{"id":107,"date":"2026-01-03T20:22:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/the-age-of-madness-01-a-little-hatred-abercrombie-joe\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T20:22:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:22:06","slug":"the-age-of-madness-01-a-little-hatred-abercrombie-joe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/the-age-of-madness-01-a-little-hatred-abercrombie-joe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Age of Madness 01 &#8211; A Little Hatred &#8211; Abercrombie, Joe"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='book-preview'>\n<h3>Book Preview<\/h3>\n<div class=\"galley-rw\">\n<section epub:type=\"bodymatter chapter\" id=\"chapter001\">\n<h1 class=\"CH1_Chapter_title_1_after_PTE2\">Blessings and Curses<\/h1>\n<p class=\"BT2_Body_text_2_Opening\"><span><span class=\"DC1_Drop_capital_1\">\u201c<\/span><span class=\"DC1_Drop_capital_1\">R<\/span><\/span>ikke.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">She prised one eye open. A slit of stabbing, sickening brightness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cCome back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">She pushed the spit-wet dowel out of her mouth with her tongue and croaked the one word she could think of. \u201cFuck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cThere\u2019s my girl!\u201d Isern squatted beside her, necklace of runes and finger bones dangling, grinning that twisted grin that showed the hole in her teeth and offering no help at all. \u201cWhat did you see?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke heaved one hand up to grip her head. Felt like if she didn\u2019t hold her skull together, it\u2019d burst. Shapes still fizzed on the inside of her lids, like the glowing smears when you\u2019ve looked at the sun.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cI saw folk falling from a high tower. Dozens of \u2019em.\u201d She winced at the thought of them hitting the ground. \u201cI saw folk hanged. Rows of \u2019em.\u201d Her gut cramped at the memory of swinging bodies, dangling feet. \u201cI saw\u2026 a battle, maybe? Below a red hill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Isern sniffed. \u201cThis is the North. Takes no magic to see a battle coming. What else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cI saw Uffrith burning.\u201d Rikke could almost smell the smoke still. She pressed her hand to her left eye. Felt hot. Burning hot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cI saw a wolf eat the sun. Then a lion ate the wolf. Then a lamb ate the lion. Then an owl ate the lamb.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cMust\u2019ve been a real monster of an owl.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cOr a tiny little lamb, I guess? What does it mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Isern held a fingertip to her scarred lips, the way she did when she was on the verge of deep pronouncements. \u201cI\u2019ve no frigging clue. Mayhap the turning of time\u2019s wheel shall unlock the secrets of these visions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke spat, but her mouth still tasted like despair. \u201cSo\u2026 wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cEleven times out of twelve, that\u2019s the best course.\u201d Isern scratched at the hollow above her collarbone and winked. \u201cBut if I said it that way, no one would reckon me a deep thinker.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cWell, I can unveil two secrets right away.\u201d Rikke groaned as she pushed herself up onto one elbow. \u201cMy head hurts and I shat myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cThat second one\u2019s no secret, anyone with a nose is party to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cShitty Rikke, they\u2019ll call me.\u201d She wrinkled her nose as she shifted. \u201cAnd not for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cYour problem is in caring what they call you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cMy problem is I\u2019m cursed with fits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Isern tapped under her left eye. \u201cYou say cursed with fits, I say blessed with the Long Eye.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cHuh.\u201d Rikke rolled onto her knees and her stomach kept on rolling and tickled her throat with sick. By the dead, she felt sore and squeezed out. Twice the pain of a night at the ale cup and none of the sweet memories. \u201cDoesn\u2019t feel like much of a blessing to me,\u201d she muttered, once she\u2019d risked a little burp and fought her guts to a draw.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cThere are few blessings without a curse hidden inside, nor curses without a whiff of blessing.\u201d Isern carved a little piece of chagga from a dried-out chunk. \u201cLike most things, it\u2019s a matter of how you look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cVery profound.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cAs always.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cMaybe someone whose head hurt less would enjoy your wisdom more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Isern licked her fingertips, rolled the chagga into a pellet and offered it to Rikke. \u201cI am a bottomless well of revelation but cannot force the ignorant to drink. Now get your trousers off.