"For even the very wise cannot see all ends."― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
The windowless meeting room beside Elcarth's office was stifling. The winter storm outside held Haven in a tight grip, so every stove in the Collegium burned hot, with the result that inside rooms baked. Ragnar sat with Elcarth and Joyeaus, who had now turned the job of Lord Marshall's Herald over to Griffon, to discuss his next assignment. After a joyless Midwinter with the spectre of war hanging over Valdemar, the Palace turned back to business. The Death Bell rang far too often last year. Herald Kris was the first. Ragnar's yearmate Amber and her Companion Kyrol died defending the village of Crossing from a Hardornen raid. Several other Heralds passed to the Havens; with the rest of his fellows, Ragnar felt each death. Because he'd been needed in the south, he missed the only bright spot in the year: The wedding of Talia and Dirk.
"With the war, we have to emphasize field survival. We also need those who can spy behind enemy lines. With your scout training, you are one of the best we have in those skills." Elcarth said. "For now, you will be kept here as a specialist instructor."
Ragnar tried to hide his disappointment. The war with Hardorn was important. He wanted to do his part. Elcarth didn't miss Ragnar's expression. "You'll get your chance. For now, we just don't have enough Heralds who have those skills – at least not at wartime levels. We need you to train more." Beside Elcarth, Joyeaus nodded firmly.
Ragnar could see Elcarth's point. Grudgingly, he gave in.
Joyeaus wasn't satisfied. "Maybe you think you're not pulling your weight." She said. "We're going to be sending your brothers and sisters on dangerous missions. How are you going to feel if they fail – if they are captured and killed – because they didn't know something you could have taught them? Because you were too busy earning your personal glory to pass on your knowledge?"
Her words were like cold water poured down his back. He hadn't thought of it that way. Ragnar looked away, unable to face Joyeaus. "I'd feel awful." He admitted.
"Now you know how Alberich feels every time the Death Bell rings." Joyeaus said.
###
Ragnar tread carefully, avoiding the dry leaves and dead twigs on the forest floor. Noiselessly, he closed on his quarry, whose own movements were nowhere near as silent and betrayed her whereabouts. His prey moved skillfully, but could not match Ragnar's stealth. He was close enough now to glimpse his target through the branches of the undergrowth. He crept into position, slightly ahead, so that the other's movements would bring them into striking range….
Without warning, Ragnar rose into the air to dangle ten feet off the ground in front of Katie, who grinned up at him.
"You're not supposed to use your gifts." Ragnar said. "If this were Karse, every Sunpriest in twenty miles would have their demons out chasing you. We think those Hardornen mages have similar tricks."
Katie quirked a grimace. "I know. It's just a habit for me now, constantly using my farsight to scan for threats. Kyril drilled the habit into me for years; so did Pike during my internship. Now I have to go against all my training and bottle it up."
Ragnar shook his head. "You are supposed to have control of your gifts, not let them control you. It's fine to use them in Valdemar, but over the border, you might as well wave a flag and shout 'Here I am, come and get me!'"
"If they've already found me, it doesn't make any difference whether I use my gifts." She protested, knowing the argument was weak. As she spoke, Jakayr and Mikizi ambled into the clearing; both Companions snorted at her words.
Ragnar snorted as well. "This exercise is about not being found in the first place. Or are you going to tell me you didn't use your gifts to find me?"
Heralds don't cover up mistakes and Katie was no exception. "I suppose this means I have to start over." She said.
Ragnar glanced at the angle of the sun. "We have enough time for one more round before heading back. Now, if you will kindly let me down…." Ragnar still floated ten feet above the ground.
Katie grinned wolfishly. "Not until you promise to come to my room tonight."
Ragnar laughed. He'd begun some casual flirting with Katie in the moon since she got back to Haven. He'd thought she showed interest, but he still wasn't used to how forward female Heralds could be. "What if I say 'no?'?" He asked. "You can't hold me up here forever."
Katie's grin got broader. "I can let you down carefully or I can just let you drop."
"Sometimes you have to give in to threats." Ragnar said. Katie wafted him across the clearing to land gently in Mikizi's saddle.
###
Katie and Ragnar lay back, relaxing in the pleasant afterglow of their lovemaking. Ragnar reached over and poured a cup of water, handing it to Katie. She drank and handed the cup to him. He drained it and put it back on the side table.
