Crummock spun one of the wooden signs on his necklace round and around. 'I can't see her letting Bethod lose, and herself along with him, can you? A witch as clever as that one? There's all kinds of magic she could mix. All kinds of blessings and curses. All kinds of ways that bitch could tilt the outcome, as though the chances weren't tilted enough already.'

'Eh?'

'My point is this. Someone needs to stop her.'

Dogman hadn't thought he could feel any lower. Now he knew better. 'Good luck with that,' he muttered.

'Ha ha, my lad, ha ha. I'd love to do it, too, but they've got an awful stretch of walls down there, and I'm not much for climbing over 'em.' Crummock slapped one fat hand against his fat belly. 'Twice too much meat for that. No, what we need for this task is a small man, but with great big fruits on him. No doubt we do, and the moon knows it. A man with a talent for creeping about, sharp-eyed and sure-footed. We need someone with a quick hand and a quick mind.' He looked at the Dogman, and he grinned. 'Now where is it that we'd find a man like that, do you reckon?'

'You know what?' Dogman put his face in his hands. 'I've no fucking idea.'

Logen lifted the battered flask to his lips and took a mouthful. He felt the sharp liquor tingling on his tongue, tickling at his throat, that old need to swallow. He leaned forward, pursed his lips, and blew it out in a fine spray. A gout of fire went up into the cold night. He peered into the darkness, saw nothing but the black outlines of tree-trunks, the shifting black shadows that his fire cast between them.

He shook the flask back and forth, heard the last measure sloshing inside. He shrugged his shoulders, put it to his mouth and tipped it all the way, felt it burn down to his stomach. The spirits could share with him tonight. Chances were good that, after tomorrow, he wouldn't be calling on them again.

'Ninefingers.' The voice rustled at him like the leaves falling.

One spirit slid out from the shadows, came up into the light from the fire. There was no trace of recognition about it, and Logen found he was relieved. There was no accusation either, no fear and no distrust. It didn't care what he was, or what he'd done.

Logen tossed the empty flask down beside him. 'On your own?'

'Yes.'

'Well, you're never alone if you bring laughter with you.' The spirit said nothing. 'Reckon laughter's a thing for men, not for spirits.'

'Yes.'

'Don't speak much, do you?'

'I did not call on you.'

'True.' Logen stared into the fire. 'I have to fight a man tomorrow. A man called Fenris the Feared.'

'He is not a man.'

'You know of him, then?'

'He is old.'

'By your reckoning?'

'Nothing is old by my reckoning, but he goes back to the Old Time and beyond. He had another master, then.'

'What master?'

'Glustrod.'

The name was like a knife in the ear. No name could've been less expected, or less welcome. The wind blew cold through the trees, and memories of the towering ruins of Aulcus crowded in on Logen, and made his back shiver. 'No chance it's some different Glustrod than the one came close to destroying half the world?'

'There is no other. He it was that wrote the signs upon the Feared's skin. Signs in the Old Tongue, the language of devils, across his left side. That flesh is of the world below. Where the word of Glustrod is written, the Feared cannot be harmed.'

'Cannot be harmed? Not at all?' Logen thought about it a moment. 'Why not write on both sides?'

'Ask Glustrod.'

'I don't think that's likely.'

'No.' A long pause. 'What will you do, Ninefingers?'

Logen peered off sideways into the trees. The notion of setting off running, and never looking back, seemed a pretty one, right then. Sometimes it can be better to live with the fear of it, than to die doing it, whatever Logen's father had told him.

'I ran before,' he muttered, 'and I only ran a circle. For me, Bethod's at the end of every path.'

'Then that is all our talk.' The spirit stood up from the fire.

'Perhaps I'll see you again.'

'I do not think so. The magic leaks from the world, and my kind sleep. I do not think so. Even if you beat the Feared, and I do not think you will.'

'Message o' hope then, eh?' Logen snorted. 'Luck go with you.'

