‘I am Karsa Orlong, of the Uryd-’
‘Yes, yes, I know. From distant Genabackis. Little different from my fallen kin, the Jhag. Ignorant of your great and noble history-’
‘Less ignorant than I once was.’
‘Good. I am named Cynnigig, and now you are even less ignorant.’
Karsa shrugged. ‘The name means nothing to me.’
‘Of course not, it’s mine. Was I infamous? No, though once I aspired to be. Well, for a moment or two. But then I changed my mind. You, Karsa Orlong, you are destined for infamy. Perhaps indeed you have already achieved it, back in your homeland.’
‘I think not. No doubt I am believed dead, and nothing of what I did is known to my family or my tribe.’
Cynnigig cut off a haunch and threw it on the flames. A cloud of smoke rose from the hissing, spitting fire. ‘So you might think, but I would hazard otherwise. Word travels, no matter what the barriers. The day you return, you will see.’
‘I care not for fame,’ Karsa said. ‘I did once…’
‘And then?’
‘I changed my mind.’
Cynnigig laughed once again, louder this time. ‘I have brought wine, my young friend. In yonder chest, yes, there.’
Karsa straightened and walked over. The chest was massive, iron-bounded and thick-planked, robust enough to challenge even Karsa, should he choose to lift it. ‘This should have wheels and a train of oxen,’ the Teblor muttered as he crouched before it. ‘How did you bring it with you?’
‘I didn’t. It brought me.’
Games with words . Scowling, Karsa lifted the lid.
A single carafe of crystal stood in its centre, flanked by a pair of chipped clay beakers. The wine’s deep red colour gleamed through the transparent crystal, bathing the otherwise empty interior of the chest with a warm, sunset hue. Karsa stared down into it for a moment, then grunted. ‘Aye, I can see that it would fit you, provided you curled up. You and the wine and the brazier-’
‘The brazier! That would be a hot journey!’
The Teblor’s scowl deepened. ‘Unlit, of course.’
‘Ah, yes, of course. Cease your gawking, then, and pour us some wine. I’m about to turn the meat here.’
Karsa reached down, then snatched his hand back. ‘It’s cold in there!’
‘I prefer my wine chilled, even the red. I prefer everything chilled, in fact.’
Grimacing, the Teblor picked up the carafe and the two beakers. ‘Then someone must have carried you here.’
‘Only if you believe all that I tell you. And all that you see, Karsa Orlong. A T’lan Imass army marched by here, not so long ago. Did they find me? No. Why? I was hidden in my chest, of course. Did they find the chest? No, because it was a rock. Did they note the rock? Perhaps. But then, it was only a rock. Now, I know what you’re thinking, and you would be precisely correct. The sorcery I speak of is not Omtose Phellack. But why would I seek to employ Omtose Phellack, when that is the very scent the T’lan Imass hunted? Oh no. Is there some cosmic law that Jaghut can only use Omtose Phellack? I’ve read a hundred thousand night skies and have yet to see it written there-oh, plenty of other laws, but nothing approaching that one, neither in detail nor intent. Thus saving us the bloody recourse of finding a Forkrul Assail to adjudicate, and believe me, such adjudication is invariably bloody. Rarely indeed is anyone satisfied. Rarer still that anyone is left alive. Is there justice in such a thing, I ask you? Oh yes, perhaps the purest justice of all. On any given day, the aggrieved and the aggriever could stand in each other’s clothes. Never a question of right and wrong, in truth, simply one of deciding who is least wrong. Do you grasp-’
‘What I grasp,’ Karsa cut in, ‘is the smell of burning meat.’
‘Ah, yes. Rare are my moments of discourse-’
‘I had no idea.’
‘-which cannot be said for this meat. Of course you wouldn’t, since we have just met. But I assure you, I have little opportunity to talk-’
‘There in your chest.’
Cynnigig grinned. ‘Precisely. You have the gist of it. Precisely. Thelomen Toblakai indeed.’
Karsa handed the Jaghut a beaker filled with wine. ‘Alas, my hand has warmed it some.’
‘I’ll suffer the degradation, thank you. Here, help yourself to the deer. Charcoal is good for you, did you know that? Cleanses the digestive tract, confounds the worms, turns your excrement black. Black as a forest bear’s. Recommended if you are being pursued, for it will fool most, barring those who have made a study of excrement, of course.’
