Page 61 (1/2)
‘That is it,’ Greenhair replied, arriving beside Sheraptus and pointing a finger at the palanquin ‘It is in there’
He swept his burning gaze back to the objects His hands rose, the air quivering between the the clothes and weapons to expose a pair of books resting gingerly upon the wood The first one wasin the breeze, as if taking the cue to quiver before the man’s eyes The other …
Too clean, too black, too shiny, too still and s and noticeable while the rest of the world darkened for fear of being seen by a pair of bright red eyes The toh time to look at Lenk with papery eyes and wink Or so it seemed to, at any rate
Surely, Sheraptus must have seen it, too What could escape that stare? What sense did it htened book up first?
‘It does not call to him,’ a voice, he wasn’t sure which, answered ‘He cannot hear it His ears are cloyed with pride, arrogance He will never hear it Will never hear us before we take his head’ He glanced to Greenhair, biting her lip, not daring to say anything as he plucked up the wrong book ‘She … betrayed us Those who betray … die’
Warreement
If Sheraptus saw the intent in Lenk’s stare, he es of the ht, Lenk realised His spellbook He hadn’t seen it ever unattached to the boy’s hip He guessed that watching anotherwould be unsettling, at the least
‘Huhtfully ‘I wasn’t entirely sure I believed it’ Idly, he flipped page by page, his frown deepening ‘They scrawl their words on parchlanced up ‘How reen turned black?’
His eyes narrowed as he thu, you ruin it all Spill ies, never once deigning to fight over the bounties surrounding you’ He looked up, thoughtful ‘You’re so concerned with these false notions of higher powers that you never once realise it’s all within your grasp’
‘Merroskrit,’ Dreadaeleon whispered, ‘, another person and he’s just … he’s going to …’
He took a thin, white page and rubbed it gingerly between two fingers The flinch of his lips, the ripping of the paper was short, bitter Dreadaeleon’s screaface’s lips twisted into a wry smirk
‘But that’s part of your charm, isn’t it?’
‘Sheraptus …’ Greenhair spoke, then immediately sta i, for the moment’ He reached down and took a severed head froolden locks and frowning ‘And they even carry death around with thenised The Deepshriek’s head The lizards kept it
‘They know nothing of its iain soon Patience’
‘There is a word for this sort of thing …’ Sheraptus hu the head away ‘It is either "ed", but it’s uni else Where is it?’
‘There, Master,’ Greenhair said, pointing to the palanquin ‘The tolance flitted towards Dreadaeleon for a moment ‘It will be safer with you’
Sheraptus, however,eyes could be, before he looked over her to Xhai
‘Where is it?’ he asked the Carnassial
She shot him back a look, as wounded as a woman with spike-encrusted shoes could ‘The Grey One That Grins only wants the tos are--’
‘I would very much like to have it … them,’ Sheraptus said ‘It would make me very happy’ He pursed his lips, furrowed his brows; beneath the fire, he looked almost hurt ‘Xhai … do you not want me to be happy?’
She recoiled, as if struck An emotion, close to but not quite the fury that was present earlier, shook her features After a ement She turned her head away and barked a command
‘TCHIK QAI!’
There was a scrabble of boots, a few e half-buried nearby Lenk’s ears immediately pricked up, his attention draards thefaster at the noise The reaction did not go unnoticed
‘Ignore that,’ a cold voice snarled
‘The enerowled
‘Duty first Betrayers die’
‘They will all die They all betrayed you Forget everything else’
‘Kill’
‘Listen’
He did not hear the but flashes of hot and cold in his body His eyes were locked upon the twitches of limpses of purple, but did not pay attention theliht, moved swiftly, but erratically
The movement stopped momentarily There was another shout of protest, this one louder but not clear enough to be heard well It wassound Lenk found hi at the unseen blow, found hi his neck to see what eed from behind the bones
And despite the fear that had been growing in his chest since he had awoken, he found himself surprised to see a pair of e
He tried to cry out, tried to screa, voice choked
‘No,’ another voice answered his unspoken question, ‘speak not Draw no attention Not yet He does not need you, does not want you Survive first Kill later’
She looks hurt She needs help I need to--
‘Soon Tome first Duty first’
No! Not duty first, she’s more important She--