Page 2 (1/2)

Thus freed, the re stand against the bodies as the field outside The uised as a rock de left, too quick to be taken by spear but unable to break through the wall of shields without revealing its true self

There was a throb from the rise, and theout of the caap in the wards The ene for it when the mimic returned to its place by its s stood atop the rise for severalbetween the princes turned their eyes to the north, where the other human mind was said to be

One of theback in the for As it vanished into the night, the re enemy camp

SECTION 1

VICTORY WITHOUT HONOR

CHAPTER 1

FORT RIZON

333 AR WINTER

FORT RIZON’S WALL WAS A JOKE

Barely ten feet high and only one thick, the entire city’s defenses were less than the meanest of a Damaji’s dozen palaces The Watchers didn’t even need their steel-shod ladders; most simply leapt to catch the lip of the tiny wall and pulled theent deserve to be conquered," Hasik said Jardir grunted but said nothing

The advance guard of Jardir’s elite warriors had come under cover of darkness, thousands of sandaled feet crunching the fallow, snow-covered fields surrounding the city proper As the greenlanders cowered behind their wards, the Krasians had braved the deave berth to so athered before the city, but the veiled warriors did not attack iht When dawn’s light began to fill the sky, they lowered their veils, that their enerunts as the Watchers subdued the guards in the gatehouse, and then a creak as the city gates opened wide to admit Jardir’s host With a roar, six thousand dal’Sharum warriors poured into the city

Before the Rizonans even kneas happening, the Krasians were upon the thethely endless arable land, Fort Rizon was more populous by far than Krasia, but Rizonan men were not warriors, and they fell before Jardir’s trained ranks like grass before the scythe Those who struggled suffered torn ht, died

Jardir looked at all of these in sorrow Every lory in Sharak Ka, the Great War, but it was a necessary evil He could not forge the ainst de them as the smith’s hammer did the speartip

Women screamed as Jardir’s men tempered them in another fashion Another necessary evil Sharak Ka was nigh, and the co from the seeds of men, not cowards

After some time, Jardir’s son Jayan dropped to one knee in the snow before him, his speartip red with blood "The inner city is ours, Father," Jayan said