can plan carefully and overcome this setback, if you have faith.’
‘Faith!’ Meshurek shrieked. ‘I had faith in you! Where has it led me? I am the most deeply loathed Emperor Gorethria has ever had! The Empire is crumbling – my Tearnian conquests lost! And you cannot even catch my own damned brother!’
‘Nevertheless,’ Meheg-Ba said, staring at Meshurek with its dreadful argent eyes until he shrank back in fear, ‘you have no choice but to continue to help me. Think; we have a two-pronged weapon against him now.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘There is the sorceress. He loves her more than ever he loved even Orkesh. And there is you. Contrary to what you believe, he has always held you in deep affection. With this in mind, I have a simple plan which is bound to work.’
‘All right. Tell me. We must do something.’
‘Do not fear. We will soon recover the Egg-Stone and find other, more reliable hands to wield it – though, alas, not yours,’ Meheg-Ba said with a mocking grin.
Meshurek snarled softly to himself, but dared say nothing.
So it was that Ashurek dreamed that his brother, hunched and pathetic with desperation, appeared before him and implored: ‘My brother – I have never before asked your help. But now I need it. It shames me to admit it… but you were right. The demon is a noose-around my neck… It is destroying me, and Gorethria. I have been a fool, and I am afraid – terrified. Only you in all the world can do anything to save me now. I know I do not deserve your mercy, brother – but please, please help me.’
Ashurek awoke, shaking and sweating. He roused Silvren and told her the dream. ‘I must go back to Gorethria,’ he said.
‘But Meheg-Ba must have sent the dream! It’s a trap,’ Silvren cried, distressed.
‘I know it’s a trap. But my brother was not acting. Those words came from his heart, whether he realises it or not,’ Ashurek answered heavily. ‘Silvren, I am as guilty as he. Apart from all my other crimes, I have run away from him, not once but twice. Perhaps if I had stayed, things would have been no different, but I would not take the risk. That makes me a worse fool and coward than Meshurek. Now I must begin to repay; by going back and helping him.’
‘You judge yourself too harshly,’ Silvren half-sobbed. ‘I will come with you.’
She expected him to argue; but he looked at her thoughtfully.
‘With your strength and that of the Egg-Stone, if I can control it, we should be more than a match for any demon. Perhaps the trap can be sprung the other way.’
At this Silvren let out a breath of both relief and fear, and embraced him as though he were going to be tom from her that very moment. She was not afraid for herself, for she was confident of her power; but the thought of Meshurek and Meheg-Ba waiting like twin ghouls, to re-enslave him, wrenched her stomach and made her feel she was choking on ice.
They took a small sailing ship, manned by a crew of rough Tearnians who asked no questions, and started on their dreary journey. The ocean was unnaturally calm and a too-friendly wind billowed the sail and sped them straight as an arrow to Terthria.
The voyage was days shorter than it should have been. Looking uneasily at each other, not needing to voice their thoughts, Ashurek and Silvren stepped onto the black ashen shore.
A cold mist-filled wind caught at their cloaks as they made their way across the rough terrain. Meshurek had been right; the land indeed had an eerie, stark beauty, like a faceted piece of jet whose sloping and interlocking planes shone with hints of fiery colour. To the north, a mountain range reared up like black teeth savaging the sky. Smoke plumed from several of the peaks and the ground vibrated as though some vast creature were slumbering uneasily beneath the crust.
They had walked northwards for several hours when a party of six Gorethrian horsemen approached and hailed them.
‘Prince Ashurek and the Lady Silvren,’
‘Faith!’ Meshurek shrieked. ‘I had faith in you! Where has it led me? I am the most deeply loathed Emperor Gorethria has ever had! The Empire is crumbling – my Tearnian conquests lost! And you cannot even catch my own damned brother!’
‘Nevertheless,’ Meheg-Ba said, staring at Meshurek with its dreadful argent eyes until he shrank back in fear, ‘you have no choice but to continue to help me. Think; we have a two-pronged weapon against him now.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘There is the sorceress. He loves her more than ever he loved even Orkesh. And there is you. Contrary to what you believe, he has always held you in deep affection. With this in mind, I have a simple plan which is bound to work.’
‘All right. Tell me. We must do something.’
‘Do not fear. We will soon recover the Egg-Stone and find other, more reliable hands to wield it – though, alas, not yours,’ Meheg-Ba said with a mocking grin.
Meshurek snarled softly to himself, but dared say nothing.
So it was that Ashurek dreamed that his brother, hunched and pathetic with desperation, appeared before him and implored: ‘My brother – I have never before asked your help. But now I need it. It shames me to admit it… but you were right. The demon is a noose-around my neck… It is destroying me, and Gorethria. I have been a fool, and I am afraid – terrified. Only you in all the world can do anything to save me now. I know I do not deserve your mercy, brother – but please, please help me.’
Ashurek awoke, shaking and sweating. He roused Silvren and told her the dream. ‘I must go back to Gorethria,’ he said.
‘But Meheg-Ba must have sent the dream! It’s a trap,’ Silvren cried, distressed.
‘I know it’s a trap. But my brother was not acting. Those words came from his heart, whether he realises it or not,’ Ashurek answered heavily. ‘Silvren, I am as guilty as he. Apart from all my other crimes, I have run away from him, not once but twice. Perhaps if I had stayed, things would have been no different, but I would not take the risk. That makes me a worse fool and coward than Meshurek. Now I must begin to repay; by going back and helping him.’
‘You judge yourself too harshly,’ Silvren half-sobbed. ‘I will come with you.’
She expected him to argue; but he looked at her thoughtfully.
‘With your strength and that of the Egg-Stone, if I can control it, we should be more than a match for any demon. Perhaps the trap can be sprung the other way.’
At this Silvren let out a breath of both relief and fear, and embraced him as though he were going to be tom from her that very moment. She was not afraid for herself, for she was confident of her power; but the thought of Meshurek and Meheg-Ba waiting like twin ghouls, to re-enslave him, wrenched her stomach and made her feel she was choking on ice.
They took a small sailing ship, manned by a crew of rough Tearnians who asked no questions, and started on their dreary journey. The ocean was unnaturally calm and a too-friendly wind billowed the sail and sped them straight as an arrow to Terthria.
The voyage was days shorter than it should have been. Looking uneasily at each other, not needing to voice their thoughts, Ashurek and Silvren stepped onto the black ashen shore.
A cold mist-filled wind caught at their cloaks as they made their way across the rough terrain. Meshurek had been right; the land indeed had an eerie, stark beauty, like a faceted piece of jet whose sloping and interlocking planes shone with hints of fiery colour. To the north, a mountain range reared up like black teeth savaging the sky. Smoke plumed from several of the peaks and the ground vibrated as though some vast creature were slumbering uneasily beneath the crust.
They had walked northwards for several hours when a party of six Gorethrian horsemen approached and hailed them.
‘Prince Ashurek and the Lady Silvren,’
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