It was Xessa who moved first, as soon as Enet looked away, Pilos was sure of it, but it was Rix who took the punishment on himself. The woman’s foot lifted, her face twisting with rage, and Rix shoved her hard into Pilos and they both went down in a sprawl. The eja elder screamed a war cry and went for Enet, leaping through the kneeling councillors who shrieked and scattered, hampering the Chorus and Detta. Rix was within a stride of the Great Octave when Ilandeh leapt at him from where she’d been concealed from any Toko who might recognise her. The elder tore down the hanging as he was borne to the ground.

Pilos fought his way clear of Xessa and planted his sandal between her shoulder blades, forcing her into the mats where she thrashed, roaring. The other Tokob, still roped, were struggling with the Chorus and the eagles and the source descended into chaos.

Pilos paid it no attention. He stared at Enet and the Singer. He stared at the monster crouched at the heart of all he held dear. ‘Sweet Setatmeh, what have you done?’ he murmured.

Hulking and huge, the Singer was bloated and puffy in the face and belly, but not, he thought, with food or beer. His limbs had grown thin and Pilos had never seen skin so pale. Hair that had once been lustrous and waist-length had thinned until it hung in tufts from his scalp. He was no longer a man. His eyes were black and empty and his mouth worked constantly, chewing on air.

If not for the movement of his jaw, Pilos might have thought he was already dead and had been propped up in order to deceive the council. Instead of prostrating himself as he should, he stood and stared, grinding the eja into the mats, pressing down with the force of his rage and the weight of his disgust. His spirit quailed within him.

Rix had recoiled when he first saw the Singer, but now he struggled again in Ilandeh’s grip, thrashing. Detta lent his strength to the Whisper’s and they wrestled him backwards. ‘We are the first children,’ Rix was screaming, ‘born from Malel’s womb at the very heart of creation. What you see as surrender we know is patience. You’ll fall, all of you, and that fucking monster there, too. We—’

Ilandeh put him in a lock, choking him, and Xessa made a noise of recognition and began to thrash harder. A broken whistle shuddered from her lungs as she tried to attract attention and Pilos dropped his knee into her back. If anyone else recognised Ilandeh, if they denounced her as the spy in the Sky City, Enet would have all the justification she needed to kill her, him, and probably the whole of the Melody’s high command.