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Hannan Mosag grimaced ‘There is Wyval blood upon the man’s shirt Is he infected?’

‘Possibly,’ Uruth conceded ‘Much of that which passes for a soul in a Letherii is concealed froues us all, Uruth,’ the Warlock King said, granting her great honour by using her true name ‘This one must be observed at all times,’ he continued, eyes on Udinaas ‘If there is Wyval blood within him, the truth shall be revealed eventually To whoar cleared his throat ‘He isfrowned, and Trull kneas thinking of his dreaar family There were few coincidences in the world The Warlock King spoke in a harder voice ‘This Feather Witch, she is Mayen’s, yes? Tell me, Uruth, could you sense her pohen you healed her?’

Trull’s mother shook her head ‘Unimpressive Or…’

‘Or what?’

Uruth shrugged ‘Or she hid it well, despite her wounds And if that is the case, then her power surpasses mine’

Iin

Hannan Mosag’s grunt conveyed similar sentiments ‘She was assailed by a Wyval, clearly a creature that proved far beyond her ability to control No, the child stunorant of the vastness of all hich she would play See, she only now regains awareness’

Feather Witch’s eyes fluttered open, revealing little comprehension, and that quickly overwhelhed ‘She will be of no use to us for a time Leave them in the care of Uruth and the other wives’ He faced Toar ‘When Binadas returns…’

Tolanced over at Fear Behind hi, heads pressed to the earth and motionless, as they had been since Uruth’s arrival It see no-one else could see

When Binadas returns… the sons of Tomad will set forth Into the ice wastes

A sickly groan fronored it as he strode fro hi a step behind At the threshold, that lance back – though there was no way to tell upon whoroaned a second ti

At the threshold, the wraith was gone

CHAPTER TWO

Mistress to these footprints, Lover to the wake of where He has just passed, for the path he wanders is between us all The sweet taste of loss feeds everyice down to seas war thin our dreams For where he leads her has lost its bones, And the trail he walks is flesh without life and the sea re

Lay of the Ancient Holds Fisher kel Tath

A GLANCE BACK IN THE MISTY HAZE FAR BELOW AND TO THE WEST glimmered the innermost extent of Reach Inlet, the sky’s pallid reflection thorough in disguising that black, depthless water On all other sides, apart froed ilt by a sun she could not see from where she stood at the south end of the saddle pass

The wind rushing past her stank of ice, the winter’s lingering breath of cold decay She drew her furs tighter and swung round to gauge the progress of the train on the trail below

Three solid-wheeled wagons, pitching and clanking The swarures of the Nerek tribeson, the ones at the head straining on ropes, the ones at the rear advancing the stop-blocks to keep the aard conveyances fro other trade goods, were ninety ingots of iron, thirty to each wagon Not the famed Letherii steel, of course, since sale of that beyond the borders was forbidden, but of the next highest quality grade, carbon-teot was as long as Seren’s arm, and twice as thick

The air was bitter cold and thin Yet those Nerek worked half naked, the sweat stea from their slick skins If a stop-block failed, the nearest tribesman would throw his own body beneath the wheel And for this, Buruk the Pale paid theranted passage into Edur lands, one of seven so sanctioned by the last treaty No uided by an Acquitor The bidding for Seren Pedac and the six others had been high And, for Seren, Buruk’s had been highest of all, and now he owned her Or, rather, he owned her services as guide and finder – a distinction of which he seely unmindful