‘Those I will never forgive,’ Manatassi snarled, his face twitching and the eyes glaring smoky yellow. ‘But they were not your doing.’
‘You forgive the massacre at Sett?’ Huy persisted.
‘You are a soldier, you could do nothing else ’
Manatassi was still trembling, and Huy sensed how narrowly he skirted the abyss, but he felt compelled to explore this man’s strength - and weakness.
‘What would you have of me. then?’ Huy asked.
‘March beside me,’ said Manatassi.
‘Against?’
‘Against Opet and its monstrous cruelties and terrible gods,’ Manatassi urged him. ‘With you beside me and this army at my back I will rule the world.’
‘I cannot do that,’ Huy shook his head.
‘Why not? Tell me why. It is evil, it must be destroyed.’
‘It is mine.’ said Huy. ‘My land, my people, my gods - therefore they cannot be evil.’
‘I thought you were a man of reason,’ Manatassi snarled.
‘Reason can carry a man just so far, and then he must trust to his heart,’ said Huy.
‘You refuse me, then?’
‘Yes.’
‘You know that you choose death?’
‘Yes.’
Manatassi raised his hand, the iron claw glowing in the sunlight, and Huy knew that when the hand fell he would die. He steeled himself to meet it as calmly as he had dealt it.
Manatassi turned away. Then after a moment he sighed, and his shoulders beneath the thick scars heaved.
‘You spared me,’ said Manatassi. ‘I shall spare you.’
Huy felt weak with relief. He had not wanted to die, and he allowed himself at last to think of Tanith and the child. Now he would still see his son, and his heart soared.
‘Go back to Opet. Go back to your king. Tell him that Manatassi, the Great Black Beast, marches out of the north to destroy him.’
‘Should you warn an enemy?’ Huy asked. ‘Did I teach you that?’
Manatassi smiled. ‘A warning will not help him,’ he said. ‘Tell him what you saw here. Tell him of this army - and let it chill his guts. Tell him I come for him, and I will spare none nor leave a memory of him to taint this land. Tell him I come, and I come swiftly.’
Manatassi picked up the vulture axe and handed it to Huy.
‘Go!’ he said. ‘All debts between us have been paid. You have no call on me, and I have no call upon you. When I meet you again I shall kill you.’
They stared at each other, standing close enough to touch, but separated by a distance wider than the span of the oceans or the vastness of the land.
Huy turned and limped away down the corridor of warriors that opened for him, and no man barred his way.
‘Old mother, you must not distress yourself so,’ Tanith whispered. ‘It was not your fault.’
‘I would have told them,’ Aina mumbled. ‘I know I would have told them. That Sister Haka, she terrifies me.’
‘You did not tell,’ Tanith comforted her. ‘You kept our secret well - even we ourselves did not know you had found out.’
Aina set down the food bowl beside Tanith’s bed, and she smiled reflectively. ‘You were so happy, the two of you. It made me feel good just to see you. He is a good person, despite his poor crooked back, he is gentle and kind.’
Tanith moved across on the couch, making room for Aina to sit. ‘Sit by me for a while, old mother. I am so lonely here, it makes the waiting so much harder.’
Aina glanced fearfully across the narrow chamber at the barred doorway.
‘They do not like me to stay too long.’
‘Please,’ Tanith entreated. ‘There is so little time left.’ And Aina nodded and gathered up her skirts to sit, creaking at her knee joints, upon the couch. Tanith leaned closer to her, and she whispered eagerly, ‘Did you send messengers, did you find someone to go?’
‘I sent two young ensigns from Legion Ben-Amon. They worship the Holy Father as though he were himself a god. I told them that you were in mortal danger, and that the Holy Father must return with all speed.’
‘Do you think they will find him?’
‘There are a hundred roads that he might take, and the land is wide. I would not lie to you, my child. The chance is not good.’