"Have they told you where you're going next?" Ragnar asked.
"I'm not getting a circuit." Katie said. "They're sending me to Lord Falthern's Keep to support the Guard."
Ragnar nodded. Since the outbreak of the war, the keep had been the command post for the central sector facing Hardorn. Katie's powerful fetching gift would be valuable against Hardornen raiders, so she would stay at hand, ready to be dispatched at need.
"What about you?" She asked. "You seem sensitive to the magics the Sunpriests and the Karsite mages use. That could be useful for knowing when one of them was about."
"I've only sensed them when I was in Karse or Hardorn. I'm not sure it would work inside Valdemar. Besides, it's more that I sense their wrongness." Ragnar struggled for a word to describe how they offended his 'spirit sense'. He explained his gifts to Katie, describing how he 'saw' otherworldly visions and cast the stones for guidance. He told her of the appearances of the Eagle and the Windrider. He mentioned how he saw spirits accompanying the Heralds and Companions he met.
"Are you telling me you saw a ghostly Companion mare when you first met me?" Katie pretended to be offended.
Ragnar grinned at her. "Yes. One that kicked and bit a lot."
Katie bared her teeth at him. "I should bite you for that."
"Where?" He smirked. She hit him in the stomach.
"Ow. You have hard stomach muscles." She shook her hand.
"That's not the only place I'm hard." He said. She hit him again.
Half a candlemark later, they both lay back once more, panting from their exertions. This time, she poured the water and offered him the cup. As he drank it down, Katie lifted her head and propped her elbow on the pillow. "Why don't you ask for Sorrows North?" She ran her finger from Ragnar's chin to his navel.
Ragnar shivered at her erotic caress. "I don't see the connection." He said, pouring a cup for her.
"You know the legend of Vanyel and the Forest of Sorrows?" Katie asked as she took the cup
Years before, Randen's mention of Vanyel triggered an overwhelming vision in Ragnar's mind, shaking him to the core. Now, the vision returned as strong as before. Ragnar went rigid and gasped, arching his back on the bed as the vision gripped his mind, showing him the spirits of Vanyel, Yfandes, and Stefan as the powerful guardians in the North.
"Ragnar, what's wrong?" Katie demanded anxiously. She put the cup down and wrapped her arms around him.
Ragnar took a deep breath to calm himself. "I just had a vision." He said. Ragnar told Katie of his prior experience and Randen and Adrian's explanation. "Since then, this is the first time anyone's mentioned it."
"But the Sorrows legend is told in every first year history class!" Katie protested.
"I joined a year-group already in their fourth year." Ragnar said. "I got the basics elsewhere." He told Katie how Adrian and then-Lieutenant Ritter gave him his basic Valdemaran education.
Katie pondered Ragnar's story. "In that case, I'd say it is even more important you go to the Forest of Sorrows. Your Spirit Sense is telling you that."
Ragnar nodded. In the meantime, he was in bed with a beautiful, intelligent young woman….
###
In the fall, Ragnar did go into the field. Not to Sorrows, however.
"We've got a bandit problem in the Winesong Hills." Kyril said. "They're preying on refugees fleeing the war zone near the border." Ragnar's face twisted in disgust at the notion of bandits preying on people already suffering and displaced by the war. "We want you to use your scouting skills to help the Guard root them out." Forces on both sides were now preparing for winter, freeing the Guard to spend a few sennights dealing with some of the consequences of the fighting.
Ragnar nodded. It wasn't directly part of the war effort, but it was important. It was the people that mattered, after all. "Who will I be working with?" He asked.
"Herald Pierce is already in the area. He grew up nearby in Thornberry, so he is somewhat familiar with the territory. He knows some of the refugees as well. You two will work with Major Jai Smith, who is commanding the local Guard."
"Thornberry? Isn't that where Katie's from?" Ragnar remembered the local baron's son had been Chosen about a year before Katie, though he'd never met the young man.
"Yes." Kyril said. He gave Ragnar the details. "He's younger than Katie and was in the year-group behind hers. He started his internship with Herald Tanis just as the war broke out and we cut it short because we needed every Herald we could muster at the front.
"Before you ask," Kyril went on "Pierce's Gift is Foresight, but on a very personal level, meaning he sees individual futures. Sometimes he foresees deaths, so he keeps his mindshields strongly up and seems very standoffish. He prefers not to talk about his visions or drop hints."
