The Crippled God

trouble.’
    Betrayal. When the face before us proves a lie, when the eyes deceive and hide the truths behind them. Will there be no end to such things?
    He thought back to the seabed, as he knew he would. I have these names, deep inside me. The names of the fallen. I can hear each one, there with its own, unique voice. Yet so many sound the same, a cry of pain. Of … betrayal. So many, and so many times . ‘She trusts those two marines,’ he said. ‘She trusts them not to betray her. It’s all she has. It’s all she can hope for.’
    ‘Yes,’ said Aranict. ‘And, worse than that, that Awl woman – Kalyth – who said she didn’t understand anything, well, she understands all too well. Like it or not, she holds the fate of the K’Chain Che’Malle in her hands. She is the Destriant to the Matron – do you imagine she trusts Sinn? With all their lives? With the Matron’s and all the other K’Chain Che’Malle? Hardly. She is in the same position as we are – it’s all down to Gesler and Stormy, and she is watching those two men fight for everything.’
    ‘It must be breaking her heart.’
    ‘She’s terrified, Brys. And so alone, so alone. With all that.’
    He rubbed at his face. Their horses had slowed to a slow amble, directionless. Unaware, the standard-bearer had ridden on and wasnow closing on the column. At this distance, the standard looked like a white flag. ‘Aranict, what can we do?’
    ‘No matter what happens,’ she said, ‘we must stand with them. With Gesler and Stormy, and Kalyth and the K’Chain Che’Malle. But if it comes down to who can we save, if we’re left with that awful choice, then … it must be the boy.’
    ‘Those two men are at each other’s throat – there must be—’
    ‘Oh, that . Brys, they are like brothers, those two. They’ll snap at each other, even come to blows. They’ll shout each other down, but things would be a lot worse if none of that was happening. What we saw was their humanity – the very thing they’re desperate to keep. That was all like … like a ritual. Of caring. Love, even.’
    ‘As if married …’
    ‘Brothers, I’d say. Bound by blood, bound by history. When we witness them argue, we only hear what’s said out loud – we don’t hear all the rest, the important stuff. Kalyth is only beginning to understand that – when she does, some of her terror and anxiety will go away.’
    ‘I hope you are right.’ Brys reined in, and then dismounted. He turned to observe the Bluerose lancers, waved them back to their flanking patrol. To Aranict he said, ‘Let us walk. The vanguard will survive without me a while longer, I’m sure.’
    He could see her curiosity, but she shrugged and slipped down from her horse. Leading their mounts, they began walking, parallel to the column.
    ‘My love,’ said Brys, ‘I have known a silence deeper – and more crushing – than anyone could imagine.’
    ‘You need not speak of it—’
    ‘No, you are wrong. But what I must tell you is more than finding a new intimacy between us, though that will be part of it. What I will describe is important – it bears on what you have just said, and – with your help – I hope it will guide us to a course of action. Tell me, what do you know of my death?’
    She paused to light a new stick from the stub of the old one. ‘Poison. An accident.’
    ‘And my corpse?’
    ‘A revenant stole it.’
    ‘Stole? Perhaps it seemed that way. In truth, I was retrieved . I was carried back to a place I had been to before. My very name was carved upon a standing stone. Joined to countless others.’
    She frowned, seemed to study the wiry grasses on the ground before them. ‘Is this what happens, then? To all of us? Our names set in stone? From death to life and then back again? As some sages have claimed?’
    ‘I do not know what happens, in truth. Whether what I experienced was fundamentally different from what others go through. But I sensethere was something to it that was … unique. If I was inclined to blame anyone, it would have to be Kuru Qan. He invoked a ritual, sending me to a distant place, a realm, perhaps – a world upon the floor of the ocean – and it was there that I first met the … revenant. The Guardian of the Names – or so I now call it.’
    ‘And this was the one who came for you? In the throne room?’
    He nodded.
    ‘Because he possessed your name?’
    ‘Perhaps – but perhaps not. We met in the clash of blades. I bested him