knows where I am if he needs me, so do my men. I’m doing as much good tending to you as anywhere else - more, probably.’
‘“Stretched the truth”?’
The lovely smile returned. ‘You don’t need to worry about that right now,’ she said with a soft laugh, ‘but I think Hain’s reached a whole new level of admiration for you now.’
Amber couldn’t help but cough at the thought. He knew full-well what was pretty much always on Captain Hain’s mind when he wasn’t fighting. The sight of Kirl in that tunic really wouldn’t have helped.
‘Well, look at that,’ Kirl said with a purr of interest. ‘That thought’s put some colour in your cheeks! For now, Major Amber, you might want to hear what’s been happening since you fainted on the battlefield.’
‘Fainted!’ Amber gasped as the memory of the battle finally appeared in his mind: Lord Chalat, Chosen of the Fire God Tsatach, wading through the Menin ranks wreathed in flame; Amber fighting his way through the ranks to slam a spiked axe into Chalat’s chest —
‘So one witness, who’ll remain nameless, is telling everyone he can,’ Kirl continued, ‘and by the way, Captain Hain’s treating that axe like it’s a holy relic now.’ She paused and cocked her head, then added, ‘Which I s’pose it might be. Anyway, Lord Isak’s dead, but not before he killed Scion Styrax - and for that our lord sent him straight to the Dark Place!’
She shivered at the thought and fell silent, all traces of her smile gone.
Amber felt the strength drain from his body. He’d not been close to Kohrad Styrax, but he had known the hot-tempered youth for years, and had fought beside him more than once. The idea of Kohrad dead was too much for him to grasp immediately. It felt unreal, even to a man used to the loss of comrades.
‘You can tell where it happened too,’ Kirl said in a hushed voice. ‘There’s a point out on the field where the ground’s as hot as new-fired clay, so folk’ve been saying. We routed the Farlan, killed a large part of the Penitent Army and chased the rest most o’ the way to Helrect. Lord Styrax’s overcome with grief so General Gaur’s been giving the orders - you can image how close he is to disembowelling anyone who comes near.’
Amber nodded, wincing, all too easily able to imagine General Gaur’s current state of mind. The beastman’s overriding sense of duty would not allow him to withdraw into grief when there was an army to manage, but Gaur had been as much of a father to Kohrad as Styrax himself.
‘And then there’s the small matter of the dragon,’ Kirl said after a pause.
‘Dragon?’ Amber coughed.
‘Aye, our lord woke it up about the time you fainted and broke half-a-dozen bones on your way to the ground. The beast is just a bit fucking angry at the situation. No one knows what’s left of the Library of Seasons, but a large part of Ismess has been levelled and the Fortinn quarter has taken quite a battering too. So’s Byora, but some folk are saying that’s because some Raylin mercenary went mad during the battle.’
‘And Lord Styrax isn’t doing anything about it?’
She reached for a waterskin and helped him to drink. ‘Ah, well now, Lord Styrax ain’t doing much of anything at the moment, and as long as that continues, the chaos outside is just going to go on getting worse.’
Amber took a minute or two to drink, then announced, ‘I need to be out of this room.’
‘Don’t be bloody stupid, you can’t even stand up.’ Kirl enumerated his injuries: ‘Three bones in your foot are broken, and your shin snapped when a horse trod on you. On top of that you’ve managed to break your wrist, your arm in two places, your collarbone and three ribs - for pity’s sake, Amber, you even managed to break your nose when you smacked yourself into that mad white-eye! You’re staying here until the priests o’ Shotir tell me you’re healed enough to move and that’s that.’ She gave him a small pat on the head. ‘Don’t worry. I reckon the Menin Army will manage to survive a few more days without their newest hero.’
Mihn worked his way further into Ghenna, moving quietly, hand over hand along the roof until he found a ledge where he could rest. Once there he took stock, listening to the sounds of the Dark Place. The main tunnel to Jaishen, the