The voice was thin, strangely childlike.

‘I shall call a healer-’

‘Why? To fight again? To relive terror and grief?’

‘You were not a warrior in your world?’

‘A caster of nets. Warm shoals, a yellow sky. We cast nets.’

‘All of you?’

‘What war is this? Why have I been killed? Why will I never see the river again? My mate, my children. Did we win?’

‘I shall not be long. I will return. I promise.’ Trull straightened, went on to where stood Fear and, now, a dozen others. The K’risnan was alive, surrounded by healers – none of whom seemed capable of doing anything for the figure writhing in the mud. As Trull neared, he saw more clearly the young warlock.

Twisted, deformed, his skin peeling in wet sheets, and eyes filled with awareness.

Fear stepped into Trull’s path and said, ‘It is the sword’s sorcery – the gift-giver’s own, channelled from the weapon into Rhulad, and from Rhulad to whomever he may choose. Yet…’ He hesitated. ‘The body cannot cope. Even as it destroys the enemy, so it changes the wielder. This is what the women are telling me.’

His brother’s face was pale, and nowhere in his expression could Trull see triumph or satisfaction at the victory they had won this day.

‘Will he survive?’

‘They think so. This time. But the damage cannot be reversed. Trull, Hanradi’s son is dead. We have lost a K’risnan.’

‘To this?’ Trull asked. ‘To the sword’s power?’

‘Partly. The Letherii mages mostly, I think, given how badly burned he was. They resisted longer than we expected.’

Trull faced High Fort. ‘It has surrendered?’

‘Yes, a few moments ago. A delegation. The garrison is being disarmed. I was thinking of leaving Hanradi to govern. His spirit is much damaged.’

Trull said nothing to that. He moved past Fear and strode to the women gathered round the K’risnan. ‘One of you, please,’ he said. ‘There is healing I would have you attend to.’

An Arapay woman nodded. ‘Wounded warriors. Yes, preferable. Lead me to them.’

‘Not Edur. A demon.’

She halted. ‘Don’t be a fool. There are Edur who require my skills – I have no time for a demon. Let it die. We can always acquire more.’

Something snapped in Trull, and before he was even aware of it the back of his right hand was stinging and the woman was on the ground, a stunned expression on her suddenly bloodied face. Then rage flared in her eyes.

Fear pushed Trull back a step. ‘What are you doing?’

‘I want a demon healed,’ Trull said. He was trembling, frightened at the absence of remorse within him even as he watched the woman pick herself up from the mud. ‘I want it healed, then unbound and sent back to its realm.’

‘Trull-’

The woman snarled, then hissed, ‘The empress shall hear of this! I will see you banished!’ Her companions gathered, all looking on Trull with raw hatred.

He realized that his gesture had snapped something within them as well. Unfortunate.

‘How badly injured is it?’ Fear asked.

‘It is dying-’

‘Then likely it has already done so. No more of this, Trull.’ He swung to the women. ‘Go among our warriors, all of you. I will see the K’risnan carried to our camp.’

‘We will speak of this to the empress,’ the first healer said, wiping at her face.

‘Of course. As you must.’

They stalked off into the rain.

‘The battle lust is still upon you, brother-’

‘No it isn’t-’

‘Listen to me. It is how you will excuse your actions. And you will ask for forgiveness and you will make reparations.’

Trull turned away. ‘I need to find a healer.’

Fear pulled him roughly round, but Trull twisted free. He headed off-He would find a healer. A Hiroth woman, one who knew his mother. Before word carried.

The demon needed healing. It was as simple as that.

An indeterminate time later, he found himself stumbling among bodies. Dead Edur, the ones killed by the sorcerous attack he recalled from earlier. Scorched, burnt so fiercely their faces had melted away. Unknown to his eyes and unknowable. He wandered among them, the rain pelting down to give the illusion of motion, of life, on all sides. But they were all dead.

A lone figure nearby, standing motionless. A woman, her hands hanging at her sides. He had seen her before, a matron. Hanradi Khalag’s elder sister, tall, hawk-faced, her eyes like onyx. He halted in front of her. ‘I want you to heal a demon.’

She did not seem to see him at all. ‘I can do nothing for them. My sons. I cannot even find them.’

He took one of her hands and held it tight. ‘Come with me.’

She did not resist as he led her away from the strewn corpses. ‘A demon?’

‘Yes. I do not know the name by which they call themselves.’

‘KenylPrah. It means “To Sleep Peacefully” or something like that. The Merude were charged with making their weapons.’

‘They have been sorely used.’

‘They are not alone in that, warrior.’

He glanced back at her, saw that awareness had returned to her eyes. Her hand held his now, and tightly. ‘You are the emperor’s brother, Trull Sengar.’

‘I am.’

‘You struck an Arapay woman.’

‘I did. It seems such news travels swiftly – and mysteriously.’

‘Among the women. Yes.’

‘And yet you will help me.’

‘Heal this demon? If it lives, I shall.’

‘Why?’

She did not reply.

It took some time, but they finally found the creature. Its cries had ceased, but the woman released Trull’s hand and crouched down beside it. ‘It lives still, Trull Sengar.’ She laid her palms on the demon’s massive chest and closed her eyes.

Trull watched the rain streaming down her face, as if the world wept in her stead.

‘Take the first of the quarrels. You will pull, gently, while I push. Each one, slowly.’

‘I want it released.’

‘I cannot do that. It will not be permitted.’

‘Then I want it placed in my charge.’

‘You are the emperor’s brother. None will defy you.’

‘Except, perhaps, one of the emperor’s other brothers.’ He was pleased to see the crease of a smile on her thin features.

‘That trouble will be yours, not mine, Trull Sengar. Now, pull.

Carefully.’

The demon opened its small eyes. It ran its massive hands over the places where wounds had been, then it sighed.

The healer stepped back. ‘I am done. There are bodies to gather.’

‘Thank you,’ Trull said.

She made no reply. Wiping rain from her face, she walked away.

The demon slowly climbed to its feet. ‘I will fight again,’ it said.

‘Not if I have any say in the matter,’ Trull replied. ‘I would place you in my charge.’

‘To not fight? That would be unfair, Denier. I would witness the death of my kind, yet not share the risk, or their fate. It is sad, to die so far from home.’

‘Then one among you must remain, to remember them. That one will be you. What is your name?’

‘Lilac’

Trull studied the sky. It seemed there would be no let-up in the downpour. ‘Come with me. I must speak to my brother.’

Tiste Edur warriors were entering the city. No Letherii soldiers were visible on the walls, or at the bastions. The gates had been sundered some time during the battle, struck by sorcery. Twisted pieces of bronze and splintered wood studded the muddy ground, amidst strewn corpses.

The demon had collected a double-bladed axe near the body of one of its kind and now carried it over a shoulder. For all its size, Lilac moved quietly, shortening its stride to stay alongside Trull. He noted that the pattern of its breathing was odd. After a deep breath it took another, shorter one, followed by a faintly whistling exhalation that did not seem to come from its broad, flattened nose.

‘Lilac, are you fully healed?’

‘I am.’

Ahead lay the rampart where four mages had stood. Three of them had been obliterated in the first wave of sorcery. On the berm’s summit now were gathered Fear and a number of officers. And two prisoners.