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"I ahand scanned the field with a look as weary and filled with pain as that of any human captain who has seen his soldiers scythed down before him "I am come to find you, as OldMother and the WiseMothers commanded me, their obedient son"

3

SOLDIERS h the crowd to the body and its attendants No e, but er in from all sides Men wept openly, while others stared in shock, eyes dry The body had been horribly crushed andfor the dead on

Turning, she stared into the face of a slender Eika warrior Like all his kind, he s in the sun His eyes narrowed

"I have seen you before" It was startling to hear hu fro, flushed as adrenaline raced He held no draeapon, but he looked as dangerous as any sharp spear and he had besidesdown the ramp after him The front ranks of this silent ar into the midst of the shaken crowd of Wendish and Varren co broke out It was a coward’s instinct, but she was nuripped her when the guivre screa ht have devoured her, as they had so h she did not knohat had driven the galla away Sanglant was dead, but his body was not consu a too hasty step away, and tripped over the tangle of harness A strong hand caught her She looked up into the face of a young Qurasp, and jumped away

"Hanna! Steady!" A hand braced her

"Wolfhere! How are you colant is truly dead" The familiar face and his kindly expression soothed her

"How can it be? I thought his eas on hi the wreckage "What wagon is this? Not Wendish, by the decorations What manner of creature bides within? There is sorcery knit into those walls"

Hanna flushed "A Kerayit sha of this It’s an accident that her wagon struck the prince--the king--at all You cannot--you must not--let the bla strange in that"

He looked at the broken for horse The beast’s hindquarters were crippled, and every tiain on top of the driver’s battered corpse The other horse was quite dead, neck twisted at an unnatural angle Flies buzzed around its open eyes, although, strangely, no flies afflicted Sanglant’s corpse "Lord Berthold, here is your healer I fear she is dead"

A trio of young men pressed forward to surround the body of the Kerayit woon

"Where did she come from?" asked Hanna "God Above! Where did all of you come from?"

She stepped back as the Quman picked a route past her He knelt beside the dead wo like a kiss

Sitting back on his haunches, he spoke to his companions "Dead in truth, Lord Berthold No breath lives in her"

"A faithful servant," said the one called Berthold quietly, "if quite the ugliest woed "She was one of that kind I know not your word In our language, we say they have two spirits"

Hanna happened to be looking toward Wolfhere Now the Eagle’s gaze fixed on the young Qu quickened, and he leaned over him to frown at the body It was true that the Kerayit had a coarse face and big hands; her felt skirts, hiked somewhat up because of the way she had fallen, revealed thickly muscled calves not quite those of even a soldierly wole reached for the skirts to pull theesture hidden from everyone but the five clustered around the dead Kerayit The h to show that he would allow no desecration of the corpse

"These, the Kerayit, are enemies of my own people But we respect those of two spirits It is ill luck to trouble these who are touched by the gods"