Emmeso knew something was wrong the moment he passed through The Wool gates at the lower city. It wasn't the lack of warmth on the faces of the sentries that manned the wall nor the suspicious gaze of the guards at the gates that followed them. It was the air. They say when you have served long in the army you could smell danger and fear more than most. It hung in the air, a discomforting whiff sliding down his nostrils. None of them stopped to salute him, there was no bow. Not a flash of recognition anywhere. He was invisible.

So, when the guards ordered them to stop instead of escorting them, he knew had been right all along.

"What is this?" Adain had said with the hint of amusement in his eyes.

The captain of guards was not amused. His hostile eyes scanned Adain and then Emmeso and finally settled on Adain's tunic.

"You are an Ozian?" His voice was like the calm before the storm. Something wasn't right. The sun wasn't yet strong in the sky, but oddly Emmeso felt a coldness in his fingers.

Adain chuckled. "No, I'm a peasant like you who just happened to steal the robe of a noble." Adain joke wasn't funny. A bad omen. "Doesn't this fool know who we are? Captain, get out! I am Adain Ozain ask around."

That name brought hands to their swords.

''You are an Ozain. You are under arrest then."

"What do you mean? What is going on?" the new tremor in Adain's voice couldn't be missed.

The guards moved swiftly. Emmeso cursed. He was in an unembroidered luanzi, the black fabric fast fading from over washing.

They don't recognise me.

"Stop it, idiots! I'm the high councillor. Emmeso Goe!"

That caused them to stop in their tracks.

Recognition flashed in the eyes of the captain. "Your Excellency? It is you. I didn't recognise you."

Emmeso nodded aware that he had taken control of the situation. "I have not shaved in a while. Now why in the Centre would you want to arrest Adain? On whose orders?"

The captain sighed. "By the order of the Assembly."

"Impossible! He is a councillor of the Assembly. A noble! "

"Not anymore."

Emmeso knew that voice. He would recognise it anywhere and the loathful creature that bore it.

Dasa Filk slid from his horse, dressed in the regalia of a general. What was going on? He had demoted this man. He had disgraced him.

"What is the meaning of this? Dasa how dare you?"

Dasa ignored him. "By the order of the high Assembly, all Ozains and Orains are banished from the city for treason. Any caught within the city is to be arrested. Captain, arrest Adain"

Emmeso broke into a snarl. "Don't touch him! Dasa, I demoted you. What kind of game are you playing? I'm your superior. I order you to stand down."

"Carry on the arrest. Anywho stands in your way is an enemy of the Assembly. Even the councillor."

Emmeso growled. There were at least a dozen guards. He had nearly that number.
It would take the ones on the wall time to get down. And he was the High councillor! Sighing, he reached for his sword. "Dasa, step out of my way."

"Emmeso, let it be!" For the first time, he heard Adain's voice unadorned with mirth. What Emmeso heard was a sad note. "Let it be, I will go with them." Adain gave him a sad smile, his eyes twinkling.

"Greet your family for me." And he allowed himself to be led off while Emmeso stood transfixed.

Dasa grunted before joining them. "Welcome home, councillor!"

Boiling rage clawed its way to his face. Ikan! He must see Ikan!

When the servants let him into Ikan's lavish waiting hall he was blazing with uncontrollable fury. What nonsense! Wasn't he the high councillor? This city was no longer his. Somebody must explain to him why that fool Dasa was still in his office and Adain was arrested.

He sank into a chair, fuming. What was taking those servants so long!

He turned to the sounds of Ikan's sandals slapping hastily against his feet. The old man was surprised to see him. He seemed as if he had been napping. Ikan bounded his overflowing white robe about him "Emmeso, I heard that you crossed the Throat only yesterday. I didn't expect to see you too soon." He yawned.

"We hurried." He had no patience for small talk.

" It seems that this city has lost its mind while I was away! I saw Dasa! Why was Adain arrested?"

