“More than words,” Ramus said. “I'm not sure what they are. I . . . was afraid.”

Lulah threw something through the dying flames, and it landed at his feet. “Konrad's fingers,” Lulah said. “You turned them to stone, and the rest of him is following. You've breathed another charm.”

Ramus took a step back, looking at the dark wet things before him. Firelight touched them and cast harsh shadows from their broken edges.

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

THEY SAW NO more marsh wisps. Nomi had ridden the rest of the previous day deeply troubled by the encounter, feeling as though the wisp had left her with something, changed her in some way. But she could not make out exactly what that was.

“Maybe you changed yourself,” Beko had said the previous night. They had sat close together at the fire for a while, and she had relished their proximity.

“How do you mean?” she had asked.

“You didn't believe the wisps existed. They do. Perhaps your world is opening up.”

“My world has never been closed,” she had said, but even as she uttered those words, the lie shone through.

Now, riding through the midday sun and starting to dwell upon whatever lay beyond the Pavissia Steppes, Nomi was startled by Rhiana's shout from ahead. The Serians blustered around her, Beko and Rhiana riding off to the east while Noon rode close to Nomi. She looked after Beko, trying to make out what had caused the upset, and then she saw the two shapes moving across a low ridge in the distance.

“Marauders?” she asked.

“Serians,” Noon said, but his voice was troubled.

Nomi squinted against the sun but could not see clearly. “And?”

“Two horses, only one rider,” Noon said.

Nomi brought her horse to a standstill and dismounted, walking slowly through the long grass to meet them.

IT WAS RAMIN. Konrad had gone. The tall Serian rode in between Beko and Rhiana, guiding Konrad's riderless horse.

When they arrived, Ramin dismounted, sparing a brief glance for Nomi that held more than a little anger.

“Where's Konrad?” Noon said.

“Ramus killed him.”

“Ramus?” Nomi blurted. “He...” He wouldn't? Was that what she was going to say? Because she no longer believed that. Too much had changed for her to pretend to know him anymore.

Ramin began fumbling at Konrad's saddlebags.

“Have you brought the pages?” Nomi asked.

He looked at her properly this time, untying a heavy bag from the saddle as he did so. “Piss on your pages,” he said. He knelt beside the horse and opened the bag, rolling down the edges as though whatever was inside could be damaged by the gentlest of contacts. “And piss on you.”

Nomi let out a cry when she saw what the Serian had uncovered.

Beko slid from his saddle and backed away.

Rhiana closed her eyes.

In death, Konrad's stony visage still carried the terrible scars he had borne through life.