'We noticed, Excellency,' said Pazel. 'Don't worry. Neeps and I will stay close to her.'

'He will worry,' said Thasha. 'And just wait - he's going to try once more to tell us all what to do, even though he has no idea and will have to make up some useless flimflam on the spot. He's an old buffoon.'

'No he's not,' said Pazel, startling everyone. 'Leave off baiting him, won't you? Think of what Ramachni said: we're a clan, like Diadrelu's clan, and we have to work together.'

'Dri's clan took her t.i.tle away,' said Thasha.

'And we are humans, not ixchel,' said Hercol. 'There are worthier comparisons. But Pazel speaks a vital truth. Our enemies bicker; we must not, for whatever advantage we may have can be lost in a heartbeat.'

At that moment King Oshiram spotted Thasha and her father. He gestured to his guard captain, who sounded a note on a boar's-tusk hunting-horn: the signal for the march to the shrine. The dignitaries rose and hurried to their places. Thasha looked Pazel swiftly in the eye. It was an involuntary look, a reflex. It was the first time since daybreak that he had glimpsed her fear.

The road to the Mzithrini shrine stretched for a gentle mile, but some of the older dukes and bishwas had not walked so far in years (or their whole lives, in some cases); and the Templar monks at the head of the procession were much given to their gongs, and stopped dead for their ritual beatings; and the Boy Prince of Fuln was stung by a wasp; and goats defiled the road, leading to an ablutionary summit of all the attendant holy men. So it was that a walk the young people might have finished in half an hour stretched to thrice that time and more.

Treaty Day was a holiday, naturally. From all over Simja the common folk had come, and from neighbouring islands, and well beyond. At first light they had rushed to the city square to watch the Rite of the Firelords, in which masked figures representing the Night G.o.ds were driven back to their dark kingdom by dancers with torches, who then proclaimed Simjalla ready to receive the bride. Later when Thasha approached the Cactus Gardens, the crowd stretched far ahead of her, and so again when she left the city by the North Gate.

Everyone who had entered the city seemed to have raced out of it again, eager for another glimpse of the procession. Beyond the wall the land was mostly field and heath, but wherever a barn or goat-shed or granary ab.u.t.ted the road it was covered with well-wishers, crammed in the windows and on the rooftops. Others had scaled the stormbreak pines that rose in a thin stand halfway between the city and the shrine.

But most simply swarmed alongside. They could draw only so near: the king had caused a chain to be stretched waist-high on either side of the road, and the palace guard saw to it that the crowd stayed on the outside. But there were exceptions. Those especially favoured by King Oshiram had the freedom of the road. So did certain musicians, city elders, the rich and their voluminous families, children in school uniform, and a few dozen others whose form of distinction no one could recall.

In the last category was the same pale young man who had conducted Hercol to his meeting with the woman behind the fence. He was alone as before, although he greeted certain of the wealthier citizens with a bow. He trotted along quite close to Thasha's inner circle, hands in pockets, and now and then glanced at them sharply with a bright, knowing smile. His expression suggested a great desire to please. But he unsettled the wedding party, for none of them knew why he was there.

'If he smiles at me again I'll throw a rock at him,' growled Neeps.

'You do that,' said Pazel.

'Don't you dare, Undrabust!' said Fiffengurt. 'You stand for your birth country, and must do proud by her. But what do you suppose that hoppity-smiley fellow wants? It's blary plain he wants something. Each time I think he's about to speak he runs off again. And now there's a dog!'

For there was a dog: a little white creature with a corkscrew tail, dashing through the legs of the guard (to the king's great amus.e.m.e.nt), darting ahead of the monks, spinning on its hind legs before them all, yipping once, and vanishing into the throng.

The guests roared. 'Jolly old Simja! What next?' cried an Ipulian count.

Thasha and her friends did not laugh. They all knew the dog. It belonged to the sorcerer, Arunis.

'That cur's woken, I'd bet my beard,' hissed Fiffengurt. 'I reckon Arunis sent it to remind us that he's watching our every move.'

'It never speaks, though,' said Pazel. 'Arunis said it hadn't woken yet yet - as if he expected it to, one day. But it's a nasty little brute, woken or not. We'd never have been taken prisoner back in the Crab Fens if it weren't for that dog.' - as if he expected it to, one day. But it's a nasty little brute, woken or not. We'd never have been taken prisoner back in the Crab Fens if it weren't for that dog.'

