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They plu, hihted themselves She, the heavier in her iron skin He, on top of her like a red anvil, hands wrapped about her face
They hit the water in an eruption of red and white froth Gariath, too, was plunged into blindness like his foe But the battle was his, he knew, as she lay un beneath him
When the water settled and she lay beneath the water, skull neatly bisected like a rock, it was unnecessary to do er away
‘Any happier now, Wisest?’ The grandfather was there, seated on the rocks jutting fro?’
‘No thanks to you,’ Gariath snorted ‘You didn’t tell me about thereen things They called a’
‘You have not been called that before?’
‘Not by anything that looks like reen, not red’
‘Closer than pink,’ he growled ‘Tell me, then, Grandfather, who are they?’
‘They are … lost, Wisest,’ Grandfather replied ‘They will lead you to nothing’
Gariath regarded the spirit for ain hiht, it was at this h hi hazy as the sunlight poured through hi hard, nothing blooded, nothing fleshy
And Gariath turned his back to the spirit, stalking down the river
‘Where do you go, Wisest?’ Grandfather called after hi,’ he replied
Twenty-Three
QUESTIONS OF A VISCERAL
NATURE
‘If he asks for water, don’t give hi his key ring like a symbol of authority ‘And I wouldn’t look at him directly, if I were you’ He sneered ‘It’s aman cracked open the reinforced door to the converted warehouse room that served as a prison It opened into shadohich Bralston stepped into
The door swung shut behind hi the echo He turned on his heel and walked deeper, taking a moment to scratch the corner of his eye as he ree for the least important objects, possibly the least iestion The walls were as tall and wide as two rated hole above Dust swirled within it, flakes clawing over each other in a futile bid to escape
Against the pervasive despair, the figure huddled pitifully against the as scarcely noticeable
Bralston said nothing, at first, content only to observe Taking the man in – at least, he had been told it was a man – was difficult, for the sheer coainst the wall
The Librarian could ly beard that had once been keainst its owner’s deter eye cast down at the floor, heavy-lidded, unblinking
‘I am here to speak with you,’ Bralston said, his voice painful in the silence
Thein reply
‘Your assistance is required’
Bralston felt his ire rise at the man’s continued quiet
‘Cooperation,’ he said, clenching his hand, ‘is co , without looking up The voice had once been boo had hollowed it out with sharp fingers and left only a smothered whisper
‘Approximately one week’
A chuckle, black and once used to herald merry terrors ‘I lament my lack of surprise But would it surprise you that I was once a entle zephyrs?’ He leaned back, resting a hand on a massive knee ‘I once was, despite the shrouded sorrow before you’ He druers ‘I once was’
A closer glance revealed both the fact that the ers were, in fact, fleshy stumps, and that the hairy backs of his hands were twisted with tattoos Consequently, any sympathy or desire to knohat had happened to the sman
Whatever cruelties had been visited upon this man by whomever was undoubtedly kindness compared to the blood he had shed, the lives he had defiled Bralston felt his left eyelid twitch at the fate of the last Cragsman he had known
‘Your … days of zephyr, as it were, are the object of concern,’ Bralston said curtly
‘No gentlesracious inclination to benefit you the title of entle, I can quite distinctly detect the odiferous reek of a lie dribbling out of your craw Were I bold enough to declare, I would that you did not come all this way to discuss the seas I’ve plied and the women I’ve loved’
That last word sent Bralston’s spine rigid, his fist tight
‘I am concerned with the pasty foulness of truth to it,’ the‘I would still hesitate to commit fully my conscience to your claim, sir, for any man interested in the latest chapter of the script of a man named Rashodd would likely be here with the express intent of doing things more visceral than polite conversation and pleasant queries’
His great head swung up, grey hair hanging limply at a thick jaw His eye fixed itself upon the Librarian Through the glooolden crescents
‘So I ask thetheh my most fortunate nose,’ Rashodd said ‘Who sent you?’
Bralston considered carefully answering Somehow, the words he spoke seemed tainted by the man’s presence the moment they left his mouth