CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Every throne is an arrow-butt.
Kellanved
Beneath the whirlwind's towering spire was a lower billowing of dust as the massive army decamped. Borne on wayward gusts, the ochre clouds spread out from the oasis, settling here and there among the weathered folds of ruins. The air was lit gold on all sides, as if the desert had at last unveiled its memories of wealth and glory, only to reveal them for what they truly were.
Sha'ik stood on the flat roof of a wooden watchtower near the palace concourse, the scurrying efforts of an entire city beneath her almost unnoticed as she stared into the opaqueness to the south. The young girl she had adopted kneeled close by, watching her new mother with sharp, steady eyes.
The ladder below creaked incessantly to someone's laboured ascent, Sha'ik slowly realized, and as she turned she saw Heboric's head and shoulders emerge through the trap. The ex-priest clambered onto the platform and laid an invisible hand on the girl's head before turning to squint at Sha'ik.
'L'oric's the one to watch,' Heboric said. 'The other two think they're subtle, but they're anything but.'
'L'oric,' she murmured, returning her gaze to the south. 'What is your sense of him?'
'You've knowledge that surpasses mine, lass—'
'Nevertheless.'
'I think he senses the bargain.'
'Bargain?'
Heboric moved to stand beside her and leaned his tattooed forearms on the thin wooden railing. 'The one the goddess made with you. The one that proves that a rebirth did not in truth occur—'
'Did it not, Heboric?'
'No. No child chooses to be born, no child has any say in the matter. You had both. Sha'ik has not been reborn, she has been re-made. L'oric may well seize on this, believing it to be a gap in your armour.'
'He risks the wrath of the goddess, then.'
'Aye, and I don't think he's ignorant of that, lass, which is why he needs to be watched. Carefully.'
They were silent for a time, both staring out into the south's impenetrable shroud. Eventually Heboric cleared his throat. 'Perhaps, with your new gifts, you can answer some questions.'
'Such as?'
'When did Dryjhna choose you?'
'What do you mean?'
'When did the manipulation begin? Here in Raraku? Skullcup? Or on a distant continent? When did the goddess first cast her gaze upon you, lass?'
'She never did.'
Heboric started. 'That seems—'
'Unlikely? Yes, but it is the truth. The journey was mine, and mine alone. You must understand, even goddesses cannot foresee unexpected deaths, those twists of mortality, decisions taken, paths followed or not followed. Sha'ik Elder had the gift of prophecy, but such a gift, when given, is no more than a seed. It grows in the freedom of a human soul. Dryjhna was greatly disturbed by Sha'ik's visions. Visions that made no sense. A hint of peril, but nothing certain, nothing at all. Besides,' she added with a shrug, 'strategy and tactics are anathema to the Apocalypse.'
Heboric grimaced. 'That doesn't bode well.'
'Wrong. We are free to devise our own.'
'Even if the goddess did not guide you, someone or something did. Else Sha'ik would never have been given those visions.'
'Now you speak of fate. Argue that with your fellow scholars, Heboric. Not every mystery can be unravelled, much as you believe otherwise. Sorry if that pains you ...'
'Not half as sorry as I am. But it occurs to me that even as mortals are but pieces on a gameboard, so too are the gods.'
'“Elemental forces in opposition,”' she said, smiling.
Heboric's brows rose, then he scowled. 'A quote. A familiar one—'
'It should be. It's carved into the Imperial Gate in Unta, after all. Kellanved's own words, as a means to justify the balance of destruction with creation – the expansion of the Empire, in all its hungry glory.'
'Hood's breath!' the old man hissed.
'Have I sent your mind spinning in other directions, Heboric?'
'Aye.'
'Well, save your breath. The subject of your next treatise – no doubt that handful of obscure old fools will dance in excitement.'
'Old fools?'
'Your fellow scholars. Your readers, Heboric'
'Ah.'
They were silent again for some time, until the ex-priest spoke once more. 'What will you do?' he asked softly.
'With what has happened out there?'
