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into the interior of the valley.
    Taya named her gray horse Soldier, figuring that since he had battle scars, he had probably been used in combat. Out of respect for his weakened state, she and Mandir took the journey at a leisurely pace, asking the horses for only brief trots. They allowed the animals frequent rest breaks during the day, and at night they chose campsites rich in grass.
    Soldier thrived under this regimen; he was growing stronger every day. What luck she’d found him when she did! If she had not, the horse seller might have slaughtered a perfectly good animal.
    They followed the tributary for three days. On the fourth morning, as they saddled up for the day’s riding, Mandir said, “We’re getting close to Tufan’s. Should reach it by evening.”
    Taya glanced at the dry grassland and scrubby trees that surrounded them. “How can that be, when we’re in the middle of nowhere?”
    “That’s where Tufan lives.”
    “Why, when he’s a prince of the realm and can live anywhere he wants?”
    “Tufan likes to be in control of whatever environment he’s in. Total control. He left the palace because he couldn’t handle being under the king’s thumb. He doesn’t like being around his brothers either, because they share authority with him.”
    “How can he support a household? There’s not much farmland here.” The soil was thin and gray, not the rich loam one found along the Lioness after the inundation. This tributary, it seemed, did not overflow its banks.
    “He ships everything in.”
    “The king allows this?”
    “He encourages it,” said Mandir. “It’s worth it for him to pay Tufan’s expenses so that Tufan can live on the outskirts, away from the palace. This way he avoids the embarrassment and aggravation of having Tufan in civilized society.”
    “If Tufan is so awful, why doesn’t the king just get rid of him?” said Taya, “Exile him to the mountains or something.”
    Mandir shrugged. “He’s the king’s son. I imagine it would be hard for a father to do that to his own flesh and blood.”
    “And yet he allows Tufan to abuse his children, who are also the king’s flesh and blood.”
    “We’re illegitimate,” said Mandir. “We don’t count.”
    Taya grimaced. Mandir seemed glum about this mission, as if it were a punishment he had to endure rather than a happy opportunity to save a boy, probably Mandir’s own half-brother, from an unfortunate fate. She didn’t think his reluctance stemmed from a lack of caring about the boy. Rather, he seemed to believe they had little chance of success. And yet by law they had every right to remove the boy from Tufan’s household. If the boy had the Gift, the Accords of Let gave them the authority to take him from anyone, even from a prince of the realm.
    Later that day, they passed through a small, desperate-looking village. Houses clustered round a central square, their thatched roofs pocked with holes. A few spindly date trees dotted the village, and crops grew in the surrounding fields. A skinny dog slept in the dirt beside the road. Her farming village had been a humble one, but never had it looked as dejected as this one. “What’s the name of this village?” she asked Mandir.
    “Gardana,” he said. “It used to be nicer, but anyone with the ability to leave has gone by now.”
    “What does Tufan do that makes them want to leave?”
    “He steals from them,” said Mandir. “Food and sometimes people. He stole a boy from here once, and used him to test his hunting dogs’ skills.”
    “What?” cried Taya.
    “Don’t ask me for details.”
    Taya was beginning to understand Mandir’s increasing tension as they neared this sick little kingdom—and to wonder if perhaps she had been hasty in presuming that, as a Coalition fire seer, she was in no danger from Tufan. Still, they had a purpose here, and it was a noble one. She would walk with courage into the lion’s den, if that was what it took to save an innocent boy