And now, here, it was not even a prospective husband laying claim to her life, but that prospective husband’s damned brother. And, to make the entire situation yet more absurd, the prospective husband was dead. Fear will defend to the death my right to marry a corpse. Or, rather, the corpse’s right to claim me. Well, that is madness and I will not-1 do not-accept it. Not for a moment.
Yes, I have moved past self-pity. Now I’m just angry.
Because he refused to let his disgust dissuade him.
For all her notions of defiance, that last thought stung her.
Udinaas had moved past her to study the ruined gate, and now he turned to Clip. ‘Well, does it yet live?’
The Tiste Andii’s chain and rings were spinning from one finger again, and he offered the Letherii slave a cool smile. ‘The last road to walk,’ he said, ‘lies on the other side of the gate.’
‘So who got mad and kicked it to pieces, Clip?’
‘Of no consequence any more,’ Clip replied, his smile broadening.
‘You have no idea, in other words,’ Udinaas said. ‘Well, if we’re to go through it, let’s stop wasting time. I’ve almost given up hoping that you’ll end up garrotting yourself with that chain. Almost.’
His last comment seemed to startle Clip for some reason.
And all at once Seren Pedac saw that chain with its rings differently, By the Errant! Why did I not see it before? It is a garrotte. Clip is a damned assassin! She snorted. ‘And you claim to be a Mortal Sword! You’re nothing but a murderer, Clip. Yes, Udinaas saw that long ago-which is why you hate him so. He was never fooled by all those weapons you carry. And now, neither am I.’
‘We’re wasting time indeed,’ Clip said, once more seemingly unperturbed, and he turned and approached the huge gate. Silchas Ruin set out after him, and Seren saw that the White Crow had his hands on the grips of his swords.
‘Danger ahead,’ Fear Sengar announced and yes, damn him, he then moved from his position just behind Seren’s right shoulder to directly in front of her. And drew his sword.
Udinaas witnessed all this and grunted dismissively, then half turned and said, ‘Silchas Ruin’s earned his paranoia, Fear. But even that doesn’t mean we’re about to jump into a pit of dragons.’ He then smiled without any humour. ‘Not that dragons live in pits.’
When he walked after the two Tiste Andii, Kettle ran up to take his hand. At first Udinaas reacted as if her touch had burned him, but then his resistance vanished.
Clip reached the threshold, stepped forward and disappeared. A moment later Silchas Ruin did the same.
Neither Udinaas nor Kettle hesitated.
Reaching the same point, Fear Sengar paused and eyed her. ‘What is in your mind, Acquitor?’ he asked.
‘Do you think I might abandon you all, Fear? Watch you step through and, assuming you can’t get back, I just turn round and walk this pointless road-one I probably would never leave? Is that choice left to me?’
‘All choices are left to you, Acquitor.’
‘You too, I would say. Except, of course, for the ones you willingly surrendered.’
‘Yes.’
‘You admit that so easily.’
‘Perhaps it seems that way.’
‘Fear, if anyone should turn round right now, it is you.’
‘We are close, Acquitor. We are perhaps a few strides from Scabandari’s Finnest. How can you imagine I would even consider such a thing?’
‘Some stubborn thread of self-preservation, perhaps. Some last surviving faith of mine that you actually possess a brain, one that can reason, that is. Fear Sengar, you will probably die. If you pass through this gate.’
He shrugged. ‘Perhaps I shall, if only to confound Udinaas’s expectations.’
‘Udinaas?’
A faint smile. ‘The hero fails the quest.’
‘Ah. And that would prove satisfying enough?’
‘Remains to be seen, I suppose. Now, you will follow?’
‘Of course.’
‘You then willingly surrender this choice?’
In answer she set a hand against his chest and pushed him, step by step, into the gate. All pressure vanished when he went through, and Seren stumbled forward, only to collide with the Tiste Edur’s broad, muscled chest.
He righted her before she could fall.
And she saw, before them all, a most unexpected vista. Black volcanic ash, beneath a vast sky nearly as black, despite at least three suns blazing in the sky overhead. And, on this rough plain, stretching on all sides in horrific proliferation, there were dragons.
Humped, motionless. Scores-hundreds.
She heard Kettle’s anguished whisper. ‘Udinaas! They’re all dead!’
Clip, standing twenty paces ahead, was now facing them. The chain spun tight, and then he bowed. ‘Welcome, my dear companions, to Starvald Demelain.’
