Mairek knew everything that was happening despite the fact that his eyes were closed. He could feel each step upon the ground regardless of how gently one placed their foot, he could hear the sharp intake of breath from a Talisi woman at the outskirts of the camp after a Talisi soldier expressed his interest in her. He could smell the Entrail Seer's tent from where he lay upon a fluffy mattress made entirely of wool. Ishar's steady breathing from the bed beside him was comforting, it kept him from thinking about how they were both going to die within seven minutes.
The first thing he'd heard when he'd regained consciousness was Edda's conversation with Sergent Goki.
When Nielda had unfrozen time the Talisi had been shocked to find Mairek's body a foot into the Ganidan floor as if he'd dropped from a great height and Ishar had lay unconscious beside the trench his body was in. The two had talked outside the large medical tent that had been cleared to house Ishar and him. Goki had urged the Remu woman to get some rest after she'd told of how Ishar had previously become unconscious after channeling a God and speculated that it must have occurred again at the bonfire. Edda had refused to leave Ishar's side but Goki had promised to station Dhiliaf and Nohj at the medical tent and to call her immediately Ishar woke. Outside the tent Dhiliaf and Nohj stood guard over their unconscious bodies by order of the Sergeant but their efforts were in vain. The very people who were going to kill them were the ones who'd been charged with nursing them back to health.
After hearing Goki and Edda's conversation, Mairek's first instinct had been to wake up but then his senses had started to take in everything. It was like trying to drink the whole Rankf sea, he was incapable of action under the sheer weight of so much information and he felt his identity begin to fade as he lost himself to it all. He'd fought against it, seeking a way to numb his senses and to at least garner the strength to move his fingers but he'd stopped struggling after the weight of information had merged itself and connected with the past, present and future, mapping itself out.
The cough of a Talisi soldier patrolling the Ganidan plain coincided with the King clearing his throat and the smell of a Talisi woman spraying perfume upon herself. Alone they were meaningless occurrences but it all happened again exactly seven seconds later when a Talisi soldier scouting the hills coughed, Princess Tari cleared her throat and a different Talisi woman sprayed herself with perfume of the exact same fragrance. Using the two occurrences Mairek was certain that in the next fourteen seconds the same trio of activities would occur but with different characters playing them out. And sure enough it had happened. Suddenly, the shuffling of feet. The bellow of the Telinete Rhino, the smell from the latrines as people relieved themselves, the cry of a distant bird, the stirring of dust, the moan of a Talisi woman and her lover in secret, the sounds made by a man chewing a piece of meat... They were all connected, a language spoken by time and he could perceive it all.
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And with all that, Mairek was made aware of one irrefutable fact that enabled him to know of the cost Nielda had claimed would come with his heightened perception. Mairek was able to see that he was a part of it all, a drop in the steady flow of time. A segment of the pattern that made the whole and if he did not fit in, he would be discarded. If he went against the flow of time, he would be destroyed. If the drop did not flow according to the will of time, he would be spat out onto the banks. If he did not act as he was supposed to do when he was suppose to do so, he would die together with everyone and everything that associated with him. He would be erased and all who carried memory of him would be erased too.
The Red priests dabbled as medics within the camp and Mairek and Ishar were under their direct care. In what was now six minutes time two red priests would enter the medical tent and Dhiliaf and Nohj would be none the wiser about the Red priests' true motives. The first one had been sent by the Chief Red Priest to put an end to Mairek's life for leading the Talisi in worship of another God besides Meena. The second Red priest was Veste. Ishar's Cheke was coming to stick a dagger into Ishar's throat as he lay unconscious for no other reason besides spite. Both Red priests would gladly give away their lives, sacrificing themselves for the purpose of eradicating the threats to the Talisi Red priests, their priority was murder and Ishar and Mairek were as helpless before them as a mouse was beneath a cat's paw.
Time ticked and it was now three minutes till their deaths. Mairek lay motionless, seeking for a way to escape the darkness that came beyond the third minute. Mairek read the very fabric of fate as time would weave it, he saw no escape. At the last second of the third minute he would cease to exist. He thought about getting up to alert Dhiliaf of the Red priests but the creaking of his bed as he moved to get up was counter to the order of time, it would bring reality's attention to him as the sound was not suppose to be made at that time and everything would merge against him. He saw himself bleeding to death outside the tent after Dhiliaf accidentally stabbed him on the neck with his spear after getting startled by him. No matter what he did, if it wasn't time to do so the end result was always eradication of his entire self.
He couldn't risk opening his eyes before it was time for him to do so, he couldn't risk calling to Ishar before it was time to do so, he couldn't risk going against the flow of time despite the fact that his very end was visible to him in what was now two minutes time. Mairek could perceive everything, he could see the very flow of time but the certainty that came with the correct action to take in order to survive the Red priests evaded him and he wouldn't dare act before it was time. He did not know what to do for the time to do anything did not exist. He could not see it regardless of how many outcomes to actions he played out.
One minute to their deaths. One of the Red priests exchanged words with Nohj outside the tent, even laughing at a joke before opening the tent's flap and entering with Veste following close behind. The sound of Veste's red robes ruffling against the blade hidden underneath was clear to Mairek as he headed to Ishar's bed. So we're the steps of the Red priest heading to his own bed. Thirty Seconds till their death.