Page 24 (2/2)

‘Dead,’ she said

‘Well done,’ Vashnearhis rowled

The low-finger shrugged ‘Same e found the others Smashed skulls, torn flesh, few arrows here and there Soht in the back’

‘I told Sheraptus you shouldn’t be allowed to roa,’ Vashnearthat soht ambush them in a deep forest, then they’re certainly incapable of finding anything of worth to use against the underscum’

‘And ould you have done?’ Xhai asked

His grin broadened as his eyes ide The cri froed smile

‘Burn down the forest Remove the issue’

‘Master Sheraptus said not to It will infringe on his plans’

‘Sheraptus believes himself infallible,’ Vashnear said

‘He is’

‘And yet he wastes three fehter the underscum e have always had the answer’ He pulled a pendant out fro in time with his eyes ‘Kill theainst their queen The Master says so’

‘He cannot know that’

‘He has his ways’

‘And they are not working’

Slowly, Xhai turned a scowl upon him ‘The Master is not to be questioned’

‘Males have no masters,’ Vashnear replied coldly ‘Sheraptus is my equal You are beneath him and beneath me’

‘I am his First Carnassial,’ Xhai snarled back ‘I lead his warriors I kill his enemies His enemies question him’

Vashnear lofted a brow beneath which his stare srily for aonly a solemn face

‘Our search continues,’ he said softly ‘I’ve sent Dech out to find further evidence We will find her before we lose a Carnassial instead of a pair of warriors’ He walked past her, his step slowing slightly as he did ‘Carnassials are killers Nothing more Sheraptus knows this’

She turned to watch hi her to pluck it free and plant it in his back On her back, her nashblade shrieked for her to feed it with his tender neck flesh Her own fingers, the ether in the true ulationfor him

But Sheraptus had told her not to harm him

Sheraptus was not to be questioned

‘What do we do with the dead ones?’ the low-finger beside her asked

‘How far behind us is the sikkhun?’ Xhai asked

‘Still glutting itself on Those Green Things we found earlier’

‘It’ll still be hungry It fights better when it’s been fed’ She glanced disdainfully at the corpses ‘Leave theer followed her scowl to Vashnear and snorted ‘He’s weak Even Dech says so His own Carnassial …’ She chuckledus kills hirunted

‘Who knows?’ the feet a reward from the Saharkk’

Xhai whirled on her, saw the distant, dreaaze in her eyes

‘What did you call hi past her ‘It ’

She had taken two steps before Xhai’s hand lashed out to seize her by the throat Xhai heard the satisfying wheeze of a windpipe collapsing; she was right to listen to her fingers

‘He wants to be called Master,’ Xhai growled ‘And I don’t share rewards’

The low-finger shrieked, a wordless, breathless rasp, as Xhai pulled harshly on her neck and swung her skull toward the nearest tree

Kataria felt the bones shatter, the ih the bark and down her spine She kept her back against the tree, regardless, not ’s brutality She held her voice and her breath in her throat, quietly waiting for it to be over

But she had met Xhai before, in Irontide She could feel the old wounds that the Carnassial had given her begin to ache with every runts of violent exertion She knew that when it ca painful was ever over quickly

Her victirunts lasted only a fewfroht, however, persisted

The sound of twitching, chittering, clicking caught her attention She glanced at the tre before her, its feathery antennae wafting in her direction as it studied her through conised the oversized pest for what it was, she did nothing ht; even if the roach could understand the gesture, she doubted it could h noise to be heard over Xhai’s brutality

Apparently, the roach disagreed

Its rainbow-coloured carapace tres as it turned about and raised a bulbous, hairy abdomen to her Her eyes widened as the back of its body opened wide

And sprayed

Screa spray washed over her Cursing was her second Turning around, dropping her breeches and spraying the thing right back quickly fought its way to the fore, but she rejected it as soon as she felt the tree still against her back

At the other side, a body slumped to the earth with a splash as it landed in a puddle of sorowl and her heavy iron boots sto off quickly followed and faded in short order

Kataria allowed herself to breathe and quickly regretted it as the roach’s stench assaulted her nose The insect chittered, satisfied, and scurried into the forest’s underbrush Still, she counted herself lucky that the only thing to locate her was a roach

A roach that sprays fro the stuff frofaces alrunted at her own thoughts; the longfaces were crawling over the island, roareat, noisy droves They were searching, she had learned froe she could understand For what, she had no idea and she didn’t care She was on a search of her own, one that could not be compromised by the addition of bloodthirsty, purple-skinned warrior women

The Spokesman stick in her hand reminded her of it, with a warm assurance that it had tasted many human bones before

She stared down at it contemplatively The s’na shict s’ha, her father said, often claimed that their famed sticks earned their names for the fact that each one possessed the faintest hints of the Howling The trees they were carved from drank deeply of shictish blood spilled in their defence They carried the memories of the dead, perpetual reminders of the duties that every shict carried