\u201d She barked out that savage laugh of hers. \u201cWords many a man has longed to hear me say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke sat with her back to one of the snow-capped standing stones, eyes narrowed as the sun flashed through the dripping branches, the fur cloak her father gave her hugged around her shoulders and the raw wind wafting around her bare arse. She chewed chagga and chased the itches that danced all over her with black-edged fingernails, trying to calm her mangled nerves and shake off the memories of that tower, and those hanged, and of Uffrith burning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cVisions,\u201d she muttered. \u201cA curse for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Isern squelched up the bank with Rikke\u2019s dripping trousers. \u201cClean as new snow! Your only stench now shall be of youth and disappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cYou\u2019re one to talk of stenches, Isern-i-Phail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Isern raised her sinewy, tattooed arm, sniffed at her pit and gave a satisfied sigh. \u201cI\u2019ve a goodly, earthy, womanly savour of a kind much loved by the moon. If you\u2019re rattled by an odour, you picked the wrong companion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke spat chagga juice but messed it up and got most of it down her chin. \u201cIf you think I picked any part of this, you\u2019re mad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cThey said the same thing about my da.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cHe was mad as a sack of owls, you\u2019re always saying so!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cAye, well, one person\u2019s mad is another\u2019s remarkable. Need I observe you\u2019re a long leap from ordinary yourself? You kicked so hard this time you nearly kicked your boots off. Might have to rope you in future, make sure you don\u2019t crack your nut and end up a drooler like my brother Brait. At least he can keep his shit in, mind you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cMy thanks for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cNo bother.\u201d Isern made a little diamond from her fingers and squinted through it at the sun. \u201cPast time we were on our way. High deeds are being done today. Or maybe low ones.\u201d And she dropped the trousers in Rikke\u2019s lap. \u201cBest dress yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cWhat, wet? They\u2019ll chafe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cChafe?\u201d Isern snorted. \u201cThat\u2019s the limit o\u2019 your worries?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cMy head still aches so bad I can feel it in my teeth.\u201d Rikke wanted to shout but knew it\u2019d hurt too much, so she had to whine it soft instead. \u201cI need no more small discomforts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cLife <em class=\"BT1_Body_text_1_Italic\">is<\/em> small discomforts, girl! They\u2019re how you know you <em class=\"BT1_Body_text_1_Italic\">are<\/em> alive.\u201d And Isern hacked that laugh out again, slapped happily at Rikke\u2019s shoulder and sent her stumbling sideways. \u201cYou can walk with your plump white arse hanging out if that\u2019s your pleasure, but you\u2019ll be walking one way or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cA curse,\u201d grumbled Rikke as she wriggled into her clammy trousers. \u201cDefinitely a curse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1_Full-out\">\u201cSo\u2026 you really think I\u2019ve got the Long Eye?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Isern strode on through the woods with that loping gait that, however fast Rikke walked, always left her an uncomfortable half-step behind. \u201cYou really think I\u2019d be pissing my efforts away on you otherwise?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke sighed. \u201cGuess not. Just, in the songs, it\u2019s a thing witches and magi and deep-wise folk used to see into the fog of what comes. Not a thing that makes idiots fall down and shit themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cIn case you never noticed, bards have a habit of dressing things up. There is a fine living, d\u2019you see, in songs about deep-wise witches, but in shitty idiots, less.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke sadly conceded the truth of that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cAnd proving you have the Long Eye is no simple matter. You cannot force it open. You must coax it.\u201d And Isern tickled Rikke under the chin and made her jerk away. \u201cTake it up to the sacred places where the old stones stand so the moon might shine full upon it. But it\u2019ll see what it sees when it chooses, even so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cUffrith on fire, though?\u201d Rikke was feeling a weight of worry now they were down from the High Places and getting close to home. The dead knew she hadn\u2019t always been happy in Uffrith, but she\u2019d no wish to see it in flames. \u201cHow\u2019s that meant to happen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cCarelessness with a cook-fire would do it.\u201d Isern\u2019s eyes slid sideways. \u201cThough up here in the North, I\u2019d say war\u2019s a more likely cause of cities aflame.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cWar?