Adelie grinned. "I thought of that. But if you win, he dies. And if you die...?"
"You will have had your glory anyway? You will have engineered the battle of the gods, and dabbled in other pleasures, too?" Greaves was still smiling, but Adelie's eyes grew wider. "Maybe it'll be that simple, Adelie. But who can tell the minds of gods, hmm?"
And so David Greaves strode into the city of Shadows, followed by a fearful multitude and two badly shaken people. He walked down a broad avenue at whose end something black bulked and glimmered, while things with black-filled eyes stood watching thin-lipped. And as he walked he showed none of his fear.
He stopped at the end of the avenue, with the tall towers looming over him, and stood facing the Temple of Shadows. There was no sign of life in the square black opening that served as a door for the featureless stone block, dark but not as dark as a Shadow.
He threw back his head and called: "Mayron!"
The worshippers huddled around him. Vigil, like them, was throwing anxious looks over his shoulders as the city's Shadows crowded closer.
Adelie murmured: "There he is."
And he was, trotting lightly down the steps, smiling. He wore his human skin as naturally as if it were more than a cloak, and Greaves had to look hard to see that when he smiled his lips stretched but no teeth showed.
"Well, Man in all your pride. Are you ready?"