He drank three gulps of searing mare's-milk spirit, and his limbs stopped shuddering. Warmth again.

"I had a look over the hill as the sun came up," Mughal said. "They have pulled back the camps to the reverse slopes and are busy entrenching there."

"A winter camp," Shahr Baraz said. "Campaigning is finished for this year. Nothing else will happen until the spring."

"Jaffan's loyalty is to you, my Khedive."

"Jaffan will obey the orders of Orkhan or he will find his head atop a spear before too long. He will not be left in command for he was too close to me. No, another khedive will be sent out. I hope, though, that Jaffan will not suffer for letting two old men slip away into the night.""Who will the new khedive be, you think?"

"Who knows? Some creature of Aurungzeb's who is more malleable than I. One who will put his own ambitions above the lives of his men. The Searil will flow scarlet ere we take that fortress, Mughal."

"But it will fall in the spring. It will fall. And where will we be then?"

"Eating yoghurt in a felt hut on the steppes."

Mughal guffawed, then bent his face to the fire and nudged the kettle into the flames. They would have steaming kava to warm them before they broke camp and continued their journey.

"Will you turn your back on it so easily?" he asked.

Shahr Baraz was silent for a long time.

"I am of the old Hraib," he said at last. "This war which we have begun will usher the world into a new age. Men like myself and John Mogen were not destined to be leaders in the times to come. The world has changed, and is changing yet. The Merduk people are no longer the fierce steppe hors.e.m.e.n of my youth; their blood is mixed with many who were once Ramusian, and the old nomadic times are only a memory.

"Even the way of the warrior itself is changing. Gunpowder counts for more than courage. Arquebus b.a.l.l.s take no heed of rank. Honour counts for less and less. Soon generals will be artisans and engineers rather than soldiers, and war will be a thing of equations and mathematics. That is not the way I have waged it, or ever will.

"So yes: I will turn my back on it, Mughal. I will leave it to the younger men who come after me. I have seen a Merduk host march through the streets of Aekir; my place in the story is a.s.sured. I have that to take with me. Now I will ride east to the land of my fathers, there to see the limitless plains of Kambaksk and Kolchuk, the birthplace of our nation, and there I will leave my bones."

"I would come with you, if I may," Mughal said.

The terrible old man smiled beneath the twin tusks of his moustache.

"I would like that. A companion shortens a journey, it is said. And it will be a long journey."

"But it is the last journey," Mughal murmured, and poured steaming kava for them both.

T ELL me what you see," Macrobius said.

They stood on the battlements of the citadel of Ormann d.y.k.e, a cl.u.s.ter of officers and soldiers and one old man who was missing his eyes. Corfe stared out at the white, empty, snow-shrouded land beyond the flinty torrent of the Searil river.

"There is nothing there. The camps have been abandoned. Even the trenches and walls they delved and reared are hard to see under the snow; mere shadows running across the face of the hills. Here and there is the remnant of a tent, a strew of wreckage covered with snow. They have gone, Holiness."

"What is that smell on the air, then?"

"They gathered their dead under the terms of the burial truce, and burned them on a pyre in one of the further valleys. It is smoking yet, a hill of ashes.""Where have they gone, Corfe? Where did that great host go to?"

Corfe looked at his commander. Martellus shrugged.

"They have retreated into winter camp, a league or more from the walls."

"Then they are defeated. The d.y.k.e is safe."

"For now, yes. They will be back in the spring, when the snows melt. But we will be ready for them. We will hurl them back beyond the Ostian river and cleanse Aekir once more."

The High Pontiff bent his ravaged head, his white hair flickering in the chill breeze. "Thanks to G.o.d and the Blessed Saint."

"And you, Your Holiness, have done your duty here and done it well," Martellus said. "It is time you left to take up your proper place."

"My proper place?" Macrobius said. "Perhaps. I am no longer sure. Has there been no word from Charibon?"

"No," Martellus lied. "King Lofantyr will be returning from Vol Ephrir very soon; it is best you are in Torunn to meet him. There will be much for you and he to discuss. Corfe will go with you. He is a colonel now; he has done well. He is the only Torunnan to have survived Aekir and he will be able to answer the King's questions."