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cIt\u2019s when a fight gets so big almost no one comes out of it well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cI know what it bloody is.\u201d Rikke had a spot of fear growing at the nape of her neck which she couldn\u2019t shrug off however much she wriggled her shoulders. \u201cBut there\u2019s been peace in the North all my lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cMy da used to say times of peace are when the wise prepare for violence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cYour da was mad as a bootful of dung.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cAnd what does your da say? Few men so sane as the Dogman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke wriggled her shoulders one more time, but nothing helped. \u201cHe says hope for the best and prepare for the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cSound advice, say I.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cBut he lived through some black times. Always fighting. Against Bethod. Against Black Dow. Things were different then.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Isern snorted. \u201cNo, they weren\u2019t. I was there when your father fought Bethod, up in the High Places with the Bloody-Nine beside him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke blinked at her. \u201cYou can\u2019t have been ten years old.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cOld enough to kill a man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cUsed to carry my da\u2019s hammer, \u2019cause the smallest should take the heaviest load, but that day he was fighting with the hammer so I had his spear. This very one.\u201d Its butt tapped the rhythm of their walking on the path. \u201cMy da knocked a man down, and he was trying to get up, and I stabbed him right up the arse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cWith that spear?\u201d Rikke had come to think of it as just a stick Isern carried. A stick that happened to have a deerskin cover over one end. She didn\u2019t like thinking there was a blade under there. Especially not one that had been up some poor bastard\u2019s arse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cWell, it\u2019s had a few new shafts since then, but\u2014\u201d Isern stopped dead, tattooed hand raised and eyes narrowed. All Rikke could hear was whispering branches, the tap, tap of drips from the melting snow, the tweet, tweet of birds in the budding trees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke leaned towards her. \u201cWhat\u2019s the\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cNock a shaft to your bow and keep \u2019em talking,\u201d whispered Isern.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cFailing that, show \u2019em your teeth. You\u2019re blessed with fine teeth.\u201d And she darted off the road and into the trees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cMy teeth?\u201d hissed Rikke, but Isern\u2019s flitting shadow had already vanished in the brambles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">That was when she heard a man\u2019s voice. \u201cSure this is the way?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">She\u2019d had her bow over her shoulder hoping for a deer and now she shrugged it off, fumbled out an arrow and nearly dropped it, managed to get it nocked in spite of a flurry of nervy twitches up her arm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cWe was told check the woods.\u201d A deeper, harder, scarier voice. \u201cDo these look like woods?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">She had a sudden panic it might just be a squirrel arrow, checked it was a proper broadhead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cForest, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Laughter. \u201cWhat\u2019s the bloody difference?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">An old man came around the bend in the road. He\u2019d a staff in his hand, and he lowered it, metal gleaming in the dappled light, and Rikke realised it wasn\u2019t a staff but a spear, and she felt the worry spread out from that spot on her neck to the roots of her hair.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">There were three of them. The old one had a sorry look like none of this was his idea. Next came a nervous lad with a shield and a short axe. Finally, there was a big man with a heavy beard and a heavier frown. Rikke didn\u2019t like the look of him at all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Her father always said don\u2019t point arrows at folk unless you mean to see \u2019em dead, so she drew her bow halfway and pointed it at the road.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cBest hold still,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">The old one stared at her. \u201cGirl, you have a ring through your nose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cI am aware.\u201d And Rikke stuck her tongue out and touched the tip to it. \u201cIt keeps me tethered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cYou might wander off?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cMy thoughts might.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cIs it gold?\u201d asked the lad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cCopper,\u201d she lied, since gold is apt to turn unpleasant meetings into deadly ones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cAnd the paint?