Joe Abercrombie: Before They Are Hanged

“You’re the chief.” Tul turned and strode off through the trees.

“It’s decided.” And Black Dow followed him.

“Uh,” said Grim, shrugging his shoulders and making off with the other two.

“But,” muttered the Dogman. “Hold on…”

They’d gone. So he guessed that made him chief.

He stood there for a moment, blinking, not knowing what to think. He was never leader before. He didn’t feel no different. He didn’t have any ideas, all of a sudden. No notions of what to tell men to do. He felt like an idiot. Even more of one than usual.

He knelt down, between the graves, and he stuck his hand in the soil, and he felt it cold and wet around his fingers. “Sorry, girl,” he muttered. “Didn’t deserve this.” He gripped the ground tight, and he squeezed it in his palm. “Fare you well, Threetrees. I’ll try and do what you’d have done. Back to the mud, old man.”

And he stood up, and he wiped his hand on his shirt, and he walked away, back to the living, and left the two of them behind him in the earth.

Four people without whom…

Bren Abercrombie, whose eyes are sore from reading it

Nick Abercrombie, whose ears are sore from hearing about it

Rob Abercrombic, whose fingers are sore from turning the pages

Lou Abercrombie, whose arms are sore from holding me up

Also…

Jon Weir, for putting the word out

Simon Spanton, for not putting the boot in

And who could forget…

Gillian Redfearn, who not only made it happen, but made it better

Copyright © Joe Abercrombie 2007 All rights reserved

The right of Joe Abercrombie to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in Great Britain in 2007 by Gollancz

An imprint of the Orion Publishing Group

Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin’s Lane, London WC2H 9EA

This edition published in Great Britain in 2008 by Gollancz 13579 10 8642

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 9780575082014

Typeset at The Spartan Press Ltd, Lymington, Hants

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham plc, Chatham, Kent

www.joeabercrombie.com

The Orion Publishing Group’s policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

www.orionbooks.co.uk