"If he never shares his foresights, what good is his Gift?" Ragnar asked.
Kyril raised an eyebrow. "If you were in bed with someone, how would you like to tell them you'd had a vision of their death?"
"That sounds more like a curse." Ragnar said.
"Pierce says the same thing."
###
"I know you from somewhere." Major Smith said as he shook Ragnar's hand. After a few moments sharing stories, Major Smith remembered Ragnar from the pirate raid at Rushton.
"Kensie Poldara would be so proud of you. He was the officer who spoke up for you." Major Smith said.
Ragnar winced visibly and told Jai Smith about recovering Kensie and Bredin's bodies from Karse and how Mikizi Chose him at the time. "I never paid him the life debt." Ragnar finished.
Major Smith had no answer and called a trooper to show Ragnar to the tent set up for him and Pierce next to Major Smith's own. There was an extra awning attached for Mikizi and Ohiro. Ragnar and the major would meet with Herald Pierce after the latter returned from helping at the nearby refugee camp. In the meantime, Ragnar untacked and groomed Mikizi before laying out his bedroll in the tent.
Pierce returned just before sunset. The younger Herald was oddly stiff as he greeted Ragnar and his mindshield felt like a brick wall in Ragnar's face.
Pierce noted Ragnar's reaction. "I keep it up like that for everyone." He explained. "If I let it down for people I have good visions for, then people will know I've seen something bad when I put it up."
Ragnar could see the logic, but Pierce's rigid mindshield still made him uncomfortable. He left the subject for now and the two joined the officers in the mess tent for dinner. Over the meal, Major Smith and his officers discussed the bandits.
"There are several bands of them." Major Smith said. "We've caught a few, but there are more out there. Herald Pierce and the other Heralds question them under the Truth Spell to get any information we can, then we hang them or conscript them. The gangs don't cooperate with each other much and they avoid Hardorn at all costs, so we get very little actual intelligence." Ragnar nodded; with the demands of war, the guard couldn't spare soldiers to guard prisoners or stand over them on road gangs. Those spared by conscription faced instant hanging if they deserted.
"Have you gotten anything from them?" Ragnar asked.
"We know they've retreated from the border areas." Major Smith said. "They don't like being between two armies and they're more afraid of Ancar than they are of us." At Ragnar's quizzical look, the Major went on. "The Hardornen mages can put some sort of geas on them and turn them into mindless slaves. The bandits are terrified of them."
Ragnar nodded, remembering what he'd seen at Raven's Gorge.
###
Ragnar and Pierce set out early next morning, heading for Shaftsbury, where there had been a bandit attack four days before. A small group of refugees were attacked on the road near the village and their few valuables taken along with their food. The bandits killed one man who resisted but otherwise left the refugees unharmed. The survivors told the guard there were seven or eight bandits, two of them mounted. All of the bandits wore masks. Shaftsbury was about twenty miles from Major Smith's camp; Mikizi and Ohiro covered the distance in their ground-eating canter while Ragnar and Pierce planned their search. Pierce had little experience tracking and listened closely as Ragnar outlined what they would do.
"The first thing is to check the location. Hopefully, the guardsmen who helped the refugees didn't destroy all the evidence." Ragnar said.
They reached the spot two hours after sunrise and Pierce cursed. "There's nothing left here." It was clear many people had travelled on the road in the last four days. Also, the guardsmen swarmed the surrounding brush searching for signs; their clumsy search wiped out most of the evidence.
"Let's take a closer look." Ragnar said. Before dismounting, Ragnar scanned the surrounding area. The road made a double bend at the spot to go around a large rocky outcrop, creating a short stretch fifty yards long between two long straight stretches of road. Ragnar noticed a large tree just at the point where the road bent. He slipped off Mikizi and examined the trunk. He could see the slight scuffs made by a climber. Scrambling up himself, he followed the scuff-marks out to a broad limb and picked out the signs where someone lay on the branch. Between the leaves, he had a clear view down the road towards Shaftsbury. He looked down at Pierce, who looked up at him from Ohiro's back.
"If you weren't wearing whites, I could hardly tell you were there." Pierce said.
