Bones of the dead left lying on the ground.
One more day and they will never be found.
Ragpicker, ragpicker, you never know
There are rags to be found wherever you go.
He sang it softly, repeated it a few times for emphasis, rearranging the words, and then went quiet. An interesting diversion, but massively unproductive. He had hoped the two creatures might have information about the man with the black staff, but they had disappointed him. So he would have to continue the search without any useful information to aid him. All he knew was what he sensed, and what he sensed would have to be enough for now.
The man he sought was somewhere close, probably somewhere up in those mountains ahead. So eventually he would find him.
Eventually.
The ragpicker allowed himself a small smile. There was no hurry. Time was something he had as much of as he needed.
Time didn’t really matter when you were a demon.
BY TERRY BROOKS
Shannara
FIRST KING OF SHANNARA
THE ELFSTONES OF SHANNARA
THE WISHSONG OF SHANNARA
The Heritage of Shannara
THE SCIONS OF SHANNARA
THE DRUID OF SHANNARA
THE ELF QUEEN OF SHANNARA
THE TALISMANS OF SHANNARA
The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara
ILSE WITCH
ANTRAX
MORGAWR
JARKA RUUS
TANEQUIL
THE WORLD OF SHANNARA
The Magic Kingdom of Landover
MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE—SOLD!
THE BLACK UNICORN
WIZARD AT LARGE
THE TANGLE BOX
WITCHES’ BREW
Word and Void
RUNNING WITH THE DEMON
ANGEL FIRE EAST
In memory of Christina Michelle George and Caleb Alexander Delp
and
in celebration of readers like them everywhere
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TERRY BROOKS is the New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including The Sword of Shannara, The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy: Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr, the High Druid of Shannara trilogy, which includes Jarka Ruus and Tanequil, the non-fiction book Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life, and the novel based upon the screenplay and story by George Lucas, Star Wars®: Episode I The Phantom Menace™. His novels Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word were selected by the Rocky Mountain News as two of the best science fiction/fantasy novels of the twentieth century.
The author was a practicing attorney for many years but now writes full-time. He lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.