Her husband’s eyes studied her. ‘Sand—’
‘I was exploring,’ she said, walking directly to seat herself on the throne. ‘How bad, then?’
‘The first assault was denied,’ he replied. ‘Yedan’s Letherii line held, and then pushed the Liosan back through the wound. The Watch—’
‘The Watch, yes.’ I remember now. It was already in me. Growing. Wanting my love. But how could I love? ‘The Shake have held, Lord. The Watch commanded. They have driven the Liosan back through the wound. The priestesses believe they have devised a means of sealing the rent, Lord—’
‘Then they had better set about achieving that, Kellaras, for the Liosan shall launch another assault soon. And then another, and another. They will keep coming until they are through, or until they are all dead.’
‘Lord, is such the fury of Osseric against you that—’
‘Commander Kellaras, this is not Osseric’s doing. It is not even Father Light’s. No, these are children who will have their way. Unless the wound is healed, there will be no end to their efforts.’ And then Anomander’s eyes found her. ‘Hostage,’ he murmured, gesturing all the others to leave. He rose from the throne. ‘I did not see you there. He released you then – I did not think—’
‘No, Lord,’ she said, ‘he did not release me. He … abandoned me.’
‘Hostage Drukorlat—’
‘I am a hostage no longer, Lord. I am nothing.’
‘What did he do to you?’
But she would not answer that. Could not. He had enough troubles, did he not? Wars upon all sides, armies advancing on Kharkanas. It was dying, all of it. Dying, and in his eyes she could see that he knew it.
‘Sandalath Drukorlat.’ And with her name he reached out, settled a cool hand upon her brow. And took from her the knowledge he sought. ‘No,’ he whispered, ‘this cannot be.’
She pulled away then, unable to meet his eyes, unwilling to acknowledge the fury now emanating from him.
‘I will avenge you.’
Those words could well have driven a spear through her, for the impact they made. She reeled, with pain a raging fire within her. Shaking her head, she staggered away. Avenge? I will have my own vengeance. I swear it.
He called out to her, but she fled the throne room. And ran.
Shallow steps climbing … a wooden door. A lock.
‘Sandalath?’
‘The priestesses can heal the wound.’
‘What priestesses?’
‘The Liosan won’t stop. Nothing can make them stop. The Watch knows – all the Shake do. They have accepted it. They are going to die for us. Every last one of them. We cannot permit that. Where is Gallan? Where is Silchas? Where is my brother—’
Then Withal’s arms were about her, lifting her from the throne, holding her tight. She felt weak as a child, but he was strong – stronger than she’d ever imagined was possible for a human. She felt something crumble within her and let out a soft gasp.
‘I went looking for ghosts,’ she said. ‘I – I found them, I think. Mother help me. Save me – it’s too much—’
‘Sand.’ The word was a sob.
‘We need to run,’ she said. ‘That’s all we need to do, my love. Run. Tell Twilight – raise a flag of truce – I will yield Kharkanas to the Liosan. They can have it, and I hope they burn it to the fucking ground!’
‘Sand – this is Yedan’s battle now, and he will not parley with the Liosan. He is a Shake prince. He wields a Hust blade – it was the witches who explained to me what that meant—’
‘Hust? A Hust sword?’ Did I know that? I must have. Did I?
‘Forged to slay Eleint – without them the Andii could never have killed all those dragons at the Sundering. They could never have fought back. Yedan’s sword knows what’s coming—’
‘Stop it!’
‘It’s too late—’
‘Yedan—’
‘He knows, Sand. Of course he knows. The witches are desperate – Yan Tovis accepts none of this—’
‘Because she’s not a fool!’ Sandalath pushed Withal back. ‘We need to run!’
He shook his head.
She glared round. Guards looked away. Servants ducked their heads. She bared her teeth. ‘You must think me mad. Do you? But I’m not. I see now, as clearly as Yan Tovis does. Is this all the Shake are to be to us? Wretched fodder doomed to fail? How dare we ask them to fight?’ She spun, glared at the domed ceiling. ‘Mother Dark! How dare you?’
The shout echoed, her only reply.
‘The Shake will fight,’ said Withal into the silence that followed. ‘Not for you, Sand. Not for the Queen of High House Dark. Not even for Kharkanas. They will fight for their right to live. This once, after generations of retreating, of kneeling to masters. Sand – this is their fight.’
‘Their deaths, you mean. Don’t you? Their deaths!’
‘And they will choose where it is to be, Sand. Not me. Not you.’
What makes us do this? What makes us set aside the comforts of peace?
‘Sand,’ Withal said in a quiet voice, ‘this is their freedom. This one thing. Their freedom.’
‘Go back to them, then,’ she croaked, turning away. ‘Be their witness, Withal. They’ve earned that much at least. Remember all that you see, for as long as there’s life left to you.’
‘My love—’
‘No.’ She shook her head, walking from the throne room.
Hostages. We are all hostages.
Yedan Derryg leaned the blade of his sword against his shoulder, his jaws bunching rhythmically, his eyes narrowing as he studied the breach. ‘Signal the front lines. They’re coming.’
The blurred shapes of the dragons skittered like wind-torn clouds behind the veil of Lightfall. He counted five in all, but suspected there were more. ‘It will be in strength this time,’ he said. ‘They will seek to advance ten paces to start, and then form a crescent as the ranks behind them spill out, spread out. Our flanks need to deny that. Push in along the Lightfall itself, sever the vanguard.’
‘That’s asking a lot,’ muttered Brevity beside him.
Yedan nodded.
‘Maybe too much,’ she continued. ‘We’re none of us trained as soldiers. We don’t know what we’re doing.’
‘Captain, the Liosan are no different. Helmed and armed doesn’t make an army. They are conscripts – I could see as much the first time.’ He chewed on the thought and then added, ‘Soft.’
‘You saying they don’t want any of this?’
‘Like us,’ he replied, ‘they have no choice. We’re in a war that began long ago, and it has never ended, Captain.’
‘Pithy says they look no different from the Tiste Andii, barring their snowy skin.’
He shrugged. ‘Why should that matter? It’s all down to disagreeing about how things should be.’
‘We can’t win, can we?’
He glanced at her. ‘Among mortals, every victory is temporary. In the end, we all lose.’
She spat on to the white sand. ‘You ain’t cheering me at all, sir. If we ain’t got no hope of winning against ’em, what’s the point?’
‘Ever won a scrap, Captain? Ever stood over the corpses of your enemy? No? When you do, come find me. Come tell me how sweet victory tastes.’ He lifted the sword and pointed down to the breach. ‘You can win even when you lose. Because, even in losing, you might still succeed in making your point. In saying that you refuse the way they want it.’