The Library at Mount Char

But there is another way of killing. This is done when the lion hunts out of hate, rather than hunger. For such times the big cats have a touch that enhances suffering rather than relieves it. Under this touch the prey’s spirit is bound to the plane of anguish. The pain is like drowning. Often the damage to their spirit is such that there is not enough left of them to return to the forgotten lands. Those killed in this way are ruined forever. It is as if they were never born.” Her eyes crinkled. “I saw this done once. It was a terrible thing.” She touched his arm with real sympathy. “The lion wishes me to inform you that this is how you will die.”

Good. You do know. The prey doesn’t move because it feels no pain. The lion touches it in a certain way, and unbinds it from the plane of anguish. This is part of the craft of hunters. When the kill is this way, the lions say

What was left inside wasn’t as bad to look at as she had feared. More than most of them, David was a devoted pupil. His craft was already very strong, second only to Father’s.

He had cooked away almost to the bone before he died

One such was the notion of uzan-iya, which was what they called the moment when an innocent heart first contemplated the act of murder. To the Atul, the crime itself was secondary to this initial corruption

She knew every word that had ever been spoken, but she could think of nothing to say that might ease his grief. All she could do was wipe away his tears with the tips of her fingers.

Yes. The wolves have a saying—” Here Michael made wolf noises.

“Um. Yes.”

“It means, uh, ‘heart too big for the hunt.’ David is, maybe, too friendly? Too kind to be a fight?”

He lived barricaded in the crown of the black pyramid at the end of time, and rarely manifested in the former world

first ambition, then perception, and finally regret.

She wanted to burn the whole place to ashes but, at the same time, it would be kind of nice to see it again.

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Some people have an enormous capacity for feeling guilt, deserved or otherwise.