Page 223 (1/2)

’High Fist, if Kruppe is this world’s foreenius, then Quick Ben’s but a step behind him A very short step’

They heard shouts outside the tent, then booted feet A moment later the standard-bearer Artanthos pulled aside the flap and entered ’Sirs, a lone Moranth has been spotted Flying in from the northeast It’s Twist’

Whiskeyjack rose, grunting at the cascade of aches and twinges the ered ’Queen of Dreams, we’re about to receive some news’

’Let’s hope it’s cheering news,’ Dujek growled ’I could do with soainst the lichen-skinned stones, the roughness fading as her sweat soaked the ragged plant Heart pounding, breaths co, too tired to even so much as raise her head

The tundra of her dreaers pursuing her this tie, gaunt creatures, bigger than any she had ever seen in her waking life They had loped into view on a ridge ed, shoulder-hunched beasts, their fur sharing the muted shades of the landscape The one in the lead had turned, as if catching her scent on the dry, cold wind

And the chase had begun

At first the Mhybe had revelled in the fleetness of her young, lithe legs Swift as an antelope -- faster than anything a mortal human could achieve -- she had fled across the barren land

The wolves kept pace, tireless, the pack ranging out to the sides, one occasionally sprinting, darting in froain and again, when she sought to reed to drive her up’ slope And she began to tire

The pressure never relented Into her thoughts, as, the fire in her chest and the dry, sharp agony of her throat, ca realization that escape was i to die Pulled down like any other anier

For them, she knew, the sea of her mind, whipped now to a frenzied stor They were hunters, and what resided within the soul of their quarry had no relevance As with the antelope, the bhederin calf, the ranag, grace and wonder, promise and potential -- reduced one and all to meat

Life’s final lesson, the only truthful one buried beneath a layered skein of delusions

Sooner or later, she now understood, we are all naught but food Wolves or wor, it , half blind, she staggered up yet another hillside They were closer She could hear their paws crunching through wind-dried lichen and htly ahead

Crying out, the Mhybe stumbled, fell face first onto the rocky summit She closed her eyes, waited for the first explosion of pain as teeth ripped into her flesh

The wolves circled She listened to the in, closer, closer