Toll the Hounds

‘Yes, Lord.’

‘Will you hold?’

‘I shall hold.’

‘Will you await me the day?’

‘Which day, Lord?’

‘The day at the very end, Endest Silann. Will you await me on that day?’

‘I said I would hold, Lord, and so I shall.’

‘Hold, old friend, until then. Until then. Until the moment when you must betray me. No — no protestations, Endest. You will know the time, you will know it and know it well.’

It was what kept him alive, he suspected. This fraught waiting, so long all was encrusted, stiff and made almost shapeless by the accretion of centuries.

‘Tell me, Endest, what stirs in the Great Barrow?’

‘Lord?’

‘Is it Itkovian? Do we witness in truth the birth of a new god?’

‘I do not know, Lord. I am closed to such things.’ As I have been since that day in the Temple.

‘Ah, yes, I have forgotten. I apologize, old friend. Mayhap I will speak to Spinnock, then. Certain quiet enquiries, perhaps.’

‘He will serve you as always, Lord.

’

‘Yes, one of my burdens.’

‘Lord, you bear them well.’

‘Endest, you lie poorly.’

‘Yes, Lord.’

‘Spinnock it shall be, then. When you leave, please send for him — not with haste, when he has the time.’

‘Lord, expect him at once.’

And so Anomander sighed, because no other response was possible, was it? And I, too, am your burden, Lord. But we best not speak of that.

See me, Lord, see how I still wait.

Incandescent light was spilling from the half-open doors of the temple, rolling in waves out over the concourse like the wash of a flood, sufficient in strength to shift corpses about, milky eyes staring as the heads pitched and lolled.

As they set out across the expanse, that light flowed up round their shins, startlingly cold. Endest Silann recognized the nearest dead Andii. Priests who had lingered too long, caught in the conflagration that Endest had felt but not seen as he rushed though the Citadel’s corridors. Among them, followers from various factions. Silchas Ruin’s. Andarist’s, and Anomander’s own, Drethdenan’s, Hish Tulla’s, Vanut Degalla’s oh, there had been waves of fighting on this concourse, these sanctified flagstones,

In birth there shall be blood. In death there shall be light. Yes, this was the day for both birth and death, for both blood and light.

They drew closer to the doors of the temple, slowed to observe the waves of light tumbling down the broad steps. Their hue had deepened, as if smeared with old blood, but the power was waning. Yet Endest Silann sensed a presence within, something contained, someone waiting.

For us.

The High Priestess? No. Of her, the acolyte sensed nothing.

Anomander took his first step on to the stone stairs.

And was held there, as her voice filled them.

No. Be warned, Anomander, dear son, from Andii blood is born a new world. Understand me. You and your kin are no longer alone, no longer free to play your vicious games. There are now. . others.

Anomander spoke. ‘Mother, did you imagine I would be surprised? Horrified? It could never be enough, to be naught but a mother, to create with hands closed upon no one. To yield so much of yourself, only to find us your only reward — us slayers, us betrayers.’

There is new blood within you.

‘Yes.’

My son, what have you done?

‘Like you, Mother, I have chosen to embrace change. Yes, there are others now. I sense them. There will be wars between us, and so I shall unite the Andii. Resistance is ending. Andarist, Drethdenan, Vanut Degalla. Silchas is fleeing, and so too Hish Tulla and Manalle. Civil strife is now over, Mother.’