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Now, the stream was onesymphonies His joy had lasted less than an hour before he had began to curse the Gods for abandoning hireen hell

It was ed felons pitting their wailing night songs against the howling and shaking of trees of their hatred rivals, the st the trees, searching for one of the noisy warriors, any of the disgusting little things His sword rested in his lap, twitching in tiaze back and forth, back and forth like a pendulued He saw not a hair, not a feather They ht What if it’s all just a dream, a hallucination before Gevrauch claims me? A shrill cry punctured his ears Or could I ever hope to be that lucky?

He clenched his scavenged tuber like a weapon, assaulting his mouth with it It was the only way he could convince hiht hi hi out a feast from what they found inelse here, he thought She could have found some delicious plant ‘Eat it,’ she would have said, ‘it’ll help your bowel movements’ Alith everyone’s bowel movements …

No, he stared down at the floor, alith ht made him despair

‘But she’s dead now They all are’

The voice caooseflesh on his arh the fevered veil that swaddled his brain, co hush that coiled around his skull before slithering into silence

He supposed he ought to have been thankful He had long wished to be free of the voice, of its cruel commands and horrific demands Now, as he sat alone under the canopy, he silently wished that it ive him someone to talk to preserve his sanity

He paused ht

He gruh you could ever preserve your sanity talking to the others, either If anything talking to Kat would only drive you madder in short order

‘It matters not,’ the voice whispered ‘She’s drowned, claimed by the deep They all are They all float in reefs of flesh and bone; they all drift on tides of blood and salt’

Lenk had never recalled the voice being quite so specific before, but it slithered away before he could inquire In its wake, fever creased his brows, sent his brain boiling

That isn’t right, he told himself The voicehis hts couldn’t have been too clear to begin with

There was a rustle in the leaves overhead, a creak of a sinewy branch as solossy stare at hi, feathery tail, tiny hu under its squat body Its head rolled fro back in what appeared to be a smile as its skull swayed on its neck in time with its tail

Back and forth, back and forth …

It’sTheether Monkeys can’t mock They don’t have the sense of social propriety necessary to upsetting it in the first place That makes sense, doesn’t it? Of course it does Monkeys have no sense of co It’s not in their nature …

He stared up, found his tongue creeping unbidden to his cracked lips

Their juicy … meaty nature

His sas in his hands unbidden, gliry intent as his fever-boiled eyes, licking its steel lips with the same ideas as he licked his ohide ly back and forth, back and forth, bidding hi heavily It wasn’t until he was close enough to spit on it that the thing looked at him ariness

‘Don’t look at rowled ‘This is nature You sit there and swing like a little ly little face open and slurp your delicious round’

The beast looked at him and smiled a human smile

‘Now, doesn’t that seem a bit hypocritical?’ it asked in a clear baritone

Lenk paused ‘How do you figure?’

‘Are you not aware of how close the fa up its little paws ‘Look at our hands They both suggest sonificant, inconsequential lifespan through us both …’

‘We are not close, you little faeces-flinger Mankind was created by the Gods’

‘That sort of renders your point about "nature" a bit er ‘Which is it?’

‘That isn’t what I er at the ue That’s a rule’

‘Where?’

‘Somewhere, I don’t know’

‘What is the desire to be shackled by rules, Lenk? Why did mankind create them? Was the burden of freedoue,’ Lenk snarled, ‘they damn well shouldn’t make philosophical inquiries’

‘The truth is,’ the monkey continued, ‘that freedo, nebulous; what one man considers it, another does not It’s i is’

‘Shut up’

‘Thusly, mankind created rules Or, if you choose to believe, had theods This wasn’t for the sake of any divine creation, of course, but only to hts of freedom didn’t cripple the his head

‘We both knohy you want me to be silent You’ve already seen this theory of freedom in action, haven’t you? When a ht The last time you saw someone that was free--’

‘I said …’ Lenk pulled his sword froiant sea serpent and caused it to sink your boat, killing everyone aboard and leaving you alone’