Korath was the second city, and it was not on the plain. That was the one thing that made it a mountain city: the Fall had built it up, ten thousand years before the counting, and the empire had fed it ever since.

The Second Ember was at the heart of the mountain, in the forges. The forges made the heat, the heat made the industry, the industry fed the empire, and the empire's feeding had gone dry.

The city was loud in the way the ash had not been. The four came in on the road the Pyre had named, and the twelve days since the pass had been the length of the whole mountain.

Liora Voss was not in the tower, where the Pyre had put her for the word.

Liora Voss was in the forges, with a chisel in the hand that was not closed.

The four found her at the second forge of the mountain, where the metal was the color of the road.

"You are the Frenzied of the Vault," Liora said to Ashe. Her voice was not a door; it was the road. "I have read the ledgers in the capital since the Harvest, and I am why the letter did not say where the four are. I am here now, on the mountain, with the chisel."

"I am the one who reads the ledgers," Ashe said. "The burning did not do the ledgers. The ash kept the not-doing."

"I am not the Pyre," Liora said. "I am the chisel. The chisel is the forges. The forges are the heat. The heat is the Second Ember. And the Second is the cup. The cup is dry. That is why I am in the capital, in the tower, at the seal."

Corvin looked at her. The face was not the rumor, and the capital did not know about the not-rumor.

"You were at Cressen," Corvin said. "You told me to burn the village."

"I told the empire to burn the village," Liora said. She was not lying; the chisel did the saying. "The arithmetic did the burning. The arithmetic did not include Sessa. The shield carried the not-including, and that carrying is what you are now, on the mountain, with the wound that is opening."

The four did not speak for a while.

"I will walk with you to the Second Ember," Liora said to Ashe. "The ember is what I will take, and the taking is not the Pyre's. The chisel is the far side of the fire."

"The chisel is not a thing that takes an ember," Yrren said from the trade's side of the forge. "The chisel is the forges, and the forges are the heat, and the heat is the cup. The cup is dry, and the dry is what the rite needs. The rite is the killing, and the killing is the Long Night."

"I am not taking the ember to the Pyre," Liora said. "I am taking it to the dark. The dark is the sky, and the sky is the feeding. The feeding is not the ending, and the singing is for the not-ending."

---

The five went to the Second Ember on the second day in Korath.

The Second Ember was not in a temple, the way the First had not been. The ash did the not-temple, because the not-doing was the cistern, and the cistern was the water, and the water moved.

The Second Ember was in the forges. The forges were the mountain. The mountain was the heat. The heat was the industry. And the industry was what the empire fed.

The smiths of Korath did the forges. The Pyre did not do the doing, because the not-doing was the rite, and the rite was the killing.

Ashe put her hand to the Second Ember. The hand was not closed, and the not-closing was the road.

The dream came. The forges had not done the coming: the not-doing was the heat, and the heat was the cup.

In the burning the forge is the blood, and the blood is the light, and the light is what the empire does not know about, because the not-knowing is the Harvest, and the Harvest was the cup. The cup is dry. The dry is what the rite needs. The rite is the killing, and the killing is the Long Night.

The smiths of Korath know. The knowing is what the forges did. The Pyre did not do the doing. The not-doing is the hiding, and the hiding is what the empire does with the hand, the hand not closed. The not-closing is the blood, and the blood is the light.

The dream let her go.

---

That night the five sat in the fire of the forges.

Pellin wrote.

The Second Ember is in the keeping of the five. The five are what Korath does not name. The not-naming is the forges, and the forges are the heat. The six are what the rite needs, and the rite is the Blackenings, and the Blackenings are twelve days minus two. The five are walking to Veranthe, and the Third Ember is Veranthe, and the Third is the growing.

The letter went up on the back of a rider the mountain did not name. The not-naming was the keeping.

---

In the burning the blood is the light, and the light is what the empire does not know about. The not-knowing is the hiding, and the hiding is what the empire does. The doing was the cup, and the cup is dry. The dry is what the rite needs. The rite is the killing, and the killing is the Long Night. The Night is the sky, and the sky is the first of the new stars.

— Dream-Ledger, entry of the night at the Second Ember, written by Ashe Wren in the forges of Korath, the index of the blood the empire hid