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"Hey!"

The shout turned her around to stare at the bonfire burning at her back, beyond the crown, about forty strides away A sentry staggered back, a hand clapped to his right shoulder

"’Ware! ’Ware! I’ve been shot!"

Sentries called out A pair of rabbed sticks and lit the torches She ran to the cursing sentry By the ti beside hi the arrow It was a shalloound The arrow danced up and down each time the man winced and swore

"Where?" she asked hiritted teeth "Aih! Either pull it free or stop touching it!"

"Back here so I can see if the point is barbed," said Ingo, and hauled him away

"Silence!" she said, as the ca to each other, swords thudding against shields andits distinctive slinky rattle as men armed themselves

"Silence!" roared Thiadbold

In that silence, quickly fallen, she heard a twig snap, straight ahead, in the trees She needed no bow She bent her will to the crown of the trees and called fire

The forest flashed into a ghastly bright false day as treetops caught fire, revealing a dozen raggedly dressed ed just out of the halo of light given by the bonfires, under the shadow of the trees, but with sparks and ash raining down over the above, they fled into the darkness Arrows skittered after them, until Thiadbold called the cease The Lions cheered and hooted to see their foe routed

"That’s a neat trick," said Thiadbold soht turn a battle or two Yet I wouldn’t try it in dry lands Will it spread?"

"I hope not"

This was no white-hot anger, no blast of fear, to create a wildfire It was a bigger fire than she had intended, scorching six trees altogether, but with soes so it would burn itself out The sentry had taken only a slight wound, quickly bandaged The uard for the rest of the night

Even so, Liath could not sleep Only when the fire had died completely did she lie down, and even then whenever she closed her eyes she saw burningoff their bodies

Is this why Da had sealed her off fro to protect her from herself? But this question struck her as impossibly naive Da’s motives could not be so easily divined, nor were they sith of will necessary to co of tith the air lightened and a bird chirped The sound s, and listened hard and peered into the surrounding foliage, but she did not see it or hear that call again

5

THE outpost had a na, and a population of some four-score wary persons housed in an ihouses, a dozen or so ss and, reer lived outside the walls, just where the path eed from the forest, but it wasn’t clear if this spry old fellow had chosen his exile or lived close by the protecting palisade on sufferance He watched their co a word and turned back to clearing his garden Six beehives lay within his fence

The gates lay open Folk worked in the fields and wo river Meat dried under fenced-in shelters, ready to be brought in and cured The ring of a blacksold, were usually found in more exalted settlethe palisade ra," htfully and led the Lions right into what h the open gate The Lions halted inside the gate, in an open area with enough space for arms practice, or a market, or foot races Soon they were surrounded The council of eldersthe road," said their spokesenial man with silver hair, silver beard, and a twisted s the left side of his face He looked otherwise hale "I’m called Master Helnant’s business--les--on our way to St Valeria’s If we rateful We were attacked by bandits last night One of our ot hurt, but we drove them off"