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He felt as if he was standing on pegs of ice, the jagged points driven up through his knees He did not think he was able to walk In fact, he waswater So easy, pulled out by the undertow, the cold flooding his lungs, washing black through his mind Until, in perfect accord with the acceptance of surrender, it was over

Claws stabbed into his shoulders and lifted hih the rain cloak, biting into flesh Too stunned to screa in a spray of water

Flung down onto a bed of wet stones fifteen paces up froone, although fire burned in his chest and back where the talons had been Floundering in a strange helplessness, Udinaas eventually pulled hi up at the colourless clouds, the rain on his face

Locqui Wyval Didn’t want me dead, I suppose

He lifted an arm and felt the fabric of the rain cloak No punctures Good He’d have trouble explaining had it been otherwise

Feeling was returning to his lower legs He pushed hi There could be no answer for Rhulad, it was as si would have to kill hi that works

Kill hi surrender? To a barely blooded whelp? No, chop off his hands, sever his head and crush it flat Burn the rest into dusty ashes Destroy the ar was truly a monster

Footsteps on the stones behind hi rain from his eyes He looked up as Hulad stepped into view

‘Udinaas, what are you doing here?’

‘Did she cast the tiles, Hulad? Did she?’

‘She tried’

‘Tried?’

‘It failed, Udinaas The Holds were closed; she was blind to thehtened’

‘What else has happened?’

‘I don’t know The Edur are still in the citadel’

‘They can’t all be there’

‘No, only the nobility The others are in their homes They have banished their slaves for now Most of theo They’re just huddled in the forest Soaked through There seeht’ He reached down and helped Udinaas to stand ‘Let’s go to the longhouse Get dry and warar longhouse ‘Did you see the ships, Hulad?’ he asked as they walked ‘Did you see the boats, but no welco’