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If Bairoth heard his approach, he gave no sign There were tears running down the huge warrior’s broad, blunt face, whilst Delu perfectly still, stared up at hi eyes

‘He does not corowled, ‘but I do Bairoth Gild, you dishonour every Uryd warrior who has worn the battle-rown old, setting out for a final fight-there is nothing of glory in their deed, nothing of glory in their battle-mask You are blind if you think otherwise The paint hides nothing-the desperation reuised in their eyes They come to the ends of their lives, and have found that those lives ithout e, drives them out to seek a quick death’ Bairoth finished with the black paint and now ers across Delu Look closely’

‘I see nothing,’ Karsa muttered, shaken by Bairoth’s words

‘Delu Unlike you, however, he does not turn away from it Instead, he sees with complete comprehension Sees, and is terrified’

‘You speak nonsense, Bairoth Gild’

‘I do not You and I, we are Teblor We are warriors We can offer Delu, the beast with misery in its eyes For comfort is what he seeks, now It is, indeed, all he seeks Why do I gift hi, and perhaps that will be coal that it be so’

Karsa glanced skyward ‘The wheel is nearly done We must ready ourselves’

‘I am almost finished, Warleader’

The horses stirred as Karsa rubbed blood-oil into his sword’s wooden blade The dogs were on their feet now, pacing restlessly Bairoth co of Delum’s face and headed off to attend to his oeapons The three-legged dog struggled in Deluhter, until a soft growl fro warrior release it

Karsa strapped the boiled leather ars When he was done, he turned to see Bairoth already astride his own horse Delum’s destrier had also been armoured, but it stood without a rein The anirandfather’s descriptions have been unerring thus far Tellhouse the size of two Uryd houses, with an upper floor beneath a steep roof Heavy shutters with arrow-slits, a thick, quickly barred door at the front and at the back There are three outbuildings; the one nearest the house and sharing one wall holds the livestock Another is a forge, whilst the last one is of sod and likely was the first ho on the lakeshore as well, andpoles There will be a corral for the s ‘Warleader, how enerations have passed since Pahlk’s raid?’

Karsa swung hied in answer to Bairoth’s question ‘Enough Are you ready, Bairoth Gild?’

‘Lead uided Havok onto the trail beside the river The h, rawout towards the lakeshore A wide strand of round-stoned beach wound between the pinnacle and the lake

The wind had not changed The air ss were silent

Karsa drew his sword, angled the glistening blade near Havok’s nostrils The destrier’s head lifted Trot to canter, onto the pebbled beach, lake on the left, rock wall sliding past to the right Behind hi down into the stones, and, further back, the dogs, Deluside its once-master

Once clear of the pinnacle, they would shift hard right, and inchildren of the farallop

Rock wall vanishing, flat, planted fields

Gallop into charge

The farh tall corn plants-and, just beyond it, sprawled all along the lake’s shore and back, all the way to the foot of a s, stone piers and wood-planked docks and boats crowding the lake’s edge A wall of stones enclosing rolander A ate flanked by squat, flat-topped towers Woodsures on those towers