His Imperial Majesty’s invitation

to host your eldest sons

at the Imperial Palace.”

Memnor looked not to Tahj

but to Xau, said,

“I yield to King Xau.

I will abide by his decision.”

Xau bowed his head to Memnor.

Subetei, Khan of the Horse Lords, said,

“Xau is my khan, my king, my brother.

I will do as he asks.”

Again, Xau bowed his head,

this time to Subetei.

Donal unbuckled his longsword,

went to one knee beside Xau,

offered his sword to Xau.

“My sword, my blood, my men

at your command. Now and always.”

Xau set his hand under Donal’s arm,

held his gaze, raised him up.

Xau looked at Tahj, said,

no trace of anger in his voice,

only a gentleness,

“If you are bound by the beast,

if you will let us help you,

we would try to release you.”

Tahj shivered.

An odd look, nearer despair than dislike,

passed over his face

before it hardened again.

“What do you take me for? A fool?!

Don’t try your tricks on me—

Do you accept my terms or not?”

Xau took a breath,

let go what hope he’d held

that this would end well.

He knew what he must do now,

yet the doing of it hard.

To spend more lives

in the effort to end a distant evil

with what small chance of success?

Many already dead.

Atun, the horse rolling—

In pain, in grief,

masking both,

Xau said,

“We reject your terms.

These are ours.

You will kill the beast.

You will abdicate your throne.”

“Never.” Tahj spat on the floor.

“These talks are over.

Will you keep your word

and allow us safe departure?”

Xau nodded.

He sat, silent,

as Tahj and his entourage left,

followed by the remaining scribes

and translators and soldiers,

then Subetei and Memnor

and, last, Donal.

Only his guards with him

as Xau stayed on in the cold room,

shouldering the weight

of all that would follow.

PARTING

Hana fell asleep in Xau’s embrace,

her head on his bare chest,

amid the mingled smells

of soap, ointment, Xau himself.

Woke in the hour after dawn

to find him still holding her,

that quiet tenderness

before he left for war.

SUPPLEMENTAL EXTRACTS FROM THE RECOLLECTIONS OF ARTOCH,
SENIOR ADVISOR TO KING XAU

The decision to invade Sumbral?

Which aspect? Tactical? Political?

My private reaction?

I worried about King Xau,

worried whether he could tolerate

the rigors of a war campaign.

The field surgeon’s reports as revealing

as Xau’s own correspondence was evasive:

the second arrow had been wedged in bone,

its extraction challenging,

the king still in pain a month later,

unlikely he would ever walk without a limp.

Had I known Xau’s full plans,

I would have worried far more.

No, I did not attend

the peace negotiations.

I was seventy-five years old,

an age at which you, too,

may find travel an imposition.

Furthermore, King Xau had vested

civil authority in me.

In essence, I remained in Lipoh