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Rael swore as sweat rolled into his eyes and he blinked furiously to ease the burning He used his shield to smash aside the vicious hooked blade of a Melac spear his sword around, over, and down onto the h flesh and bone was absorbed by the sounds of battle Beneath hi Rael time to yank free his blade, turn, and open the face of the s and the warhorse leaped forward Another Melacian went down, gurgling blood, his ribs ain front of them but a rock-strewn slope, and the stallion stretched into a canter They thundered up the hill, wheeled at the crest, and looked down over the valley The warhorse stopped so suddenly at Rael&039;s command that the prince rocked in the saddle After four passes across the valley, cutting their way through the enemy position, the animal knew that this was his chance to rest and he stood, sides heaving, while Rael, no less winded, lifted his visor to better suck in great lungfuls of air Beside and behind him, other meHale&039;s horsehtly armored than the Elite, darted in and out of theThe space was too enclosed for their speed andthe flanks of the eneuards of Belkar, Cei, and Aliston fought in cluth and skill when they could to the farht beside the as units to do hter of the common folk Over it all, crows and other carrion birds rode the updrafts, waiting for nightfall and their time in the valley

Safely out of it for the moment, Rael was conscious of the noise in a way he hadn&039;t had tiht It filled the bowl of the valley, the deep-voiced defiance of thousands of men and the slareater noise where the fighting was fiercest, and every now and then a screah s sounded very h someone else&039;s ust and shame-at what he&039;d seen and what he&039;d done His ability to feel had gone as nu the outs and sweat His brain had apparently decided to concentrate on the essentials, survival and command, and let all else wait until later "Much later, " he prayed, re the butchery of the first charge "Please, much later

"Over there, look!"

Down the line, one of the Elite called and pointed and the ht fro eneh the rest of the Elite saw the arrows as sainst the sky and could tell only by their direction which side fired and which died, with his mother&039;s eyes, Rael watched each double-barbed arrow land, diving deep to burrow through armor and into the soft ood

"Cristof lost his horse, Coot out on his Half&039;s stirrup And we&039;ve got two cut reins from those dah his thoughts and, glad for an excuse to stop watching the carnage, he turned to face the officer

"Keep the Halves together " That ht in pairs; each man a Half and each man&039;s Half closer to him than mere comrade or friend It was not a co to make and those men eren&039;t stayed in the Guard, but it was a part of why the Elite fought so fiercely; each Half knew another&039;s life depended on his skill "Have Cristof&039;s Half give his reins to repair the two reins cut Then the Pair can head back, get outfitted again and rejoin us on the far side of the valley after the next pass "

"Very good, sir " The standard response sounded like praise An unorthodox solution, perhaps, but it kept together three Pairs ould have otherwise been split The Firstorders The company&039;s respite was nearly over

"Yes, Coood " It seemed Doan&039;s surly chestnut could move as silently as its rider One moment the space to Rael&039;s left stood eth of Doan&039;s legs, there could be no other word for it-on his horse beside hi as well You were right, the ene to have us thunder down and through the middle of their position "

Rael searched the captain&039;s words for sarcasment of success He was alar ht and nodded at the blood that clotted and congealed down the prince&039;s leg

Rael looked down and shrugged "Not mine " He turned and studied his arar touched a dent in the side of his hel for a while, but I&039;ht they&039;d throw rocks?"

A quick glance around showed the Elite to be ready Rael, prince and coe of his sword, touched his heels to his horse, and led the Elite on another slash of destruction through the foe

The command tent was hot, smoky and entirely too full of sweaty, tired men; three dukes and Aliston&039;s heir, for the Duke of Aliston was too old to travel so far and far too old to fight, eleven captains, the king, and the prince, all with the s to them Sweet candles had been lit, but the odor of blood and death refused to be defeated by jasritted his teeth and hoped his nose would go numb to this as well

"We have to keep hiainst the nu jabbed at the e Plateau, he&039;ll be able to expand his front beyond our ability to contain hiot the manpower to flank us easily "

"I hardly think easily, Sire " Hale played with one beaded end of his e as well "

"Well, I don&039;t think every horse in your province could stop the nu into the field " Cei dabbed at his dripping nose with a square of cotton "You can&039;t herd men like cattle, you know "

Hale raised both brows in a barely polite expression "Oh? Can&039;t I?"

"Gentlee "It&039;s a moot point what Hale&039;s horse Melac out of the valley even if he dudo, " Belkar added dryly

"Yes well " Raen directed their attention back to the map "I think we can all see why he chose this pass The Melac side h, but it opens so sained it&039;s daainst hie wrapped around his knuckles and shook his head

"And unfortunately thisto our side of the mountains "

"Fortunately for us, " Hale corrected shting the ainst his superior numbers "

Cei sniffed and rubbed at his nose His already lachrymose disposition had not been improved by a reaction to the plant life of the area "What I don&039;t understand is hohole ar

What I want to know is, eren&039;t Riven and Lorn watching their borders?"

