‘Murdered Gerun Eberict? Indeed, the very man. With his own two hands, Ormly. His own two hands.’ Then she smiled. ‘And those hands, well, murdering isn’t the only thing they’re good at.’
‘I knew it! It is all you ever think about!’
She settled back in her chair. Make them feel clever. The only sure way to keep the peace.
Beneath the city of Letheras was a massive core of ice. A fist of Omtose Phellack, clutching in its implacable grip an ancient spirit. Lured, then trapped by a startling alliance of Ceda Kuru Qan, a Jaghut sorceress and an Elder God. For the Errant, it was a struggle to appreciate that conjoining, no matter how advantageous the consequence. A spirit imprisoned, until such time as that hoary ritual weakened-or, more likely, was shattered in wilful malice. So, though temporary-and what truly wasn’t?-it had prevented death and destruction on a colossal scale. All very well.
Kuru Qan treating with a Jaghut sorceress-surprising but not disturbing. No, it was Mael’s involvement that gnawed ceaselessly in the Errant’s thoughts.
An Elder God. But not K’rul, not Draconus, not Kilmandaros. No, this was the one Elder God who never got involved. Mael’s curse was everyone else’s blessing. So what changed? What forced the old bastard’s hand, enough so that he forged alliances, that he unleashed his power in the streets of the city, that he emerged onto a remote island and battered a broken god senseless?
Friendship towards a pathetic, mortal?
And what, dear Mael, do you now plan to do about all those worshippers? The ones so abusing your indifference? They are legion and their hands drip blood in your name. Does this please you? From them, after all, you acquire power. Enough to drown this entire realm.
War among the gods, but was the battle line so simply drawn as it seemed? The Errant was no longer sure.
He stood in solid rock, within reach of the enormous knot of ice. He could smell it, that gelid ancient sorcery that belonged to another era. The spirit imprisoned within it, frozen in the act of rising through a fetid lake, was a seething storm of helpless rage, blurred and indistinct at its centre. One of Mael’s own kin, the Errant suspected, like a piece torn free only to suffer a geas of the Crippled God. Entirely unaware-so far-of the terrible fissures spread like crazed webs through that ice, fissures even now working their way inwards.
Shattered indeed. With intent? No, not this time, but in imagining a place of permanence they chose in error. And no, they could not have known. This… nudge… not mine. Just… dread circumstance.
Does Mael know? Abyss take me, 1 need to speak to him-ah, how 1 recoil at the notion! How much longer can I delay? What rotted commodity would my silence purchase? What meagre reward my warning?
Perhaps another word with that war god, Fener. But no, that poor creature probably knew even less than he did. Cowering, virtually usurped… usurped, now there’s an interesting notion. Gods at war… yes, possibly.
The Errant withdrew, passing ghostly through rock. Sudden desire, impatience, pushed him onward. He would need a mortal’s hand for what he planned. A mortal’s blood.
He emerged onto a floor of mouldy, uneven pavestones.
How far had he travelled? How much time had passed? Darkness and the muted sound of dripping water. He sniffed the air, caught the scent of life. Tainted acrid by delving into old magic. And knew where he was. Not far, then. Not long. Never hide in the same place, child. Mouth dry-something like anticipation-he hurried down the crooked corridor.
I can do nothing, weak as I am. Edging askew the course of fates-1 was once far more. Master of the Tiles. All that power in those scribed images, the near-words from a time when no written words existed. They would have starved without my blessing. Withered. Does this mean nothing? Am I past bargaining?
He could feel now, within him, flaring to life, a once-dull ember of… of… of what? Ah, yes, I see it clear. I see it.
Ambition.
The Errant reached the secret chamber, could discern trickling heat at the entrance.
Crouched over a brazier, she spun round when he stepped into the room. The heady, damp air, thick with spices, made him feel half drunk. He saw her eyes widen.
‘Turudal Brizad-’
The Errant staggered forward. ‘It’s this, you see. A bargain-’
He saw her hand edge out, hovering over the coals of the brazier. ‘They all want to bargain. With me-’
‘The Holds, witch. They clash, clumsy as crones. Against the young ones-the Warrens. Only a fool would call it a dance of equals. Power was robust, once. Now it is…’ he smiled, taking another step closer, ‘gracile. Do you understand? What I offer you, witch?’
She was scowling to hide her fear. ‘No. You stink like a refuse pit, Consort-you are not welcome here-’
‘The tiles so want to play, don’t they? Yet they clatter down in broken patterns, ever broken. There is no flow. They are outmoded, witch. Outmoded.’
A gesture with the hovering hand, and Feather Witch’s eyes flicked past the Errant.
A faint voice behind him. ‘Do not do this.’
The Errant turned. ‘Kuru Qan. She summoned youV He laughed. ‘I could banish you with the blink of an eye, ghost.’
‘She was not to know that. Heed my warning, Errant; you are driven to desperation. And the illusion of glory-do you not understand what has so afflicted you? You stood too close to the ice. Assailed by a storm of desire from the trapped demon. Its ambition. Its lust.’
A sliver of doubt, stinging, then the Errant shook his head. ‘I am the Master of the Tiles, Elder. No pathetic well-spring spirit could so infect me. My thoughts are clear. My purpose-’ He turned again, dismissing the ghost behind him. And reeled slightly, needing a step to right himself.
The ghost of the Ceda spoke. ‘Errant, you think to challenge the Warrens? Do you not realize that, as the Tiles once had a Master, so too the Warrens?’
‘Don’t be a fool,’ the Errant said. ‘There are no tiles describing these warrens-^’
‘Not Tiles. Cards. A Deck. And yes, there is a Master. Do you now choose to set yourself against him? To achieve what?’
The Errant made no reply, although his answer whispered in his skull. Usurpation. As a child before one such as myself. 1 might even pity him, as I wrest from him all power, every drop of blood, his very life.
1 shall retreat from this world no longer.
Kuru Qan continued, ‘If you set the Holds to battle against the Warrens, Errant, you will shatter alliances-’
The Errant snorted. ‘They are already shattered, Ceda. What began as yet another march on the Crippled God to exact brutal punishment-as if the Fallen One commits a crime by virtue of his very existence-well, it is that no more. The Elders are awakened, awakened to themselves-the memory of what they once were, what they could be again. Besides,’ he added as he took another step towards the now trembling Letherii witch, ‘the enemy is divided, confused-’
‘All strangers to you. To us. Are you so certain that what you sense is true? Not simply what your enemy wants you to believe?’
‘Now you play games, Kuru Qan. Ever your flaw.’
‘This is not our war, Errant.’
‘Oh, but it is. My war. Rhulad’s war. The Crippled God’s. After all, it is not the Elder Gods who so hunger to destroy the Fallen One.’
‘They would if they but understood, Errant. But they are blinded by the lure of resurrection-as blinded as you, here, now. All but one, and that is the maker of the Warrens. K’rul himself. Errant, listen to me! To. set the Holds against the Warrens, you declare war upon K’rul-’
‘No. Just his children. Children who will kill him if they can. They don’t want him. He was gone, but now he walks the realms again, and drags with him the Tiles, the Holds, the ancient places he knew so well-there is the real war, Ceda!’
‘True, and K’ruls idiotic nostalgia is proving a most virulent poison-although he is yet to realize that. 1 am dead, Errant-the paths I have wandered-’