Ikan sighed. "Easy, easy. Stop shouting. It's not good for your health. Do you want water? You are so angry and you are worn out from your journey. Sit, sit."

Emmeso had to admit that after racing through the city in a boiling rage, the water rushing through his throat felt good.

Ikan sighed. The tiredness in his eyes was heavy. "Emmeso, the Centre was turned upside when you left. Kino was assassinated."

The water stopped at his throat. Old Kino, jovial, clever ever his staunch supporter. Practical and untouchable. He remembered the mockery that rang in Kino's voice as he considered other men. "Emmeso, half of the men in this Assembly have brains, the other half are yet to discover that they have one. On which half are you?" How could he be dead?

"He was stabbed by Ozians. Just outside the temple of Ania." Ikan paused.

"Go on." Emmeso was truly tired. "The Orians wanted revenge. They tore the city apart. Hundreds were killed in the riot. The people were going to rebel. They wanted blood. The Assembly had to act. I had to act."

"What did you do?"

"What anyone would do for the good of the city. I banished Ozians and Orians by the wishes of the Assembly"

The water in the cup was half empty now. "You shouldn't have-" He wanted to shout, scold Ikan who had always seemed wise and in control until now. His voice drained away but what could else could he have done. "Why Dasa? I removed him."

Ikan growled a bit. "We needed the First Fort to deliver the city and since we hadn't chosen a new commander, Dasa had to be restored. More than that we had to sate the Filks to keep them from joining either side. This is politics, my son. Somethings must be sacrificed.

Politics? Another thing that he was no good at just like trading.

He felt so weak, so weak.

"Adain, he must be released. What happened. It is not his fault. He served well."

Ikan patted his shoulder. "It pains us all. When a hand is dipped in oil it spreads to the rest of the hand. His family. You know he can't stay here for his good. The people would kill him if they got him. He is a good man but we don't choose the family we are born into."

Emmeso rose: "I am getting him out of prison. He will be granted safe passage out of the city. "

"Of course, of course. I will send word ahead. It is such a pity."

When the great gates shut behind him. He felt lost. This city had never felt more alien. He stumbled off to the carriage.

"Where to, sir? Home?"

Home? Not yet, not like this.

"Take me to the Kuzie." He must see Isau.

"Emmeso." Isau stirred himself from his desk, shutting the book he had been reading. "I heard of the scene at the gate. You are back." His slender white fingers ran up his thin mottled moustache. "Welcome back. Close the door on the way out." His secretary bowed and was on his way out.

"Well, sit down, sit down." He pointed to the only seat beside his in his austere office. Isau's grey robes that marked him as a scribe wounded around his skinny frame, billowing.

"Isau, what happened to Alamaria? Kino is dead! The Orians and Ozians are gone. The city rioted!" He hissed and seized his head with both hands.

Isau sighed and picked a quill, plucking the feathers lazily. "Things happened my friend. Men killed men and more men killed men. Then the vultures moved in and feasted on the corpses.  What happened, Emmeso is always what happens when the gods move the forces of the Centre and the rest would be left to history."

Emmeso sighed. Maybe coming here was a mistake.  Isau was often philosophical and with his head stuck in the sky.

"They arrested Adain at the gate! Who put Dasa in charge?"

Isau spoke in measured tones. "The same ones who made sure they were there at the Assembly on the day of the riot. Oh, Emmeso, someone has been busy."

"What do you mean?"

Isau placed a finger over his lip. "Let us go and set Adain free."

They stepped out of his office, making their way through the grey maze of stone that was the Kuzie. Students in their  robes hung like flocks of grey birds in classrooms.

Isau grinned to himself.
"Look at them pretending to be busy. The moment we pass they would go back to their noise. Where are the teachers?"

"Where is your teacher?" Isau asked a boy who sat closer to a window.

"They are at a meeting, principal."

"A meeting of teachers and I'm not invited. Isn't that odd, Emmeso?"

