'Should have killed him properly,' he thought blearily as they half-carried him through the darkened corridors. 'Then at least the punishment would be worth it.'
The shard against his chest pulsed once, neither warning nor encouragement, simply acknowledgment. Valenna was awake, watching through his eyes.
The eastern sky showed only the faintest suggestion of dawn as they emerged into the yard, a promise of light hours away, nothing more.
Torches guttered in iron brackets, their flames bending away from a bitter wind that cut through Soren's thin shirt like it wasn't there at all.
In the yard's center stood Kaelor, a darker shadow against the night. The Swordmaster's single eye caught the torchlight, reflecting it back like a beast's in the forest.
His sword hung loose in his grip, the blade dulled for training but no less deadly for it.
"Chain him," Kaelor ordered, his voice a gravel-filled rasp that seemed to scrape the air itself.
