Page 19 (1/2)

PROLOGUE

OFF to the southeast, thunder rolled on and on But in the broad ditch where three youths and two gravely injured soldiers had taken refuge from the battle, the rain had, mercifully, slackened A wind out of the north blew the clouds away, revealing the waxy light of a full moon

Ivar listened to the sounds of battle carried by the breeze They’d scra to escape the notice of their eneht as they were behind the enemy’s line The Quhter them, then cut off their heads to use as belt ornaments Or, at least, that’s what Baldwin seemed to think as he babbled confusedly about Qu e their ith torches

From his place down in the slippery mud at the bottolow e froht he had ever seen

So you could do about it, it was just better not to know

“Careful,” whispered Ermanrich “This whole end is filled ater God’s mercy! It’s like ice”

“Come on, Dedi, come on, lad,” coaxed the older of the tounded Lions to his young companion, but the other man didn’t rouse Probably he was already dead

Ivar found the water’s edge, cupped his hands, and drank The cold cleared his head for the first tiers, and finally he could sit back and survey just how bad their predicament was

Moonlight cast a glaainst a steep precipice, the face of the hillside Over the course of uncounted years a trickling cataract had worn away the cliff face to expose two boulders capped by a lintel stone Starlight caught and gli half concealed behind tendrils of et his feet wet—not that he wasn’t already slopping filthy with ure wearing the antlers of a stag

“Look!” Baldwin pushed aside the thick curtain ofdown over the stones to unveil a tunnel that cut into the hillside

Their side had lost the battle anyway, and they were cut off fro army and all their comrades, those who had survived How could an ancient tu, wading in Cold water poured down into his boots, soaking his leggings and

A body brushed against him “Ivar! Is that you, Ivar?”

“Of course it’s me! I heard a rumor that the Quets too deep” The ground seeh, and the water wasn’t deeper than his knees Plunging his arroped for and found a stone, tossed it The plop rang hollow Water dripped steadily ahead of them

So scuffled, deep in the heart of the tumulus

“What was that?” hissed Baldwin, grabbing Ivar’s arm