“He’s dead,” Alwyn said.

Konowa started to look away, then stopped. In the brightening dawn it looked as if the soldier no longer had a shadow at all. He cursed the tricks his eyes played on him and returned his focus to what was real.

“What new abomination is this?” a soldier asked. Konowa turned to see who it was.

“Don’t you dare start up with that Creator-savior rubbish again, Inkermon,” Yimt said, pointing his still-cocked shatterbow in the soldier’s direction. “This isn’t the place.”

Inkermon held his ground. “Don’t you see? It’s a test, a means of measuring the man to determine the righteousness of his soul. The Stars are returning, calling up evil long banished to the depths, and we are ensnared in a dark web, tempted by a seductive power. We have sinned and must repent. Repent now and save yourselves.”

“It went into the water just as we got here,” Renwar said, shaking off helping hands and coming to stand in front of Konowa. Inkermon looked as if he had more to say, but Yimt’s shatterbow was aimed squarely at his midsection. “Harkon was the first one here and that’s when his shadow caught fire.”

“What went into the water?”

Renwar shook his head. “I didn’t get a good look, but it was big. I think it had been burrowed in the sand and was forced to leave when we got here.” He pointed to a spot a few yards away.

Konowa was amazed he’d missed it. A large furrow perhaps six yards long and over a yard wide was indeed dug into the sand. Tracks of some kind appeared to lead away from it to the water, but the sand was so disturbed he couldn’t be sure. Was this what he had sensed earlier? Konowa was about to turn away when he noticed other holes in the ground. These were smaller and ragged around the edges, and piles of ash lay at their bottoms. Sarka har had been burned here, but not by the Iron Elves. These appeared to have been destroyed days ago. He reached out a hand and touched the ash. It was the same temperature as the surrounding sand. A recently burned sarka har would still be ice cold.