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Pagonel let hio For the price of a few easily replaced coins, he had defused the situation That was his duty as a brother of Jhesta Tu They were not a warlike order

But, if pressed

Pagonel took a long look at the Coe in his an to taunt the onel&039;s way, and one even spitting at hiai-ru innkeeper said quietly, bending low so that only Pagonel could hear

"Don&039;t pay hilass of water before the onel started to explain, but the innkeeper shook his head and held out his hand, showing that he wouldn&039;t have accepted any money even if it had been offered

"Perhaps someday you&039;ll tell me tales of your order in payonel

The innkeeper shrugged and sonel left the common room a short while later, to the jeers and spit of the Behrenese soldiers

He accepted it

He filed it away in a place in his et

Outside, the mystic brushed hi his center

"You gave him free drink!" he heard the commander shout, bacjt within the co his ear toward the door

"And so free drinks will be the way of the night," the commander de\; "It was only water," the innkeeper protested

"And he was only a Jhesta Tu dog," the commander shouted back ?If he is worth water, then my soldiers are worth all of the drink that you have and all of the money as well!"

The innkeeper&039;s protest was cut short by a sharp slap

The cries of the soldiers, calling for drink, and of the coy and all the money within the coed open

All eyes turned to see the Jhesta Tuin the open portal, expression cal vulnerable

Deceptively so, the first soldier to attack hi He hardly saw Pagonel move, and so he was completely off-balance as he so forward

A hand ca, but perfectly aionel&039;s other hand grabbed at the back of his belt as he stu to tued in, side by side, the one on Pagonel&039;s right co a sword hori-zontally before hiht tuck had thesword He reversed hisa kick to the side of the soldier&039;s knee, caving in the leg

Pagonel leaped and shoulder-rolled right over the soldier&039;s shoulders as the htly on his feet next to the dropping man&039;s companion, within reach of the cumbersome spear

His open-palh force into the center of the soldier&039;s chest to take his breath and his strength away The soldier gave a great gasp, gulping air, and collapsed to his knees

Pagonel reached with his right leg across the kneeling ht, launching thesoldier, tripping hi soldier, lifting off lightly into the air, right in the middle of three more startled soldiers

He kicked left with his left foot, right with his right, then straight ahead with the left, before ever touching the ground, and threeaway

As he touched down, the mystic skittered out to the left, toward the bar As he approached another table, he made a move as if to leap it, then ducked fast and skittered under instead

A soldier, falling for the ruse, swept his spear across above the tabletop, then tried to recover fast and stoop down to stab at the h the wooden table, snapping a clean handle He grabbed the bending soldier by the hair and snapped his ar out as he did, so that when the soldier&039;s face sh force to shatter the piece of furniture, Pagonel was already co out the far side

He looked more like a dancer than a warrior as he crossed the roo the floor, the chairs, the tables or, i at all However the ht before the stunned com-mander in a matter of moments

The co at Pagonel with a sht hand ca fast, to catch the inside of the commander&039;s wrist Thethe back of the knife hand and bending it in forcefully and painfully, taking the knife ahile hardly slowing

Up went the knife, into the air, and Pagonel let go with his right and backhanded the co slap across the face, followed by a forehand, followed by a backhand fro with a fourth slap, an open forehand with the left

Pagonel caught the knife as it dropped and snapped his hand across again, replacing the blade in the dazed coain, then do so with onel warned ?That was the one lesson I offer you for free"

The coe and he retracted his arh, and looked about at his soldiers, several on the ground and the others staring back with confusion and obvi-ous fear The leader collected hiave you once," he started, but he was interrupted al so that only he could hear

"Be gone froonel warned ?Do so immediately and save your pride and save your life"

The coain, at the fallen and the stunned, then he looked down to his own hand, to the knife replaced, to the knife that had sorasp

"Gather your fellows!" he roared at his coht out of the common room

The firstback into the tavern at that precise moment, and the coing, though all who had wit-nessed understood their profound relief, the other soldiers followed

"Coive you for this," the innkeeper warned quietly ?He will see you dead"

"Indeed," Pagonel replied, and he accepted another glass of water and drained it quickly

Then, after he heard the pounding hooves of Aklai&039;s departing forces, the mystic walked out of the co until he had put the village far behind hih the weather became colder and less hospitable

One day, with fine snow flying sidelong in the frigid wind, Pagonel found a co He sat cross-legged, hands on thighs, palh his body, one step at a ti the rhyth it froonel&039;s mind replayed the events of the last weeks Why had he coht he find there?

Also, in that trance, the Jhesta Tu s, toward his heritage, the To-gai-ru, and toward the Behrenese invaders It wasn&039;t a onel understood well that such sweeping generalizations could not be leveled upon entire races of people - races comprised, ultimately, of individuals But there was a matter of justice and iai - unprovoked, by all accounts - and they were not acting the role of benefi-centline of his predecessors in declaring the Jhesta Tu heretics, could so siai, then what of the Mountains of Fire? Everyone knew that the true ai was the lucrative trade in To-gai ponies, whatever front story concerning To-gai as a lost province of the Behrenese kingdoness to conquer and hts to the region surrounding the Walk of Clouds, with all its riches in minerals?

"Is that the reason onel asked quietly, his voice drowned away by the howling wind ?Am I to view the precursor to the attack upon hout the rest of the day and the night, and when the next rasses, the h another town that day andnorth

All through the journey, Pagonel sat quiet and listened to the tales of frustration, the anger, to tales of horror, where family members had been stolen away by Behrenese soldiers In all that chatter, the only real measure of hope that the ue leader, Ashho was apparently operating in the area

Pagonel decided then and there that he would seek out this rogue leader