“And I politely declined. I remember.”

“A gallant fool you are, Ersel San Sabar.” The Butcher laughed fondly. “Not so Denlatis, oh no. He took Ana to union many times that night, kept her up through dark and dawn.” He prodded Ranulf in the chest. “Do you think you could do that, Ersel? Keep a pretty girl up all night?”

Ranulf smiled politely. “A gentleman never tells.”

“You are saying that Denlatis is not a gentleman? Yes, yes! You are right! All that silk and satin and he still has the stink of a dock-man’s son.” The Butcher laughed loudly. “Ah, but he has risen yet higher, Ersel. Denlatis pulled a great trick on the Sunny Snake, and it won him the hand of the Lady Asherah Tamaar. Can you imagine? He is one of the most powerful men in Aramatia now.”

“And one of the most frightened,” the Baker added. “He is terrified that Krator will seek vengeance.”

“I know about Cliffario,” Ranulf said.

“How?” the Butcher demanded. “Where did you hear of this?”

“The Second Elder told me. He had an eagle watching at the time.” Ranulf suspected that would stump the big sellsword, and duly it did. The Butcher frowned, the scars twisting on his forehead. It gave Ranulf enough time to slip away to the others.

Prince Robbert and Princess Talasha were being introduced as he joined them. Saska did the honours. “Robbert, I’d like you to meet Talasha.” The prince gave a well-rehearsed bow, the princess a smile and a playful curtsy. “I think you’ll get along well.”

“Oh, I am quite sure of it,” Talasha said. She kept eye contact with the prince, who seemed more shy in her company. That was only natural. He was a boy of eighteen, Talasha a decade his senior and ravishingly beautiful, wielding her beauty like a well-honed weapon. “I am told you have had some struggles at sea, Prince Robbert. A manator attacked you, am I right? And you were becalmed for several days.”

“Four, my lady. Another of my ships…Wild Raven…she was becalmed for twelve.”

“Twelve? Goodness, that would drive me mad.”

“It had that effect on some of the men, I am told.” The prince frowned. “How did you know of this?”

Talasha gave a playful shrug. “I have my ways. Ranulf Shackton is a great fount of knowledge, it turns out, and news.” She turned to introduce him. “And here he is now.”

Ranulf stepped in and bowed. “Your Highness. A pleasure.”

Robbert regarded him with a furrowed brow, intrigued. “You knew my grandfather. He kept you in a cell once in the palace.”

“He did. A snug place. If a little cold and dark for my tastes.”

The prince favoured that with a smile. “My captain says you sailed with him once. Ash Burton. You went with him on a kraken hunt.”

“A failed one,” Ranulf recalled. “Bloodhound was most wroth about that, of course. He has no great love for those creatures.” And a great penchant for talking often and loudly of his days sailing with King Lorin, Ranulf thought. Now here they were, standing in the company of Lorin’s granddaughter and heir. How queer the world was sometimes.

He looked at her now. Pleasant as it was to meet a prince and reunite with some of his old friends, it was Saska he wished to speak with. And alone. Talasha knew that as well. She stepped in to take Robbert’s arm, smiling sultrily. “My prince, why don’t you tell me more about your time at sea? I’m sure you’ve got many exciting stories to tell.” She looked around. “The rest of you. Come along. Let’s leave Saska and Ranulf to talk in peace.”

Leshie gave a face. She hated being left out. But Saska nodded and off she went with the others. Sir Bernard Westermont had remained aside all the while and was looking at the Wall warily. Saska shook her head. “There’s been lots of drama,” she told Ranulf, when they were alone. “Bernie and Lothar fought Rolly in Aram. These last few days Lothar’s had a chance to speak with Rolly on the ship and clear the air, but not Bernard.” She looked at him. “Aram. Do you know about all that? I guess Talasha must have told you. Krator and Kastor and everything?”

“She didn’t need to tell me, Saska. I knew already, as it happens.”

The girl was baffled. “How? Did you speak to a traveller, or…”

“The Elders have a particular power,” he explained. “A power to see through the eyes of their bonded eagles. Lumo gifted them her light, long ago. At Thala’s request. They have been keeping watch.”

Saska took that in staidly. The girl was no stranger to shocking disclosures. “They’ve been watching me?” she asked, quietly. “We’ve seen lots of eagles, since we left Aram.”

“Most eagles are just eagles, Saska. But, yes, through some the Elders were watching. They have been keeping track of your progress and have kept me well-informed of your journey. And much else from across the world.”

Her eyes went apprehensive at that. “The north…so you know…you know what’s happening there?” She paused. “Drulgar. Is he…”

“Resting,” Ranulf said. “But not for much longer.”

