The Dark-Eyes War

Seeing the Fal'Borna die, Fayo

Suddenly she was aware of the tumult that surrounded her: The attacks of the wolves and snakes and eagles, the Qirsi wind that swirled around them, the moans and cries of the wounded.

She sca

To her relief, she spotted him after a moment. He was stiffly climbing to his feet, looking around as if dazed. And then he looked up, his mouth falling open.

Fayo

One of the magical eagles was beating its wings above him, struggling to keep aloft. It had been struck by so many arrows she found it hard to believe that it could still fly. But more remarkable, it held a soldier in one of its clawed feet.

He was struggling to break free; Fayo

A voice reached her. A woman's voice. Captain Onjaef.

"Enly!" she cried out over and over.

"Gods!" Mander said. "It's Captain Tolm."

No sooner had he spoken the words than the eagle let the man drop.

It hadn't seemed such a long way-other eagles were circling far higher than this one. But it seemed to take Enly forever to fall. Fayo

Fayo

Then all of them were ru

Fayo

"Your father?" he whispered.

She was sobbing, but she nodded. "He's here; he's all right. You saved him."

"Don't tell my father," he said. A faint smile touched his lips, but then he began to cough and he winced, closing his eyes.

"We need a healer," Tirnya said. And then she shouted it. "We need a healer!"

"Tirnya," Jenoe said, and shook his head. "There's nothing a healer can do."

"There has to be!"

Fayo

"There has to be!" Tirnya said again.

She looked up at Fayo

With Q'Daer's name still on his lips, Grinsa sprinted to his mount, intending to ride to the young Weaver and his men. Perhaps… He didn't complete the thought. He had to see for himself.

Before he could get on the horse, however, the animal reared, kicking out with its front hooves. Grinsa jumped back, then turned a quick circle. Someone had made the horse do that with language of beasts. Having used that magic many times himself, he was certain of it.

O'Tal was staring at him, still sitting his mount a short distance away. "You did that!" Grinsa shouted.

"Yes. And I'll do it again if you try to ride to Q'Daer."

The Forelander glared at him for another moment before turning back to his mount and trying to climb into his saddle again. He used his own magic to keep the animal calm, but with O'Tal wielding his power, too, the horse remained jumpy.

"Damnit!" Grinsa faced the a'laq again, his fists clenched.

"I don't know what that spell was," O'Tal said. "But it killed them in an instant. And I'm not letting you or anyone else get near them."

Grinsa opened his mouth to argue, but then stopped, a vision of Crese

He closed his eyes and took a long, shuddering breath. He felt as though a spear had pierced his heart.

O'Tal steered his mount to where Grinsa stood.

"You and Q'Daer were close," he said.

Grinsa actually laughed, though his eyes stung. "No," he said. "That's the fu

"I have a brother. We fight all the time, too."

The Forelander nodded, unable to put a word to his emotions. "We have to end this, A'Laq," he said.

"We're trying."

Grinsa looked up at him. "No. I don't mean we have to win it. I mean we have to end it." He gestured at the dead beasts around them, the eagles circling above, the Eandi soldiers fighting off wolves in the distance. "This is madness. The Eandi were in retreat. Let them go. End this now."

O'Tal's expression hardened and he looked away. Grinsa was sure he'd refuse.

"That's not the Fal'Borna way," the man said with quiet intensity.

"It can be today. H'Loryn won't fight you. E'Menua would have, and Q'Daer, too. But they're gone. You lead us now, and you have to stop this battle before it spreads. Too many-"

"Enough!" O'Tal was eyeing him again, his jaw set. He looked out over the battle plain. After a few moments he raised himself up in his saddle and shouted, "Fal'Borna riders! Return to me now!"

L'Norr and his men were the farthest away, and at first they didn't appear to have heard him. But O'Tal called for them again, and this time L'Norr turned to look back at the a'laq. Seeing that others were gathering around O'Tal, he and his company started back, too. Grinsa could see him sca

"If one of the dark-eyes takes so much as a step toward our lines," O'Tal said, his voice low and hard, "I'm going to signal an advance again, and we'll kill every last one of them."

"I wouldn't expect anything different, A'Laq," Grinsa said.

The man nodded, though he still looked unsure of his decision.

"What's happening?" H'Loryn asked as he steered his mount toward them. "Why have you called us back?"

O'Tal glanced at Grinsa before facing the other a'laq. "E'Menua is dead. Q'Daer and his company are dead. The Forelander believes it's time to end this war, and I agree with him. The dark-eyes were retreating. We're going to let them go."

H'Loryn looked from one of them to the other, as if not quite believing what he had heard. "I think that's a wise choice, O'Tal," he finally said. O'Tal didn't answer. He looked out over the plain once more, seeming to mark L'Norr's approach. "He's young to be a'laq." He faced Grinsa again. "Have you considered-?"

"No," Grinsa said. "The sept is his."

"Where's my a'laq?" L'Norr said as he drew near. He sca

Grinsa walked to where the young Weaver had halted his mount. "The a'laq is dead, killed by one of the Mettai snakes. And Q'Daer and his company are lost as well."

L'Norr merely stared down at him.

"You lead our sept now, A'Laq."

The man shook his head. "I'm not… I can't."

"Of course you can," O'Tal said. "You must. There's no one else."

L'Norr cast a look at Grinsa, a question in his pale eyes. But Grinsa shook his head.

"Yes, all right," L'Norr said quietly.