"Thank you," Vanye said in sum of everything.
"What, honest gratitude? That is more than I had of you in our last meeting. I think you meant to cut my throat, cousin."
"I have sense enough to know what I owe you,"
Roh smiled a twisted smile and poured another panful of water into the pot on the fire, then settled and poured himself a cup of the Shiua liquor. He drank of it and grimaced. "Because I did not take advantage of you as I could have done? They would have gone on and on with that drug until you had no sense left what you were doing, and if they had had long enough-well, you would have handed them everything you know, and that would have been enough to save your life of sorts. You would have lived-perhaps so long as humiliating you amused them. You do well to thank me. But of course I had to get you out of there; it was only practical. You would have ruined me. For the rest, well, you do owe me, do you not? At least you owe me better than to turn on me."
Vanye turned up his scarred palm, that was Morgaine's mark, sealed in blood and ash. "I cannot say that, and you know it. Whatever I have done and will do-is under ilin-law. No promise of mine is binding where it crosses that; I have no honor."
"But you have enough to remind me of it."
He shrugged, troubled, as Roh had always been able to seize his heart and turn it in him. "You should have looked well on what was happening in that tent last night. They dare not lay hands on you-yet. But they will find a way someday."
"I know. I know how far I can trust Hetharu, and we passed the borders of that territory long ago."
"So you surround yourself with the likes of Fwar. You know surely that he and his kindred served Morgaine once. They turned on her when they did not gain of her what they wanted. They will do the same for you the first time you cross their wishes. And that is not my hate speaking. That is the truth."
"I expect it daily. But the fact remains that Fwar and his men had rather serve me than the khal,reckoning how much the khallove them. The khalhave alienated every human in this camp, Hiua, marshlanders-all who have any experience of independence; but the marshlanders do not love Fwar, no, not in the least. Fwar and his Hiua lads are few, hard Men as they are, and he knows that if ever he slips, the marshlanders will put his face in the dirt. Fwar loves power. He must have it, many as his enemies have become. He joined Morgaine while he thought that she would give it to him, while it looked likely that he could remain her lieutenant and lord over conquests. He joined me only when it was clear that he could not deal with the khaland when he realized that I am also a power in this camp. Fwar keeps the marshlanders under his heel and that is useful to me. He is essential to my survival here; he is nothing without me and he knows it but so long as I have him in my employ, the khaldo not rule Hiua or marshlanders in this camp. And arrogant as the khalare, they, do realize that they are outnumbered, and that the Men who still serve them are cattle, of their own making. No Shiua human is a match for marshlander or Hiua, and of course not all the Men who have lived under the khaltruly love their masters, not even those Men who wear the brand on their faces. The khalare really quite terrified of their own servants, and so they redouble their cruelties to keep them cowed but that is not a thing to say openly. For one thing, it would not be good to have Men find it out, would it? -Another bit of bread?"
"I cannot."
Things among them have changed since Hetharu came to power," Roh continued with a shake of his head. "There was an urge to decency in some of these folk. But in the passage, only the strongest survived; they were generally not the fittest to live."
"You chose Hetharu for your ally when you had other choices."
"I did, yes." Roh refilled both their cups. "To my lasting sorrow, I chose him. I have always been unfortunate in my allies. -Cousin wheredo you reckon Morgaine is?"
Vanye swallowed at a bit suddenly gone dry and reached for the cup, drank deeply and ignored the question.
"The place she attempted to reach over by the river," Roh said, "is surely the control itself I believe so; Hetharu surely does. Hetharu's patrols will scour that area will have been doing so in searching for her. Hetharu wants the Hiua sent back out on her trail. I am not eager to send Fwar from me, for obvious reasons; Fwar himself is not at all anxious to go, but that even he sees the danger if that weapon of hers goes to Hetharu's men. Hetharu himself is terrified, I do not doubt, of someone like Shien of even his own folk getting possession of it. I do not, I confess, like to think of Fwar holding it either. Of course Fwar should have let you lie under that horse and gone after her; he realizes that now, in cold blood, but he is afraid of her: he has faced her weapons before, and it was fear that obscured his good sense-fear and his obsessive hate of you. He dared an arrow against her at distance, but facing Changeling. .. well, that is quite another matter, at least in his thought of the moment. Fwar sometimes needs time to reckon clearly where his advantage truly lies; his instincts for survival on the instant sometimes overwhelm those for the long range. He regrets that choice now; but the moment has passed-saving your help, of course."
"Then it has passed," he said; the words almost choked him. "I will not help you."
"Peace, peace, I advise you against any attack on me. And put khalurtactics from your mind; I could have done the same as they last night, if I would. No, I am the only safety you have here."
"Liell tended to allies like Fwar: bandits, cutthroats-a hall that would have had fit place in Shiuan, for all it was human-held. I find you unchanged-and my chances equal, here and there."
Roh's eyes clouded, cleared again slowly. "I do not blame you. I loathe my companions, as you warned me I would but you forced me to them. They will kill me when they can; of course they will. You are safe here just as I am only because Hetharu still fears a rising in the human camp if he comes and tries to take you; I could do that to him, and he fears it. Besides, he has reason to wait."
"What reason?"
"The hope that at any hour one of his patrols may ride in bearing Morgaine's weapons and in that hour, my friend, we are both dead men. And there is yet another danger: that perhaps you and I and Morgaine are not the only ones in this land who can use the power of the Gate; perhaps there is knowledge to be had elsewhere in this land. And if that is so Is it so, Vanye?"
He said nothing, trying to keep all reaction from his face.
"I suspect that there could be," Roh said. "Whatever else we have to fear, the sword is beyond doubt. It was madness ever to have made such a thing. Morgaine knows it, I am sure. And the thought of that I know what is written in the runes on that blade, at least the gist of it. And that should never have been written."
"She knows it."
"Can you walk? Come here. I will show you something."
He strove to rise, and Roh lent his hand and steadied him as he limped across the shelter to the far side where Roh wished to lead him. There Roh flung back a ragged curtain, and showed him the horizon.
And there was the Gate, afire with shimmering colder than moonlight. Vanye gazed at it, and shuddered at that nearness, at the presence of that power that he had learned to dread.
"It is not good to look at, is it?" Roh asked. "It drinks up the mind like water. It hovers over us here. I have lived in that presence until it burns through the curtains and the wall. There is no peace with that thing. And the Men who live here, and the khal-feel it. Because of herthey have feared to leave it; and now they are beginning to fear to stay near it. Some may leave it and go out. Those who do stay here will go mad."