"Are you so sure the Merduks will not attack again, General?"

"I am. They have abandoned their artillery emplacements and will have to fight to rehouse their batteries again. No-my scouts tell me that they are completing a great new road between here and Aekir for the pa.s.sage of supplies. And they have small parties sniffing the upper and lower stretches of the Searil, searching for a way to outflank the d.y.k.e. They will not find it. The Fimbrians did well to build their fortress here. The campaign is finished for this year. You will spend a more comfortable winter in Torunn than you would here, Holiness, and you will be of more service to us there."

"Meaning?" Macrobius asked.

"Meaning I want you and Corfe to work on King Lofantyr. The d.y.k.e must be reinforced ere the snow melts. The Merduks have been having command difficulties-one of the reasons we are still here. But come spring they will be at our throats again under a new general. So it is rumoured."

Macrobius started. "Is Shahr Baraz dead then?"

"Dead or replaced-it makes little difference. But the Ostian is reputed to be thick with supply barges, many of them carrying firearms. The tactics will be different when they come again, and we have lost the eastern barbican. We hang on here by a thread, despite the fools who are celebrating in the refugee camps-another subject that Corfe will bring up when he meets the King."

Macrobius smiled wryly, looked blindly at Corfe.

"You have come far, my friend, since we shared burnt turnip on the Western Road. You have become a man who consorts with kings and Pontiffs, and your star has not finished rising yet; I can feel it."

"You will have thirty of Ranafast's troopers to escort you," Martellus said, a little put out. "It is all we can spare, but it should be enough. The road south is still open, but you should leave as soon as you can.""I travel in state no longer, General," Macrobius said. "All I own I wear on my back. I can go whenever you wish."

"It is time the world saw Macrobius again, and heard of the things that have been done here. We have done well, but it is only the first battle of a long war."

T HE year was turning. Even in Vol Ephrir the balminess was vanishing from the air and the flaming trees were growing barer by the day. The Conclave of Kings ground on interminably as the land settled into an early winter, a bitter winter that was already rendering the mountains impa.s.sable. This dark season would be long and hard, harder still for those lands which were under the shadow of invasion and war.

The High Pontiff in Charibon, Himerius II, issued a Pontifical bull denouncing the old blind man rumoured to be Macrobius and housed in Ormann d.y.k.e as an impostor and a heretic. His sponsor, the Torunnan general Pieter Martellus, who had successfully defended the d.y.k.e against the army of Shahr Baraz, was indicted on charges of heresy in his absence, and couriers were sent to Torunna to demand his removal and punishment.

A second bull authorized clerical authorities in the Five Ramusian Kingdoms of the West, as well as the duchies and princ.i.p.alities, to seize and detain any person or persons who were users of black magic, who were natives of a state not within the Ramusian fold or who publicly objected to the seizure of any of the above. These persons' property was to be considered confiscate and divided between the Church and the secular authorities of the region, and they were to be detained pending a Religious Trial.

At roughly the same time two thousand Knights Militant reached Abrusio in the Kingdom of Hebrion and were met by representatives of the Inceptine Order. The city of Abrusio was put under Theocratic Law and governed by a body of Inceptines and n.o.bles answerable only to the High Pontiff and to the Hebrian king-who unfortunately was far away in Vol Ephrir. The first day of the new rule was marked by the burning of seven hundred and thirty people, thus emptying the catacombs for the influx of fresh heretics and foreigners the Knights were rounding up throughout the city and the kingdom beyond.

But the crisis that would do most to affect the shape of the world in the times to come occurred in Vol Ephrir, where the a.s.sembled kings met to discuss the bulls of Himerius and the dilemmas facing the west.

"T O all appearances, we have two Pontiffs," Cadamost said simply. "That is a situation which cannot be allowed to continue. If it does, then anarchy will ensue."

"Anarchy is already alive and well throughout the Five Kingdoms, thanks to Himerius," Abeleyn snarled.

He had been apprised of the situation in Hebrion by Golophin's gyrfalcon, and now he burned to be away, to take back his kingdom and halt the atrocities.

