Everyone was looking at him. Telos had never felt such a conflicting array of emotions directed at him: suspicion, hope, curiosity, anger. Particularly that last one. If looks could kill, Ylia would have ended his life four times over. Luckily, it seemed her cat Urgal was still very fond of him. The felidae had dismounted from the lopsided cart and come to rub himself against Telos’s legs. He found the motion strangely comforting, grounding in fact. He ran his fingers through the cat’s brilliantly turquoise fur and felt the certainty of its sleek musculature.

  “Alright,” he said. “Hear me out.” He cleared his throat and turned to Qala. “Qala, if I had to guess, I’d say that you are heading to Gorgosa to sell every last one of the rare Qi’shathian relics in that cart.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “One hardly need be a fortune teller to work that out.”

  “True,” Telos said. “But what the others may not have realised yet is what you’re going to do with that money once you have it. You’re going to buy an army of mercenaries. It won’t be a particularly good one, of course, but you know that already. It’s enough to make a start.”

  “Make a start on what?” Ylia said, glancing at her companion with uncertainty.

  Telos smiled. He was enjoying the performance. Alas, if only he had been an actor he might have lived a less an easier life.

  “Taking on her brother, Quen Yu,” Telos supplied. “He is the one who ousted you and stole your birthright, is he not?”

  Qala stared at Telos.

  “You know, we have a saying in Qi’shath: ‘The man who is first to declare what he knows is first to lose all knowledge’.” She folded her arms. “Because he’s dead, that is.”

  “As I said before,” Telos went on. “Please refrain from imparting any more Qi’shathian ‘wisdom’.”

  “He really does think he is the god’s gift to us, doesn’t he?” Qala said to Ylia.

  Ylia shook her head.

  “I don’t know what he thinks.”

  “I’m telling you all what I think,” Telos said. “Let’s get back on track. Qala, you want to raise an army. Maybe head east into Sumyr next and see if you can’t get your hands on some of their technology to help in the war. You hope that once word spreads of course cause that more will rally to you, and that not-so-good army you started here will become something bigger and better. Then you’ll drive south into Qi’shath and start by trying to take back the northern states from Quen Yu. Or at least, that’s what I’d do if I didn’t know any better.”

  Telos could tell he now had their attention. As angry as Qala now looked, he could tell beneath that she was impressed.

  “And so you are about to tell me there is a better way?” Qala said.

  “Yes, actually. Much better. You see, Jubal and I are headed to Aurelia. I’m on the run—as Ylia kindly informed you. Jubal has no place here. Aurelia is the best place for us. It’s big. It’s rich. And so long as you aren’t working for a Wagemaster, you can live relatively free. You both should come with us.”

  Qala laughed.

  “And why is that?”

  “I’ll start with Ylia, if you don’t mind.” Telos looked Ylia in the eye. He noticed she flinched slightly from his gaze. Was that even the trace of a blush? My, she really did have conflicting feelings about him. “Ylia, I completely fucked you over. It was because of me your House burned down. I also stole from you. And then I lost the money I stole so I can’t even give it back to you. To be honest, I get why you’d want to kill me. But I’m not as bad as you think. Like Jubal said, I’m not a killer. I’m just a thief. And one thing we thieves are good at is making money. And the one place where money flows is, well, Aurelia.” He cleared his throat. “You should come with us. We need your help to get through the security at the Dragonport. In return, we’ll help you rebuild. Yarruk is going to the dogs, let’s be honest. Aurelia is where there’s a hope. I know you must have left it for good reason but…” Telos shrugged. “‘The whirligig of time brings all things to completion’.”

  “Did you just quote from The Immutable Way?” Qala said, half-outraged, half stifling a genuine laugh.

  Telos winked at her.

  “And as for ways, Qala, you have even more reason to come with me.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. Because your plan is, well—it sucks.”

  “Go on.”

  “Firstly, your plan to buy an army is not going to work. Here, there are very few mercenaries without attachment to a noble house. You’re thinking like a Qi’shathian, where manual labour can be purchased at huge scale. No, we Yarulians are small-minded folk. Mercenaries remain blindly loyal to whatever noble house they have a longstanding history with. Sometimes its even generational service. There are a handful of floaters, and Gorgosa is where you’ll find them, but not enough for an army. Remember, in Yarruk the greatest currency is never money but always class.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Qala cocked her head.

  “You make an interesting point.”

  “There’s more,” Telos went on. His voice was getting parched from all this talking, but he had to get all of them on board for his own plan to work. “Even if you did raise an army of mercs in Gorgosa, very quickly, you are going to have to reveal your identity. Either people will put two and two together or you will be slapped with a formal invitation to declare your name from the King, because the presence of an independent warlord is going to raise questions. Word will get out—it always does. Your brother will know where you are, what you’re doing, and will be able to plan his countermeasures. By the time you have crossed the Sea of Golden Ghosts, landed in Sumyr, then made your way across the Emerald Sea to Qi’shath, he will be ready for you and then some. It’s a losing battle, Qala. You know it. I know it. The whole world will witness it.”

