The man laughed again. ‘The Seer has made this my prison. And I know it to be so. You are the lure of madness, of strangers’ voices in my head. I defy you. Had you known of my real mother, you might have succeeded, but your rape of my mind was ever incomplete. There is a god here, Seer, crouched before my secrets. Fangs bared. Not even your dear mother, who holds me so tight, dares challenge him. As for your Omtose Phellack – he would have confronted you at that warren’s gate long ago. He would have denied it to you, Jaghut. To all of you. But he was lost. Lost. And know this, I am helping him. I am helping him to find himself. He’s growing aware, Seer.’

‘I do not understand you,’ the Mhybe replied, faltering as despair slowly stole through her. This was not the place she had believed it to be. She had indeed fled to another person’s prison, a place of personal madness. ‘I came here for death—’

‘You’ll not find it, not in these leathery arms.’

‘I am fleeing my daughter—’

‘Flight is an illusion. Even Mother here comprehends that. She knows I am not her child, yet she cannot help herself. She even possesses memories, of a time when she was a true Matron, a mother to a real brood. Children who loved her, and other children – who betrayed her. And left her to suffer for eternity.

‘She never anticipated an escape from that. Yet when she found herself free at last, it was to discover that her world had turned to dust. Her children were long dead, entombed in their barrows – for without a mother, they withered and died. She looked to you, then, Seer. Her adopted son. And showed you your power, so that she could use it. To recreate her world. She raised her dead children. She set them to rebuilding the city. But it was all false, the delusion could not deceive her, could only drive her mad.

‘And that,’ he continued, ‘is when you usurped her. Thus, her child has made her a prisoner once more. There is no escaping the paths of our lives, it seems. A truth you’re not prepared to face, Seer. Not yet.’

‘My child has made me a prisoner as well,’ the Mhybe whispered. ‘Is this the curse of all mothers?’

‘It is the curse of love.’

A faint howl rang through the dark air.

‘Hear that?’ the man asked. ‘That is my mate. She’s coming. I looked for so long. For so long. And now, she’s coming.’

The voice had acquired a deeper timbre with these words. It seemed to be no longer the man’s voice.

And now,’ the words continued, ‘now, I answer.’

His howl tore through her, flung her mind back. Out of the cavern, out beyond the straggly forests, back onto the tundra’s barren plain.

The Mhybe screamed.