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Brynn sat astride Runtly near the far end of the long line of To-gai-ru warriors, her position showing her rank within Ashu&039;s band, which was mostly deterher up the ranking, sat a most curious man, dressed in a tan tunic and breeches, finely made, underneath a heavy bearskin wrap, and with a marvelous sash that seemed black most of the tiht, like a tightly woven rainbow

"Another caravan," Brynn remarked, as the Behrenese train ca air ?How stupid are our enemies?"

Brynn had been with Ashu&039;s band for three weeks, and this was the third caravan the rebel leader had found out, and now intended to de-stroy The first two had proven to be easy victories, with the To-gai-ru war-riors sweeping down upon the wagons, slicing apart the drivers and the uards

"The Yatol of Dharyan hears the desperation of To&039;in Ru," the e and well-defended outposter settleainst ?Perhaps the Yatol&039;s compassion for his own people blinds him Or perhaps he does not under-stand our resolve"

Brynn always listened carefully to this s into a different perspective It wasn&039;t always one hich she agreed, as now, but often over the last couple of weeks, she had found herself widening her opinions because of Pagonel&039;s softly spoken words - particularly concerning the Behrenese The others of Ashu&039;s band always referred to theonel And often, Pagonel dared to assuh Ashu surely didn&039;t like hiai-ru rider ca the line to the uarding seven wagons," the man reported ?Just like the last one"

"We should take them as prisoners," Brynn reonel replied quietly

Brynn turned to regard theto him, hut could not deny the truth of his response Ashu had made it per-fectlv clear to all of theai would be allowed to live

Not the women, not the children

Fortunately for Brynn, she had not been forced into killing noncombat-ant women and children as of yet Both of the previous caravans, and this one, too, apparently, had been comprised mostly of soldiers, warriors, in-struht and kill such men, and a fearrior women, with clear conscience, for these were the invaders, the source of To-gai&039;s ills, the people ould destroy the To-gai-ru culture and heritage

The woman tried not to think of the inevitable conflict that would arise between her and the fiery, do leader when at last the warrior band encountered Behrenese noncombatants

She turned her attention to the situation at hand, eyeing the caravan as it h, for in Ashu&039;s sweeping tactics, every role was the same The raiders would wait until the caravan was directly below theh, the force would sweep down the sloping ground, slicing through the caravan like a swar the force with sheer numbers and sheer brutality, and with a deep-set confi-dence, the belief that a To-gai-ru warrior was sihter

The caravan continued along, drivers and guards seean, a ind, a charge, two hundred battle cries rising above the wind

The drivers and soldiers tried to turn the wagons, tried to get into soe was too fast

On Runtly, Brynn leaped ahead of those closest to her, the strong pony outdistancing the others Eager for battle, the young ranger veered in toward the center, outpacing even the strong black-and-white horse of Ashu

She ca across to tell the nearest mounted Behrenese soldier She veered immediately back to the left as she connected, tohis thrusting spear up high

Brynn cut even sharper to the left, with Runtly understanding and ac-cepting the angle and sainst the taller horse of the Behre-nese soldier The horse jumped to the side and thethe soldier across the face with her shield She pulled Runtly up to a rearing stop and turn, and slashed her sword across

The soldier&039;s head dropped to the snow

Runtly burst ahead, leaping the hitch between a pair of horses and the wagon behind the her down the line along the undefended side of the caravan She stabbed at each wagon driver in line, scoring a couple of hits, one fatal, and forcing three other drivers off the other side

All sehtened horses of those four wagons, some aided by a slap on the ru frenzy was just the type of chaos favored by Ashu and his warriors, and each Behrenese, soldier and driver, was quickly isolated from his kin, and quickly slashed, stabbed, or trampled

It was over in aavalanche Only a couple of the Behrenese weren&039;t quite dead, lying bleeding in the snow, cry-ing out in agony, crying out for ons She nore the cries of the wounded

"It is not a pretty business," the er&039;s face

"I do not enjoy the killing," Brynn adrabbed up the loose reins of one team then, and started to turn the at her and then to the side, silentlyfor her to take notice

Brynn turned to see the To-gai-ru line refor his horse slowly toward her

"You fought well this day," the leader observed ?As you have in the last encounters As you did on theyou were taken into ai-ru" She ed a smile ?And none have ever found a betterthat the proud leader wasn&039;t even listening to her

