udinaas knew enough horror, here among the living. and the distilling of old truths was, as far as he was concerned, not worth it.

t'lan imass.

t'lan imass...

what did he care about some ancient nemesis?

because the dust of over four thousand of them was beneath their feet at this moment. a truth riding wither's raspy laughter.

'and that dust has eyes, slave. should you fear? probably not. they're not interested. much. not enough to rise up and slaughter you all, which they might not succeed in doing anyway. but, i tell you this, udinaas, they would give it a good try.'

'if they are dust,' udinaas muttered, 'they cannot slaughter anyone.'

it was night. he sat with his back to a sloping rock face, on a ledge perched above the massive edur encampment. the emperor had sent him off a short while ago. the hulking, gold-smeared bastard was in a foul mood. wearied from dragging his bulk around, arguments with hannan, mosag, the endless logistics of moving an army tens of thousands strong, families in tow. not all was glory.

'the dust can rise, udinaas. can take shape. warriors of bone and withered flesh, with swords of stone. where are these ones from? which warleader sent them here? they do not answer our questions. they never do. there are no bonecasters among them. they are, like us, lost.'

udinaas was tired of listening. the wraith was worse than a burrowing tick, buried deep in his brain. he had begun to doubt its existence. more likely the product of madness, a persona invented in his own mind. an inventor of secrets, seeding armies of ghosts to explain the countless voices whispering in his skull. of course, it would insist otherwise. it might even flit across his vision, creeping disembodied, the sourceless, inexplicably moving shadow where none belonged. but the slave knew his eyes could be deceived. all part of the same corrupted perception.

the wraith hides in the blood of the wyval. the wyval hides in the shadow of the wraith. a game of mutual negation. the emperor sensed nothing. hannan mosag and his k'risnan sensed nothing. feather witch, mayen, uruth, the host of bound wraiths, the hunting dogs, the birds and the buzzing insects - all sensed nothing.

and that was absurd.

as far as udinaas was concerned, in any case - the judgement conjured by some rational, sceptical part of his brain, that knot of consciousness the wraith endlessly sought to unravel - wither was not real.

wyval blood. sister of dawn, the sword-wielding mistress known to the edur as menandore - her and the hungry place between her legs. infection and something like rape. he thought he understood the connection now. he was indeed infected, and true to feather witch's prediction, that un-human blood was driving him mad. there had been no blazing white bitch who stole his seed. fevered delusions, visions of self-aggrandizement, followed by the paranoid suspicion that the promised glory had been stolen from him.

thus explaining his sordid state right now, slave to an insane tiste edur. a slave, huddled beneath every conceivable heel. cowering and useless once all the internal posturing and self-justifications were cast away.

feather witch. he had loved her and he would never have her and that was that. the underscored truth laid bare, grisly exposure from which he withheld any direct, honest examination.

madmen built houses of solid stone. then circled looking for a way inside. inside, where cosy perfection waited. people and schemes and outright lies barred his every effort, and that was the heart of the conspiracy. from outside, after all, the house looked real. therefore it was real. just a little more clawing at the stone door, a little more battering, one more pounding collision will burst the barrier.

and on and on and round and round. the worn ruts of madness.

he heard scrabbling on the stone below, and a moment later feather witch clambered into view. she pulled herself up beside him, her motions jerky, as if fevered.

'is it my turn to run?' he asked.

'take me there, indebted. that dream realm. where i found you before.'

'you were right all along,' udinaas said. 'it doesn't exist.'

'i need to go there. i need to see for myself.'

'no. i don't know how.'

'idiot. i can open the path. i'm good at opening paths.'

'then what?'

'then you choose. udinaas, take me to the ghosts.'

'this is not a good place to do that-'

she had one hand clenched around something, and she now reached out and clutched his arm with that hand, and he felt the impression of a tile pressed between them.

and there was fire.