Toll the Hounds/Prologue

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==A timeless place==
Two Dog walkers find themselves in a strange dusty and deserted town. The man recalls that he had once been a priest. The woman remembers that she came from wealth. Neither recalls ever owning a dog even as the brutes break free of their leashes and fight to the death in the street. The pair conclude they are dead.
Soon a gaunt and desiccated figure makes his way past their gazes to meet a hooded stranger in the street. Edgewalker has come at the hooded one's summons to mitigate an unnamed event that has been a long time coming. When asked why now, the hooded one replies, "Disgust." They are soon joined by Shadowthrone and the five Hounds of Shadow. As the God of Shadow chats with the others and comments on their ghastly surroundings, the Hounds' hackles rise as they look at something further down the street.
The witnessing priest says only one more is due to gather here with them as a storm begins and a jade rain falls. Upon hearing the rumbling sound of carriage wheels, the wealthy woman asserts that her ride is here.
==The Wagon==
====Ditch====
Within Dragnipur, the wizard Ditch struggles to pull the chains that bind him to the monstrous wagon. He had been among the wizards of Pale who had betrayed Anomander Rake out of desperation and then felt the kiss of his sword. Now, alongside all the others slain by the sword's wielder, he must pull the wagon in an endless chase from the storm of Chaos that pursues them. 
Reacting to repeated blows to his shoulder from one of his fellow tortured, Ditch angrily turns to find a hulking Demon carrying a score of souls. He tells the demon to throw them into the wagon with the others too weak to continue, but the demon says there is no more room. They must be carried or else be dragged behind. Both realise the wagon is slowing and the storm pursing them comes closer, and they fear what will happen when it reaches them. Ditch recalls the first moments of his arrival within the sword and his frenzied attempts at escape. One detail stands out--someone had spoken to him about something, but all he remembers of what was said was the name "Draconus."
====Apsal'ara====
Also among Dragnipur's chained is Apsal'ara, Lady of Thieves. She does not know how long she has been here, but she chafes at her bonds. Since her arrival she has sought to break her chains, finding a place to work atop one of the wagon's axles. Of all the things she has witnessed during her captivity, the most frustrating had been the arrival and escape of two Hounds of Shadow (Doan and Ganrod). They had been taunted by an unchained stranger (Ganoes Paran) whose face Apsal'ara still remembered even after he too vanished. The Lady of Thieves had tried to follow the Hounds through their escape portal, but she had been driven back by a force of negation colder than Omtose Phellack. This will not do. Was she not the one who had stolen the moon, stolen fire, and trespassed in the silent halls of Moon's Spawn? She returns to sawing one of her chains atop the other.
==Uryd village==
In an Uryd village on the Laederon Plateau, a dog with a mangled hip and only three legs stirs itself from its rest. The Uryd elders agree that the canine is god-touched, so its presence is tolerated even though it allows no one to approach it. Its eyes reflect a deep bitterness and sorrow. When the dog departs the village, it is noted by two Teblor girls on the brink of adulthood. They are similar in appearance though they were born days apart to different mothers. They share a father neither has ever met, but both have inherited his fearlessness and resolve. With only a shared glance, the girls gather supplies and weapons before following the dog's trail. As it makes its way south, the dog is indifferent to their company.
Back in the village, a mother and daughter learn that their two children have departed. The daughter weeps for her child, while the mother feels a heat low in her body and is lost in her memories.
==An empty plain==
Kruppe sits before a lone fire beneath an empty sky. He has taken to stroking the newly grown hairs upon his chin when lost in thought as he is now. He remembers a song he heard played by a bard during a visit to K'rul's Bar in Darujhistan--a glorious city he is content to have found his place in and saved more than once.
He is soon joined at the fire by K'rul himself with news of some import. The Elder God states he is "not in this war." Kruppe is surprised, but correctly intuits that K'rul is nevertheless the war's prize. K'rul sighs that only his friend Kruppe understands this fact. When the Elder God notes that Kruppe appears sad, he asks the round, little man to unload his burdens. K'rul says he is a good listener. 
Kruppe is reluctant to bother his friend when he is sorely beset, but before he can continue a gaunt, grey-haired stranger joins them. Kruppe sings a fragment of the bard's song, which the newcomer finishes with his own deep voice. Pleased, Kruppe welcomes the man to sit beside them and begins to tell a story...
de:Die Stadt des blauen Feuers/Prolog
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