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He saw strange long-necked birds which stood on legs as tall as a horse, and a er who flew off east on the Golden Road on a vulture that had the wingspan near that of a on He s Djer identified as platinu from exhilaration to sick exhaustion in six wild hours There were piles of tiave off sparks when struck with a piece of flint, crystals that gathered the sun’s heat during the day and wars and told stories to aic, as art, and as craft could not be said except by the makers, orked with all three to produce the wonders of the bazaar of Wa’ah

Auron carried the sights, smells, and sounds of the land of the Golden Road between the Rivers for the rest of his life

The barbarians ht Auron heard the far-off clamor of battle before dawn, followed by the nearer sound of dwarves blowing their alarm horns The round horns, wound once around the torso at the shoulder with the bell baffled so the sound was projected in all directions, cut through the on’s battle screaed for defense, with the three towers as corners of a triangle filled by wagons running like the walls of a castle between theaps with barrels, boxes, and beaap with Auron’s stoutly built treasure wagon Auron had no role in the drill, nor could he find Djer, so he dashed to the northernet a better view Panting fro up to the crow’s nest The dwarf above stamped his feet in excite clouds gold, there was ht for Auron to see the panoply of attack A long colu itself into three separate wedges like an approaching hydra The farthest off turned and made for the Golden Road, the ’s warehouses, and the nearest turned for the riverbank

"They’re notto cross the river," a dwarf in the watchtower called down to the commodore "We’re safe!"

"Can’t you hear the horses?" Auron asked "To the west, to the west, dwarf!"

The watchrip on the rail and leaned out to look at the steppe and brought a glass to his eye "Noyesno, is there so down the pole

Below, in the command cupola, the co out to the steppe Anxious dwarves stood all around Auron reversed hi down to hear the conversation below

"By the hammer that lass lenses "We bought cattle fro with every boy and graybeard who can ride We’re too spaced out The towers can hardly cover the walls, let alone each other," he said to Esef, who had puffed his way up the ladders at the alarotten lazy in these smooth days of peace"

The co-trumpet to his mouth "Wind every crossbow and stand to the walls, O Dwarves! Stout arms and hearts, or our names’ll beline inch across the steppes The horse pell-mell for the towers Whoever led the Kun-Dhlo kne to discipline the warriors

The same could not be said for the warriors on the other side of the river Auron saw that one of the suerzain’s warehouses was already aflaan to burn as screams and the noise of battle, like a thousand frantic blacks out tin pots, floated from the far bank of the river

"What’ll it be, sir?" Esef asked "We can save many lives if we abandon the stock and keep to the towers They want our goods, not our lives"

The coh feet like a horse eager to be off "Dwarves don’t abandon their own I’ve a duty to the Company, as does every dwarf here, to old"

"Give enaldwarf said, but the elders ignored hi a trench In my youth, before the suerzain’s family came to power here, ere ret it now," the commodore said "Go down and open the stores If there are any mail shirts, hand theo?" Auron asked as Esef spoke into one of the tubes

The coht you were the tail of the banner hanging down Stay in the towers, young drake! It’s the safest place We ood many dwarves, not to mention our stock"

"Where’s Djer?"

Esef raised his face froe should be, at the barricade"