Chapters (95)
- Cover
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Map
- Dramatis Personae
- Fifteen Years Ago
- Endas, 25th day of Wellmarch
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Maladas, 26th day of Wellmarch
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Lumendas, 1st day of Radiance
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Astridas, 2nd day of Radiance
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Jeradas, 3rd day of Radiance
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Endas, 4th day of Radiance
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Maladas, 5th day of Radiance
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Tzadas, 6th day of Radiance
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Lunandas, 7th day of Radiance
- Forty-Four
- Jeradas, 10th day of Radiance
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Endas, 11th day of Radiance
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Maladas, 12th day of Radiance
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Tzadas, 13th day of Radiance
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Lunandas, 14th day of Radiance
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Lumendas, 15th day of Radiance
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Tzadas, 20th day of Radiance
- Sixty-Nine
- Acknowledgements
- Discover More
- Extras
- Meet the Author
“But he needn’t do it alone.” Josiri remounted and reached down for the masked woman. After a brief hesitation, she clambered up behind him. “How long ago?”
“I can’t be sure,” said Melanna. “Hours, certainly.”
“Then he might already be dead.” The horsewoman frowned and turned her attention to the one-eyed man. “Kurkas, how many blades does Malatriant have?”
“Hundreds,” he replied gloomily.
“And I’ve a dozen. We wait for the army.”
“And if matters were different, Lady Orova,” said Josiri, “would Viktor wait?”
She scowled. “Captain Kurkas?”
The scruffy soldier offered a sharper salute than Melanna could have imagined. “Milady?”
“When the vanguard arrives, have them surround the town. Nothing in, nothing out. If we don’t return, the command is yours.”
“Yes, lady.”
“And you?” Josiri asked, his eyes on Melanna. “What do you intend?”
She could leave. Debt discharged, she could head east to the safety of her own kind. Or could she? Was anything ever that simple? “I’ll ride with you, if you’ll have me.”
Lady Orova’s scowl deepened. “We don’t need a shadowthorn’s help.”
“We need all the help we can find.” Josiri spurred forward and put a hand on his sword. “Before I left Tressia, I had a dream, the kind that vanishes into mist as soon as you wake. I recall only two things. An owl, and ironclad certainty of a burden I should bear southwards. I told myself it was tiredness and brandy.”
He drew the sword. Silver gleamed in the sunshine as he reversed the blade and held it for Melanna to take. “This, I think, is meant to belong to you again.”
She closed a shaking hand about the grips. Her sword. Perhaps the light had been a sign after all.
Viktor cast a long, significant look at his cage of corpses. Another at the dull-eyed thralls gathered in the flickering firestone light. So many. Drawing the Dark out of even one would destroy him.
“This? This is your idea of peace?”
“This is desperation. You don’t know what it’s like, to have yourself scattered to a thousand pieces, each yearning for the whole. Then fifteen years ago, I felt it. A soul steeped in the Dark but not yet driven to madness by it. Your soul.”
Fifteen years. The aftermath of Zanya. When he’d used his shadow to defeat Katya Trelan. Bitter seeds, planted long ago.