'Are you feeling cold all of a sudden?'
Bottle nodded. 'It makes sense, where they've gone.'
'And where is that?'
'Through Hood's Gate. It's all right, Sergeant. I think. Really. They' re pretty sneaky, and so long as they don't attract the wrong attention…'
'But… why?'
Bottle glanced over. The sergeant was looking pale. Not surprising.
Those damned ghosts at Raraku had rattled him. 'They're looking for… people. Dead ones.'
'Sormo E'nath?'
'I guess. Wickans. Ones who died on the Chain of Dogs. They've done this before. They don't find them-' He stopped as a gust of bitter cold wind swirled up round the circle of stones. Sudden frost limned the ground. 'Oh, that's not good. I'll be right back, Sergeant.'
Bottle ran forward, then leapt into the ring.
And vanished.
Or, he assumed he had, since he was no longer on the Lato Odhan, but ankle-deep in rotting, crumbling bones, a sickly grey sky overhead.
Someone was screaming. Bottle turned at the sound and saw three figures thirty paces away. Nil and Nether, and facing them, a horrific apparition, and it was this lich that was doing the screaming. The two young Wickans were flinching before the tirade.
A language Bottle did not understand. He walked closer, bone-dust puffing with each step.
The lich suddenly reached out and grasped both Wickans, lifting them into the air, then shaking them.
Bottle ran forward. And what do I do when I get there?
The creature snarled and flung Nil and Nether to the ground, then abruptly disappeared amidst the clouds of dust.
He reached them as they were climbing to their feet. Nether was swearing in her native tongue as she brushed dust from her tunic. She glared over at Bottle as he arrived. 'What do you want?'
'Thought you were in trouble.'
'We're fine,' Nil snapped, yet there was a sheepish expression on his adolescent face. 'You can lead us back, mage.'
'Did the Adjunct send you?' Nether demanded. 'Are we to have no peace?'
'Nobody sent me. Well, Sergeant Strings – we were just out walking-'
'Strings? You mean Fiddler.'
'We're supposed to-'
'Don't be an idiot,' Nether said. 'Everybody knows.'