Location 8661:

She smiled at Urb. Then tapped the side of her slightly numb head with one finger. ‘I memmored th’map – ized, memmized the map. There’s towns, Urb. An’ the closer we get t’Letheras, the more of them. Wha’s in towns, Urb? Taverns. Bars. So, we’re not takin’ a straight, pre-dic-table route.’ ‘We’re invading Lether from tavern to tavern?’ ‘Aye.’ ‘Hellian, I hate to say this, but that’s kind of clever.’



Location 9240:

‘The slower your path, the muddier your boots?’ ‘Even so,’ Icarium said, nodding. ‘Time is nothing like that.’ ‘Are you so certain? When we must wait, our minds fill with sludge, random thoughts like so much refuse. When we are driven to action, our current is swift, the water seemingly clear, cold and sharp.’



Location 11824:

‘Things? To which things are you referring, old man?’ ‘Why, that everything of true value is, in fact, free.’



Location 11954:

Then he sneered at the man. ‘I am here to arrest your manservant. The one named Bugg.’ ‘Oh, now really, his cooking isn’t that bad.’ ‘As it turns out, it seems I have stumbled upon another crime in progress.’ Tehol sighed, then bent to retrieve a pillow. Into which he reached, dragging out a live chicken. Mostly plucked, only a few tufts remaining here and there. The creature tried flapping flabby pink wings, its head bobbing this way and that atop a scrawny neck. Tehol held the chicken out. ‘Here, then. We never really expected the ransom in any case.’ Behind Tanal a guard grunted a quickly choked-off laugh.



Location 14755:

Corabb Bhilan Thenu’alas had collected almost more weapons than he could carry. Four of the better spears, two javelins. A single-edged sword something like a scimitar; a nice long, straight Letherii longsword with a sharply tapered point, filed down from what had been a blunted end; two sticker knives and a brace of gutters as well. Strapped to his back was a Letherii shield, wood, leather and bronze. He also carried a crossbow and twenty-seven quarrels. And one sharper. They were headed, he well knew, to their last stand, and it would be heroic. Glorious. It would be as it should have been with Leoman of the Flails. They would stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, until not one was left alive. And years from now, songs would be sung of this dawning day. And there would be, among the details, a tale of one soldier, wielding spears and javelins and swords and knives and heaps of bodies at his feet. A warrior who had come from Seven Cities, yes, from thousands of leagues away, to finally give the proper ending to the Great Uprising of his homeland. A rebel once more, in the outlawed, homeless Fourteenth Army who were now called the Bonehunters, and whose own bones would be hunted, yes, for their magical properties, and sold for stacks of gold in markets. Especially Corabb’s own skull, larger than all the others, once home to a vast brain filled with genius and other brilliant thoughts. A skull not even a king could afford, yes, especially with the sword blade or spear clove right through it as lasting memento to Corabb’s spectacular death, the last marine standing— ‘For Hood’s sake, Corabb,’ snapped Cuttle behind him, ‘I’m dodging more spear butts now than I will in a bell’s time! Get rid of some of them, will you?’ ‘I cannot,’ Corabb replied. ‘I shall need them all.’



Location 16723:

Tehol wagged a broken finger. ‘People with no sense or appreciation of humour, Invigilator, always take money too seriously. Its possession, anyway. Which is why they spend all their time stacking coins, counting this and that, gazing lovingly over their hoards and so on. They’re compensating for the abject penury everywhere else in their lives. Nice rings, by the way.’



Location 17675:

‘I feel much better.’ Brys Beddict smiled across at his brother. ‘You look it. So, Tehol, your manservant is an Elder God.’ ‘I’ll take anybody I can find.’ ‘Why are your eyes two different colours now?’



Location 17675:

Brys Beddict smiled across at his brother. ‘You look it. So, Tehol, your manservant is an Elder God.’ ‘I’ll take anybody I can find.’



Location 17736:

‘I do apologize, Commander. I admit I have been somewhat taken aback.’ The Adjunct slowly nodded. ‘By this popular acclaim, yes, I imagine—’ ‘No, not that. She said I was not half bad in bed. I am crushed by the other half, the “half good” bit—’