The Tyran whispered among themselves until they felt their captain's gaze; they fell silent at once.

Thus accoutred, the three Commanders entered the city of Callesta. The streets were not empty; they were lined with the men and the women whose lives were defined by their service within the walls. There was curiosity upon the faces of these witnesses to the procession, but it was not their curiosity that drew the attention; it was the colors they wore: Blue and white. Not so fine as the colors that graced the Tyran, they were nonetheless a clear indication that the city itself was in mourning.

Not an auspicious beginning, but a fitting one.

He bowed his head a moment; by war's end, there would be three colors on the field, and off it: black, white and blue.

He had ridden through Imperial villages similar to this at the start of the border war thirteen years past, and although the deep and somber shades of blue had been absent, black was there in abundance; black of fabric, black of hanging, black of bowed head, of bruised face, of eyes made hollow by food's lack, sleep's lack, and worse, the loss of the things which defined a full life.

He had chosen to parade the best of his troops-hand-picked among the divisions-through those towns for two reasons; the first to offer comfort to the bereaved, to offer the promise, in silence, of the Kings' Justice, and second, to make certain, to make absolutely certain, that his men understood the human face of a war that would leave many more villages in smoldering ruins before an end was called to the hostilities which defined the shape of two nations.

But more, he had done so to remind himself.

"These people," he had said, "had no choice in the battle; they cannot make decisions that affect the fate of nations, but they suffer the cost of the decisions undertaken-by us, by our Kings, by our enemies. You want justice. Good. Justice has defined the Empire of Essalieyan since the founding of Averalaan.

"But Wisdom has tempered that Justice; call upon that Wisdom when we cross the border. Call upon it when we take the villages of the Averdan valleys; call upon it when you see the old and the weak, the women, the children, and the young men who, like ours, have lost all but their desire for vengeance. You are the Kings' representatives here. You bear the burden of their name, and their honor, upon the field. The standards that you see are ours, but they embody more than the men at your side, than the fight for survival.

"Very few of the men and the women who people the villages of the Dominion are free. Very few have a choice in how they live or how they die. Remember this for as long as you can. Hold on to it.

"Understand why you are here."

He drew breath, and that breath drew him back across the decade, confronting him with his own words, his own resolve.

We are killers, he thought, his right hand upon the pommel of his sword, his left upon the reins of his mount. But we are not monsters; we are not murderers. The name we make for ourselves will be defined by our actions here. Let us carry that name with pride.

Devran stood to his left, gazing upon the whole of the city of Callesta, inscrutable and silent.

Ellora walked to his right, her hand upon the reins of her mount; she did not seek the solace of a weapon. Not for her the prettified speeches; not for her the tame instruction. She paused, shortening the grip on her horse.

A second later, a child appeared between the ranks of the gathered Callestans, his eyes too large for his face, his cheeks widened by a smile that had clearly been indulged. He slipped past the hands that reached for his chubby arms, his fat, round shoulders, and ran toward the legs and limbs of the pa.s.sing soldiery.

Ellora caught him, with the hand that every other man present now gripped their weapon, kneeling to bring her face closer to his. Her hair was pale, her skin pale, her eyes light; she wore armor and crest and the scars of previous battles with equal grace. There was no braid at her back, no adornments in her hair, no silks, no cotton saris; she wore white, black, and the colors of the House she ruled.

But she laughed, and her voice was clearly no man's voice; it was loud, it was foreign.

The child's brows rose.

In accented Torra, she said, "Well, you're a brave boy, aren't you?"

He hesitated for just a moment, and then, having made his decision, smiled. "Brave," he said, nodding. "Brave boy."

"Kalakar." Devran's voice was as cold as any weather Averda ever saw.

She ignored him.

Yes, it started; it started now, in this place, this foreign city. The Callestan Tyran continued to walk for another ten yards before they realized that the gap between them and the Northerners had widened; they stopped, turning, their beasts turning with them in idle curiosity.

