The funeral procession meandered down the winding, tree-lined avenue that led to the bottom of the hill. Then they reached the streets of Oste, empty and silent; the procession went past the houses and other buildings largely unobserved.
As if hearing in this hush a signal, the slow-moving line of biers and people also fell silent.
And so, when they turned the corner and reached the main street that would lead to the place where a multitude of humanity had converged, they heard the subtle rumble and the muffled roaring even from a distance.
As they walked farther down that wide road, the roaring steadily grew—they sensed it not only with their ears but also with their very skins.
When the head of the column was still ten yards away from the city's grand square, the people who'd gathe
