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The sed his horse forward At once, the jostling ceased and the s hissed softly as a breeze rose Bulkezu ruled his ar his troops Lord Wich the Qureat their prowess in battle

He bent down fro it fall through his hands before lifting it up again, testing the weight and silkiness between his fingers The young woh maybe she was only shocked into a stupor

Bulkezu had decided to take her for himself

He called out orders Then they all waited with that seeht guards rode away to the vanguard Bulkezu whistled merrily while he waited; soging therief and fear broke out a wo as she looked for help, for succor, for escape--hard to say

Hanna uards returned with all five of Bulkezu’s current concubines, to be handed over to theover the neo in a root cellar--threw herself down before his horse, crying and pleading, trying to grab his boot and hang on Bulkezu, laughing, kicked her in the face and signaled to a soldier to drag her away

Hanna used the cover of this mild disturbance to ride in close to the new captive She bent forward as she passed, spoke quickly and in a low voice, hoping the girl had wits enough to pay attention "No flattery No whining No fear Don’t cry"

Then she had crossed beyond her, not daring to turn to see how the wo as one of the soldiers who had started the fighting over the new captive hauled her away The old captives merely watched, too ill, too weak, or too hopeless to react A few enterprising children, groise frolect, sidled over to the families of those taken away They kneho had access to food: the ones who pleased their masters

After all, the Quman treated their favored slaves no worse than the prisoners treated each other

"Men are ho fight over women," Bulkezu said suddenly in Wendish as he rode up beside Hanna They now sat far enough away from the prisoners that none could overhear them

"Why do you take so ain you nothing What you want them all for?"

"I want them so Wendar suffers"

Truly, he killed the? How does it help you, how do you enrich yourself, by ruining Wendar? Do you hope to rule here? You would have done better to offer hters"

He spat "What et? I’ll take the king’s daughter as hters have their own armies They aren’t as easy to capture as these poor, defenseless townsfolk What honor is there for a great warrior like you in defeating people such as these?" She gestured toward the prisoners

His wings sighed as wind brushed through theht he had not heard her, or was not listening His night guard, silent astride their horses, waited patiently In a way, it was as if she and Bulkezu sat alone, separated frouard, by the same unnatural mist that had protected him from the shadow elves

She looked around, half expecting to see his shaman, but all she saere soldiers, their campfires and bivouac tents, and the crowd of prisoners and livestock winding away along the track as they found a place to settle down for the night Fields stretched away on either side, delicate shoots of winter wheat trampled into the rowth, cut back by the villagers’ need for firewood and building e, now deserted The ten lucky souls she had chosen for freedom had not stayed to see if Qu

"They hate me in my own country," Bulkezu said at last, softly "The Pechanek elders have groeak and cowardly We were driven out of our pastures by the Shatai, and the southern Tarbagai is closed to us because of the Ungrians, those bastards, may their testicles rot Now h, that son of a bitch, and he’s handsomer than me, too"