Chapter 12

As the Lament of Avraparthi menaces Espalle, the Pragmatist deploys three magickers. A Spanth witch hurls lightning from Haros’s bell tower, killing many goblins and shredding sails, while a Gallard mage works from a nearby house. Goblin counter-magic summons a water elemental that bursts the Spanth witch within the tower; the Gallard mage vanishes with his room’s furnishings, which Fulvir thinks means banishment to another world.

Fulvir Lightningbinder, serving as the true reserve, stays concealed. The Pragmatist orders him to deliver the surest, not quickest, kill, even at terrible cost to the town, and deliberately lets the lesser magickers draw fire to keep Fulvir safe. Fulvir jokes grimly about the Gallard’s fate, revealing his detachment, while the Pragmatist’s calculus underscores her ruthlessness: Gallardia has many towns; the goblins have only two juggernauts.

To power his highest-order magic, Fulvir sends Amiel to the standing stones north of town to procure an infant or three lambs. With Billix, a massive man-bull, Amiel commandeers three near-grown lambs from an impoverished shepherd, choosing not to ask for the baby. They reach the stones, out of sight of the harbor’s smoke, while lesser mages die buying time.

At the stones, Billix restrains each lamb as Amiel slits their throats to pool blood. Fulvir places rocks, a twig, and a bronze coin into the blood, cuts his own hand, and silently pushes them, then weakens. He asks Amiel for a sad song to sour the spirits’ favor. As Amiel sings the Arvarescala, Fulvir collapses, and Billix carries him back, leaving the ritual primed for Fulvir’s impending, decisive sorcery.