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The giant paused It’s hard for a Norse, lady”
A guard h whether for the i mock with foolish tales I couldn’t say Grand” She made a slow repetition of the words as if they somehow sealed her opinion Perhaps she’d
I’d heard tales, of course Children had started to tell the will come for you! Woo, oo It took a child to be scared Anyone with a proper idea of how far away the Drowned Isles were and of howEven if the stories held a core of truth, I couldn’t see any serious- overly excited about a bunch of heathen necro with old corpses on whatever wet hillocks remained to the Lords of the Isles So what if they actually did raise a hundred deadcorpse-flesh with every step? Ten heavy horse would ride down any such in half an hour without loss and da eyes
I felt tired and out of sorts, gru to this parade of nonsense If I’d been drunk too I ood job I wasn’t, though the Red Queen could scare me sober with a look
Grandmother turned and pointed at the Norseuide you” I blinked at that Souessed “Take hi
My fellow princes fell to e Norseman leave and hoped we’d be released soon Despite the call of ason and needed to get hold of him quickly
Grandmother returned to her throne and held her peace until the doors had closed behind the last prisoner to exit
“Did you know there is a door into death?” The Red Queen didn’t raise her voice and yet it cut through the princes’ chatter “An actual door One you can set your hand against And behind it, all the lands of death” Her gaze swept across us “There’s an important question you should ask me now”
No one spoke—I hadn’t a clue but was te I decided against it and the silence stretched until Rotus cleared his throat at last and asked, “Where?”
“Wrong” Grandmother cocked her head “The question was, ‘Why?’ Why is there a door into death? The answer is as i you’ve heard today” Her stare fell upon ernails “There is a door into death because we live in an age of myth Our ancestors lived in a world of ied There is a door because there are tales of that door, because rown about it over centuries, because it is set in holy books, and because the stories of that door are told and retold There is a door because in some anted it, or expected it, or both This is why And this is why you must believe the tales that have been told today The world is changing,beneath our feet We are in a war, children of the Red March, though you ainst everything you can iine and armed only with our desire to oppose it”
Nonsense, of course Red March’s only recent as against Scorron, and even that had fallen into an uneasy truce this past yearGrandullible of her audience and switched tactics
“Rotus asked ‘where,’ but I knohere the door is And I know that it cannot be opened” She stood froain “And what does a door demand?”
“A key?” Serah, ever eager to please
“Yes A key” A sht by , but better we should own it than our enemies I will have tasks for you all soon: quests for some, questions for others, new lessons for others still Be sure to co before In this you will serve me, you will serve yourselves, and most importantly—you will serve the empire”
Exchanged glances, , “Where was Red March in all that?” Martus perhaps
“Enough!” Grand us “Go Scurry back to your empty luxuries and enjoy them while you can Or—if my blood runs hot in you—consider these words and act on them These are the end days All our lives draw in towards a single point and time, not too many miles or years from this room A point in history when the emperor will either save us or damn us All we can do is buy him the time he needs—and the price must be paid in blood”