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year in Aarenis.
    “I knew you, sir king,” she said, bending her knee. “But I didn’t like to say, out there in the woods, if one of them Pargunese was about.”
    “Good thinking,” Kieri said. He pointed to a chair on the other side of the table where he’d spread the map. “Have a seat. Do your troops need anything more?”
    “No, sir king.”
    “Tell me what you know, then.”
    Vardan began to talk, pointing out on the map where her unit’s encampment had been, where they had patrolled, and the location of the ditch. “Days go dark so early. We were past sunfall coming back, but once we had our feet on that dike, we had naught to worry about, I thought. Out of the swamp, firm ground. Then … then this light came. Not any natural light—”
    “I saw it, too,” Kieri said.
    “Well, we went on, to make it to camp, we hoped, but it was faster—it rose up, the trees burning before it—and I felt the heat and ordered ’em into the water. We were in it up to our necks, staring as it came down on us, then we dived—most of us—but it burned offthe top handspan of the water and whatever was that close—my cloak, for one thing. Four of us didn’t go deep enough.”
    “Good thing you had the water to jump into,” Kieri said.
    “Aye, that it was. I owe Falk an offering for that, when we get to a Field. And thanks to our captain, Falk hold his soul, for making us dig that ditch.” Vardan paused; Kieri poured her a mug of water. Vardan took a gulp, then went on. “When we got out, there was just the scar, nothing but ash, and fires burning along each side of it. Nothing left of the camp or the ten who were in it. And all of us wet, cold, with no supplies. If not for the rangers, we wouldn’t be here.”
    Kieri let her tell the rest of it without interruption. She had done what he would have expected from a Halveric sergeant or one of his former troops. Between the terse sentences, he easily imagined the struggle it had been—and the years of experience that had given her the skills and character to save so many and use them so effectively.
    “So this morning,” Vardan said. “The ranger with us said he knew by the taig the king was coming, and I said we ought to go to meet you—you’d find a way to use us better than skulking behind trees and giving a volley now and then.”
    “And how far away are the Pargunese, do you know?”
    “The rangers harass them, and they have a few Royal Archers, too. They are on both sides, and it slows the Pargunese down. We made them afraid of the woods—lured them to a steading a day—a day and night ago—” Vardan shook her head; Kieri realized the sergeant was near total exhaustion. “We passed them early this morning; they did not notice, because the rangers were shooting at them. I think we must be a half-day ahead.”
    “Will they march at night?”
    “No. They try to barricade themselves at night. I don’t know if they found another farm, but it did not go well for them last time.”
    “You have bought us time, Sergeant,” Kieri said. “If you had done nothing more than delay them, that would have been valuable. But bringing trained archers, already armed—” Twenty-eight Halverics plus the fifty Royal Archers with him … nearly a cohort, all trained to shoot in volleys. “I sent messengers to that Royal Archer camp you mentioned, ordering them to make haste to meet us, but that will take them a day at least, even mounted.”
    “What about Captain Talgan?” Vardan asked. “The Halverics we found saw another fire to the west—but he was at Riverwash—”
    “Riverwash burned,” Kieri said. “Scathefire.” The woman’s face paled under its southern tan. “As far as I know, no one in the fort there survived. I have heard nothing from there … Assassins preceded the attack, disrupting the courier system for several days.”
    “So all we—you—have—”
    “Is here or scattered through the forest, so far as I know. And though the