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‘And when we are blessed we thank them.’
‘No. When things go right, we congratulate ourselves.’
‘Oh, cynical child, does this fresh world so weary you? Are you left exhausted after uncovering all the world’s truths? Will you slouch and slide your jaded eye upon all the fools whose company you are cursed to endure?’
‘You mock my tolerance. It is only my youthful vigour that sustains me.’
‘The Azathanai built this, only to knock it down – not even a Thel Akai could so push these stones, uprooting them like this. I see about us the echoes of old rage. For all we know, our very own rock-gods were Azathanai.’
‘Then it is well that we lost faith.’
‘She hasn’t.’
Ravast frowned at that, and then sat up. ‘I would venture the opposite! It is no faith that makes anyone face death and only death. It is, if anything, surrender. Abjection. There is not a fool to be found who would worship death.’
‘Ah, but she marches not to kneel before the Lord of Rock-Piles, but to war against him.’
‘Might as well beat against a mountainside.’
‘Just so,’ Tathenal said, looking at the rubble around them.
‘There will be no Azathanai among the Jaghut’s company,’ Ravast said. ‘I suspect no more than a handful of fools. Other Jaghut, bound only by some kind of loyalty to the grieving brother. Perhaps a few Dog-Runners, eager to find a song in the deed. And we Thel Akai, of course, for whom such a summons is too outrageous to refuse.’
‘We refused it.’
‘In the name of flocks to keep, gardens to tend, nets to weave. And yet, Tathenal, look at us, here on this trail.’
‘We pursue her to bring her back. With weapons of reason, we will convince her—’
‘Hah! Idiot! She’s but extended our leashes, and knows the patience of the mistress. Look at us here, playing at freedom! But soon we will resume this trek, and she will take up the slack.’
There was a loud grunt from Garelko and they turned to see the man bolt upright, eyes wide. ‘Ah!’ he cried. ‘I dreamed a dragon!’
‘Was no dream, you fool,’ Tathenal said. ‘We met the beast this morning, and saw it off.’
Garelko squinted across at Tathenal. ‘We did? Then it was all real?’
Ravast stared at Tathenal. ‘That was a dragon?’
‘What else could it have been?’
‘I – I don’t know. A giant lizard. Winged. With a long neck. Snaking tail. And scales …’
The other two husbands were now studying him, with little expression. Ravast scowled. ‘By description,’ he muttered, ‘I suppose the comparison is apt.’
Groaning, Garelko stretched. ‘This fusion of dreams and truth has left me out of sorts. For all I know, I’ve not yet wakened, and it is my curse to see both of you haunting me even in my slumber. Pray there comes a day when there are as many girls born among the Thel Akai as boys. Then, a husband can stand alone, face to face with his wife, and there will be peace and everlasting joy in the world.’
Tathenal laughed. ‘You dodder, Garelko. The Tiste make such marriages and are no happier than us. The curse of your dreams has you yearning for the madness they espouse.’
‘Then wake me, I beg you.’
Sighing, Ravast slipped down from the slab. ‘I feel the leash grow taut, and would not welcome a whipping.’
‘You are long since whipped well and truly,’ said Tathenal.
‘Oh, roll over, will you?’
The three Thel Akai readied their gear once more, and in so doing Ravast was reminded again of his lost weapon. To a dragon, no less. Few would ever believe him, and the exhortations of his fellow husbands held little veracity. It was, in any case, an unpleasant notion, this proof of legends and old, half-forgotten tales.
