Gradually the road grew busier, and Avatak noticed that much of the traffic was heading the same way they were, eastward – traders and merchants with wagons full of goods, but an increasing number of ordinary folk, adults with children, old folk riding carts, horses heaped with furniture on their backs, even rolls of carpet. Nestspills, folk from failed farms or imploded towns, all heading, Avatak supposed, in search of the succour of the emperor.

And at last, late one morning, they crested a rise and faced the formidable walls of Daidu.

Pyxeas leaned down from the mule’s back and murmured to Avatak, ‘Coldlander, to reach this place you and I have travelled almost a third of the world’s arc. And we got here before the equinox – just. Quite an achievement.’

Uzzia snorted. ‘Just remember this mule has come almost as far, and he’s not bragging about it. Come now, let’s see if your magic paiza will get us through this last set of gates.’ She gave the mule’s stirrup a tug, and let the animal lead the way towards the city.

39

The Second Year of the Longwinter: Autumn Equinox

At the Wall, more snow had fallen overnight, and indeed it was still falling as the morning broke.

Thaxa needed to see Ontin, to ask him to come treat some fishermen caught by the cold. The doctor’s lodge was only a short walk down the Etxelur Way from the Wall, but Thaxa wasn’t going to try it until the snow eased. So he made himself comfortable in the linen shop that fronted his Wall-front home. He told his servant, Moerx, to let the fire in the hearth die down a little. You were always aware of the need to save fuel, even kindling. The shop cooled quickly, and he wrapped himself up in layers, leggings and trousers and waterproofs, a couple of tunics and a heavy sealskin coat, three layers of socks over which he would later pull his hide boots. Then he sat in a window seat in his house’s south-facing wall, and looked out, watching the snow fall.