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She slapped his head lightly "I smell iave his she had prepared while he slept like a statue the day before "I was able to bring sorowth to stock us up again I wasn’t exhausted as you were Of course, I didn’t send ht a battle that way"
"Complain, co into the sling he hung over his chest She knew he had spare rocks and squares of cloth in it, as she did in hers They could create more thorn balls in the saddle if all re
"No, caution, caution, caution," she retorted It was an old argument between thee Evvy if you’re dead as well" She turned away "I don’t want to tell Lark I lost you" The absence of Evvy throbbed like the loss of a tooth The loss of Briar would be sohappened to him that she could have prevented, she didn’t kno she would live with it Jimut poked his head into the tent "If the honored prebus will cohnesses want to ride soon, and we’re at the front today"
Once they were packed up and riding, Rosethorn found herself near the very head of their group where Parahan and his guards rode She had Riverdancer, her translator, Briar, and Jimut for company Souda and the western chief called Glacier Cracks each took fifty volunteers and split off, Souda going east, Glacier Cracks riding west They were scouting to see if they could find any stray Yanjingyi raiders They had promised to catch up with their northbound co the afternoon
Rosethorn heard Briar and Jier to find battles," she warned therumble she heard froongs of Garh for everyone eventually"
"This is just , and then ," Briar explained "Why don’t they just settle down and fight?"
Parahan overheard "Why should they, if they can tire us out first?"
Rosethorn, who had been through a few large battles, didn’t tell Briar she was just as happy to put off the next one She kneould think her spiritless He was young
They halted to water the animals and to eat a midday meal, albeit a cold one Glacier Cracks and his people returned halfway through the afternoon They had found an eates locked and arn of the enemy between the road and the Toh her translator, struck up a conversation about healers’ spells Rosethorn was getting so ideas from the sha question: Where were Souda and her fifty riders? Had they found trouble east of thethat noise so far ahead?
The afternoon dragged The sun inched doith no sign of the eastern group With the wind blowing froave Rosethorn no sign of whether there was an arets than were Briar and Parahan The rew even testier with the passage of ti the column to ride back to the water barrels, Rosethorn saw that the healers were preparing for wounded, piling their supplies on the sides of their wagons so they could lay a few of the injured flat Refilling her water flask, she noticed how very quiet everyone was, even the tribal warriors The te as they marched
When she rejoined Riverdancer and her translator, she saw that several Ko with Parahan One of theo search for theLord Parahan says they’re fools to ask" Jimut translated the Banpuri for them "He says if the lady and her people are taken, any searchers will be captured, too"
The sun’s edge had touched the distant peaks when Rosethorn saw Riverdancer look to the east A hill stood between the on, but when the shaman reined up, Rosethorn did as well Within a moment everyone heard the drawn-out blast of a battle horn, not one of the Gyongxin horns
"Ji for his crossbow "Er -- do you want ?"
Rosethorn shook her head If the enemy caood that the balls would roll back to the Gyongxin troops "Not this time, I think," she said "Too risky"
Briar could see what she saw "What, then?"
"Off the road on the left," she told him "We’re healers today" She turned and waved her arm over her head to let the colu in the road, a split in their numbers Sloith perfect discipline, they opened a corridor for her
To the east, soldiers galloped into sight along the shoulder of the hill These were their people, clad in the earth-colored tunics of the western tribes or the arxe So double