One thing at a time.

*Ah,' she said, trying to play along, *I'm glad to have you with us, Hanry. Despite our difficult history, at least we see eye-to-eye on this.'

*No more corruption,' he said, nodding. *Nothing to stop us using our gifts. It may not all be roses and friendship afterwards, of course, but at least we will be free to quarrel without destroying the world we covet.'

I do not covet the world, she thought.

*Let us, at least, agree not to fight in the Dale,' she said.

*We will be drained after healing the Wound, I suspect.

Besides, we have all of time to sort out our differences.'

Forger chuckled. *Very diplomatic. I agree * it would be best to concentrate on solving this problem without having to look over our shoulders. The task is too important to sully with personal issues.'

His words seemed much too reasonable, and distrust did not evaporate.

Rostigan, for his part, did not say anything, merely trudged along sullenly.

Soon they reached the Spire entrance and Rostigan led them inside. The dark antechamber had been scrubbed of mould, but its odour still hung faintly in the air. Adding to the smell was the corpse of an Unwoven, slumped by a stairwell leading upwards.

*Soldiers must have come through,' said Rostigan, moving past the body.

*Excuse me if I shed my disguise,' said Forger, removing the shirt that hid his leather. *No need for it here, and I do hate the way cloth sticks to me! I don't know how you ladies do it, in your dresses.'

Yalenna gave him a weak smile.

*Tell me, brother,' Forger continued, trotting after Rostigan up the stairs, *what do we do once we reach the roof? In regards to this healing we must accomplish, you have said very little about actual technique.'

*It is something best demonstrated,' said Rostigan. *Be assured, once I can show you, it will all make sense.'

*Excellent. I look forward to it.'

As he spoke, Forger passed by a large crack in the wall, and light played over a mean expression that did not match the tone of his voice. Yalenna swallowed nervously.

Is he really going to fall for this?

They passed more dead Unwoven and Yalenna worried they would fuel Forger's misgivings. She knew that Rostigan had secretly come here to speak to Salarkis. She wished now, however, that he had done something to hide the bodies.

Yalenna set her jaw firmly. There was no point worrying about things she could not change. She was locked into this, one way or another. She tried her best to seem resolute, as if she suspected the others would turn on her after they succeeded, and yet for the greater good it was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

After a long climb, they reached a room from which steps through a doorway led up to sunlight. Rostigan moved to a cracked porthole passing for a window, to stare out of while he rubbed his chin.

*I need to centre myself,' he said. *You both head up, if you like. I will follow momentarily.'

*Of course!' said Forger. *We'll just head up ahead of you. Yalenna? Ladies first.'

He stood aside from the doorway, holding a hand towards it.

This was never going to work. She and Rostigan had spoken about this moment, of course * he would go last, and she, if they needed her too, would go first. Neither of them thought it likely that Forger would volunteer to lead the way, but perhaps, if she went first, it would demonstrate there was nothing to worry about * as long as Forger followed closely enough that they came within sight of the Wound at roughly the same time. Rostigan could always give Forger a little extra push once he was on the stairs, if he needed one. However, now that they were actually here, she was not so comfortable with the idea. There were too many doubts in her mind, to be the first of them diminished.

*I think,' she said, *the honour should go to you, Hanry.'

*No need to call me that outside of mortal company.'

*But you have come the furthest, given up the most to be here.'

*I have not given anything up. I will return to it shortly.'

*Of course.'

Rostigan was trying to catch her eye and urge her up, but she ignored him. Forger glanced at the stairs, made a move as if towards them, but apparently changed his mind. It had been foolishly optimistic to think that he would unsuspectingly bounce on up, and Yalenna had ruined that slim chance anyway, by being cagey about going first.

*It just doesn't feel right,' Forger said, *to go ahead alone. We're all in this together, aren't we? So, let us take the steps together!'

Yalenna felt some small relief. *Yes, together! Come * shall we even link arms?'

Forger laughed harshly and his smile took on a vicious quality. *Did you really think me so stupid?'

Yalenna and Rostigan glanced each other.

*What do you mean?' said Rostigan.

Forger waved at the doorway and there was a ripple in the air * something had been hovering there indiscernibly, plugging the way.

*Can you hear us, Salarkis?' Forger called.

There came a quick scuffle on the roof and, *He knows!' yelled Salarkis. *He knows, he knows!'

*So damnably stupid,' said Forger, *that I would readily volunteer to have my gifts stolen away?'

A loose piece of stone slid out of the floor and flew at Rostigan. He flung up an arm and it cracked against his elbow.

Forger chuckled. *You hurt me, brother. I wanted so badly to trust you, yet you lied to me from the start.'

Yalenna shot a hand at the window to summon wind, funnelling it to a concentrated stream, aiming to push Forger towards the stairs. He laughed, gave a wave, and it diverted around him in streams.

*Oh, how it must have cost you, Priestess, to be nice to me.'

He gestured at her, caught hold of her clothes and dragged her towards him * he was so strong! Frantically she tried to push him away, but his influence wrapped around her fingers and stilled their wiggling, as her heels scraped along the ground.

*Rostigan!' she cried.

Rostigan stepped forward, sword drawn, one hand raised for threading.

*No you don't,' Forger said, manoeuvring her swiftly between them. She found herself staring into Rostigan's worried eyes.

*Let her go,' he said.

*Gladly.'

Suddenly Yalenna was whistling upwards, the world growing rapidly brighter. Her arm thwacked painfully against stone and she spun, to land in a disoriented heap. Pushing herself up, she blinked around her.

She had been flung onto the roof.

*Yalenna!'

Blearily she saw Salarkis, as the mortal man she remembered, and almost gave him a smile a but it dropped away from the corners of her mouth as her eyes turned upwards.

