Page 10 - Mad Shadows II

“Ghouls never attack humans and they don’t eat anything
that’s still breathing.”

“Try telling that to these men, especially after a villager was
recently found partially eaten and lying next to a dead ghoul.
His knife was still buried in the ghoul’s heart.”

I rubbed the scar on my left cheek, the one that starts near
the bridge of my nose and runs down almost to my jaw. “You
with the constabulary?”

“That I am.” He studied me for an uncomfortable moment.
“What brings a man of your illustrious reputation to Widow’s
Fell?”

“You must have me mistaken for somebody else.”
He gave me a lopsided grin. “You’re Dorgo the Dowser,
aren’t you?”
“That all depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether or not I owe you money.”
The laugh that escaped his lips like a happy convict during
a jailbreak was friendly and hearty. “I’d heard you had a sense
of humor that matched your sense of decency.”
I smiled. “Have we met before?”
“No, but I’ve seen you in Valdar.” He held out his hand.
“I’m Sergeant Evad Thims.”
I sized him up and decided that I liked this man and his
easygoing manner. “You look like a man who’s lived through
his share of marching in bad weather, eating lousy food and
fighting against odds no one in their right mind would bet on.”
“That I am, my friend. I fought with the Rogue Blades
when the Adzians finally revolted against the Jhamurran
regime.”
“Were you born in Adzia?”
He nodded. “My family fled during the Jhamurri
occupation. I was raised here, but when I was sixteen I ran off
to join the Blades. I returned to Widow’s Fell after the war.” He

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