“I think the time has come to look to our future,” Arietta said. She started across the anteroom. “Will you see me home, Sir Kenric?”
Kleef smiled and bowed. “As you command, my lady.”
He opened the door, and they stepped cautiously out onto the drawbridge.
Sadrach Castle lay in ruins. Much of its stonework had been eaten to the ground by the spell Yder had released into the barracks wall. The inner bailey was filled with orc corpses and the undead who were feasting upon them. Meanwhile, dozens of dazed-looking humans-wallbound released by the destruction of their stony prison-wandered about, searching for their lost friends and relatives.
Beyond the castle stretched an endless plain of raw brown earth, still churning and billowing upward as it filled the vast void that had once been the Underchasm. As Arietta followed Kleef across the drawbridge, she heard a sound coming from a window high behind her. Somewhere in the keep, an old man was weeping with joy, at once cackling and sobbing, thanking the gods that his long nightmare had come to an end.