“We have no forests to burn, dear sister, but there are other ways, other methods. The Vagrant will suffer the same fate as his forbearer in Miquo. When his corpse hangs before the gates of Vallessau, the people shall learn once and for all we suffer no gods other than the God-Incarnate of the Empire.”

“And how will you catch him?” she asked. “The wraith has proven infuriatingly elusive.”

In answer, he gestured behind her, to the galleon Sinshei had presumed empty. There was one last set of passengers, and they descended together down the gangplank. Two were acolytes dressed in white, and they each held an arm of the one between them. Sinshei’s insides ran cold. Her mouth opened in shock.

“Rihim shall handle that matter for us,” Galvanis said.

Rihim was naked from the waist up, and though his muscled body resembled a man, it was covered with a thin layer of dark blue fur. He towered several feet over his escorts even with the heavy stoop of his spine. His face was that of a panther, with golden eyes glinting in the sunlight. Manacles wrapped about his wrists, each two inches thick of solid steel. Runes were carved across their surface, in an ancient language of Old Eldrid that only chosen priests knew how to read.

Those manacles were used only on captured and imprisoned gods of conquered nations, beings that were taught their proper place in worship of the God-Incarnate. They were the Humbled, and Sinshei knew that Galvanis had been working on one from Antiev for years. Never had she thought he would bring the god with him across the Crystal Sea. Again her lack of imagination might cost her dearly.

The Humbled stopped at the bottom of the gangplank. His ears flattened against his head, and he sniffed the air twice, long, deep draughts to fill his lungs. His deep voice purred as he spoke.

“You name this place Thanet.” His golden eyes narrowed. “Yet I smell Miquoan gods here.”

Miquoan gods? What did he mean? Sinshei swore to investigate, but for now, she turned to her brother and bowed her head. She must be deferential. She must be obedient. Loyal. Faithful.

Galvanis touched the Humbled’s face, and it was with far more care and love than he had ever shown Sinshei.

“Then it is well I brought the perfect hunter for them.”

Rihim bared his white teeth with twin broken fangs, and the manacles about his wrists rattled as he growled, eager for the hunt.

EPILOGUE

VAGRANT