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‘No … no, no No!’ Lenk swept up to it, cradling it in treht break at any moment ‘No … she … she’d never leave this behind She alears them’

‘Wore the his fist against his temple ‘This can’t be it She wouldn’t have left this She … they …’ He sed hard, a lu down his throat ‘All …’

‘Dead’

The as given a sudden, heavy weight It drove him to his knees, pulled the sword from his hand, crushed the blood froe

‘Dead …’

‘Dead,’ the voice repeated ‘Another blessing you will coasped, his voice wet and heavy in his throat ‘Please don’t say that’

‘She would have killed you, you know’

‘Don’t say that’

‘She said as h his mind, as hot and tense as his fevered brow All he had left to remember them by – her by – was the scorn that had dripped from her lips when they last spoke The ness and left one voice behind

‘I want to feel likeyou!’

It continued to ring, cathedral bells of cracked brass He clenched his skull, trying to stop it froo of the noise It was all he had left

‘Kill you …’ he repeated to himself ‘Kill you … kill you …’

‘She would have,’ the voice replied ‘But that’s not important noe must rise up, we ic and reason that swept into Lenk’s brain on a hatefully reasonable tone

Of course she would have, he thought She’s a shict You’re a human They live to kill us This voice, familiarly cynical and harsh, he realised was Denaos’ own, seeping up froive up her whole race for you?

Maybe it’s a blessing, a voice like Asper’s said inside him The one favour the Gods will show you You don’t have to worry about her any …

Well, it’s just logical, isn’t it? Dreadaeleon asked,forces in the sae that It’s just hoorks

Your life only becarowled You deserve to die

‘I deserve it …’

‘Self-pity is also a …’ The voice paused suddenly, its tone shifting to cold anger ‘What are you doing?’

‘I deserve it’

Lenk reached up and took the feather, the last action he took before he rose without compulsion fro the white object close to hi tosea

‘What are you doing?’ The voice’s demand didn’t penetrate the numbness in his body Whatever eyes it had, itup ‘Stop! This is not our purpose!’

‘You were right,’ Lenk said, a s across his face ‘She’s dead They’re all dead We’ll be together again, though Companions forever’

‘Listen to ’

‘It’s over’ The young man shook his head ‘I can’t do this anymore Not without them Not without her’

‘Sacrifice isn’t noble if it hinders everything else We have eance?’

Nowith the pus Hope could no longer carry hier fuel him Surrender, the promise of an end to the blood and the pain, drove him forward, inevitably toward the sea

‘Resist,’ the voice coer’

No more words The waves rose up to s burst with salt and his flesh was picked clean by hungry fish

‘You do not get to die here,’ the voice uttered, cold and co ‘That is not your decision’

Nocold, his fever coursing out of his locked up beneath hiround

‘I won’t let you’

So close to release, Lenk reached out with fingers trerasp the earth and pull him into sweet, blue freedom Freedom fro that had made him think she should have died for leather and paper

‘Why …?’ He felt his tears as ice on his face as his body trembled and folded over itself ‘I can’t do this Just let me die … I want to …’

‘It does not matter what you want,’ the voice replied, unsympathetic ‘All thatin his head faded, freeing his ears to the sound of feet scraping against sand, alien voices rising over the sandy ridge Alien, but familiar

‘Hake-yo! Man-eh komah owah!’

‘And what you must do … is hide’

‘But I--’

‘You don’t get to make that decision’

He could barely feel the sand beneath his feet or his spine bending as he plucked up the sword He barely noticed; his entire willpohat didn’t ooze out of hiers as he held desperately onto the feather He wasn’t even aware ofbehind the sandy dune until he was finally there, his nus suddenly gave out

No sooner had his belly pressed against the dirt than the first green scalp cae A pair of wide, aed fro, clawed feet slid down the sand and into the valley, their tracks concealed by the long tail dragging behind it

That the creature didn’t notice his presence spoke more of its inattention than his subtlety Even amidst the beach scrub, a head of silver hair couldn’t have been hard to spot He lay still; his body bore obedience for only one voice

The lizarde and snarled

‘Nah-ah Shii nant hiss froreen bodies careater note of theed teeth and savagefrom their loincloths A decidedly vicious iht, but that only brought a grim smile to Lenk’s face

Their weapons were so sharp, so brutal-looking They could eviscerate hi in a horrific chop and s of red and fleshy pink chunks on the sand It would be so quick, so easy