‘We have become barbarians,’ said Scaler, turning his mount away from the scene. Belder merely nodded, but he followed the young Drenai to the grass fields beyond.
Tenaka dismounted at the village square, where the mass of bodies lay – more than thirty women and children.
‘There is no sense to it,’ he said as Ananais joined him. ‘Now who will work the fields? If this is happening all over the empire . . .’
‘It is,’ said Galand.
The woman with the babe lifted her shawl over her head and closed her eyes. Pagan glimpsed the movement and rode alongside her, taking the reins from her hands.
‘We will wait for you outside the village,’ he said.
Valtaya and Renya followed them.
‘It is a strange thing,’ said Ananais. ‘For centuries the Drenai have turned back enemies who would have done this to our land. And now we do it ourselves. What breed of men are they recruiting now?’
“There are always those who love this kind of work,’ answered Tenaka.
‘Among your people, maybe,’ said Parsal softly.
‘What does that mean?’ snarled Ananais, turning on the black-bearded warrior.
‘Forget it!’ ordered Tenaka. ‘You are right Parsal; the Nadir are a vicious people. But the Nadir did not do this. Nor did the Vagrians. As Ananais has said, we are doing it to ourselves.’
‘Forget I said it, general,’ murmured Parsal. ‘I am just angry. Let’s get away from here.’
‘Tell me something,’ said Galand suddenly. ‘Will killing Ceska change all this?’
‘I don’t know,’ Tenaka replied.
‘He needs to be smashed.’
‘I don’t think six men and two women can bring down his empire. Do you?’
‘A few days ago,’ said Ananais, ‘there was only one man.’
‘Parsal is right, let us get away from here,’ said Tenaka.
At that moment a child began to cry and the four men ran to the bodies, hauling them aside. At last they reached an old fat woman, her dead arms curled protectively around a girl of five or six. The woman’s back bore three terrible, wounds and she had obviously crouched down over the child to shield her from the weapons. But a lance had ripped through her body and into that of the child beyond. Parsal lifted the girl clear, then blanched as he saw the blood that had soaked her clothing. He carried her out of the village to where the others had dismounted and Valtaya ran forward to relieve him of the slender burden.
As they laid her gently to the grass her eyes opened; they were blue and bright.
‘I don’t want to die,’ she whispered. ‘Please?’ Her eyes closed and the woman from the village knelt by her, lifting her head and cradling the child in her lap.
‘It’s all right, Alaya; it’s me, Parise. I have come back to look after you.’
The child smiled weakly, but then the smile froze and twisted into a grimace of pain. The companions watched life depart.
‘Oh no! Please, no!’ murmured Parise. ‘Sweet gods of light, no!’ Her own babe began to cry and Pagan lifted it from the ground to hold it against his chest.
Galand turned away and fell to his knees. Parsal moved to his side and Galand looked up at his brother, tears streaming from his eyes. He shook his head, for no words would come.
Parsal knelt beside him. ‘I know, brother, I know,’ he said gently. Galand took a deep breath and drew his sword.
‘I swear by all that’s holy and unholy, by all the beasts that crawl or fly, I will not rest until this land is clean again.’ He lurched to his feet, waving his sword in the air. Tm coming for you, Ceska!’ he bellowed. Hurling aside his blade, he stumbled away towards a small grove of trees.
Parsal turned apologetically to the others. ‘His own daughter was killed. A lovely child … a child of laughter. But he meant what he said, you know. And . . . and I’m with him.’ His voice was thick with emotion and he cleared his throat. ‘We’re not much, him and me. I wasn’t even good enough for the Dragon. We’re not officers or anything. But when we say a thing we mean it. I don’t know what the rest of you want out of all this. But those people back there – they are my people, mine and Galand’s. Not rich and noble. Just dead. That old fat woman died to protect that child. And she failed. But she tried . . . gave her life trying. Well, so will I!’ His voice broke then and he swore. Turning he walked quickly to the grove.