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Little over twenty thousand Hardly the Queen’s Host, but they do have their wolves and their hawks “Have they seen any sign of the Volarians?”
“Scouts were sent south with the first thaw,” Astorek related “As they are every year They will return when the Volarians cross from the hill country into the plains They usually coher, some two months from now”
Vaelin recalled No Eyes’s words on the ice; I ao “They will come sooner this year, and we cannot afford to wait Your people ather their warriors, and all their wolves and hawks, and come south with me”
The unease of the elders deepened visibly as Astorek translated, though no words were spoken as they exchanged wary glances Even after a lifetime’s belief, Vaelin surmised, still hard to trust your fate to paint daubed on a wall centuries before
Finally, one of the elders spoke, a stooped oldheavily on a staff, his voice thin and strained, but still capable of co deep respect from the way Astorek related his words with precise solemnity “Far Walker, oldest and wisest of the Wolf People, asks what promise the Raven’s Shadow can offer Are the words of the Great Boat Peopleyour beliefs,” Vaelin replied “And any man who leads others to war on a certain promise of victory is either a fool or a liar I offer a chance to defeat your ene ain when Astorek finished his translation,closer to stare up at Vaelin, his ancient features alternating between confusion and wonder “As a child I would ask the elders, ‘When will the Raven’s Shadow come?’ Over and over I would ask therandparents, or throughout theas you live, little one,’ they would tell reat torment and trial for the Wolf People, but I would be spared the sight of it”
He continued to stare at Vaelin for so a short question in a soft rasp “Hoill you defeat our enemy?”
“With your warriors, your shaman, your wolves and your hawks With the steel of the soldiers I command, and the fierce skill of the allies who followed us here” He paused to glance at Dahrena and the Gifted who lingered at the edge of the hollow “And the courage of bright and powerful souls”
Far Walker lowered his gaze and turned away, stalking back into the depths of the tree with a weary stride He spoke again before the shadoed hiasp of shock froent questions cast into the dark, but there was no answer
“What did he say?” Vaelin asked Astorek, who stood gaping in the old man’s wake
“His will,” the Volarian replied in a tone that discouraged further questioning He turned his gaze to the other elders, asking a question to which they all responded with a series of nods, some more reluctant than others “We will come with you,” Astorek said
• • •
Dahrena sat a paler by the minute as Marken, Lorkan and Cara worked to keep the fla a seal fur wrapped tight around her slender fored against hiht think this would get easier with practice”
Cara handed Dahrena a cup of warh a little but also restored a pinkness to her cheeks “They’ve yet to reach the hills,” she told Vaelin “But they’re coenerals I could see the out ahead, their souls so dark it seeht, and they were all the same I’ve only seen one like it before On the ice”
“No Eyes,” Vaelin said and she nodded Seven souls, all the saht The Ally sends the Witch’s Bastard with an army How much does he fear e seek?