Honor and Blood

"This is about your people," Tarrin told him. "If that army takes Suld, they'll destroy the Tower of Six Spires. That will banish the Goddess of the Sorcerers from the world, and if that happens, the Weave will tear. That means that the magic that sustains your city will be disrupted," he said with a casual bluntness that made the Aeradalla flinch. "I'm not asking for an army. I only need fifty, and I don't expect any of them to fight. All they have to do is scout."

"You get to the point," the king of the Aeradalla said, a bit wanly. "No casual smalltalk, not even a hello. Right to the point."

"It saves time," Tarrin told him.

"How can I be sure of what you say?" he asked. "You're out here, alone, in the desert. How do you know all of this?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"If you're going to get any help out of me, you'd better make me understand," he challenged. "I won't even put fifty of my people in danger for no reason."

Tarrin could respect his morality, but his stubbor

He drew himself up to his full, imposing height, then stared down at the much smaller Aeradalla like a parent scolding a child with his eyes. "I'm not used to being second-guessed by anyone, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that your intentions are good," Tarrin told him in a strong voice.

"What does that mean?" Andos asked, his own hackles starting to rise.

"It means that you just avoided getting killed," Denai said lightly.

"You're not serious!" Andos gasped.

"Quite serious," Var agreed.

"I don't play, Andos," Tarrin said in a flat voice. "I'm not used to being ordered around. I'll give you lattitude because I don't think you're used to it either, but don't question my honesty. If I even think you're accusing me of lying, I'll rip your wings off right here and now."

The Aeradalla paled slightly and almost took a step back. But he held his ground.

"I know because Jegojah over there-" he a

Tarrin saw that he had the man's attention now, so he patiently sketched out the basics of the enemy's plan. He watched Andos' eyes shift from surprise, to comprehension, then to horror when the ultimate goal of that plan became apparent. "I'm not asking you to fight this war. All I want is fifty Aeradalla to help scout out the enemy army and deliver messages too vital to be sent any other way. Once the fighting starts, they can leave. After all, they'll have done everything they'd been asked to do, and they wouldn't be needed anymore."

"You give a very convincing argument," Andos said, his eyes thoughtful, traces of his fear diminishing with his comprehension of the situation. "In fact, convincing enough for me to agree with your need. But I'm not going to order anyone into that kind of danger. I'll put a call out among my people for volunteers. Anyone wishing to help can do so, but I'll not make anyone go. Is that satisfactory?"

"That's good enough," Tarrin agreed.

"Well, you have one volunteer, Tarrin," Ariana broke in. "It's the least I can do for everything you've done for me."

Tarrin nodded in her direction. "It's too dark for you to go back now. You can leave in the morning."

And then he turned and walked away from them. He wasn't entirely sure he could be civil to Andos so long as he felt that the Aeradalla was challenging him.

Tarrin left them to stew over him on their own, sitting by the fire and staring into its depths, absently twisting the manacle on his wrist. He had said what he needed to say to Andos, and he didn't want to cause a scene by disemboweling a man he'd just asked for help. That seemed slightly counter-productive. He hadn't been quite as nice as he wanted to be, and things hadn't gone very well. It was more reasons to be a little aggravated with himself with the way he handled his request, but there was little he could do about it now. The moment was over, the damage was done. All he could do now was hope that Andos was too intimidated to go back on his promise to ask for volunteers.

Jegojah clanked to a halt and sat down by the fire beside him. "Abrupt, ye were, yes," he told him bluntly. Jegojah wasn't one to mince words, and Tarrin rather liked him for that.

"He offended me," Tarrin replied. "It was all I could do to be that civil."

Jegojah cackled. "A king, ye remind me of one, yes," he said. "Always expecting obedience. And power, ye give it off like heat from the fire, yes."

"Call it a racial quirk," he said calmly.

"Were-cats, they are all like ye?"

"Not all," he replied. "But we're all of a similar mindset. Any Were-cat would have stripped Andos of his skin if they thought he was accusing them of lying."

"That, it isn't the point, no," Jegojah elaborated. "A king, ye are, Were-cat, but a king in mind only. The regal command, it emanates from ye."

Tarrin looked at him, then chuckled ruefully. "If you're asking if all Were-cats are arrogant, I'd have to say yes," Tarrin told him with a dry smile.

"Jegojah, he meant no offense, no."

"None taken. I guess we are a pretty arrogant lot. Though I wouldn't call them that to their faces."

Jegojah cackled. "Jegojah, he thinks that that would be a bad idea, yes." He looked up at the setting sun, setting over the abandoned ruins of the city. "Jegojah, he thinks ye go about asking help the wrong way."

"Probably, but I really don't want an army from the Aeradalla. Just some scouts, to ferret out the opposition when they start to march."

"A good plan, that is, yes. But Jegojah, he thinks the Were-cat, he underestimates the worth of airborne troops, yes."

"Probably, but I'm not going to ask for more than they're willing to give."

"The key, it is to make them willing to give what ye want of them ," Jegojah said. "Politics, it is a part of being a general, yes. A general, he must know how to say what. As important, it is, as telling which unit to go where, yes."

Tarrin looked at Jegojah. Out of circulation for fifteen hundred years, and his insight seemed as valuable now as it would have been so long ago. "I'm no general, Jegojah. If anyone does the generalling, it's going to be Keritanima."

"Generalling? Jegojah, he think there's no such word," the Revenant cackled. "And Jegojah, he thinks that the Were-cat is being too modest. All alone, ye thought to bring together the Wikuni and the Arakites, yes. Alone, the Were-cat thought of the value of airborne scouts, yes, and already solved many problems, ye did, with the Ungardt and the Selani. Jegojah, he thinks the Were-cat would be as good a general as the Wikuni, yes."

Tarrin was slightly embarassed. "I'm no thinker, Jegojah. I can barely control myself. I don't need to be controlling other people."

"Do that, ye already do," Jegojah gri