"You will move up seven places in the line, closer to me, I think," Ash-u said offhandedly

Brynn knew that she should be thrilled, but so about his tone and demeanor had her quite concerned

"After you finish the task," he said, and he slowly turned his head to re-gard one of the Behrenese soldiers lying upon the ground, writhing in pain

Brynn looked at theas expected of her But this task hit her hard, assaulting her sensibilities It was one thing to do bat- inst an ene helpless upon the ground in such a light as that?

ooked back to Ashu, to see hi

Brvnn turned to Pagonel for support, for anything, and found hi alternately at her and at the leader, as if weighing both

The seconds slipped past

"Finish the task," Ashu said slowly and deliberately

Brvnn found it hard to draw breath She understood the depth of this trial, understood that if she was not strong, her place aai-ru, would be forever diain, but knew that Ashas unco on this point The raider band did not have the resources to keep pris-oners, to feed them or even to watch over them And since no Behrenese soldiers or caravan drivers would offer any bargaining leverage whatsoever with any of the Yatol leaders, they orthless to Ashu

Brynn scanned the leader and the others again, wishing that she had a way out, but understanding that she most certainly did not She slid down from her pony; she could have done the deed astride, but she didn&039;t want to include Runtly in the dirty business

Her bloody sword in hand, Brynn walked up to a wounded Behrenese She chose the rievously wounded man first, one who could not plead to her, could not even look her in the eye He gasped for breath, blood pouring from his mouth with each exhalation, and Brynn knew that even if Ashu had agreed to taking prisoners, there was nothing that she and the others could do to help this one

JuraviePs warnings about the cruelty of war echoed in the wo thehis misery

The next woundedforher not to strike

Brynn looked up, then closed her eyes She remembered keenly the mo- that awful scene in her head again

She struck, i the man who had killed her parents

And then she walked away She held her sword out to the side and called rorth its fire, using the flames to burn away the bloodstains

She heard the cries of encourageh she did not feellook of Ashu

Or was it an approving look? She had to wonder, for somewhere in the leader&039;s powerful expression, Brynn saw so far less He had chosen her to carry out the executions, under the rational-ization of glory, that she had perfor the battle But in looking at him then, Brynn understood that Ash-u had just tested her, and perhaps, that he had just tried to diminish her, in her own eyes if in no one else&039;s Had Ashu just taken a bit onel, who sat astride his horse, holding Runtly&039;s reins She saw a sadness there, and a measure of sympathy that she had not expected

She took the reins and pulled herself up onto Runtly&039;s strong back, the pony accepting her, as always She took soe her, as she could not help but judge herself

"They were utterly overrun," Wan Atenn reported to Yatol Grysh in the audience chareat temple in Dharyan ?The dead of our people were left on the frozen ground and all but one destroyed wagon was taken" The Chezhou-Lei warrior said it all matter-of-factly, as if the loss of a few soldiers and drivers was no big event

Yatol Grysh s stern look melted away ?And the foodstuffs were prepared as I ordered?" he asked, grinning

"They were"

At Grysh&039;s side, Carwan Pestle shifted in his seat and put a curious look over the Yatol

"The food was poisoned," Grysh happily explained ?That caravan had to ride back and forth several times before the rebels even took notice of it!"

"You sent them out there to be sacrificed?" Pestle asked, in surprise and not in judgerous one," Grysh replied ?Of course, hevery hard not to glance in the direction of any of the several slaves - To-gai-ru all - orking in the temple He had no doubt that word of the treachery would soon spread to the steppes, and to Ashu&039;s ears, but that was part of the fun of it, was it not? He looked to the stunned Carwan Pestle, and was a bit disappointed that his protege hadn&039;t caught on to all of this sooner None of the outposter towns truly needed any supplies, after all, so why had Grysh sent out three sepa-rate caravans?

