it my mistress you worry for?” he went on. “How her betrayer’s heart will break . . .”
“I’m told you didn’t know you were doing the Darkblade’s bidding,” Vaelin cut in. “Here you stand ready to die for a false god you detested only moments ago. I would know how this was done.”
“Love,” Varij said simply. “I was always his. From the moment he freed me, saved me from the whip and the endless toil. When he spoke I knew he spoke for the divine. The man you see before you is the truth, it was Varij who was the lie. I was set to watch her years ago, told that one day she would betray the Darkblade but that her betrayal was necessary. So he had Sehga craft lies in my head, birth the doubts that would win the Betrayer’s trust, all so that she would bring me here.” Varij smiled the bright broad smile of a contented man. “And the key to the Merchant Realms would be unlocked so that all there might know his mercy.”
Hearing Ellese’s bowstring tighten, Varij laughed. “Kill me, I welcome it. For I know there is only salvation in death. You cannot stop what has already been done.”
Vaelin saw them then, the spiderweb of cracks in the cobbles at the base of the wall, cracks that were spreading. “Kill him!” he snapped. The twin arrows struck Varij full in the chest, punching through to protrude from his back as he collapsed. Even as all the fluid in his body flowed free in a dark tide the contented smile remained on his lips.
As Vaelin watched, the cracks at the base of the wall spread with lightning speed, powdered stone fountaining and the ground taking on a pronounced shudder.
“Back!” Vaelin said, pushing Nortah and Ellese away just as a thunderous boom sounded from below. A single deep fissure opened at the base of the wall and snaked its way to the top faster than the eye could follow. A rumble of grinding stone rose as a section of wall at least fifty feet across appeared to sublime into a cascade of small boulders. As it fell dust erupted in a thick, choking fog seeded with lacerating grit that forced them to shield their faces.
When Vaelin lowered his hand from his eyes, he was confronted by the sight of a breach he knew they had no hope of sealing. He could already see mounted Stahlhast forming up for a charge amidst the houses of the second tier, dense formations of Redeemed thronging the flanks.
“Lord Vaelin!”
Sho Tsai came to a halt nearby, three regiments of infantry fanning out behind him. Vaelin could see other soldiers quickly descending the walls to form up in the streets. The general had come to the obvious conclusion that the only battle that mattered now would be fought in this breach.
“Proceed to the temple,” Sho Tsai told Vaelin. He stepped closer to meet Vaelin’s gaze with steady, implacable eyes, speaking in a low voice. “Save her, if you can. If you can’t, then spare her.”
He turned away, beckoning Tsai Lin closer. “Go with Lord Vaelin.”
“General, I must—”
“There is no time!” Sho Tsai’s eyes blazed at his son, compelling him to stand at attention. “There will be chaos when they storm through,” Sho Tsai added, expression softening into regret. “Perhaps enough to shield an escape. That is my last order to you, my son. Survive this place and return to the Temple of Spears. Follow their counsel, for I see the age of kings is done.”
He faced the breach, drawing his sword as the thunder of Stahlhast hooves began to sound. “Now go!”
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
The din of battle accompanied their flight to the temple, as loud as any storm, so loud that he failed to hear Corporal Cho-ka’s greeting until the man ran from the shadows to block his path. He was flanked by the half-dozen Skulls Vaelin knew to be members of the Green Vipers.
“My lord,” he said with a cursory bow. “I should like to show you something.”
“What something?” Vaelin wasn’t especially surprised Cho-ka and his associates hadn’t chosen to stand with the general at the end, nor could he find the will to be angry. Was he not also a coward this night?
“Something in my great-aunt’s spice shop,” Cho-ka said, casting a wary glance around.