The First Elder had glimpsed it. The broil of fume and ash rising from the Ashmount, and the dragon stirring from his Nest. One of his eagles had dared to get close, and there far below, his eyes pierced through both smoke and sky and saw the Calamity shifting on his perch as his minions screeched and flew about him, tiny against his unthinkable bulk. Soon he would return to scorch and sunder all his enemies. Cities that defied him. Titans that challenged him. And those who kept watch…all would suffer from his wrath. It would herald the beginning of the end. And time was growing short.

Ranulf said nothing of that. It would only add to her burdens, and of those she had plenty already.

“Talasha…” Saska glanced over as she strolled along with Robbert Lukar. “She said earlier that Drulgar wasn’t the only titan who’s returned. What did she mean by that?”

“She was referring to Calacan. It was the Eagle of Aramatia who slew Paglar.”

The heir of Varin blinked. “Calacan? We heard…a few times we heard of a giant eagle shape in the skies. From travellers. And a light. A great gold light. But…I never thought…”

“It’s true. I saw him descend from the skies myself, the day he returned. Calacan has been protecting the borders of the duchy, warding off dragons primarily, but there is only so much he can do. His power will not be sufficient to keep the Dread at bay.”

She stared out, trying to imagine it. “Is he…Calacan…how big is he?”

“Not near Drulgar’s size. But larger than other dragons. And there have been other stirrings as well. On land and at sea.” He could not list them all, not now, and did not want to frighten her unduly. “Saska, you should know…”

“My grandmother,” she said at once. Her eyes went flat as though she already knew. As though she’d prepared herself to hear it. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

“No.” It was one of the most satisfying words Ranulf Shackton had ever said. “She remains abed most days but occasionally takes to her feet. Her condition had not improved, but nor has it worsened. We can take some comfort from that.”

She nodded. “It’s still just a matter of time. I know I’m never going to see her again.” She seemed resigned to that now. Sometimes it was easier to give up on hope than let yourself be disappointed. “So, what is it? The thing I should know?”

“It’s…I’m sad to say that Sunrider Tantario has perished. He and the rest of his men were caught in a sinkhole as they slept two nights ago. None survived, Saska.”

Her eyes stared blankly, like she was dead inside. “He deserved more than that,” she said, in a low whisper. “All of them.” She dwelled on it a moment, then snorted balefully. “My secret. Must everyone die to keep it?”

“It was just a sinkhole, Saska. A natural event.”

“Natural? There’s nothing natural about this. I had a dozen men killed only days ago, Ranulf. To keep my secret. Now the gods have seen fit to finish the job.” She scowled and shook her head.

Her soul is scarred, Ranulf thought. He wondered if she would ever recover from all the things she’d done, all the decisions she was being forced to make to forge her into the person she must become.

Ranulf knew what had happened with the deserters. He had been told how the Baker and Umberto and the Surgeon and the Tigress had caught up to them and killed them, brutally and without mercy. It had not been a fair fight, or a long one. By nightfall the four sellswords had returned to Saska to report to her their success. The following morning, Sunrider Tantario and the remainder of his men had bid Saska goodbye and left her in the protective custody of Prince Robbert, to sail on the final stretch to Eagle’s Perch. And then they died, Ranulf thought. After all that, the earth claimed them, to be crushed by rock and stone.

It was a tragedy, and unfair. But that was the world. It was tragic and unfair.

“It’s snowing in the north,” Ranulf said. The change of topic had her frowning at him, but he needed to move things on. “Heavily, Saska. Thalan is snowed under, Ilithor is following and even Varinar too. In the south of the continent the rains are coming down so hard that great swathes of land are underwater. I know Alym Tantario spoke of this. He called it the weather of the new world, brought on by the Ever-War and he was right. The sinkhole that claimed his life was one such event. The storms that racked Prince Robbert’s fleet another. The heat is becoming more severe further to the south, and the cities of Sutrek and Lumos are suffering. There have been other weather events as well. Great tornados. Violent earthquakes. In the far west a tsunami swept inland to drown the Golden Isles. Thousands were killed in an instant. And still, there is more to come.”

“I know,” she said. A muscle tensed in her jaw. “We’ve heard about the troubles in the south. And the north…we suspected as much. Every day thousands are dying, Ranulf. I know that, and not just from the weather. That’s why I need to go north. That’s why you went to the Everwood in the first place. To help us find a safe way to cross. Yet you never came back. Not even a word.”

“I wanted to. I…”

“It wasn’t your doing. I understand. And I don’t blame you. All this…” She looked east, over the seas. “It’s like the edges of the world are closing in. It’s like…an eye dimming. You know how that happens when you faint. How your sight dims at the edges and then suddenly everything goes black. The whole world is like that, Ranulf. We have to stop it before it goes dark.”