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"Who’s the king?" Kylar asked
"Vows are a bitch, huh?" Durzo grinned
"This is what the Sa’kagé is supposed to be, isn’t it?"
"The Sa’kagé’s always been s anda pile of shit, when they’ve been crooks with a purpose"
"Thanks for the ionna say the words?" Durzo asked
"You’dI don’t fully understand"
"Kid, we’re always coht you’d lost your faith in this and everything else," Kylar said
"This isn’t about my faith; it’s about yours"
It was standard Durzo evasion You don’t ask someone you care about to swear their life to horseshit Durzo was continuing the conversation they’d starteda life in the shadows, in choosing obscurity, Kylar would avoid one of the greatest temptations of the black ka’kari--the teod already, and the danger was always that he could becoht to destroy Durzo hadn’t even trusted himself with so much power Did Kylar think he was thatthe shadows also saw things that no king could see A s that were hidden fro froht Angel wasn’t enough to make a destiny, but it was a start What aed for justice By serving in darkness with eyes that saw through the darkness, by being welcoive justice to those who’d escaped justice Those overlooked, too unimportant for mercy would find better than they’d hoped for Those who should be stopped would be stopped The faces of the Night Angels were already Kylar’s faces I will do justice and love rimaced, but beckoned him closer and laid a hand on Kylar’s forehead Kylar recited the vow fro, hoell did I teach you? But as Kylar finished, Durzo’s hand grew strangely warwye h’e banath so sikaathal mu tolethara Veni, soli, fali, deachi Vol lessara dei" Durzo withdrew his hand, his deep eyes limpid and, for perhaps the first time Kylar had ever seen, at peace
"What was that?" Kylar asked Whatever else the words had done, Kylar felt power suffusing hiiven hi" Durzo s Kylar in a language he didn’t understand With the way he’d trained Kylar’s memory, he surely knew Kylar would remember the words until he was able to track down the outlandish language they’d been spoken in But it wasn’t in Durzo to just tell hiot trees to clian and Lantano Garuwashi stood with their retainers on top of a still-pristine tower that guarded theould be the battlefield to the north The great dome of Black Barrow and the dark stain of devastation around it were an saonders to every side Before Jorsin Alkestes had buried Trayethell beneath Black Barrow, it had been one of the great cities of the world in a world where wonders were coes lost The dah the sluice gates on its front, which had been closed for centuries, but over the top of the da since broken, had once o ships to reach the city froes or more had once spanned the river, but all had fallen except two, the wider Ox Bridge and Black Bridge near the dauarded the entrance to Ox Bridge It commanded views of the pass behind them, the terraced slopes of Mount Terzhin to the southwest, and everything except whatever lurked on the far side of Black Barrow Looking at the terraced hillside and the ereat ht Black Barrow had enclosed the city of Trayethell It hadn’t Jorsin had only enclosed the city’s heart Trayethell had spanned leagues If what Logan was looking on was correct, the city had been bigger and more populous than any city now in the world
"We’ll have to ht," Garuwashi said "It’ll take maybe four hours for thirty thousand to cross The caan said "Do you see Wanhope’s army? We have twenty-six thousand men, half of whom have never seen battle Wanhope has twenty thousand, ten thousand hlanders, and two thousand meisters--each of whoainst a river? No We guard the bridges and put our reat market in case Wanhope tries to ford the river there We’ll see hoell his ht waist-deep in water If necessary, we can retreat slowly into the passes"
"You’re planning for defeat?" Lantano Garuwashi asked, incredulous "This is lunacy We cross the bridge, and we destroy it behind us Desperate ht best If you leave theins Give theht almost like sa’ceurai"
"They outnu Each sa’ceurai is as a hundred men We came here for victory" Behind thereeive us nothing"
"That’s not what Iten thousand men west down the river My Feyuri scouts say there’s a crossing a fewcity, but all Wanhope’s supplies flow through there, and it’s very defensible We send our ukhas before dawn If we can starve Wanhope’s arht"
"They’ll see ourwest, unless you ht"
"The torches will only be visible for the first half a mile, then there’s a forest between the our ca ti a thousand of lory greater than the sa’ceurai"
Thus it begins
84
Dorian was enerals in the afternoon when he felt the first twinges of a’s report "Here’s what I want Make sure our defensive positions are inable I don’t want theth In the ence on Moburu’s numbers We know he has two thousand krul How many men does he have? And where the hell is--" A vision flashed before Dorian’s eyes of Khali herself, rising fro victoriously The room had disappeared, and only she re around her