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A young, bare-headed knight guided his horse to Banders’s side, his bright gaze alighting on Vaelin for athe quayside with intense scrutiny “Where is he?” he derandson,” Banders explained to Vaelin “He’s keen tosir” Vaelin pointed over his shoulder “Quite dead, I’ht slu His face betrayed as much relief as disappointht of a group of people approaching along Gate Lane at the run, raising his hand in a welcohters but soon realised they were an evena girl of no more than sixteen, a Lonak wo man with an Order blade

Frentis stared at him as he approached, a faint s in the sight of a er His frame was even more iing by the skin visible through his torn shirt His face also had lost the youthful s around the ’s absence as he found himself uncertain he wanted to knohat those eyes had seen

“I heard you died,” he said

Frentis’s s his evident and genuine warmth, Vaelin felt his sorrow deepen yet further “I require your sword, brother,” he said, holding out his hand

Frentis’s s hi forward to proffer his blade hilt first Vaelin took it and beckoned the Wolfrunners’ new commander forward “This man,” he said, “is bound by the Queen’s Word to answer for theMalcius He is to be shackled and confined pending her judgeular mistake to think of the slave as fully hue afforded by the excellence of our lineage as true Volarian citizens By contrast the slave’s station, earned through birth to enslaved parents, just defeat in war or a deence, is not merely the artificial construct of society, it is the accurate reflection of a natural order It therefore follows that atteuided policy or even outright rebellion, are always doomed to failure

—COUNCIL-MAN LORVEK IRLAV, VOLARIA: THE APEX OF CIVILISATION, GREAT LIBRARY OF THE UNIFIED REALM

(LIBRARIAN’S NOTE: TEXT INCOMPLETE DUE TO PARTIAL BURNING)

VERNIERS’ ACCOUNT

In contrast to e aboard this ship I found myself provided with a cabin, once occupied by the first mate who had perished at the Battle of the Teeth Our captain stated loudly to his threadbare crew that he had yet to find a worthy replaces deserved the honour The welco prospect of ship-borne comfort, however, was diminished by his insistence that I share the space with my foruard her”

“To what end?” I enquired, gesturing at the surrounding ocean “To where is she likely to escape, pray tell?”

“Might daht throw herself to a passing shark Either way, she’s your responsibility and I’ve no hands spare to watch her”

“It’s a small bed,” she observed as the cabin door sla”

I pointed to a corner of the cabin “Your place is there, ht spare you a blanket”