Toll the Hounds

‘Precisely my point. It was none of my business in the first place. I had no right to be irritated or impatient.’



‘You were both because you cared, and you barely know the man. You may not know it, but you made friends in that throne room, right then and right there. Korlat’s eyes shone. And the High Priestess actually smiled. Like a mother, both proud and indulgent. They are yours, Nimander.’ He hesitated, and then added, ‘We all are.’



Nimander wasn’t ready to contemplate such notions. ‘How fares Nenanda?’



‘Recovering, as thin-skinned as ever.’



‘And Clip?’



Skintick shrugged. ‘I wish I could say humbled.’



‘I wish you could as well.’



‘He’s furious. Feels cheated, personally slighted. He’ll be trouble, I fear, an eternal thorn in your side.’



Nimander sighed. ‘They probably felt the same at the Andara, which was why they sent him to find us.’



‘On a wave of cheering fanfare, no doubt.’



Nimander turned. ‘Skin, I truly do not know if I can do this.’



‘Unlike Anomander Rake, you are not alone, Nimander. The burden no longer rests upon one person. She is with us now.’



‘She could have left us Aranatha.’



‘Aranatha was not Aranatha for some time-perhaps you don’t remember when she was younger. Nimander, our sister was a simpleton. Barely a child in her mind, no matter that she grew into a woman.’



‘I always saw it as… innocence.’



‘There again, your generosity of spirit.’



‘My inability to discriminate, you mean.’



They were silent for a time. Nimander glanced up at the spire. ‘There was a dragon up there.’



‘Silanah. Er, very close to Anomander Rake, I’m told.’



‘I wonder where she went?’



‘You could always awaken T’iam’s blood within you, and find out, Nimander.’



‘Ah, no thank you.’



Spinnock Durav had moved out past Night and had reached the razed stretch that had been a squalid encampment, where a monastery was now under con-struction, although for the moment a military tent was the temple wherein dwelt Salind, the High Priestess of the Redeemer.



Would she accept him?



Mother Dark, hear me please. For Spinnock Durav, who stood in your son’s place, again and again. Give him peace. Give him happiness.



At the Great Barrow there were other workers, pilgrims for the most part, raising a lesser burial mound, to hold the bones of someone named Seerdomin, who had been chosen to stand eternal vigilance at the foot of the Redeemer. It was odd and mysterious, how such notions came to pass. Nimander reminded himself that he would have to send a crew out there, to see if they needed any help.



‘What are you thinking, Lord Nimander?’,



Nimander winced at the title. ‘I was thinking,’ he said, ‘about prayers. How they feel… cleaner when one says them not for oneself, but on behalf of someone else.’ He shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. ‘I was praying for Spinnock. Anyway, that’s what I was thinking. Well, the High Priestess says there are things we need to talk about. I’d best be off.’



As he turned, Skintick said, ‘It’s said that Anomander Rake would stand facing the sea.’



‘Oh, and?’



‘Nothing. It’s just that I’ve noticed that you’ve taken to staring out over land, out to that Great Barrow. Is there something about the Redeemer that interests you?’



And Nimander just smiled, and then he went inside, leaving Skintick staring after him.



In a chamber devoted to the most arcane rituals, forty-seven steps beneath the ground floor of the High Alchemist’s estate, two iron anvils had been placed within an inscribed circle. The torches lining the walls struggled to lift flames above their blackened mouths.



Sitting at a table off to one side was the witch, Derudan, a hookah at her side, smoke rising from her as if she steamed in the chilly air. At the edge of the circle stood Vorcan, who now called herself Lady Varada, wrapped tight inside a dark grey woollen cloak. The Great Raven, Crone, walked as if pacing out the chamber’s dimensions, her head crooking again and again to regard the anvils.



Baruk was by the door, eyeing Vorcan and Derudan. The last of the T’orrud Cabal. The taste in his mouth was of ashes.



There were servants hidden in the city, and they were even now at work. To bring about a fell return, to awaken one of the Tyrants of old. Neither woman in this room was unaware of this, and the fear was palpable in its persistent distrac-tion.