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Worse yet, he was suspicious of Rhulad’s transformation Fear, in his youth, had displayed none of Rhulad’s strutting arrogance, his posing and posturing – all of which ht well suit a leader of warriors, but not in the manner that Fear led warriors Rhulad had been bluster, whilst Fear was quiet confidence, and Trull was not sure if that essential character trait had changed in Rhulad

I do not belong

The realization shocked hi suddenly lost Here, in the midst of his own people

The Tiste Edur have changed But I haven’t

South, across the region known as the Swath, a deforested scrubland which had once been part of Outcry Wood, past the burnt-out town of Siege Place, and onto the slowly cli Lookout Track towards the hills of Lookout Clihly denuded by wild goats – onto Moss Road Marching northeast along the banks of the Moss River to the ford town of Ribs

Retreating Letherii forces had stripped the countryside ahead of the emperor and his army The military food and materiel caches that Hull Beddict kneere all e the Tiste Edur army would have been impossible – the invasion would have stalled Unacceptable, Rhulad had decided The ene It was necessary to keep it so

Udinaas re smoked eel from Moss River, one time when the trader ship had docked in Dresh Delicious, once one got used to the furry skin, which was to be chewed but not sed He had since heard, from another slave, that the eels had been transplanted into Dresh Lake, producing a strain that was both bigger and nastier It had turned out that those eels captured in Moss River were juveniles, and few ever reached adulthood since there was a razor-jawed species of predatory fish resident in the river No such fish in Dresh Lake Adolescent swi before anyone realized the adult eels were responsible Razor-jawed fish were netted from the river and tossed into the lake, but their behaviour changed, turning them into frenzy feeders Adult swi The slave who had been relating all this then laughed and finished with, ‘So they poisoned the whole lake, killed everything And now no-one can swim in it!’

From this, Udinaas surmised, various lessons could be drawn, should one be inclined to draw lessons from multiple acts of stupidity

They had camped on the road, a day’sfro to hi It was late afternoon, and the sun’s light was painting the river’s surface red and gold

Udinaas walked along the stony strand, flinging rocks out onto the water every now and then, shattering the lurid hues At thelike a slave, or an Indebted He marched in the shadow of the emperor, for all to see, for all to wonder at

He heard boots crunching on pebbles and turned to see Hull Beddict scra man, on whom every oversized muscle seemed to brood, somehow There was fever in his eyes as well, but unlike Rhulad this heat had nothing to do with illness ‘Udinaas’

The slave watched the e towards deference The time for that was past, after all He just wasn’t sure what belonged in its stead