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it embraces you all. Shall I give you what I possess of wisdom? Very well. Lord, even Mother Dark cannot hold her breath for ever.’
    ‘She does not—’
    ‘When a child is born it must cry.’
    ‘You—’
    ‘With its voice, it enters the world, and it must enter the world. Now,’ she crossed her arms, ‘will you continue hiding here in this city? I am the Mistress of Thieves, Lord. I know every path. I have walked them all. And I have seen what there is to be seen. If you and your people hide here, Lord, you will all die. And so will Mother Dark. Be her breath. Be cast out .’
    ‘But we are in this world , Apsal’ara!’
    ‘One world is not enough.’
    ‘Then what must we do?’
    ‘What your father wanted.’
    ‘And what is that?’
    She smiled. ‘Shall we find out?’
    ‘You have some nerve, Dragon Master.’
    A child shrieked from somewhere down the walkway.
    Without turning, Ganoes Paran sighed and said, ‘You’re frightening the young ones again.’
    ‘Not nearly enough.’ The iron-shod heel of a cane cracked hard on the stone. ‘Isn’t that always the way, hee hee!’
    ‘I don’t think I appreciate the new title you’re giving me, Shadowthrone.’
    A vague dark smear, the god moved up alongside Paran. The cane’s gleaming head swung its silver snarl out over the valley. ‘Master of the Deck of Dragons. Too much of a mouthful. It’s your … abuses. I so dislike unpredictable people.’ He giggled again. ‘People. Ascendants. Gods. Thick-skulled dogs. Children.’
    ‘Where is Cotillion, Shadowthrone?’
    ‘You should be tired of that question by now.’
    ‘I am tired of waiting for an answer.’
    ‘ Then stop asking it! ’ The god’s manic shriek echoed through the fortress, rattled wild along corridors and through hallways before echoing back to where they stood atop the wall.
    ‘That has certainly caught their attention,’ Paran observed, nodding to a distant barrow where two tall, almost skeletal figures now stood.
    Shadowthrone sniffed. ‘They see nothing.’ He hissed a laugh. ‘Blinded by justice.’
    Ganoes Paran scratched at his beard. ‘What do you want?’
    ‘Whence comes your faith?’
    ‘Excuse me?’
    The cane rapped and skittered on the stone. ‘You sit with the Hostin Aren, defying every imperial summons. And then you assault the Warrens with this .’ He suddenly cackled. ‘You should have seen the Emperor’s face! And the names he called you, my, even the court scribers cringed!’ He paused. ‘Where was I? Yes, I was berating you, Dragon Master. Are you a genius? I doubt it. Leaving me no choice but to conclude that you’re an idiot.’
    ‘Is that all?’
    ‘Is she out there?’
    ‘You don’t know?’
    ‘Do you?’
    Paran slowly nodded. ‘Now I understand. It’s all about faith. A notion unfamiliar to you, I take it.’
    ‘This siege is meaningless!’
    ‘Is it?’
    Shadowthrone hissed, one ethereal hand reaching out, as if to claw at Paran’s face. Instead, it hovered, twisted and then shrank into something vaguely fist-shaped. ‘You don’t understand anything!’
    ‘I understand this,’ Paran replied. ‘Dragons are creatures of chaos. There can be no Dragon Master, making the title meaningless.’
    ‘Exactly.’ Shadowthrone reached out to gather up a tangled snarl of spider’s web from beneath the wall’s casing. He held it up, apparently studying the cocooned remnant of a desiccated insect.
    Miserable turd . ‘Here is what I know, Shadowthrone. The end begins here. Do you deny it? No, you can’t, else you wouldn’t be haunting me—’
    ‘Not even you can breach the power surrounding this keep,’ the god said. ‘You have blinded yourself. Open your gate again, Ganoes Paran, find somewhere else to lodge your army. This is pointless.’ He flung the web away and gestured with the head of his cane. ‘You cannot defeat those two, we both know that.’
    ‘But they don’t, do they?’
    ‘They will test you. Sooner or