Ser Fillipo, at the head of these men, was not immediately visible, but the Tyran themselves hesitated. They wore helms, but their visors were raised, and their expressions were clear; they were surprised.

Worried.

So, too, was the child's grandfather. The child's grandmother. His mother and father, if they were there, did not break the stretch of the white-and-blue line that was both barrier and honor guard.

The elderly woman fell at once to her knees in the open street; she was so close to the hooves of the horse that had it been moving briskly, she might have risked being trampled. Her forehead struck the dirt, remaining there as if fastened.

Her husband-Commander Allen a.s.sumed it must be the husband-likewise abased himself, but he did so at the feet of The Kalakar, and his lined, dark hands, instead of residing in the hidden fold of his lap, now reached for the child she held.

"Brave boy you have," Ellora told the man, her voice a Decarus' voice, loud and booming.

The man's face rose, his eyes wide; Commander Allen could almost see the reflection of this Northern aberration, this monstrous woman, in them. She lifted the child, releasing her horse to do so.

"Horse," the boy said.

"My horse."

"My horse."

Without hesitation, she placed him high upon the saddle, speaking in Weston to the horse that bore her upon the field. To the horse, she spoke calmly and softly, her voice more feminine that it would be anywhere else. She was rewarded by the child's hesitant smile, and after a moment, the pounding kick of his small, bare feet. The horse would not feel it; the child's weight was too slight.

She let him sit astride the stallion's back for five minutes, and then she lifted him again. He reached for the pommel of the saddle, but Ellora was far faster; she disentangled his fingers, smiled, and whispered something that evaded Allen's hearing.

Then she set him down.

His grandfather hesitated for a fraction of a second, watching this woman, the fear in his face almost wrenching.

Ellora looked down upon him. "You have a brave boy," she said again, and again her voice could be heard for a mile on this windless day; a mile in any direction.

"And he," she added, "brave kin. This is not the last time he will sit upon horseback."

Bending, then, she caught the old man's outstretched hands and lifted him. When he had gained his feet, she helped his wife to rise.

"Your future," she said, struggling for the words. "Your future, here." All of the Torra she was familiar with was military in nature, but she had no fear of sounding the fool.

Ser Fillipo par di'Callesta had come, horseless, through the ranks of his Tyran; he stood not twenty feet away, his hands behind his back, his expression completely unreadable.

The old man bent down, grabbed his grandchild, waiting until his wife had extricated her hand from the pale, foreign hand of this Northern woman. And then he turned to look at the par Callesta, his face almost as pale as Ellora's, and with a good deal more cause.

But Ser Fillipo par di'Callesta merely nodded, his expression slowly easing into a smile that was, if slight, completely genuine.

"Well met, Decasto," he said. "Your grandson is brave indeed to risk being surrounded by three such men-and women-as these; they are the Northern birds of prey. Be grateful that they have not yet begun their ascent; be grateful that they have chosen prey that is wiser and more canny than he."

The old man swallowed. "Par di'Callesta," he said, his voice breaking with both age and emotion. The child squirmed; the old man's grip was tight.

"Aye, I have returned; I have come from the Northern Empire, the Northern Isle. And I have discovered, in my sojourn there, that there is no truth behind the tales of Northern women who devour their children whole."

The Tyran at the par di'Callesta's back now smiled as well, broadly, and with some affection.

"But don't give the boy a sword just yet; he is likely to use it where it is unwise." He nodded genially, and turned to face The Kalakar.

"Decasto wishes to apologize for the intrusion of his kin. If you take no offense, Commander, I will dismiss them without censure."

She laughed, speaking now in the comfortable confines of Weston. "The Kalakar wishes to beg your forgiveness for this indulgence. In armor and mounted, it is seldom that I see children; if the children themselves are not too timid to keep their distance, the parents are."

And then her smile changed, subtle now, her eyes narrowing slightly. "We all need reminders of why it is that we do what we do, par Callesta. We all require something for which to fight; tell your man-Decasto?-that although the women of the North wear armor and wield swords, we understand, better than any, where the future of a nation lies. Tell him," she added, easing the command out of words that were not quite request, "that he has given me such a reminder this day."

