‘I don’t know. But whatever Andii blood remains within them is all but drowned in human blood. You will find in them close company, and that is something.’
‘I have all the company I need in you, Sand.’
She snorted. ‘Sweet, but nonsense. See it this way, then. I am of the land—this land. You are of the sea—a distant sea. And the Shake? They are of the Shore. And look at us here, now, standing on a bridge.’ She paused and then grimaced. ‘I can almost see the blind poet’s face. I can almost see him nodding. When grief was too much, Withal, we were in the habit of tearing out our own eyes. What kind of people would do such a thing?’
He shrugged. ‘I’m not following you, Sand. You need simpler thoughts.’
‘The Shake are home, and yet more lost than they ever have been. Does Mother Dark forgive them? Will she give them her city? Will she grant them the legacy of the Tiste Andii?’
‘Then perhaps you have a purpose being here, after all, Sand.’
She searched his eyes, was stung by his compassion. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You need to convince Mother Dark to do all those things. For the Shake.’
Oh, husband. I was a hostage, nothing more. And then, and then, I lost even that. ‘Mother Dark has no time for the likes of me.’
‘Tell me, what was the purpose of being a hostage?’
He’d caught her thoughts. She looked away, studied the wreckage-cluttered river sliding under the bridge. Dark waters … ‘The First Families sparred. Power was a wayward tide. We were the coins they exchanged. So long as we were never spent, so long as we’—remained unsullied—‘remained as we were, the battles saw little blood. We became the currency of power.’ But gold does not feel. Gold does not dream. Gold does not long for a man’s hand closing about it. You can win us, you can lose us, but you can’t eat us. You can hide us away. You can polish us bright and hang us from a chain round your neck. You can bury us, you can even carve a likeness of your face into us, but in the next season of fire all sign of you vanishes.
You can’t eat us, and you can’t fuck us. No, you can’t do that.
‘Sand?’
‘What?’
‘Were hostages ever killed?’
She shook her head. ‘Not until the end. When everything … fell apart. All it needs,’ she said, memories clouding her mind, ‘is the breaking of one rule, one law. A breaking that no one then calls to account. Once that happens, once the shock passes, every law shatters. Every rule of conduct, of proper behaviour, it all vanishes. Then the hounds inside each and every one of us are unleashed. At that moment, Withal’—she met his eyes, defiant against the anguish she saw in them— ‘we all show our true selves. We are not beasts—we are something far worse. There, deep inside us. You see it—the emptiness in the eyes, as horror upon horror is committed, and no one feels—no one feels a thing.’
She was trembling in his arms now and he held her tight—to keep her from sinking to her knees. Sandalath pressed her face into the curve of his shoulder and neck. Her words muffled, she said, ‘She should have stayed turned away. I will tell her—go away—we weren’t worth it then, we’re not worth it now. I will tell you—her—’
‘Sand—’
‘No, I will beg her. Turn away. I’m begging you, my love, turn away.’
‘Sand. The Shake—’
The bridge beneath them seemed to be swaying. She held him as hard as she could.
‘The Shake, my love. They’ve found us.’
Her eyes closed. I know. I know.
‘Well?’
Brevity adjusted her sword belt. ‘Well what?’
‘Should we go and talk to ’em, love?’
‘No, let’s just stand here. Maybe they’ll go away.’
Snorting, Pithy set out. ‘Dark dark dark,’ she muttered, ‘it’s all dark. I’m sick of dark. I’m gonna torch the forest, or maybe a few buildings. Fire, that’s the solution. And lanterns. Giant lanterns. Torches. Oil lamps. White paint.’
‘You going to go on like that all the way to ’em?’ Brevity asked, keeping pace a step behind her.
‘That woman looks like she walked outa one of them wall paintings in the temple.’
‘Maybe she did.’
‘Then what? Got lost? Our lookout watched ’em coming up the road. Nah, the point is, her people built this city. She’s got more claim to it than the Shake. And that’s a problem.’
‘Y’saying she won’t like the new neighbours? Too bad. She’s only got that one man. Besides, she looks sick.’
Their conversation ended as they drew closer to the two strangers.
