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She has turned west," Shauntil informed Yatol Bardoh when the news arrived fro

"The e," the Yatol reasoned ?Now that we have found her once more, she is out of room She runs for home"

The Yatol turned to face the warrior and chuckled wickedly ?Swing the line to block all passes into To-gai"

The Chezhou-Lei warrior put on a confused expression ?We cannot hope to pace the To-gai-ru, with their fine steeds"

"We will trail," the Yatol explained ?Send those we already have in the west to block the passes

Have thereat ballistae in defensible positions in case the dragon makes an appearance"

Shauntil&039;s expression did not change ?The only forces we have close enough to the plateau divide are those you sent north to Dharyan, Yatol"

Theeast, it will leave the city undefended"

"And so the Dragon of To-gai et her last victory," Yatol Bardoh said ?And then ill have her, and all of her forces, bottled up and wait-ing to be destroyed Do not consider me in such a rew even?We ood If Dharyan is sacked once on of To-gai, there will be no one to replace her"

The Chezhou-Lei warrior snapped to attention ?Yes, Yatol," he said, and he found that he was beginning to see the wisdo Indeed, if they could finally be rid of the Dragon of To-gai, then the price of Dharyan would not see

"If they catch me with a Ru servant, they will tear the flesh froroup of soldiers at Dahdah Oasis The place was crawling with the Jacintha garrison, another several thousanddown the western road to link up with Yatol Bardoh and Shauntil for the final defeat of the Dragon of To-gai

Behind the Shepherd, Pagonel kept his head bowed and his hands, f bound much more loosely than they appeared, in close to his torso [ ?You should give your servant over to us, here and now,"

one of the guards re, then continued, ?that we ht launch him by catapult into the hter then, including Merwan Ma, though the Shepherd certainly wasn&039;t pleased at the griht

A couple of the soldiers onel

"No!" Merwan Ma shouted at them, and they did stop, and turned to stare at him hard

"He is needed for the service of the Chezru Chieftain," the soldier stand-ing before the Shepherd declared angrily ?You would deny us?"

"I am a Chezru Shepherd!" Merwan Ma replied ?Once attendant to Chezru Yakiuess that I a down a bit ?I can name for you every member of Chezru within Cho of Dharyan, ord from Governor Carwan Pestle, e my word, soldier? Would you risk the wrath of Chezru Douan and his Chezhou-Lei?"

Thewith every stride, led Pagonel by the group and across the oasis, heading out again down the eastern road toward Jacintha

All that day, they passed coluon of To-gai

"You took a great chance for onel reht

"I took no chance for you," the Shepherd declared

"You could have turned me in to them and been done with ht even have redeemed yourself in the eyes of the Chezru Chieftain if you had"

"Redeemed myself?" the man echoed with a snort ?I am not even sure where such redemption should coh Dahdah, and I gave to you my word"

"To many men, their salvation is worth the price of that word, particu-larly to an enemy who holds theed

"If I chose to walk away from you noould you stop me?" Merwan Ma asked

"No"

Point made, the Shepherd rested back

"But you will not walk away, Merwan Ma," Pagonel went on ?You have come to see the truth of this, and this journey to Jacintha is as much your quest as it is ririm and determined as it had ever been ?You speak of salvation, and that was the promise of Yatol But what is that promise if all else is a lie?"

"You do not know that all else is a lie"

"I know that Transcendence is the ion," the Shepherd explained ?Those itness thechild are forever affected They go to their graves happy, because they know that Yatol is all-powerful and looking over the in the man&039;s voice as he continued

"But if the Chezru Chieftain himself, the God-Voice of Yatol, cannot trust in that, then how can we? And without that onel had no answers, no words at all to couess was correct, if the Chezru Chieftain noasthe corporeal forh the centuries, then what argument was to be made?

"When we are done with this, come to the Walk of Clouds, my friend," he did offer ?There you will learn the truth of who you are There you will co nature of the body and the eternal energy of the soul"

Merwan Ma did sain, as well ?We will not be done with this, my friend," he said, and it was the first tionel in that manner ?We alk into the fortress that is Choain, the ainst that logical stateh their pitiful lines!" declared Tanalk Grenk with his typically i, and pursued," another remarked, and so it went, all about the caathered The reports fro it apparent that the Behrenese knew exactly where Brynn&039;s force was, and where they were heading Now the Behrenese seereat arh reports told of another great force est to the south andto keep pace w&039;ith Brynn, and one to the west, setting defensive positions along the base of the plateau divide and blocking all known passes

"We can run straight west and use the dragon to get onto the steppes," one of the woht before the dragon could lift theht ?The eneet away," the wo theht the Behrenese to the last!"

Many nods acco and deter theradele-?s, with the wurer as was Tanalk Grenk to do battle, but for very different reasons, obviously Agradeleous had long ago grown tired of this retreating action, and Brynn doubted that he would cooperate in a ned solely to run away More likely, they would run to the base of the plateau divide and Agradeleous would force the Behrenese, then and there, what-ever the outcoer asked theain?"

"Then fight therowled ?Here and now!"

"Or from a defensible position, where we at least will have a chance to inflict tree upon them," Brynn reasoned

"I will send scouts at once to find such an area!" the excited er, and all eyes turned her way and all held quiet, waiting for her to explain

She looked to the southwest, her expression griht them from behind the wall of Dharielle"

"You aze locked, her face tight, her voice perfectly even and steady ?I ht and the To-gai-ru forround just to the east and north of the place

"The Dragon has returned," said Pauche, the new garrison commander of Dharyan, as he and Governor Carwan Pestle stood on the wall, looking up to the northeast, where the line of enemy soldiers could be seen

"Where is Yatol Bardoh?" Pestle replied ?Where is Chezhou-Lei Shauntil?"