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We left the inn after a breakfast of liver and fried potatoes washed doith small beer So far the fa aspect of the country, but riding a horse day in, day out for weeks on end gives aEven horse
Joining the Roma Road once more from the dirt track to the inn, I fell into et you killed in the wilds but is the kind of luxury civilization affords us I realized simultaneously that I had no idea what a liver was for and that I also didn’t ever want to eat one again, especially not for breakfast with garlic
Snorri stoppedup in the road directly ahead ofnorth towards Crath City, blocking the road, so under their possessions, others still flapping along in just the tatters they wore And ast them not a clean limb showed: All were black with filth of some kind
“Refugees,” Snorri said
Dark travellers An echo of Baraqel’s prophecy ran through my mind
As we caught them up I saw many bore wounds, still raw and open, and each of them—man, woman, child—was black with soot, or with dried st the not to let any of them touch me
“What happened here, friend?” Snorri leaned froly rip along the top of his scalp
The man offered a blank-eyed stare “Raiders” Little more than a mutter
“Where away?” Snorri asked, but the man had turned from him
“Norwood” A wo “They burned it down There’s nothing for us now”
“Baron Ken’s troops? Is Ancrath at war?” Snorri frowned
The woman shook her head and spat “Raiders Renar hts and soldiers, sometimes just rabble Road scum” She turned away, head down, lost in her misery
“I’m sorry” Snorri didn’t try to cheer her or clai More than I would know to do A shake of reins and he moved on
We ees, thirty of them maybe, and picked up speed It was a relief to be clear of the stink I’d been poor for a day or three and hadn’t liked it one bit The survivors of Norwood had been poor enough to start with, and now they had nothing but need
“They’re hoping to throw the Olidan,” Snorri said “That’s the measure of their desperation”
It still irked me just how much the Norseman knew about lands that lay across the sea from his I’d heard of Olidan, of course His reputation had reached even intoh for that But who ruled in Kennick and how relations stood between Ancrath and its hbour I had no idea Snorri had upbraided rasp of empire history, but I told him history’s just old news, prophecy that’s well past its sell-by date Current affairs wereEspecially my current affairs, and Crath City could i, alland miserable trek so far—women in particular In addition, where better to find some wise men to strike off the shackles the Silent Sister had bound me to Snorri with?
The Roht of Crath City as the sun plunged behind its towers,a black architecture of spires and spans I’d heard Olidan’s capital rivalled Vers and the wealth spent there in bricks and mortar Martus visited on an embassy two years previously and described the Ancrath palace as the stump of some Builder-tower, but my brother was ever full of lies and I’d be able to h
“We should skirt around” Snorri had fallen behind and when I turned all his face lay in shadow, only the ridges of his brow and cheekbones catching the redness of the sunset
“Nonsense I’reements with the Ancraths and it’sto do with it Crath City was my last best chance to break the Silent Sister’s curse With luck King Olidan could be persuaded to help He would have icians in his service And even without his help there were always spell-smiths of one kind or another tucked away in such an ancient city I’d never set s before Smoke, mirrors, and old bones, I’d called it But even a prince of Red March may have to revise his opinion on occasion