No other survivors. Not one. Neither Edur nor Letherii.
Varat Taun’s mind had already snapped. Incapable of coherent explanations, he had babbled, shrieking at anyone who drew too close to his person, yet unable or unwilling to tear his wide eyes from the unconscious form of Icarium.
Taralack Veed’s rasping words, then: All dead. Everyone. The First Throne is destroyed, every defender slaughtered-Icarium alone was left standing, and even he was grievously wounded. He is… he is worthy of your Emperor.
But so the Gral had been saying since the beginning. The truth was, no-one knew for certain. What had happened in the subterranean sepulchre where stood the First Throne?
The terrible claims did not end there. The Throne of Shadow had also been destroyed. Yan Tovis remembere the dismay and horror upon the features of the Tiste Edur when they comprehended Taralack Veed’s badly accented words.
Another expedition was necessary. That much had been obvious. To see the truth of such claims.
The gate had closed shortly after spitting out the survivors, the healing almost as violent and fraught as the first wounding, with a cacophony of screams-like the lost souls of the damned-erupting from that portal at the last moment, leaving witnesses with the terrible conviction that others had been racing to get out.
Swift into the wake of that suspicion came the news of failures-on ship after ship of the fleet-by the warlocks of the Edur when they sought to carve new paths into the warrens. The trauma created by that chaotic rent had somehow sealed every possible path to the place of the Throne of Shadow, and that of the T’lan Imass First Throne. Was this permanent? No-one knew. Even to reach out, as the warlocks had done, was to then recoil in savage pain. Hot, they said; the very flesh of existence rages like fire.
Yet in truth Yan Tovis had little interest in such matters. She had lost soldiers, and none stung more than her second in command, Varat Taun.
She stared now upon his huddled form. Is this what I will deliver to his wife and child in Bluerose? Letherii healers had tended to him, unsuccessfully-the wounds on his mind were beyond their powers to mend.
The sounds of boots in the corridor behind her. She stepped to one side as the guard arrived with his barefooted charge. Another ‘guest’. A monk from the archipelago theocracy of Cabal who had, oddly enough, volunteered to join the Edur fleet, following, it turned out, a tradition of delivering hostages to fend off potential enemies. The Edur fleet had been too damaged to pose much threat at that time, still licking its wounds after clashing with the denizens of Perish, but that had not seemed to matter much-the tradition announcing first contact with strangers was an official policy.
The Cabalhii monk standing now in the threshold of the doorway was no higher than Twilight’s shoulder, slight of build, bald, his round face painted into a comical mask with thick, solid pigments, bright and garish, exaggerating an expression of hilarity perfectly reflected in the glitter of the man’s eyes. Yan Tovis had not known what to expect, but certainly nothing like… this.
‘Thank you for agreeing to see him,’ she now said. ‘I understand that you possess talent as a healer.’
The monk seemed moments from bursting into laughter at her every word, and Twilight felt a flash of irritation.
‘Can you understand me?’ she demanded.
Beneath the face paint the features were flat, unresponsive, as he said in fluid Letherii, ‘I understand your every word. By the lilt of your accent, you come from the empire’s north, on the coast. You have also learned the necessary intonation that is part of the military’s own lexicon, which does not entirely amend the residue of your low birth, yet is of sufficient mediation to leave most of your comrades uncertain of your familial station.’ The eyes, a soft brown, were brimming with silent mirth with each statement. ‘This of course does not refer to the temporary taint that has come from long proximity among sailors, as well as the Tiste Edur. Which, you may be relieved to hear, is fast diminishing.’
Yan Tovis glanced at the guard standing behind the monk. A gesture sent her away.
‘If that was your idea of a joke,’ she said to the Cabalhii after the woman had left, ‘then even the paint does not help.’
The eyes flashed. ‘I assure you, no humour was intended. Now, I am told your own healers have had no success. Is this correct?’
Yes.’
‘And the Tiste Edur?’
‘They are… uninterested in Varat Taun’s fate.’
A nod, then the monk, drawing his loose silks closer, walked noiselessly towards the figure in the far corner.
Varat Taun squealed and began clawing at the walls.
The monk halted, cocking his head, then turned about and approached Yan Tovis. ‘Do you wish to hear my assessment?’
‘Go on.’
‘He is mad.’
She stared down into those dancing eyes, and felt a sudden desire to throttle this Cabalhii. ‘Is that all?’ Her question came out in a rasping tone, rough with threat.
‘All? It is considerable. Madness. Myriad causes, some the result of physical damage to the brain, others due to dysfunctioning organs which can be ascribed to traits of parentage-an inherited flaw, as it were. Other sources include an imbalance of the Ten Thousand Secretions of the flesh, a tainting of select fluids, the fever kiss of delusion. Such imbalances can be the result of aforementioned damage or dysfunction.’
‘Can you heal him?’
The monk blinked. ‘Is it necessary?’
‘Well, that is why I sent for you-excuse me, but what is your name?’
‘My name was discarded upon attaining my present rank within the Unified Sects of Cabal.’
‘I see, and what rank is that?’
‘Senior Assessor.’
Assessing what?’
The expression did not change. ‘All matters requiring assessment. Is more explanation required?’
Yan Tovis scowled. ‘I’m not sure,’ she muttered. ‘I think we are wasting our time.’
Another wild cavort in the monk’s eyes. ‘The appearance of a foreign fleet among our islands required assessment. The empire that despatched it required assessment. The demands of this Emperor require assessment. And now, as we see, the condition of this young soldier requires assessment. So I have assessed it.’
‘So where, precisely, does your talent for healing come in?’
‘Healing must needs precede assessing success or failure of the treatment.’
‘What treatment?’
‘These things follow a progression of requirements, each of which must be fully met before one is able to proceed to the next. Thus. I have assessed this soldier’s present condition. He is mad-I then, for your benefit, described the various conditions of madness and their possible causes. Thereafter we negotiated the issue of personal nomenclature-an aside with little relevance, as it turns out-and now I am ready to resume the task at hand.’
‘Forgive my interruption, then.’
‘There is no need. Now, to continue. This soldier has suffered a trauma sufficient to disrupt the normal balance of the Ten Thousand Secretions. Various organs within his brain are now trapped in a cycle of dysfunction beyond any measures of self-repair. The trauma has left a residue in the form of an infection of chaos-it is, I might add, never wise to sip the deadly waters between the warrens. Furthermore, this chaos is tainted with the presence of a false god.’
‘A false god-what is false about it?’
‘I am a monk of the Unified Sects of Cabal, and it now seems necessary that I explain the nature of my religion. Among the people of Cabal there are three thousand and twelve sects. These sects are devoted, one and all, to the One God. In the past, terrible civil wars plagued the islands of Cabal, as each sect fought for domination of both secular and spiritual matters. Not until the Grand Synod of New Year One was peace secured and formalized for every generation to come. Hence, the Unified Sects. The solution to the endless conflicts was, it turned out, brilliantly simple. “Belief in the One God occludes all other concerns.”‘