Chapter 14
The Sweep's ApprenticeThe night had long thrown its inky cloak across the city, and the rain had all but ceased its relentless, greasy downpour. The atmosphere surrounding the pit was thick and fetid with cold sweat, anticipation and a lust for death. Flickering yellow light cast from hundreds of burning torches lit terraces filled to capacity with the populace of the twin cities, thousands of eager excited faces screaming at the macabre spectacle playing out below them. Mahra could see most of what was happening on the floor of the pit from where she perched on the head of a stone gargoyle, the heat generated by the thousands of bodies as it rose in a heavy stench washing up over her, seeming to drive the weather back and form a seal against the encroaching night.
Casting he