Ragnar climbed down and the two Heralds resumed searching the area around the ambush site. The guardsmen had destroyed all the signs. Ragnar returned to Mikizi and pulled a map out of her saddlebag. Shaftsbury lay two miles to the north. The woods extended half a mile to the east before giving way to open fields for a mile between the woods and a large lake. The road continued south for four miles to the village of Lunery. The map showed high hills and forests to the west. Ragnar noted the symbol for a waystation near Shaftsbury.
Replacing the map, he looked at Pierce. "I want to see the waystation." Pierce blinked, wondering how visiting the waystation would help the search, but followed Ragnar without a word. The waystation was a half mile from Shaftsbury and they reached it in a quarter-candlemark. From the outside, the waystation looked like any other, but the small meadow surrounding it was beaten down. The firepit was littered with charred bones and trash, including broken plates and a broken axe handle. Someone other than a Herald had been there. When they opened the door, they blinked at the stench. The few unbroken dishes lay on the table with flies crawling over their unclean surfaces. Flies also buzzed around the encrusted pots on the stove.
A quick check revealed the bandits had taken all the food as well as the grain for the Companions. The stalls had horse droppings and the bedding was soiled with horse urine.
Mikizi swished her tail and stamped a hoof. ::Now they've gone too far!:: She said in mock outrage.
They wandered over the site. Ragnar noted the signs left by the bandits, from the bracken beds under the trees to the places where they'd relieved themselves instead of using the privy - Pierce grimaced as Ragnar gingerly used a stick to probe one such spot. They returned to the firepit, facing each other across the remains of the fire, which had obviously been allowed to burn out instead of being carefully extinguished.
Pierce looked at Ragnar, who looked back at him expectantly. "So they took everything they could carry with them and left everything they couldn't use behind. Hardly unexpected, but I don't see what else we can learn here."
"How long were they here?" Ragnar countered.
Pierce looked around and mentally tallied the state of the waystation. "If there were ten to fifteen men, at least two days, maybe four."
"A pretty good assessment. There were thirteen men – the leaders used the beds in the waystation - and they were here four days." Ragnar said. Both men knew Ragnar had much more experience in tracking, but Ragnar thought Pierce had done well. He waved his hand, gesturing at the waystation and surrounding meadow. "What does this tell us about the bandits?"
Pierce looked around. "I'd say they are rather undisciplined and slovenly. I see no signs of organization or discipline. Even if they were only here a few days, they still should have kept some order and cleaned up. Instead, they just fouled their nest."
"So what does that mean for us?" Ragnar asked.
Pierce thought a moment. "They're going to be careless, which will make them easier to track and catch. If they're undisciplined, they won't fight as a unit." He looked sharply at Ragnar. "That's the pattern we've seen in most of the gangs we've taken down this fall."
Ragnar smiled a little. "Bandits aren't noted for self-discipline, but don't count on it. Sometimes a strong leader can turn them into an effective force. Now that we have an idea of what we're facing, let's see if we can find them."
###
With Pierce and Ohiro following, Ragnar moved into the woods west of the ambush until he found a game trail going around the bluff. A hundred yards along the trail, it crossed a tiny rill. Ragnar smiled and dropped down. In the dried mud beside the trickling water, he traced a hoofprint from an unshod horse; he could see the horse's hoof was splayed, with a crack in the outside wall. Definitely not a guardsman's horse. In the dried mud on the other side of the rill, there was a bootprint with a split heel. He looked up at Pierce. "How long since it rained here?"
"Eight days ago." Pierce said. "Do you think it was them? Or could it just be a local peasant?"
"A poor peasant might have broken-heeled boots, but any peasant with a horse would have that hoof trimmed and dressed, even if he couldn't shoe his horse." Ragnar said. "These are bandits. As you said back at the waystation, slovenly bandits."
Ragnar walked towards the outcrop and scrambled up the rocks.
::Ohiro and I will wait here while you two play goat.:: Mikizi said.
Pierce, smaller and lighter, reached the top of the outcrop first. They moved through the trees at the top until they found a cliff facing west. Pierce swept his hand at the forested hills ranging in front of them. "There's a lot of space for them to hide there."
"Not so much." Ragnar said. "They have to eat."
Pierce looked at Ragnar in puzzlement. "There's game and nuts and plenty of other food in the woods."
"Much less and much harder to find in winter." Ragnar said. He could see Pierce wasn't convinced. "Why do you think they are bandits?"
Pierce stared at Ragnar, who smirked and stared back at him. ::I believe the Field Survival Instructor expects you to figure it out on your own.:: Ohiro teased his Chosen.
