Kiall said nothing but gazed into the fire, lost in thought.
‘Shocked you, did I, boy?’ said Beltzer. ‘Well, life’s full of shocks. It’s all insane. There never was a better husband. Gods, he loved her. You know where she ended up?’
Kiall shook his head.
‘She became a whore in New Gulgothir. The Blademaster doesn’t know that but I saw her there, plying her trade by the docks. Two copper coins.’ Beltzer laughed. ‘Two of her front teeth were gone, and she wasn’t so beautiful. I had her then. Two copper coins’ worth. In an alley. She begged me to take her with me; she’d go anywhere, she said. Do anything for me. She said she had no friends, and nowhere to stay.’
‘What happened to her?’ whispered Kiall.
‘She threw herself from the docks and died. They found her floating among the scum and the sewage.’
‘Why did you hate her?’ asked Kiall. ‘She did nothing to you.’
‘Hate her? I suppose I did. I’ll tell you why. Because in all the time she was cuckolding Chareos, she never once offered it to me. She treated me like dirt.’
‘Would you have accepted?’
‘Sure I would. I told you, she was beautiful.’
Kiall looked into Beltzer’s face and remembered the song of Bel-azar. Then he looked away and added fuel to the fire.
‘Don’t want to talk any more, young Kiall?’ asked Beltzer.
‘Some things it is better not to hear,’ said the villager. ‘I wish you hadn’t told me.’
‘Whores’ lives don’t make pretty stories.’
‘No, I suppose they don’t. But I wasn’t thinking of her; I was thinking of you. Your story is as disgusting as hers.’
Kiall rose and walked away. The sun was fading, the shadows lengthening. He found Chareos sitting on a fallen tree, gazing at the sunset. The sky was aglow, red banners flowing over the mountains.
‘It is beautiful,’ said Kiall. ‘I have always enjoyed the sunset.’
‘You are a romantic,’ stated Chareos.
‘Is that bad?’
‘No, it is the best way to live. I felt that way once – and I was never happier.’ Chareos stood and stretched his back. ‘Hold on to your dreams, Kiall. They are more important than you realise.’
‘I shall. Tell me, do you like Beltzer?’
Chareos laughed aloud and the sound, rich and full of good humour, echoed in the valley. ‘No one likes Beltzer,’ he said. ‘Least of all Beltzer.’
Then why do you have him with you? Why did Finn buy his axe?’
‘You are the dreamer, Kiall. You tell me.’
‘I don’t know. I can’t imagine. He is so gross; his speech is vile, and he doesn’t understand friendship or loyalty.’
Chareos shook his head. ‘Don’t judge him by his words, my friend. If I was standing alone down there in the valley, surrounded by a hundred Nadir warriors, and I called his name, he would come running. He would do the same for Finn, or Maggrig.’
‘I find that hard to believe,’ said Kiall.
‘Let us hope you never see the proof of it.’
*
At dawn the next morning the questors moved north into the shadowed pine woods, following a deer trail that wound down to a shallow stream. This they waded across, climbing a short, steep slope to a clearing beyond. The wind gusted and an eerie, high-pitched scream echoed around them. Finn and Maggrig leapt from the trail, vanishing into the undergrowth. Beltzer lifted his axe from the sheath at his side, spat upon his hands, and waited. Chareos stood unmoving, hand on sword-hilt.
Kiall found his limbs trembling and suppressed the urge to turn and sprint from the clearing. The scream came again, an ululating howl that chilled the blood. Chareos walked on, Beltzer following. Sweat dripping into his eyes, Kiall could not bring himself to move. He sucked in a deep breath and forced himself forward.
At the centre of the clearing, some fifty paces away, stood a huge stone edifice and before it, on lances decorated with feathers and coloured stones, were two severed heads.
Kiall could not tear his eyes from the shrunken faces. The eye-sockets were empty, but the mouths trembled with each scream. Maggrig and Finn stepped back into view.