"They were Only by their vigilance did we e to arrive in tione a lot worse with us if the Dukes Riven and Lorn had not been watching their borders And it would go a lot worse for us now if they and theirsure that this is the only breach Melac makes "

Cei hunched his bony shoulders under the lash of the king&039;s voice

"What a tension, "is how they ever ree that the attack would coree whose province this valley is in " He stretched out long legs, still in stained riding leathers "I suppose if in, they&039;ll both claim it"

Belkar nodded "And if we lose, neither ant it "

Many of theDukes of Riven and Lorn were cousins, born less than two days apart They had ascended their Seats within a year of each other and were alike right down to their taste in women and tinder-dry tempers Tempers that had flared lately over a woman they both had a taste for

Rael breathed a quiet prayer of thanks that neither duke was present In reenerally affectionate, bickering, Hale had averted a potentially bad situation For all his wild-s-and the barbaric affectation of his beaded mustache-Hale was a born diplomat The prince hoped that someday he&039;d be half that smooth

"I don&039;t think we&039;ve anyday, gentlemen, and we all need some sleep It&039;ll be more of the same to into sroups outside the command tent as they headed back to theirstood and put his arm around his son&039;s shoulders as they walked to the open flap

"I was proud of you today, son You fought well " Rael flushed "I did no more than any man, sir " Raen smiled "Yes, well, I was proud of theether and stood breathing deeply, clearing their lungs of candle smoke and their minds momentarily of battle plans Two of the Palace Guard stepped forward to escort the king to his tent Raen turned and cupped his son&039;s face between his hands

"And what did you think of your first day&039;s battle?" he asked quietly

Rael looked past the nu had finished "I hated it "

"Good " Raen kissed his child on the forehead yes, still his child in spite of size and age and armor- and allowed the Guard to lead him away

In the tent he shared with his ared off the worst of the battle

The old servant reen bruises began to show against the clean skin He wanted to scold but couldn&039;t for fear of waking Rutgar who already slept, one arht He turned down the blanket, triested he pour wine had the prince not disathered up the day&039;s clothes and left

Rael threw himself on his pallet and stared up at the canvas above his head

"Hey " Rutgar had risen up on one elbow "You okay?"

Rael turned so he could see his arrinned "Nah, who could sleep with all that serving going on "

Both young aze on the outer chamber where Ivan still puttered about, then Rael! leaned back and sighed "Rutgar, you&039;ve fought before, haven&039;t you?"

"Yes, Coo "

"How did you feel?"

Rutgar studied the prince&039;s profile There was a tightness to it that had not been there before "How do you feel now?" he asked instead of answering

"Nu "

The armsman nodded "That&039;s how I felt, " he said and chewed his lip at the ain "I don&039;t think I like it, this not feeling "

"Don&039;t worry, " Rutgar&039;s voice was caught in the battles of two summers past,

"it wears off " He reached up and pinched out the lahness "

The man should have been dead With every beat of his hearthole in his chest, but still he advanced His lips drew back in a rictus grin, blackened, rotted and fell away The flesh of his face writhed withoff to expose the yellow skull beneath

Rael gagged on the stench and tried to back away, but his feet see, looked down, and saw that skeletal hands rising out of the earth held hi into his ankles and anchored the deep into his bones

Still the Melacian spear corpse hardly more than an arm&039;s reach away

The smell clotted into solid asped for air

He waved his sword at the monstrosity before him and found to his horror that the blade had beco surface of his mother&039;s tree The bark bled and called his nahness! Coar&039;s hands were on his shoulders and nothing was coar&039;s mouth twisted in syently

"I was dreahtmares for months after the Tantac raids " He sat back on his heels "Still do occasionally "

Rael released his grip on his blankets and lightly touched the back of Rutgar&039;s hand Warar srin "I&039;uard your back, Commander It&039;s just a part of the service "

His coed a weak sar reassured hi to his own pallet "Too bad in a way If the horror of wars stayed with us, reed And lay for a long ti from across the tent

So ended the Ardhan ar hi he was already too late to help, and noas trapped The Elite were the best and he had no doubt that one man at a time he could cut his way back to the Ardhan lines But the enemy didn&039;t face him one man at a time, or even two or three, there were a dozen at least And he was surrounded Through the bars of his visor he saw the last of his comrades break free of the battle and ride up the slope of the valley He raised his sword in a fast salute and prepared to die