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barely felt the touch of skin to skin. He envied Gorred his fine gloves. But he made no reply to the messenger's question.
    "I was instructed to ask after Taim Narran's presence, you see," Gorred persisted, "because certain charges were raised against him during the period of your absence. The Bloodheir requires --"
    "Requires?" echoed Orisian. "Taim Narran is my man, not Aewult's."
    "Nevertheless," Gorred said. "Nevertheless." There was a dogged, somewhat glum determination about his manner now. As if he had at last resigned himself to abandoning any pretence at courteous discourse; as if he accepted the futility of clothing hard words in fine silks. "No command was issued to release him; rather, you might say, Taim Narran chose to bestow freedom upon himself. And he fled from battle."
    Torcaill and the other Lannis warriors stirred at that. Orisian bit back his own instinctive contempt for Gorred's accusations.
    Erval was returning hurriedly from the gate. Behind him, Orisian could see a solid knot of Guardsmen now barring the entrance to the courtyard. There were other figures moving beyond them, rushing up and down the street. Something dark, which at first Orisian thought must be a bird, darted over the heads of the Guards. The object arced down and broke apart on the yard's cobbles, a clod of muddy earth.
    "Trouble," Erval hissed into Orisian's ear. "There's a crowd gathering. They know who's in here. Haig's little better liked than Gyre these days."
    Gorred was watching them, frowning. Orisian turned his head enough to hide his lips from the emissary.
    "Can you quieten it all down, if we keep them out of sight?"
    "Not sure, sire," Erval whispered. "There's more folk arriving every moment, and I've not seen a bloodier mood on them in years. Not ever. Could easily go bad, this. My men... it could be difficult if I ask them to fight their own people in defence of Haig."
    Orisian looked back to Gorred. The messenger raised questioning eyebrows. Orisian came to a decision.
    "We're done," he said, as clearly and firmly as he could. "For your own safety, emissary, you must leave at once. Erval here will have his men escort you out of Ive, and see you a way down the road."
    "Sire? We have not finished our discussions, surely? If I am to return to the Bloodheir with nothing more than this, I must of necessity make an honest report of how I was received and treated."
    "Report as you like," snapped Orisian. "Dead men make no reports, and that's what you'll likely be if you tarry here."
    Gorred smirked, as if Orisian's words were preposterous. "Messengers are protected, sire. They are not to be harmed, on pain of death. Everyone knows as much."
    Orisian pointed at the gate. "Does that not sound to you like ignorance, then? Do you really think such laws are what govern hearts today? I'm trying to protect you."
    Gorred looked from Orisian to the gateway. Some of the Guards were dragging a man into the compound and beating him with their clubs. Another of them was on his knees, pressing his hand to a bloody scalp wound. Aewult nan Haig's messenger pondered for the space of a few heartbeats, and the fight leached out of him.
    "Very well," he said curtly. At a single, sharp gesture his companions and escorts began to mount their horses. He glanced almost dismissively at Orisian. "You have the messages, Thane. The Bloodheir will anticipate an early reply, to both of them. Or better yet, your presence, and that of Taim Narran."
    The ten horses clattered over the cobblestones towards the gate. Erval ran ahead of them, shouting at his Guards to clear a path for the Haig party. Orisian and his men followed more slowly in their wake. It all felt unpleasantly like disaster to Orisian. A chasm was opening up between the Haig Blood and those of Lannis and Kilkry, yawning ever wider with each defeat and humiliation visited upon them by the Black Road.
    The Guardsmen pushed out into the street, and Orisian saw for the first time just how large and