Pestle was too innocent, the Yatol reasoned, to understand the need of such sacrifices The first two caravans were necessary predecessors to the third batch of poisoned supplies

Of course, even the third was no more than a ruse There were no poi-sons available in any quantities that could kill a large group ofin foodstuffs that would not be readily detectable even casual observation

N this too was a ruse, designed to bolster Ashu&039;s confidence - in own forces, in the incompetence of his ene for him out of Dharyan No doubt one of the &039; rkers in the temple would pass the word of the poisoned food, and an-ther wretched Ru would rush out in the dark of night to find the rebel Grvsh was glad he didn&039;t have to try to hide his sly smile, because he doubted that he could at that tiht hundred trained, pro-fessional soldiers at his disposal

"You are surprised that I take so bold and decisive a step against the fool rebels?" Grysh asked Pestle

"No, Yatol"

"Yes, you are," Grysh corrected ?Why not wait until the spring, after all, e could send the ainst the rabble and be done with the hirin ?Yes, you are surprised, and so our next visi-tor this day should help you to understand"

With that, he looked to Wan Atenn and nodded, and the Chezhou-Lei relayed the signal to one of his guards by the great double doors That man turned out to the hall and clapped his hands sharply, twice, and in walked Woh Lien and Dah twenty-squares

"Yatol," Woh Lien said, snapping into a fors to you, Chezhou-Lei"

"We have come to inform you that our duties here are done The sup-plies have been delivered and distributed Your requested eight-square has been selected fro the finest of our warriors"

"And so you plan to leave?"

"That is our command, Yatol"

To return to Jacintha, where you can chase birds from the fountains?" Grysh asked incredulously ?You are warriors, ht You would turn fro in peace and security?"

Lhezhou-Lei Woh Lien glanced nervously over at his companion, who seemed equally ill-at-ease ?It is not our decision to make, Yatol"

Yet you are the commanders of your respective forces," Grysh coun-tered ?Surely you hold discretion in eency situations"

True, Yatol But there is no such eency Not at this time, at least, and the God-Voice has determined that we are to return, at the first break in the weather"

He continued, but Grysh held up his hand,from Carwan Pestle to Wan Atenn, his expres-sion perfectly conveying a sense of worry - an emotion he certainly did not feel ?And let us pray that the wretch Ashas the first to taste of the last raid&039;s spoils!"

The Yatol, feigning anger and frustration, disrand room, back to his private quarters, an honestly confused and concerned Carwan Pestle close behind

But Yatol Grysh was not concerned Not at all He had ato recognize theto the self-confidence that would ulti- in Dharyan

"You are unnerved," Pagonel remarked to Brynn the day after the cara-van raid Brynn was sitting off to the side of the ca her sword, alone and apparently calh the facade ?It is one thing to kill a man in combat - the rush of fear and the need for self-defense allows for conscious justification But it is quite another to kill a round Be relieved, my friend, that there were no uninjured Behrenese after the raid, no men who had just been knocked aside and captured"

"You presu s your ho To-gai uninvited deserves death," Brynn said with as much conviction as she could ain, with perfect cal ?If you happened upon a settle Behrenese uilt?"

Brynn stared hard at him

"You would put them on the road to their own land, perhaps," the h supplies so that their road would not be dangerous"

Brynn went back to her work on the sword, her expression intense ?You presume much"

"Presumptions, perhaps, but based upon considerable observation," the er ?I watched you at your practice this "

The statement froze Brynn in place She had walked off far fro to practice her bi&039;nelle dasada, the elven sword dance, a ritual that she had been neglecting far too often of late In the elven valley, Brynn had performed the dance nude, but since it "winter here on the steppes, with that constantly chill wind cuttings the iced grasses, she had worn a slight shift that uard, andnude Bi&039;nelle dasada was an intensely rsonal exercise, a disciplined series of elaborate ned to vsically train the muscles in the motions of battle, but even hten the bond between body and onel

"We of Jhesta Tu have sih we rarely fight or practice eapons The Chezhou-Lei warriors do, as well As do certain factions of the Abellican Church to the north I am curious as to how you came to learn such a dance, for yours, I believe, is quite extraordinary"

"It is not your business," Brynn said, with all the warnings of Dasslerond that bi&039;nelle dasada was a secret not to be shared echoing in her ain, pointedly

"One day ill speak of it, I hope But of course, the choice is yours As for the events of yesterday, I alad to see that you are troubled by theain, her expression skeptical, though Pagonel could not be sure if she was trying to deny the premise of his statement, that she was troubled, or if she was uilt