Ragnar hadn't trained Pierce, but Ohiro's mention of Ragnar's Collegium duty was the clue he needed. "They're bandits because they don't know how to survive independently." Pierce said. "That's why they stole the food from the waystation."
Ragnar grinned and nodded for Pierce to go on. "They're slovenly bandits. They haven't made preparation for winter. So they have to stay close to the villages to steal food in winter. They don't dare go deep into the hills."
Ragnar grinned and slapped Pierce on the shoulder. "That, Greenie, is tracking with your mind." He looked out to the west once more. "So where are they?"
Pierce pointed to a large hill about three miles away, just across the first valley. "Probably there."
"Can you be a little more precise?" Ragnar prompted.
Pierce studied the hill. A creek tumbled down the eastern side. On the south, a shoulder curved around the hill, forming valley between the main hill and the shoulder. A tributary creek flowed out of the valley and joined the main creek about a quarter of the way up the hillside. "In that pocket valley. It would shelter them from the wind and hide their fires."
Ragnar nodded. "That's what I think. Let's confirm it."
The two made their way across the valley following the game trail. To Ragnar, there were many signs the bandits used the trail regularly, but he made it a training exercise for Pierce, insisting the latter identify every sign and interpret it. The younger Herald learned quickly: By the time they reached the small river in the middle, Pierce was spotting most signs almost as soon as Ragnar did.
They stopped just under the cover of the woods on the near side of the river, scanning the opposite side for the lookout they were sure must be there. Pierce spotted the man seated in the branches of a tree a hundred yards upstream moments before Ragnar. As the better mindspeaker, Ragnar probed the man's mind, quickly confirming he was alone from his surface thoughts. Ragnar considered probing deeper, but there was too much chance the bandit would become aware of the mindprobe.
Staying hidden in the woods, the two Heralds worked their way upstream past the lookout and out of his sight until they found another ford. The water was much deeper and rose to the Companions' flanks as they waded across. The water was very cold and Pierce was grateful he could cross on Ohiro's back.
::It's not your goolies getting frozen off.:: Ohiro said. ::You owe me for this.::
###
A candlemark after noon, they looked down on the camp from the slope above. There had been only one sentry, who was stationed along the trail. Ragnar carefully checked the whole perimeter for other sentries before the two Heralds cautiously crept close enough to spy on the bandits. Their caution was unnecessary as the bandits were in the midst of a loud argument.
"You been stealing from us!" One man shouted at another, whose back was to the two Heralds; the captive's arms were held by two more men. The rest of the bandits roared agreement and hurled abuse at the captive.
"I ain't stole nothin'." The captive said. As he spoke, he turned his head.
"Shay Gulley!" Pierce exclaimed softly.
Ragnar glanced at his fellow Herald and back at the captive, not recognizing the man. In mindspeech, he asked Pierce if he was sure. Pierce confirmed the identity, giving Ragnar his memories of the bully he'd known in Thornberry, though Shay now had an unkempt beard. With that prompting, Ragnar remembered his encounter with Shay five years ago.
The accuser confirmed the identification a moment later. "Shay Gulley, you took my money and Karn's ring and we found a bunch of other stuff in your pack. You been stealing from us and we're done with your lazy ass."
::I think my foresight is about to come true.:: Pierce mindspoke Ragnar. Ragnar could feel the panic in Pierce's mindvoice.
The gang members produced a rope and through a noose over the limb of a tree. Shay begged for mercy as they hauled him beneath the rope and put the noose around his neck. They tied his hands behind his back.
They hauled Shay up, cutting his pleas off in mid-sentence.
::We've got to stop this!:: Pierce mindspoke Ragnar.
Ragnar shook his head. ::There are too many of them.:: He clamped his hand on Pierce's shoulder. Ragnar was not inclined to risk himself and Pierce to save Shay; he felt a certain grim justice in the hanging, which the small town bully had likely earned many times over. Even if they saved Shay now, they would probably just have to hang him later.
Pierce covered his face, unable to watch the scene. The scene bothered Ragnar also, but he forced himself to watch as Shay Gulley kicked and thrashed for several minutes while the noose strangled him. Ragnar unconsciously rubbed his own neck; he preferred clean quick deaths.