The man’s eyes were on them, even as he continued to support the woman in his arms. ‘Hello,’ he said.
Trader tongue. Pithy nodded. ‘And the same. Meckros?’
‘Good guess,’ he replied. ‘I am named Withal. You’re Letherii, not Shake.’
‘Good guess,’ Pithy responded. ‘We’re the Queen’s Honour Guard. I’m Captain Pithy, and this is Captain Brevity. Is your mate sick?’
‘She is Tiste Andii,’ he said. ‘She was born in this city.’
‘Oh,’ said Pithy, and she shot her friend a look that asked: Now what?
Brevity cleared her throat. ‘Well then, if it’s a homecoming, we’d best bring her in.’
At that the woman finally looked up.
Pithy’s breath caught, and beside her Brevity started.
‘Thank you,’ said the Tiste Andii. Tears had streaked her face.
‘Need another shoulder to lean on?’ Pithy asked.
‘No.’ And she disengaged herself from Withal’s arms. Straightening, she faced the gate. ‘I’m ready.’
Pithy and Brevity let her and Withal take the lead, at a pace of their choosing. As soon as they’d moved a half-dozen strides ahead, Brevity turned and plucked Pithy’s sleeve.
‘See her face?’ she whispered.
Pithy nodded.
‘She ain’t just like them in the wall paintings, Pithy. She is one of ’em! I’d swear it!’
‘Side room, first one on the left just inside the altar room—the only one without stone beds. She’s in there. Her and maybe ten others. They got manacles on their wrists.’
‘That’s right! One of them!’
No wonder she ain’t happy about coming home. Pithy said, ‘Once we’re in, you go get the witches and bring ’em over. Unless Tovis or Yedan have come back, in which case get them.’
‘That’d be a better choice,’ Brevity replied. ‘Them witches are still drunk—’
‘They ain’t drunk for real.’
‘You know what I mean. Eel-eyed. Horny. The kinda drunk that makes a woman ashamed of being a woman.’
‘They ain’t drunk. I told you. So get ’em, all right?’
‘All right, but we should a buried ’em when we had the chance.’
The deeper shadow of the gate’s arch slipped over them like a shawl. Sandalath slowly released her breath. Mother Dark’s pervasive presence filled the city, and she felt her weariness drain away as the goddess’s power touched her, but the benediction felt … indifferent. The grief was still there, appallingly fresh—a reopened wound, or something else? She could not be sure. So … sorrow does not end. And if you cannot let it go, Mother, what hope do I have?
Something brushed her mind. An acknowledgement, a momentary recognition. Sympathy? She sighed. ‘Withal, will you walk with me?’
‘Of course—as I am doing right now, Sandalath.’
‘No. The temple, the Terondai.’ She met his eyes. ‘Kurald Galain. To the very foot of Mother Dark.’
‘What is it you seek?’ he asked, searching her face.
She turned back to the two Letherii women standing a few paces behind. ‘You spoke of a Queen,’ she said.
‘Twilight,’ said Pithy. ‘Yan Tovis.’
‘And her brother,’ added Brevity. ‘Yedan Derryg, the Watch.’
‘I must go to the temple,’ Sandalath said.
‘We he
ard.’
‘But I would speak with her.’
‘They left us a while back,’ Pithy said. ‘Went into the forest. When the witches finally come round they said the two of ’em, Tovis and her brother, probably rode to the First Shore. That was after they was in the temple—the Queen and the Prince, I mean. The witches won’t go anywhere near it, the temple, I mean.’
Sandalath cocked her head. ‘Why do I make you so nervous, Captain?’
‘You ain’t changed much,’ blurted Brevity.
‘I—what? Oh. In the Skeral—the Chamber of Hostages.’
Pithy nodded. ‘Only, the witches said this city’s been dead a long, long time.’
‘No,’ said Brevity, ‘a long time.’
‘I said that,’ Pithy retorted, scowling at her companion.
‘You didn’t say it right, is all. Long. Long.’
Sandalath faced her husband again. ‘This world is born anew,’ she said. ‘Mother Dark has returned and now faces us. The Shake have returned as well. Who remains missing? The Tiste Andii. My people. I want to know why.’
