'This is not a good plan,' Ponclast said. 'Fulminir is not fully rebuilt, and it will take months if not years for the work to be completed. It is not viable as a fortress. Pellaz har Aralis will bring an army of many thousands. They will have sedim to whom walls will mean nothing. There are too few of us. You must give us more a.s.sistance.'

'You will get what you need,' Abraxis said. 'The teraphim will deal with the sedim. That is not your concern. Make one attack, that's all. Small and swift. It will not achieve much, but it will be a warning and it will make them think twice about storming this place. Then you must summon the Tigron. Are you ready to pitch your will and strength against his?'

Ponclast was silent for a moment. 'Why am I fighting this war for you?'

Abraxis narrowed his strange, smoky blue eyes. 'You are fighting a war to reclaim your land and your status among Wraeththukind. We are offering you a.s.sistance. Your question puzzles me.'

Ponclast was surprised to hear Abraxis admit he was puzzled, not that for one moment he believed it to be true. 'Why are you offering us a.s.sistance? I think perhaps that we are offering it to you.'

'We have mutual interests at stake,' Abraxis said. 'Let us simply agree we can help each other. If we withdraw our a.s.sistance now, the Gelaming will crush you. I hope you are clever enough to know that.'

'I do know that,' Ponclast said, 'but even so some questions I have in my mind are not being answered. The murky areas concern me.'

'Let me put my hands upon your new son,' Abraxis said. 'Take this as a gift.'

Ponclast hesitated only a moment, then went to the crib where his and Abrimel's son lay sleeping. He was a perfect harling, so unlike all the others Ponclast had created.

'A beautiful being,' Abraxis said, with uncharacteristic warmth. 'Have you named him?'

Ponclast was suspicious of this new, strangely sociable aspect of the Hasmal. 'Not yet. The name has not come to me.'

'Then allow me to name him for you. Understand that this is a rare gift indeed.'

Ponclast held the harling close for some moments, then held him out. As he watched the Hashmal's enormous hands close around his son, he felt like he had put a seal over the future, over a single path, eclipsing all other possibilities.

Abraxis' hands began to glow. He lifted the harling high, staring up at him, and the harling laughed. 'Son of Hermaphroditus, I name you Geburael, creature of strength and power. May the emanations of the highest spheres penetrate your being.' He brought the harling close to his face and kissed him. The newly named Geburael uttered a whimper.

'Give him back,' Ponclast said.

The Hashmal did so and when he released the harling from his hands, strings of radiance still hung in the air, from the ends of his fingers to the body of the child. 'Affectionately, you will call him Geb, which is also an ancient name for a G.o.d of the earth.'

The harling pressed himself close against Ponclast, who could feel the tiny heart beating frantically, like a terrified bird's.

'You live at the foot of the mountains,' said Abraxis, 'and even though I come down from the High Place to you, remember nonetheless from whence I come.'

'I don't know of what you speak,' Ponclast said.

'You are har, a being of flesh and blood, trapped in a narrow realm. We are not. You could not even comprehend us in our natural state, so you are in no position to question or even ponder our movements.'

'What will happen after Pellaz is defeated?'

'You will give him to us, and through him we will eat out the hearts of his a.s.sociates. Once they are gone, you will ride the spirit paths to Immanion, and the city will offer itself to you. Be merciful or not, as you see fit. Instate your consort on his hostling's throne. Enjoy your realm and forget us.'

'You have an interest in my son,' Ponclast said. 'I find the prospect of forgetting you somewhat unrealistic.'

'He is our investment in the future of this realm,' Abraxis said. 'He will not be taken from you, if that is what you fear. He will carve his own path.'

Abraxis drew himself to his full height. 'The march has begun. Soon, the time will come for you to capture the hearts of all hara in this realm. You will prove to them who has real power. Be at rest, Ponclast. Walk in your fields. Gaze upon the stars. Be sure they look down upon you.'

The air flexed as if squeezed by a divine hand and Ponclast was left alone; the only evidence left behind of the Hashmal's presence was a faint aroma of burnt sugar.

Ponclast kissed his son and walked to the window. He could see out over the fields beyond Fulminir. He could see the stars, hard in a cloudless sky. Geburael reached out his hands to them greedily; a child clutching for pretty, sparkling things.

One evening, Cal did not return to his room at sundown and Tyson and Moon ate in the courtyard alone. 'Kyrotates will be little more than bones soon,' Tyson said.

Moon rubbed his arms. That night, the air was chill. 'The season is beginning to turn,' he said. 'I can feel the changing time.'

'The trees are so heavy,' Tyson murmured, 'it is like they become too heavy with life at this time.'

'That sounds grim,' Moon said.

'Perhaps humanity was like that,' Tyson continued. 'They collapsed under their own weight and died. They went into the earth and we came out of it.'

'What's wrong with you?'

Tyson smiled at his dinner plate. 'I'm feeling philosophical tonight.' He ate the last of his meal, licked his fingers and put the plate on the ground. He appeared strange, almost drunk. Languorously he undid the tie around his hair, shook it loose, scratched his head with both hands. 'Something is coming,' he said. 'I can feel it.'

