Startled, Ghelel stared at Jhardin. She? The Empress? Coming here? Gods! Then, this could be it. The battle to decide everything.

But Urko merely nodded at the news, as if he'd half-expected it. He selected a stone from a bucket and studied it, turning it this way and that. He spat on it, rubbed it with a thumb. ‘So, deploying to the south is out of the question. Can't have the river between our divisions.’

‘No. Choss requests that you take the north-east flank.’

He grunted, set the stone on a table. ‘And the south?’

‘We'll keep an eye on the south. They haven't the men in Heng for a sortie in any strength.’

Urko selected the next stone, frowned at it, threw it into the darkening night. ‘So. I will hold the north-east, Choss the centre, Heng will block the south flank, and the Seti will harass and skirmish.’ He let out a long growling breath. ‘Probably the best we can arrange for her.’

Gathering herself, Ghelel cleared her throat. ‘With all due respect, she marches to relieve Heng, doesn't she? Shouldn't we stop her before she reaches it?’

Urko's grizzled brows clenched together. He lowered his gaze to retrieve another stone. The Marquis took a mug from the table and filled it from an earthenware carafe of red wine. ‘Ostensibly, she marches to relieve Heng, yes. But she should know enough not to trap herself in it. No, the best way for her to relieve the siege would be to take the field.’

‘Do we have any intelligence on the size of her force?’ Ghelel asked. Urko cocked a thick brow at the question, peered up from his inspection of the stone.

‘Amaron has his sources,’ Jhardin answered. ‘I have been informed that, at best, she can field no more than fifty thousand – and that is assuming she conscripts all down the coast at Carasin, Vor, Marl and Halas.’

‘Then we well outnumber her.’

‘Yes. But numbers count for less than you would think. The emperor was almost always outnumbered. Wasn't that so, Urko?’

The old general grunted his assent while buffing the stone in a cloth. ‘She has other assets… the Claw. The mage cadre. And there is always the possibility that Tayschrenn may choose to dirty his hands.’

Ghelel sat back on her stool. Great Togg forefend! She hadn't considered that. But the High Mage had yet to act in any of this. Why should he now? Clearly everyone was assuming he would not. To think otherwise was to invite paralysis.

‘So,’ Urko said, taking a long draught from the tankard. ‘We'll wait here for the rest of the force to catch up. Then we will deploy to the north-east.’ He handed a stone to Ghelel. ‘Take a look at that.’

One side of the oblong stone was coarse rock but the other revealed a smooth curved surface that glistened multicoloured, reminding her of pearl. After a moment the likeness of a shell resolved itself, spiralled, curving ever inward with extraordinary delicacy. ‘Beautiful…’ she breathed.

One edge of the general's mouth crooked up. ‘You like it?’

‘Yes! It's wonderful.’

‘Good!’ He sat back and watched her turn the stone in her hands. ‘I'm glad you like it.’

These last few moons strange dreams had dogged Kyle. He slept restlessly, often waking with a start, in a cold sweat, as if having seen or heard something terrifying. And always, the images, the ghost-memories, receded just as he reached for them. This last week on board the Kite had passed more calmly, however. Perhaps it was the monotonous rocking, or the slapping rush of the waves, or the melodies Ereko hummed to himself during his long nights at the tiller, but he'd slept either more easily, or far more deeply.

One night Kyle dreamt, or thought he did; he was not sure. All that he knew was that suddenly he became aware of himself walking through mist, or what seemed like mist, or clouds. And he was not alone.

He walked just one pace behind, and slightly to the right of, a slim pale figure who wore layered thick robes that dragged on the ground behind – a ground, Kyle now saw, of dry baked dirt. He walked slowly and deliberately with long strides, his wide hands clasped behind his back, his head bowed, perhaps deep in thought. Long white hair hung to the middle of his back. The man's similarities to the Magus, the Wind Spirit upon the Spur, made Kyle's eyes well with suppressed emotion, but there were differences as well; this man was not as powerfully built and he seemed taller. Yet even as he watched the man's figure rippled, shifting and wavering before returning once more to the slim snow-pale man. In that moment Kyle swore he glimpsed another shape, a bestial form unfolding.

He should not be there and it terrified him. Had they somehow trespassed or wandered too far in their journey? The man's sandalled feet raised clouds of dust but no sound reached Kyle of their fall. The dull pewter vault of the sky made his eyes ache to look at it; it seemed to blur when he studied it too carefully. Shadows flew across the two of them, cast themselves on the ground around them, all without any seeming source.

Eventually, after Kyle knew not how long, a destination detached itself from the horizon ahead, a low dark hill or structure of some sort. It resolved into a heap of gigantic darkly smoky crystals, as large as a building. Upon reaching it, the man planted his feet firmly, and from what Kyle could see, set his chin in a fist as he made a survey of the formation, carefully, from right to left. Coming to a decision, he took hold of one crystal with both hands. He strained, grunting and hissing his breath, and with a massive grinding crack the huge shard gave way. It stood twice the height of the man who himself stood far taller than Kyle. The man pushed it aside and reached for another.

‘Hold!’

Kyle and the man spun.

A slim figure came walking upon them, dark-skinned in a night-black cloak over sombre clothes, tall with long white hair. Noting the hair, Kyle wondered at a common ancestry between these two.

‘Anomandaris,’ the man greeted the newcomer, straightening, and loosening his arms at his sides.

Anomandaris bowed. ‘Liossercal.’ Closer now, Kyle saw that the man was no Dal Hon or of any other darkly-hued tribe, but non-human: his black skin seemed to absorb the dull light that fell upon it, yet his eyes were bright gold lamps that shone now with a kind of reckless amusement.

‘What business have you here?’

‘I may ask the same.’

Liossercal crossed his arms, rumbling, ‘Research.’

The brow over one gold eye arched. The newcomer kicked at the broken crystal. ‘It would seem that the subject may not survive the investigation.’

The arms fell again, large hands splayed. ‘What of it?’

A shrug. ‘It is young yet, Liossercal. A child. Would you dismember a child?’

Liossercal, whose back was still to Kyle, seemed surprised. ‘A child? This is new, yes, the weakest of these strange invasions into our Realms and thus so very appropriate to my purposes. But a child? Hardly.’

The one named Anomandaris took a step closer. ‘This is my point. It is new and thus unformed. Who is to say what is or is not its character or purpose? You? The universe you inhabit is one of certainties, I have learned. So you can say for certain you know of the future then?’

‘A poor argument. You play to my own point. What I can say of a certainty is that we will never know unless we investigate.’ And Liossercal turned to the formation.

‘I will not allow it.’

Liossercal stilled. He slowly returned to face the newcomer. ‘An ocean of blood birthed the hard-won accord between our Realms, Anomandaris. You would risk that? For this? It is not even of our existence! It is alien – very possibly a threat. I would resolve this mystery.’

Anomandaris's eyes seemed to glow even brighter in the gloom. ‘It is my interpretation that this house is of Emurlahn and Emurlahn exists as proof of the accord between our Realms. Threaten one and you threaten all.’