"You verge on the edge of heresy, cousin," Skarpathin of Finnmark said, smiling unpleasantly.

"I teeter on the abyss of common sense, whilst you fools dance arguments on the heads of pins. Can't you see what is happening? Himerius realizes he is the impostor-the wrongly elected High Pontiff-so he strikes first, stamping his authority across the continent in fire and blood-"

"And rightly so," said Haukir of Almark resoundingly. "It is time the Church governed with a strong hand.

Macrobius, who is undoubtedly dead, was an old woman who let things slide. Himerius is the kind of man we need on the Pontifical throne: a man unafraid to act. A strong hand on the tiller."

"Spare me the eulogy, cousin," Abeleyn sneered. "Everyone knows that the Inceptines have had Almark in the pocket of their habits for years."Haukir went white. "Even kings have limits," he said in an unusually subdued voice. "Even kings can transgress. Your words will condemn you, boy. Already the Church governs your capital. If you do not take care it will end up governing your kingdom and you will die an excommunicate."

"I will die my own man then, and not a puppet of power-hungry Ravens!" Abeleyn cried.

The chamber went silent, the heads of state appalled at this exchange. The Fimbrians, however, looked only distantly interested, as if this were nothing to do with them.

"I will not obey the bulls of Himerius," Abeleyn said in a calmer voice. "I do not recognize him as Pontiff, but call him impostor and usurper. The true Pontiff is Macrobius. I repudiate the authority of Charibon, based as it is on a falsehood, and I will not see my kingdom torn apart by avaricious murderers who happen to be in the guise of clerics!"

Cadamost started to speak, but Abeleyn quelled him with a look. He was on his feet now, and every eye in the room was turned to him. In the silence it was possible to hear the birds singing in the tallest of the trees that surrounded the palace towers.

"I hereby withdraw Hebrion from the company of Ramusian Kingdoms which recognize the Prelate Himerius as High Pontiff. His inhumane edicts I will ignore, his servants I will banish from my borders. I stand here and say to you: who else is with me in this thing? Who else recognizes Macrobius as the true head of the Church?"

There was a pause, and then Mark of Astarac stood up slowly, heavily. His reluctance was obvious, but he faced the other rulers squarely.

"Astarac is allied to Hebrion in this thing; Abeleyn is betrothed to my sister. I will stand by him. I also repudiate Himerius the usurper."

A buzz of talk swept the room. It was silenced by the sc.r.a.ping of another chair on the beautifully ornate floor.

Lofantyr of Torunna was on his feet.

"Torunna has stood alone against the threat from the east. No succour have we had from any western state, and as Pontiff, Himerius has denied us the aid which is our right. I believe my general, Martellus the Lion of Ormann d.y.k.e. Macrobius is alive and is Pontiff. I will stand with Hebrion and Astarac in this thing."

That was all. No one else stood up, no one else spoke. The Ramusian Kingdoms were irrevocably split down the middle, and the continent possessed two High Pontiffs, perhaps two Churches. The air in the chamber was pregnant with foreboding, a sense of the destiny of the moment.

Cadamost cleared his throat and when he spoke was as hoa.r.s.e as a crow, his singer's voice crushed.

"I beg you, think of what you are doing. You lead three of the great kingdoms of the west. At a time when the enemy howls on our borders, we cannot afford to be riven apart like this. We cannot let the faith that sustains us be the weapon which cleaves our ranks apart."

"You are Heretics, all three of you," old Haukir said with scarcely concealed satisfaction. "No aid will you receive now, Lofantyr; you have signed the death warrant of your kingdom. And Hebrion and Astarac cannot stand alone against the other states of the west."

Abeleyn looked at them as they sat there: kings, dukes and princes. Almark and Perigraine, Finnmarkand Candelaria, Tarber and Gardiac, Touron and Fulk. Even Gabrion, long known for its tradition of independence. But what of the two men in black who sat silent in their midst? What of the Fimbrians?

"Do the electorates have anything to say about this, or will they follow the lead of others?" he asked.

