“I, Elsha, woman of the Quelled and handmaid to the Firelord, do this night solemnly swear before Eternal God that I will improve the lives of the Quelled, and open the eyes of the Chosen who are blind. I will make new laws, and wipe out injustice. This I swear before God. And nothing will stop me in this purpose, and I shall not rest till it is done.”

Then I wrapped the child in the shirt again, tied it with the leather thongs, and hid it deep in the cleft of the rock.

That night I had a dream.

I dreamed that I was in a temple place, and before me was a great golden altar with a brazier burning on it. Carved on the altar, in a language I didn’t know, were several words, but I knew they said: “For the Chosen of God.” Beside the altar, dividing it from another part of the room, was a huge curtain. High and black it was, and full of ancient dust. And on the other side of the curtain was a low stone altar, also with a brazier burning on it, and its words were: “For the Quelled.”

In my dream, I took the curtain in my hands and pulled it down. I took the brazier from the Quelled altar and placed it on the great golden altar, and the fires of the Chosen and of the Quelled burned side by side, and there was no more a division between them.

Then the dream changed, and I was standing in a high place and tens of thousands of people were gathered before me. I made a speech, announcing new laws and proclaiming a better life for the Quelled. When I had finished, there was great turmoil among the Chosen, though the Quelled rejoiced. But the Chosen dared not touch me, and they dared not defy me. Because in my hand I held the one thing they needed above all else, that no other human being could give them.

In my hand I held fire.

One day I was helping Dannii wash clothes in the stream behind the tents, when Lori came leaping and running over the rocks towards us, screaming.

“The Firelord! The Firelord! He’s back!” She rushed up, panting, and cried, “We were on the rocks above the town, throwing stones at it, when a man on a donkey went down into the marketplace from another way, and all the Chosen rushed up to him, yelling and laughing. It was him, Elsha! Your man!”

I stood up straight, the dripping garments heavy in my hands, and looked at Dannii. There was sudden pain in her, in both of us. I dropped the clothes in a shallow pool, and embraced her.

“We won’t leave for days yet, Dannii,” I said, and hoped my words were true. “The Chosen will hold a feast for him tonight, and tomorrow they’ll show him the progress on the new mine. They’ll be days talking and telling stories.”