“Some secrets must be kept.”

“Not between friends.”

Roth sighed, shrugging its massive shoulders and somehow looking sheepish — or at least like the wolf that had eaten the sheep.

“There is much I cannot tell. It is an archaic tale, handed down through time. It is our history, but much is forgotten, even among the rahken nation. I do not know the long of it, but once, long ago, the rahkens and one known as the red wizard joined their magic and banished the old ones, the Sun Destroyers. How it was achieved, or even if it is true or just a myth, I do not know.

“Once, man and rahken were allies, and then the Hierarchy rose to power. How they took the mantle of power I do not know, either, but somewhere in time man lost the ability to weave the threads of magic. That is not rahken history. We keep no record of the history of man, aside from that which joins with the tapestry of our own.”

“I read much during my time in the library. Poetry and myths, histories dry and ancient. Some of the language is redolent of a gentler time. Under the surface though, the language evokes a feeling of despair. There is no comedy. There is no romance. And yet many times I read passionate works, and they were of a time when the rahkens walked among men. What came to pass to break that friendship? I saw a statue in Beheth, a monument to a rahken. It is long forgotten, the gifts your race gave to mine. What caused the breaking?”

Roth looked away.

“You must tell me, Roth.”

“I am ashamed to admit, lady, that I do not know.”

Tirielle huffed in frustration. It was impossible to tell if Roth was telling the truth. There was so much that lived under the surface when it came to her fearsome friend, and while she was not afraid of it, she did not want to press too hard.

“Now, I must go. But remember this, Tiri; Not all sacrifices are to the death.”

“What does that mean?”

Roth seemed sad, but merely shook its head. Then, before she had time to question further, was a blur among the trees.

She mounted, feeling that there was some pattern, some secret at the heart of their quest, that she must fathom, or they would all fail.

Quintal looked at her with a question on his face.

“I am ready,” she said briskly, and urged her horse into a fast canter. The danger of the Protectorate was ever present in her mind.

“Where to?” she asked the leader of the paladins.

“North, for now. The Seer tells us this is where we must go, and she is our eyes. Tonight, we will commune with Drun Sard. Perhaps he can guide us further.”

“I hope so. I am tired of fleeing.”

“The time will come soon when we will turn and bite back, lady. I feel this, and I always trust my feelings. The end draws near. And with it, a new beginning.”

“One we should fear,” said Tirielle too quietly to be overheard.

Reih entered the chamber, fewer seats were occupied. Fewer councillors. It was weak. She was trying desperately to concentrate on the conversion. They were making her sick, squabbling blindly while ignoring the point. Did they even realise they were under attack? Kalea was thumping his chair and being incendiary.

“But it’s our law! Not theirs!”

Reih reluctantly pushed herself from her chair. “No, Councillor Kalea. It is not our law. Nor is it theirs. Until we understand the law belongs to no-one, we shouldn’t even be allowed to speak of it. The law is its own. And so should it be. It is because of our tampering, our attempts at possession, that it is sick. It is sick because of us.“

“But Lianthre will descend into chaos without it!”

“Nonsense. Chaos is nothing to be afraid of. It is only change. It is to good what order is to evil. One only exist because of the other — the symbiosis is evident in all life — you truly think human law itself is outside of nature’s laws, not part of it?“

She thought about her meeting with Gurt, a builder! She wondered how many of the Councillors haranguing her were sending letters, too. She heard some of the gossip spreading (the Kuh’taenium heard far more that she ever would). If she was caught she would become part of that gossip — just like Tirielle. This was no place for idle banter. The Hierarchy could hear it — the Protectorate already had.

She turned back to the assembly in Kuh’taenium’s great interior. She looked at them bickering while the Kuh’taenium hung in the balance and she strove to keep her grasp on hope. How long now before the sickening took its effect on her? The memories of her home were already becoming warped in place. A small change, at first, but the personality could not but suffer the ailments of the body, and the Kuh’taenium’s body was more…demonstrative…than humans, with all their frailty sickness usually killed them before sickness reached the mind. The Kuh’taenium, in all its vastness, would die insane. Because of their linking she too would experience all its terrible agony and confusion as it journeyed on to death’s hall (how big they must be to fit the Kuh’taenium!).

Desperation makes odd bedfellows, she thought. Folly, perhaps, but, ah, desperation. To save the Kuh’taenium and herself she had just entrusted her life to some street brawler she had never met before.

The pointless debate rolled on. All the time she was thinking about the builders. They still existed. The Kuh’taenium was right, as always. While its power might be diminished, its memory was not.

Before sunset the Sard made camp. j’ark sat silently, his sword beside him, his legs crossed and eyes closed. He emptied his mind but thoughts of Unthor intruded. He could not break his concentration though. Without their ninth fellow, the communion was more difficult. He sensed the feeling of loss among the Sard, sadness welling as their feelings were knitted together in concentration.

Thankfully, it was not long before Drun’s ethereal figure materialised before them, becoming more solid, more real with each passing second. He opened his eyes as soon as he felt the priest’s presence, and at once felt calmer. It was always surprising to him, the depth of peace that Drun Sard radiated.

“Brothers. I feel your loss. I too, am bereft.”

“We know loss as we knew our brother,” replied Quintal sadly. “It is our destiny to lose one another, until we are no more. But then, that is every man’s burden, and we deserve no less, no more, than any other mortal.”

Drun bowed to each of them in turn.

“As we lose each other, our spirits join. Join with Unthor’s spirit now, and as you knew him as a man take strength from his passing. Now, feel!”

And suddenly strength suffused j’ark’s aching muscles, the strength of Unthor. He felt none of Unthor’s fears or failings, just his purity, his power. His blood pounded in his temples, his muscles twitched and became engorged, as though he was feeding on his friend’s blood. But he knew that was not the case. It was Unthor’s last gift to them, the gift of the fallen, to share their essence with their brothers. Each time one fell, he would do the same for his brothers. They would not pass the gates until the last of them fell. Only then would their spirits pass into eternity, and finally know rest.

The power was amazing, even though j’ark knew it was only a portion of his brother’s spirit that had been invested in him.

Slowly, the pounding subsided, and he felt his heart rate return to mortal levels. Drun seemed to be smiling at him, even though he had not felt what he felt, he understood. It was not for Drun, this sharing of the spirit, for he was not a warrior. The feeling would taint him.

But he understood.

“Now, brothers, to matters at hand.”

“We have found the entrance to the resting place of the wizard. He is in a volcano, deep beneath the earth. There is a mountain range that splits the frozen lands, and the fire mountain is the largest.