She fought to speak evenly. ‘Sir, there are rumours. Deniers among the Hust Legion. Deniers among the Wardens of the Outer Reach. Deniers among the Borderswords. Even among the highborn. All who refuse the cult of Mother Dark. We face a religious war, sir, and we are compromised on all sides. We cannot even be sure if all this was not long in planning, from the rise of the Azathanai to the rebirth of the river god. What is undeniable is this: Mother Dark is weakened, and neither Draconus nor Anomander and his brothers nor even all the remaining – loyal – highborn and their Houseblades will be enough – not against a peasant uprising in the countryside, an uprising bolstered by the Hust, the Wardens and the Borderswords.’

‘I do not want this,’ Urusander whispered.

‘There is a way through this, sir.’

‘I am done with it, all of it.’ He glared at her. ‘I do not want this!’

Serap rose. ‘Commander, we both know well Captain Hunn Raal’s ambitions, and so we must always view his zeal with caution. But he is no fool and his loyalty to you is absolute. We are not as unprepared as you might fear.’

‘I know why he sent you,’ Urusander said, turning away. ‘Not Risp, with her bloodlust. Not Sevegg, who can’t think past her crotch.’

‘Kurald Galain needs you, sir. Kurald Galain needs the Legion. However, I am neither blind nor deaf. Name a successor to the command and—’

Urusander snorted, but it was a bitter sound, and then he said, ‘There is no one.’

‘Sir, it is as you have said many times: you have done your duty. You have found a new life, with new interests, and they are yours by right—’

‘Abyss knows they are that!’

‘Sir—’

‘I know Hunn Raal thinks me unmanned. He fears I have lost the necessary edge, that I am dulled by inactivity.’

‘He does not discuss his fears with me, sir. If he did, I would tell him, in no uncertain terms, that he is wrong.’

‘Save the flattery, Serap. He might well be right. I have hidden myself away here. I sought to make a new … a new … setting. For my – for me and my son. The Legion is behind me, where I left it, and there I wanted it to stay.’

‘Sir, about your son—’

‘He is gone. We argued …’ Urusander shook his head. ‘He is gone.’

‘It may be, sir, that you have underestimated him.’

‘I have made mistakes.’

‘I have a tale to tell you, then, about Osserc. About your son.’

He waved a dismissive hand. ‘Not now. You tell me there is a way through this.’ He faced her. ‘The highborn are not my enemy. I will not be the deliverer of civil war to Kurald Galain.’

‘We can win over the loyal highborn, sir.’

Urusander’s sneer was ugly. ‘By turning on Draconus.’

‘He is no friend of yours.’

‘He is the man Mother Dark loves.’