Chapter Eight PiceptusFar from the Land of Ice, Piceptus rode in silence. His black cloak swirled behind him as a hot wind blew over the sand dunes. His lepturian stallion pranced towards a village in the land of Sahas. Lowbah had sent a rider to inform Piceptus that he had found the guardian elders who protected the key to the gates of the underworld. Piceptus sent the rider back to tell his brother he was coming to see for himself.
The first glimpse of the sun appeared on the horizon and the makeshift camp became clearer in the glowing light. Piceptus’s army, under the command of his brother, had destroyed all of the villages. Lowbah stood waiting beside the scattered tents set up in the desert. The village igloos of the thoughtbankers were in ruins around him. Black smoke billowed into
