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The wolf recalled little of the other worlds that existed beyond Chaos It knew nothing of the od Yet a certain knowledge had come to it, an instinctive sensitivity that told it of … possibilities Of potentials Of choices now available to the wolf, with the discovery of this frail mortal

Even so, the creature hesitated

There were risks And the decision that noed its way to the forefront had the wolf tre spiralled inward, closer, ever closer to the unconscious figure Lone eye fixing finally on the ift, the creature saw at last, was a true one Nothing else could explain what it discovered in the mortal man’s face A mirrored spirit, in every detail This was an opportunity that could not be refused

Still the wolf hesitated

Until an ancient e, frozen, faded with the erosion of time

Sufficient to close the spiral

And then it was done

His single functioning eye blinked open to a pale blue, cloudless sky The scar tissue covering as left of his other eye tingled with aitch, as if insects crawled under the skin He earing a hel into his flesh

He lay un to re before hi into it A horse vanishing beneath hi A sense of unease, which he’d shared with his companion A friend who rode at his side Captain Paran

Toc the Younger groaned Hairlock That e of fear He rolled onto his side, everyHood’s breath, this isn’t the Rhivi Plain

A field of broken black glass stretched away on all sides Grey dust hung in motionless clouds an arm’s span above it Off to his left, perhaps two hundred paces away, a low mound rose to break the flat monotony of the landscape

His throat felt raw His eye stung The sun was blistering overhead Coughing, Toc sat up, the obsidian crunching beneath hi beside him and reached for it The quiver had been strapped onto the saddle of his horse Wherever he’d gone, his faithful Wickan mount had not followed Apart from the knife at his hip and the mo No water, no food A closer exa had stretched

Badly Meaning I’ve been away for some time Away Where? Hairlock had thrown him into a warren Somehow, time had been lost within it He was not overly thirsty, nor particularly hungry But, even if he had arrows, the bow’s pull was gone Worse, the string had dried, the wax absorbing obsidian dust It wouldn’t survive retightening That suggested days, if not weeks, had passed, though his body told him otherwise

He climbed to his feet The chain arlittering dust

Am I within a warren? Or has it spat me back out? Either way, he needed to find an end to this lifeless plain of volcanic glass Assu towards the h, he would take any vantage point that was available As he approached, he saw others like it beyond, regularly spaced Barrows Great, I just love barrows And then a central one, larger than the rest

Toc skirted the firstthat it had been holed, likely by looters After a moment he paused, turned and walked closer He squatted beside the excavated shaft, peered down into the slanting tunnel As far as he could see -- over a ht in depth -- the mantle of obsidian continued down For the e, more like domes than beehive tombs ’Whatever,’ he muttered ’I don’t like it’

He paused, considering, running through in his mind the events that had led him to this … unfortunate situation The deathly rain of Moon’s Spawn see Fire and pain, the death of an eye, the kiss that left a savagely disfiguring scar on what had been a young, reputedly handsome face

A ride north onto the plain to retrieve Adjunct Lorn, a skirhast Back in Pale, stillhis old role as a Claw courier Courier? Let’s speak plain, Toc, especially to yourself You were a spy But you had been turned You were a scout in Onear more, until the Adjunct showed up There’d been trouble in Pale Tattersail, then Captain Paran Flight and pursuit ’What a mess,’ he muttered