'There are woken beasts cropping up everywhere,' said Neeps. 'Do you know what the tailors who dressed us this morning were gossiping about, Mr Fiffengurt? A rabbit. A little brown hare who screamed "Mercy! Mama! Mercy!" as it ran, until the hounds caught up and killed it. And I swear I heard one of those messenger birds talking back to his rider.'

'And two woken rats on the Chathrand Chathrand,' said Pazel. 'And Ott's falcon, Niriviel. Five animals in three months. Five more than I'd met in my lifetime to this point.'

'Or I in mine,' said Hercol, 'except for Ott's bird. That poor creature I have known for years.'

'Something's happening to the world,' said Thasha with conviction, 'and all these wakings are a part of it. And so is Arunis.'

Pazel looked at Hercol with alarm. 'Could he literally be causing causing it all?' it all?'

'No,' said Hercol. 'He is mighty, but not so mighty that he can light the flame of reason in creatures from one end of Alifros to another. If that were the case he should hardly need such servants as a prancing dog, or a washed-up smuggler like Mr Druffle. Besides, why should he wish for beasts to wake? Arunis dreams of enslaving this world, and nothing is so inimical to slavery as a thinking mind.'

'I'm a part of it too,' said Thasha, 'and the Nilstone is a part of me.'

'You're drunk,' said Neeps.

Thasha shook her head, then turned and glanced over her shoulder. 'He's close, you know.'

The others were startled. Neeps, feigning a stone in his shoe, stepped to one side of the procession and bent down. A moment later he caught up with them. 'She's right,' he said. 'Arunis is very very close. Uskins is with him, looking scared out of his mind. And Dr Chadfallow's between them, talking.' close. Uskins is with him, looking scared out of his mind. And Dr Chadfallow's between them, talking.'

'd.a.m.n him,' whispered Pazel.

The remark did not escape Hercol. 'The doctor did not choose his walking companions,' he said. 'Rose provided a list to the Mistress of Ceremonies, and she decided who should stand with whom.'

'That doesn't mean he has to talk.'

'Nor does talk mean he is betraying us.'

'Let's not argue about the doctor,' said Fiffengurt. 'He's lost your trust, and that's the end of that. You've got a mighty task before you as well today, Pathkendle.'

'One you ought to let me help with,' said Neeps sulkily.

'Those debates are behind us,' said Hercol. 'Look: we are almost to the shrine.'

Indeed they were climbing the last little rise. The broad, whitewashed structure loomed before them, and the jade-green dome of the Declarion shone brilliant in the sun. On the broad stairs hundreds of figures, in robes of white and black, waited in silence.

'Thasha,' whispered Pazel with sudden urgency. 'Let me hear your vows.'

She looked at him blankly.

'You know,' said Pazel. 'Your vows vows.'

'Oh. My vows.' She pushed a drooping orchid from her face. Then, leaning close, she rasped out a string of wet Mzithrini words. The smell of brandy notwithstanding, Pazel was relieved.

'Almost,' he said. 'But for the love of Rin don't leave out the r r in in uspris uspris. You want to call Falmurqat "my prince," not "my little duckling." '

'Hercol Stanapeth,' said a sudden voice behind them.

It was the pale young man from the gardens again. Hercol turned and looked at him.

'Well, lad?'

Again, that shallow, ironic bow. Then the young man fell in beside them and pulled a small envelope from his pocket. 'A gentleman stopped me at the gate, sir, and bade me deliver this to your hand.'

The young man was looking at Thasha, who returned his gaze warily. Hercol s.n.a.t.c.hed the envelope. It was sealed with oxblood wax, and bore no writing. Hercol made no move to open it.

'What is your name, lad, and who is this gentleman?'

'I am Greysan Fulbreech, sir. King's clerk, though my term of employment is coming to an end. As for the gentleman, I did not ask his name. He was well dressed, and he gave me a coin.' He was still looking at Thasha. 'This message, however, I would have delivered free of charge.'

Pazel was finding it hard not to dislike this clerk. 'I'm sure King Oshiram's keeping you very very busy,' he said. busy,' he said.

'I don't get a moment's rest,' said Fulbreech, not sparing him a glance.

'Then be on your way,' growled Fiffengurt, 'unless you've more to tell us?'

The young man looked at Fiffengurt, and for a moment his smooth demeanour failed him, as though he were struggling to reach some decision. At last he took a deep breath and nodded. 'I bear another message,' he said. 'Master Hercol, she on whose answer you wait has decided. This winter there shall be fire in the hearth.'

Fulbreech stole a last glance at Thasha, and left without another word.

