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‘Brothers,’ the emperor said, ‘dis down fro?’

The young Arapay warlock’s face was sickly He nodded ‘In the town, I think It knoe’re here’

Rhulad closed both hands on the grip of his sword and raised it to centre guard position ‘Udinaas, reht K’risnan, stay behind us five paces Demons, out to either side’

‘Can’t we eat first?’

‘Or pee? I need to pee’

‘You should have thought of that before we left,’ the first demon said

‘And you should have eaten We’ve plenty of spare horses, you know’

The emperor hissed ‘Silence, both of you We’ve had to listen to you the entire journey No more, lest I decide to kill you first’

‘That wouldn’t be wise,’ the second KenrylPah said ‘I s still alive in there, and it isn’t pleasant’

‘I taste it,’ the first demon said ‘And it ht of retching before we left,’ the second one said

‘I think of retching every tih!’

‘I apologize for my brother,’ the first demon said

‘And I for e tyrantsTrull unslung his spear and strode to Rhulad’s side

Theythe pit, they saw the first of the bodies Broken and tossed at the base of the deep, ragged excavation, like an openin the heat Flies swarmed

They skirted the pit and approached the town The gates opposite them had been knocked down, inward, the heavy doors shattered So

The street was streith corpses just inside the wall The doors of every house and building within sight had been stove in Ahead and to the right, two horses stood yoked to a wagon that had been knocked over Exhaustion and the strain of the yokes had driven one of the beasts into an aard sitting position Trull hesitated, then walked over to the the knife at his belt The others paused and watched as he cut the horses loose Neither animal was in any condition to flee, but they slowly s

Trull returned to his position beside Rhulad

‘It’s co,’ the first demon said

Further down thebetween the buildings In a mass of black, the birds see in the ure, spectral, its skin white, its hair pallid yellow and hanging in li a leather harness that looked wrinkled and blackened with rot There was soe about its limbs