The spirit faded back into the darkness, and was gone. It did not wish Logen luck. It did not care.

Authority It was a dour and depressing meeting, even for the Closed Council. The weather beyond the narrow windows was sullen and overcast, promising storms but never delivering, casting the White Chamber into a chill gloom. From time to time heavy gusts of wind would rattle the old window panes, making Jezal start and shiver in his fur-trimmed robe.

The grim expressions of the dozen old faces did little to warm his bones. Lord Marshal Varuz was all clenched jaw and harsh determination. Lord Chamberlain Hoff clutched his goblet like a drowning man clinging to the last fragment of his boat. High Justice Marovia frowned as though he were about to pronounce the death sentence on the entire gathering, himself among them. Arch Lector Sult's thin lip was permanently curled as his cold eyes slid from Bayaz, to Jezal, to Marovia, and back.

The First of the Magi himself glared down the table. 'The situation, please, Lord Marshal Varuz.'

'The situation, honestly, is grim. Adua is in uproar. Perhaps one third of the population has already fled. The Gurkish blockade means that few supplies are making it to the markets. Curfews are in place but some citizens are still seizing the opportunity to rob, steal and riot while the authorities are occupied elsewhere.'

Marovia shook his head, grey beard swaying gently. 'And we can only expect the situation to deteriorate as the Gurkish come closer to the city.'

'Which they are,' said Varuz, 'at the rate of several miles a day. We are doing all we can to frustrate them, but with our resources so limited . . . they may well be outside the gates within the week.'

There were a few shocked gasps, breathed oaths, nervous sideways glances. 'So soon?' Jezal's voice cracked slightly as he said it.

'I am afraid so, your Majesty.'

'What is the Gurkish strength?' asked Marovia.

'Estimates vary wildly. At present however . . .' and Varuz sucked worriedly at his teeth, 'it appears they field at least fifty thousand.'

There were further sharp intakes of breath, not least from Jezal's own throat. 'So many?' muttered Halleck.

'And thousands more landing every day near Keln,' put in Admiral Reutzer, doing nothing to lift the mood. 'With the best part of our navy on its way to retrieve the army after its northern adventure, we are powerless to stop them.'

Jezal licked his lips. The walls of the wide room seemed to close in further with every moment. 'What of our troops?'

Varuz and Reutzer exchanged a brief glance. 'We have two regiments of the King's Own, one of foot and one of horse, some six thousand men in all. The Grey Watch, tasked with the defence of the Agriont itself, numbers four thousand. The Knights Herald and of the Body form an elite of some five hundred. In addition, there are non-combat soldiers cooks, grooms, smiths, and so forth who could be armed in an emergency-'

'I believe this qualifies,' observed Bayaz.

'-perhaps some few thousand more. The city watch might be of some use, but they are hardly professional soldiers.'

'What of the nobles?' asked Marovia. 'Where is their aid?'

'Some few have sent men,' said Varuz grimly, 'others only their regrets. Most . . . not even that.'

'Hedging their bets.' Hoff shook his head. 'Brock has let it be known there will be Gurkish gold for those who help him, and Gurkish mercy for those who stand with us.'

'It has ever been so,' lamented Torlichorm. 'The nobles are interested only in their own welfare!'

'Then we must open the armouries,' said Bayaz, 'and we must not be shy with their contents. We must arm every citizen who can hold a weapon. We must arm the labourers' guilds, and the craftsmens' guilds, and the veterans' associations. Even the beggars in the gutters must be ready to fight.'

All well and good, Jezal supposed, but he hardly cared to trust his life to a legion of beggars. 'When will Lord Marshal West return with the army?'

'If he received his orders yesterday, it will be a month at the very least before he is disembarked and ready to come to our aid.'