Only Thasha, who had known Hercol all her life, saw the shock he disguised so well. A code A code, she thought, but who could be sending coded messages to Hercol? but who could be sending coded messages to Hercol? She did not bother to ask for an explanation, and was glad to see the tarboys keeping silent as well. Hercol would explain nothing until he judged the moment right. She did not bother to ask for an explanation, and was glad to see the tarboys keeping silent as well. Hercol would explain nothing until he judged the moment right.

But Fiffengurt could not restrain himself. 'What in the bower of the Blessed Tree was that that all about?' all about?'

'Very little, maybe,' said Hercol. 'Or perhaps the whole fate of your Empire. How does the rhyme, go, Quartermaster? Arqual, Arqual, just and true? Arqual, Arqual, just and true? We shall see.' We shall see.'

He would say no more, but in his voice was a happiness Thasha had not heard in years. Then he opened the little envelope, glanced at the single line of writing it contained, and the joy vanished like a snuffed match.

He put the envelope in his pocket. 'Greetings from the Secret Fist,' he said. 'They are watching us. As if there could be any doubt.'

The Father stood atop a staircase of great stone ovals, before the central arch of the shrine. His arms were spread as if in welcome, or perhaps to hold back the procession. Here in the sunshine his great age was more apparent, and so was his unnatural vigour. His raiment was black, and the white beard against it was like a snowdrift on a hill of coal. In his right hand he clasped a sceptre: pure gold but for a crystal set at the top, within which some dark object glittered.

His aspirants stood below him, three to a side (Look at them, people whispered, they're sfvantskor they're sfvantskors, they can kill you with their eyes shut). Like their master they wore black, but their faces were young: faces of men and women barely out of their teens. Symbols for birthplace and tribe gleamed in red tattoos upon their necks. Those nearest the Father wore white masks - ghostly against the sable robes. A seventh knelt just before the Father with a silver knife across his lap.

On the steps below the aspirants stood rows of women - a hundred or more, old and young, light and dark. Below these stood as many men, holding strange gla.s.s pipes of many colours, each one dangling from a braided thong.

Like a wave about a sandcastle the crowd engulfed the shrine, blanketing the low hills on either side of the road. A hush had fallen over them: the old man's stillness had erased all sense of a carnival from the proceedings. Toil and wind, hard stone, cold seas: these were what they saw in his unblinking eyes.

'I am nameless,' he said, and his voice carried a surprising distance. 'My holy office is my fate: there is nothing more. I am Father-Resident of Babqri City, Master of the Citadel of Hing, Confessor to His Serene Majesty King Somolar. I am the sworn foe of things evil, for ever.

'Two thousand years ago the shrines of the Old Faith stood on every isle of this archipelago, and the Gatri-Mangol, the White Kings of Mangland, presided over an age of wealth and order. Here where we are gathered rose one of the most beautiful shrines of all, destroyed by the rising sea in the Worldstorm. Twenty-six years ago I sent a letter to a monarch, new to his throne but wise beyond his years, and begged a great favour, and he granted it. We of the Faith bow before thee, Oshiram of Simja, first king of these isles to allow the rebuilding of a Mzithrin house of prayer.'

And with that the Father descended to his knees, placed the sceptre with infinite care before him, and bent his forehead to the ground.

The king fidgeted, cleared his throat. 'You're welcome, Father, very welcome. Now do rise.'

Slowly the Father took his feet.

'This house is young, but its founding-stones were recovered from the old shrine, and they are sacred. Therefore will I take my place beneath the great arch and bar the path to those whom devils claim. They may not enter here. Let them fear the attempt.'

He raised the sceptre high, and the sun gleamed on the crystal at its tip, but the dark heart was not illuminated. Then with a last fierce look he turned and marched into the shadows.

'Oh happy day,' muttered Neeps.

Thasha elbowed him. 'His sceptre,' she whispered. 'There's a drawing of it in the Polylex Polylex, or of one just like it. Something blary special, it was. Oh, what was its name?'

Pazel sighed. Thasha owned a copy of the most dangerous book ever written: the forbidden thirteenth edition of The Merchant's Polylex The Merchant's Polylex, the mere possession of which was punishable by death. Earlier editions, and later ones, were to be found in every ship's library and seamen's club; they were simply huge (and untrustworthy) one-volume encyclopedias. The thirteenth, however, was crammed with the darkest secrets of the Arquali Empire. But the book was more frustrating than useful, for the author had hidden those secrets in over five thousand pages of rumour and hearsay and outright myth. It was a wonder that Thasha found anything anything within its pages. The priest's sceptre, now-- within its pages. The priest's sceptre, now-- A terrible thought came to him suddenly. He gripped Thasha's arm.

