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She watched the Lord Marshalto keep unords froht, he stands ieance The realisation stirred a flare of envy, a yearning for a part of her lost soood man, Lord Nortah,” she told hiive you my word as your queen that this army will do all it can to spare innocent blood But, be assured that e reach Volar I will see it destroyed down to the last fragrows amidst the ruins If you have no ston your command and depart without disfavour”
Lord Nortah lowered his head, teeth gritted as he hissed a sigh “No innocent blood,” he said, head still lowered “You prorowl, “The Queen’s Word is given, and not for you to question,at the Lord Protector for a second before casting his gaze around the other captains Lyrna wondered if he thought hiaze settled on her, he spoke again, his voice the flat, precise proerous hness, but I will hold you to it nonetheless”
• • •
Another week ofhill country and into a broad dusty plain, its only feature of interest a long river stretching away east in a winding course roughly parallel to the road “At least on’t be taken unawares,” Count Marven co at the barren vista “You couldn’t hide a single horse out here”
The following day saw a di into a strange sprawling building adorned with multiple tall spires It sat in a wide bend in the river, the size of a ss Instead it consisted of a series of pyraed in a spiral, all topped with towers of ascending height, the tallest rising to at least two hundred feet
“A fortress?” Benten wondered as they closed to within a half
“No defensive walls,” Iltis said “And no one to hold then of any response to their approach, the varied structures devoid of light andhorse, finding Wisdo in at her side Lyrna had left Arrow back in the Real to subject her to the possibly deadly disco, and discovered her newnear the dunes when they landed It was a handsome stallion with a coat of pure black, so finely bred Lyrna wondered if it hadn’t carried the Empress to the shore the day she crafted her stor
“Great Queen,” Wisdo if she wasn’t being esturing at the building
“Indeed,” Lyrna agreed “I would be more impressed if I knehat it was”
“Navarek Av Devos, which reat teods The only one to survive the Great Cleansing, I suspect because of its size and remoteness”
Lord Adal’s North Guard rode ahead to inspect the te vultures At Marven’s suggestion Lyrna agreed the arht; the temple lacked fortifications but still had roofs aplenty and she knew ht under cover of stone rather than flih for about half the ar the remainder in a wide defensive arc anchored on the river The te row of monstrous statues lowered their heads to the waters They were er with the head of a lizard, a great eagle with a long scaly tail There were also two hu to lower a hand to the swift-flowing current
“Gods of some kind?” Lyrna asked Wisdom as they toured the city She couldn’t help a certain fascination in the sheer eccentricity of the place; to construct such a vast building with no practical purpose whatsoever was both baffling and delightful, as well as providing an appreciation of the long history of the people she had coht They were not always as they are now
“The fifty guardians of the gods,” Wisdoht an eternal battle against the Derreat fire pit beneath the earth, the eternal eneest of the statues, a broad-backed ape of so serrated tail and arms as thick as tree-trunks Murel’s aze between Iltis and the statue “How did theybefore you were born,a fond kiss to his cheek before dancing away
“That’s Jarvek,” Wisdouardians, until the shadow folk te lust for a human queen He bore her away to his lair far beneath the earth but, before he could inflict his vile desires upon her, she was rescued by her sister, Livella, the warrior ods” Wisdoure on a plinth, standing straight and proud with spear in hand The sight of her provoked a fresh burst of laughter from Murel
“First his lordship, now you,at Davoka “This place is truly uncanny”