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‘-face one another, and both are doomed, and in broken reflection so stand the Betrayers, and this is what lies before us, before us all’ Her voice trailed aith her last words, and oncehair sweeping down to cover her face

The pigeons overhead whipped round and round, the only sound in the massive barn

‘ Contestants to the Empty Throne ,’ Feather Witch whispered in a tone heavy with sorrow ‘Blood and rip on Seren Pedac She made no runted, amused, and said to the Acquitor, ‘She’s not slept well lately, you see’

Seren Pedac staggered outside, into a solid sheet of cold rain A hissing deluge on the path’s pebbles, tiny rivers cutting through the sands, the forest beyond seery susurration from the direction of the river and the sea As if the world was collapsing in ainst the cold tears

And recalled the play of Edur children, the oblivious chatter of a thousand o, so far back in her mind now as to echo like someone else’s reminiscence Of times weathered slick and shapeless

Me down to the sea

Like children in flight

CHAPTER EIGHT

Where are the days we once held So loose in our sure hands? When did these racing streams Carve depthless caves beneath our feet? And how did this scene stagger And shift to ht our deft lies In the places where youth willall you before me, Are the faces I once knew?

Words etched into the wall, K’rul Belfry, Darujhistan

IN THE BATTLE THAT SAW THERADAS BUHN BLOODED, A MERUDE CUTLASS had laid open his right cheek, snapping the bone beneath the eye and cutting through e wound had been slow to heal, and the thread that had been used to seal the gaping hole into his mouth had festered the flesh before his comrades could return the warrior to a nearby Hiroth enca out the infection, knitting the bones The result was a long, crooked scar within a seamed concave depression on that side of his face, and a certain flat look to his eyes that hinted of unseen wounds that would never heal

Trull Sengar sat with the others five paces fro Theradas as he paced back and forth along the crusted line of ice and snow, the red-tipped fox fur of his cloak flashing in the gusting wind The Arapay lands were behind theated Edur tribe The Hiroth warriors were alone, and before them stretched a white, shattered landscape