Whiskeyjack edged closer, rolling up his left sleeve. He leaned down and showed the two marines his forearm. ‘See those scars – no, these ones here.’

‘A nice even bite,’ the nearest woman observed. ‘Pretty small, though.’

‘She was five, the little banshee. I was sixteen. The first fight I ever lost.’

‘Did the lass grow up to be a soldier, Commander?’

He straightened, lowering his sleeve. ‘Hood, no. When she was twelve, she set off to marry a king. Or so she claimed. That was the last any of us ever saw or heard of her.’

‘I’d bet she did just that, sir,’ the first woman said. ‘If she was anything like you.’

‘Now I’m choking on more than just dust, soldier. Carry on.’

Whiskeyjack trotted ahead until he reached Silverfox.

‘They’ll die for you now,’ she said as soon as he came alongside. ‘I know,’ she continued, ‘you don’t do it on purpose. There’s nothing calculated when you’re being human, old friend. That’s what makes you so deadly.’

‘No wonder you’re walking here on your own,’ he replied.

Her smile was sardonic. ‘We’re very much alike, you know. All we need do is cup our hands and ten thousand souls rush in to fill them. And every now and then one of us recognizes that fact, and the sudden, overwhelming pressure hardens us a little more deep down inside. And what was soft gets a little smaller, a little weaker.’

‘Not weaker, Silverfox. Rather, more concentrated, more selective. That you feel the burden at all is proof that it remains alive and well.’

‘There is a difference, now that I think on it,’ she said. ‘For you, ten thousand souls. For me, a hundred thousand.’

He shrugged.

She was about to continue, but a sharp crack filled the air behind them. They spun to see a savage parting in their wake, a thousand paces away, from which poured a crimson river. The two marines backpedalled as the torrent tumbled towards them.

The high grasses blackened, wavered, then sank down on all sides. Distant shouts rose from the Rhivi who had seen the conflagration.

The Trygalle wagon that emerged from the fissure burned with black fire. The horses themselves were engulfed, their screams shrill and horrible as they plunged madly onto the flooded plain. The beasts were devoured in moments, leaving the wagon to roll forward of its own momentum in the spreading red stream. One front wheel collapsed. The huge contrivance pitched, pivoted, burnt bodies falling from its flanks, then careened onto its side in an explosion of ebon flames.