'What if he's a mage?' he said, looking from one face to another. 'What if he can can keep evil from entering the shrine? keep evil from entering the shrine? All All evil?' evil?'

Neeps and Fiffengurt paled. Even Hercol looked alarmed. Thasha seemed to have trouble catching her breath.

'In that case . . .' she stammered. 'Well. In that case--'

She was interrupted by a burst of song from the Mzithrini women. It was a frightful sound, nearly a shriek. At the same moment the men raised their gla.s.s pipes and began to whirl them overhead by the straps, faster and faster, until they became mere blurs of colour in the sunlight. Astonishingly, although their orbits criss-crossed endlessly, the pipes never collided. And from them came a hundred eerie notes, high otherworldly howls, like wolves in caves of ice. It was the summons to the bride.

Thasha turned and looked back at her father. Isiq raised a trembling hand, but she was too far ahead of him to touch. She looked at each friend in turn, and longest at Pazel, who was fighting an impulse to shout, Don't go in there Don't go in there. Then she left her entourage and walked quickly to the steps.

The men fell back, still whirling their pipes, and so did the chorus of wailing women. And as Thasha climbed the stair a new figure emerged from the shrine. He looked to be in his thirties, nimble and straight, with a martial air about him: indeed he wore a kind of dark dress uniform, with a red sun pendant on his chest.

'Prince Falmurqat the Younger,' said Hercol.

'He's not young enough if you ask me,' growled Fiffengurt.

'A capable officer, according to Chadfallow's informants,' Hercol continued, 'but a reluctant one. Above all things his father desired a soldier-son, but until the Treaty raised the prospect of ending the long war, the son refused to have anything to do with the military. I gather he paints quite beautifully.'

'You're a lucky girl, Thasha,' said Pazel.

'And you're an idiot,' she said.

Behind the man came his parents, Falmurqat the Elder and his grey princess, and with them another Mzithrini holy man. This one was old, but not as old as the Father, and dressed not in black but a deep blood red.

Thasha and the prince met exactly as planned, on the step below the boy with the silver knife. The singing ceased; the men stopped their whirling display. Thasha looked utterly serene, now: she might have just climbed the steps of her own house on Maj Hill in Etherhorde. Without a word she lifted the knife from the boy's knees, turned and raised it to the watching thousands, and replaced it. Then she curtseyed before her prince, and he bowed in turn.

Thasha held out her hand, palm upwards and the prince studied it for a moment, smiling curiously. He spoke a few words in a voice meant for Thasha alone. Then he took up the knife and p.r.i.c.ked her thumb.

Instantly the red-robed cleric held out a small clay cup. Thasha let seven drops of blood fall into the milk it contained. The cleric swished it seven times. And laughed - a deep, almost manic laugh. He raised the cup high.

'Mzithrin!' he boomed. 'The Grand Family! Brothers and sisters of Alifros, learn but this one word in our tongue and you learn the essence of the Old Faith. None stand alone! None are worthless, none sacrificed or surrendered, every soul has a destiny and every destiny is a note in the music of the several worlds. Before us stands Thasha Isiq, daughter of Eberzam and Clorisuela. What is to be the destiny of the Treaty Bride? I look into this milk and cannot see the gift of her blood. Has it ceased to exist? Only a simpleton could think so - only a heretic or a fool! So I ask you: can it be the fate of Thasha Isiq to vanish, dissolved in our gigantic land?

'We of the Old Faith do not believe it. The blessed milk in my cup has not destroyed her blood. No, her blood has changed the milk, irreversibly and for ever. The milk we tint red is a bond and a vow. Drinking it, we we are changed: a part of this daughter of Arqual enters us, and remains. Blessings on your courage, Thasha Isiq! Blessings on our prince! Blessings on Mighty Arqual and the Holy Mzithrin, and all lands between! Blessings on the Great Peace to come!' are changed: a part of this daughter of Arqual enters us, and remains. Blessings on your courage, Thasha Isiq! Blessings on our prince! Blessings on Mighty Arqual and the Holy Mzithrin, and all lands between! Blessings on the Great Peace to come!'

The crowd erupted. All that had been said until this moment left them confused, but they knew what peace was, and their cry was a surging roar of hope and excitement and remembered loss. Beaming, King Oshiram looked at his new amba.s.sador. Smile, Isiq! One would think you were at an execution, you queer old fellow. Smile, Isiq! One would think you were at an execution, you queer old fellow.

'But the time to drink is still a moment off,' shouted the red-robed cleric, over the lasting cheers. 'Enter now, Thasha of Arqual, and be wed.'

4.