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He blinked and focused on her Her futures were splitting off so sharply that he could barely see her as she was now, pretty, lips pale fro in front of her was a wonant with twins, and a woore "No, not well at all," Dorian said "But well enough that I won’t let rotesque features of the krul weren’t visible, though their plainly naked gray flesh was That nakedness gave Dorian hope The krul were created with ic, but they were creatures of flesh The cold would cripple and kill them eventually It wasn’t easy to force the krul to wear clothing, as it wasn’t easy to rein thehter, but each could be done That the wild men’s shaave an order, and the slaves lowered his palanquin to the ground Godking Wanhope stepped out and advanced onto the plain alone Paled off the priceless eresture that would have infuriated him had he seen his father do it Now, he understood To protect what he loved, he had to keep control To keep control, Wanhope had to be a god A god was above ordinary concerns like ruining a cloak that costat the pressure of seventy thousand futures that Wanhope held in his hands On his choices, tens of thousands would live and die He looked at the ar over theone, then blinked again, and they were back But they weren’t ravens Nor did they only swirl over the wild ures swarmed over his entire ar this way and that Here six perched on a single le dark figure spun around another warrior, stabbing in one place and then another, as if trying his defenses But those were the exception Aling to hi thea nearby A trio of theto theepheers
This close, Dorian could see their features One had a cancer that swelled one eye grotesquely Open, suppurating ulcers dotted their golden-skinned faces, dribbling black blood onto robes so black with that blood that Dorian could barely tell that they had once been white It was those shredded robes, dripping ephemeral blood that made them all look like ravens The cancered one dipped his claws into General Naga’s skull and drew thereedily But they weren’t claws, they were finger bones, denuded of their golden flesh It turned its good eye to Dorian "What is he looking at?" it asked
The other cocked its head and it aze "Us," it hissed in wonder
"Odniar, ruy’eo getnirfhign em Dirlom?" Dorian heard the voice It was Jenine, but he couldn’t understand what she was saying Why couldn’t he understand her, but he could understand these things? What were they, anyway?
He looked back to the army across the plain He saw the krul, but this tih their flesh Each of theers Dorian saw theers carried hell with the not because it sustained the; it was entertain flesh was no escape Rather it was simply the best distraction of all, a chance to feel, if only for a time, to experience the pleasures of food and drink, if only in a muted way, and to kill That was the pinnacle, to take away that which men had and which they had no more
"Odniar!" the voice was in his ear Dorian turned and for a moment, he could see with his natural vision onceat him, fearful Then his vision bifurcated and he could see fear rise like a fragrance froers He felt the fingers on his shoulders, bony fingers, but before he could turn to face what he knew rab his bicep and squeeze hard
Jenine swam into his vision, which was natural once ht now, but not with twins A Stranger spun in tight circles around her, but hadn’t yet found a place to rest It wanted--by the God, it wanted their baby!
Dorian cried out and saw a fresh wave of fear rise froers, noare of his awareness of the him in
"ODNIAR! Rodnia! Adi fiercely in his ear, her body pressed against hiround, and soldiers, and krul, and his wife She’d called hi which best anchored him to reality: his own name
"I’m back," he said "I’m here Thank you" He shook hiain He looked over his shoulder, nodded to General Naga to let the frightened man see that Dorian ell, and then strode forward
Beneath the cloak, Dorian--Wanhope--had decided to go bare-chested A god felt not the cold He strode forward, decisive to cover for his earlier hesitation, great knots of vir rising in his skin He gestured and a young ht forward Dammit, Wanhope hadn’t wanted Jenine to see this But it was too late, and there was no way she would go where she couldn’t see hi lost
The young s in Khaliras had been killed, but seventeen who’d already left for their Harrowings still lived Udrik had ihter and had to flee, thus failing his uurdthan He’d co ions of krul, you can command them yourself, but if you raise just one hul?"
"A what?" Udrik’s broere still heavily kohled, ht
"It’s a creature that these wild men didn’t dare try to master," Wanhope said "Tell me, brother, is it better for one man to die, or the whole people?"
Udrik’s eyes widened, and then widened again as Wanhope cut his throat with the obsidian knife He dropped to his knees, throat spurting, then tuined--the jubilation of a thousand Strangers He blinked Control, Dorian Control it He didn’t dare to watch what this next part looked like fros toward the host before hihulus! Come! Be known to me!" The weaves spun out fro hi danced around hian to boil around Udrik’s corpse Clumps of dirt burst and stuck to the body Flares danced over Udrik and the corpse’s muscles tore, skin ripped
The shahulus, and Dorian had An aurochs-horn bugle called the wild e But only half did