'Which means we must withstand several weeks of siege,' muttered Hoff, shaking his head. He leaned close to Jezal's ear and spoke softly, quite as if they were schoolgirls trading secrets. 'Your Majesty, it might be prudent for you and your Closed Council to leave the city. To relocate your government further north, outside the path of the Gurkish advance, where the campaign can be conducted in greater safety. To Holsthorm, perhaps, or-'

'Absolutely not,' said Bayaz sternly.

Jezal could scarcely deny that the notion held its attractions. The island of Shabulyan at that moment seemed an ideal place to relocate his government to but Bayaz was right. Harod the Great would hardly have entertained the idea of retreat, and neither, unfortunately, could Jezal.

'We will fight the Gurkish here,' he said.

'Merely a suggestion,' muttered Hoff, 'merely prudence.'

Bayaz spoke over him. 'How do the defences of the city stand?'

'We have, in essence, three concentric lines of defence. The Agriont itself is, of course, our last bastion.'

'It will not come to that, though, eh?' chuckled Hoff, with far from total conviction.

Varuz decided not to answer. 'Arnault's Wall is beyond it, enclosing the oldest and most crucial parts of the city the Agriont, the Middleway, the main docks and the Four Corners among them. Casamir's Wall is our outermost line of defence weaker, lower, and a great deal longer than Arnault's. Smaller walls run between these two, like the spokes of a wheel, dividing the outer ring of the city into five boroughs, each of which can be sealed off, should it be captured by the enemy. There are some built-up areas beyond Casamir's Wall, but those must be immediately abandoned.'

Bayaz planted his elbows on the edge of the table, his meaty fists clasped together. 'Given the number and quality of our troops, we would be best served by evacuating the outer quarters of the city and concentrating our efforts around the much shorter and stronger length of Arnault's wall. We can continue to fight a rear-guard action in the outer boroughs, where our superior knowledge of the streets and buildings stands in our favour-'

'No,' said Jezal.

Bayaz fixed him with a brooding stare. 'Your Majesty?'

But Jezal refused to be overawed. It had been becoming clear for some time that if he allowed the Magus to rule him on every issue then he would never escape from under his boot. He might have seen Bayaz make a man explode with a thought, but he was hardly likely to do it to the King of the Union before his own Closed Council. Not with the Gurkish breathing down all their necks.

'I do not intend to give up the greater part of my capital to the Union's oldest enemy without giving battle. We will defend Casamir's Wall, and fight for every stride of ground.'

Varuz glanced across at Hoff, and the Chamberlain raised his eyebrows by the tiniest fraction. 'Er . . . of course, your Majesty. Every stride.' There was an uncomfortable silence, the displeasure of the First of the Magi hanging over the group as heavily as the storm clouds hung over the city.

'Does my Inquisition have anything to contribute?' croaked Jezal, doing his best to mount a diversion.

Sult's eyes darted coldly up to his. 'Of course, your Majesty. The Gurkish love of intrigue is well known. We have no doubt that there are already spies within the walls of Adua. Perhaps within the Agriont itself. All citizens of Kantic origin are now being interned. My Inquisitors are working day and night in the House of Questions. Several spies have already confessed.'

Marovia snorted. 'So we are expected to suppose that the Gurkish love of intrigue does not extend to the hiring of white-skinned agents?'

'We are at war!' hissed Sult, giving the High Justice a deadly glare. 'The very sovereignty of our nation is at risk! This is no time for your blather about freedom, Marovia!'

'On the contrary, this is precisely the time!'

The two old men bickered on, straining everyone's frayed nerves to breaking point. Bayaz, meanwhile, had sunk back into his chair and folded his arms, watching Jezal with an expression of calm consideration which was, if anything, even more fearsome than his frown. Jezal felt the worry weighing ever heavier upon him. However you looked at things, he was teetering on the verge of having the briefest and most disastrous reign in Union history.

'I am sorry that I had to send for your Majesty,' piped Gorst, in his girlish little voice.

'Of course, of course.' The clicking of Jezal's polished boot-heels echoed angrily around them.

