Sahmanan surrendered to her Great One. Nahaman rebelled and fled. She made herself mistress of another land. She returned with her fleets and dragons and dark dragon riders.

The wars were bitter and pointless. That which had been lost was gone forever. The stone beast was master now. He would not yield.

Who can slay a god?

“Deliverer. Arise.”

Groggily, Ethrian abandoned his slumber. Night masked the deserts of Nawami. Tenuous, the woman in white stood over him. Straining, he rose.

Something was wrong. The ground seemed too far away… He had grown. He had to be years older… How could that be? He glanced around. The pool was exactly as he had seen it in his dream.

“Yes. There have been changes. You opened the door a crack before you fled into sleep. You have to open it all the way.”

Ethrian did not reply. He reviewed the arguments he had thought out before. He added what he had learned by eavesdropping. And still he could not bring himself to decide. Something down deep told him this was not the time.

“You haven’t shown me what to do.” How long would they endure his temporizing?

“You know, Deliverer. The Power is in you. Give us Nawami. We’ll reward you with your enemies.”

My enemies are greater than you know, Ethrian thought. They could not imagine the might of Shinsan. He could not himself, and he had seen it. They believed their Nawami the epitome of imperial achievement.

He suspected the lords of the Dread Empire themselves could not encompass the size and strength of what they had wrought.

“Deliverer!”

He gave her his attention. She was exasperated with him. “Will you liberate us?”

He shrugged.

Angry, the woman faced the darkness between the stone beast’s legs. Her stance shrieked I told you so!

“Show him, Sahmanan.”

“Show me what?”

“Yesterday. A yesterday dear to you,” the woman replied. She cast a tremulous glance at the stone beast. “The day your father died.”

“Time it well, Sahmanan. Err, and you face my wrath. And my wrath can be eternal.”

She told Ethrian, “The Great One wants me to take you back to your father’s death, that you might know the revenges at your command.”

“I….”

“Close your eyes. Concentrate on staying beside me.”

“I’d rather see my mother. Is she alive?”

The woman started singing. Something tugged at the folded-in corners of Ethrian’s soul, tenderly pulling him free. He was returning to his out-of-body state. He settled onto his pallet and let go.

But he made Sahmanan work. He had made one decision. No matter what they got, they would work for it. He would hold back. He would make them underestimate him.

He was free. Sahmanan took his hand. They drifted up into an afternoon sky, above the terrible desert. The will and power of the stone beast carried them, higher and higher, farther and farther from the lonely mountain.

A barren Cordillera passed below. The range was but the parched bones of what had been. Not a lichen discolored its shades of grey.