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Blade chopping into the side of a savage’s head, just above the ear Bone buckling, blood spurting fro

Another, darting in low fro He watched, the ly slow, as the Jheck turned his stabbing spear to parry Watched as the sword dipped under the block, then extended once more, to slide point-first beneath the man’s left collarbone

A third attacker on his left, slashing a spear-point at Trull’s eyes He leaned back, then spun full circle, pivoting on his right foot, and brought his sword’s edge se’s throat A red flood down the Jheck’s chest

Trull co his eyes

Nothing but nighthi this lie, this empty world that was not empty, this thick whiteness that exploded into ain

Attackers, appearing out of the darkness and blowing snow Mo, sparks and the hiss of iron and the bite of wood and stone A succession of a Trull that he was indeed within a night in on itself Each time, the Jheck appeared in threes, never an to believe that they were the saain – and so it would continue, until they finally succeeded, until they killed hi blood and bodies in his wake

Running, snow crunching underfoot

And then the wind fell off, sudden like a spent breath

Patches of dark ground ahead An unseen barrier burst across, the lurid glare of a setting sun to his right, the languid flow of cool, daures off to his left, half a thousand paces distant Brothers of the hearth, the dead welco in his heart, Trull staggered towards the for ever alone, then There would be kin at his side Fear, and Binadas And Rhulad

Midik Buhn, and Theradas, rushing towards him

Brothers, all of theht wavered, rippled like water, then darkness rose up in a devouring flood

The sleds were off to one side, their runners buried in ed slabs of ice had been packed and strapped in place Binadas was propped up on the other sled, his eyes closed, his face deeply lined with pain