neck visibly ease as the man, blinking, slowly lifted his head.
And saw her.
‘Varat Taun.’
A faint smile, worn with sorrow-but a natural sorrow. Atri-Preda. We made it back, then…’
She frowned, then nodded. ‘You did. And since that time, Lieutenant, the fleet has come home.’ She gestured at the room. ‘You are in the Domicile’s Annexe, in Letheras.’
‘Letheras? What?’ He struggled to rise, pausing a moment to look wonderingly at the Cabalhii monk; then, using the wall behind him, he straightened and met Twilight’s eyes. ‘But that is impossible. We’d two entire oceans to cross, at the very least-’
‘Your escape proved a terrible ordeal, Lieutenant,’ Yan Tovis said. ‘You have lain in a coma for many, many months. I expect you are feeling weak-’
A grimace. ‘Exhausted, sir.’
‘What do you last recall, Lieutenant?’
Dread filled his wan features and his gaze fell away from hers. ‘Slaughter, sir.’
‘Yes. The barbarian known as Taralack Veed survived, as did the Jhag, Icarium-’
Varat Taun’s head snapped up. ‘Icarium! Yes-Atri-Preda, he-he is an abomination!’
‘A moment!’ cried the Senior Assessor, eyes now piercing as he stared at the lieutenant. ‘Icarium, the Jhag Warrior? Icarium, Lifestealer?’
Suddenly frightened, Yan Tovis said, ‘Yes, Cabalhii. He is here. Like you, he will challenge the Emperor-’ She stopped then, in shock, as the monk, eyes bulging, flung both hands to his face, streaking across the thick paint, and, teeth appearing to clench down hard on his lower lip, bit. Until blood spurted. The monk reeled back until he struck the wall beside the doorway-then, all at once, he whirled about and fled the room.
‘Errant take us,’ Varat Taun hissed, ‘what was all that about?’
Forbidden laughter? She shook her head. ‘I don’t know, Lieutenant.’
‘Who… what…?’
A healer,’ she replied in a shaky voice, forcing herself to draw a steadying breath. ‘The one who awakened you, Varat. A guest of the Emperor’s-from Uruth’s fleet.’
Varat Taun licked chapped, broken lips. ‘Sir.’
‘Yes?’
‘Icarium… Errant save us, he must not be awakened. Taralack knows, he was there, he saw. The Jhag… have him sent away, sir-’
She approached him, boots hard on the floor. ‘The Gral’s claims are not exaggerated, then? He will bring destruction?’
A whisper: ‘Yes.’
She could not help herself then, and reached out, gloved hands grasping the front of Varat’s ragged shirt, dragging him close. ‘Tell me, damn you! Can he kill him? Can Icarium kill him?’
Horror swirled in the soldier’s eyes as he nodded.
Errant’s blessing, maybe this time… ‘Varat Taun. Listen to me. I am leading my company out in two days. Back to the north. You will ride with me, as far up the coast as necessary then you ride east-to Bluerose. I am assigning you to the Factor’s staff there, understood? Two days.’
‘Yes sir.’
She released him, suddenly embarrassed at her own outburst. Yet her legs were weak as reeds beneath her still. She wiped sweat from her eyes. ‘Welcome back, Lieutenant,’ she said in a rough voice, not meeting his gaze. ‘Are you strong enough to accompany me?’
‘Sir. Yes, I shall try.’
‘Good.’
Emerging from the room, they came face to face with the Gral barbarian. Breath hissed from Varat Taun.
Taralack Veed had halted in the corridor and was staring at the lieutenant. ‘You are… recovered. I did not think-’ He shook his head, then said, ‘I am pleased, soldier-’
‘You warned us again and again,’ Varat Taun said.
The Gral grimaced and seemed ready to spit, then decided otherwise. Gravely, he said, ‘I did. And yes, I was foolish enough to be an eager witness…’
‘And next time?’ The question from Varat Taun was a snarl.
‘You do not need to ask me that.’
The lieutenant stared hard at the savage, then he seemed to sag, and Yan Tovis was astonished to see Taralack Veed move forward to take Varat’s weight. Ah, it is what they have shared. It is that. That.
The Gral glared over at her. ‘He is half dead with exhaustion!’
‘Yes.’
‘I will help him now-where would you lead us, Atri-Preda?’
‘To more hospitable quarters. What are you doing here, Veed?’
‘A sudden fear,’ he said as he now struggled with Varat’s unconscious form.
She moved to help him. ‘What sort of fear?’
‘That he would be stopped.’
‘Who?’
‘Icarium. That you would stop him-now, especially, now that this man is sane once more. He will tell you-tell you everything-’
‘Taralack Veed,’ she said in a harsh tone, ‘the lieutenant and I leave this city in two days. We ride north. Between then and now, Varat Taun is under my care. No-one else’s.’
‘None but me, that is.’
‘If you insist.’
The lieutenant between them, the Gral studied her. ‘You know, don’t you. He told you-’
‘Yes.’.
‘And you mean to say nothing, to no-one. No warning-’
‘That is correct.’
‘Who else might suspect-your ancient histories of the First Empire. Your scholars-’
‘I don’t know about that. There is one, and if I am able lie will be coming with us.’ That damned monk. It should be simple enough. The Cabal priests misunderstood. Sent us an ambassador, not a champion. No value in killing him-the poor fool cannot fight-imagine Rhulad’s rage at wasting his time… yes, that should do it.
‘No scholars…’
She grimaced and said, ‘Dead, or in prison.’ She glared accross at the Gral. ‘What of you? Will you flee with us?’
You know I cannot-I am to share Icarium’s fate. More than any of them realize. No, Atri-Preda, I will not leave this city.’
‘Was this your task, Taralack Veed? To deliver Icarium here?’
He would not meet her eyes.
‘Who sent you?’ she demanded.
‘Does it matter? We are here. Listen to me, Twilight, your I mperor is being sorely used. There is war among the gods, and we are as nothing-not you, not me, not Rhulad Sengar. So ride, yes, as far away as you can. And take this brave warrior with you. Do this, and I will die empty of sorrow-’
‘And what of regrets?’
He spat on the floor. His only answer, but she understoo him well enough.
Sealed by a massive, thick wall of cut limestone at the end of a long-abandoned corridor in a forgotten passage of the Old Palace, the ancient Temple of the Errant no longer existed in the collective memory of the citizens of Letheras. Its beehive-domed central chamber would have remained unlit, its air still and motionless, for over four centuries, and the spoked branches leading off to lesser rooms would have last echoed to footfalls almost a hundred years earlier.
The Errant had walked out into the world, after all. The altar stood cold and dead and probably destroyed. The last priests and priestesses-titles held in secret against the plague of pogroms-had taken their gnostic
