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bridge, even so… I think you may be right. I think they have spent these days consolidating their conquest, and rather than waiting, they have actually moved quickly. Several of the bodies I undressed showed cuts and bruises older than could have been received today, but still fairly fresh.”
    Brenda gave a short, hard laugh. “Wow! Did they ever pick a bad time. I mean, what if they’d come through when we weren’t here and all of you were asleep? Instead they came through not only when you had reinforcements, but when we were all wearing at least some magical protection, and several people were holding weapons.”
    Desperate Lee had been unusually silent for him—normallyhe was almost too chatty. Now he looked over at Righteous Drum.
    “Honored Dragon, is there any possibility that the treaty might have had anything to do with their bad timing? Waking Lizard did swear to do everything in his power not to bring harm to any of the signatories. Therefore, he would have been under conflicting obligations. From his condition, it’s apparent they drew heavily on his ch’i to power the bridge. Therefore, the bridge could not be established unless he thought—even unconsciously—that no harm would come to us.”
    Righteous Drum’s eyes lit with the scholarly fire that Honey Dream knew all too well. He was forgetting that he’d lost an arm, that harm had definitely been done. All he thought of was the fascinating problem.
    “That is likely, Desperate Lee. The unconscious mind is closely allied to the vital energies. Some theorists argue that dreams are needed for ch’i to truly replenish, which is why even if a spellcaster is loaned ch’i to enable him to work a complex spell, still he cannot go on indefinitely without being depleted. Yes. That theory is sound.”
    Waking Lizard’s brief speeches had tired him, so that he had sunk back against the pillows, but now he pushed himself up onto one elbow and met Righteous Drum’s eye.
    “I didn’t manage entirely, I fear. I am sorry.”
    Righteous Drum smiled bravely. “As Brenda Morris has noted, we were very fortunate in the timing of the attack. We could have all been slain in our beds.”
    “They weren’t taking any chances, though,” Riprap said. “All sixteen wore armor. All had weapons. Flying Claw says that several were capable of casting spells. Certainly whoever attacked you came armed for Dragon.”
    “That brings me to another question,” Albert Yu said. “Did any of you recognize any of the attackers, living or dead?”
    “I didn’t get a very good look,” Righteous Drum admitted. “I was down almost immediately. I did not know theman my spell killed, even though he was a sorcerer of some power.”
    “I didn’t,” Honey Dream said, “but I also didn’t see much because I protected my father.”
    Waking Lizard shook his head, but Flying Claw, who had been waiting with the admirable patience of a Tiger who knows the kill is his and sees no need to spring prematurely, nodded.
    “I knew several among the dead. Good soldiers all. All ones I heard had joined the other side. Among the living, I knew one. I don’t know what he is called these days, but when we were in school together, he was called Twentyseven-Ten.”
    “Twentyseven-Ten?” Brenda asked. “That’s a weird name.”
    Flying Claw grinned at her. “We all had names like that. The first number is the order in which you were enrolled in your year. Mine was three. The second was the number of years you had completed in training. The examination at the end of the tenth year is particularly difficult. Candidates are fifteen by then, and those who do not show promise in both magic and fighting arts are not permitted to continue. Ten, therefore, is an admirable designation, and therefore he may have kept that name.”
    Honey Dream thought that Brenda probably had a lot more questions. She’d been sniffing after Flying Claw since the poor man had been an amnesiac captured by Pearl