'And now a descendant of the great Shahr Baraz of Aekir wears a Torunnan uniform and takes orders from a Torunnan king. Does that not seem odd to you?'

'When the wars ended I was a toddler. I grew up knowing that Ramusio and Ahrimuz were the same man. I have worshipped alongside Ramusians all my life. The older men remember things the way they were, but the younger know only the world the way it is now. And it is better like this.'

'I certainly think so.'

They smiled at each other in the same moment, and Baraz felt a warmth creep about his heart. But the moment was broken by the urgent squeaks of Mirren's familiar.

'Mij! What in the world is wrong?'

The little animal was clambering distractedly about her shoulders, hissing and crying. She halted her horse to calm it and Baraz took her reins as she bodily seized the tiny creature and stared into its face. It grew quiet, and whimperingly climbed into the hollow of her hood where it lay chittering to itself.

'He's terrified, but all he can show me is the face of a great black wolf.' Mirren took back her reins, troubled.

'There's someone on the track ahead of us,' Baraz told her. He loosened his sabre in its scabbard. A tall figure was standing some way in the distance, seemingly oblivious of their presence. He was motionless as a piece of statuary, and was staring down at the walls of the capital, mustard-coloured in the morning light, and the blue shine of the estuary beyond where the Torrin widened on its way to the sea.

'He doesn't look dangerous,' Mirren said. 'Oh, Baraz, stop topping it the bodyguard. It's just a beggar or vagabond. Look - there's another one, off to one side. They seem lost, and old, too.'

They rode up to the men, who appeared to be absorbed in the contemplation of the city in the distance. One was sitting with his back to a stone and a hood which seemed like a monk's cowl was pulled over his head. He might have been asleep. The other was dressed in a travel-stained robe, buff-coloured with dust, and a wide-brimmed hat which hid his face in shadow. A bulging haversack hung from one bony shoulder.

'Good morning, fathers,' Baraz greeted them as they ap­proached. 'Are you heading for the city?'

The man on the ground did not stir, but the other answered. 'Yes, that is my goal.' His voice was deep as a well.

'You've a fair step to go then.'

The man did not reply at once. He seemed weary, if the sag of his shoulders was anything to go by. He looked up at the two riders and for the first time they saw his face and gasped involuntarily.

'Who might you two be then?'

‘I am Ensign Baraz of the Torunnan army, and this is—'

'The Princess Mirren, daughter of King Corfe himself. Well, this is a happy chance.' The man smiled, and they saw that despite the ruin which constituted one side of his face, his eyes were kindly.

'How do you know who I am?' Mirren demanded.

And now the man sitting on the ground raised his head and spoke for the first time. 'Your familiar told us.'

Baraz drew his sabre and nudged the grey forward until he was between Mirren and the strange pair. 'State your names and your business in Torunna,' he rasped, dark eyes flashing.

The man on the ground rose to his feet. He also seemed tired. The two might have been nothing more than a pair of road-weary vagabonds, but for that last statement, and the aura of unquiet power which hung about them.

'They're wizards’ Mirren said.

The disfigured older man doffed his wide-brimmed hat. 'Indeed we are, my dear. Young man, our business is our own, but as for our names, well I am Golophin of Hebrion, and my companion—'

'Will remain nameless, for now,' the other interrupted. Baraz could see a square jaw and broken nose under the cowl, but little else.

'Golophin!' Mirren cried. 'My father speaks often of you. The greatest mage in the world, it is said.'

Golophin chuckled, replacing his hat. 'Perhaps not the greatest. My companion here might bridle at such an assump­tion.'

'What are you doing here in Torunna? I thought you were still in Abrusio.'

‘I have come to see King Corfe, your father. I have some news for him.'

'What of your taciturn comrade?' Baraz asked, pointing at him with his sword.

As he gestured with the blade the weapon seemed to flick out of his grip. It spun coruscating in the air for a second and then flicked away into the heather, stabbing into the ground so that the hilt stood quivering. Baraz shook his hand as though it had been burned, mouth gaping.

‘I do not like blades pointed in my face,' Golophin's com­panion said mildly.

'You had best leave us be,' Golophin told Baraz. 'My friend and I were in the middle of a little altercation when you arrived, hence his testiness.'

'Golophin, there is so much I must ask you,' Mirren said.

'Indeed? Well child, you may ask me anything you like, but not right now. I am somewhat preoccupied. It might be best if you said nothing of this meeting. The fewer folk who know I am here the better.' Then he looked at his companion, and laughed. The other's mouth crooked under the cowl in answer.

'You may tell your father, though. I will see him tonight, or possibly tomorrow morning.'

'What is this news you have come to deliver? I will take it to him.'

Golophin's ravaged face hardened into a mask. 'No, one so young should not have to bear such tidings.' He turned to Baraz. 'See the lady safe home, soldier.'

Baraz glared at him. 'You may be sure I will.'

Spring might be in the air, but up here in the hills there was still an algid bite to the air when the wind got up, and as the day drew on Golophin and his companion kindled a fire with a blast of rubescent theurgy and sat on pads of gathered heather warming themselves at the transparent flames. As the afternoon waned and the sun began to slide behind the white peaks of the Cimbrics in the west, Golophin was aware that a third person had joined them, a small, silent figure which sat cross-legged just outside the firelight.

'That is an abomination,' the old mage told his companion.

'Perhaps. I am no longer sure I care greatly. One can become accustomed to all sorts of things, Golophin.' The speaker had thrown back his cowl at last and now was revealed as a middle-aged man with close-cropped grey hair and a prize­fighter's face. He reached into the breast of his habit and brought forth a steel flask. Unscrewing the top, he took a sip and then tossed it across the fire. Golophin caught it deftly and drank in his turn. 'Hebrionese akvavit. I applaud your taste, Bard.'

'Call it a perk of the job.'

'Call it what it is: spoils of war.'

'Hebrion was my home also, Golophin.'

'I have not forgotten that, you may be sure.'

A tension fizzled across the flames between them, and then slackened as Bardolin chuckled. 'Why Golophin, your hauteur is almost impressive.'

'I'm working on it.'

'It is pleasant, this, sitting here as though the world were not on fire around us, listening to the hunting bats and the sough of the wind in the heather. I like this country. There is an austerity to it. I do not wonder that it breeds such sol­diers.'

'You met these soldiers in the field I hear, a decade ago. So are you become a general now?'

Bardolin bowed. 'Not much of a one, it must be said. Give me a tercio and I know what to do. Give me an army and I will admit to being somewhat ill at ease.'

"That doesn't bode well for your master's efforts in this part of the world, Presbyter.'

'We have generals, Golophin, ones who may surprise you. And we have numbers. And the Dweomer.'

"The Dweomer as a weapon of war. In the days before the Empire - the First Empire - it is said that certain kings fielded regiments of mages. But it has never been recorded that they tolerated the presence of shifters in their armies. Not even the ancients were barbarian enough for that.'