They went down, the steps beneath them like flattened branches spoking out from the central trunk The air warmed, grew moist and sweet with the smell of humus.
'Raest,' Paran said as they continued to descend, 'the assassin and the Guild Master … you said they were asleep — how long have they been lying there?'
'I measure no days within the House, mortal. The Azath took me. Since that event, a few outsiders have sought entry, have probed with sorceries, have indeed walked the yard, but the House has denied them all. The two within the threshold were there when I awoke, and have not moved since. It follows, then, that the House has already chosen.'
As the Deadhouse did Kellanved and Dancer. 'All very well, but can't you awaken them?'
'I have not tried.'
'Why not?'
The Jaghut paused, glanced back up at the captain. 'There has been no need.'
'Are they guardians as well?' Paran asked as they resumed the descent.
'Not directly. I suffice, mortal. Unwitting servants, perhaps. Your servants.'
'Mine? I don't need servants — I don't want servants. Furthermore, I don't care what the Azath expects of me. The House is mistaken in its faith, Raest, and you can tell it that for me. Tell it to find another … another whatever I am supposed to be.'
'You are the Master of the Deck. Such things cannot be undone.'
'The what? Hood's breath, the Azath had better find a way of undoing that choice, Jaghut,' Paran growled.
'It cannot be undone, as I've already told you. A Master is needed, so here you are.'
'I don't want it!'
'I weep a river of tears for your plight, mortal. Ah, we have arrived.'
They stood on a landing. Paran judged that they had gone down six, perhaps seven levels into the bowels of the earth. The stone walls had disappeared, leaving only gloom, the ground underfoot a mat of snaking roots.
'I can go no further, Master of the Deck,' Raest said. 'Walk into the darkness.'
'And if I refuse?'
'Then I kill you.'
'Unforgiving bastard, this Azath,' Paran muttered.
'I kill you, not for the Azath, but for the wasted effort of this journey. Mortal, you've no sense of humour.'
'And you think you do?' the captain retorted.
'If you refuse to go further, then … nothing. Apart from irritating me, that is. The Azath is patient. You will make the journey eventually, though the privilege of my escort occurs but once, and that once is now.'
'Meaning I won't have your cheery company next time? How will I cope?'
'Miserably, if there was justice in the world.'
Paran faced the darkness. 'And is there?'
'You ask that of a Jaghut? Now, do we stand here for ever?'
'All right, all right,' the captain sighed. 'Pick any direction?'
Raest shrugged. 'They are all one to me.'
Grinning in spite of himself, Paran strode forward. Then he paused and half turned. 'Raest, you said the Azath has need for a Master of the Deck. Why? What's happened?'
The Jaghut bared his tusks. 'A war has begun.'
Paran fought back a sudden shiver. 'A war? Involving the Houses of the Azath?'
'No entity will be spared, mortal. Not the Houses, not the gods. Not you, human, nor a single one of your short-lived, insignificant comrades.'
Paran grimaced. 'I've enough wars to deal with as it is, Raest.'
'They are all one.'
'I don't want to think about any of this.'
'Then don't.'
After a moment, Paran realized his glare was wasted on the Jaghut. He swung about and resumed his journey. With his third step his boot struck flagstone instead of root, and the darkness around him dissolved, revealing, in a faint, dull yellow light, a vast concourse. Its edges, visible a hundred paces or more in every direction, seemed to drift back into gloom. Of Raest and the wooden stairs there was no sign. Paran's attention was drawn to the flagstones beneath him.
Carved into their bleached surfaces were cards of the Deck of Dragons. No, more than just the Deck of Dragons — there's cards here I don't recognize. Lost Houses, and countless forgotten Unaligned. Houses, and … The captain stepped forward, crouched down to study one image. As he focused his attention on it the world around him faded, and he felt himself moving into the carved scene.
A chill wind slid across his face, the air smelling of mud and wet fur. He could feel the earth beneath his boots, chill and yielding. Somewhere in the distance crows cackled. The strange hut he had seen in the carving now stood before him, long and humped, the huge bones and long tusks comprising its framework visible between gaps in the thick, umber fur-skins clothing it. Houses. and Holds, the first efforts at building. People once dwelt within such structures, like living inside the rib-cage of a dragon. Gods, those tusks are huge — whatever beast these bones came from must have been massive.