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narrowing. "Your rebels form ranks. Tell them to stand down or my archers will loose."
    "Surely you would not ignore the rules of formal engagement?" Galad said. "You would draw arrows upon men as they form ranks? Where is your honor?"
    "Darkfriends deserve no honor," Asunawa snapped. "Nor do they deserve pity."
    "You name us Darkfriends then?" Galad asked, turning his mount slightly. "All seven thousand Children who were under Valda's command? Men your soldiers have served with, eaten with, known and fought beside? Men you yourself watched over not two months ago?"
    Asunawa hesitated. Naming seven thousand of the Children as Darkfriends would be ridiculous   it would mean that two out of three remaining Children had gone to the Shadow.
    "No," Asunawa said. "Perhaps they are simply . . . misguided. Even a good man can stray down shadowed paths if his leaders are Darkfriends."
    "I am no Darkfriend." Galad met Asunawa's eyes.
    "Submit to my questioning and prove it."
    "The Lord Captain Commander submits himself to no one," Galad said. "Under the Light, I order you to stand down."
    Asunawa laughed. "Child, we hold a knife to your throat! This is your chance to surrender!"
    "Golever," Galad said, looking at the Lord Captain at Asunawa's left. Golever was a lanky, bearded man, as hard as they came   but he was also fair. "Tell me, do the Children of the Light surrender?"
    Golever shook his head. "We do not. The Light will prove us victorious."
    "And if we face superior odds?" Galad asked.
    "We fight on."
    "If we are tired and sore?"
    "The Light will protect us," Golever said. "And if it is our time to die, then so be it. Let us take as many enemies with us as we may."
    Galad turned back to Asunawa. "You see that I am in a predicament. To fight is to let you name us Darkfriends, but to surrender is to deny our oaths. By my honor as the Lord Captain Commander, I can accept neither option."
    Asunawa's expression darkened. "You are not the Lord Captain Commander. He is dead."
    "By my hand," Galad said, unsheathing his weapon, holding it forward so that the herons gleamed in the light. "And I hold his sword. Do you deny that you yourself watched me face Valda in fair combat, as prescribed by law?"
    "As by the law, perhaps," Asunawa said. "But I would not call that fight fair. You drew on the powers of Shadow; I saw you standing in darkness despite the daylight, and I saw the Dragon's Fang sprout on your forehead. Valda never had a chance."
    "Harnesh," Galad said, turning to the Lord Captain to the right of Asunawa. He was a short man, bald, missing one ear from fighting Drag-onsworn. "Tell me. Is the Shadow stronger than the Light?"
    "Of course not," the man said, spitting to the side.
    "If the Lord Captain Commander's cause had been honorable, would he have fallen to me in a battle under the Light? If I were a Darkfriend, could I have slain the Lord Captain Commander himself?"
    Harnesh didn't answer, but Galad could almost see the thoughts in his head. The Shadow might display strength at times, but the Light always revealed and destroyed it. It was possible for the Lord Captain Commander to fall to a Darkfriend   it was possible for any man to fall. But in a duel before the other Children? A duel for honor, under the Light?
    "Sometimes the Shadow displays cunning and strength," Asunawa cut in before Galad could continue to question. "At times, good men die."
    "You all know what Valda did," Galad said. "My mother is dead. Is there an argument against my right to challenge him?"
    "You have no rights as a Darkfriend! I will parley no more with you, murderer." Asunawa waved a hand, and several of his Questioners drew swords. Immediately, Galad's companions did the same. Behind, he could hear his weary forces hastily closing their ranks.
    "What will happen to us, Asunawa, if Child fights Child?" Galad asked softly. "I will not surrender, and I would not attack you, but perhaps we can reunite. Not as enemies, but as brothers separated