The Heart of the mirage

inattention, stopped, forcing me to pull up as well. 'Sweet Elysium,' he said finally, his voice hardly more than an appalled whisper. 'Are you saying you think these Mirage Makers want your child, your unborn baby?'

'Not exactly. I think they want – need – a Magoroth child, any such child. I think they believe the most, er, appropriate would be one sired by Temellin. It is, after all, the ruler who has the responsibility for Solad's decisions and promises.' I could have added: and what better than a child from the womb of Solad's daughter, Kardiastan's truly legitimate ruler?

He stared at me, appalled. 'You – you think they're going to kill you to rip the child out of your womb?'

I shook my head. 'Under the terms of a covenant made way, way back with the Magor, the Mirage Makers are prohibited from the deliberate killing of humans. If the Mirage Makers could still kill, then I wouldn't be needing to ride all this way to halt an invasion. The Mirage would do it instead – drown the legionnaires in a lake or drop them into a gorge or something. I have been hoping they may be able to hinder the advance of the Stalwarts without actually hurting them, but I'm not sure enough of that to leave it up to them. You see, the Mirage Makers are not human. They sometimes don't understand just what is useful – or conversely, what is of a hindrance to us.' My mount reached out to groom Brand's animal with its feeding arms. I thwarted its intention by urging it into a walk once more.

Brand hurried his beast after me. 'What about the Shiver Barrens? They kill enough people -'

'The Barrens are not the Mirage. The Barrens are a natural physical phenomenon caused by the heating

and cooling of a certain kind of desert sand. The Mirage Makers use the Barrens as a barrier, that's all.' I paused, remembering. 'When I was inside the Shiver Barrens, under the sands, I thought I caught a glimpse of the Mirage Makers; now I think what I saw was a mere projection. Another mirage, if you like, with no substance. The reality of the Mirage Makers is the Mirage, just what you see around you now – nothing else. This is the closest they get to having a body, a physical being.'

He swallowed. 'You went inside the Barrens? Ocrastes' balls!' He made a helpless gesture with his hand. 'It seems I may as well have been asleep for all I have understood about what has been happening since we came to this place!' He gave me an uneasy look. 'Ligea, there is surely no way to remove a child from its mother's womb without killing the mother.'

'Not that I know of. However, my feeling is that the Mirage Makers take an intense interest in me because – because of my son. They might not kill me, but they might not save me, either; they may even have an interest in seeing Pinar catch up with us…'

'So that she can kill you on their behalf?' For a moment he was speechless, searching for the right words to express his outrage. Then he exploded. 'Goddess damn them! They are a sly, shifty piece of worm-ridden dirtf.'

'I wouldn't insult them too much, my hasty Altani friend. Their understanding might be a little unconventional, but I suspect they do hear every word we say. I could add, too, that Pinar's death might serve the Mirage Makers just as well. She also carries Temellin's child.'

He was further incensed; this time – illogically – with Temellin. 'That bastard. Vortexdamn it, Ligea,

what do you see in that frigging whoreson? Never mind, don't answer that. I don't want to hear. And if Pinar's death would suit the Mirage Makers just as well as yours, why don't you let her catch up with you, always supposing she is following us, and kill her off? She's no loss to the world, not even to Temellin. The woman's a murdering vixen.'

'Yes, she is. She's also well on the way to madness.'

He blinked. 'You sound almost sympathetic!'

'I wouldn't put it quite so strongly. I do pity her, though. Her instincts with regard to me were good, yet no matter what she did, she couldn't get rid of me. Her husband loves me still. However, if I had to choose between the two of us, yes, I'd kill her if I could, and it wouldn't particularly worry me to do so. Unfortunately, in any confrontation between Pinar and me, I would probably be the one to end up dead. Pinar is a Magoria with years of experience and training, and my sword can't be used against her. She, however, can kill me from across a room with hers. If she'd really put her mind to it, I'd already be just so many bones scattered in the soil of the Mirage. So far she has been hampered by a need not to be associated with my death – but out here, with me an escaped prisoner – who will blame her?'

'I still have my own sword. Hardly a patch on yours, I know, but why don't we lay a trap for her? Kill her before she has a chance to get you?'

'She's a Magoroth, Brand. She has the power to sense the position of people around her. An ambush is not going to work.'

He stared at me, aghast. He had finally absorbed the magnitude of the danger I was in. 'Does she know about this child business?' he asked.

'I haven't the faintest idea. I doubt she knows I'm pregnant.'

.. ''..'¦ ¦¦¦-_.:._'_::__:'¦'¦ ¦¦!» '» ¦'• "m " ‹-›•. "JSSSSSS?"

'And Temellin?'

'He knows about the bargain, yes. But I never did tell him I was pregnant.'

I had never seen Brand so enraged. 'He got two women pregnant at the same time, knowing one of them may have to be killed to save the Mirage and the Magor?'

'That's an oversimplification of the situation, and you know it.'

'The situation stinks, Ligea, and so does Temellin.'

I ignored that and said instead, 'You may as well know another thing I've found out, which no one else realises. I'm not Shirin. I'm not Temellin's sister. I'm his cousin, Sarana. Solad's daughter.'

His grip slackened on the reins and his shleth halted again. I felt his bewilderment. 'But didn't Temellin tell us she was -' He gaped. 'You're the rightful-?',h-.. ¦

'Miragerin. Yes.'

He rolled his eyes upwards. 'Elysium save me. Ligea, all this stuff – it's unreal. Magic swords and Mirage Makers and dancing sands, I don't know how to deal with it.' He sighed and added, 'And if you are the Miragerin, why in all Acheron's mists are you thinking of leaving Kardiastan?'

'What difference does being the Miragerin make? In Magor eyes, I would still be a traitor. Worse still, the daughter of a traitor. I can't explain who I am without revealing the extent of Solad's treachery. He's the one who betrayed Kardiastan. I'm the daughter of a man who sold his country and his people into slavery and humiliation and subjection – just to save me. They would never accept me, and I can't say I blame them.'

I shook my head at the accumulation of bewildering irony. 'I revered Gayed, and have found

him since to be a man who feigned affection for me so I would become the instrument of his revenge. I know now why Salacia was complacent about my presence. She knew, and revelled in the joke. And now, when I discover the lie and replace Gayed with my real father, what do I find? A man who loved me so much, he didn't care how many people died and how many others suffered just to keep me alive. My life was bought with a pile of corpses and a tide of suffering that's lasted a generation.'

I turned to Brand, and the shleth took advantage of my inattention to start pulling leaves from a nearby bush with its fingers. 'I could atone by giving up my life and my child, but I'm damned if I'll do that willingly. It's just not in me. But I can try to stop the Stalwarts. And my only chance to do that is to stay ahead of Pinar if she is indeed following me. Or hope Garis manages to delay her.'

He was thoughtful. 'Once the Kardis find out you were telling the truth about the Stalwarts, they will forgive much. Especially if you turn the legionnaires back. You could return to the Mirage City. They can hardly blame you for what Solad did. You could claim your rightful place as their Miragerin.'

'No.'

He looked at me shrewdly. 'You're doing this for him. Denying your chance to have the kind of power you've always wanted, because it would be at his expense.' For once I felt his emotions, and they were such a contradictory mix I couldn't decide exactly what dominated. There was certainly plenty of rage, but I suspected most of that was directed at Temellin.