“Something comes back,” Frentis said. “Every time you heal someone, they give something back.”

Weaver nodded, turning to him with a tight smile. “If you wish me to try . . .”

“No.” He moved towards the Arisai, drawing the dagger from his belt. The man’s amusement deepened at Frentis’s approach, his laugh rich with genuine mirth.

“She did say you would prove interesting,” he said.

“Does she give you names?” Frentis asked him.

The Arisai shrugged. “Sometimes, those of us she bothers to recognise. She called me Dog, once. I quite like it.”

“You know she sent you here to die?”

“Then I am pleased to have served her purpose.” The man met Frentis’s gaze with steady eyes, fearless, even proud, but still mostly just amused.

“What did they do to make you this way?” Frentis asked him, surprising himself with a sudden flare of pity. Weaver was right, this man had been born to a life that twisted him into something far from human.

The Arisai’s grin turned into a mocking snicker. “Don’t you know? Your time in the pits taught them so much. For generations they bred us, trained us, tried different bindings to make us the perfect killers. It never worked, our forebears were either too wild or too much like the Kuritai, deadly but dull, requiring constant supervision. My generation was no different, yet another failure. Ten thousand Arisai destined for execution, after they had bred us with suitable stock of course. Then came you, our saviour, a shining example of the advantages of cruelty, the discipline and cunning inherent in the soul of a true killer. When she sent us here she told us we would be meeting our father, and I must say, I do find it a privilege.”

“So,” Frentis mused, “there’s at least nine thousand more of you?”

For a moment the Arisai lost his smile, frowning in consternation like a child fumbling for an answer to an awkward question. “Not perfected after all,” Frentis observed, moving behind him, dagger poised at the base of his skull. “What do you know of the Ally?”

Dog brightened once more as the point of the blade touched his flesh, laughing with a wry shake of his head. “Only the promise she made us on his behalf the day she led us from the vaults; ‘All your dreams will be made flesh.’ We had been waiting so long, and had many dreams. Should you chance to see her again, father. Please tell her I—”

Frentis thrust the dagger in up to the hilt, Dog the Arisai arching his back and convulsing before slumping lifeless to the ground. “I’ll tell her,” Frentis assured him.

• • •

Why?

The question comes to her without warning, causing her finger to slip yet again, another spot of blood spreading across the taut fabric. She regards the needle embedded in her finger with cold understanding; the flesh is like ice, devoid of pain. The needlework is poor, a child’s fumbled attempts to mimic adult skill. It is tempting to blame the shell and its numbed digits, but this particular craft has always been beyond her. The memory is dim, as are all her recollections of childhood, but there was a woman once. A kindly woman, with a face of feline beauty, who could sew with amazing skill, her fabrics adorned with a clarity and art that could match the finest paintings. They would sit and sew together, the woman guiding her small hands, pulling her into a kiss when she did something right, merely laughing at her frequent mistakes. She is sure this memory is real, though for some reason her thoughts continually shy away from the woman’s name, or her fate. Instead they always shift, becoming darker and she finds herself abed, whimpering as she stares at her bedroom door . . .

A squeal of ropes and gears draws her gaze to the balcony. I have an exalted visitor to greet, my love, she tells him. An Empress shouldn’t neglect her duties.

Why? The thought is implacable, irresistible in its demand.

You know why, beloved, she tells him.

Images swirl and coalesce in her mind, another precious gift captured by his sight: flames erupting from the sewers of Viratesk, the Arisai fighting, killing and dying with all the fury she expected. One, ablaze from head to foot, whirls in a welter of flame, still killing and laughing even as the arrows slam home.

I know you have nine thousand more, he tells her. Where are they?

Her hands clutch the embroidery as delight surges through her, the wonderful resumption of their lost intimacy. This was how it had been during their journey, the joyful mingling of hate and love, every murder eroding the walls between them. She realises her heart is thumping, faster and faster like a trapped beast raging at its cage. Until now she had thought this shell incapable of all but the most rudimentary feeling, but he, of course only he, can bring it to life.

