Gavriel moved through the town like a shadow, every step deliberate. The closer he drew to the square, the louder the panic grew—shouts, crying, the metallic ring of shutters being slammed shut.

People ran past him, faces pale, eyes wild. Mothers clutched children to their chests; shopkeepers shoved crates and barrels into doorways and bolted them. Horses reared as riders forced them onward; a dog yelped and fled into an alley.

The sight that met them at the market was worse than the ...