The Avowed nodded. ‘Then come back and eat.’
‘Aye, sir.’
She was pleased at the answering smile, slight though it was.
They were among the ruins well before the village came into view. Most were half buried, rising in humps from the forest floor. Ancient roots gripped the stone, but had clearly failed in forcing cracks into the strange rock. Causeways that had once been raised now formed a crazed web of roads through the forest, littered in dead leaves but otherwise defying intrusion. Reaching the edge of the wood, they could see a scattering of domed buildings in the clearing ahead, and beyond it the palisade wall of Brous, over which woodsmoke hung in a sullen wreath of grey.
The ancient domed buildings possessed formal entrances, a projecting, arched corridor with doorways as wide as they were tall – three times the height of a man.
‘Hood’s breath,’ Corlo hissed, ‘these dwarf even K’Chain Che’Malle tombs.’
‘Can’t say I’ve ever seen those-’ Seren began.
But the mage interrupted. ‘Then I’m surprised, since there are plenty of remnants in these lands. They were something between lizards and dragons, walking on two legs. Lots of sharp teeth – Trate’s markets had the occasional stall selling the old teeth and bones. K’Chain Che’Malle, lass, ruled this entire continent, once. Long before humans arrived. Anyway, their tombs look something like these ones, only smaller.’
‘Oh. It’s been assumed that those were Tarthenal. Nothing was ever found inside them.’
‘The K’Chain Che’Malle never got the chance to use them, that’s why. Most of them, anyway.’
They fell silent as they rode past the first structure, and saw, on the near side of the village, a hundred or more soldiers and workers gathered. It appeared they were excavating into a small, longish hill. A barrow. Capstones had been dragged from the top of the barrow by teams of horses, and crowds of diggers were attacking the sides.
‘Don’t want to be a part of that, sir,’ Corlo said.
They reined in.
‘What’s in there?’ Iron Bars asked.
‘Nothing that has anything to do with these ruins, I don’t think.’
‘Picking up the dock-rat version of our language doesn’t serve you well, you know,’ Seren said.
‘Fine,’ Corlo rasped. ‘What I meant was, the low barrows belong to something else. And the interment was messy. Lots of wards. There’s a mage in that company, Avowed, who’s been busy dismantling them.’