Page 205 (1/1)

He nodded carefully, to acknowledge that he had heard her "Today we have won a great victory As for the rest, as we say in my country, we ua took control

"We’re not to ives permission," Liath said to Anna "He says we’ve already tran"

Anna obeyed without protest What else could she do? She was grateful to have been rescued froht as well have been flotsa She stood beside the fire pit, and she watched, because she could do nothing else

The trackers were one male and one female, maskless and naked except for sandals and a loincloth tied up between their legs so it would not drag on the ground They made a circuit of the stone crown and sloidened this spiral to include the grassy side one of the ered, while theout of the trees on the southern side of the clearing

"Hei!" called the feua, who hurried to the tracker’s position The worass beside one of the narrow openings that led under a burial mound They consulted, then looked around at the athered

"Anna," said Liath "You’re the best fit"

They gave her a torch, lit by a touch from the lady The way the fla that kind of power, and she dared not say "no"

In the east, Prince Sanglant had been able to crawl through the passageway to the central cha and her six attendants He would never have fit in this tunnel Even the Ashioi, none of ere particularly tall, were a broad-shouldered, stocky people, too wide abea the burning torch before her, she edged forith elbows leading and feet trailing behind The smell of earth overwhel razed her head A bug scuttled over her hand, and she choked down a shriek Her own body blocked ht fro s had been , riddled orots?

But the torch e, where she had to shinny along the ground like a snake, and then suddenly the ceiling lofted away above her She had co off the low vault of corbeled stone Blank eyes stared at her froape in white grins Skeletons, dressed still in their finery, isps of hair capping their bony heads

She screamed, slapped her hands over her face

It was all a vision, a night, she tried to lower her hands, but she could not move, she could not think, she could not breathe

They scuffed the dirt They were ers to scrape her flesh from her bones, to make her into one of them …

A touch brushed her shoulder

She sobbed hysterically

"Anna! Anna! They’re dead They can’t hurt you!"

She groaned

"Here, now, Anna Just go back, then I’ll look around God Above! They’re wearing the silver tree, the mark of Villam! Could these be the co, still weeping, Anna lowered her hands

Liath had crawled in after her, and now, standing but bent over so her head didn’t graze the ceiling, she held a torch out and examined, each in turn, the remains of seven dead people Mostly the flesh had been eaten away, although dried bits adhered in places and they still had arments had not decomposed as quickly The mark of the silver tree was easily visible on their finely woven tabards A naked sword lay over the legs of one; rust discolored it

"These two are dressed differently," said Liath, pausing beside the last tho lay at an aard angle to the others, as if they did not belong "Ai, God!" She held the torch closer, to get a better look

These wore tabards stitched with the black dragon worn by the retainers sworn to serve Prince Sanglant One of the tabards was patched in three places easily visible to the eye: a large patch at the dragon’s right claw, a sn’s snout, and a third at the shoulder