Blade of the Avatar/Blade of Midras/Chapter 28

Thundering Silence

Excerpt

Evard Dirae stood at the crossroads of the Broken Road and waited, just as he had waited for twelve days. In the evenings, he would prepare a meager meal and contemplate the gathering darkness. In the night, he would lay on the ground, a stick propping up his robe over his head to shelter him from the wind across the prairie that never seemed to stop. Then, in the morning, he would awaken, prepare his breakfast and again, wait with watchful eyes looking down the Broken Road to the south for some sign of his old friend’s approach.

He was, he knew, hardly alone. A detachment of warriors over two hundred strong, each handpicked by Evard, was encamped near the mountain pass that led through the Blackblade Mountains back to Hilt. The captain in charge of them was awaiting only the sign from Evard – a homunculus which Evard had reserved for the purpose – before ordering the marching of his command to capture the refugees as they approached. They were prepared on short notice to march northwest and southwest, so as to encircle the approaching column of weary Opalis citizens. In that moment, their flesh would be sealed to the monstrous fate which Evard had planned for them in service to the Obsidian Cause.

Yet nothing had come up the road from the south…