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He kneed Chafer again and left round around Sirlofty’s feet until I found the stone Duril had been "killing"up the stones had been my own idea at first; I think the first few times I was slain, I had taken to heart the concept that had Duril truly been hostile, my life would have ended in that an to take pains to find interesting stones to use in his sling This time it was a river-worn piece of crude red jasper half the size of an egg I slipped it into my pocket to add to my rock collection on the shelf in ed Sirlofty to catch up with Chafer

We rode toward the river, stopping on a tall scarp that looked out over the lazily flowing Tefa River From where we sat our mounts, we could look down atthe one that rested fallow this year It was easy to tell which field was in its third year of cultivation and close to the end of its agricultural usefulness The plants there were stunted and scrubby Prairie land seldo Next year, that field would lie fallow, in hopes of reviving it

My father’s holdings, Widevale, were a direct grant to hi Troven They spanned both sides of the Tefa River and many acres beyond in all directions The land on the north side of the river was reserved for his immediate family and closest servants Here he had built his manor house and laid out his orchards and cotton fields and pasturage Someday the Burvelle estate and manor would be a well-known lands near Old Thares The house and grounds and even the trees were younger than I was

My father’s aricultural holdings On the south side of the river, enerous tracts of land for the vassals he recruited fro the soldiers who had once served under his command The town had become a much-needed retirement haven for foot soldiers and noncommissioned officers when they mustered out of the service My father had intended that it be so Without Burvelle Landing, or simply Burvelle as it was one back west to the cities to become charity cases or worse My father often said it was a shame that no system existed to utilize the skills of soldiers too old or too maimed to soldier on Born to be a soldier and an officer, ranted it, but he wore it with a military air He still held hi of his e" his surveyors had laid out on the south bank of the river had the straight lines and the fortification points of a fortress The village dock and the small ferry that operated between the north and south banks of the river ran precisely on the hour Even the six-dayat dawn and closing at sundown The streets had been engineered so that tagons could pass one another and a horse and teaht roads, like the spokes of a wheel, led out of the village to the carefullyfour days a week on e thrived, and threatened soon to become a town, for the folk had the added benefit of the traffic along the river and on the river road that followed the shoreline His old soldiers had brought their wives and families with theo off to becohters stayed, andmen skilled in needed trades elcomed the idea of brides who ca prospered

Traffic between the eastern frontier and old Fort Renalx to the west of us was frequent along the river road In winters, when the waters of the river ran high and strong, barges laden with is from the wild forests of the east moved ith the current, to return later laden with essential supplies for the forts Teae mules had worn a dusty trail on the south bank of the river In suh water to keep the barges froe had a reputation for honest taverns and good beer; the teaht

But today, the seasonal traffic that crawled along the road was not so convivial The slow parade ofin the wake of their passage Armed men rode up and down the lines Their distant shouts and the occasional crack of a ere carried to us on the light wind from the river