Kurkas shrugged. “I keep my promises where I can. In the end, that’s all we can do. Just ask the plant pot over there not to toss me down the hill, if you’d be so good.”

Josiri watched Kurkas go with tired eyes then turned to look once more upon the land he’d failed. Five days with too little food, and less sleep. He knew they’d taken their toll, that reason ebbed as low as his spirit, but the walk back down Drannan Tor seemed so long as to be impossible.

He turned the envelope over and over. He dreaded what he’d find within, and for a moment longed to crumple the paper into a ball and hurl it away. He slit the envelope before temptation could take hold, and read.

Josiri,

If you’re reading this, then it’s over. I can only imagine the cost. I hope you can save something of the Southshires. As for me, that witch has her claws so deep that I’ll never be free. But I can hurt her, and that will have to do.

For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been trapped by the past. I’ve been your jailer as much as anyone. In that I’ve served you poorly, and I hope you can forgive me. If you’d honour my memory, I beg you not to spend your life fighting old battles, or in penance for what cannot be changed. Give me this, and I’ll walk the mists content.

Remember me well. I’ll look for you come Third Dawn.

Revekah

He lost track of how long he stared at the scratchy handwriting, the hilltop breeze threatening to tug the paper from his hand.

“She knew,” he whispered. “She knew how this would go.”

Anastacia slid her arms about his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. [[She suspected. We talked, she and I, that last day. One outcast to another. She saw only a dark road, filled with regrets. She didn’t want that for you.]]

“You . . . You knew about this?”

[[Of course. Why do you suppose I didn’t throw Kurkas down the hill?]]

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

[[Because you wouldn’t have listened. Sometimes it’s better to let the dead speak for themselves.]]

Josiri let the letter go. It danced away on the wind. “And what do you think?”

[[Does it matter?]]

“More than anything.”

She hesitated. [[Then I think you should honour Revekah’s request. Neither she nor Calenne would want you to wither away up here, or anywhere else, agonising over a guilt not yours.]]

Calenne. Josiri fought back sudden tears. Their arguments now seemed pettier than ever. Wasted moments that would have been better spent on anything else. “I’ve made a poor job of keeping my promises, haven’t I?”