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LOSING THE BIDO

308 AR

JARDIR WAS WHIPPED WITH the alagai tail for letting Abban live, the barbs tearing the flesh off his back, and the days without food were hard, but he embraced the penance as he did all pain It did not ai

Other warriors had cut the wings fro it down in a warded circle to await the sun, but it was Jardir who brought it down, and everyone knew it He could see it in the awed eyes of the other nie’Sharu respect of the dal’Sharu

On the fourth day, Jardir ith hunger as he th to fight even the weakest of the boys, but he strode to his usual place at the front of the line with a straight back The others backed away, eyes respectfully down

He was reaching out his bohen Qeran caught his arruel for you today," the drillmaster said "Co to claw its way fro his bowl to another boy and following the drillmaster across the camp

Toward the Kaji pavilion

Jardir’s face went cold It could not be

"No boy your age has entered the warrior’s pavilion in three hundred years," Qeran said, as if reading his thoughts "I think you are too young, and this may prove the end of you and a terrible waste for the Kaji, but the law is the law When a boy nets his first deai’sharak"

They entered the tent, and dozens of black-clad figures turned to eye hi to their food Women served them, but not women like Jardir had seen before, covered from head to toe in thick black cloth The veils of these wohtly colored, diaphanous clothes pulled tight against soft curves Their arms and bellies were bare, save for jeweled adorn slits in the sides of their pantaloons bared their sht, but no one else see hiing her over his shoulder She laughed as he carried her to a curtained rooht, too, should you survive the coht," Qeran advised "The Kaji need more warriors It is the duty of men to provide them If you acquit yourself well, you may earn yourself a wife to keep your home, but all dal’Sharum are expected to keep the jiwah’Sharuht of soto Jardir, and he scanned their young faces, half expecting to see his sisters a them He was speechless as the drillreat table

There was more food than he had ever seen in his life Dates and raisins and rice and spiced la er and lust

"Eat well, and rest," Qeran advised "Tonight you will stand a men" He slapped Jardir’s back and left the tent

Jardir reached tentatively for a skewer of meat, but a hand quickly snatched it away He looked to the offender, only to find Hasik staring back at hiht, rat," Hasik said "Pray to Everaht in the Maze"

Jardir ith the other warriors to Sharik Hora to receive the blessings of the Daht’s battle He had never been inside the te heinside Sharik Hora was built from the bleached and lacquered bones of dal’Sharuai’sharak The twelve chairs of the Dareat altar stood on calf bones and rested on warriors’ feet The arainst demonkind The seats were polished rib that had housed heroes’ hearts The backs were ht The headrests were made from the skulls of ed the throne of the Andrah, built froai’sharak