Moon felt unnerved, as if a crowd of unseen ghosts was shuffling toward them. 'Ty?' Involuntarily, he moved closer to the fire.

'If I close my eyes,' Tyson said, 'it's as if the sky is whirling. It's whirling inside me. I'm not myself. I feel different.'

His words had a strange effect upon Moon. He felt disorientated, as if they were back in the City of Ghosts. He experienced the same anxiety about time, as if Tyson would be taken from him at any minute, by the presence of others, particularly the voice of Terez, calling in the night air. But there would be no summoning call. There was no Snake, no Raven, not even an Ember. Just themselves and the night. It was magical. No harsh words had been said. Regret did not discolor the air. They had not even shared breath yet. The same, yet different.

Moon got to his feet. Tyson's head was lowered. Moon could see his neck where his hair parted and fell over his shoulders. He wanted to touch the knuckle of spine there.

Tyson looked up at him and Moon held his gaze for long seconds. Then Tyson stood up. He made a soft sound and rubbed Moon's arms with his hands.

Moon did not think or wait any longer. He curled his arms around Tyson's back and Tyson smiled. 'Beauty,' he murmured.

'Taste me,' Moon said.

They took aruna beneath the sky, their skins made pale by starlight. Moon kept his eyes open the entire time, because then it was impossible not to be aware of exactly what was happening. He found he could move his perception from right inside himself, where he could observe the fluid mechanics of what they did, to outside and above himself, where he could look down and see Tyson upon him. He could feel Tyson's mind inside him, as well as his body. You see? He said in mind touch. It's not terrifying. You're not losing yourself. We are just together, bigger than we are when we're apart.

Part of you will stay in me and part of me in you, Tyson said in return. It is a kind of losing, but not in a bad way.

It's called giving, not losing, Moon said.

Tyson raised his head and gazed into Moon's eyes. He stopped moving. 'For this moment, this is all we are.'

Moon's breath came shallow. He too was motionless. Looking into Tyson's eyes, he saw the stars churn deep in the heart of the universe. He could feel energy brewing up, like a storm. A wind had arisen in reality, it lifted strands of Tyson's hair. It made song in the buildings around them. Yet they were so still in mind and body. So still. In the City of Ghosts, late at night, Moon had sometimes heard storms screaming over the water from a great distance, bearing down upon the broken towers of his home. It was like that now. He could feel it coming, even though neither he nor Tyson made a move. Aruna, its own creature, sought its own satisfaction.

Just before the storm broke, and they were lost to the pleasure of ecstasy, Moon realised what was happening. He yelled out and pushed Tyson from him roughly. He rolled away, blind; strong contractions coursing through every muscle of his body, furious and demanding. He felt something open up inside himself and curled into a ball. The pain was searing. For some minutes, nothing made any sense, as if his perceptions had gone into shutdown. The world was incomprehensible, but then he became aware that Tyson was holding him in his arms, saying his name over and over.

'I'm all right,' he said. His mouth was full of a foul, bitter taste.

'Why did you...? What did you...?' Tyson shook his head. His pupils in the bright starlight were enormous, as if he'd taken some kind of narcotic.

'I couldn't do it,' Moon said. 'Not to you, because I know your feelings. You do know what was about to happen, don't you?'

'No. Everything just went completely strange. I did warn you, didn't I? Oh, Moon, does this mean we can't be together? Is that what it means?'

'Tyson,' Moon said. 'Calm down. We nearly made a pearl, that's all. I stopped it.'

'How did you know?'

'I just did. I just felt it. I feel really sick.'

'Sit up. I'll get you some water.'

Moon managed to haul himself up, although his belly ached abominably. He wondered if he'd damaged himself. He didn't understand what had happened. He'd thought hara had to concentrate really hard to do what they'd done.

Tyson returned with a cup of water, which was tepid, but Moon drank it all gratefully. He wanted to get rid of the taste in his mouth. Tyson had also brought a coat out with him, which he draped over Moon's shoulders. He squatted beside Moon, one hand on the back of Moon's neck. 'I feel really odd too. Did I want that to happen, Moon? Is it what I secretly want?'

'I've no idea,' Moon said. 'It was so good, then it was... that. I've always thought aruna had a mind of its own; now I know for sure.'

'I think this is what it must have been like for Lileem, my Kamagrian friend I told you about. Remember? A bit like that, anyway. When she took aruna or even shared breath with a har, she could step out of this world. I shared breath with her once she used it as a means to leave this realm. It was amazing. What happened with us just then - it was similar, so beyond our control, like a new world opening up. It was just like what I'd feared.'

'We need to talk to somehar.'

'Like who? Cal? I don't think so.'

'Somehar away from here. Pell. Cobweb. I don't know. I don't want to be here any more, Ty. I want to be with you, but we have to understand what we've done and why it happened. That won't happen here.'

'We can't leave,' Tyson said. 'What about Azriel and Aleeme? They are the reason we're here.'

Moon sighed. 'Is it?'

