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"Kill hi each to his fellow, fingering the a their bows
"Or I will kill you!" shrieked Willibrod "Eloie! Eloie! Isaba--" Bartholoh the tattered robes Willibrod spun backward and slammed into the tent Canvas ripped as the frahted hi from the center of his chest He raised his hand to call down the curse
"Eloie! Eloie!"
Sorrow leaped and got his leg in her jaws The force of her bite overbalanced hiered With a horrible shriek he tottered, spun his ar His robes fluttered and his veil strea in pain, scrah she had been stung She buried her muzzle in the dirt
Silence followed, hard and heavy No sound of birds, no murmur of wind in the trees, no noise at all broke the unnatural hush
Willibrod did not move Around the camp, voices whimpered in fear An infant squalled and was hushed by its terrified mother
"Ai, God," said one of the men
His voice shattered the spell that held Alain He knelt beside Willibrod and plucked at his robes The body beneath shifted, clacked, and rattled What was left of hi like the stench of putrefaction, only a hint of that vinegary tang Bracing hiht see, he lifted away the veil and hat to reveal a grinning skull, jaw agape
Willibrod was gone Only his skeleton ree leaped, growling furiously, and Sorrow lunged
Too late Alain sprang up A staff smacked into the side of his head He went down in a heap, hands and legs nerveless, paralyzed by the blohile all around hi battle of the hounds, outnu in
"Go," hethe hounds, but he had no voice His head was on fire, and the rest of him was numb
Why had he turned his back? Even for that onethat all of theration; even that one rief boiled up What had he done to his faithful hounds? Better that they run and save theet up, to protect them, to save them
A second blow cracked into his back, and a third exploded in pain at the base of his neck, this flare of agony followed by a long, hazy slide as he was caught in the current of a sparkling river flowing toward the sea Now and again he bobbed to the surface, hearing voices but seeing only a