Emmeso at the moment didn't care a bit about teachers or scholars. "I don't know."

Isau chuckled. "Me too, me too."

"You should be careful, Emmeso." There was a new edge to Isau's voice as they crossed the courtyard towards the gate. "Your enemies are closer than you think as your friends dwindle."

"What do you mean, Isau?"

"Kino dies. The Orians and Ozians run mad. The Assembly banishes them. Or to be more exact the Vonas, Filks, Honds and merchants  made it happen. They were in the Assembly Chamber  before the riots happened. No one else could get there after that. That they were there on time and in the right numbers to make the quorum  makes me wonder, coincidence?"

"Are you saying—" the air was thick with suspicion.

Isau cut him off as he bent into the carriage. "I don't know, Emmeso. What do you think? Violence in politics is a cleanser. You wipe the floor bloody, clear your opponents and place your players on the scene. So much has happened. Powers are growing. The Filks and Honds have taken a share in the seats of the Orians and Ozians. The Vonas are reaping in the provinces. The election nears and your stoutest supporters from the last are eliminated."

"Are you saying this is all a clever plot?" There was a new fear gnawing at the back of his heart.

"Who knows? It could all be a whim of the gods. The vultures may not do the killing but that doesn't stop them from feeding on the flesh. Emmeso, you are more alone now than you ever were. I can't even trust my guild."

That was why he said so little in the Kuzie.

"My advice to you, Emmeso. Take your time, discover your enemies. Kino, the Ozians they are all gone."

"Who killed the old man?"

Isau sighed. There was sadness in his  eyes or so Emmeso thought.

"One afternoon, the temple bells were pealing and Kino, son of Akino the roaring fire was bleeding out his insides on the road before gods and men. They say the Ozians killed him but Emmeso I don't know what I believe anymore. Perhaps, truths are lies we tell ourselves. Perhaps all life is a lie. Think of it, one minute you breathe, the next you are bleeding out on the road. And a few minutes ago you would have claimed tomorrow. Life is a lie."

When the guards brought Adain out by the guardhouse next to the jails of the lower city, Adain looked unlike himself. As Emmeso watched the guards lead him up to him under the shed of the tree, he noted that all that reckless joy and mirth had drained out of Adain.

Adain stopped before him. His eyes were empty. It was almost as if he had never seen Adain before. How could a man change so rapidly?

"You have to leave," Emmeso's heart was breaking as he said this.

Adain nodded. "The world has changed its colour so fast."

"Where would you go?"

"Who knows? East or west, anywhere."

There was a manner that Adain said that reminded Emmeso of men who wandered off at night dejected, only to be found hanging on a noose by dawn.

"Take this. It would give you safe passage to the North." He forced a bag of coins into Adain's hand. Adain hands went limp and the bag bounced off.
The nearby guards jerked their heads to the sight of coins rolling out to the sand.

"Is that where they banished my family?" There was a cold edge to Adain's voice. An alien one to the face of one who laughed often.

"I don't know. I can ask—"

"Don't bother, I will find out myself. Goodbye, councillor."

"Let me see you to the gates."

"Don't bother. I can't miss it."

As Adain walked out on him perhaps forever, Emmeso wondered what he had done to deserve the coldness.

"What could I have done, Isau? What did I fail to do?"

Isau shrugged his shoulder. "Men in grief and anger often cannot tell apart from he who causes the grief and he who cannot abate it."

Emmeso jaw tightened. "Adain didn't deserve this. He did not!"

Isau touched his shoulder, kindly."Go home. Rest. There's no more you can do."

Esola was sitting on the steps when he returned as the sky reddened with the dusk.

"You have returned." Her warm hug was brief, briefer than usual.

"Where are the children?"

"Inside, why do you look so tired?"

"I'm tired. I can't say anymore." He moved towards the door. Isau words were all he could think of now. "Your enemies are closer than you think as your friends dwindle."