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J hree twenty-squares," Pagonel reported to Brynn that tenth day of Bafway, the third month of the year The warrior woonel said soreater," the woue, but paused and stared at Brynn&039;s knowing s up the soldiers willing to ride with Brynn Dharielle, and the nu that Brynn dared hope after the disaster at Dharyan with Ashu, for her reputation froht at the Mountains of Fire had swept across the grassy steppes like wildfire If this woai, could destroy such a collection of Chezhou-Lei, and send a Jacintha twenty-square fleeing at the saai-ru have to fear? And so her arerly followed her down from the plateau divide and into the desert sands of Behren, some distance to the south of Dharyan

"We have near to six thousand warriors," Brynn said to the doubting onel re the common folk, as you ordered They will not rejoin us for anotheris on in full Even then, by going east, you are ignoring the ai, and now behind our lines"

"You do not agree with ave a helpless chuckle in the face of Brynn&039;s too-innocent tone ?I aainst your choices," he explained ?As you asked of hed aloud and squeezed her dear friend&039;s shoulder Indeed, she had instructed Pagonel to play the part of her conscience and her better judgument he could nd for alternate courses She just never realized how good the mystic would ,e at such a task! ?Four thousand will be more than I need," Brynn decided ?Dharyan "Burned by the fires of a dragon?" the mystic asked ?I warn you, the city has ballista emplace Agradeleous down to the ground, and on the ground, he would face a concentrated barrage that even his great arradeleous will play a small role, if any," Brynn replied, and the mys-tic&039;s expression became one of surprise ?I do not need him for this"

"But"

Brynn noticed that some of her other coon

"I will use Yatol Grysh&039;s confidence against him," Brynn explained ?But we must strike quickly, before the three twenty-squares can be deployed outside of the city"

"You will attack a walled and fortified city, defended by fifteen hundred skilled warriors and a like number of conscripts, with a force of only four thousand?" asked one of her cois Troudok

"No," Brynn corrected ?We will attack a fortified city garrisoned by a cou-ple of hundred soldiers with a force that nu at her curiously, but Brynn only smiled She had learned so much in her years with the Touel&039;alfar, and their under-standing of battle, s her ti the history of Behren ai

She understood the Behrenese comman-ders&039; expectations and likely reactions, particularly those of Yatol Grysh

Yes, Brynn could smile She knew her eneerness to repeat the great victory he had known over Ashu She kne to tease him with just that possibility, and then how to take it away, oh so brutally

"He is not happy," Juraviel said to Brynn later that saradeleous in their separate ca that marked the boundaries be-tween the two countries, and soers for blood," Brynn said with obvious distaste

"He hungers for adventure," Cazzira explained ?Agradeleous is a pa-tient creature, but you have kept hi in no capacity other than reatest warrior and has pledged his support for this fight, and yet - "I a voice, and all three turned to see Agradeleous entering the area, a dead elk over his shoulder - and th dragon was carrying it with complete ease, as if it was no more a burden th a shawl ?Or do you fear that your warriors will see the truth of radeleous instead of to Brynn}&039; "I fear only to show our enemies the true power before the option snorted, little bursts of fla froradeleous&039; wrath! In th south - "

"Where few escaped, and those, too horrified and disoriented to provide the truth of your power," Brynn argued ?And need I remind you of the re-ports that your presence has been attributed to a trick of the Jhesta Tu? There is radeleous"

The dragon snorted again, as if Brynn&039;s reasoning about hih they had indeed heard such a tale from some Behrenese soldiers captured at one settleainst Dharyan toainst the city toradeleous an-nounced ?You can choose whether you wish to ride that lunch you call Runtly, or a mount truly fit for one ould be queen!"

Juraviel and Cazzira both turned alarmed looks at Brynn, but the woht," she corrected ?I hope to fly with you, but if that is not possible, then you, and your other two riders, will kno to proceed"

Brynn&039;s grin told them that there was much more to this, told thereat confidence And so they all gathered around and held silent, except for the occasional confirradeleous, as she laid it out to the plan," Cazzira said to Juraviel after the woned to exploit every weakness she recognizes within Yatol Grysh"

The elf glanced over his shoulder, to see the dragon quite busy in devour-ing his elk, and not paying the two elves any heed ?And one designed to ithout giving away the truth of the dragon," he added ?Not to the Behre-nese, but even more iradeleous recognized the woman&039;s fears?"

"No, but I think that Brynn is too wise to reveal too ai is sorely out-o after Dharyan, instead of clearing the steppes of the lesser forces"

"It is because of that very fact that she knows sheinto the direction where Brynn and Runtly had ridden away, a grin of respect widening on his s north through the valley of the Mazur Shin-Y tol ? Carwan Pestle reported to Grysh ?A considerable force, sev-1 tiainst us"

"A d are there any dragons flying about them?" Grysh asked with obvi-ircasm, and a wry crooked smile

He looked away from the on of To-gai leads them, we believe," Pestle replied ?A wohed heartily When the Jacintha soldiers had arrived, he had hidden the to turn them loose upon the steppes soon as the weather softened into springtilad he was now that he had delayed! And that he had kept their arrival relatively quiet! For the reports had been coai, had come down from the steppes and into Behren at the head of a con-siderable force

"They say that she rode with Ashu, you know?" Grysh asked, and Carwan Pestle nodded ?She wants revenge, and so she will coainst us, oblivious to the fact thathave more than twelve hundred nearriors at our disposal"

"Shall we deploy theainst Ashu, Yatol?" ?No," Grysh said without hesitation ?This woman rens of any aruests are to remain in the city - no one is to leave! Not a Behrenese nor a Ru! Do you hear?"

