'Of course not,' Vesna said, pacing the room himself, 'How could he, when he was working so many years ahead? We knew some form of necromantic power was involved when Lord Charr usurped Lord Chalat. The Chetse were defeated because of this. Lord Styrax has used our own weakness against us: the Farlan had only one Chosen, and we have a history of insurrection, while the Chetse are prone to over obedience. Thotel fell because no one challenged Lord Charr's orders, even though any seasoned soldier could have seen the danger.'

'And Mistress Zhia believes Lord Styrax may have influenced the actions of the White Circle as well,' Legana added.

Vesna stopped his pacing and swung around to examine Legana. 'Thus directing their efforts towards eliminating the other great leader of the West?' he asked.

'So she believes.'

'I can think of no one more able to unravel deviousness, and at this point there is little I could not believe of Lord Styrax. I suspect he would even put our own dear Chief Steward to shame.'

'Impressed, Vesna?' Lord Isak asked.

'Enough to respect him as an enemy,' the count replied. I [e put bis hand on the hilt of his sword as he continued, 'Rather more im-portantly, it means we cannot forget the threat to Lord Isak. We will have to watch for assassins and instruct Mariq-'

'No.' Lord Isak's soft interruption stopped the count, A prickle went down Vesna's spine as he saw a hunted look in his master's eye. As he looked around the room, he saw they too had felt the change,. a sudden cloud crossing the sun.

'My Lord?'

'He will not send assassins.'

'How can you tell?'

'I know, leave it at that.'

Vesna checked his urge to question further. Isak had told them about his dreams, the Yeetatchen girl Xeliath, the soul of Aryn Bwr kept prisoner in his head, even what the dead Ell had claimed about Kastan Styrax being born the Saviour, until he chose his own route Isak had mentioned a connection between the two ol them, but not wanted to go into detail – and only a handful ol people had been told that much. Obviously he would explain no further in the prsence of Jachen or Legana, no matter how loyal they professed thctTW l\ I

Vesna did his duty and changed the subject back, '1 e|;ana, what did

this necromancer do to Lord Bahl's dreams?'

'He used them to torment Lord Bahl with visions of his lost love,

driving him to a certain place on the White Isle, where Lord Styrax

could ambush him.'

'Are we to assume that Zhia is aware of your true allegiance?' Tila asked suddenly, stepping forward from the foot of the stair where she had been observing the conversation.

Legana nodded.

'So she is aware that you are reporting to Lord Isak?'

Legana smiled. 'It is her hope that Lord Isak will kill the necroman¬cer, because he has made some sort of bargain with Mistress Siala and currently resides under her protection.'

'So this could be nothing more than some artifice of Zhia's, to have us do her bidding?'

'I don't believe so,' Legana said plainly, turning to look at the younger woman. 'Mistress Zhia had already come to the conclusion that Mistress Siala was more an obstacle than a help, even before we learned of Lord Isak's presence in the city.'

Vesna watched the two of them. It was rare to see a woman more arrestingly beautiful than Tila. Legana managed to command the room almost as much as Isak, who was a white-eye, and stood a foot and a half taller. To Vesna's experienced eye, Legana was not happy with the attention her beauty brought. White-eyes, he knew, were born to demand attention as entirely natural, and Isak had quickly shaken off the habits of his isolated upbringing, but Legana had obviously never grown too comfortable with the effect she had on a roomful of men.

'You keep saying "Mistress",' Tila observed, as though sharing Vesna's thought and taking it a step further. 'That's the form of address demanded by those of the White Circle, Have you have grown attached to the Sisterhood?'

Legana looked startled at the suggestion. 'It has become a habit out of necessity; it would be too easy to make a mistake if I wasn't careful to always keep to the forms – and the future of the Circle is hardly one I would want to tie myself to. The White Circle suffered grievous losses in Narkang. They have no expansionist plans at present. Shoring up their defences before they are slaughtered by Narkang and the Farlan is their only goal, and it's Zhia who is effectively in charge of four of Scree's five armies. They are finished as a power in the Land.'

Tila didn't respond, hut her expression was cool and her eyes fixed on Legana. When the agent turned away, Tila gave Isak a small nod and stepped back out of the conversation again.

'So we have an associate of Malich's in the city, one who was also involved in the death of Lord Bahl and remains an agent of the Menin.' Isak shrugged. 'It's a simple decision then; we kill him first.'

'My Lord, he is under Siala's protection, and a necromancer is con¬stantly on guard; the attack on his house will have made him doubly watchful'

Isak's eyes flashed. 'I don't care. This necromancer is an enemy of the Farlan and a threat to us all.' He pointed a finger towards Tila. 'Those of you who lack any defence against magic will be the ones hurt in the crossfire when he comes after me.'

A furious hammering on the front door broke off the discussion. They could hear angry voices in the street outside, growing louder, then the person beating at the barred door yelled out above the racket, 'For Vellern's sake, let me in; they're going to kill me!'

'It's Mayel,' Isak said, surprised, 'the kid we brought back here the other night. Let him in.'

The guardsmen raised their glaives and one used the butt of his weapon to knock the bolt open and raise the latch. The former novice barrelled through, barging the doors wide open as he rushed in, and Isak caught sight of the figures following him: half a dozen townslolk, armed with clubs and sticks and what looked like meat cleavers. Clearly the madness that had gripped the population was worsening,

One guardsman drove his door shut, but the other had moved outside to see what was happening. Seeing the onrushing mob, In-stepped away and raised his weapon; Vesna shouted for Tila to get up the stairs and pulled out his longsword. Isak had already drawn his, and when the first of the invaders hurtled in, the white-eye spun around as gracefully as a dancer and beheaded him neatly. Blood fountained from the attacker's neck as the body crashed to the marble floor.

As others followed, still shouting and screeching incoherently, they found themselves set upon on from all sides. The guardsmen slammed the door and bolted it against further incursions. By the time they |oined the fight, it was almost all over: Lord Kelet's arrows had taken two down, and a third was gaping down at Legana's knife buried in his chest. Count Vesna had battered aside a club and impaled the owner, while Shinir, leaping down from the balcony and swinging around a pillar into the fray, had used her flail and khopesh to good account, trapping a fat man who looked like a butcher and hacking through his collarbone. She left the khopesh there as she tossed her chain flail around one of the remaining two people and yanked hard; the chain caught the astonished invader under the chin and slammed her against the pillar with a sickening snap.

The last man standing, his bloodstained cleaver raised uncertainly, took a step back. He never even saw the guardsmen behind him, swinging their glaives in unison. The room fell silent as they listened for more voices outside. Vesna looked up to Kelet, who had another arrow nocked and ready.

He made his way around the balcony to a window and peered up and down the street outside for a few seconds. Finally the knight from Torl called, 'Looks clear, my Lord.'