heart and knew my choice even as I made it. Only a fool builds empires for his family. The Lady saw my will, as deadly as any blade, sharp enough to carve a path through history itself. The loss of my son will not stop me; Fate knew that: Nothing will stop me.
Styrax spat in the dirt as the last sliver of sun sank beneath the distant horizon. He bent down to the bird on its nest. Moving as quickly as a snake he grabbed the creature by the neck and had wrung the life from her before she had even sounded the alarm. Her chicks scattered, but Styrax ignored them and turned away, leaving them for whatever hungry animals hunted the hillside at night. He slipped a knife from his belt and started to gut the bird as he walked back towards the wyvern.
My compassion is at an end. It died alongside you, Lord Isak. Now your allies will see my wrath, and it will be a righteous fury worthy of the Gods.
King Emin glanced round at the sound of footsteps, then resumed his position on the wall of Camatayl Castle. A cigar burned unnoticed in his fingers as he stared down at the fields beyond, where, in the distance, fallow deer were grazing.
— The reports have started to come, Legana wrote as she joined him at the wide embrasure, leaning back against the crenellated wall so she could observe the king. She rested her silver-headed cane against the stone and wrote - A success?
Her words provoked a sudden exhalation from King Emin: the laughter he couldn’t bring himself to voice?
‘A success,’ he murmured, ‘so it is reported. Most eliminated with great efficiency, as far as reports go. I’ve only heard from the cities, where I can communication directly with my agents through the slates, but if we extrapolate . . .’ He didn’t bother to finish the statement.
Legana looked at him for a while. His shoulders were hunched, as though weighed down by the burden of his decisions. The king, she realised, was starting to thin on top. Age was at last catching up with the man most still thought of as having the brilliance of youth.
What if that’s behind him? What if the candle is now burned, the fuel spent? What then for this war? she wondered.
The Harlequins had a special place in the Land. Their mandate and skills had come direct from the Gods; to kill one was a crime beyond murder, it was treason, heresy - to slaughter them all, systematically, as Emin and Legana were doing was unthinkable, horrifying. The Harlequins had always represented the rebirth of civilisation, and something more intangible still: the heartbeat of the Land. The human side of Legana railed at the deed, but the divine fragment cared little. All mortals could be tools when necessary.
— I have noticed something, Legana wrote, about my new self.
‘Oh?’
— My poor balance, my trembling hands - they come most often when I rest. My body hates inaction.
If he smiled, she didn’t see it; it was hard for her to make out much detail in the twilight. ‘I’m sure I could swing you a position in the kitchens to keep you busy.’
— Still good with a knife.
‘As is your friend Ardela, according to my agent in Tirah. Two Harlequins in one night - impressive by any standards.’ Emin sighed. ‘And yet it might still be for naught. There were two pieces of news from Aroth. The Menin Army has been sighted from the walls.’
— Siege?
He stubbed out the remains of his cigar and tossed the butt off the battlements before turning to face Legana. ‘I doubt for long. He has yet to lose a direct confrontation in his invasion of the West, and Aroth’s defences are not so formidable I can afford to hope they’ll slow him for long.’
— And then?
‘Hah, and then he and I both know there’s nothing of consequence between Aroth and here. The ground is open and level for the main, providing few suitable spots to set raids. We could demolish every bridge across the Goeder but that would barely slow them. This fortress is the only defence between Aroth and — ah Gods, Moorview, I suppose. It’s too much to hope that he’d go west around the Blue Hills; that’d invite attacks from Canar Thritt.’
— Moorview?
‘A castle overlooking Tairen Moor. It’s built on a small hill that gives it command over the whole area. If I could make a