Both his hands had been sliced off.
Just beyond the gate, Bivatt saw as she reined in, four horses were down, their riders sprawled out on the road. Drifting dust indicated that the others from the first troop to arrive were riding in pursuit.
The other survivor stumbled up to her. He had taken a blow to the head, the helm dented on one side and blood flowing down that side of his face and neck. In his eyes as he stared up at her, a look of horror. He opened his mouth, but no words came forth.
Bivatt scanned the area once more, then turned to her Finadd. 'Take the troop through, go after them. Get your weapons out, damn you!' She glared back down at the guardsman. 'How many were there?'
He gaped.
More guardsmen were arriving. A cutter hurried to the screaming man who had lost his hands.
'Did you hear my question?' Bivatt hissed.
He nodded, then said. 'One. One man, Atri-Preda.'
One? Ridiculous. 'Describe him!'
'Scales – his face was scales. Red as blood!'
A rider from her troop returned from the road. 'The first troop of lancers are all dead, Atri-Preda,' he said, his tone high and pinched. 'Further down the road. All the horses but one – sir, should we follow?'
'Should you follow? You damned fool – of course you should follow! Stay on his trail!'
A voice spoke behind her. 'That description, Atri-Preda . . .'
She twisted round in her saddle.
Orbyn Truthfinder, sheathed in sweat, stood amidst the carnage, his small eyes fixed on her.
Bivatt bared her teeth in a half-snarl. 'Yes,' she snapped.
Redmask. None other. The commander of the Patriotists in Drene pursed his lips, glanced down to scan the corpses on all sides. 'It seems,' he said, 'his exile from the tribes is at an end.'
Yes.
Errant save us.
Brohl Handar stepped down from the carriage and surveyed the scene of battle. He could not imagine what sort of weapons the attackers had used, to achieve the sort of damage he saw before him. The Atri-Preda had taken charge, as more soldiery appeared, while Orbyn Truthfinder stood in the shade of the gate blockhouse entrance, silent and watching.
The Overseer approached Bivatt. 'Atri-Preda,' he said, 'I see none but your own dead here.'
She glared at him, yet it was a look containing more than simple anger. He saw fear in her eyes. 'The city was infiltrated,' she said, 'by an Awl warrior.'
'This is the work of one man?'
'It is the least of his talents.'
'Ah, then you know who this man is.'
'Overseer, I am rather busy—'
'Tell me of him.'
Grimacing, she gestured him to one side of the gate. They both had to step carefully over corpses sprawled on the slick cobblestones. 'I think I have sent a troop of lancers out to their deaths, Overseer. My mood is not conducive to lengthy conversation.'
'Oblige me. If a war-party of Awl'dan warriors is at the very edge of this city, there must be an organized response – one,' he added, seeing her offended look, 'involving the Tiste Edur as well as your units.'
After a moment, she nodded. 'Redmask. The only name by which we know him. Even the Awl'dan have but legends of his origins—'
'And they are?'
'Letur Anict—'
Brohl Handar hissed in anger and glared across at Orbyn, who had moved within hearing range. 'Why is it that every disaster begins with that man's name?'
Bivatt resumed. 'There was skirmishing, years ago now, between a rich Awl tribe and the Factor. Simply, Letur Anict coveted the tribe's vast herds. He despatched agents who, one night, entered an Awl camp and succeeded in kidnapping a young woman – one of the clan leader's daughters. The Awl, you see, were in the habit of stealing Letherii children. In any case, that daughter had a brother.'
'Redmask.'
She nodded. 'A younger brother. Anyway, the Factor adopted the girl into his household, and before too long she was Indebted to him—'
'No doubt without even being aware of that. Yes, I understand. And so, in order to purchase that debt, and her own freedom, Letur demanded her father's herds.'
'Yes, more or less. And the clan leader agreed. Alas, even as the Factor's forces approached the Awl camp with their precious cargo, the girl plunged a knife into her own heart. Thereafter, things got rather confused. Letur Anict's soldiers attacked the Awl camp, killing everyone—'
'The Factor decided he would take the herds anyway.'
'Yes. It turned out, however, that there was one survivor. A few years later, as the skirmishes grew fiercer, the Factor's troops found themselves losing