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‘Speak nofoolish, Trull Sengar Foolish Your anger is born of envy No more’ He turned and walked back down the narrow track, leaving Trull alone once again on the precipice rising above the valleys of the pass It did not occur to him to see if Hanradi had indeed lost his shadow

A precipice Where he could look down and watch the thousands swar the trees

Three land ar them, the entire population of the Tiste Edur This caues deep Trull had never seen so athered in one place Hiroth, Arapay, Sollanta, Beneda

He caught e of Fear’s corow cold Our… allies

Jheck

Summoned by the Edur they had killed Worshippers of the sword

The night just past, beginning at dusk, had vanished behind a nightinable powers unveiled by the Letheriibrutality in its intent This was clearly going to be a here no quarter was given, where conquest and annihilation were, for the Letherii, synonymous Trull wondered if Rhulad would answer in like manner

Except we have no homes to return to We are committed to occupation of the south Of Lether We cannot raze the cities… can we? He drew a deep breath He needed to talk to Fear again But his brother had plunged into his role as commander of this arht of High Fort The army would cross the Katter River at the Narrow Chute, which was spanned by a stone bridge centuries old, then swing down to join those lead elements

And there would be a battle

For Fear, the time for questions was past

But why can I not e the same for myself? Certainty, even fatality, eluded Trull His hts, his worries of what awaited them

He ent present in Fear’s command area He was not required, he told hi ar protective wards to weave a net of invisibility about the entire enca the trees, h the pass and into the southlands Here and there, de theto the sureen with verdigris, with heavy heluards battered plates that reached down past the jawlines, their faces hidden Poleared axes and o, such summoned demons had been rare, the ritual – conducted by wo, false promises and final deception The creatures were bound, now doo, where the only release was annihilation They nuh hundreds in this, Fear’s ar with the striking of tents, children Torn froa near the remnants of a hearth fros Flanked by the two K’risnan the e stood off to one side

A Jheck was approaching, probably the one the Merude chief had spoken of given the wild iron-streaked, tangled head of hair, the fattened sea countless battle-scars Various shells dangled fro on his sleeveless sealskin shirt Other small trophies depended from a narrow belt beneath the man’s round paunch – pieces of Edur armour, jewellery A bold reminder of past enmity

What had Hanradi called hia

The Jheck’s eyes were yellow, the whites dull grey and embryonic with blue vessels They looked half mad

Filed teeth flashed in a fierce sar!’ The accent ard behind the Arapay intonations ‘The one we could not defeat!’

Trull scowled as his brother turned to watch him approach To the Dominant he said, ‘You’ll find no fields of ice to the south, Jheck’

‘Mange and ives us such terror’ His broadening sar, your brother is worthy of ht to best this warrior in individual combat Veered or sembled, it mattered not He defeated them all Never before have itnessed such skill, such ferocity’

‘Aa,’ Fear said, ‘Trull was and remains the finest’