"Yes, Yatol, it has already been ordered, all about the wall" ?Let the Dragon of To-gai charge right up to our gates Then ill hit ler and her wretched band with a volley of destruction that will overwhelm hem where they sit astride their pretty ponies" ?Yes, Yatol"

Grysh looked at the map, at the valley of the Masur Shinton If the re-ports were correct, the Dragon of To-gai would arrive at Dharyan&039;s gates early that very evening And there she would die, as Ashu had died

That thought did bring a twang of regret to Yatol Grysh, for his friend and trusted co on the sun-baked stones of a tar-distant southern wasteland, would not partake of this glorious victory

But now he had seven Chezhou-Lei at his disposal, he reminded himself, his new advisor and the six who had come in from Jacintha That would suffice to destroy utterly this pretentious rebel and her followers Then jrysh would lead the force personally into To-gai, spending the su harsh justice to the upstart Ru They would accept the rule of Behren, or they would die It was as siht," Brynn instructed as her force of nearly thousand neared Dharyan She stretched out her front line, spacing th warriors widely, and squared thehteH by the fires burning within

Beside her, Pagonel sucked in his breath, as did many others

Brynn looked to him for support She had pleaded with him not to corn out there, but he had refused to be left behind, and in truth, she was glad that he had Now that the tih this difficult beginning without him beside her

But how much worse would it becorowled that dark thought away ?Strike the torches!" the wo the line, and those few brave volunteers who had agreed to wield the torches brought them up in a blaze

"Cadence slow!" Brynn cried and the dru out a slow pace, the whole of the force walking deliberately toward the distant wall Those drums would be heard within Dharyan, Brynn knew, and in fact she was counting on it

More torches went up along that wall, and a voice called out, ?Halt where you are and be recognized!"

"Do you not know me, Yatol Grysh?" Brynn cried back ?Have you not heard of the Dragon of To-gai?"

A great cheer went up behind her at that proclaonel remarked, and it was just the bit of support that Brynn needed at that moment

"First volley!" she yelled, and a thousand bows bent back and a thou-sand arrows soared into the dark sky, arcing for Dharyan They were a long way out, though, and the barrage had little, if any, effect

Little physical effect, Brynn knew, but this attack was not about that

Brynn held aloft her sword and set it ablaze The druht her sword sweeping down, and so began the charge, a thousand horses shaking the ground

A second volley went away, and then a third, withdown enee, for they were get-ting close - too close, she feared!

When would the response coai plateau, Juraviel, Cazzira, and Agradeleous watched the line of torches snaking across the dark plain

"They will fight without on coht," Juraviel explained ?She waits to turn"

"They grow close," said Cazzira

awaits the revelation," Juraviel reth to chase her away"

adeleous gru on to the centers the leading line of the charge," Cazzira noted ?Brave, per but foolish will she seem if she is cut down"

"Then she will lead as a rimly, but his wince belied his stoic tone

Arrows caiant spears easing the air, close enough so that the charging warriors could hear theh their fiery pitch balls were easily spotted and avoided by the skilled To-gai-ru riders

They were barely fifty yards fro in the torchlight, and so their volleys proved an, at the wall, and then ari that many of these brave warriors would not ride out of this deadly place They had all known that grim reality, and yet every le one! - had volunteered to ride with her to the base of the wall Still, thisto fray hers ?Commit them," she whispered, a quiet plea to Yatol Grysh ?Show us our folly"

Forty yards

"Sweep left and right!" she ordered her band, though she understood that such a turn ht actually leave ai-ru line split down the ht For the skilled horse, the turn did nothing to deter their attack, and their arrows contin-ued to skim the top of the wall

But then ca in the lan-guage of the To-gai-ru

"A trap! A trap!" Ya Ya Deng, Ashu&039;s inforroan, and all who heard it understood that she had been silenced by a sword

"Hold! Hold and center!" Brynn cried irateful she was for that unexpected assistance, for the excuse to keep her soldiers back a bit farther from the wall

And not aat the center, and back out to an to bloildly within Dharyan and the top of the wall seerow, as hundreds of soldiers stood up, bows in hand, letting loose a volley that would have surely devastated the force had they been closer Even as it was,volley, stuck with arrows or with their prized hor shot out froai-ru line, on cue away! Kun away!

They h in truth, the skilled hor rabbed hors wandering riderless, and suffered the storm of another arrow volley

And then they turned and fled, crying out in see the Dharyan wall, a cry of victory erupted, with soldiers throw ing their ar out for Yatol Grysh In the courtyard behind them, the Yatol stood with his seven Chezhou-Lei coai!" one spat ?She turns and flees at the first resis-tance! Coward Ru!"

The others reement with the assessment

"They have ridden all the day," the supremely confident Yatol Grysh told his commanders ?Take your men and their horses, hunt theerly received Within only a few round shook under the hoofbeats of nearly fifteen hundred cavalry, the Jacintha warriors and a good portion of the Dharyan garrison beside the the ti to the south, thundering away in full gallop

Soon after, the fleeing To-gai-ru force was spotted, still running south, paralleling the plateau

Thinking their prey tiring, the Chezhou-Lei spurred their forces on even harder, gaining ground

They came into the northern end of one narrow vale, split by a wide and shallow river, and saw the torches of the fleeing To-gai-ru strea out the southern end, only a quarter of a mile ahead