‘And do you think she’ll answer you?’ Withal asked, but it was a question without much behind it, and that made Sandalath curious.
‘Husband. Has she spoken to you?’
He grimaced. Then reluctantly nodded.
But not to me. Mother Dark, am I so flawed in your eyes now?
There was no silent reply to that. The presence remained unperturbed, as if deaf to Sandalath, deaf and wilfully blind. Not fair. Not fair!
‘Sand?’
She hissed under her breath. ‘The Terondai, now.’
Beyond the scores of buildings now occupied by the Shake and refugee islanders, Kharkanas remained a place of ghosts. The witches decided they liked that. They had found an estate situated on a terrace overlooking an overgrown park. The outer wall’s main gate had been burned down, leaving ancient soot smears on the marble frame and deep heat cracks latticing the lintel stone. The garden flanking the formal approach was now a snarl of stunted trees on both sides, their roots tilting the flagstones of the path.
Atop four broad steps double doors marked the entrance to the residence. These had been shattered from the inside. Bronze statues reared on either side of the staircase, each standing on an ornate marble pedestal. If they had been fashioned in the likeness of living creatures, decided Pully, then the world was a stranger place than she had ever imagined. Towering, the statues were of warriors, human from the shoulders down, whilst their necks and heads belonged to a hound. Both sentinels bore weapons. A double-bladed axe for the one on the left, a two-handed sword for the one on the right. Verdigris marred the details of the beastly visages, but there was enough to see that the two were not identical. The sword-wielder was terribly scarred, a slash that had cleaved through one eye, deep enough to bite bone.
Humming under her breath, Pully set one knee on this particular statue’s horizontal penis, and pulled herself up for a closer look at that face. ‘Now them’s big teeth, an’ precious so.’
Skwish had already gone inside, likely painting a thick red line down the middle, staking her half of the estate. Pully had forgotten how competitive the cow had been in her youth, but now it was all coming back. Wrinkles gone, bitch returns! An what was I sayin? Right, bitter’s a habit, Skwish. Bitter’s a habit. No matter. Skwish could have her half of the estate and half of every room. But then half of everything was half of nothing. They could live here, yes, but they couldn’t own the place.
She clambered down from the statue, brushed the dust from her hands, and then ascended the steps and strode inside. Eight paces opposite her was a wall bearing a carved crest of some sort, arcane heraldry announcing the family that had claimed this place, or so she supposed. Even so, one sniff told her there was sorcery in that sigil, latent, possibly a ward but too old to manage much. She could hear Skwish rummaging about in a room down the corridor on the right. Tripped nothing. Dead ward, or as good as. Did you even notice, sister?
One thing was impossible not to notice. Ever since they’d crawled out of that deathly sleep, they’d felt the presence of the goddess. Mother Dark had looked upon them both, had gathered up their souls like a pair of knuckled dice. A rattle or two, curious fingertips exploring every nuance, every pit and crack. Then the cast. Dismissive, all interest lost. Damned insulting, yes. Infuriating. Who did the hag think she was, anyway? Pully snorted, eyes still on the marble crest. Something about it made her uneasy. ‘Never mind,’ she muttered, and then raised her voice: ‘Skwish!’
‘Wha?’
‘We ain’t welcome here.’
Skwish reappeared, stood in the corridor’s gloom. ‘The Queen will take the palace. Her and Witchslayer. We don’t want t’be anywhere close to ’em. There’s power here, Pully. We can use it, we can feed on it—’
‘Risky. It ain’t as quiet as I’d like.’
‘It’s memories is all.’
‘What do you mean?’
Skwish rolled her eyes, approached. She halted directly in front of the crest. ‘Old symbols,’ she said. She pointed. ‘See that? That’s the Terondai, and there, that’s the sigil of Mother Dark herself.’
‘Empty throne! This ain’t a Royal House, is it?’
‘Not quite, but as good as. See that mark? The one in the centre. That’s the Consort—you never was interested in studying the Oldings. So, this house, it belonged to a man lover to some princess or maybe even the queen herself. See, that’s his name, the one there.’
‘What was it?’
‘Daraconus, something like that.’
