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“Nah Ain’t got the time Shall I ready the men, sir?”

—

Two hours later, I stand in the shadow of the hangar bay where the Howlers s Over the claear and curses froines as the ht, such

as it is, of House Valii-Rath lifts off the tars ascend fro indigo and their shadows languorous and long in the late afternoon light They fly due south With theates and assault shuttles, packed with Gray shock troops in grasshopper suits A tardy trooper rushes to catch the last shuttle, carrying a forgotten token of luck in his hand The crooked elongated legs of the grasshopper suit pivot backward along a joint behind his knee, then propel him in an inhuman jump to clear the five rab his hand and hoist him in

Apollonius comes to say farewell He looks at horandeur of ear, his favors the baroque of the Core At the center of the purple chestplate is his Minotaur “Hail Reaper,” he says ly He closes his eyes and smells the air “This is life, isn’t it?”

“Your men don’t know our presence?” I ask

His eyes are still closed “The dogs yap ofmischief” He opens his eyes and smiles “Mercenaries Ronin Sellswords By any name they do suspect, except the one that’s true But I would ask you to dissuade your dis do hate wolves”

“We didn’t bring the wolfcloaks with us,” I say “We brought two alpha n of duplicity “Mywith us”

“Understandable All suspect what they do not understand But we understand one another, do we not, Reaper? Betrayal from friends cuts far deeper than the sword of a foe We are both the spawn of a war god Favored of his children, and stand astride the shadow of our lost brother, Achilles” I hs “If I ahty, destroy me” He taps the scar where the bomb went in “But you and I both know I lead my men into hell’s teeth What cost them?”

That I can respect

“In the darkzone your bonal,” I remind him “As soon as you enter, it will be on a three-hour timer for detonation that can only be deactivated by us If we die, you’ll follow If you leave the theater of engagerammed to detonate” He listens quietly “I’ll see you at the waypoint If you make it, Gold”

He sly, I take it Sevro watches dourly fro my politeness for fondness Apollonius releases e lungs as his Minotaur helmet rolls out of the neck of his ar and twisted, stab into the sky “?‘Into this wild Abyss the warie fiend stood on the brink of Hell and look’d a while, pondering his voyage; for no narrow frith he had to cross!’?”

With that, he rips up froravBoots and bends across the sky to join his departing legions Rhonna comes to watch him leave “Sir, Colloway says the Nessus is ready”

“Are you?” I ask

“Sir?”