Red Country

by Joe Abercrombie

‘What the hell is he up to?’ hissed Bermi from the shadowy safety of the trees. ‘I think he’s following his conscience,’ said Temple. The Styrian looked unconvinced. ‘Conscience is a shitty navigator.’

He wondered if this was the stupidest thing he had ever done in a life littered with idiocy. High on the list, he decided, and still with ample time to bully its way to the top.

‘But the seeds of the past bear fruit in the present, my father used to say. I’m that much of a fool I got to teach myself the same lesson over and over, always pissing into the wind. The past never stays buried. Not one like mine, leastways. Blood’ll always find you out.’