She turned to the old man, and Commander Allen winced as he braced himself for more of her clumsy Annagarian. "We fight," she said-and those two words came easily-"and die," these two as well, "for our young."

The old man hesitated.

Commander Allen thought he knew where the boy had acquired his boldness, for the woman was white as the buildings that lined the road. "You have children, SSerra?"

"Of my own?" She let a shadow cross her face; there was theater in the expression, although the regret itself was genuine. Thus did Ellora use vulnerability as bridge. "No. I was never so blessed.

"But for that reason, I understand that children are a blessing, and I swear to you that, as we can, we will spare your son-all of your sons, and all of your daughters-from the swords and the fires of any who would challenge the right of Callestan rule in Averda."

She reached out and touched the boy's cheeks.

"Horse?" he said, reaching for her. His grandfather caught hands that seemed to have multiplied in their frenzied grab, stilling them.

"When you are older," she told him. She turned to Commander Allen and bowed briskly. "Commander. My apologies for detaining the men."

Commander Allen raised a brow, "Your Torra is greatly improved."

"Thank you, Bruce."

"Greatly improved in the course of five minutes."

She laughed. Caught the reins of her steady beast, her right hand swinging freely by her side as she began to walk, once again, toward the building upon the height of the gentle slope.

Behind her, behind the body of the Northern guards, the Northern soldiery, the denizens of the city of Callesta were already moving from a whisper to an excited blur of language so intense that Commander Allen quickly lost the single words to the stream.

Devran of the House Berriliya rolled his eyes. He did not argue with her; not here, and not in the open, with so many Southerners as witness; the Imperial Flight had always presented a unified front. But the spark of an argument, old as the current Imperial border, had kindled in earnest.

Ser Fillipo par di'Callesta had spent more than a decade as a "guest" in the Arannan Halls in Avantari, the palace of Kings. But he had seldom come in contact with The Kalakar. He regretted it now.

For he could clearly hear the words that pa.s.sed beyond them in a widening circle, and he knew that within two days, the entire city would be speaking of the pale-haired, scarred, Northern woman, a woman considered by the South to be an abomination in every possible way; knew that the word abomination, the word monster, was already softening and changing as it pa.s.sed from mouth to ear, mouth to ear.

How monstrous could a woman be, who could show such affection to the child of strangers? How abominable could she be, when she had sworn to use her sword, her army, in defense of their children?

Even he was not immune to the effect of an interruption that would have been unthinkable, inconceivable, had the procession been composed solely of men.

He had wondered why Ramiro had seen fit to deprive himself of all but a handful of the Tyran in order to form such an escort; had wondered-albeit briefly-if he considered the flight so much of a threat. He saw clearly now. A man was defined by his ability upon the field of battle, but in the High Courts, such a field could exist in any place that two men of power stood.

They had met, here, for the first time, and without raising a sword, the woman known as the Kestrel had made her mark.

Had she traveled with lesser men, had she been given to the escort of simple cerdan, she would by that action have become the authority; by placing the Captain of the Tyran in the position of authority over their guests, no matter how subtle that authority was, Ramiro made her gesture subordinate to Callesta.

Women were canny. Ser Fillipo had learned this early in life, and he had never forgotten it, but he had somehow expected less of this woman who had chosen sword over harem's heart; the life of a soldier over the life of a wife. Clearly, Ramiro had labored under no such misconception.

He thought, with some regret, of his own wife; she had remained in Avantari, in the halls of the hostages, with the children. She had not asked to accompany him, and he had deemed it wise to leave them there in safety. He missed her.

But of the Callestan wives, she was the dove. He had chosen her because she least reminded him of his mother; she was unlike his brother's wife, for she had none of the Serra Amara's cutting grace, her ready wit, her piercing gaze; she had none of the wisdom, the understanding of the ways of the powerful. She was his oasis; she was the place that he retreated to when he required peace.

