Orb ,Sceptre ,Throne

‘As good as any place to hide, I suppose.’

His gaze slid round to her. He let out a long breath. Like I’m the pebble in the shoe, she thought.

‘They send you?’

‘No, they fucking well didn’t send me. You’re the man of the world, right? You should know they wouldn’t do something like that.’

His mouth quirked up and he let go something that might’ve been a rueful snort. His gaze slid back to the west. ‘Lectured by a child. Serves me right. Well, yes. That was unfair of me. They wouldn’t do something like that. I’m just tired. Tired of it all.’

‘Tired of what?’

He raised his chin to the west, to the sunset and the Scimitar. ‘Choices are being made even as we speak. Important choices that will affect all of us. I refuse to be part of it. I’m tired of being used.’ His voice fell and it seemed to Yusek that he wasn’t talking to her any longer. Perhaps he’d never really been talking to her at all. ‘I did what I thought was right. Damn them all, I don’t even know what the right choice is any more. I don’t even know if one exists. Everything I do is used.’

‘If everything you do is used one way or the other then why worry about it? There’s nothing you can do about all that. That’s beyond your control, right?’ The man’s gaze slowly edged back to her. ‘I mean, who cares about them? They can all take a flying leap into the Abyss, right? You can only do what you think is right, yes?’

One dark brow arched up. ‘That’s one way of looking at things. Maybe you should get some sleep. You’ve got a long day ahead of you tomorrow.’

Now who’s tucking who in?

‘Right.’ She stood. ‘I heard them say you killed the Lord of Moon’s Spawn. But I don’t think that’s right. I mean, he’s an Ascendant, right? Immortal. You can’t just kill someone like that.’ She shrugged. ‘Well, that’s just what I think.’

The man’s gaze followed her as she crossed the moonlit central field and remained fixed for some time where she disappeared amid the stone huts. Then his eyes slowly swung back to the west, the night sky, and the Scimitar above. He felt it there, in the west. Tugging at him. It was happening again. Another gathering.

He felt its call because he was close himself. Close, if not already there. But fighting. Refusing. As he told the girl: it was a choice awaiting him. It seemed that no matter which way he turned, there it was, inevitable.

If only he knew which would be for the best. Yet perhaps it wasn’t a question of choice. Perhaps it had always been merely about doing. Perhaps that was the better way of thinking of things.

He could not be sure and that doubt was a torment. Because he didn’t think much of his choices so far.

In the morning Yusek stepped out chilled and wrapped in her blanket to see the man still there, still kneeling, the pink and amber sun’s rays painting his back.

Now that just ain’t human.

She shuffled to the kitchens for hot tea and a round of fresh bread. She had to jostle elbows and push herself forward just to swipe that much. These boys and girls might be priests and such, she reflected, but they sure weren’t shy when mealtime came around.

At her hut she packed what few bits and pieces she owned into a roll that she tied off and threw on to her back. Her new sword she belted at her left hip. On the grounds she found Sall and Lo ready to go. The fellow Lo had challenged was there as well.

Sall greeted her. ‘We are leaving.’

She couldn’t help looking to the sky. ‘Yeah. I guessed.’

‘Where will you head?’ he asked.

She shrugged, indifferent. ‘I dunno. Mengal, I guess. Thanks for the lessons.’

He gave a sign she recognized as meant to dismiss the subject. ‘It was nothing. You were a conscientious student. That is all a teacher can ask for.’

She knew Sall to be her age but sometimes he talked so stiffly, like he was some old guy of thirty or something.

The fellow Lo had challenged stepped forward. Sall inclined his head to the man and, incredibly, so did Lo.

So … Lo just indicated that he considers the man higher ranked. Even though the man refused his challenge. He doesn’t want to take the rank that way. Just as Sall said. Hey! I’m starting to understand these crazy people!

But abbreviated bows only seemed to make the man’s already pained face tighten even more. ‘I’m sorry you came all this way for nothing,’ he growled, his voice hoarse. ‘But when you get to Cant, give my regards to your Second. I’ve heard good things of him.’

Sall turned his masked face to Lo. Something passed between them. Sall turned back to the man. ‘Slayer of Blacksword, we are not returning to Cant.’

Something almost like panic seemed to claw at the man’s face. ‘You’re not?’ The lines bracketing his eyes and mouth tightened into an angry suspicion. ‘Tell me where you are headed.’

‘We travel to Darujhistan to join our brothers and sisters. The First has called and we have answered.’

Yusek stared. Darujhistan? They’re going to Darujhistan!

The man was shaking his head, appalled. ‘All the scheming gods — you mustn’t go there. Don’t you see?’

‘See … what?’

‘Don’t make yourself a weapon,’ he said, his voice thick with emotion. ‘Take it from me. Weapons get used.’

Sall tilted his head a fraction. His eyes behind the mask appeared troubled, but he answered, ‘It is our duty. Our defining purpose. It makes us Seguleh.’

The man blinked as if fighting back tears. Every word Sall spoke seemed to strike him like a blow. ‘Gods, you people have backed yourselves up to the very Abyss …’

Lo moved slightly — a motion Yusek would never have caught before, but she understood it now as a gesture of impatience.

Sall said: ‘Thank you for your words, Slayer of Blacksword. But we must go.’

‘I’m going with you,’ the man said.

Even masked, Sall’s shock was obvious. He glanced at Lo, who answered with a gesture Yusek had seen him use in regard to her very often: the It’s her life sign.

‘If you wish,’ Sall said. ‘You are free to travel where you will.’

‘Fine.’ He motioned to the hut dwellings. ‘Just let me pack a few things.’

After the man had gone, Yusek faced Sall. ‘You didn’t tell me you were going to Darujhistan!’ And she couldn’t believe it when the answering shift of his shoulders said, How is this is relevant?

‘How come we ain’t shootin’ at ’em?’ Bendan said, chin on his arms as he leaned against the top of the palisade of sharpened logs. He was watching the encircling lines of Rhivi cavalry encamped so close to the hilltop fort he was damned sure he could throw a stone and hit one.

‘Short on crossbow bolts and such, ain’t we?’ Hektar said, strangely cheerful. ‘And they know it.’

‘How do you know they know it?’ Bendan accused.

‘’Cause they’re camped so close — that’s why.’

Bendan returned to glaring at the tribesmen and women. ‘Well, don’t matter. Not like they need to do anything. I mean, we’re trapped, ain’t we? Got nowhere to go. Encircled. Brilliant piece of planning from these Fists, hey?’

The sergeant rubbed a hand over his bald night-dark pate. ‘From the city, aren’t you?’

‘Uh-huh. That’s right. Darujhistan.’ He didn’t bother clarifying that really he was from a rubbish heap next to it. ‘Why?’

‘Well then, you’d know that if we ain’t going anywhere then neither are these fellows. And that’s all to our advantage, isn’t it? We just have to wait them out. They got herds to mind, families, territory to patrol. And they