Almost at once, Torchholder and the other two priests left the platform to headback towards the palace, leaving only the acolytes to perform a night-long vigilover the new grave. When the priests were out of sight Illyra scrambled back tothe mud-holes and whispered Dubro's name.

'Here,' he hissed back.

She needed only one glance at his moon-shadowed face to know something had gonewrong.

'What happened?' she asked quickly, unmindful of the sound of her voice.'Marilla? Did they bury Marilla?'

There were tears in Dubro's eyes as he shook his head. 'Look at her!' he said,his voice barely under control.

A mud-covered shroud lay some paces away. Dubro would neither face it norventure near it. Illyra approached warily.

Dubro had left the face covered. Holding her breath, Illyra reached down to peelback the damp, dirty linen.

For a heartbeat, she saw Marilla's sleeping face. Then it became her own. Aftera second of self-recognition, the face underwent a bewildering series of changesto portraits of people from her childhood and others whom she did not recognize.It froze for a moment in the shattered image of the Face of Chaos, then wasstill with pearly-white skin where there should have been eyes, nose, and mouth.

Illyra's fingers stiffened. She opened her mouth to scream, but her lungs andthroat were paralysed with fright. The linen fell from her unfeeling hands, butdid not cover the hideous thing that lay before her.

Get away! Get away from this place!

The primitive imperative rose in her mind and would not be appeased by anythingless than headlong flight. She pushed Dubro aside. The acolytes heard her as sheblundered through the mud, but she ignored them. There were buildings ahead solid stone buildings outlined in the moonlight.

It was a manor house of an estate long since abandoned. Illyra recognized itfrom her dream, but her panic and terror had been sated in the headlong run fromthe faceless corpse. An interior door hung open on rusty hinges that creakedwhen she pushed the door. She was unsurprised to see an anvil sitting on a plainwooden box in the centre of a courtyard that her instincts told her was notentirely deserted.

'I'm only prolonging it now. The anvil, and the rest; they are there for me.'

She stepped into the courtyard. Nothing happened. The anvil was solid and fartoo heavy for her to lift.

'You've come to collect your reward?' a voice called.

'Lythande?' she whispered, waiting for the cadaverous magician to appear.

'Lythande is elsewhere.'

A hooded man stepped into the moonlight.

'What has happened? Where is Marilla? Her family?'

The man gestured to his right. Illyra followed his movement and saw thetumbledown headstones of an old graveyard.

'But...?'

'The priests of Ils seek to provoke the new gods. They created the homunculus,disguising it to appear as a young woman to an untrained observer. Had it beeninterred in the foundation of the new temple, it would have created a disruptiveweakness. The anger of Savankala and Sabellia would reach across the desert.That is, of course, exactly what the priests of Ils wanted.

'We magicians - and even you gifted S'danzo - do not welcome the meddling feudsof gods and their priests. They tamper with the delicate balances of fate. Ourwork is more important than the appeasement of deities, so this time, as in thepast, we have intervened.'

'But the temple? They should have buried a virgin, then?'

'A forged person would arouse the Rankan gods, but not an imperfect virgin. Whenthe temple of Ils was erected, the old priests sought a royal soul tointer beneath the altar. They wanted the youngest, and most loved, of theroyal princes. The queen was a sorceress of some skill herself. She disguisedan old slave, and his bones still rest beneath the altar.'

'So the gods of Ilsig and Ranke are equal?'

The hooded man laughed. 'We have seen to it that all gods within Sanctuary areequally handicapped, my child.'

'And what of me? Lythande warned me not to fail.'

'Did I not just say that our purpose - and therefore your purpose - wasaccomplished? You did not fail, and we repay, as Marilla promised, with a blacksteel anvil. It is yours.'

He laid a hand on the anvil and disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

'Lyra, are you all right? I heard you speaking with someone. I buried that girlbefore I came looking for you.'

'Here is the anvil.'

'I do not want such an ill-gotten thing.' Dubro took her arm and tried to leadher out of the courtyard.

'I have paid too much already!' she shouted at him, wresting away from hisgrasp. 'Take it back to the bazaar - then we will forget all this ever happened.Never speak of it to anyone. But don't leave the anvil here, or it's all worthnothing!'

'I can never forget your face on that dead girl... thing.'

Illyra remained silently staring at the still-muddy ground. Dubro went to theanvil and brushed the water and dirt from its surface.

'Someone has carved a symbol in it. It reminds me of one of your cards. Tell mewhat it means before I take it back to the bazaar with us.'

She stood by his side. A smiling Face of Chaos had been freshly etched into theworn surface of the metal.

'It is an old S'danzo sign of good luck.'

Dubro did not seem to hear the note of bitterness and deceit in her voice. Hisfaith in Illyra had been tried but not shattered. The anvil was heavy, anungainly bundle in his arms. | 'Well, it won't get home by itself, will it?'He stared at her as she started walking.

She touched the pedestal and thought briefly of the questions still whirling inher head. Dubro called again from outside the courtyard. The entire length ofSanctuary lay between them and the bazaar, and it was not yet midnight. Withoutglancing back, she followed him out of the courtyard.

Again penniless, houseless, and ladyless, Cappen Varra made a brave sight justthe same as he wove his way amidst the bazaar throng. After all, until today hehad for some weeks been in, if not quite of, the household of Molin Torchholder,as much as he could contrive. Besides the dear presence of ancilla Danlis, hehad received generous reward from the priest-engineer whenever he sang a song orcomposed a poem. That situation had changed with suddenness and terror, but hestill wore a bright green tunic, scarlet cloak, canary hose, soft half-bootstrimmed in stiver, and plumed beret. Though naturally heartsick at what hadhappened, full of dread for his darling, he saw no reason to sell the garb yet.He could raise enough money in various ways to live on while he searched forher. If need be, as often before, he could pawn the harp that a goldsmith waspresently redecorating.

If his quest had not succeeded by the time he was reduced to rags, then he wouldhave to suppose Danlis and the Lady Rosanda were forever lost. But he had neverbeen one to grieve over future sorrows.

Beneath a westering sun, the bazaar surged and clamoured. Merchants, artisans,porters, servants, slaves, wives, nomads, courtesans, entertainers, beggars,thieves, gamblers, magicians, acolytes, soldiers, and who knew what elsemingled, chattered, chaffered, quarrelled, plotted, sang, played games, drank,ate, and who knew what else. Horsemen, camel-drivers, waggoners pushed through,raising waves of curses. Music tinkled and tweedled from wine-shops. Vendorsproclaimed the wonders of their wares from booths, neighbours shouted at eachother, and devotees chanted from flat rooftops. Smells thickened the air, offlesh, sweat, roast meat and nuts, aromatic drinks, leather, wool, dung, smoke,oils, cheap perfume.