The Grand FinaleThe second day of the third week of their staying, Murin suddenly senses what’s wrong.The books.The tea that Illium keep inside their walls as a great secret.The knowledge of the Guild.She tells her suspicions to Siorial only after three more days, having doubted her thoughts and her thoughts of Cyril turning her mind upside down. But she decides to ask him. “Cyril?”[...]
In the Hut of the (Supposed) Dark MageThey stay in the hut for more than a week. The boy is friendly and welcomes the girls in (as soon as they lowered their quote, ‘frightfully large’ weapons) and they settle in. Murin had tried to ask the boy about the Mage but the boy had only replied, “I’m the only one who lives here.”[...]
Back on the RoadThe Sisters rest within Illium that night. They take their resting place on the second floor of the guest building in the city, close to the General and City Elders’ homes. They are honoured as the saviours, even if several hundred men had died before their belated rescue. Murin insist on staying in the city for five days rather than Siorial’s preferred one day, a little because of the General’s warm retainments and the comfortable rooms, which contrasted sharply with what they would then face on the road again.[...]
Upon the Fields Outside IlliumThere is chaos everywhere. The mute child fends for itself with a short dagger and thinks about screeching crows and a block of simple grey stone. It looks at the other persons on the field amongst the bloody radiance of the setting sun and the cover of the dust. There are quite a few struggles going on, but most of Illium’s soldiers were dying or on the brink of stepping through that gate of no return.[...]