And there was to be no peace here.

In truth, Ser Fillipo had not been unhappy in the court of the Twin Kings. He had not, from the moment he was first ushered into their presence, feared them as demons; he had not feared for his safety at any time in Averalaan save the last one, when the hostages faced a certain death.

When a boy he had never considered a man had made a choice, taken a stand, and saved them all.

He wondered if Ramiro understood the depth of the debt owed to the kai Leonne by the Captain of the Callestan Tyran; he could not imagine that his brother, who saw clearly in all else, did not see clearly in this.

Was I tainted by my time in the North, brother? Was I softened by it? He reached down to touch the hilt of his sword.

How soft could the North be, when it could produce women of the caliber of The Kalakar? He smiled again, let his hand fall from his side. He had no fear of the Northerners; he could hear his mother's honeyed edge as she berated him for his foolishness, his naivete. Yes, he missed his wife.

But this, this was Callesta, his home.

And this stranger had made herself at home here, with the careful choice of a few strategically broken words.

The Serra Amara en'Callesta had been busy.

Her serafs, the finest in Averda, worked with the diligence and the faithfulness of an army, transforming the whole of the Callestan citadel into a thing of spa.r.s.e beauty. In the gardens, they tended the flowers and trees that best showed the beauty of the season; the season itself cooperated. She had chosen the colors; the blues and the whites of the flower beds a conscious gift to the memory of her son, the first of the fallen.

But into the blues and the whites crept gold and red, and the leaves of the trees themselves were emerald, jade, and ivory; life defied death, even here. Gra.s.s, the most deceptive of all plant life, had been shorn to its essential soft roots, and the serafs watered it and cut it as if it were the mane of the Tyr'agnate's finest stallion.

They were content to do so; it was the first thing that the Serra Amara had demanded of them since she had come to gaze upon the body of the kai Callesta. If her orders were at times contradictory, they were nonetheless recognizably the words of a woman who had once again chosen to enter the world.

The city came to life, waking slowly into this new and unimagined world: The Northern Commanders had come to pay their respects to the Tyr'agnate of Callesta, in the heart of the lands Callestans had held for over two centuries. And even if they were barbarians, even if the grace and the subtlety of her artistry were to be lost upon them, it would be there; the lack would come from them, and not from the family of the Tyr'agnate.

The serafs knew when the Commanders first entered the city. They knew when they were within a mile of the palace gates. Word was sent from one seraf to the other, traveling by wing, by wind, by foot, and it pa.s.sed at last into the keeping of the Serra Amara en'Callesta, in the harem's heart.

Her wives tended her hair, helped to place in it combs of gold and jade; they tended her face, her hands, her feet, and also helped drape the finest of silks across her body. They did not speak to rea.s.sure her; they knew her well. But they offered her rea.s.surance nonetheless, and perhaps some envy.

She had long desired a chance to meet with these men, this woman; it had been a fond and foolish desire, one that she had never thought to realize.

These men, this woman, had bested the Tyr'agar. They had won a war which, had they desired it, could have continued for decades, destroying the Terreans of Averda and Mancorvo. But instead, for the price of land across the Northern pa.s.ses, they had chosen to withdraw their armies, content with the simple cessation of hostility.

She had sat, with her husband, examining the costs of the war to both sides, and it was her husband's guess that the Empire could afford to continue their battle with an ease that would have eluded the Terrean in less than two years.

If the Lambertans were too foolish to realize this, that was their concern; she was Callestan. She understood.

And she was a child of the Dominion; to the victors respect accrued, and it was a respect she felt without rancor or fear. The Lord had watched. The Lord had judged.

"Serra Amara," Navello kep'Callesta said, from behind the opaque screen doors that hid the harem from the outer world. "They will be upon the plateau in the quarter hour."

She rose at once, and her wives fell away in a quiet circle.

Maria smiled. "You look perfect, Na'amara."