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’So I’ve gathered, sir’ Gruntle’s eyes strayed to Buke His friend looked ten years older than when he’d last seen him He would not meet the captain’s eyes

’I see your entourage has grown since we last hast, yes? Extraordinary, isn’t it, that such people can be found on other continents as well, calling the, it seems, virtually identical custonorance, I wonder?’

’Generally,’ Gruntle said quietly, ’that particular usage of the word "buried" is figurative Yet you have taken it literally’

The black-clad ued by curiosity, alas We could not pass by the opportunity We never can, in fact As it turned out, the spirit we gathered into our eh once a sha other than e had already surhast are an ancient people indeed, and were once far more nurey eyes fixed on Hetan A thin broly lifted ’Not a question of a fall froery, however Sination The belief systeress, or so I have concluded given the evidence’

Hetan offered the sorcerer a silent snarl

Cafal spoke, his voice ragged with fury ’What have you done with our soul-kin?’

’Very little, warrior He had already eluded the inner bindings, yet had fallen prey to one of your shamanistic traps -- a tied bundle of sticks, twine and cloth Was it compassion that offered theuided, if so-’

’Flesh,’ Korbal Broach said in a reedy, thin voice, ’would far better suit them’

Bauchelain ses, a discipline of lesser interest to me’

’What happened here?’ Gruntle asked

’That is plain,’ Hetan snapped ’They broke into a dark circle Then a demon attacked them -- a demon such as the one my brothers and I hunt And these … men … fled and somehow eluded it’

’Not quite, my dear,’ Bauchelain said ’Firstly, the creature that attacked us was not a demon -- you can take my word on such matters for demons are entities I happen to know very well indeed We were most viciously set upon, however, as you surmise Whilst ere preoccupied with this barrow Had not Buke alerted us, we e to our accoutrements, not to mention our less capable companions’

’So,’ Gruntle cut in, ’if not a demon, then as it?’

’Ah, a question not easily answered, Captain Undead, most certainly Commanded by a distant master, and formidable in the extreme Korbal and I were perforce required to unleash the full host of our servants to fend the apparition off, nor did the subsequent pursuit yield us any profit Indeed, the loss of a good many of those servants was incurred, upon the appearance of two more of the undead hunters And while the trio have been driven off, the relief is but teathered in greater nuht well -- all of us -- be sorely tested’

’If I may,’ Gruntle said, ’I would like to speak in private with my master, and with Hetan, here’

Bauchelain tilted his head ’By all means Coe to our hapless carriage’

Taking Hetan’s arm, Gruntle led her to where Harllo and Stonny waited beside Keruli’s carriage Cafal and Netok followed

’They have enslaved our soul-kin,’ Hetan hissed, her eyes like fanned coals ’I will kill them -- kill thele step,’ Gruntle snapped ’These are sorcerers, Hetan Worse, they’re necromancers Korbal practises the art of the undead Bauchelain’s is de The two sides of the skull-faced coin Hood-cursed and foul … and deadly Do you understandtheed fronantly, my friends, very soon, I fear, ill have need of those terrible men and their formidable powers’

Gruntle turned with a scowl The door’sshutter had been opened to a thin slit ’What are these undead hunters,pause before Keruli responded ’I have … suspicions In any case, they are spinning threads of power across this land, like a web, from which they can sense any tremor We cannot pass undetected-’