'Retribution?
'The Upper Council has declared you outlaw, Waterwalker. I… we heard you were dead.
'Not yet, Edeard said through gritted teeth. 'They have already found it is not that easy.
'Good. We will swap your horses. I don't need money from you.
'Thank you.
'Finitan dead, Dinlay said sombrely as Edeard rode across the Iguru Plain on a long-legged ge-horse. 'How dare they commit such an act? The people elected him.
'This has been years in the making, Edeard answered numbly.
'All the bandit attacks, the fear in the provinces, even the gangs loose in the city; all designed to force Querencia to accept a single government, one with Owain at its head. And then I arrived. How ironic is that, his own campaign of terror made me flee to the city.
'But what can you do now?
'Throw him out of the Mayor's office, restore the rightful government. Even as he spoke it, he knew how false it sounded.
'Good, but the spectre's tone was uncertain. 'That's good.
Edeard didn't bother with concealment, nor even a seclusion haze. He didn't care that people saw him. He wanted word to spread into the city. He wanted people to have hope again. To know the Waterwalker was coming.
All would be put right.
There was a lot of traffic on the road. All of it heading away from Makkathran. Ragged groups stopped to stare as he galloped past. Several cheered, but the majority shook their heads in dismay at the sight of him. Longtalk rippled along the length of the road.
'The Waterwalker is still alive.
'The Waterwalker is coming back.
'The Waterwalker will stop this.
'The Waterwalker is too late.
'Too late.
It disheartened him simply because it matched his own suspicions. Apart from Kristabel and a few friends, what was there for him really? He was never going to save the city and the world from Owain's kind. All that was left now was a rescue attempt, and a life in exile.
It was afternoon when he reached the final approach to the city; riding hard under the fanciful variety of trees lining the road. He was the only traveller now, and his farsight swept out to review his reception.
When he burst out from the end of the ancient partition of trees even the sheep had vanished from the quarter-mile band of grassland encircling the crystal wall. The North Gate was closed. A quick farsight check showed the other two gates shut as well. Half a regiment of militia was drawn up in a protective semi-circle around the mighty gate, a hundred pistols lined up along the road. At the front of them was a squad of guards in the uniform of the Weapons Guild. They carried rapid-fire guns.
Owain's farsight fell upon the lone figure urging his horse forward, one strand among many thousands. 'Turn around, Waterwalker, there is nothing left for you here. Turn around. You bring only death, for these fine men will kill you no matter how many of them your strength claims at first. You cannot wipe out an entire city of adversaries.
'It is not your city, Edeard longshouted back.
'As you wish. May the Lady have mercy on your soul.
When he was barely three hundred yards from the first ranks of the militia Edeard suddenly turned his ge-horse off the road, and curved away parallel to the crystal wall. A cavalry platoon charged through the militiamen and raced after him. Any other time, Edeard would have laughed defiance, now he simply gritted his teeth and asked the city to allow him entry. He turned his horse again, and set it pelting directly at the crystal wall. The cavalry altered track to intercept him.
Edeard kept a steely control over his mount's fluttering thoughts as it pounded closer and closer to the wall. It never faltered, not even at the end when it was going far too fast to ever stop in time. A few yards short of the vertical barrier Edeard spurred it to jump. It leapt forwards, and to the astonishment of the cavalry in hot pursuit, it passed straight through the wall as if the tough substance were nothing more than a thin mist. They could even see it though the tinted crystal as it came down to land on the other side and continue its charge forwards. Only then did the Waterwalker pull its reins back. He swung off the saddle and stood on the ground of Low Moat for a second before swiftly sinking straight down through the grass.
Edeard emerged in the centre of the courtyard at the base of the Culverit ziggurat. The city's senses had already revealed what he would find: a long row of bodies wrapped in white cloth. And Buate, dressed in the robes of a Haxpen District Master, supervising ge-monkeys and cowed tearful staff on how he wanted the corpses disposed.
Just for an instant, Edeard's fright lifted as he perceived Kristabel standing there. But as he began to race forwards, arms open wide to greet his love, Dinlay's soul cried: 'No, Edeard, she is gone like me.
And Kristabel turned towards him as he stumbled to a confused halt. Then he finally acknowledged she was gone, that he was farsighting her soul as it stood vigil over her body.
'I'm so sorry, she told him with a forlorn smile.
Edeard's whole body was trembling with shock and anger. He turned inexorably to face Buate who was slowly backing towards the mansion's main entrance. His guards were also edging away, none dared raise their weapons against the Waterwalker.
'I… I had no choice, a pale Buate cried. 'Owain ordered me to claim the Haxpen Mastership for myself. There was a fight. Many were killed on both sides.
'Who did this to you? Edeard whispered, the words barely coming out of his mouth.
'His men came at dawn three days ago. Homelt and our guards fought valiantly; but the guns, Edeard, they had these terrible guns. None could stand against them. They killed our guards; my cousins and the maids were raped, old and young, they spared no one as they made their way up the mansion. They forced their way on to the tenth floor. Daddy and I tried to hold them off, but they were too strong. Edeard… I jumped. I wasn't going to let them do that to me. All was lost. Daddy and I and Mirnatha held hands and jumped from the very top of the stairs. Did we do wrong?
'No, my love, you did no wrong. I should have been here to protect you. I am the one who failed.
'Daddy and Mirnatha have gone to the nebulas in search of the Heart, Edeard, they follow the songs. Mummy will be there waiting for them. I stayed. I knew you would come. I had to see you one last time before I go.
'What? Buate asked, his farsight was probing the courtyard, trying to discover who Edeard was talking to. 'Who is there?
'Who is there? Edeard repeated numbly. 'My wife is here. My friend is here. My mother and father are here.
Kristabel smiled at the souls of Edeard's parents. 'He is yours?
'He is, Edeard's mother said.
'I loved him so.
'We know. He never knew happiness or contentment like you.
'I see no one, a badly frightened Buate stammered.
'Permit me to show you, the Waterwalker told him.
Buate was lifted from the ground. His guards watched in dread as he began to shake violently in mid air. Then he flung his head back and howled; his mind flooding the courtyard with excruciating pain. Tiny blooms of blood appeared on his robes, swiftly progressing to rivulets that dribbled down to splatter on the courtyard. That was when the guards turned and ran. They had to go a long way before the screams no longer plagued their ears.
Eventually, Buate's soul looked down on his corpse as the Waterwalker dropped it to the ground.
'Do you see now? Edeard asked.
'You have lost, Buate said. 'This is all you can do now: kill. In doing that, in seizing power back in such a fashion, you become us.
Tears filled Edeard's eyes again as the soul slipped upwards. Buate had spoken the truth of it. There was nothing left for him. Owain and his kind had won. Killing them now would achieve nothing. The world was theirs. It wasn't one he wanted to live in.