And I remember skidding down the rim of a dry wash, and finding Kar Vastor waiting for me at the bottom.

Kar Vastor—

I have much to say of this lor pelek. Of the powers I have seen him wield, from the drawing of the fever wasps out of Besh and Chalk to the way the jungle itself seems to part for his passage and tangle itself behind. Of his followers: those six Korunnai he calls the Akk Guards, men he’s made into lesser echoes of himself. How he has trained them in their signature weapons—those terrifying “vibroshields”—that he had designed and built. Even the smallest details: the primal ferocity of his gaze, the jungle-noise growl of his wordless voice, and how you hear his meaning as though it were your own voice whispering inside your head—all deserve more depth of comment than I can give them here.

I’m not sure why it took me so long to understand that he and I are natural enemies.


- Shatterpoint, Chapter 9