Chapter 21
The road leading from the cathedral is literally lined with corpses—pale, exsanguinated bodies tied to short stakes with rough cords. The stakes are driven haphazardly into the ground.
Their blank, gray faces and staring, lidless eyes cast unnamed accusations but any defiling took place long ago. The smell of the entrails piled beneath them is near nauseating. I’m sure the carrion flies are ecstatic.
One of the corpses looks like Paules, and that hits like lead through a silk mattress until I see another that looks like him. Then another. A few look like Kerrin, the Troll, Bruce, even Irian. By the sixth Paules, a macabre sense of humor kicks in. Maybe they’re all related. If so, family reunions must be confusing and hilarious. And underneath it all is a skitter, a nervous ne
