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"Where is your uncle now?"

Tavi shook his head, and his expression twisted with pain "Here Was supposed to be hoht him back" Tears had started down his cheeks, and A them

She needed information, yes But she couldn&039;t torment an unconscious child for it He needed rest If he was the Steadholder&039;s nephew, and thehim home safely and almost certainly secure the Steadholder&039;s enthusiastic cooperation

"&039;M sorry," the boy said, broken and still weeping quiet tears "I tried Sorry"

"Shhhh," she said She used an edge of the cloak to wipe the tears away "Time to rest now Lay down and rest, Tavi"

He subsided, and she frowned down at hi his hair back from his fevered forehead while he slept If a lone Marat was in the Valley, perhaps the Steadholder had gone to hunt it down But if so, then ould this boy be along? He had no particular skill at crafting, she judged, or he would have used it when the wind them He bore no weapons, no equip the Marat

Amara inverted the idea Had it hunted the folk of Bernardholt? Possible, particularly from the Herdbane tribe, if all that she heard of the Marat was true They were a cold and calculating people, as ruthless and deadly as the animals that accepted them as one of their own

But Marat didn&039;t often take more than one beast as what sufficed to describe the ter? She shook her head with a shiver The savages&039; ere still alien to her, so fantastic from a tale rather than the businesslike reality she had learned from classes in the Academy

Hordemasters took more than one beast, commonly, as a sy in the Calderon Valley?

Invading

Her own silent response to the thought gave her a little chill Could the holders have run into the advance scouts of a Marat attack force?

The attack could hardly coeous time for the ene down for the winter season here aiven winter furlough with their fa down the frantic labor of harvest into the sedate pace of winter

If the Marat attacked the Valley now, providing the forces stationed at Garrison were neutralized, they could wipe out every person in it and h all the steadholts, practically all the way back to Riva itself They h, simply pour around the city and into Alera&039;s interior Aht accomplish in that event She had to contact the Count at Garrison- his na like that-and put hi about the Marat? Or rih the memorization of the Lords and Counts had been one of the e of this Steadholder Bernard or

of the folk of the Valley By all accounts, they were a tough and independentlyabout their reliability or lack of it

She had to talk to this Bernard If he had indeed seen a Marat horde- birds of the outland plains, then she had to know it, secure his support (and hopefully some new clothes with it), and act

She frowned But she could expect the opposition to beas well Fidelias had lead her into a trap she had escaped by the sins She had been pursued for several hours and escaped the Knights Aeris sent after her through skill and good fortune Did she suppose that Fidelias would not continue the pursuit?

In all probability, she realized, his business lay here, in the Calderon Valley That had to be one of the reasons Gaius sent her here Fidelias was her patnserus Or had been, she thought, with a bitter taste in her mouth She knew hih his deception at the renegade cah only barely

What would Fidelias do?

He would judge her by her previous actions, of course He would expect her to arrive in the valley and pro inforathered, to take action against whatever was happening, whether it est steadholts orthe men of the Valley and the troops of Garrison to meet it

And ould he do to stop it?

He&039;d findthe holders until his plan could begin

A slow chill went through her She considered the situation again, but it was perfectly typical of Fidelias He preferred simple approaches, direct solutions Keep lies simple, he had always told her, keep plans simple Leave them open to modification, and use your eyes, your head, more than any plan

Word of a Cursor in the Valley would spread aht as well paint a circle over her heart and wait for an arrow to soar into its center A slow chill crawled through her He would kill her, now Fidelias had given her a chance, and she had made him suffer for it He would not allow hiain Her teacher would kill her, without a ain

"That&039;s what I&039;ain

Though she tried to tell herself that it was not fear coloring her decision, she felt it, tickling at her belly, racing with cold spider-fingers up and down her spine She could not allow herself the luxury of openly invoking her authority and revealing herself to Fidelias To do so would be to invite her own death, swift and certain She had to remain quiet, as covert as possible A runaway slave would be a far less unusual occurrence here at the frontier than an e of possible invasion She couldn&039;t allow her identity to be known until she kneho she could trust, who could give her information that would let her act decisively To do any less would be to invite her own death, and possibly disaster upon the Valley

She looked down at the boy, her thoughts still in a tangle He hadn&039;t needed to co, but he had The boy had courage, even if he lacked so colad that he did That said so of him, and in turn of the folk who had raised him In his sleep, in his fever, he had spoken not to a mother or a father, but to his aunt, whose name apparently was Isana An orphan?

Amara mused, and as she did, her belly ru the trees planted around the pool As she expected, she foundthele consequence inthis Memorium for his fallen son, he had raised a spectacular tribute to the Princeps&039; h Lords exactly what power he coe for hients) all at the same time

She picked fruit fro the area around her Aenuine shields and eapons, the short, vicious blades of the Royal Guard, meant to be used in close quarters, to incapacitate or kill in a single blow She slid one froe proved to be keen, and she returned it to its resting place Food, shelter, and arlad for it

Her arlanced at the dirtied bandage on it She retrieved the knife froe from the the old one off, cleaning the wound with fresh water, and applying

fresh wrappings Soed at her attention, but she pushed it firmly away There ork to be done

A peacefully She gathered fruit onto one of the shields, using it as a platter, and rested it near hi in the pool and used branches from the small trees to dry them over one of the other fires She called upon the weary Cirrus to stand guard around the Memorium and to warn her should anyone approach And when those chores were done, she found a s the soil of the plants and used it to hone the edge of her knife

That hen the tears took her When the memories of years of instruction, conversation, of life shared with theback over her She had loved hier of her work, loved the experiences he shared with her, loved the life to which she had been called He had knoa Cursorto help her with her studies, with graduating fro except tell you the truth A, and she let theainst the Realered all that she had struggled to achieve, to fight to protect He had declared his life&039;s purpose as a Cursor to be eless, and by extension, hers as well His actions, not his words, said that it all had been a hollow, vicious lie

No matter what happened to Amara, she would stop him Whatever he had planned, however he had justified it, Fidelias was a traitor That cold fact struck her through the heart, again and again The knife whispered it, as the stone glided along the blade&039;s edge, the steel wetted with her own tears Traitor Traitor She would stop him She had to stop him

Amara did not let herself make a sound She buried the sobs in her belly, until her throat ached with the pain of holding thee of the little knife, until it gleaht from the fire