And in that look, Niles realised, lay the cause of all the self-hatred and self-doubt of his own people of Astargoth. Astargoth's leaders of old had surrendered themselves to the seemingly limitless power in the east, hoping that, by doing so, they would somehow find a way to protect their own doomed people.

Instead, they had become ensnared, as only men can be ensnared, through their own free will. And then, as Wights, they were unleashed upon the free world to do their new Master's bidding . . .

Since that time the people of Astargoth had lived beneath a cloud of self-doubt and self-hatred. They had blamed themselves . . .

But in that same instant, as Niles looked into the little boy's eyes, he suddenly saw all that doubt and hatred for what it was: a lie of the Enemy, contrived to undermine what would otherwise have been one of the most lethal forces in all the Four Kingdoms, second only to that of the elves! The armies of Astargoth!

"Who cares for you?" Niles asked the boy suddenly. The words escaped his lips even before he knew why it was he had uttered them.

"I look after both of us," the boy told him. "I work and live at the stables."

"And this child, your sister . . . is there no one else besides yourself?"




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