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Sometimes they still have the spells they were imbued with. There are those who can use such things and have the money to pay for them.”
    Brandon shook his head. “I have never understood that.”
    “Understood what?”
    “Why put your soul at risk? Why risk letting the Shadow come between you and the Holy Sun’s Light?”
    Kormak shrugged. “Some men don’t think of their souls. Some men don’t believe we have souls. Some men want power in the here and now. Some want to prolong their lives.”
    “Is it possible?”
    “The Defiler lived for centuries. Some say he lies in his tomb at Forghast even now, waiting to return.”
    Brandon looked thoughtful. “The Old Ones live forever.”
    “They don’t age,” said Kormak.
    Brandon understood what he meant at once. “But they can still die. You kill them with that sword of yours.”
    Kormak nodded. “Yes.”
    “Why don’t they age and we do?”
    “The priests say because we are the Children of the Holy Sun and they are the spawn of the Lady of the Moon, that it’s because they are soulless that they live so long.”
    “I know what the Books say, Kormak. I have heard the sermons. I want to know what you think.”
    Kormak laughed. Brandon had looked around when he said it to make sure they were alone. Even out here, with an old friend, there were certain things that were discussed very reluctantly. “You think I disagree with the Books?”
    “You’ve said things from time to time that made me think you were not entirely in agreement.”
    “I have talked with Old Ones and what they say disagrees with the Books.”
    “You have talked with…”
    “Yes. They were there at some of the events the Apostles describe. Sometimes their descriptions agree. Sometimes they don’t.”
    “The Old Ones might lie.”
    “They might.”
    “But you don’t think so.”
    “Sometimes yes, sometimes no.”
    “You have talked to beings who have talked to the Apostles and to the Saints.”
    “Yes.”
    “And what did they say?”
    “That they were men like you and me. That some of them were touched by the Light and some were driven by hate. That some of those we think served the Light served the Shadow and vice versa.”
    “And you believe this?”
    “Some of the Old Ones claim there is no Light and no Shadow. There’s just living creatures and their deeds and their self-justifications.”
    “Did you believe them?”
    “I believe in the Shadow, Brandon. I have seen too much evidence of its existence to doubt it.”
    “They say when the Defiler cursed the Solari a Black Sun rose over the land, spewing darkness as the sun sheds light, and that it tainted all the land around Forghast with the Shadow’s power. That is why the dead walk there, and the old evil seeps out despite all the wardstones and watchtowers the Solari left. Do you think that is possible?”
    “Yes,” Kormak said.
    They sat in silence after that while the rain fell and the night gathered around them. Kormak felt that something watched them from the darkness.

CHAPTER FIVE
    THEY HAD RIDDEN for the better part of the day. Ahead of them, just off the road, a wheeled caravan stood beside a massive rune-carved stone. The vehicle looked completely out of place in the grim, grey, rain-soaked hills. The roof was a brilliant red, the walls were lime green, the spokes of the wheels were painted in multiple colours and their rims were bright yellow. Near the wagon, ponies cropped the straggly grass.
    A small group of Tinkers garbed in colours just as bright as their caravan were grouped upslope. A large grey wolf stayed close to one, a woman, in a way that suggested it was tame. The folk had gathered around something.
    Kormak dismounted. The scent of the wolf was making his horse nervous. He tied it up near the ponies and strode up the hillside. Taking his cue from the Guardian, Brandon did the same. As they approached the wolf growled and the Tinkers turned to look. There were three men and a woman. None of