handles spring now.” She was still a moment. “Besides, even Death needs love,”
said the Queen at last.
Mriga could think of nothing to say.
“So.” She looked down at them, grave, patient. “Choose. Will you pay the price?
And which of you?”
“I will,” said Siveni and Mriga simultaneously. Then they stared at each other.
“Best two falls out of three,” Mriga said.
“No! You cheat!”
“You mean, I fight all-out!”
Siveni swung angrily on the Queen of hell. But anger could not survive that
gaze. After a second of it, Siveni turned and said to Ischade, “This is all your
fault!”
Ischade said nothing.
A hand shot from behind Siveni and snatched her spear out of her grasp. Siveni
whirled, but not before Mriga had executed a neat reverse-twirl of the spea.
^haft and was holding the sizzling head of it leveled at her heart. “Don’t be an
idiot,” she said. “Harran needs you. And this town is going to need all the
aggressive gods it can field on its own behalf in the next year or so, with
Ranke dying on the vine and the Beysib and Nisibis pushing in from two different
directions. I’m mortal enough to die successfully. And with me gone, you’ll get
all your attributes back. Siveni, let go-!”
“Harran’s right, you are still crazy! Suppose when you die, the attributes are
lost forever-confined down here! Then what happens to Sanctuary? Haven’t you
noticed that I’ve got the fighting attributes, but you’ve got the winning ones?
“
There were two sets of hands on the spear-haft now, wrestling for control; and
no matter what Siveni said, they were very evenly matched. Back and forth the