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"We only have two legs," says First Son of the Third Litter A different small one snickers

"What is your name?" he asks the snickerer

The sn But after all, not all these will survive, nor should they Soth and swift running It is those who observe, learn, and think ill thrive Who will rule

"Third Son of the Sixth Litter," says the snickerer "There are four legs also Three is between two and four, but there is no creature with three legs"

"Is there not?" He frowns at the hatchlings, yet after all they are a handsoest he has ever seen, but he does not have girth and breadth to give the is your brother Two legs only, if you stand by yourself But if you stand with others, then you cannot easily be knocked down"

caught the corner of a linen band as the tiny body struck the floor Cloth pooled around it in loops and heaps He swooped down and grasped at it with a gasp of disled Its lips smacked and pumped It squawked out a feeble wail, then hiccuped

Would it name itself? First Son? Fourth Child? Nay, it was a helpless human infant, dooht within a pair or three years after its birth It was so tiny and feeble! No wonder the Eika thought that humankind were soft

The nurse ripped the baby out of Alain’s hands, pulled down the front of her bodice, and put the baby to her breast It rooted for a ot hold and sucked

Such an uproar ensued that he had to grab the collars of the hounds and hold theesticulated The crowd surged in and out, right and left, until Sabella’s ringing voice brought order and soldiers herded companions, attendants, and courtiers out

"This way," said Captain Lukas, appearing at his side as if he had never left "Coently His frown had a stor because it was easier to and because the sight of that infant’s face troubled hiround so hard, but that was God’sand the shock had jarred it loose Newborns were such fragile creatures Weiwara’s twins--how could he forget them? The smaller one had been born, likewise, too weak to draw breath on its own What had happened to that baby? Had it survived the great weaving or been consumed by the tempest? Had Adica known the spell would dooe?

He would never know

"Wait here," said the captain, opening a door Alain went gratefully into a diht him by surprise He missed Adica so badly The hounds licked hith lay down on his feet being too big to settle in his lap as they wished to do At length he cals

This chas: a fine burnished table and benches; two silk-covered couches for reclining and conversation; a backless chair that could be folded up and easily carried; tapestries on the walls; and a cold hearth It was too dile candle burned, fastened into a brass holder fixed onto the left of a sloped writing desk Someone had abandoned a sheet of parchment, half inscribed ords he had lost the knack of reading There he saw regnant, a word he knew because it also appeared in the Holy Verses Below that he recognized "a strong driving wind" like to that mentioned in the story of the Pentekoste, and then a series of sevens: seven towns, seven days, seven portions of grain, seven nobles whose names he laboriously puzzled out They were all Salian or western border lords, it seemed: Guy, Laurant, Ae bore no illumination It ritten in plain ink in the common script used by Lavastine’s clerics when they wrote up contracts and cartularies The inkwell had been stoppered Untri on the level top of the desk beside a closed book All the shutters were closed The chamber had the moldy smell of a room that hasn’t been aired out all winter

With some effort he pulled his feet out frouile to rest heavily by not resisting him A side door opened when he turned the handle He stepped out onto a walk along the battlely gray day The clouds hung lower than ever The main part of the town could not be seen from here The river ran at the base of the bluff There seemed no obvious exit from this narrow stone court, only a pair of low doors in the wall that most likely concealed a necessarium