‘It won’t. That’s why none of this matters.’
‘What makes you so certain, Kettle?’
‘The tower told me.’
‘It did? What did it say to you? Try to recall its exact words.’
‘It never spoke with words. It just showed me things. My body, all wrapped up. People were crying. But I could see through the gauze. I’d woken up. I was seeing everything with two sets of eyes. It was very strange. One set behind the wrappings, the other standing nearby.’
‘What else did Azath show you?’
‘Those eyes from the outside. There were five others. We were just standing in the street, watching the family carrying the body. My body. Six of us. We’d walked a long way, because of the dreams. We’d been in the city for weeks, waiting for the Azath to choose someone. But I wasn’t the same as the five others, though we were here for the same reason, and we’d travelled together. They were Nerek witches, and they’d prepared me. The me on the outside, not the me all wrapped up.’
‘The you on the outside, Kettle, were you a child?’
‘Oh no. I was tall. Not as tall as you. And I had to wear my hood up, so no-one could see how different I was. I’d come from very far away. I’d walked, when I was young, hot sands – the sands that covered the First Empire. Whatever that is.’
‘What did the Nerek witches call you? Had you a name?’
‘No.’
‘A title?’
She shrugged. ‘I’d forgotten all this. They called me the Nameless One. Is this important?’
‘I think it is, Kettle. Although I am not sure in what way. Much of this realm remains unknown to me. It was very young when I was imprisoned. You are certain this “Nameless One” was an actual title? Not just something the Nerek used because they didn’t know your true name?’
‘It was a title. They said I’d been prepared from birth. That I was a true child of Eres. And that I was the answer to the Seventh Closure, because I had the blood of kin. “The blood of kin.” What did they mean by that?’
‘When I am finally free,’ he said in a voice revealing strain, ‘I will be able to physically touch you, Kettle. My fingers upon your brow. And then I will have your answer.’
‘I guess this Eres was my real mother.’
‘Yes.’
‘And soon you will know who my father is.’
‘I will know his blood, yes. At the very least.’
‘I wonder if he’s still alive.’
‘Knowing how Eres plays the game, lass, he might not even be your father yet. She wanders time, Kettle, in a manner no-one else can even understand, much less emulate. And this is very much her world. She is the fire that never dies.’ He paused, then said, ‘She will choose – or has chosen – with great deliberation. Your father was, is, or will be someone of great importance.’
‘So how many souls are in me?’
‘Two, sharing the flesh and bone of a child corpse. Lass, we shall have to find a way to get you out of that body, eventually.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you deserve something better.’
‘I want to go back. Will you take me back now?’
‘I’ve given up on the eel itself,’ Bugg said, ladling out the soup. ‘It’s still too tough.’
‘None the less, my dear manservant, it smells wonderful.’
‘That would be the wine. Courtesy of Chief Investigator Rucket, whose request for a meeting with you was for purposes not entirely professional.’
‘And how did you fare on my behalf?’
‘I ensured that her interest in you only deepened, master.’
‘By way of contrast?’
‘Indeed.’
‘Well, is that a good thing? I mean, she’s rather frightening.’
‘You don’t know the half of it. Even so, she is exceptionally clever.’
‘Oh, I don’t like that at all, Bugg. You know, I am tasting something fishy. A hint, anyway. Just how dried up was this eel you found?’
The manservant probed with his ladle and lifted the mentioned object into view. Black, wrinkled and not nearly as limp as it should have been.
Tehol leaned closer and studied it for a moment. ‘Bugg…’
‘Yes, master?’
‘That’s the sole of a sandal.’
‘It is? Oh. I was wondering why it was flatter at one end than the other.’
Tehol settled back and took another sip. ‘Still fishy, though. One might assume the wearer, being in the fish market, stepped on an eel, before the loss of his or her sole.’