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cThe mark of the cross is a goodly mark much loved by the moon. The Long Eye is the left eye and the cross will keep its sight true through the fog of what comes.\u201d She turned her head and spat chagga juice without taking her eyes off them, then added, \u201cMaybe,\u201d since she wasn\u2019t sure the cross had done a thing but get smeared on her pillow when she forgot to wipe it off of an evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">She wasn\u2019t the only doubter. \u201cYou mad?\u201d growled the big man.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke sighed. Far from the first time she\u2019d fielded that question. \u201cOne person\u2019s mad is another\u2019s remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cBe a fine thing if you were to put that bow down,\u201d said the old one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cI like it where it is.\u201d Though she definitely didn\u2019t, it was getting all sticky in her hand, shoulder aching from the effort of holding it half-drawn and a twitch in her neck starting up that she worried might jerk the string loose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Seemed the lad trusted her to hold it even less than she did, peering at her over the rim of his shield. It was only then she noticed what was painted on it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cYou\u2019ve a wolf on your shield,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cStour Nightfall\u2019s mark,\u201d growled the big man, with a hint of pride, and Rikke saw he had a wolf on his shield, too, though his was scuffed almost back to the wood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cYou\u2019re Nightfall\u2019s men?\u201d The fear was spreading all the way into her guts now. \u201cWhat you doing down here?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cPutting an end to the Dogman and his arse-lickers, and bringing Uffrith back into the North where it belongs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke\u2019s knuckles whitened around her bow, fear turning to anger. \u201cYou\u2019re fucking not!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cAlready happening.\u201d The old man shrugged. \u201cOnly question for you is whether you\u2019ll be raised up with the winners or put in the mud with the losers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cNightfall\u2019s the greatest warrior since the Bloody-Nine!\u201d piped up the young one. \u201cHe\u2019s going to take back Angland and drive the Union out o\u2019 the North!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cThe Union?\u201d And Rikke looked down at the wolf\u2019s head badly daubed on his badly made shield. \u201cA wolf ate the sun,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cShe is bloody mad.\u201d The big one stepped forwards. \u201cNow drop the\u2014\u201d And he made this long wheeze, and his shirt stuck out, a glint of metal showing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cOh,\u201d he said, dropping to his knees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">The lad turned around.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke\u2019s arrow stuck into his back, just under his shoulder blade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Her turn to say, \u201cOh,\u201d not sure whether she\u2019d meant to let go the string or not.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">A flash of metal and the old man\u2019s head jolted, the blade of Isern\u2019s spear catching him in the throat. He dropped his own spear, grabbed for her with clumsy fingers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cShush.\u201d Isern slapped his hand away and ripped the blade free in a black gout. He wriggled on the ground, fiddling with the great wound in his neck as if he might stop it splurting. He was trying to say something, but fast as he could spit the blood out, his mouth filled up again. Then he stopped moving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cYou killed \u2019em.\u201d Rikke felt all hot. There were some red speckles on her hand. The big one was lying on his face, shirt soaked dark.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cYou killed this one,\u201d said Isern. The lad knelt there, making these squeaky little gasps as he tried to reach around his back to the arrow shaft, though what he\u2019d do if he got his fingertips to it, Rikke had no idea. Probably he\u2019d no idea, either. Isern was the only one thinking clearly right then. She leaned down and calmly plucked the knife from the lad\u2019s belt. \u201cWas hoping to set him a question or two, but he\u2019ll be giving no answers with that shaft in his lung.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">As if to prove the point, he coughed some blood into his hand, and stared over it at Rikke. He looked a bit offended, like she\u2019d said something hurtful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cStill, no one ever gets things all their own way.\u201d Rikke jumped at the crack as Isern rammed the lad\u2019s knife into the crown of his head. His eyes rolled up and his leg kicked and his back arched. Just like hers did, maybe, when a fit came upon her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">The hairs were standing on Rikke\u2019s arms as he slumped down limp. She never saw a man killed before. All happened so fast she didn\u2019t know how she ought to feel about it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cThey didn\u2019t seem so bad,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cFor a girl struggling to penetrate the mists of the future, you don\u2019t half miss what\u2019s right in front of you.