Read An Empire Unacquainted With Defeat for Free Online

of Baron Caydar."
    "Go to Hell."
    Tain almost laughed.
    The reply, spoken almost gently, came from the mouth of a man beyond fear. The Caydarmen sensed it, too, and seemed bewildered. That was what amused Tain so.
    "Kosku, you've been fined three sheep, three goats, and five geese for talking sedition. We've come to collect."
    "The thieves bargain now? You were demanding five, five, and ten the other day."
    "Five sheep, five goats, and ten geese, then," Torfin replied, chagrined.
    "Get the hell off my land."
    "Kosku . . . ."
    Assessing the voice. Tain identified Torfin as a decent man trapped by circumstance. Torfin didn't want trouble.
    "Produce the animals, Kosku," said the second man. "Or I'll come after them."
    This one wasn't a decent sort. His tone shrieked bully and sadist. This one wanted Kosku to resist.
    "Come ahead, Grimnir. Come ahead." The cabin door flung open. An older man appeared. He leaned on a long, heavy quarterstaff. "Come to me, you Trolledyngjan dog puke. You sniffer at the skirts of whores."
    Kosku, Tain decided, was no ex-clerk. He was old, but the hardness of a man of action glimmered through the gray. His muscles were taut and strong. He would know how to handle his staff.
    Grimnir wasn't inclined to test him immediately.
    The Witch urged her mount forward.
    "You don't frighten me, little slut. I know you. I won't appease your greed."
    Her hands rose before her, black-gloved fingers writhing like snakes. Sudden emerald sparks leapt from tip to tip.
    Kosku laughed.
    His staff darted too swiftly for the eye to follow. Its iron-shod tip struck the Witch's horse between the nostrils.
    It shrieked, reared. The woman tumbled into the mud. Green sparks zig-zagged over her dark clothing. She spewed curses like a broken oath-sack.
    Torfin swung his torch at the old man.
    The staff's tip caught him squarely in the forehead. He sagged.
    "Kosku, you shouldn't have done that," Grimnir snarled. He dismounted, drew his sword. The old man fled, slammed his door.
    Grimnir recovered Torfin's torch, tossed it onto the thatch of Kosku's home. He helped the Witch and Torfin mount, then tossed his own torch.
    Tain was inclined to aid the old man, but didn't move. He had left his weapons behind in case he encountered this urge.
    He didn't need weapons to fight and kill, but he suspected, considering Kosku's reaction, that Grimnir was good with a sword. It didn't seem likely that an unarmed man could take him.
    And there was the Witch, whose self-taught skill he couldn't estimate.
    She had had enough. Despite Grimnir's protests, she started back the way they had come.
    Tain watched them pass. The Witch's eyes jerked his way, as if she were startled, but she saw nothing. She relaxed. Tain listened to them over the ridge before moving.
    The wet thatch didn't burn well, but it burned. Tain strode down, filled a bucket from a sheep trough, tossed water onto the blaze. A half-dozen throws finished it.
    The rainfall was picking up. Tain returned to the roan conscious that eyes were watching him go.
    He swung onto the gelding, whispered. The horse began stalking the Caydarmen.
    They weren't hurrying. It was two hours before Tain discerned the deeper darkness of the Tower through the rain. His quarry passed inside without his having learned anything. He circled the structure once.
    The squat, square tower was only slightly taller than it was wide. It was very old, antedating Iwa Skolovda. Tain assumed that it had been erected by Imperial engineers when Ilkazar had ruled Shara. A watchtower to support patrols in the borderlands.
    Shara had always been a frontier.
    Similar structures dotted the west. Ilkazar's advance could be chronicled by their architectural styles.
     
IX
    Toma was in a foul mood next morning. Toma was suffering from more than a hangover. Come mid-morning he abandoned his tools, donned a jacket and collected his staff. He strode off toward the village.
    He had hardly vanished when Rula joined Tain. "Thanks for