7 Meeting and FarewellsTHE FUNERAL CAME ON the second morning. The sun had barely risen when the whole town trudged down to the little burial place above the river. Four men carried Thaljhaz’s body on the same litter that had brought it home, Tyrmar bearing the third corner and Azhur the fourth. Verdje stumbled behind it supported by Utha and Iethen. Lord Galdtchav had ordered horsemen to ride alongside and ahead of the litter as a guard of honour and insisted on coming himself despite every protest that there was no need. Bal-jarrak, sadly, remained indisposed.
The company, about two hundred in all, moved without a word along the highway. There was weeping and the coarse morning cry of rooks and the hard sounds of feet and horses’ hooves. Mist was still trailing along the river, and dew
