While he waited to hear his fate, Jarn had been assigned to help the temple’s giri herders. It had meant resuming a daylight schedule, and he found the change from the nocturnal life imposed on Shaae’s Servants almost as tiring as the physical work. He spent his days cleaning stalls, replacing fodder and water supplied to the giri, and maintaining the cleanliness and order of the barn’s environs.

He was monitored by two “escorts,” but no one expected him to try to escape. Jarn had been accused of many things in his life, but a lack of faith and devotion to Shaae was not among them. The temple had declared he deserved punishment, and Jarn had never shown any interest in defying the temple.

Three days of work around the barn had given him enough aches and pains to make him...

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