And elsewhere, away from the bodies and the signs of a lost war, Noreela itself was suffering greater traumas than ever. A whole mountain range swam in fire, only the highest peaks still visible above the rolling flames. On an endless plain to the south the ground was cracked open, but instead of fire and lava rising up, the land’s innards rolled out across the dying grass, giant coils of earth and stone hardening in the twilight and venting scampering things as big as the largest hawk. The air was turning to glass, the ground melting away, water bursting into flame . . . the whole of Noreela was in chaos, and at its center pulsed the sense of magic gone darker than ever before.

“There, at the hub,” Angel’s voice said, a commentary for the sights Lenora was seeing. “That’s us.” And Lenora saw. The passing visions slowed, settling toward a huge wound in the land. The wound bled. In the middle of this lake of blood, floating in a boat seemingly made from the bones of countless victims, two shadows stretched and flexed, ambiguous in their shape and yet so obvious in their ecstasy.

With Noreela like a rotting corpse around them, the Mages’ wraiths writhed forever in the luxury of vengeance found.

Angel removed her finger from Lenora’s head and leaned back, smiling.

“The future?” Lenora said. “Is that what I saw?”

“No one sees the future,” Angel said, shrugging. “I showed you what I want of the future: Noreela drowning in the blood of our retribution. And with your help, S’Hivez and I will make it so.”

“You know you have my loyalty, Mistress. The boy . . . he gave you the magic?”

“You know he did. Why else have you been cowering back here near the stinking arse of this flying monster?”

Lenora looked down, ashamed and still terrified. “I’m sorry.”

“If I were you, I’d be scared too. You have no idea of this power, Lenora! It’s like being dipped in molten metal. S’Hivez and I have been communing with shades all across Noreela, and those soulless things shunned by nature are working for us already. They eat the magic and spit it out; it’s like food to them. They’ll take the smaller places even without our help, because the fear of Noreela will be their ally. And I can see what’s happening, here and there, north and south, because the shades tell me! We know that the Monks are dead back in the valley, and the machines are still once more. We know that the Duke’s army is weak and formless in Long Marrakash. We know that night is here for Noreela, and it is on our side. I can step from one side of the land to the other simply by closing my eyes.”