"When the Lothan Aklun began to trade through the league we had all the souls we could want coming to us from your lands. But we wanted more. Yes, for their labor, to work for us and take care of our every need. But not just that. Also, they became our children. Slaves, but children too. And because none of us could bear young either, we always needed more. Understand?"

He asked but did not wait for an answer. "I'll tell fast. Listen. The Auldek have many laws. Too many. The Numrek broke one. We were punished. They took our souls from us, burned our totems, exiled us. Made us trek into the ice."

"Burned your totems?" Rialus asked. "Totems?"

Calrach waved his impatience. "Later about that. Stick to the points, Neptos. We marched north, nothing with us but our weapons, clothes. Those were bad times, when we first walked into the north. Many died of the shame of it. Many thought death was the best escape. I felt it myself. Numrek don't kill themselves, but we can wish for it. We can take risks, hunt snow lions, the white bears. You ever kill a walrus with an ax? It's no sure thing, I tell you. Anyway, truth is, I believed the Numrek were doomed to vanish in the ice. Then something happened. You know what?"

Rialus did not have a clue, and his face indicated as much.

"One of our women got a child in her. First in hundreds of years. First one, and then another." He laughed, low and obscene. "And then we screwed like rats. We were having children again, Neptos! You have no child, so you may not know what this means, but it was a wonderful thing. We thought to go back to Ushen Brae, show them the children. But we were exiled. We couldn't. And some said that the birthing only returned because we had passed out of Ushen Brae and had escaped some curse. We did not want to go back and lose the gift again. And then we met the Mein, and got better ideas. You know the rest. Or some of it you know. Is it making more sense now?"

It was starting to, but Rialus still shook his head, which was pounding. He put much effort into speaking clearly. "What of the Numrek back in Acacia, in the palace? And in Teh?"

"They will have it hard, but they are ready for that. As soon as they know we've made it here, they will rise. Kill the bitch. Kill others, you know." He gestured with his fingers that surely Rialus could imagine the possible scenes. "Kill, kill. That sort of thing. And then they'll hole up and wait."

Why did it seem the more he knew, the less it made sense? Wait for what? They were worlds away. They had no ships. The Numrek back in the Known World could cause much bloodshed, but they would eventually be defeated. The league would not tolerate any of this. The Lothan Aklun were no more. And surely their sorcery went with them. The Numrek may not have planned or intended that, but what Calrach described was a confusion, not a situation that should please him so. "I still don't understand."

"Okay," Calrach said, leaning close. "Last thing. I had an idea, yeah? What if I got back to Ushen Brae? Came home and told what we found. Told all the Auldek that a new world awaited them, a world full of humans to hunt, to enslave. A rich world in which all the Auldek could again have children. What if I promised them that and showed them the proof of it? My son. You think, maybe, they would lift the exile? Maybe they would give us our totem back, yeah? Maybe they would march with us across the ice and down into glorious battle, toward the conquest of your Known World?" His grin could not have gotten any wider. "Pretty good idea, huh? I thought so. The league made it even easier by taking me across the Gray Slopes. Hated that, but good news. Devoth and the others like the idea, too. Not my fault the league killed the Lothan Aklun. No blame on me. No, instead, I bring them hope. I bring them a new world."

And that's it, Rialus thought. That's the truth of it. The things that were happening were not just about him and Dariel and Sire Neen. Not even about Corinn. Oh, how she would rage if she knew. But it wasn't about her either. It was about everything. This is about the entire Known World and everyone in it.

"Anyway. There it is. You know. I'll get somebody to torture you now. Fun for you. Fun for him. Everyone's happy."

"No!" Rialus shouted. "No, that won't be necessary."

Crossing his arms, Calrach grimaced, a show of mock confusion that clearly meant he was not confused at all. "No? Why not?"

"What does Devoth want from me?"

Calrach smiled. "I know you, Neptos. I knew I was right! I told them as much. Said, 'Always a weasel, he is. He'll turn.' Is that right? It pleases me that you're so true to your nature. Devoth wants everything you can tell him. Everything he'll need to plan his attack"-the Numrek shook his head at the irony of it-"on your nation. You, Neptos, are an important man. Play it right, and it might be very good for you."

In answer, Rialus curled back into his ball, lying on his side with his knees tight to his chest. He-Rialus Neptos, so often maligned, laughed at, joked with-was in a singular position to affect events. He would find a way to do so, he swore. He would talk with Devoth. He told himself that he would not help destroy his people. He also told himself that he would aim at getting back to Gurta and seeing his child. He did not acknowledge which of these was his greater priority.

C HAPTER

The play of the sun on the rolling, blond-grassed hills was wonderful. Soothing. Mena sat with the first rays of light and warmth on her skin, taking in the world around her for miles and miles. The land buckled away into the distance in smooth mounds of shadow and gold, spotted with outcroppings of rock that looked like islands. A breeze blew steadily from the south, hot air but not unpleasant. In some ways Mena felt alone in the entire world. She wasn't, though. She most certainly wasn't.

Beside her the lizard bird creature lay in a gentle curve, her tail a river meandering through the grasses. Her head rested on a smooth rock, eyes closed but moving beneath the thin membranes of eyelids. Even in slumber-which she seemed quite fond of-she was never entirely insensible to the world. Her senses seemed to work: nostrils flaring on occasion, the small protrusions that marked the ears adjusting to slight sounds. Mena still could not believe the events of the last few days had actually happened. But there she was, all the feathered, reptilian, delicate beauty of her.

And here she was, sitting beside the creature, inexplicably healed of every injury she had received during her fall. She knew that Melio and the others would be scouring the countryside for her, and she felt bad, knowing they would be desperate, worried. Melio especially. She sometimes spoke his name, wishing that he could hear it on the wind and know she was thinking of him. That sadness was a small feature of her mood. In truth, she was content in a way that she could not explain.

Four days prior, when she realized the creature was alive and awake and watching her ministrations over her body, her heart had hammered so fiercely in her chest she feared it might explode. She could not have said exactly why. It was not fear for her life. She had just examined the animal's shattered form with her own eyes and knew she could be little threat. Nor was she surprised at being watched. Once she realized the beast's eyes were on her, it felt right that they should be, as if she had wished it herself and made it so. There was an element of amazement that the creature could live after Mena had been so certain she was dead. More than anything Mena felt a frantic urgency, a soaring of possibility that had no specific details but that seemed as important as anything in her life.