The gondola jerks to a halt outside the balcony and she glimpses her guest. She feels his alarm flare at the sight of her, causing her to wonder if jealousy might lead her to pitch this pretty thing from the top of the tower. However, a note from the song as the girl’s gaze sweeps over Lieza tells her such suspicions are misplaced.

Leave her be! he shouts in her mind. Touch her and you’ll never lay eyes on me again. I swear it.

She resists the impulse to wallow in his rage and allows her heart to calm, trying to colour her response with cool detachment. The sooner you come to me the greater the chance of her survival.

She winces a little, feeling the reforged connection between them strain as he masters his anger. When he returns his thoughts are dark with reluctant acceptance. The Arisai, he presses. Where are they?

I can tell you where they are not. She finds she has to stifle a giggle. New Kethia.

• • •

“Idiots,” Draker said, watching the Volarian column with a practised eye. “They ain’t even scouting their flanks.”

“Why would they?” Frentis asked. “They’re expecting nothing more than a victory march when they reach Viratesk.”

“Just over four thousand,” Thirty-Four said, returning the spyglass to Frentis. “Only one battalion of Varitai and a scattering of Kuritai. The rest are a mix of Free Sword mercenaries and conscripts from New Kethia. By my calculation, the bulk of the military strength left in this province.”

“Idiots,” Draker repeated, shaking his head.

The country west of Viratesk was largely devoid of the heights and forests Frentis had always found so useful. However, Master Rensial’s scouting along the coastal road to New Kethia had identified a broad depression in the farmland six miles to the west, too shallow to be called a valley but the southern rise sufficiently high to conceal the bulk of their army. The height of the crops was another advantage, tall enough to hide their archers, and dry enough to catch fire at the first lick of flame. The cavalry at the head of the Volarian column had evidently failed to take account of the mile-long strip of barren ground scorched into the rise and running parallel to the road, a hundred yards wide and the product of a morning spent in careful burning. The many farmhands in the army advised that such firebreaks were a common feature of Volarian agriculture and unlikely to draw undue attention from those who had never worked the land.

“Some are bound to make it through,” Frentis told Illian and Draker. “If outnumbered, fall back and form a defensive circle.” He met Illian’s gaze, speaking with grave authority. “The issue will be decided on the flanks, so there is no need for excessive courage.”

He saw her suppress a sullen grimace and force a nod. “Of course, brother.”

He left them crouched amidst the tall corn-stalks and made his way to the lee of the rise where Master Rensial waited with their mounted contingent. The Volarians found little reason to educate slaves in riding but some knew horses from their previous lives, mostly Realm folk and a few Alpirans, enough to form a company of light cavalry some three hundred strong. Another thousand infantry were crouched a little farther back, mostly those lacking decent weapons, though some bore the swords and daggers taken from the fallen Arisai. The bulk of their infantry were with Lekran and Ivelda on the left flank, ready to charge in the Garisai’s wake when the time came.

Frentis mounted a stallion captured in the hill country, well trained like most Volarian cavalry horses, but lacking the speed and aggression of an Order mount. Still, Master Rensial had been diligent in training both riders and horses so he was confident the animal wouldn’t shy from the charge. He nudged his heels to the stallion’s flanks and trotted to the crest of the rise. The Volarians would be sure to see him outlined on the skyline but it was of little matter now their lead company had drawn level with the end of the firebreak. Frentis drew his sword and raised it above his head, the archers in the cornfield standing at the signal, bows drawn. He could see a rider at the head of the column wheeling his horse about, waving frantically at the bugler, all too late.

Over four hundred arrows rose from the cornfield and arced down into the centre of the Volarian column, raising a tumult of shouted alarm and discordant bugling. Apart from the initial chaos, however, the effect of the volley was minimal, claiming barely a dozen soldiers before their officers managed to whip them into reasonable order. As usual, the Varitai were first to form ranks, three battalions assuming a defensive formation in the space of a single minute. Frentis was pleased to see they had been placed in the centre of the column, meaning the flanks would be held mostly by Free Swords and recently pressed conscripts. Draker had it right, he concluded. These men are commanded by fools.