I didn’t know. But the thing was done. Difethwr and its legion were in Hell, and I was free of the mark’s torments. There still had been no burning, no weakness, no surges of uncontrollable anger. All seemed well. For now, anyway.

As I slipped into sleep, I heard a noise. It sounded like a laugh, a deep rumble that rose up through the floor and grew, many voices joining together in a crescendo before sinking back into silence. I’d heard that laugh somewhere before, hadn’t I?

Or maybe it was just a dream.