Tyson frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'I don't know. I wonder whether Cal can really get them out. It doesn't seem feasible.'

'But you said you saw him use some kind of weird power in Galhea. He's had training. He can use the otherlanes.'

'But he hasn't,' Moon said flatly. 'Painful thought it might be, we should consider what other motives he might have for being here.'

'Why bring us with him, though? If he simply wanted to go to Ponclast, he wouldn't have bothered with us, surely. He needn't have come back to Galhea at all.'

'Oh, I don't know,' Moon said. 'It's all too confusing. Things just don't feel right. It's like we're wasting time.' He tried to stand, and winced with pain. 'Ty, take a look at me, will you? Something's wrong.'

'I'll take you inside,' Tyson said. 'We need the light.'

Moon allowed Tyson to lift him and carry him back into their room, where Tyson laid him on one of the beds. Moon opened his legs a little and even that hurt.

'You're bleeding a bit,' Tyson said.

'How bad?'

'Not bad. You must have ripped yourself when you threw me across the yard! By Ag, you have some strength, har! But I should probably give you some healing. Not that I'm a great adept at that.'

'Anything will do. What other option do we have?'

Tyson settled beside Moon and put one hand over his soume-lam, the other on the base of his spine. Presently, after a sputtering start, healing energy flowed from him as soothing warmth.

'What if I'm really hurt?' Moon said.

'It'll be okay,' Tyson said. 'Hush.'

Cal returned to them in the morning. He was so preoccupied he didn't react to finding them both in the same bed. Tyson said, 'So what's left of Kyrotates?' and laughed, although Cal did not even smile.

'What I discovered isn't good,' Cal said. 'Aleeme is in great danger.'

'Then we must get him out of here as soon as we can,' Tyson said, getting out of bed. He began to dress himself.

Cal frowned. 'It's too soon. It's not what I planned.'

'What did you plan?' Moon asked. He sat up and was relieved to find he didn't hurt so much now. 'Should we talk of this here?'

'I have constructed a haze,' Cal said. 'A little trick to confuse snoopers, but I can't keep it in place for long because then it would arouse suspicion.'

'I can't perceive it,' Moon said.

'No, I don't expect you can.' Cal poured himself a cup of water and drank it. 'I wanted to make best use of the confusion when the Gelaming arrive to get the Parasilians out. The only thing I can think of is that I should use the otherlanes to get to Aleeme, but that might be noticed. I still don't know how perceptive Ponclast is he keeps me in the dark over most things.'

'What is wrong with Aleeme?' Tyson asked. 'Is he being tortured?'

'In a way,' Cal answered. 'He is with pearl. Ponclast committed pelki on him and in some abominable way created new life. Aleeme has already borne one pearl, now he carries another. His body is suffering. He has lost all hope. He is dying.'

A wave of black pa.s.sed across Moon's vision. 'We have to do something. Do whatever it takes, Cal. Take the risk!'

'Don't state the obvious, moonling,' Cal said dryly. 'I'm thinking hard.' He sighed through his nose. 'As I've always believed, the Varrs, or the Teraghasts as we must now call the hara here, are not beyond redemption. Kyrotates is a good sort very similar to Ithiel, in fact. He is older and wiser than he was no longer a painted barbarian resentful of everything. He is aware of this, as the majority of first generation hara have had to become aware of such things. He told me that most of the hara here want only to live their lives in peace. They feel obliged to Ponclast, because his will has kept them alive, and his sacrifice has given them freedom. They all believe his alliance with whatever beings have found him is a sacrifice. I have no doubt that Ponclast loves his hara deeply.

'But anyway, that is hardly relevant to the problem in hand. Kyrotates has mixed feelings about what Ponclast has done to the Parasilians. Like all Teraghasts he reviles Swift's name and feels the Parsics are traitors, but he also believes that the matter should be settled through an honourable fight, not by committing pelki on helpless victims. He has seen Aleeme, and I think the image has stayed with him. He was grateful to relieve himself of it to me.'

'Will he help us?' Tyson asked, b.u.t.toning up his shirt.

'Don't be ridiculous,' Cal said, 'of course he won't. He can't. I have asked him to allow me access to Aleeme to give him healing. He wasn't too keen on that idea either. He is loyal to Ponclast, but also afraid of him, and rightly so, in my opinion.'

'Then what are you going to do?' Moon asked.

'I might have to get us into Aleeme's room. It is strongly guarded. Then we will have to find Azriel. Aleeme is very sick. I'm not sure how we'll manage this. It will be a dangerous and reckless venture. Oh, shades of Piristil! Where are the good poisoners when you need them?'

'When will we do this?' Tyson asked.

Cal shook his head, as if he wasn't sure. 'I think it will have to be when the Gelaming get here. They will be here soon. I wish you two had been trained as I was! It would be much easier if I could distract Ponclast one night and you could use the otherlanes to get to Aleeme and Azriel.'

Tyson glanced at Moon, and Moon could tell what he was thinking. 'Maybe there is a way,' Tyson said.

'Oh?' Cal said.