Rayster hugged her close and kissed her brow. ‘A good man gone,’ he said.
Later, as the crowd streamed back towards the Round House and the settlement, the Dweller came alongside Rayster and Fada Talis. Fada moved away from them, allowing them privacy.
‘You will be at the Gathering, Rayster,’ said the Dweller.
‘I’ve not been invited,’ he said.
‘I need you there. No-one will stop you.’
He looked into her eyes. ‘You seem . . . different,’ he said, softly. ‘Are you ill?’
‘Aye, I am sick – sick with terror. And I am angry and hurt and confused. I feel lost, Rayster. As never before.’
Rayster took her hand. ‘You are not lost, Dweller. You are among your own people. You are loved here.’
She tugged on his hand and led him away from the departing crowd, back up the hill. On the brow there were two standing stones, and other fallen, broken columns. Some of the stones were carved with symbols no clansman could now decipher. The Wyrd sat down upon a fallen stone. Rayster joined her. ‘Can one evil ever cancel out another?’ she asked him.
‘I don’t know, Dweller. I do not think of these things.’
‘Do you believe the Rigante should ally with the Moidart?’
‘There has been much talk of this,’ said Rayster. ‘Kaelin Ring believes the enemy to come are evil men. He says they have sought your death. We should resist evil men.’
‘The Moidart is an evil man.’
‘Yes.’
‘So the Rigante should partner with evil to defeat evil?’
‘I am not the man to debate this with. I keep to myself, Dweller, and I live my life by my own lights. I am Rigante. I am proud to be Rigante. Yet not all that we have done has been good. When Call Jace began to exert his authority over the Black Mountains people were killed. Some of them were good people. Call said he regretted their deaths, but that the future of the clan was paramount. I suppose he would have said that the small evil of his deeds led to a greater good for the Rigante.’
‘He did say that,’ admitted the Dweller. ‘He was wrong.’
‘I cannot judge that, Dweller. If the clan decides to fight alongside the Moidart I will fight. For I am a clansman. It seems to me, though, that evil in men is never a constant. If it was, then there would be no hope of redemption, no opportunity to change. Draig Cochland’s deeds would see him branded as evil, and yet he defended Chara and the children.’
‘Draig’s sins are as nothing compared to the Moidart,’ said the Dweller. ‘The man murdered his own wife. He has tortured and slain without mercy for thirty years. He is only fighting now because the enemy tried to have him killed. Given the opportunity he would ally with them in a heartbeat and betray us all.’
‘Then you believe Kaelin is wrong? That we should not be drawn into this war?’
The Dweller closed her eyes. ‘No. That is why I am lost, Rayster. The enemy must be overcome. He is a Destroyer the like of which the world has not seen in almost two thousand years. If he succeeds . . .’ Her words tailed away.
‘A Destroyer?’ queried Rayster. ‘This Winter Kay?’
‘No, he is merely a servant. You will hear of the true evil at the Gathering.’
They sat in silence for a while. Then the Dweller took a deep breath. Turning towards him she reached up and touched the oval brass cloak brooch he wore. It was unadorned, save for an empty circle at the centre. All other clansmen had their family name engraved within the circle. ‘Why did you not accept Ironlatch’s offer of adoption, Rayster? You would have had a name. You could have stood for the leadership.’
‘I am content with who I am, Dweller. Rayster No-name.’ He grinned at her. ‘When I was a child I wanted a name. I wanted the name to be mine, though. My true name. Not something gifted to me. Ironlatch has sons and daughters. They carry his name and his blood. That is as it should be. I have long since ceased to stare into the faces of the older men of the clan, wondering which of them fathered me. It is enough that I am Rigante.’