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‘You are wrong, both of you,’ Karsa said ‘To be a god is to know the burden of believers Did you protect? You did not Did you offer comfort, solace? Were you possessed of compassion? Even pity? To the Teblor, T’lan I harsh de cruel sacrifices-all to feed your own desires You were the Teblor’s unseen chains’ His eyes settled on Siballe ‘And you, woman, Siballe the Unfound, you were the taker of children’

‘I, ould otherwise have died And they do not regret ret remains with the mothers and fathers who surrendered them No matter how brief a child’s life, the love of the parents is a power that should not be denied And know this, Siballe, it is irating out from a constricted throat ‘ Worship i that those children be sacrificed Yet you were-and reift that co of what it is But even that is not your worst criaze ‘Tell al, what have the Teblor done to deserve that?’

‘Your own people have forgotten-’

‘Tell ed ‘You failed’

Karsa stared at the battered god, unable to speak The sword trembled in his hands He had held it up for all this ti his arms down He fixed his eyes on the weapon, then slowly lowered the tip to rest on the stone floor

‘We too failed, once, long ago,’ Siballe said ‘Such things cannot be undone Thus, you may surrender to it, and so suffer beneath its eternal torment Or you can choose to free yourself of the burden Karsa Orlong, our answer to you is simple: to fail is to reveal a flaw Face that revelation, do not turn your back on it, do not make empty vows to never repeat your mistakes It is done Celebrate it ! That is our answer, and indeed is the answer shown us by the Crippled God’

The tension drained from Karsa’s shoulders He drew a deep breath, released it slowly ‘Very well To you, and to the Crippled God, I now give e through the air Instead, it roared, like pine needles exploding into fla circle that then swept down and across

The edge taking Siballe between left shoulder and neck Bones snapping as the onally, across the chest, severing the spine, down and through the ribcage, sweeping clear just above her right hip

She had lifted her oord to intercept at so shards and slivers into the air-Karsa had not even felt the i arc in his follow-through, lifting it to poise, suddenly motionless, over his head

The ruined for pieces onto the stone floor The T’lan I six had raised their oeapons, but none moved to attack

Karsa snarled ‘Come ahead, then’