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Like all the prisoners Abban found, these were starved and beaten, clad in filthy rags against the cold "More khaffit merchant lords?" Jardir asked

Abban shook his head "No, Deliverer These men are Warders"

Jardir’s eyes widened, and he sat up quickly in his seat "Why have they been so ill treated?" he de is considered a craft, likeor carpentry," Abban said "The dal’Sharum who sacked the city could not tell them from the rest of the chin, and many were killed, or fled with the tools of their profession"

Jardir cursed softly In Krasia, Warders were considered the elite of the warrior caste, and it ritten in the Evejah that they be accorded all honor Even Northern ones had value, if Sharak Ka was to be won

He turned to the"You have ies for your treatment You will be fed and clad in fine robes, your lands and women returned to you Had we known you were Warders, you would have been honored as your station deserves"

"You killed hter; burnedhiave a shout and lowered their spears, but Jardir waved the the spittle from his cheek calmly

"I will pay a death price for your son," he said, "and recompense you others for your losses as well" He strode up to the anguishedover hinaled the guards, and the rettable," he said, as he sat heavily on his throne, "that our first conquest in the North should bring such waste"

"We could have treated with them, Ahmann," Abban said softly He tensed, ready to fall to his knees if his words were not well received, but Jardir only shook his head

"The greenlanders are too nuht to one If they had been given ti skills could have taken the city without losses we could ill afford Now that the duke has eo easier on the hamlets until we move on to conquer the chin city built on the oasis"

"Lakton," Abban supplied "But I warn you, this greenland ‘lake’ is, by all accounts, far bigger than any oasis Messengers have told reat that you cannot see the far side, even on a clear day, and the city itself is so far out on the water that even a scorpion could not shoot so far"

"They exaggerate, surely," Jardir said "If these…fishlike the h when the ti his spear on the floor

"Forgive the intrusion, Shar’Da his spear next to hi his hands flat on the floor "You asked to be informed when your wives arrived"

Jardir scowled

CHAPTER 4