  “What do you propose?” Qala sounded oddly calm, as though she were concealing a deep wound.

  “Come with us to Aurelia. In Aurelia, there are mercenaries aplenty. And there’s technology, too. You know how those Aurelians love to tinker with all things Daimonic. Engines, explosives, and other wonders. You’ll have much more to play with. And probably more sympathisers, too. I heard there are a great number of Qi’shathian diaspora in Aurelia. Once you have amassed your army, sail over the Winedark Sea and come at your brother from the other side. Attack from the east, rather than the north.”

  “The strongest cities are in the south-east of Qi’shath,” Qala pointed out. “Qi’shath has always feared Aurelian invasion and thus rendered its south-eastern flank impenetrable.”

  “Exactly. He will not expect an attack from that direction. He will be gathering all his forces in the north, expecting that familiar invasion route, wasting all his time reinforcing the vulnerable port towns. He’ll never in a million years think you’ll try to take Qin’yad or Wen’zaza.” Telos took a deep breath. “Anyway, that’s just my view. Over to you guys to make a decision.”

  Everyone was still staring at him. A few more emotions had been added into the eclectic mix, including wonder and respect. It’d been quite a long time since anyone had looked at Telos with genuine admiration, and he found he enjoyed the feeling, possibly a little too much.

  Then a bird shat on his head.

  Damn curse! He wiped the pale goo out of his hair as best he could. Ylia laughed at him.

  “We theronts believe that is good luck, you know,” Jubal rumbled.

  “How many times do you think I’ll need to get shit on my head to counteract the curse?”

  “Oh, I think you’d need an ocean.”

  Telos laughed.

  “So long as I get to eat a proper meal at the end. Even eggs would do. Just some lovely, poached eggs...” His mouth watered. Then he cursed again. “Damn, Nereth.”

  “Taking her name in vain is not likely to assuage her wrath,” Ylia pointed out.

  “Well, she already told me she can’t kill me,” Telos said. “So there is that comfort.”

  “There is one question I must answer before I accept your version of events,” Qala said. She had been stood, deep in thought, clearly weighing all that Telos had said and finding some truth in it. “What do you gain from us coming with you? You have admitted you are a thief. Thieves always have some end in mind. Tell me.”

  Telos nodded.

  “Very well. I need Jubal because he’s a good fighter and, if I am candid, there is probably going to be some more fighting before we’re done. I need Ylia because she understands the Dragonports and she understands Aurelia. I can’t disappear successfully in Aurelian society without her. And I need you because you have the money to get us all where we’re going. I could call in favours, find a stash, or take on a job. But I don’t have the time. The Warden is coming for me—and for Jubal too. Money will make this all go a lot quicker.” Telos could see Qala’s expression sour, even with her veil still in place, but then he was struck by a sudden inspiration. “There is one other reason, though, that might be more to your liking.”

  “And what is that?”

  Telos grinned ear to ear.

  “I think, Qala, you might be lucky.”

  “I am a disinherited heiress. And the wheel just came off my wagon.”

  “Yes, but you had a spare. A spare which Jubal will kindly put into place once we are done talking.”

  “Indeed?” Jubal grumbled.

  “My point is this,” Telos hastily went on. “The Immutable Way which you are clearly all about demands Balance, does is it not? The Way to the Seventh Gate is as much about risk and loss as gain and growth. I am cursed. You are lucky. I am a noble who left his family by choice. You were forced to leave. We are two sides of the same coin.” Telos opened his hands in a gesture mimicking open invitation. “Surely, then, our meeting is Fate?”

  Qala looked at him long and hard.

  “You are a sweet-talker, a liar, and cursed,” she said. “Every ounce of logic within me dictates that I should leave you here, and go my own way.” She sighed. “But now you have cited the Balance to me. A long time ago, someone close to me asked for help. They were a married man having an affair with, of all things, a Daimomancer. He wanted to break off the affair but he feared the Daimomancer’s power. This person begged me to help them sort out their problem. But I was so sickened by their behaviour that I declined. This is your own mess, I said. You must fix it. They cited the Balance to me, as you have done, and I still turned away from them.” She swallowed. “That person was my brother, Quen Yu. In vengeance, he blackened my name, took my inheritance from me. I had to flee my own country like a common criminal. I did not honour the Balance of life. My good could have counteracted his evil—and he knew that. Instead, in turning away, I let his evil fester. Now, it has come to ruin me.” She pierced Telos with eyes of perfect onyx. “Fate has given me another chance to restore the Balance. And for whatever unknowable reason, that chance is you. I shall come with you to Aurelia. I will help you escape the darkness of your own creation.” Her eyes hardened. “And in exchange, you will help me build my army and take back what the stars themselves dictate is mine.”