Page 130 (1/2)

Vaelin glanced back at the wasted, blackened thing lying ah his head Let it linger until the last second Have Astorek set the wolves on it Take a hot blade to its eyes

Cara’s sobs drew his attention to the far end of the ridge where Orven’s guardsed in Lorkan’s arms, face buried in his chest The Sentar stood nearby in respectful silence, their nu beside Alturk The Tahlessa leaned heavily on a spear, sweating with the effort

“Finish it,” Vaelin told Wise Bear, jerking his head at the blackened thing andto you”

• • •

He sat on the cliff edge as the fire dwindled behind him and the sun dipped below the mountains Out on the valley floor the tribesfolk were still picking over the Volarian dead The afteriances and the different groups squabbled over the spoils, threats and curses echoing across the valley, each chieftain no doubt stating a claim to the collected loot as leader of the army and architect of victory

He hadn’t said any words as the fire blosso Dahrena and Marken’s fur-wrapped bodies wreathed in flaed a few terse words of respect for those fallen in a co fell, Cara still crying andhim wonder if she would ever stop

“Why won’t itthe cautious but deteraze to the valley and the dead, stripped and pale in the gathering gloo at the river and narrowing to the here the survivors had attempted to flee As far as he knew none had escaped, the victors having no tradition of offering quarter to the vanquished The dead hadn’t been counted either, the Wolf People were content in the knowledge of a secure future and he doubted the tribesfolk could count past ten Sixty thousand? he wondered Seventy?

“What else did you see in the stone?” Erlin persisted

“You have had centuries on this earth,” Vaelin said “Gaining e And yet you have never beforean end to the Ally There ht you out Why take a stand now?”

“Before I always kneould be hopeless, probably fatal”

“Well now it is certainly fatal That’s what the stone showedto the valley, the tribesfolk’s squabbles still audible in the gathering dark “My gift, it will draw him”

“Yes”

“Hoill you do it?”

“The choice is nothis back on the valley andonly a fading pall of sh, he would see her bones and closed his eyes against the temptation She would never want you to torture yourself

“You’re saying I can leave?” Erlin asked “You will si I set out for Volar, where I believe ill find the ending we seek I hope you will join me If you do not, I will understand”

“What awaits us in Volar?”

He watched the thinning tendrils of sst the stars Is she snared? he wondered Did he catch her as he caughtthat killed her?

“A box,” he told Erlin “Full of everything, and nothing”

• • •

There were h the Sentar would have greatly preferred their stout ponies to the taller and ood eating when the snows come,” Alturk commented as he severed the stirrups frori with the tribal chieftains who see under the collective delusion they would now be obliged to fight the Wolf People for possession of lost territory