'There is only so much that I can do.'

'Of course.'

Jezal shoved open the double doors with both hands. Terez sat bolt upright in the midst of the gilded chamber beyond, glaring at him down her nose in that manner with which he had become so infuriatingly familiar. As though he were an insect in her salad. Several Styrian ladies looked up, and then back to their tasks. Chests and boxes cluttered the room, clothes were being neatly packed within. Every impression was given that the Queen of the Union was planning to leave the capital, and without so much as informing her husband.

Jezal ground his already aching teeth. He was tormented by a disloyal Closed Council, a disloyal Open Council, and a disloyal populace. The poisonous disloyalty of his wife was almost too much to bear. 'What the hell is this?'

'I and my ladies can hardly assist you in your war with the Emperor.' Terez turned her flawless head smoothly away from him. 'We are returning to Talins.'

'Impossible!' hissed Jezal. 'A Gurkish army of many thousands is bearing down upon the city! My people are fleeing Adua in droves and those that remain are a whisker from sliding into outright panic! Your leaving now would send entirely the wrong message! I cannot allow it!'

'Her Majesty is in no way involved!' snapped the Countess Shalere, gliding across the polished floor towards him.

As though Jezal had not enough to worry about with the Queen herself, he was now obliged to bandy words with her companions. 'You forget yourself,' he snarled at her.

'It is you who forgets!' She took a step towards him, her face twisted. 'You forget that you are a bastard son, and a scarred one at-'

The back of Jezal's hand cracked sharply into her sneering mouth and sent her reeling back with an ungainly gurgle. She tripped over her dress and collapsed on the floor, one shoe flying from her flailing foot and off into the corner of the room.

'I am a King, and in my own palace. I refuse to be spoken to in this manner by a glorified lady's maid.' The voice came out, flat, cold, and frighteningly commanding. It scarcely sounded like his own, but who else's could it be? He was the only man in the room. 'I see that I have been far too generous with you, and that you have mistaken my generosity for weakness.' The eleven ladies stared at him, and at their fallen comrade, crumpled on the ground with one hand to her bloody mouth. 'If any of your witches should desire to depart these troubled shores, I will arrange passage for them, and even pull an oar myself with a light heart. But you, your Majesty, will be going nowhere.'

Terez had leaped up from her seat and was glowering at him, body rigid. 'You heartless brute-' she began to hiss.

'We may both wholeheartedly wish it were otherwise!' he roared over her, 'but we are married! The time to raise objections to my parentage, or my person, or to any other facet of our situation, was before you became Queen of the Union! Despise me all you wish, Terez, but you . . . go . . . nowhere.' And Jezal swept the dumbstruck ladies with a baleful glare, turned on his polished heel and stalked from the airy salon.

Damn it but his hand hurt.

The Circle Dawn was coming, a grey rumour, the faintest touch of brightness around the solemn outline of the walls of Carleon. The stars had all faded into a stony sky, but the moon still hung there, just above the tree-tops, seeming almost close enough to try an arrow at.

West had not closed his eyes all night, and had passed into that strange realm of twitchy, dreamlike wakefulness that comes beyond exhaustion. Some time in the silent darkness, after all the orders had been given, he had sat by the light of a single lamp to write a letter to his sister. To vomit up excuses. To demand forgiveness. He had sat, he could not have said for how long, with the pen over the paper, but the words had simply not come. He had wanted to say all that he felt, but when it came to it, he felt nothing. The warm taverns of Adua, cards in the sunny courtyard. Ardee's one-sided smile. It all seemed a thousand years ago.

The Northmen were already busy, clipping at the grass in the shadow of the walls, the clicking of their shears a strange echo of the gardeners in the Agriont, shaving a circle a dozen strides across down to the roots. The ground, he supposed, on which the duel would take place. The ground where, in no more than an hour or two, the fate of the North would be decided. Very much like a fencing circle, except that it might soon be sprayed with blood.