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‘I see the hunger for vengeance The Letherii raiders , for their slaying was desiredOur reaction was anticipated, for these are the games the Letherii would play with our lives Shall we do as they intended? Of course There can be but one answer to their crin, which shall no doubt be unveiled at the Great Meeting’

Deep-etched frowns Undisguised confusion Hannan Mosag had led theht thee of an unknown path, and noould lead them forward, step by tentative step

‘The raiders will die,’ the Warlock King resumed, ‘but not one of you shall spill their blood We do as predicted, but in a hter of the Letherii, but this is not that time Thus, I promise you blood, my warriors But not now The raiders shall not know the honour of dying at your hands Their fates shall be found within Kurald Ear shivered

Silence once ,’ Hannan Mosag continued in a rumble, ‘by my K’risnan No weapon, no ares will be blind and lost, incapable of countering that which arrives to take them The raiders will die in pain and in terror Soiled by fear, weeping like children – and that fate will be writ on their faces, there for those who find the, his -lost power had Hannan Mosag stu of Kurald Emurlahn had been by Scabandari Bloodeye, Father Shadow hi had not healed It would, Trull suspected, never be healed

Even so, soments were vaster anddiscovered a new one?

Faded, battered and chipped, the cera was done, even as Udinaas stu word of the o of the Holds Too late Too late

A hundred slaves had gathered for the event, fewer than was usual, but not surprising, since ed their own slaves with tasks of preparation for the anticipated skirmish

Heads turned as Udinaas entered the circle His eyes remained fixed on Feather Witch

Her soul had already walked well back on the Path to the Holds Her head drooped, chin between the pro down, and rhythh her small, child-like body Feather Witch had been born in the village eighteen years ago, a rare winter birth – rare in that she had survived – and her gifts had become known before her fourth year, when her dreams walked back and spoke in the voices of the ancestors The old tiles of the Holds had been dug up froe who’d possessed the talent, and given to the child There had been none to teach her the mysteries of those tiles, but, as it turned out, she’d needed no instruction frohostly ancestors had provided that

She was a handar, she would enter the Sengar household And Udinaas was in love with her

Hopeless, of course Feather Witch would be given a husband fro the better born of the Letherii slaves, a man whose bloodline held title and power back in Letheras An Indebted, such as Udinaas, I had no hope of such a pairing