied to your destiny.'

  'I remember,' Isak said. 'Her mind was almost broken when she was Chosen, when she was tied to a thousand destinies and to none, or something like that.'

  Mihn stroked her hand. 'She still doesn't understand it fully, but it has had some sort of prophetic effect on her, perhaps like the Seer of Ghorendt – not true foresight, but glimpses of the future, though they don't make much sense. She doesn't go into a trance, or anything like that – and sometimes she hasn't even remembered it happening.'

  'Has she said anything that made sense to you.7'

  The small man shrugged. 'Once she said she saw you walking around a statue of a man holding a sword to his chest, made of obsidian. A man with two shadows, one tinted with blood and one with white eyes, was watching you. Her description put me in mind of the ranger, Tiniq.'

  'General Lahk's brother?' Isak said in surprise. 'Well, I suppose he does rather live in the shadow of his white-eye twin.'

  'Isak,' Xeliath croaked suddenly.

  The two men looked down, Mihn still with his hand wrapped around the young woman's.

  'Thank you,' she managed.

  'For what?' Isak asked.

  'For bringing me to safety, you fool,' she managed, again forcing her lips into her semblance of a smile. Disengaging her hand from Mihn's, she gave the small northerner an affectionate pat on the cheek. 'You are lucky to have such a loyal friend; I believe he would follow you anywhere.'

  Isak's face fell. 'Don't say that – it might be the Dark Place he ends up visiting.' He looked at Mihn, whose face was calm, the image of a man at peace in the Land. Rarely did the failed Harlequin give away much, but surely he'd have thought about what horrors he would face if he stayed at Isak's side.

  How is it I'm served by a man whose qualities surpass my own so completely? Isak wondered, not for the first time.

  A sharp pain in his wrist brought him back to the present. He looked down and saw Xeliath had jabbed her thumbnail into the skin, leaving a red mark. 'Stupid boy,' the hazel-skinned white-eye growled before switching to Yeetatchen and spitting a dozen or so angry words.

  Without pausing to think, Mihn translated for Isak. 'You claim I have a problem with prophecy? You, a fulcrum of history, should know better than to speak so carelessly.'

  Isak was stung by the admonishment in her voice. 'I'm sorry,' he said after a moment of silence. 'All I meant was that such a thing would be too much to ask of any man, no matter how loyal.'

  'Too late,' Xeliath replied, closing her eyes. 'It is said.'

  Isak looked at Mihn but the man just shook his head. 'We all have our parts to play.'

  'What if I have to ask something monstrous?' Isak asked in dismay. 'You accept the burden too easily!'

  'I am proud to serve you, whatever you ask of me,' Mihn replied with rare openness. While he had the colouring of a Farlan, his hair and eyes even darker brown than most in Tirah, Mihn lacked the sharp, pronounced features of the tribe; his were small and neat, every edge smoothed off, every expression minimal.

  'Is my part simply to ask things of others, then?' Isak said softly.

  Mihn blinked. 'In that, I do not envy you. I am glad I merely serve.'

  ' Mihn, you don't even carry a proper weapon! You never wear armour, I've already asked too-'

  He raised a hand to cut his lord off mid-sentence. 'I will do what I must. You should too.' He gestured towards the door. 'For now, we should let Xeliath sleep.'

  CHAPTER 5

  In the lee of a tall warehouse in the southernmost district of Tirah, two men waited uneasily as midnight passed into the new day. They kept close to the building that bore a reputable clothier's name and watched the small door at the other end of the warehouse. It led to a watchman's room, that much was apparent, but as yet neither of them had any idea why a man with a Lomin accent had cornered the smaller of them three weeks before and arranged for them to be waiting here, at this time, on this night. A silver crescent each had been enough to make it clear the offer of a job was serious, but they suspected their next payment would require rather more than just their presence at a certain time and place.

