Rhulad Sengar came and went, more insane with each time. Shrieks, laughter, screams and wails. How many times could a man die?
We’ll see, I suppose.
‘That storm,’ Sandalath said, ‘it wants to get through, doesn’t it?’
He nodded. He could feel its wrath, and its impotence.
‘It’s waiting for something,’ she continued. ‘Waiting for someone… to do something.’
He repressed the urge to hit her – she’d kill him if he did – wait. Wait. Wait . ‘Hold on,’ he whispered. ‘Hold on… I’ve thought of something
‘A miracle!’ she shouted, throwing up her hands. ‘Oh, I know! Let’s pray !’
And now he saw it, on the very edge of the thrashing waves beyond the reef. Saw it, and pointed. ‘There! A boat, you black-hearted witch! A boat!’
‘So what? So what? Why don’t you do something? ’
He spun round, startling the Nachts, and began running.
There was anger, plenty of anger, giving strength to his strides. Oh, so much anger. Deliverers of suffering deserved what was coming to them, didn’t they? Oh yes, they surely did. The Nachts had been showing him. Over and over again, the mad grinning apes. Over and over.
Build a nest.
Kick it down.
Build a nest.
Kick… it… down!
He saw the hut, that squalid, insipid hovel crouched there on the dead plain. Sensed the Crippled God’s sudden awareness, sudden probings into his mind. But oh no, he laughed silently, it couldn’t work it out. Couldn’t fathom the endless refrain filling his skull.
Build a nest! Kick it down!
He reached the hut, not where the doorway made its slash in the wall, but from a blind side. And, with all his weight, the swordsmith flung himself into that flimsy structure.
It collapsed inward, Withal on top, landing upon a squawking figure beneath. Spitting, hissing with rage and indignation.
Withal grasped handfuls of rotten canvas, heaved himself back upright, and dragged the tent away. Pegs snapping, ties breaking. Dragged it away from that horrid little bastard god.