‘Perhaps I lost them in the melee.’

‘But you did not. You wore no belt, no scabbard, you carried no shield.’

Duiker shrugged. ‘If I am to record the events of this Empire, I must be in their midst, sir.’

‘Shall you display such reckless zeal in recording the events of Coltaine’s command?’

‘Zeal? Oh yes, sir. As for reckless,’ he sighed, ‘alas, my courage is not as it once was. These days I wear armour when attending battle, and a short sword and shield. And helm. Surrounded by bodyguards, and at least a league away from the heart of the fighting.’

‘The years have brought you wisdom,’ Bult said.

‘In some things, I am afraid,’ Duiker said slowly, ‘not enough.’ He faced Coltaine. ‘I would be bold enough to advise you, Fist, at this council.’

Coltaine’s gaze slid to Mallick Rel as he spoke, ‘And you fear the presumption, for you will say things I will not appreciate. Perhaps, in hearing such things, I shall command Bult to complete the task of killing you. This tells me much,’ he continued, ‘of the situation at Aren.’

‘I know little of that,’ Duiker said, feeling sweat trickle beneath his tunic. ‘But even less of you, Fist.’

Coltaine’s expression did not change. Duiker was reminded of a cobra slowly rising before him, unblinking, cold.

‘Question,’ Mallick Rel said. ‘Has the council begun?’

‘Not yet,’ Coltaine said slowly. ‘We await my warlock.’

The priest of Mael drew a sharp breath at that. Off to one side, Kulp took a step forward.

Duiker found his throat suddenly dry. Clearing it, he said, ‘Was it not at the command of the Empress – in her first year on the throne – that all Wickan warlocks be, uh, rooted out? Was there not a subsequent mass execution? I have a memory of seeing Unta’s outer walls...’

‘They took many days to die,’ Bult said. ‘Hung from spikes of iron until the crows came to collect their souls. We brought our children to the city walls, to look upon the tribal elders whose lives were taken from us by the short-haired woman’s command. We gave them memory scars, to keep the truth alive.’

‘An Empress,’ Duiker said, watching Coltaine’s face, ‘whom you now serve.’

‘The short-haired woman knows nothing of Wickan ways,’ Bult said. ‘The crows that carried within them the greatest of the warlock souls returned to our people to await each new birth, and so the power of our elders returned to us.’

A side entrance Duiker had not noticed before slid open. A tall, bow-legged figure stepped into the room, face hidden in the shadow of a goat’s-head cowl, which he now pulled back, revealing the smooth visage of a boy no more than ten years old. The youth’s dark eyes met the historian’s.

‘This is Sormo E’nath,’ Coltaine said.

‘Sormo E’nath – an old man – was executed at Unta,’ Kulp snapped. ‘He was the most powerful of the warlocks – the Empress made sure of him. It’s said he took eleven days on the wall to die. This one is not Sormo E’nath. This is a boy.’