  They were dressed as common travellers, with only long knives at their hips despite the mystery and late hour. The Ghosts would be asking serious questions of people walking the streets armed for battle-there were so many noblemen, hurscals and liveried soldiers in Tirah for the new duke's coronation that anyone without the protection of a title had to tread carefully.

  T don't like the look of this.'

  The taller of the two looked at his comrade, sighed and reached into a pocket for his tobacco pouch. 'Nothing not to like yet, Boren.'

  'You reckon?' Boren's sceptical look earned only a short laugh. The sound echoed back from the high brick walls surrounding (hem and instinctively Boren looked around to see if anyone was coming to investigate. Aside from their breath on the cold night air and Boren's eyebrows twitching, all was still.

  'Now I don't say this is the best situation to be in,' the other man continued, 'but you just remember one thing; we've done nothing wrong. We've got few enough enemies as it is, and none this far west. We're not armed to start a fight, we've broken no law within fifty miles, and no thief announces hisself by smoking while he watches a building, so that's exactly what I'm going to do while we wait.'

  'Still reckon we're mad to be here without knowing a damn thing, Kam.'

  'Well, I like to think that's why I'm in charge,' Kam replied in a muffled voice as he lit his pipe. 'Your friend told us to be here and that there'd be money in it for us – isn't that enough? Unless there's something you've not told me, you're as hard up as I am, so a bit of mystery for a bit of cash don't bother me.'

  'It bugs me.'

  'Lots of things bug you.'

  Boren sniffed and scratched his straggly beard. 'So you're happy that some noble-born stranger tells me to meet him here at midnight? Hunter's moon went down over'n hour ago and I don't see the bugger. Looks suspicious to me.'

  'Everything looks suspicious to you,' Kam said, 'but we've covered ourselves and the others'll be watching out too, so leave me to worry about this. If I was your noble friend I'd be doing a tour of the district, checking to see who's come with us. That means making us wait, and since we need the job bad, let's give him time.'

  Boren's only response was a mutter but Kam nodded at it all the same and took a long pull on his pipe. The shadow fell into silence once more and Kam resumed his drifting scrutiny of the dark buildings and alleys surrounding them. His ears were sharp; a lifetime of being a hunter in the forested suzerainty of Siul had given him instincts he trusted. They weren't mercenaries – they didn't lead that sort of life – but their home was close enough to the unsettled parts of the Great Forest that they learned how to fight at an early age. Such men were normally the mainstay of the Farlan Army, but Kam's village and those close about were all too vulnerable from Elven predation to spare anyone. Army wages weren't enough to tempt men into leaving their homes unprotected. He lifted his head suddenly; he'd heard footsteps.

  'Gentlemen, you look cold.'

  They whirled around. Behind them, in what had been an empty alley when Kam had last looked, stood a man wearing a bearskin coat and thick gloves. A wide-brimmed hat shadowed his face. The clothes were indication enough that this was no night-watchman.

  'He the one?' Kam asked, keeping his eyes on the newcomer. He could see the rapier at the man's side and was very aware of his own lack of real weapons. Boren nodded in reply.

  'I'm the one, yes,' the stranger replied, 'and I have someone for you to meet.' From his voice Kam realised the man was a good few years older than he, but he wasn't taking any chances that he was so old that he'd not be quick with his rapier. A thin blade was of little use on the battlefield, but in an empty city street it had the reach and the speed to best most weapons. The man hadn't offered his palms in traditional greeting, not even when Kam and Boren, after a hesitant pause, did so.

  'Where?' Kam asked before the small insult had time to grow.

  The man pointed towards the door they were watching and started off towards it. Instinctively, Boren sidestepped to let him pass and lead the way and he inclined his head, choosing to take it as courtesy rather than precaution. At the door he gave a quick double-rap with his knuckles before turning back and gesturing to Kam and Boren to approach. They did so warily, hands by their knife hilts, watching the surrounding streets. When they reached the door the man pushed it open and stepped inside, then held it open for the pair.

 

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