I offered him a servant’s bow. ‘Thank you, my lord and thank you for the additional time. I shall put it to good use. I’ve already been down to the practice courts today. As you observed, it may be some days before I am able to serve effectively as a bodyguard again.’ I paused, then added, ‘I was told in the kitchens that you had sent a boy to seek for me earlier today?’

‘A boy? Oh. Yes. Yes, I did. Actually, I sent him at Lord Chade’s behest. In truth, I near forgot. Lord Chade came here seeking you, and when you were not in your room, I set a boy running to see if you were in the kitchens. I think he wanted you to come to him. I didn’t… in truth, we had some talk that has…’ Lord Golden’s voice tottered to an uncertain halt. A silence fell. Then, in a voice that was almost the Fool’s, he said, ‘Chade came here to talk to me about something that he’d asked you to discuss with… There’s something I want you to look at. Have you a moment to spare?’

‘I am at your service, my lord,’ I reminded him.

I expected some response to that little jab. Instead, looking distracted, he said, ‘Of course you are. A moment, then.’ His Jamaillian accent had faded from his words. He went into his bedchamber, shutting the door behind him.

I waited. I walked over to the fire, poked it up a bit, and added a log. Then I waited some more. I sat down in a chair, noticed that my fingernails had grown and pared them back with my belt-knife. I continued to wait. Finally, I rose and with a sigh of exasperation, went to tap on the door. Perhaps I had misunderstood. ‘Lord Golden. Did you wish me to wait here?’

‘Yes. No.’ Then, in a very uncertain voice, ‘Would you come in here, please? But first make sure the corridor door is well bolted.’

It was. I rattled it to be sure and then opened the door to his room. The room was dim, the windows shuttered. Several candles illuminated Lord Golden standing with his back to me. He wore a sheet from his bed like a cape. He glanced at me over his shoulder and someone I had never met looked out of those golden eyes. When I was three steps into the room, he said quietly, ‘Stand there, please.’

With one hand, he lifted his hair up and out of the way to bare the nape of his neck. The sheet fell away from his naked back, but his free hand continued to clutch it to his chest. I gasped and took an inadvertent step closer. He flinched away but then stood his ground. In a small shaky voice, he asked, The Narcheska’s tattoos. Were they like these?’

‘May I come closer?’ I managed to say. I didn’t really need to. If his tattoos were not identical to hers, then they were at least extremely similar. He nodded jerkily, and I took another step into the room. He did not look at me but stared off into a dim corner. The room was not cold, but he was shivering. The exotic needling began at the nape of his neck and covered every part of his back before vanishing beneath the waistband of his leggings. The twining serpents and wingspread dragons sprawled in exquisite detail over his smooth golden back. The shining colors had a metallic gleam to them, as if gold and silver had been forced under his skin to illuminate them. Every claw and scale, every shining tooth and flashing eye was perfect. ‘They are very alike', I managed to say at last. ‘Save that yours lie flat to your skin. One of hers, the largest serpent, stood swollen from her back as if inflamed. And it seemed to cause her great pain.’

He drew in a shuddering breath. His teeth were near to chattering as he observed bitterly, ‘Well. Just when I thought there was no way she could increase her cruelty, she finds one. That poor, poor child.’

‘Do yours hurt?’ I asked cautiously.

He shook his head, still without looking at me. Some of his hair fell free of his grasp to brush across his shoulders. ‘No. Not now. But the application of them was extremely painful. And of great duration. They held me very still, for hours at a time. They apologized and tried to comfort me as they did it. That only made it worse, that people who otherwise treated me with such love and regard could do that to me. They were meticulously careful to needle them in just as she instructed them. It is a horrible thing to do to a child. Hold him still and hurt him. Any child.’ He rocked slightly, his shoulders hunched. His voice was distant.

‘They?’ I asked very softly.

His voice was tight, all melody gone from it. He shuddered out his words. ‘I was at a place rather like a school. Teachers and learned folk. I told you about it before. I ran away from it. My parents sent me there, parting from me with both pride and sorrow, because I was a White. It was a long way from our home. They knew they would probably never see me again, but they knew it was the correct thing to do. I had a destiny to fulfil. But my teachers insisted there already was a White Prophet for this time. She had already studied with them, and already set forth to fulfil her destiny in the far north.’ He turned his head suddenly and met my eyes. ‘Do you guess of whom I speak?’

I nodded stiffly. I felt cold. ‘The Pale Woman. Kebal Rawbread’s adviser during the Red Ship War.’

He returned my nod as stiffly. Again he looked away from me, staring into a darkened corner of the room. ‘So, a White I might be but I could not be the White Prophet. Therefore, I must be an anomaly. A creature born out of my time and place. They were fascinated by me and listened to my every word and recorded every dream I spoke. They treasured me and treated me very well. They listened to me, but they never heeded what I said. And when she heard of me, she commanded that they keep me there. And they did. Later, she commanded that I be marked this way. And so they did.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know. Save, perhaps, that we had both dreamed of these creatures, of sea serpents and dragons. But perhaps it is what you do with an extra White Prophet. Cover him over so he is no longer white.’ His voice tightened until the words were hard as knots. ‘It has shamed me so to be marked like this, at her will. It is worse now, to know that the Narcheska is also decorated with the Pale Woman’s markings. As if she claimed us as her tool, her creatures…’ His words faded away.

‘But why did they obey her? How could anyone do a thing like that?’

He laughed bitterly. ‘She is the White Prophet, come to set time in a better path. She has a vision. You do not question her will. Questioning her command can have severe repercussions. Ask Kebal Rawbread. You do as the Pale Woman tells you.’ His shivering had become a wild shaking.

‘You’re cold.’ I would have put a blanket around him, but to do so I would have had to step closer. I don’t think he could have allowed me to do that.

‘No.’ He gave me a sickly smile. ‘I’m afraid. I’m terrified. Please. Please go out while I get dressed again.’

I withdrew, shutting the door quietly behind myself. Then I waited. It seemed to take him a long time to put a shirt on.

When he emerged, he was meticulously attired, every strand of his hair restored to its rightful place. Still, he did not look at me. ‘There’s brandy by the fire for you,’ I told him.

He crossed the room in short nervous steps and took up the glass but did not drink from it. Instead, arms crossed as if he were cold, he stood very close to the fire, hugging his cup to him. He stared fixedly at the floor.

I went into his room and took one of his thick woollen cloaks from the wardrobe there, then he came back and I put it around him. I pulled his chair closer to the hearth, then took him by the shoulders and sat him down in it. ‘Drink the brandy,’ I told him. My voice sounded harsh. ‘I’ll put on the kettle for tea.’

‘Thank you.’ He whispered the words. Horribly, tears began to track down his face. They cut runnels in his carefully-applied paint, and dripped paleness onto his shirt.

I spilled water and burned myself putting the kettle on the hook. When it was in place, I dragged my chair close to his. ‘Why are you so scared?’ I asked him. ‘What does it mean?’