‘Ill words,’ she chided. ‘It saved your life a dozen times this day.’
She was right in that. Still. ‘I don’t care.’
‘Look up, man. It’s the least you can do.’
But that was too hard. ‘No. You did not see them here from the beginning. You did not see them die. How long have they been fighting? Weeks? Months? For ever?’
‘I can see the truth of that.’
‘They weren’t soldiers—’
‘I beg to differ.’
‘ They weren’t soldiers! ’
‘Look up, old man. In the name of the Fallen, look up.’
And so he did.
He and the Shake, the Letherii, the Queen Yan Tovis, Twilight – these few hundred – were surrounded once more. But this time those facing them were Tiste Andii, in their thousands.
And not one was standing.
Instead, they knelt, heads bowed.
Withal twisted round, made to rise. ‘I’m not the one needs to see this—’
But the woman beside him caught his arm, forcibly pulled him back down. ‘No,’ she said, like him looking across to Yan Tovis – who still knelt over the body of her brother, and who still held shut her eyes, as if she could hold back all the truths before her. ‘Not yet.’
He saw Sergeant Cellows sitting near the queen, the Hust sword balanced across his thighs. He too seemed unable to look up, to see anything beyond his inner grief.
And all the others, blind to all that surrounded them. Oh, will not one of you look up? Look up and see those who have witnessed all that you have done? See how they honour you … but no, they are past such things now. Past them .
A group of Tiste Andii approached from up the strand. Something familiar there – Withal’s eyes narrowed, and then he hissed a curse and climbed to his feet. Nimander. Skintick. Desra. Nenanda. But these were not the frail creatures he had once known – if they ever were what I thought they were. If it was all hidden away back then, it is hidden no more. But … Aranatha? Kedeviss?
‘Withal,’ said Nimander, his voice hoarse, almost broken.
‘You found your people,’ Withal said.
The head cocked. ‘And you yours.’
But that notion hurt him deep inside, and he would not consider it. Shaking his head, he said, ‘The Shake and the Letherii islanders, Nimander – see what they have done.’
‘They held the First Shore.’
And Withal now understood that hoarseness, all the broken edges of Nimander’s voice. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. For all that he had seen – that he must have seen, for surely he numbered among the black dragons – of this strand, this battle.
Nimander turned as another Tiste Andii staggered close. A woman, half her clothes torn away, her flesh flensed and gashed. ‘Korlat. She did what was needed. She … saw reason. Will you go to your mother now?’
‘I will not.’
Withal saw Nimander’s sudden frown. ‘She sits upon the throne of Kharkanas, Korlat. She must be made to know that her daughter has returned to her.’
Korlat’s eyes shifted slowly, fixed upon the kneeling form of Yan Tovis. ‘Her son was the only child that ever mattered to my mother, Nimander. And I failed to protect him. She set that one charge upon me. To protect her son.’
‘But you are her daughter!’
Korlat raised her voice, ‘Twlight, queen of the Shake! Look upon me.’
Slowly, Yan Tovis lifted her gaze.
Korlat spoke. ‘I have no place in the palace of my mother, the queen of Kharkanas. In ancient times, Highness, there stood at your side a Sister of Night. Will you take me – will you take Korlat, daughter of Sandalath Drukorlat?’
Yan Tovis frowned. Her gaze wandered from the Tiste Andii woman standing before her, wandered out to the kneeling Tiste Andii, and then, at last, to the huddle of her own people, her so few survivors. And then, as if borne by an impossible strength, she climbed to her feet. Brushed feebly at the sand clinging to her bloody clothes. Straightened. ‘Korlat, daughter of Sandalath Drukorlat, the Sister of Night in the House of the Shake is not for one of the pure blood—’
‘Forgive me, Queen, but my blood is not pure.’
Yan Tovis paused, and then continued, ‘The blood of the Eleint—’
‘Queen, my blood is not pure .’
Withal suddenly comprehended Korlat’s meaning. Cold dread curled in his chest. No, Korlat will have no place in the palace of Queen Sandalath Drukorlat . And how was it, after all that had happened, here on the First Shore, that his heart could still break?