They heard someone in the courtyard and turned in time to see Captain Brevity climbing the steps.
‘What?’ demanded Pully, her harsh voice startling the Letherii.
‘Was looking for you,’ Brevity said, slightly out of breath.
‘What for?’ Skwish asked.
‘Visitors.’
‘From where?’
‘Best come with me, you two. There’s a woman. Tiste Andii.’
‘Bluerose?’
‘What? No. She was born here.’
Pully and Skwish exchanged glances. And then Pully scowled. Bad news. Competition. Rival. ‘But she’s not alone?’
‘Got a man with her. A Meckros.’
‘Where’d they come from, then? They ain’t always been here—we’d a sensed that. The city was empty—’
‘Up the road, Pully,’ said Brevity, ‘same as us.’
‘We got here first,’ Skwish growled.
Brevity blinked. ‘It’s a big city, witch. Now, you coming?’
‘Where is she?’ Pully asked.
‘The temple.’
Bad news. The worst. ‘Fine then,’ she snapped.
Yedan Derryg had walked a thousand or more paces along the ethereal First Shore, but now at last he was returning. And in one hand, Yan Tovis saw, he held a sword. The weapon flashed green in the incandescent fall of liquid light. The blade was long as a man’s leg yet thinner than the width of a hand. A wire basket hilt shielded the grip. As he came up to where she stood, something lit his eyes.
‘A Hust sword, sister.’
‘And it’s healed.’
‘Yes.’
‘But how can a broken sword grow back?’
‘Quenched in dragon’s blood,’ he replied. ‘Hust weapons are immortal, immune to all decay. They can shear other blades in two.’ He held up the sword. ‘This is a five-blade sword—tested against five, cut through them all. Twilight, there is no higher calibre of sword than the one you see here. It was the possession of a Hustas, a Master of the House itself—only children of the Forge could own such weapons.’
‘And the woman threw it away.’
‘It is a mystery,’ Yedan Derryg said.
‘She was Gallan’s escort—’
‘Not that. The matter of how a five-blade Hust sword broke in the first place.’
‘Ah. I see your point.’
He looked round. ‘Time dis
solves here, this close to the Sea of Light. We have been away from our people too long—’
‘Not my fault,’ she said.
‘True. Mine. No matter. It is time to go back.’
Yan Tovis sighed. ‘What am I to do?’ she asked. ‘Find the palace, sink down on to whatever throne I find?’
The muscles of his jaws knotted beneath his beard and he glanced away. ‘We have things to organize,’ he eventually said. ‘Staff for the palace, officers for the guard. Work teams. Is the river rich with fish? If not, we are in trouble—our stores are depleted. Will crops grow here? Darkness seems to somehow feed the trees and such, but even then, we face a hungry season before anything matures.’
The list alone exhausted her.
‘Leave all that to me,’ Yedan said.
‘Indolence for the Queen—I will go mad with boredom.’
‘You must visit the temple again, sister. It is no longer empty. It must be sanctified once more.’
‘I am no priestess.’
‘Royal blood will suffice.’
She shot him a look. ‘Indeed. How much?’
Yedan shrugged. ‘Depends.’
‘On what?’
‘On how thirsty she is.’
‘If she drains me dry …’
‘The threat of boredom will prove unfounded.’
The bastard was finding himself again. Wit dry as a dead oasis, withered palm leaves rustling like the laughter of locusts. Damned Hust sword and the illusion of coming home. Brother. Prince. Witchslayer. He’d been waiting for this all his life. When she had not. I’d believed nothing. Even in my desperation, I walked cold as a ghost doomed to repeat a lifetime’s path to failure. And my blood—gods below—my blood. This realm demands too much of me.
Yedan faced her again. ‘Sister, we have little time.’
She started. ‘What do you mean?’
‘The Shake—the very impulse that drove you to set us on the Road of Gallan—it was all meant to bring us here. Kharkanas, the First Shore. We must find out why. We must discover what the goddess wants of us.’
Horror rippled through Yan Tovis. No. Her eyes lifted past Yedan to the First Shore, to that tumultuous wall of light—and the innumerable vague figures behind the veil. No, please. Not again.
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