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To witness the rise of the Holds

Udinaas, like all Letherii, knew the sequences and the forers Fire, the silent screaht, the very swirl of the stars the aimless in the void And into the path of these two forces, the Errant Bearer of its own unknowable laws, it would draw Fire and Dolmen into fierce wars Vast fields of destructions, instance upon instance of mutual annihilation But occasionally, rarely, there would be peace made between the two contestants And Fire would bathe but not burn, and Dol ways, and so find root

The Errant would then weave itsthe Holds themselves Ice Eleint Azath Beast And into theirFulcra Axe, Knuckles, Blade, the Pack, Shapefinder and White Crow

Then, as the realrow sharper, and the final Hold would be revealed The Hold that had existed, unseen, at the very beginning The Empty Hold – heart of Letherii worship – that was at the very centre of the vast spiral of real, hoht, and to the Mistress aited still, alone in her bed of dreams To the Watcher, itnessed all, and the Walker, who patrolled borders not even he could see To the Saviour, whose outstretched hand was never grasped And, finally, to the Betrayer, whose loving embrace destroyed all it touched

‘Walk with hed as one, unable to resist that sultry, languid invitation

‘We stand upon Dolmen Broken rock, pitted by shattered kin, its surface seething with life so small it escapes our eyes Life locked in eternal wars Blade and Knuckles We are a the Beasts I can see the Bone Perch, slick with blood and layered with the ghost memories of countless usurpers I see the Elder, still faceless, still blind And Crone, who e of behemoths Seer, who speaks to the indifferent I see Sha the dead And Hunter, who lives in the hter And Tracker, who sees the signs of the unknown, and walks the endless paths of tragedy The Hold of the Beast, here in this valley that is but a scratch upon Dolmen’s hard skin

‘There is no-one upon Bone Perch Chaos hones every weapon, and the killing goes on and on And fro reaches beyond measure

‘Such powers must be answered The Errant returns, and casts the seed into blood-soaked earth Thus rises the Hold of the Azath

‘Deadly shelter for the tyrants, oh they are so easily lured And so balance is achieved But it reh they are much diminished, so that, finally, their cruel ways come into focus’

Her voice was like sorcery unbound Its rough-edged song entranced, devoured, unveiled vistas into the minds of all those who heard it Feather Witch had walked fros, and there was no fear in her words

‘ But the tread of tiression And so the Errant comes once more, and the Ice Hold rises, with its attendant servants who journey through the realainst time Walker, Huntress, Shaper, Bearer, Child and Seed And upon the Throne of Ice sits Death, cowled and frost-ri, to shatter the anxious shackles of ift, but a cold one

‘Then, to achieve balance once iven flesh, and that flesh is draconic Ruled by the Queen, who ain by every child she bears And her Consort, who loves none but hiuardian and dooht, the very sword of chaos itself – ’ware his path! And Gate, that which is the Breath Wyval, spawn of the dragons, and the Lady, the Sister, Blood-Drinker and Path-Shaper The Fell Dragons

‘ One Hold remains …’

Udinaas spoke with the others as they whispered, ‘The Empty Hold’

Feather Witch tilted her head suddenly, a frowncircles above the Empty Throne I cannot see it, yet it… circles A pallid hand, severed and dancing… no, it is-’

She stiffened, then red spurted froround

Screa forward, arms outstretched

But too late, as invisible talons clenched tighter and invisible wings thundered the dusty air of the barn Carrying Feather Witch into the shadows beneath the curved ceiling She shrieked