I am such a fool. He is a man from the wars — how could I have forgotten this?

Lord Jaen dismounted. Ephalla had bent to set an ear to the tube mouth and was now attempting to snare Jaen’s attention, but the Lord ignored her as he made his way over to Cryl. A gesture invited the young Durav to return once again to the river’s bank.

Upon the muddy fringe, Jaen halted alongside him and stood silent for a time, eyes on the current’s taut twisting, the bulges rising to the surface. Then he drew off his gauntlets. ‘This was a fell intrusion, Cryl Durav.’

‘There has been violence,’ said Cryl.

‘A Denier — well, I was about to say “village”, but I dare say a half-dozen huts scarcely warrant such a name.’ He fell silent again.

‘Lord, the wedding waits. If there are raiders-’

‘This is my land, hostage.’

‘Deniers-’

‘Cryl,’ Jaen’s voice was harsh, grating like a notched blade on rough stone, ‘they could worship a toadstool for all I care. All who dwell on my land are under my protection. This was an attack on House Enes. Raiders? Bandits? I think not.’

‘Sir, I do not understand — who else might have reason to slay Deniers?’

Jaen shot him a gauging look. ‘This is what happens when you hide down a hole dug by your own hands. Surely you’ve kneaded the life out of that broken heart by now? Bury it in that hole, Cryl Durav. The world shakes awake and you sleep on at your peril.’

Cryl was shocked into silence. Never before had Jaen been so abrupt, so cruel. He looked out over the water, his face burning, though with shame or anger he knew not. The Lord’s next words snapped his attention round.

‘The wedding.’ Jaen’s face twisted. ‘A gathering of the highborn. All in one place, all away from their lands. Abyss take me, we’re blind fools.’

‘Sir, you hint of an enemy in our midst. Is it Draconus?’

Jaen blinked. ‘Draconus?’ He shook his head. ‘Cryl, I advance you to the rank of lieutenant in my Houseblades — no, you will have to swallow down your impatience to leave us for a time longer. Take my twelve and ride back to the estate. Muster the entire company under full arms and prepare for an attack.’

‘Sir?’

‘The civil war is upon us — must I strike you about the head to stir your brain to life? You make me doubt your training, not to mention my bold elevation of your rank. Is this all too much for you, Cryl Durav? Be truthful.’

‘No sir. But I am not convinced. Urusander’s Legion would not slaughter innocents — not even lowly Deniers.’

‘There were fears that the Deniers were… enlivened. The river god lives again — that much is certain. Do you truly imagine the Legion cannot justify this war? They do so in the name of the cult of Mother Dark. They raise high banners of faith.’

‘But House Enes has nothing to do with-’

‘I harbour the heretics on my land, Cryl. And I am hardly alone in that — most of the Houses and all the Holds tolerate the Deniers, if only out of pity. But every face has changed. The old masks are discarded.’

‘Sir, we entertained Captain Scara Bandaris and his officers in your very dining hall — and now you would condemn them as murderers. This is beyond countenance.’

‘Bandaris? He’s a man with his own mind, and not one to heel to Hunn Raal. I cannot say for Scara Bandaris, but then, what other troop of armed soldiers has passed down this road of late?’

‘Sir, that enemy could have come from anywhere, even from deeper in the forest. I will accept that there may now be renegade units of the Legion. But Lord Urusander is an honourable man.’

‘He is, if we accept woeful ignorance on his part, Cryl. But if he is not, if he shutters his own eyes to what his lapdog is up to in his name, I will know the truth of him the moment I stand before him and can look him in the eye. For now, renegade units or not, there is malice at loose in the realm.’

Cryl shook his head. ‘Yet you pronounce a conspiracy. Lord, if you are right and the timing of all of this is deliberate, then would not the true target be the wedding itself?’

‘They dare not,’ Jaen said. ‘Not yet — not while they still kill in Mother Dark’s name. The marriage of Andarist? Not even Hunn Raal would risk the personal ire of Anomander and Silchas.’

Not yet? Shaken, Cryl drew a deep breath. ‘I will lead your twelve back to the keep, sir, and prepare for siege.’

‘Tell me it is not preferable to watching her take his hands in wedlock.’