‘The first Edur he killed,’ said Udinaas, ‘has the keys.’
Silchas Ruin had walked down the road. Barely visible in the mist, the Tiste Andii veered into something huge, winged, then took to the air. Seren glanced over at the row of slaves-none had seen that, she was relieved to note. ‘Very well,’ she said in answer to Udinaas, and she walked up to where Fear Sengar still stood near the dead Edur.
‘I must take the keys,’ she said, crouching beside the first fallen Edur.
‘Do not touch him,’ Fear said.
She looked up at him. ‘The keys-the chains-’
‘I will find them,’ he said.
Nodding, she straightened, then stepped back. Watched as he spoke a silent prayer, then settled onto his knees beside the body. He found the keys in a leather pouch tied to the warrior’s belt, a pouch that also contained a handful of polished stones. Fear took the keys in his left hand and held the stones in the palm of his right. ‘These,’ he said, ‘are from the Merude shore. Likely he collected them when but a child.’
‘Children grow up,’ Seren said. ‘Even straight trees spawn crooked branches.’
‘And what was flawed in this warrior?’ Fear demanded, glaring up at her. ‘He followed my brother, as did every other warrior of the tribes.’
‘Some eventually turned away, Fear.’ Like you.
‘What I have turned away from lies in the shadow of-what I am now turned towards, Acquitor. Does this challenge my loyalty towards the Tiste Edur? My own kind? No. That is something all of you forget, conveniently so, again and again. Understand me, Acquitor. I will hide if I must, but I will not kill my own people. We had the coin, we could have bought their freedom-’
‘Not Udinaas.’
He bared his teeth, said nothing.
Yes, Udinaas, the one man you dream of killing. If not for Silchas Ruin… ‘Fear Sengar,’ she said. ‘You have chosen to travel with us, and there can be no doubt-none at all-that Silchas Ruin commands this meagre party. Dislike his methods if you must, but he alone will see you through. You know this.’
The Hiroth warrior looked away, back down the road, blinking the water from his eyes. ‘And with each step, the cost of my quest becomes greater-an indebtedness you should well understand, Acquitor. The Letherii way of living, the burdens you can never escape. Nor purchase your way clear.’