‘Been awake?’ the homunculus asked. ‘More than a day now, Seraph.’
Alarm flared in Carnelian. ‘Legions?’
‘My master sleeps undisturbed.’
Carnelian knew he dare not believe him. He struggled to roll over onto one side.
‘Really, Seraph, you have not the strength to stand.’
‘Legions,’ Carnelian said, pushing himself up on one arm. He remained there, trembling, before the arm gave way and he fell back onto the bed.
‘My master has not woken, Seraph. Truly he has not. Even if I had wanted to wake him, it would have been in defiance of his command.’
Carnelian rolled onto his back. ‘What command?’
‘When I asked him when he wanted to awake he told me I would know the time when it came.’ The homunculus’ face was sweaty with anxiety. ‘I do not believe that time has yet come.’ His eyes lit up. ‘Another letter came for you, Seraph.’ He disappeared from view, but was soon back, brandishing a parchment.
Carnelian stared at it as the homunculus showed him it carried Legions’ seal. ‘When?’
‘Early this afternoon, Seraph. It is now well past nightfall.’
Carnelian gazed at the letter, wanting and not wanting to know its contents. ‘Read it to me.’
The homunculus held the letter as though it had become dangerous.
‘Please, read it to me.’
Grimacing, the man broke the seal as if he were tearing open a wound on his own body. Carefully, he opened its panels and began reading. ‘“It is dawn now. Though I have pursued him all night, he is still beyond my reach. Perhaps it is that I play into his hands, but I will not turn back now.”’
The homunculus looked at Carnelian as if uncertain that he should continue.
‘All of it,’ Carnelian rasped.
The homunculus returned his gaze to the parchment. ‘“If he seeks to envelop me, I shall break through. If he offers me battle, then we shall decide this matter once and for all. If he continues to flee, I shall pursue him, if needs be to the gates of Osrakum herself. It is possible that he will evade me, that he will make for Makar. If he does, you must come to whatever accommodation you can with him. Save yourself.”’
‘Nothing else?’
‘Nothing, Seraph.’
‘Then please resume your mask so that I can remove mine.’
‘At your command, Seraph.’
Carnelian heard the man pacing away. When the homunculus said it was safe, Carnelian peeled the mask from his face. Exposed, his skin was momentarily chilled. The pattern of his dream was clearer than the chamber around him. He closed his eyes and contemplated the shape of it. He tried to inhabit it, tease meaning out from it, but it yielded nothing definite. The memory of joy faded and the blue of that sky. He tried again to rise, but his body betrayed him. He felt he had washed up on some remote shore. He yearned for his friends, though they were far away with Osidian, in the Gods alone knew what danger.
With a crash the outer doors were flung open. Carnelian jumped to his feet. He heard cries of protest, quickly snuffed out. Heavy footfalls approached. He cast around for something he could use as a weapon. An immense shape appeared out of the shadows, of which its billowing cloak seemed a part. Pallid military leathers. The serenity of his gold mask belied the storm of this Master’s entry.
Carnelian feared at first it must be Aurum, then recognized the features of the mask. ‘Osidian,’ he cried in relief.
Osidian glanced to either side and began unmasking.
Carnelian threw his hand up to stop him. ‘We are not alone, my Lord.’ He looked around and found the homunculus cowering behind a clock. ‘Homunculus…’
The little man glanced up.
Be blind, Carnelian gestured with his hand. The homunculus put on its eyeless mask.
‘Why do you keep the creature here?’ Osidian said.
‘There is no other place for him to go.’
‘Very well. It makes no difference. I shall soon confront its master with everything I am about to say to you.’
Both unmasked. Carnelian did not expect the emerald fury in Osidian’s eyes. ‘Aurum?’
The emeralds narrowed. ‘If he had known of your scheme, my Lord, even now I would be heading towards Osrakum his prisoner.’
Carnelian was startled. ‘My scheme?’
‘Spare me the pretence at innocence. How else could Legions have reached my commanders except through you who are his keeper?’
‘The Lesser Chosen commanders?’
‘Each had a letter delivered to him bearing the Grand Sapient’s seal.’
‘If they told you this, then surely they told you how they came by them?’
‘Have you not even the courage to confront me, Carnelian?’
Osidian’s look of contempt stung Carnelian to anger. ‘I would if I knew what you were talking about!’
Doubt banked the fire in Osidian’s eyes. ‘You insist on maintaining this pretence?’
‘It is no pretence. How did these letters come to them?’
Osidian’s eyes narrowed further. ‘None know from whence they came. They merely appeared.’
‘When?’
‘A couple of days after we arrived here.’
Carnelian gazed off into the corner, trying to imagine how Legions might have done it. Something occurred to him. He turned back to Osidian. ‘The render I sent out to you, the letters must have gone out then. Homunculus, did your master send letters out of the fortress?’
Motionless, the little man made no answer.
‘You will answer,’ said Osidian, an edge to his voice.
The homunculus nodded.
‘They were sent out of here on the same day that I arrived, were they not?’
‘Yes, Seraph,’ said the homunculus.
Osidian glanced into the corner with its hidden shadowy stair. ‘He had the letters ready in the cothon, knowing I would have need of resupply.’
Carnelian saw how he would not meet his glance again. Osidian knew he had accused him unfairly. Carnelian, still angry, turned his attention on the homunculus. ‘You knew this all the time, homunculus.’
The little man gave a reluctant nod.
‘Why did you keep this from me?’
The eyeless mask looked up. ‘My first loyalty is to my master, Seraph.’
‘And you did not imagine that his plan would fail?’
‘My masters rarely fail, Seraph.’
Still Carnelian felt betrayed. ‘But you hate him?’
‘Of what consequence, Seraph, the hatred of a slave?’
‘Had you thought to confess this to me, I would have done all in my power to protect you from him.’
Carnelian saw the way the room was distorted in the homunculus’ mirror face and remembered what he knew about the little man. His anger cooled. He gazed at Osidian. ‘How did the commanders fail?’
Osidian’s eyes met his. ‘They were to take me alive. It seems they could not agree on how to do it, nor when. Then they saw a way out in delivering me to Aurum. The opportunity to hide their betrayal behind one of the Great was too tempting for them, but they left it too long. Eventually, fearing that another might betray him, one of their number revealed their plot to me.’ His face seemed stone. ‘Though that will not save him.’
‘You blame them, even though it was a God Emperor who appointed them, with the Wise that are Their mouthpiece? How did you expect them to react when they received a command directly from Legions?’
‘Nevertheless, impaled upon my huimur’s banner poles, they shall provide me with standards that will bring terror to all their kind.’
This threat was close enough to what had happened to the Ochre to sicken Carnelian. He felt only revulsion and contempt for Osidian, who once again was intending to use murder to assuage his own frustration and fear of failure. ‘Do you really imagine that will bring you any closer to victory?’
Osidian flinched, his face darkening as he glared at Carnelian.
‘Who is going to command your huimur now?’
Osidian’s nose wrinkled. ‘I shall promote marumaga legionaries. They at least will not dare betray me.’