the apparition was carrying a body over one shoulder. it halted and was silent as it studied the manservant.

here, in this tomb emptied of water, in this place where an elder god's will held all back, the guardian did not bleed.

bugg sighed. 'oh, he will grieve for this,' he said, finally recognizing the letherii on the guardian's shoulder.

'the errant says the names remain alive within him,' the creature said.

'the names? ah, yes. of course.'

'you abandoned us, mael.'

'i know. i am sorry.'

the guardian stepped past him and stopped beside the sarcophagus. its helmed head tilted down as it observed tehol beddict. 'this one shares his blood.'

'a brother, yes.'

'he shall carry the memory of the names, then.' it looked over. 'do you object to this?'

bugg shook his head. 'how can i?'

'that is true. you cannot. you have lost the right.'

the manservant said nothing. he watched as the guardian grasped hold of one of brys's hands and set it down upon tehol's brow. a moment, then it was done. the apparition stepped away, headed towards the far wall of water.

'wait, please,' bugg said.

it paused, looked back.

'where will you take him?'

'into the deep, where else, elder one?'

bugg frowned. 'in that place...'

'yes. there shall be two guardians now and for ever more.'

'will that eternal service please him, do you think?'

the apparition cocked its head. 'i do not know. does it please me?'

with that ambiguous question hanging in the still air, the guardian carried the body of brys beddict into the water.

after a long moment, bugg turned back to regard tehol. his friend would wake with a terrible headache, he knew.

nothing to be done for it, alas. except, perhaps, for some tea... i've a particularly nasty herbal mix that'll make him forget his headache. and if there is anyone in the world who will appreciate that, it is tehol beddict of letheras.

but first, i'd better get him out of this tomb.

there were bodies lying in the throne room of the eternal domicile. the one halfway down the dais, face to the bloody tiles, still made feather witch's breath catch, her heart thud loud in her chest. fear or excitement, she knew not which - perhaps both. king ezgara diskanar, flung down from the throne, where rhulad sengar of the tiste edur now sat, and the darkness in the emperor's eyes seemed beyond measure.

there had been pain in this chamber - she could feel its bitter wake, hanging still in the air. and rhulad had been its greatest fount. betrayals, more betrayals than any mortal could bear. she knew this was truth, knew it in her heart.

before the emperor stood tomad and uruth, flanking the trembling, huddled form of hannan mosag, who had paid a dear price for this day of triumph. it seemed that he awaited something, a posture of terrified expectation, his eyes downcast. yet rhulad appeared content to ignore the warlock king. for now, he would indulge his sour triumph.

even so, where was fear sengar? and trull? feather witch had assisted uruth in tending to binadas, who remained unconscious and would continue so until the healing was done. but, apart from rhulad's parents, the only others of the emperor's inner court present were a handful of his adopted brothers, choram irard, kholb harat and matra brith. the buhns were absent, as was the jheck warchief, b'nagga.

two letherii remained, apart from the pathetic wreckages of queen janall and prince quillas. and already the chancellor, triban gnol, had knelt before rhulad and proclaimed his eternal service. the other letherii drew feather witch's attention again and again. consort to the queen, turudal brizad gave the appearance of being almost indifferent to all he was witnessing here in the eternal domicile.

and he was handsome, extraordinarily handsome. more than once, she had met his gaze, and saw in his eyes - even from across the room - a certain avid interest that sent tremors through her.

she remained a step behind uruth, her new mistress, ever attentive, whilst commanders came and went with their irrelevant reports. fighting here, an end to fighting there, the docks secured. the first of the emissaries from the protectorates eagerly awaited audience in the ruined hallway beyond.

the empire was born.

and she had witnessed, and more than witnessed. a knife, pushed into the hands of mayen, and word had come that she had been found. dead. no more would feather witch cower beneath her fury. the whore was dead.