Marshal Jonakait raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Fimbria has never recognized the authority of any power outside its borders, including that of the Pontiff.

We too are a Ramusian country, and the Inceptines live and work within our borders, but the electors are not bound by the bulls or edicts of the head of the Church."

Hope sprang up in Abeleyn. "Then your offer of troops still stands?"

Something like a smile crossed the marshal's hard face and then was gone.

"We will not contribute soldiers to any fellow-Ramusian state which wars upon another, but we will make them available to fight the Merduks."

Cadamost started up. "You cannot! You will be aiding heretics whose souls are as d.a.m.ned as the Merduks' are!"

Jonakait shrugged. "Only in certain eyes. The struggle in the east takes precedence over all else in the eyes of our superiors. If others disagree, then they will have to make their arguments known and we will consider them. But no Fimbrian will be farmed out as a mercenary in a fratricidal religious war."

"That is absurd!" Haukir cried. "Not long ago you were promising troops to whoever wanted them.

What is that if not farming your soldiers out as mercenaries?"

"Each and every case will be considered on its merits. I can promise no more."

The Fimbrians naturally could not commit themselves here and now. The west had split down the middle.

In honour, the electorates would have to send troops to Lofantyr-he had already asked for them, Abeleyn knew that. But they would wait and see what happened before committing them anywhere else.

No doubt the marshals were secretly hugging themselves with glee at the thought of a divided west, the Five Kingdoms at each other's throats. It augured well for any Fimbrian attempt to reestablish the Hegemony she had lost centuries before. But for the moment, more important was the fact that Lofantyr would have his reinforcements-though they would have a long journey ahead of them were they not to traverse Perigraine to reach Ormann d.y.k.e.

The gamble had paid off. Mark and Lofantyr had played their roles well, but then Abeleyn had had them well-rehea.r.s.ed in the days following the news from Charibon.

Haukir glared at the three renegade monarchs.

"I will personally see that the High Pontiff excommunicates you, and it will mean war-Ramusian versus Ramusian. May G.o.d forgive you for what you have done this day."

Abeleyn leaned forward on to the table. His eyes were like two black holes.

"What we have done today is lift our heads out of the Inceptine yoke that has been tightening on the throat of every land in the west for decades. We have delivered our kingdoms from the terror of the pyre."

"You have plunged the west into war at a time when she is already fighting for her life," Cadamost said."No," Lofantyr told him hotly. "Torunna is fighting for her life. My kingdom, my people-we are the ones who are dying on the frontier. You here know nothing of what we have suffered, and you have cared less. The true Pontiff resides in Ormann d.y.k.e at the heart of the struggle to defend the west. He is not sitting in Charibon issuing edicts that will send thousands to the pyre. I tell you this: before I am done, I will see this Himerius burned on the same pyre he has already burned so many innocents upon."

There was a shocked stillness. The men sitting at the table had an air of disbelief about them, as though they could not quite credit what they had heard.

"Leave this city," Cadamost said finally, his face white as paper and his eyes two red-limned orbs.

"Leave it as kings in due state, for once Charibon hears of this you will be beyond the Church and every right-thinking man's hand will be turned against you. Your anointed right to rule will be stripped from you and your kingdoms declared outlaw states. No orthodox ruler need fear retribution if he invades your borders. Our faces are turned against you. Go."

The three kings left their places and stood together. Before they started for the door, Abeleyn turned round one last time.

"It is Himerius we defy. We harbour no ill-will towards any other state or ruler-"

Haukir snorted derisively.

"-but if any seek to injure us without good cause, then I swear this to all of you: our armies will seek redress in the blood of your subjects, our fleets will make unending infernos of your coasts and we will show less pity to our foes than the blackest Merduk sultan. You will rue the day and hour you crossed swords with Hebrion, or Astarac, or Torunna. And so, gentlemen, we bid you good day."

The three young men, all kings, turned and left the chamber together. In the silence that followed, the Himerian kings, as they would come to be known, stared at the round table which had witnessed their conclave and the dissolution of the Five Kingdoms. The path of history had been set; all they could do now was follow it and pray to G.o.d and the blessed Ramusio for guidance on their journey.