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‘But even then,’ Brys said, ‘there is no evidence that such gods are remotely concerned with er I spoke of as a god More as a demon, I think’

‘To answer the unanswerable, a need frohed ‘Finadd, the independent seal harvesters were all slain Three of their ships survived the return journey to Trate, crewed up to the very piers by Edur wraiths, yet carried on seas that were more than seas A de far more, or so our Ceda believes Are you familiar with Faraed beliefs? Theirs is an oral tradition, and if the listing of generations is accurate and not mere poetic pretence, then the tradition is ancient indeed The Faraed creation ods Each named and aspected, a divisive pantheon of entirely unwholeso them is the Elder Lord of the Seas, the Dweller Below It is naled out Mael in their oldest stories It once walked this land, Finadd, as a physical e’

‘An Age? What kind of Age?’

‘Of the time before the Faraed, I think There are… contradictions and obscurities’

‘Ceda Kuru Qan believes the demon that carried the ships was this Mael?’

‘If it was, then Mael has suffered id maelstrom of untethered emotions But powerful none the less’

‘Yet the Tiste Edur have chained it?’

Nifadas’s thin brows rose ‘Clear a path through a forest and every beast will use it Is this control? Of a sort, perhaps’

‘Hannan Mosag sought to make a statement’

‘Indeed, Finadd, and so he has Yet is it a true statement or deceptive bravado?’

Brys shook his head He had no answer to offer

Nifadas swung away oncehas deemed this of sufficient import The Ceda even now prepares the… ht to be asked rather than commanded’

‘What is it I a ‘Awaken an Elder god’

‘There is great flux in the composite Is this relevant? I think not’ Ceda Kuru Qan pushed his wire-bound lenses further up the bridge of his nose and peered at Brys ‘This is a journey of the ’s Chaht as well travel into the netherworld in truth If your mind is slain, there is no return Extre wills that you proceed’