‘Well, that would be a relief,’ Trull said. ‘What is it you want, then?’
‘I want you to excuse yourself before Canarth delivers his request.’
Trull looked away. Southward, the sprawl of farms on the other side of Thetil. No livestock, no workers in the fields. The rains had been kind, and all was a luscious, deep green. ‘A Bluerose slave, wasn’t she?
Your mother. Which was why you were always apart from the rest of us.’
‘I am ashamed of nothing, Trull Sengar. If you are seeking to wound me-’
He met Ahlrada’s hard gaze. ‘No, the very opposite. I know you do not like me. Indeed, you never have – long before I struck… a woman. Oddly enough, I have always admired you. Your strength, your determination to rise above your birth-’
‘Rise above?’ Ahlrada’s grin was cold. ‘I suffered under no such compulsion, Trull Sengar. Before she died, my mother told me many secrets. The Bluerose are the survivors, from a war in which it was supposed there were no survivors. It was believed the Edur had killed them all, you see. It was necessary to believe that.’
‘You have lost me, Ahlrada Ahn,’ Trull said. ‘What war are you speaking of?’
‘I am speaking of the Betrayal. When the Edur and the Andii fought as allies against the K’Chain Che’Malle. The Betrayal, which was not as the Edur histories would have it. The Andii were the ones betrayed, not the Edur. Scabandari Bloodeye stabbed Silchas Ruin. In the back. All that you learned as a child and hold true to this day, Trull Sengar, was a lie.’ His smile grew colder. ‘And now you will accuse me of being the liar.’
‘The Bluerose are Tiste Andii?’
‘The blood is thinned, but it remains.’
Trull looked away once more. After a time, he slowly nodded to himself. ‘I see no reason, Ahlrada Ahn, to call you a liar. Indeed, your version makes more sense. After all, had we been the ones betrayed, then we should have been as the Andii today – mere remnants of a broken people-’
‘Not as broken as you think,’ Ahlrada said.
‘You do not think Bluerose will capitulate? Is it not already a protectorate of the Letherii? A nation of subjugated people?’
‘They have been waiting for this, Trull Sengar. After all, the truth cannot be hidden – once the Edur occupy Bluerose, it will be discovered that its ruling class possess Andii blood.’
‘Probably.’
They were silent for a time, then Ahlrada Ahn said, ‘I hold no particular hatred for you, Trull Sengar. My hatred is for all the Tiste Edur.’
‘I understand.’
‘Do you? Look upon the shadow wraiths. The ghosts who have been bound to the Edur, who are made to fight this war. To find oblivion beneath swords of Letherii steel, the fatal iron against which they have no defence. They are Tiste Andii, the shades of those who fell in that betrayal, long ago.’
The demon, Lilac, spoke, ‘It is true, Trull Sengar. The wraiths are compelled, as much as we KenylPrah. They are not your ancestors.’
‘To all of this,’ Trull said, ‘I can do nothing.’
Without another word, he strode away. Through the camp, deftly avoided by all, his path appearing before him devoid of any obstruction, as if by the hand of sorcery. Trull was not immune to regret. He would have liked to have taken back that moment when he’d lost control, when his outrage had broken through. The woman had been right, he supposed. The wounded Edur must be healed first and foremost. There was no time for demons. He should not have struck her.
No-one cared for his reasons. The act was inexcusable, as simple as that.
He approached the command tent.
And saw that the riders they’d seen earlier on the road had arrived. Among them, Uruth, his mother.
She was standing beside her horse.
Fear emerged from the tent and strode to her.
Uruth was speaking as Trull arrived. ‘… I can barely stand. Should we run low on food on our march south, allow me to be the first to suggest we slaughter the horses.’ She noted Trull and faced him. ‘You have made terrible mistakes, my son. None the less, this over-reaction on the part of the women in this camp will not be tolerated. It is for me to sanction you, not them.’ She returned her attention to Fear. ‘Are the warriors naught but children? Grubby hands on their mother’s skirts? Did your brother Trull reveal cowardice on the field of battle?’
‘No,’ Fear replied, ‘there was no question of his courage-’
‘For you and your warriors, Fear, nothing else obtains. I would have thought better of you, my eldest son. Your brother sought the healing of a fallen comrade-’