Xessa smiled and it had nothing of warmth in it. ‘I know our lives are bound together,’ Rix said as she signed. ‘I know my life has been preserved so that I might end yours. I know I will laugh when I do so.’

Pilos didn’t let himself react. He held his hands still, away from his charms and amulets, and he donned a mask of polite amusement. ‘I look forward to the attempt,’ he said lightly and saw only cool acknowledgement in the ejab face. ‘She toys with your life as well as her own, Elder,’ he said.

‘She is young and she is angry,’ Rix said. ‘She thinks she still has some power here. Some sort of control.’

Pilos gnawed at his lip and then nodded. ‘I see you, at least, understand better. You are to meet with the great Singer himself at the heart of our Empire,’ he added abruptly, looking back at the woman. ‘He will decide your fate. It is his will.’

‘No. My death is at my will, not yours,’ Rix said for her. ‘You cannot prevent that, no matter what you do. I do not submit myself to your authority.’

‘You already have,’ Pilos said. By the song, she overflowed with misplaced confidence. If she displayed such in front of the Singer, the holy lord would likely tear her apart with his bare hands. It’s his favourite pastime these days, after all …

But the High Feather found himself grinning nonetheless. ‘You would make a fine warrior in the Melody were it not for your limitations.’

‘I have no limitations,’ Rix said and there was a hint of pride in his tone that matched Xessa’s expression. Pilos waved away the comment. ‘It is easy to die, High Feather Pilos, and when I do, Malel will accept my spirit for rebirth. But I will not die before I have tasted your life on my tongue.’

‘And if I cut off your hands so you can neither fight nor die nor speak?’ Pilos asked; her certainty pricked at him. ‘How will you kill me then?’

‘Why do you want me alive?’ she asked instead.

Pilos had no wish to debate with her, but what was the harm? ‘I don’t, particularly, though every slave is valuable. The Singer wants to meet the frog-lickers. He wants to understand where such ignorance could come from. Everything I do is in his name, for the glory of the Empire. You will understand one day, though I grieve to think that you will never hear the majesty of the song. You will never truly understand what it is your people have been given.’