‘He slew a dragon, and then drank its blood.’
The Jaghut grunted. ‘I expect he eats his own lice, too.’
‘I am named Hanako.’
‘I know.’
Hanako waited, and then shrugged before dragging close a branch torn from a tree they had pulled up from the high-water line. He flung it on to the fire. Sparks scattered and then died.
‘Names,’ said the Jaghut, ‘become their own curses. They are seared upon your soul, destined to follow your every deed. Such flimsy frames to bear inordinate burdens. It is my thought that we should all dispense with our old names, perhaps once every ten or so years. Imagine the wonder of beginning anew, Hanako, cleansed of all history.’
‘I would see a world, sir, where every crime was escaped.’
‘Hmm, you have a point there, but I wonder, what is it, precisely?’
‘With our names comes responsibility, for all that we have done, and all that we promise to do. But also, sir, how would we keep track of our companions? Our friends? Family?’
‘Yes, but your point?’
Hanako frowned. ‘You are Jaghut. You are unlike the rest of us. It is the very continuity that we yearn for, which you would reject. Well, which you have rejected.’
For a time neither spoke, and the only sound beyond the crackling flames was the drone of Lasa Rook’s snoring.
Then the Jaghut said, ‘Hanako, I am named Raest.’
‘Then welcome, Raest, to our fire.’
‘Voice a single jibe, Hanako, and I might have to chop off your head. Just so you understand how this night will play.’
‘I am too worried for Erelan Kreed, to be honest.’
‘He will live. Or die.’
‘Ah. Thank you.’
‘If he lives, he will not be the man you once knew. If you trusted this Erelan Kreed, trust him no longer. If you thought you knew him, you know him no more. And, should he instead die, why, honour who he once was. Raise a decent cairn and sing his praises.’
Hanako stared into the flames. ‘We journey, Raest,’ he said, ‘in answer to the call of one of your kin.’
‘Hood. Now that is a name worthy of being a curse.’
‘You will not answer his need?’
‘Of course not.’
‘You say that other Thel Akai have passed through this valley, and past your cave. It seems, then, that there will be many more in Hood’s army than I had first imagined.’
‘Thel Akai, who like a good joke,’ Raest said, nodding. ‘Dog-Runners, who have made sorrow a goddess of endless tears. Ilnap, who flee a usurper among their island kingdom. Forulkan, seeking the final arbiter. Jheck and Jhelarkan, ever eager for blood, even should it ooze from carrion. Petty tyrants from across the ocean, fleeing the High King’s incorruptible justice. Tiste, Azathanai, Halacahi, Thelomen—’
‘Thelomen!’
‘Word travels swift and far, Hanako, when even the waves carry the tale.’
‘Then,’ whispered Hanako, ‘this shall be a most formidable army.’
‘I would almost yield my isolation to see Hood’s ugly face, once he realizes the true tragedy that is the answer to his ill-considered summons.’
‘I should have realized,’ Hanako said. ‘Grief will make a vast legion. How could it not?’