Shay's struggles ended and the gang members looked around at each other. "Leave him there for a candlemark. Make sure he's dead." The accuser ordered. He appeared to be one of the leaders.
Ragnar swallowed hard. "Let's get our count and get out of here."
###
As they made their way back to the main road, Ragnar could tell Pierce was very bothered. He waited patiently. As they reached the road and turned south, Pierce said "Katie told me you visited Thornberry on your internship circuit. Did you ever meet Shay Gulley?"
Ragnar told the story of how he'd warned Shay. He snorted "I told him we were trying to save his neck from a noose. I guess he didn't listen, though it didn't happen the way I thought would."
"It happened exactly the way I foresaw it." Pierce said. "It was the first time I foresaw someone dying…."
###
Pierce bit down on the peach as he copied out the Karsite text from Myste's summer assignment. Ohiro skidded to a stop beside the table where he worked.
::Chosen! There's trouble! Get on my back, NOW!:: The Companion's mindvoice cut through Pierce's concentration. Without hesitation, Pierce threw himself on Ohiro's bare back and tore off towards Peter's wood racing past his astonished father.
Pierce bent over the Companion's neck as Ohiro raced along the narrow pathways. Branches lashed Pierce's body and he gripped Ohiro's neck and barrel with his arms and legs. Ohiro passed images of Mary Doane and Katie Wood attempting to fend off Shay Gulley and his crew.
Ohiro exploded out of the brush and slammed into Russ Wharton and Kirk Weems, sending them sprawling. Pierce grabbed Shay's collar, pulling him off balance. When Shay scrambled to his feet, Ohiro rose on his hind legs and hopped forward, flattening him once again. The stallion put a hoof on Shay's chest.
"Don't move, *******!" Pierce commanded from the Companion's back.
Pierce heard a snicker from the girls and looked around. Chas Weems was running away and Bill Tennant lay moaning on the ground with Mary waving a stout branch over him.
Pierce looked down at Mary and Katie. "Are you two all right?" He asked.
"We're fine." Katie said. "You got here in the nick of time."
"Ohiro said there was trouble and brought me here. Glad we could help." Pierce said.
Katie wondered about the 'mind' she'd sensed. She looked at Ohiro suspiciously. The stallion arched his neck. Did he wink at her?
"Let's get you back to town." Pierce said.
Ohiro lifted his hoof from Shay's chest. Shay cautiously got to his feet. Groaning, the other three did the same. "Get out of here." Pierce ordered.
"I'll get you for this." Shay said. "All of you."
Pierce doubled over, gasping for breath. "Pierce, what's wrong?" Katie asked. She and Mary looked at the young Herald Trainee anxiously. Shay grinned, sensing weakness, but stepped back when Ohiro pinned his ears and snapped his teeth a hairs-breadth from Shay's face.
Pierce straightened. "It's my Gift. I have foresight." He raised his hand and pointed at Shay. "I just had a foresight about you. I saw you hang. You keep on the way you're going and you'll wind up with a noose around your neck."
Shay went white, his jaw gaping. He turned and walked away. His fellows got up and walked after him. Before they were out of sight, all of them were running.
Pierce turned back to Mary and Katie. He smiled wanly at their horrified expressions. "Sorry. I'm not supposed to say anything when a foresight hits me. But that one was terribly strong." He chuckled. "I don't think Shay Gulley liked it."
###
Pierce finished his story. He nodded his head in the direction of the bandit encampment, "The way Shay died back there was exactly the way I saw it in my foresight. I remember thinking it was odd because I saw it happen in the woods with only bandits around him and no gallows."
Ragnar could see how his fellow Herald was shaken by his vision coming true. He clapped Pierce on the shoulder. "Nothing you did caused his end. I also told him he would hang if he didn't change his ways. It was Shay's choices that put the noose around his neck. If what we heard from the other bandits before they hung him was correct, he couldn't even keep faith with them."
Pierce shook his head and smiled. "You are almost as good as Talia at saying the right thing. Are you a Herald or a Shaman?" The words were no sooner out of Pierce's mouth than he gasped and bent forward over Ohiro's neck.
Ragnar reached out in concern, but Pierce recovered quickly. Pierce saw the look in Ragnar's eyes: His friend knew Pierce's foresight had struck again.
"If you saw my death, I don't want to know." Ragnar said.
Pierce shook his head. "Much stranger than that. I saw the end of the world.
"And you were in the middle of it."