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Hasik turned, his sap in his teeth where Qeran had hit hiht in the Kaji’sharaj was a black hole in the ?" Hasik asked "We’re here"

Jardir looked around in confusion, and in that ht exploded before his eyes as Hasik hit him hard in the face

Before he could react, Hasik was upon hi him facedown in the dust "I promised to teach you to make a woman howl," he said "For this lesson, you will be the wo, but Hasik s Twisting one of Jardir’s arms behind his back, the heavy warrior held him doith one hand as he pulled down Jardir’s bido with the other

"Looks like you get to lose the bido twice in one night, rat!" he laughed

Jardir tasted blood and dirt in his mouth He tried to open himself to the pain, but for once, the poas beyond hih the Maze

He was still weeping when the da found him

She glided like a ghost, her white robes softly stirring the dust with her passage Jardir stopped his sobbing and stared Then reality suddenly focused, and he scrambled to pull up his bido Sha clicked her tongue "On your feet, boy!" she snapped "You stand your ground against alagai, but weep like a woman over this? Everam needs dal’Sharum, not khaffit!"

Jardir wished the walls of the Maze would fall and crush hiot to his feet, pal his nose

"That’s better," the da said, "if late I would hate to have come all the way out here to foretell the life of a coward"

The words stung Jardir He was no coward "How did you finda hand at hio"

Jardir stared at her, unbelieving, but it was clear from her stance that his belief mattered not at all to her "Come here, boy, that I may have a better look at you," she corabbed his face, turning it this way and that to catch the et this far You’re younger than "

"Are you here to foretell my death?"

"Bold, too," she muttered "There may be hope for you yet Kneel, boy"

He did, and the da a white cloth to protect her pristine robes from the dust of the Maze

"What do I care for your death?" she asked "I am here to foretell your life Death is between you and Evera forth a small pouch s, pouring its contents into her free hand with a clatter Jardir saw over a dozen objects, black and slowed redly in the dark

"The alagai hora," she said, lifting the objects toward hiasped and recoiled at the name She held the polished bones of de theic

"Back to cowardice?" the da asked aiback in

"Hold out your ar the dice on it She reached into her robes, drawing forth a sharp curved blade etched ards