Well, at least the stomach's gone quiet. building, I suspect, for another eye-watering bout.
Bats flitted through the darkness overhead, wheeling and darting as they fed on the wing. The city of Pale flickered to the south, like a dying hearth. Far to the west rose the hulking peaks of the Moranth Mountains. Paran slowly realized that his folded arms now gripped his sides, struggling to hold all within. He was not a man of tears, nor did he rail at all about him. He'd been born to a carefully sculpted, cool detachment, an education his soldier's training only enhanced. If such things are qualities, then she has humbled me. Tavore, you are indeed the master of such schooling. Oh, dearest Felisin, what life have you now found for yourself? Not the protective embrace of the nobility, that's for certain.
Boots sounded behind him.
Paran closed his eyes. No more news, please. No more revelations.
'Captain.' Whiskeyjack settled a hand on Paran's shoulder.
'A quiet night,' the captain observed.
'We looked for you, Paran, after your words with Dujek. It was Silverfox who quested outward, found you.' The hand withdrew. Whiskeyjack stood alongside him, also studying the stars.
'Who is Silverfox?'
'I think,' the bearded veteran rumbled, 'that's for you to decide.'
Frowning, Paran faced the commander. 'I've little patience for riddles at the moment, sir.'
Whiskeyjack nodded, eyes still on the glittering sweep of the night sky. 'You will just have to suffer the indulgence, Captain. I can lead you forward a step at a time, or with a single shove from behind. There may be a time when you look back on this moment and come to appreciate which of the two I chose.'
Paran bit back a retort, said nothing.
'They await us at the base of the barrow,' Whiskeyjack continued. 'As private an occasion as I could manage. Just Mallet, Quick Ben, the Mhybe and Silverfox. Your squad members are here in case you have … doubts. They've both exhausted their warrens this night — to assure the veracity of what has occurred-'
' What ,' Paran snapped, 'are you trying to say, sir?'
Whiskeyjack met the captain's eyes. 'The Rhivi child, Silverfox. She is Tattersail reborn.'
Paran slowly turned, gaze travelling down to the foot of the barrow, where four figures waited in the darkness. And there stood the Rhivi child, a sunrise aura about her person, a penumbra of power that stirred the wilder blood that coursed within him. Yes. She is the one. Older now, revealing what she will become. Dammit, woman, you never could keep things simple. All that was trapped within him seemed to wash through his limbs, leaving him weak and suddenly shivering. He stared down at Silverfox. 'She is a child.' But I knew that, didn't I? I've known that for a while, I just didn't want to think about it. And now, no choice.
Whiskeyjack grunted. 'She grows swiftly — there are eager, impatient forces within her, too powerful for a child's body to contain. You'll not have long-'
'Before propriety arrives,' Paran finished drily, not noticing Whiskeyjack's start. 'Fine for then, what of now? Who will naught but see me as a monster should we even so much as hold hands? What can I say to her? What can I possibly say?' He spun to Whiskeyjack. 'This is impossible — she is a child!'
'And within her is Tattersail. And Nightchill-'
'Nightchill! Hood's breath! What has happened — how?'
'Questions not easily answered, lad. You'd do better to ask them of Mallet and Quick Ben — and of Silverfox herself.'
Paran involuntarily took a step back. 'Speak with her? No. I cannot-'
'She wishes it, Paran. She awaits you now.'
'No.' His eyes were once again pulled downslope. 'I see Tattersail, yes. But there's more — not just this Nightchill woman — she's a Soletaken, now, Whiskeyjack. The creature that gave her her Rhivi name — the power to change. '
The commander's eyes narrowed. 'How do you know, Captain?'
'I just know-'
'Not good enough. It wasn't easy for Quick Ben to glean that truth. Yet you know. How, Paran?'
The captain grimaced. 'I've felt Quick Ben's probings in my direction — when he thinks my attention is elsewhere. I've seen the wariness in his eyes. What has he found, Commander?'
'Oponn's abandoned you, but something else has taken its place. Something savage. His hackles rise whenever you're close-'
'Hackles.' Paran smiled. 'An apt choice of word. Anomander Rake killed two Hounds of Shadow — I was there. I saw it. I felt the stain of a dying Hound's blood — on my flesh, Whiskeyjack. Something of that blood now runs in my veins.'