And though she protested further, in the end Nasu capitulated and gave the yatu what he wanted. From every tower of silence in every town across the face of Parsina, every corpse that was not so decomposed it would fall apart rose up and flew through the air to assemble on a plain several parasangs northwest of Astaburya. The souls of these men and women had long since departed for the Bridge of Shinvar to earn the reward of their lives in mortal form—but these decrepit remains would stay to serve the cause of their evil master, Kharouf.
***
There was little sleep for anyone in the royal palace of Astaburya, as everyone lay in bed anticipating the battle tomorrow against the yatu’s forces. A feeling of doom hung over the Buryani capital like a leaden cloud, weighing down everyone’s spiri
