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“My blood?”
“The feeling you just experienced You have felt it before, yes?”
“Several tier It has… saved ifted”
“Gifted?” He didn’t like the tone she used when speaking the word, there was a gravity to it that made him uncomfortable “It is simply an instinct for survival All men have it I’m sure”
“All men do, but not all can hear it as clearly as you can And the blood-song has er In ti? “You’re saying I’m afflicted with the Dark, somehow?”
Her mouth twitched in faint aive to what they fear and refuse to understand The blood-song can be dark, Beral Shak Ur, but it can also shine very brightly indeed”
Beral Shak Ur…“Why do you call me that? I have a name of my own”
“Men such as yourself tend to collect names like trophies Not all the names you’ll earn will be so kind”
“What does it er of change When the raven’s shadoeeps across your heart your life will change, for good or ill, there is no way to know Our word for raven is Beral and our word for shadow is Shak And you, Vaelin Al Sorna, warrior in service to the Faith, are the Shadow of the Raven”
The sensation, the blood-song she called it, was still singing in hi was not unpleasant but it didof the Wind”
“My people believe that the wind can carry the voices of the Departed froave theestured around hi “This is the past isn’t it?”
“In a way It is my memory of this place trapped in the stone I trapped it there because I knew one day you would coo is this?”
“Many, s to the Seordah Sil and the Lonak Soon your people, the Marelim Sil, the children of the sea, will come to our shores and take it all froo I have seen it, the blood-song is your gift but ift can ift now? I aht word “… a vision?”
“In a way It was necessary that we an to walk back to the trees
“Wait!” He reached out to her but his hand grasped nothing, passing through her robe like mist He stared at it in bewilderment
“This is“You have no power here”
“Why was it necessary for us tothe questions froand turned, her expression sombre but not unkind “You needed to know your naone, the sun, the lush grass beneath his boots, Nersus Sil Nin and her ly cold after the waro, the whiteness of the snowhi over him, his face a mixture of beainst the plinth, now once again covered in weeds “I… needed to rest” He accepted Nortah’s hand and hauled hi the corpse of the old archer Vaelin had killed
“You tracked me here?” he asked Nortah
“It wasn’t easy without Caenis You don’t leave much of a trail”
“Caenis is hurt?”
“He took a cut on the arm when he took care of the sentries It’s not too bad but he’s laid up for a while”
“The battle?”
“It’s over We counted sixty-five Cumbraelin bodies Brother Sonril lost an eye and five of Al Hestian’s one to join the Departed” Nortah’s eyes showed the same haunted look that had clouded the their hunt for Frentis Unlike Caenis and the others, Nortah did not appear to be growing accustoh “A victory, brother”