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"Are you certain you want to do this, Lord Gareth?"

He turned fro table, across the room from his Hers was piled with the estate account books She had run his estates all the years he had been gone, and without doubt she still made a better job of it than he did

"If you had set them to work for Admer Nem, as the law required," she went on, "this would be none of your affair at all"

"But I did not," he told her "And would not if I had it to do again You knoell as I do, Neirls day and night And Maigan and the rest of the women would irls didn’t accidentally fall doell and drown"

"Even Maigan would not use a well," Caralin said dryly, "not with the weather we’ve been having Still, I take your point, Lord Gareth But they have had ht to run in any direction You will locate the out word of them If they can be found"

"Thad can find them" Thad was over seventy, but he could still track yesterday’s wind across stone by ht, and he had been more than happy to turn the brickyard over to his son

"If you say so, Lord Gareth" She and Thad did not get on "Well, when you bring the in her voice, casual as it was, pricked his attention A touch of satisfaction Practically from the day he arrived home Caralin had introduced a succession of pretty er to help the lord forget his miseries "They are oathbreakers, Caralin I fear it’s the fields for the of her lips confirmed his suspicions, but she kept her tone indifferent "The other two perhaps, Lord Gareth, but the Dorace would be wasted in the fields, and would suit serving at table very well A re woman Still, it will be as you wish, of course"

So that was the one Caralin had picked out A reh oddly different from the Domani women he had met A touch hesitant here, a touch too fast there Al out her arts for the first time That was ihters to twine ers almost from the cradle Not that she had been ineffective, he adirls Remarkably pretty

So as it not her face that kept filling hisof a pair of blue eyes? Challenging hi to yield to fear Mara Tomanes He had been sure she was one to keep her word, even without oaths "I will bring her back," he muttered to himself "I will knohy she broke oath"

"As you say, ht do for your bedcha up and down the stairs to fetch for you at night"

Bryne blinked at her What? Oh The Doirl He shook his head at Caralin’s foolishness But was he being any less foolish? He was the lord here; he should remain here to take care of his people Yet Caralin had taken better care than he kne, all the years he was gone He knew cans, and ht He should take off his sword and this fool hat, and have Caralin write out their descriptions, and

Instead, he said, "Keep a close eye on Admer Nem and his kin They’ll try to cheat you as much as they can"

"As you say, my Lord" The words were perfectly respectful; the tone told hi to himself, he went outside

The rown far stories of brick and stone under a slate roof, added to again and again by generations of Brynes House Bryne had owned this land -- or it had owned thee of Artur Haing’s empire a thousand years before, and for all that tiht Andor’s wars He would fight no more wars, but it was too late for House Bryne There had been too many wars, too many battles He was the last of the blood No wife, no son, no daughter The line ended with his had to end; the Wheel of Time turned

Twenty men waited beside saddled horses on the stonepaved yard in front of the rayer than he, mostly, if they had hair Experienced soldiers all, former squadmen, squadron leaders and bannermen who had served with hirin, who had been Senior Bannere around his tehters had set their children to keep him in his bed He was one of the feho had any family, here or anywhere else Most had chosen to coain rather than drink away their pensions over reminiscences no one but another old soldier wanted to hear

All wore swords belted over their coats, and a few carried long, steeltipped lances that had hung for years on a wall until this ing saddlebags, plus a pot or kettle and full water bags, just as if they were riding out on can instead of a week’s jaunt to chase down three women who set fire to a barn Here was a chance to relive old days, or pretend to

He wondered if that as rousting hi off after a set of pretty eyes on a wohter I a a fool, he told his better with hi up the oak lane that led down to the road, and the rider threw himself out of the saddle before the anied to put fist to heart in a proper salute Bario, was hard and wiry, with a leather egg for a head and white eyebrows that see to make up for the lack of other hair "You been recalled to Caemlyn, my CaptainGeneral?" he panted

"No," Bryne said, too sharply "What do you h you had Cairhienin cavalry on your tail?" So, ca