The Wound pulsed, and she gasped as she was seized in its power.

Forger's influence came at Rostigan like a hundred winding snakes, which whipped around his sword arm to tie themselves in knots.

*Why did you do it, Karrak?'

Rostigan grunted, trying to shake free.

*Tell me what really happened to you,' said Forger. *Where did you really go for all that time?'

*You a wouldn't understand.'

*Come, at least try to explain.'

*I had a moment of Regret.'

Forger scowled. *So what? So did I. Do you know what I saw? That I would devote my life to restoring my people, who we have just wiped from the face of Aorn. That I would get back my mummy and daddy,' he was spitting now, he was so angry, *and my little sis a oh, but I loved her the most, I think. Yet instead of saving her, I left her trapped in grey flesh, while I gallivanted about doing whatever I pleased. The most I've seen of her since? Perhaps some likeness, unrecognised at the time, in the face of a distant descendent, who I happened to be slaying.'

Rostigan broke Forger's grip for an instant, and was wrapped again more tightly than before.

*I'm sorry,' Rostigan said.

*Sorry? Ha, at least you make me laugh. There's nothing to be sorry about, my dear. Do you know why?'

*You'll tell me, I suppose.'

*Because it didn't change me! I don't care, you see? I didn't let some momentary imagining turn me into a piteous, blubbering mess!'

Forger pushed and Rostigan slammed against the wall. He slid to the floor, wondering how he had managed to avoid cracking his skull. Forger was too strong. That was the whole reason for trying to trick him onto the roof of his own accord. How miserably the plan had failed.

Rostigan became aware of a crumbling sound and looked up at the porthole window. Cracks ran out from it in all directions, bits of stone coming loose as it grew larger. He shoved off the wall moments before it fell away entirely, the whole side of the room opening up to daylight.

Forger moved past Rostigan to the edge. He gave a satisfied sigh as he took in the view, nostrils flaring as he breathed deeply. *Ah,' he said, *is it not a sweet thing, to taste such fresh air? Is life not full of innumerable pleasures? So wonderful, isn't it Karrak?'

Rostigan wondered if he dared try to rise. *Come to the roof with me then,' he said. *Forger, I beg you to consider it. No matter what you currently believe, once you have rid yourself of the Spell's threads, you will thank me for bringing you to this place.'

Forger got a faraway look. *I imagine you are right,' he said sadly. *But you aren't going to talk your way out of this one, old friend. Such a silver tongue you have, I always thought, for one so seldom used! Is that how you keep it so shiny?'

He stooped to grab Rostigan's cheeks, forcing them together to squeeze open his mouth and inspect his tongue. Rostigan was surprised by the motion, but not so surprised that he didn't immediately lunge with his sword, which rasped from the ground to sink into Forger's arm. Forger leapt backwards with an annoyed wince, cradling his injury.

*You beg me?' he said, disbelievingly. *Beg? Storm and ash, such a word to fall from Karrak's lips. I don't even know who you are anymore.'

*So what will you do? Kill me, take my threads?'

Forger gestured with his dripping arm and Rostigan slid towards the gaping wall.

*I don't care,' said Forger, *the tiniest bit about your threads. I just care that you die.'

His muscles tensed, poised to send Rostigan over the edge.

*Wait!' Rostigan yelled.

Forger paused. *Yes?'

Fly fast, my friends! Fly fast and help me now, and I will never call on you again! You will be free, as once you were!

A flock of them down at the pit, picking stringy meat from dead Unwoven, hearkened to his call. It was not so far away, as the crow flew.

*What is it?' Forger demanded impatiently.

*Let me go to the roof, at least,' said Rostigan. *Lessen the corruption while there is this chance, so you may rule the world for longer. You know that you can kill me easily, and Yalenna, once we are our old selves.'

Forger frowned. Then, slowly, he unspooled his grip.

*You're right,' he said. *The heat waves you cause before my eyes have made me short-sighted. On your feet then. Get up those stairs.'

Rostigan nodded and planted the tip of his sword on the ground as a prop to help himself up.

*And leave that sword where it is,' added Forger.

Rostigan stared at him darkly, but nodded. As he got to his feet, he made as if to drop the sword.

A shadow scythed in through the open wall and smashed into Forger's face. The bird's beak sunk so deeply into his eye that it was momentarily trapped, and immediately went into a frenzy, scratching its claws and beating its wings. Forger roared and staggered backwards, seizing the creature to wrench it free. He blinked rapidly, one socket an empty hole framed by black-feathered lashes, the other containing enough hate for both. As he focused on Rostigan charging, his hands went up too late * a great swipe of the blade sent one of them spinning away, to bounce wetly across the floor. More crows swooped in, flying against Forger, and he retreated under the onslaught until he was stopped by the opposite wall.

*Enough!' he roared, and a series of popping noises filled the air as bones broke simultaneously in multiple birds. A shockwave blasted forth, sending those that followed spinning out of the tower.

Rostigan sent out his influence, and Forger returned with his own * where the two met, they deflected each other to fall away, cascades of power showering to the floor.

*Your hurts find you weakened,' Rostigan grunted, though the effort of keeping Forger at bay was still very great. *And you have erected a shimmer, I sense, to stop my birds finding their way in.'

*I a will a rip a your a'

*I could perhaps tear it down, but I am thankful for the way it divides your concentration.'

Angry as he was, Forger managed to look a bit uncertain.

*I realise,' said Rostigan, *it's quite a choice. Take your chances with the crows, or maintain the shimmer and face me with lessened strength?'

Footsteps sounded from the stairs to the roof, and in his periphery Rostigan saw a figure emerge. A new stream of influence leapt at Forger.