There was a moment's shocked pause. Then laughter boiled up from him, bemusing me and causing his sister to give him another withering look. He clearly found it very amusing. I wasn't sure whether to be offended or not. I turned to Blackbird, the memory of a smile played on her lips, but she just raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "This cannot be," Raffmir declaimed to the tunnels. "You may be a mongrel, but no half-brother to me or mine can carry a name like that into a trial." Blackbird corrected him. "As I think you pointed out, Raffmir, he cannot have a formal name for he has not yet been received at court to claim one. These are the only names he has."

"Then I shall give him one. One fit for a brother to me, though the blood-ties are more tenuous than I would wish. If you are to stand trial, mongrel, I will not have you tested without a name. I name you Alshirian, Son of the Void, Brightest Star in the Heavens. A mongrel name for a mongrel Fey. Be welcome, Dogstar, into your heritage."

"Another name will be yours," Blackbird whispered, "when you have earned it." It was an echo of Kareesh's words and I tried to remember what else she had said. There was something about evading traps and wearing cloaks, but after all that had happened I could not remember her precise words.

"Now you," Blackbird addressed the figure in grey. "Mind your manners, half-breed," she hissed.

"Come, sister," Raffmir said. "Would you rather forfeit than give up your name? Have a care. The laws of the Courts of the Feyre care nothing for the heritage of the tried. "

"They are not even Fey!" she spat.

"But you are, and therefore you are bound by Feyre law, just as I am. Will you stand before our lord and master and tell him you have broken Fey law? Have patience. All will be as it should."

These last words sounded as an ominous rea.s.surance of what was to come.

She folded her arms, stubbornly.

"There is sanction for those that refuse fair trial," he reminded her gently, "and that would be beyond my ability to protect you."

"Oh, very well. I am named Iriennen, Child of the Void, Nightshade's Daughter, also called Solandre. Satisfied?" This last was thrown at Blackbird.

She looked to Raffmir for confirmation and he nodded.

"It is nicely done," she confirmed. "Now it is for you to choose the trial." By her expression I could see she'd been dreading this part. They could choose anything they wished and I did not think they would make it easy.

"Very well," said Raffmir.

He walked to the rail and looked over, surveying the anvil and the figure below. Ben was sat on the anvil, and the ball of light floated out over Raffmir and into the vaulted s.p.a.ce sliding dark shadows into the niches along both sides and revealing the dark lines in his upturned face.

Raffmir surveyed the anvil and the smith beside it, the hammer resting on the dull surface.

"Since this concerns the making of a knife," he intoned, "the trial shall be this. The hammer must be taken by the one who stands trial from one side of the river to the other, simply that. See the rungs down into the water beyond the island. It must be crossed there." The light floated obligingly out over the island and we could see from that vantage point that bars were set like rungs into the bricks on either side of the river beyond the island, possibly dating from its construction. "Which of you will endure the trial?"

"It must be him!" Solandre pointed her bony finger at me. "He is the true abomination."

"No," said Blackbird. "It is ours to choose who endures. I will stand. "

"You can't," I blurted. "What about-"

She grabbed me and pulled me aside, shaking her head in warning. "One moment. We must confer. "

"What are you doing?" I whispered, once we had a little distance between us. "I thought I would do it. "

"You can't even swim." She dismissed my argument. "No one's going to swim carrying that." I pointed down to the hammer resting on the anvil. "It weighs a ton."

"You can't even bear to be near it, Niall. How are you going to carry it?"

"I'll manage somehow. You can't be serious. Not now." My emphasis of the word was not lost on her. "This way perhaps we may all survive. I will carry it across." Her voice was filled with doubt.

"But water's not your element. You're fire and air, not water and stone."

"It is my responsibility. I was the one who called trial. "

"No. I forbid it."

"You cannot forbid me." Her chin lifted and her eyes gleamed green in the dark.

"I've run out of visions, Blackbird. There are no more clues, no more mysteries to solve. All the pieces are played. My fate is decided here. You said I wouldn't make the dawn, but I did. If it was fortune that brought me here then it is my ordeal to be endured, not yours." I softened my voice so as not to be overheard. "I ask you. For my sake. For the child's sake. Let me do this. "

"You must come to your decision," said Raffmir from behind me.

Her eyes suddenly filled. She shook her head. I pressed my hand against her warm cheek.

"I have an additional condition," I announced, turning to him.

"And what would that be?" Raffmir's voice held challenge.

"By the laws of trial, is it true that once the matter is decided then the parties are free to go unmolested and neither hunted nor persecuted thereafter?"

"The law says the parties may not cause each other harm by the knowledge they have gained nor contest the matter further," he agreed.

"I want my daughter and the smith included in the parties," I told him. "If I undertake your trial then you will let them be, whether my daughter shows her Fey lineage or not. "

"That's highly irregular," he told me.

"You invoked my daughter's name here, Raffmir. You brought her into it and made her part of it. And if I succeed the smith must be free to complete his work without interference, threat, or fear of harm," I reminded him. "Very well," he agreed.

"You cannot!" Solandre interrupted him.

"It doesn't matter," he told her. "He will not succeed. The barrier will come down and everything will change. We are simply agreeing that us two will not cause them harm or cause harm to come to them. But that only applies to you and me."

"You cannot set others to harm us either," I reminded him.

"That would be to cause harm. We will let them be. It is agreed, isn't it, my sister?"

"You presume too much."

"Once the barrier is down many things will change. Two girls and a renegade smith are like autumn leaves in the mouth of the storm. Let him have his way. "

"Very well," she conceded. "But I will not fail again, Raffmir." She turned those mean colourless grey eyes on me. "I will have his soul. "

"Then I will stand."

The look that formed on Solandre's face was something I will never forget. She was like a spiteful child who had stolen a sweet and got away with it. I displayed a confidence I did not feel and smiled into the face of her spite.

"Peace, sister." Raffmir was all charm and smooth words again. "Retrieve your hammer, then, Dogstar, and we will see what transpires."

It was what I needed. By including Alex in the protection of the trial I had secured her safety whether I succeeded or failed. I could undertake the ordeal in the knowledge that Alex, Blackbird and the unborn child she carried would survive, whatever the outcome. At least until the world fell apart.

Twenty-Seven.

I turned back to Blackbird, finding her drawn but resolved. "Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" she asked.

"It's not ideal," I told her, "but it's the best that we

can make it."