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waiting for the time when the army would have to leave the sun unguarded.
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Someone could wait for him here, said Iikeelu quietly. A single assassin. He wouldn t be ready for that.
Eeneeri looked at her, eyes suddenly bright. He wasn t stupid.
He knew what she was thinking.
You?
Iikeelu said nothing, quietly checked the gun in her stomach pouch.
They had almost reached the surface of the sun now.
It was completely dark, but Iikeelu could feel it ahead of her, a wall of shadow, a trace of heat. She knew, without consulting any timepiece, that it
was barely more than an hour until the sun would start to glow. By then the entire guard force had to be at least twenty miles away which meant
they needed to start within a few minutes.
Eeneeri was obviously thinking along the same lines. If we dive, it will give us some extra time, he said. We ll spread out.
One of us should come close enough.
No, said Iikeelu. l will take the blame You will merely provide the diversion. She didn t dare look at Eeneeri. Those are Aapurian s instructions.
She remembered Aapurian s last words to her, the old eyes heavy with sorrow: The action is blessed, Iikeelu but remember, it is you who must
kill Epreto. You who must live with that killing, take the responsibility. Are you prepared to do it?
And she had said yes. Without hesitation. The ancients of the Flight might be afraid to act even Aapurian might be afraid of the consequences
but Iikeelu wasn t. She would gladly sacrifice her soul for her world.
Eeneeri was looking at her steadily, his head turned against the slow wind of their flight. You don t have to do this, he said quietly.
Aapurian said that, she replied.
A silence. Eeneeri began treading air, hovering, his wings making perfect rotations in the faint light Iikeelu thought again how beautiful he was. And
how clever, moral and wise. That such a person should be employed as a commander of a squad of killers showed what Epreto had done to the
world. Why he had to die.
Yes. That was the way to think of it he had to die. She, Iikeelu, was only an instrument of that inevitability.
If he doesn t come here? said Eeneeri at last.
I will leave at the last possible moment. If I don t survive, there are others to take my place.
What has Epreto done to the world? asked Eeneeri suddenly, 104
his voice full of pain. When I first flew, most naieen didn t even know what a gun was. Now we have spies, flying armies and assassins. When did
the world change?
Iikeelu didn t reply. She stared ahead of her She still couldn t see the sun, though it must be almost close enough for her to brush it with her wings.
She knew it was there she could feel it, the faint ionizing tension of power but it remained invisible, a wall of darkness.
Like the future, she thought, The future that none of us know.
Maybe it would be better to do nothing, said Eeneeri. He sounded resigned, weary. He didn t seem like a commander any more.
Would you let Epreto destroy the world? asked Iikeelu fiercely.
Are you sure he s really going to do that?
Yes!
Another silence. Iikeelu realized with something bordering on horror that it was she who had lowered Eeneeri s spirits. It was her sacrifice. The fact
that she was actually looking forward to shooting Epreto. To destroying him. That she had been looking forward to it from the moment of Aapurian s
blessing.
I think the action I have been given is proper, she said.
It was Eeneeri s turn not to reply. He just hung there, like a judgement.
Iikeelu let herself drift forward and, yes, the surface of the sun did brush her wings. It was warm, and vibrated a little.
We will dive, said Eeneeri suddenly.
Iikeelu nodded, and said formally, The Confessor-Senior authorized me to approve such a plan. It is blessed.
Eeneeri dipped his wings in formal acknowledgement, then soared away, whistling instructions to his people.
He didn t say goodbye.
Tikeelu looked below, at the dark mist where Epreto was hovering, waiting.
I ll kill him, she thought. I ll kill him and all those who are flying with him. And the world will be made new by my actions.
Cleansed. Purified. It will be a world fit for people like Eeneeri to live in.
Iikeelu smiled at the thought, and balanced on the slight updraught created by the warmth of the sun, waiting for her moment.
Karilee did all the work: undressing the body and wrapping it in a winding-sheet stolen from Epreto s house, digging into the red clay, lowering the
body into the pit. Jo couldn t even bear to look.
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This was Mike. Not an alien. Not even a stranger. Mike Yates.
Surely he had been special? Why did he have to die? Why couldn t she have died instead? She sat on the cold stairs above the cellar floor, her
face buried in her hands, trying not to listen to the scraping, shovelling sounds, and somehow unable to cry.
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