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.She was hardly a worthy opponent, and of no danger to me that night… but her loss would devastate you.Even in the moments before I killed you." His mouth twisted in a mocking moue of pity."But you survived after all, and now the poor Prince of Homana is unmanned.Castrate… gelding… no more bedsport for you!" He paused, lingered a moment."And no more heirs for Homana.I have the only one."Aidan's head was pounding.Waves of pain poured down, distorting his vision so that Lochiel became a man of two heads and eight limbs.Teeth clenched convulsively.He had no time at all."What use are you?" Lochiel mused."With empty head—and empty loins—what use are you to the Lion?"The Ihlini blurred before him.Sweat broke from Aidan's flesh, followed by the first onset of spasms that would suck the strength from his limbs and drop him to the floor, a twisted wreck of a man.Humiliation bathed him.Not before Lochiel—Lochiel gazed at him intently.And then a smile began."No," he said in discovery."No, I will not kill you.What need? You can do more to harm the prophecy by living… gods, who would want this for a king?"Please, do not let me fall… do not let me lose everything, not here, not now… not before this man—Lochiel nodded."Better to leave you alive."Aidan stumbled forward, catching himself against the heavy cradle.Swaddled babies slept on; he wanted to touch them, to wake them, to learn which was his son, but his body failed him.His legs gave way beneath him and he knelt against his will, before Lochiel the Ihlini, whose smile was oddly triumphant."Choose," Lochiel commanded.Trembling, Aidan clung to the cradle."Choose," he repeated intently."This time it is not a game.""W-why? Why not?""Because this time I will abide by it.Choose a child, Aidan.Then walk free of Valgaard.""Why?""Because I want you to go back.I want you on the Lion.I want you where all can see you, so they can see what you are.A man who succumbs to fits… or a man who succumbs to demons?" Lochiel made a fluent gesture of multiple possibilities."I want you there, not here.As you are, you will do much more damage to the power of the Lion.To the power of the Cheysuli.Do you think the Homanans will keep you? Do you think they will trust you?" Lochiel shook his head."I want you on the throne, so they can throw you off.Turmoil eases my task…" He shrugged."But you will not go without a child.You would sooner remain here and die of a fit—or my displeasure—than go back without a child." He paused."So choose."Aidan still clung to the cradle."I could choose your daughter—"Lochiel lost his temper."Do you think I care? If it is my daughter, you will still have to take her with you to Homana-Mujhar… an Ihlini witch raised in the bosom of the Lion." Pale eyes glittered."To destroy the prophecy, I will risk a daughter.I will risk ten daughters.But will you risk a son in order to save it?"Aidan pressed his forehead against the cradle, letting the rim bite in.He shut his teeth on his tongue, trying to deflect the pain gnawing at his limbs.With great effort he pulled himself to his feet, standing rigidly."Is that all?" he rasped."Or is there something more?""The chain," Lochiel declared.The trembling died on the instant.Aidan clutched a link depending from his belt."You want—this—?""Aye.Is it not worth the price of a child who could well be your son?""Why? What is this to you?""The embodiment of a man, and all the men before him." Lochiel's smile was wintry."Give me the chain, Aidan.And you are free to go."The Ihlini knew.He knew."Will you break it?" Aidan asked."Only one link," Lochiel answered."Only one is required.And the pattern will likewise be broken." He shrugged off-handedly."This alone will not destroy the prophecy, but it is a beginning.If I remove that link from the pattern, small changes shall become large."Aidan knew the answer.If he refused, Lochiel might well kill him anyway, thereby removing him from the pattern in flesh as well as link.If he stayed alive, there was always a chance he could undo things later.And there was the child; if he walked out of Valgaard with his son, he kept the seed of the prophecy alive.And the human link, he thought, was stronger than the other.And if I choose the girl—? But Aidan knew that answer, also: choice was a risk everyone took.Choice, and risk, was required.Aidan unbuckled his belt.Slowly he unthreaded the leather from the links, sliding them free until the chain lay in his hands.He gazed at it, head bowed, realizing in some distant portion of his mind that the weakness in his body had gone.He stood perfectly still before the Ihlini and pondered the ending of his tahlmorra.There will be no afterworld… but without Shona, do I want one?Shona.The Lion.The chain.So many broken links.So many turbulent dreams, harbingers of his fate.So very many questions, asked so many times.But Aidan at last understood.He pulled the chain taut in his hands.He recalled the binding before Siglyn and Tye and Ashra; how he had drawn the chain from the fire and made it whole again, merely because he believed it.Because it had been required.Smiling contentedly, Aidan took a final grasp on either end of the chain and looked directly at Lochiel as he jerked the chain apart.The weak link shattered.Remnants of it rang against stone as they fell, glittering, to scatter apart like dust.He held the dangling end of a sundered chain in either hand, knowing the name of the broken link was Aidan after all.Lochiel's tone was dry."Impressive," he remarked."Now choose a child, and go."He moved to the cradle.Under his feet crunched bits of broken link.He ignored it.Two bundled babies.Aidan put down in the cradle the two halves of linked chain.He picked up one of the babies without bothering to rely on kivarna; it was as dead as the rest of him.He would take his plight to chance."Go," Lochiel said."You have my leave to go."Aidan turned and walked from the room, cradling against his chest the son who might rule Homana.Or the daughter who might destroy it.EpilogueWind whistled through the defile as Aidan walked out of the canyon.Beyond, the wailing stilled.Winter wastes were summer.Trees, once wracked by Ihlini malignancy, now displayed the dignity of smooth young limbs.Buds sprouted leaves.Smiling, Aidan nodded.With Teel and the horse waited the brown man called the Hunter.The god matched his smile."You looked at the child.""Aye.""What did you discover?""My son."The brown eyes were wise and calm and very kind."Do you think the milk he took from an Ihlini woman's breast will curdle his spirit?"Aidan, turning a shoulder to the sun to protect the child tucked beneath his cloak, sighed."I think not.""Good." The Hunter gestured to a boulder near his own."Sit you down, Aidan, and tell me what you have learned."Aidan eyed the rock."It will be too cold.I have a child to care for."The Hunter said nothing.Lichen and grass crept up the rock, nestling into hollows, until the boulder was covered
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