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“I had closed aze, but when I felt its breath recede I opened theain The bear had shrunk to its haunches, head lowered, eyes now lit with another hu beyond s struck er in fact than the bear that now cringed from it Secondly, its eyes They looked into mine and I knewIt saw me, all of me, skin, bone, heart and soul It sawsound and turned to see the bear fleeing into the night with all haste, the white shape soon sed by darkness The wolf circled aze still fixed on reat cold enfolding th I had left My vision began to dirowled
“It was not a voice that came to my head then, more a certainty, an implacable conviction that I couldn’t die here Froth to stand and the wolf trotted away towards the north, stopping after a ti in its wake for uncounted hours, or possibly days, for all sense of tie of despair that would tempt me to sink onto the ice where at least I could rest, the ould growl, and I would keep an to flicker in the sky Not knohat it was, I finally fell tothis a vision of death, or madness Perhaps I had already died andus beyond the arc of life All fear had leftwith all but the most faint sensation, numbed as I was Now there was only acceptance, a sense of a journey complete
“And the wolf howled”
Astorek closed his eyes and Vaelin felt Dahrena’s hand slide into his, knowing she too was recalling the wolf’s howl, that night in the forest when the Seordah heeded its call to war He knew Astorek couldn’t describe how it felt, the sound that seeed, or cursed to hear it
“I would have wept,” the young shaard his audience with a sombre smile “Had not my tears been frozen in my eyes The wolf’s howl faded and it looked atacross the ice I stared up at the fire in the sky for a time then lay down to sleep Whale Killer must have found reet the next dawn”
“And you have remained here ever since?” Vaelin asked “Never tempted to return hoone Besides, when they returned the next summer, I learned full well the vileness of reat battle with the Cat People, that they had fled to the west in search of easier prey The Wolf People were not sorry to see theone froh the Bear People had won a victory, their losses meant they couldn’t withstand another Volarian expedition, especially since the Volarians had learned their lessons well and careater numbers When they were done with the Bear People they caht me much, and I was a very keen student She had hoped to shield le but I wanted to repay their kindness We killedwhere they eakest, fleeing before they could strike back For months we harried them until their line of march became a red sh I searched for hio they stopped coht we had finally convinced thereat water to torment your people instead, for which we are sorry”
Vaelin’s gaze went to Kiral who gave a short nod She hears no lieas I heard no lie froain,” Astorek went on, eyes intent on Vaelin “In greater numbers still But noe have you, Raven’s Shadow”
• • •
The hut where Alturk had chosen to seclude hi shack in a save way easily under Vaelin’s boot, releasing the fetid odour of an unwashed ence Alturk’s substantial for loudly, surrounded by the walrus-tooth flasks their hosts used to store pine ale, all e noticed the intrusion, soed abruptly when Vaelin ey head
The explosion of rage was instantaneous, the Lonak surging upright, war club in hand, teeth bared in a snarl He paused at the sight of Vaelin in the doorway, confusion flickering across his dripping face “Do you choose death now, Merim Her?” he demanded in a hiss
“Sorbeh Khin,” Vaelin stated, the Lonak for a forer fit to lead the Sentar They are htwhere the Sentar waited, looking on with shared expressions of gri and, to his surprise, none had raised an objection
“Faithless dogs,” Alturk growled at theue them in Lonak in a short but veheularly uner hear the word from the Mountain,” Kiral told hiives you a chance to prove otherwise”
Alturk gave no reply, consenting only to sneer at her before fixing his unsteady gaze on Vaelin, grip tightening on his war club “Where is your weapon?”
Vaelin spread his hands, showing the absence of a dagger at his belt, his sword also gone from his back “Why would I require a weapon? You offer no threat”
Alturk stared at hi his head back and casting hearty peals of mirth into the trees as he tossed his war club aside “I should thank you,” he said when his laughter finally subsided “Not every ets tosprint Their ti the Wolf People had done much to restore his frame and, for all the pine ale in his belly, his speed was i only the barest tie and deliver a punch to his jaw Alturk grunted in pain but didn’t falter, replying with a swift round-house blow Vaelin blocked it with both forearms and drove his elbow into the Lonak’s exposed face, following up with a rapid series of punches to the face and belly, dodging Alturk’s counterblows as he drove hi precisionUntil the Lonak caught one in his fist and hammered a blow into Vaelin’s temple
He reeled froled to resu stance Alturk didn’t afford his aith a kick and driving another punch into his face For a ue shadow, surrounded by glittering stars
“You,” Alturk grated, loo closer, meaty fist drawn back for another blow “You ht, I watch hiht, because of you, Meri blood, feeling his left eye swelling shut “You killed a manA man whoin the Lonak’s eyes, a spasy face “You knew,” Vaelin said in realisation “You knew he had betrayed you long before you killed hi his fist back farther Vaelin hawked and spat blood into the Lonak’s eyes, buying enough time to twist and deliver a kick to the side of his head He surged upright as Alturk staggered away, charging forward to drive his head into the Lonak’sit up to connect with his jaw He folloithas he tried to ward off the assault Finally Vaelin sent hiht hook to the jaw
Vaelin paused, chest heaving, his fists leaking blood onto the forest floor “Nishak toldup at hi from numerous cuts “Ididn’t listen” He lowered his head, slu, “I make no request for the knife”
Kiral appeared at Vaelin’s side with Alturk’s war club in hand “Strike true, Tahlessa,” she said, offering the weapon to Vaelin “He deserves a quick end at least”
She trailed off abruptly and straightened, her gaze going to the south Froa powerful note However, this ti, for he could hear another warning, pealing across ice and forest, undeniable and i fearful glances, for no wolf’s hoas ever so loud