\u201d Isern was already rooting through the old man\u2019s pockets, point of her tongue wedged in the hole in her teeth. \u201cIf you wait till they seem bad, you\u2019ve waited way too long.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cCould\u2019ve given \u2019em a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cTo what? Put you in the mud? Or drag you off to Stour Nightfall? Chafing would\u2019ve been the least of your worries then, that boy\u2019s got a bastard of a reputation.\u201d She caught the old man\u2019s leg and dragged him from the path into the undergrowth, tossed his spear after. \u201cOr were we going to invite \u2019em dancing through the woods with us, and all wear flowers in our hair and win \u2019em over to our side with my pretty words and your pretty smile?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Rikke spat some chagga juice and wiped her chin, watching the blood work its way through the dirt about the lad\u2019s nailed head. \u201cDoubt my smile\u2019s up to the task and I\u2019m damn sure your words ain\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cThen killing \u2019em was all o\u2019 the one choices we had, eh? Your problem is you\u2019re all heart.\u201d And she stabbed Rikke in the tit with one bony finger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cOw!\u201d Rikke took a step away, holding her arms across her chest. \u201cThat hurts, you know!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cYou\u2019re all heart all over, so you feel every sting and buffet. You must make of your heart a stone.\u201d And Isern thumped her ribs with a fist, the finger bones around her neck rattling. \u201cRuthlessness is a quality much loved o\u2019 the moon.\u201d As if to prove the point, she bent down and heaved the dead lad into the bushes. \u201cA leader must be hard, so others don\u2019t have to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cLeader o\u2019 what?\u201d muttered Rikke, rubbing at her sore tit. And that was when she caught a whiff of smoke, just like in her dream. As if it was a tugging she couldn\u2019t resist, she set off down the path.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cOy!\u201d called Isern around a stick of dry meat she\u2019d rooted out of the big one\u2019s pouch. \u201cI need help dragging this big bastard!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cNo,\u201d whispered Rikke, the smell of fire getting stronger and her worry getting stronger with it. \u201cNo, no, no.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">She burst from the trees and into cold daylight, took a couple more wobbling steps and stopped, bow dangling from her limp hand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">The morning mist was long faded and she could see all the way across the patchwork of new-planted fields to Uffrith, wedged in against the grey sea behind its grey wall. Where her father\u2019s old hall stood with the scraggy garden out the back. Safe, boring Uffrith, where she\u2019d been born and raised. Only it was burning, just the way she\u2019d seen it, and a great column of dark smoke rolled up and smudged the sky, drifting out over the restless sea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cBy the dead,\u201d she croaked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">Isern wandered from the trees with her spear across her shoulders and a great smile across her face. \u201cYou know what this means?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cWar?\u201d whispered Rikke, horrified.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BT1_Body_text_1\">\u201cAye, that.\u201d Isern waved it away like it was a trifle. \u201cBut more to the matter, I was right!\u201d And she clapped Rikke on the shoulder so hard she near knocked her down. \u201cYou <em class=\"BT1_Body_text_1_Italic\">do<\/em> have the Long Eye!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style='margin: 30px 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee;'>\n<p style='text-align:center;'>Read the full book by downloading it below.<\/p>\n<p><a href='https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/download-is-starting\/?url=https%3A\/\/mega.co.nz\/%23%21U04QRJ7A%21wJSyMWOjAtB-LKkWiREIRk671IttmoXgSTgmlSApel8' class='download-btn' target='_blank'>DOWNLOAD EPUB<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Book Preview Blessings and Curses \u201cRikke.\u201d She prised one eye open. A slit of stabbing, sickening brightness. \u201cCome back.\u201d She pushed the spit-wet dowel out of her mouth with her tongue and croaked the one word she could think of. \u201cFuck.\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s my girl!\u201d Isern squatted beside her, necklace of runes and finger bones dangling, &#8230; <a title=\"The Age of Madness 01 &#8211; A Little Hatred &#8211; Abercrombie, Joe\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/the-age-of-madness-01-a-little-hatred-abercrombie-joe\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Age of Madness 01 &#8211; A Little Hatred &#8211; Abercrombie, Joe\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-joe-abercrombie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}