Release me. Now. Or I ˆkill this soldier." "With all due respect, he's not a soldier," Stalker said, and his eye swivelled to focus on Shulkin. He spoke as if he were addressing a child, but he was addressing an adult, an old man used to being obeyed. "These men are from the Reaper's Pride. This young man served with the prince on his journey here." "Then why isn't he wounded?" Shulkin asked, looking at Scorpion with suspicion, as if he were to blame. "I'm not entirely sure," Scorpion admitted. He wished they could walk on. The Prince's face creased. "The Flesh-eater can't even heal himself?" Scorpion's thoughts went back to the man's body spasming and clenching in the back of the cart. "I don't know. I thought it best to leave him be." "You're sure it's safe for us to venture out?" "Absolutely, Lord Prince," said Scorpion. "There were no weapons drawn. The road is safe." The Prince grunted and turned back to Shulkin, who was still staring at Scorpion. "Perhaps you had better look at these men and reassure yourself." "I'm sure you're right," Shulkin said with a curt nod. He approached the men, stopped before a man who looked to be about his own age and size, and took hold of his throat. "What are your names?" "They... don't have any names," Scorpion explained. Shulkin's hand tightened, cutting off the man's words. "But we're supposed to know you. What's your name?" Scorpion thought of Gonff and wondered if the little dog would still remember him. The Prince seemed to notice the tension. He stepped forward. "I don't remember your names, but I know they served with me on the warhost." They both nodded their heads. "Their flesh is dead. They are dead. The dead cannot speak." Shulkin's voice held an edge. "They are like these men. They're no more than corpses. You need to see them, too. They are the only dead I can see. The only ones I can hear and feel." The Prince's eyes were wide. "You're telling me a man with two arms and two legs can still walk and talk and..." He stared at the dead men for a moment, as if considering what Shulkin had said. "They move on a different plane," Scorpion said. "I know nothing about such things," said the Prince. "Go back inside and fetch me the men who are dead. As many as you can find." Scorpion and the Prince had exchanged their positions. He didn't want to go inside the castle but Scorpion was just as undecided about what he should do. He'd been avoiding the matter ever since he first saw the corpses. "They have to be brought out here, to your gate," the Prince continued. "I need to meet these men." "The dead cannot leave their bodies," Scorpion explained. The Prince pulled his gaze from Scorpion. "And what do you suggest?" "You'll have to carry them out here and put them in the road. They can't stay in their armor." "You're saying they are already dead, but we need to carry them to demonstrate that they are in fact dead?" "Yes." Shulkin nodded. "Very well. Go to the back and see what you can find." Scorpion left him to it, grateful to have something to do other than think. He made his way to the back of the tent where they kept the dead and, for lack of a better idea, grabbed three. At least they were small, unlike most of the bodies around the camp. He would look for his Gonff and some time with the Prince. They were all three wearing armor. They'd been in the same platoon. He put them on his back and pulled up his hood. They wouldn't talk but they might provide answers to his questions. Scorpion walked the camp and found Gonff in a tent with four other dogs and cats. "Hey there, Gonff," he said. "Good to see you. Thought you might like some company." The black dog looked up at Scorpion from between two of the other dogs. The other cats were curled up asleep. "You might want to get out of the sun," Scorpion said. "The Prince is bringing in more dead." Gonff followed Scorpion to the back. The Prince and Shulkin were in the centre of the camp, each towing a dead body by its left arm. "What's going on?" Scorpion asked. "They don't die. They must have some way of holding on, or Shulkin would have felt it. How could they do it?" The Prince came up to him and put his hand on Scorpion's arm. "I want you to bring out a dozen more. I think we need to find a place in the castle to lay them down." Scorpion nodded, took the corpse from Shulkin, and left. He didn't want to linger. He wanted to see what he'd found with Gonff but at the same time he had to go back inside to the walls where there were soldiers and people. It was a rare event when the dead spoke but now was not the time for the Prince to think that they were no more than corpses. They didn't get very far along the road before someone started shouting and pointing. "Look at them! Look at them!" It was an old woman in black, one of Scorpion's neighbors in the tents. She was flanked by two guards, who were shouting into the air. "Why are they moving?" "What's going on?" Scorpion asked the nearest guard. "She claims she knows them." The three guards surrounded the old woman and started to pull her apart. She resisted. "Let me go! What are you doing?" "Tell us who you are!" She'd been a friend but that was a long time ago. "She's a liar and a liar is not my friend. Release her." The guards ignored him and took her away. Scorpion thought of what the Prince had said about seeing the dead. What if they really were looking at a man who could be alive? "What's she doing to the corpses?" "It's not right. It's forbidden. She has to die. She deserves to die." The other guard had come up behind him. "Don't get involved. Leave it to us." Scorpion said nothing. He did nothing. But he did leave. He did not go to his tent. He went looking for Shulkin and found him on the edge of the camp standing beside a horse, looking down the road. "What are you doing?" Scorpion asked. "Checking. They would not move like that by themselves." Scorpion put his arm around the nearest soldier and looked into his eyes. "What did you do to them?" The man's eyes shifted away. He seemed ready to look at Scorpion but never quite did. "They were dead when I started walking. I felt them move." "They were standing on their own." Shulkin turned to Scorpion. "Why don't you go back inside and rest?" "You're not supposed to be allowed to touch the dead." Shulkin turned to the guard by the horse. "Take care of this man." The guard led Scorpion away by his right arm. They walked down the road, passing more guards and an odd assortment of figures, men with long beards and robes and veils. They went past the tents and out into the field where some workers were cutting grass for their horses to graze. They were led out into the field, where they had tied their horses. The man with the long beard was leaning over one of the horses' necks, cutting their legs with a scythe. Scorpion thought the sight comical until he saw the other men. They were picking up the man's body, putting him on his horse, and tying him in. He couldn't see a horse with the beard. "Where are you taking him?" Scorpion asked. "The dead come first." "But what are you going to do with the dead?" The man smiled. "We do not want to live in the dark. Not a day or an hour longer than we need. It is what we came here for. These men are following the one before. They have been chosen. The others are dead. Their spirits have passed." Scorpion saw the body of the man being lifted onto the horse. The man who spoke to him, the man with the long beard. Shulkin came up to Scorpion and took him by the shoulder. "Let