Shimer nodded gravely, shot me a suspicious look, and did as he was told. Teraj gave me a slow and lovely smile, and bent over the papers again. He wrote some more, and I noticed that his hand shook slightly. After a while he gave me the page he’d written, and told me what the letters were. For a long time we worked, and I became engrossed in the strange, beautiful symbols of the high language of the Chosen, and a new world began to be unlocked to me.

We did not notice that the candle burned low and the fire in the grate was almost out, until we heard the Firelord moan in his sleep, and become fitful. Teraj and I went to him, and I took one of his long, frozen hands in mine, stroking it.

“He’s like ice,” I murmured. “I cannot feel his pulse, and he hardly breathes.” My lord was not awake, but his teeth rattled with cold, and he began to shake violently. Teraj got two more woollen blankets and placed them over him then poured more firestones on the fire, making it roar. The room leapt with golden light and warmth, but still my lord shivered and moaned.

I got my sleeping mat and rolled it out beside him, close. Teraj brought two cups of warmed wine, and we sat and drank together, quietly, with my lord shivering beside us. In the firelight Teraj’s face was infinitely sad, and I dared not ask how grave my lord’s condition was.

When we had finished our wine, Teraj put our cups away, gave me a brief embrace, and retired to his bed behind the heavy curtains. I heard him undress, and his bed creak as he got in. I heard him murmuring in the high language, and knew he prayed. I sighed heavily, took off my outer garments and my boots, and slipped into my bed.

I put my hand across the gleaming floor, and touched my lord’s face. He was cold, locked in lonely cold. I got out of my bed, and slid under the blankets and furs beside him. Even through my woollen underdress, I felt that his skin was chill. He lay there on his back, shivering, and I think he was not even aware that I was there. I lay on my side beside him, my arm across his chest, and held him. He did not move, and his breathing stayed shallow and quick, and he still shook.

I pressed my forehead to his cheek, and passed him thoughts of warmth, of light and ancient skies that glowed, of flame. In my mind I sang him the old Quelled myth we both loved, of the fire at the heart of the dawn, and I gave him my vision of what I believed that to be. Then I dozed, shaking, frozen by his flesh.