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Briar looked at the him by the ear?"

Evvy frowned "Howcoave Briar and Evvy a sheepish look and a wave His big satchel had lost its cover of rags and revealed itself as a couple of packs These he put by the fire, as well as his staff, before he went to the ith an e cas came out Rosethorn sent Evvy over with a cloth and a jar of soap By the tiar was his robes He sat doind of the

"I don’t understand," Evvy coh hot food to be pleasant to one another "Why are you going the sah," Parahan told them "A man has to eat I haven’t a copper to et there I i for et yi nobles that no one can thwart the eet aith it"

Evvy shuddered "If it looks like the eet you, kill yourself first"

Parahan nodded "I have seen what he’s done to others Trust me, if I know I cannot escape, I will not let myself fall into Weishu’s hands a second tied "Gyongxe will be hiring fighters soon The terims I’ve seen the list of the jewelry xe will pray for my ancestors They can afford ood warrior It would have been even nicer if I could lead troops, but I’ll take what I can get They won’t know I used to be a general" He grinned at Rosethorn "Maybe you’ll put in a good word for ods?" Less cheerfully he added, "I iive you a demonstration of my skills at the border"

"What do you mean?" Evvy had been about to serve herself another bowl of soup She sat back down instead "What about the border?"

"He’s planning a ith Gyongxe," Parahan replied "You don’t think he’s left the border with the re eastern pass wide open, do you?" He looked at Rosethorn "What I don’t understand is why you people are here Why didn’t you just send soo hoic doesn’t mean we can fly," Evvy told hih plants or stones, there’s no one in Gyongxe who could hear us!"

Rosethorn raised a finger in admonishment "That we know of"

Evvy rolled her eyes "Yes, teacher I have to be precise, teacher That we know of And even if we could, Rosethorn swore vows, so she has to go to help, and we’ll be yujinon dung if we’ll let her go without us"

"Do I want to knohat yujinons are?" Parahan asked, chuckling

"No," Briar assured hi ht theers "You have my permission to send the a breath to speak He hesitated when he saw the blazing light in their eyes and the hard set of theiris our friend," Evvy said "Dokyi is our friend Rosethorn is going, which hed "Then we should sleep It’s always better to go to war if you’ve had proper sleep"

They offered to rearrange things in theso that Parahan could ride, but he was far too tall for the ponies, and he protested that his dignity forbade his entering Gyongxe on mule-back With his packs redistributed to the h that they were able to keep pace with one another without losing too much time They left before dawn so none of those who had seen any of theside Rosethorn was the sa their own journeys

The four also improved their pace simply because there were ever fewer travelers By the ticold set in, they were alone

There was no caravansary when they decided to round left bare by those who had stopped in the same places before them Considerate travelers had left piled wood and stacks of dried dung for campfires Rosethorn chose a spot with its own streaainst a stony cliff that protected the Lho got cold at night

Parahan disposed of his stinking rags Froeneral sort of tunic and breeches they wore He hadn’t been able to get boots that would fit hi socks and sturdy leather shoes froate stones and released the "chickens" Once they were out of their "crates," the cats took on their nor for the ponies and e of clothes and a cold wash, shook his head in amazement "And these are Trader spells?" he asked