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Blinding, raging on all sides

Udinaas felt a weight push hih the fla down the cliffside, briefly, then striking the rocky slope and tu towards the treeline But his round

Twisting, down onto one knee Feather Witch staggered into view, like hih the wall of fire He wheeled on her ‘What have you done?’

A hand closed round the back of his neck, lifted hi hie of a stone blade pressed against the side of his neck He heard Feather Witch screa, in a cloud of dust

A man stood above hi ar black hair hanging loose, surrounding a wide, heavily featured face Dark eyes glittered frohly sewn cloak, a patchwork of tones and textures, the visible underside pale and wrinkled

‘Peth tol ool havra d ara’ The words were thick, the vocal range oddly truncated, as if the throat from which those sounds issued lacked the flexibility of a normal man’s

‘I don’t understand you,’ Udinaas said He sensed others gathered round, and could hear Feather Witch cursing as she too was thrown to the ground

‘Arad havra‘d ara En‘aralack havra d‘drah’

Countless scars Evidence of a broken forearm, the bone unevenly mended and now knotted beneath muscle and skin The man’s left cheekbone was dimpled inward, his broad nose flattened and pressed to one side None of the dae’

The sword-edge lifted away froestured

Udinaas cliures

A natural basin, steeply walled on three sides Vertical cracks in the stone walls, soh to provide shelter Where these people lived

On the final side of the basin, to the Letherii’s left, the land opened out And in the distance – the slave’s eyes widened – a shattered city As if it had been pulled froround, roots and all, then broken into pieces Timber fras pitched at randos torn in half with the rooms and floors inside revealed,ice were visible in the midst of the broken cityscape

‘What place is this?’ Feather Witch asked

He turned to see her following his gaze from a few paces away

‘Udinaas, where have you brought us? Who are these savages?’