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banishment; yet Stoneriver had never gone home again.
All that ran through his mind as he fought his rage and the desire to destroy
everything he saw in that basement.
It had been turned into a killing chamber.
The missing doors had been turned into twenty-one crude sacrificial slabs.
Twenty-one bodies lay upon them, their faces twisted into a frozen rictus of
anguish. The runes of Bellocar had been drawn large upon the walls in blood.
All of the bodies were male. Had they been mixed, both dogs and bitches,
Stoneriver would have suspected that the spell was aimed at Red Wolf itself.
Instead, it appeared to have been directed at a single individual and he felt
certain that person was himself. In which case, the deathmage who had cast it
was in for a very unpleasant surprise.
The altar set at the head of the others contained an older, gray-bearded
lycan. His belly and chest had been opened. Tiny packets of spelled herbs had
been bound to his ribs, placed amidst his entrails, and shoved into various
orifices. Seeing it filled him with a terrible resolve.
Stoneriver shook his head. The thane of Gateshead and all three of his sons.
Damn them."
"The enemy commander has acquired a divinator. This could complicate matters.
Reist's eyes narrowed and his lips set in a grim line.
"No, it won't Reist."
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"But that's how they destroyed us during the Rebellion."
Stoneriver had not been present during the rebellion eighty years ago. He had
been exiled to Creeya eleven years earlier.
"They didn't have me then. Stoneriver's jaw tightened and he touched the body
of Thane Adderuig Balfour, Reading the anguish of the spirit that had lodged
within it. This is recent. Twelve hours ago. Damn them."
He stalked to the stairs. Burn the bodies in the square. Have Jenny do a
turning and binding over them. Reist, let me know when our scouts get back. I
want the arses dead for this."
"I'll do it, Stone."
Reist watched Stoneriver climb the stairs. He knew his commanding officer
well. Stoneriver had taken him under his wing when Reist first arrived in
Creeya.
During Reist's first five years in Creeya, he had left a string of bastards in
his wake before he stopped hating women. Reist had enjoyed dumping them after
they caught one in the belly from him. He had been cruel and angry ... His
actions had been an expression of the emotional pain that lingered from having
a drunken skirt chaser for a father a father who was the Thane of Chandler's
Rock in Red Wolf, and a mon that few had the courage to say no to.
Stoneriver showed him how to acknowledge and reach beyond. That led him to
legitimize his offspring and provide for them.
He felt, at times, that he owed Stoneriver the salvation of his soul. Reist
bore a long scar on his chest where he had stepped between Stoneriver and the
blade of an assassin. The Assassins Guild did not attack their own. However,
there were other groups, small petty bands of killers for hire who did not
operate with same principles of honor that the Guild did. The blade had been
runed silver and Reist had nearly died; but he would gladly do it again. His
devotion to Stoneriver knew no bounds.
Reist gave the orders to a Guildsmon he passed, and ran after Stoneriver,
overtaking him at the landing.
"Are you certain we can take them? A divinator is nasty. We could be up
against demons."
"Yes. We don't follow the rules ... we make our own."
A thin smile quirked the edges of Reist's mouth. Now that you've seen this, I
can give you the rest of it. They've split their forces. The main army is
headed toward Whiteford, but there's a slaver caravan moving slowly just west
of here."
"Slavers first. Then we go after their army."
They emerged into the sunlight and stood together, breathing in the cold sweet
air where no taint of blood lingered.
"How do you feel about being home, Reist?"
"Strange. At first I blamed my stepmother for ruining my life. Then I blamed
my father. No bitch was safe around him. The old dog's appetites were legend.
The chambermaids got used to straightening their rumpled petticoats and going
on about their business."
Stoneriver gazed down at him unspeaking, so Reist rambled on. His days at
court still haunted him.
"You know how it is, Stone. Myn groom their daughters for seduction, and push
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