Persivan looked at the tired soldier with amazement. Fichiku must be a much better strategist now than he was as a cadet, or else something had gone terribly wrong up there in the mountains. "Well," he asked grimly.

"Sir. Commander Fichiku ordered me to come down and have a bell-message sent to Tharea. We are in control of the Halidu hall named Sarans'hyl with loss of only fourteen men. He requests additional orders of the King." Nimitch saluted the commander as he ended his report and waited for permission to complete his appointed duties.

"Go then, and let me know if there is anything I can do either for your commander or the King," Persivan pointed out the bell tower on the edge of Karem.

"There is one thing," Nimitch paused before marching to the bell tower. "My commander says he hopes he can convince you to send up some mimosia. He tasted what the Halidu call shainsa last night and decided it tasted awful."

Persivan chuckled, knowing that the line was more than just a request, but also a reminder of the mutual joke the two of them shared. "Your commander may have all the mimosia he wants from my personal stock, soldier. Go about your duties, and then come to me before you return to collect the mimosia."

"Sir." The soldier saluted again and turned his tired feet toward the tower. Hopefully he would finally be able to rest his aching feet after the day-long march down rough and dusty trails. He too would be looking for a a decent drink of mimosia - there would be none of that highland poison for him! Let the others play with fire.

x

The door of Hanu's office broke open with a bang, and Chlin danced into the chamber with a triumphant gleam in his eye and a wide smile on his face. From his shoulder dangled a desperately clutching Mishik, who hissed his displeasure at the jolting ride he was getting. "Celebrate with me, Aunt. I've just won the first battle!"

Hanu looked up from her paperwork, unimpressed. "What in the name of the One are you talking about? Battle?"

Too delighted to allow Hanu's scornful tone to destroy his mood, Chlin merely chuckled and leaned across the desk, nearly dumping Mishik from his perch, to look his aunt directly in the eye. "Oh, come now, Aunt. Certainly you remember that I sent one of your favorite aides, Fichiku, up into the mountains to establish a Thaelu stronghold right there in the rebel's backyard?" He stood erect again and puffed himself up proudly. "And certainly you've heard the bells all morning long."

"Don't be ridiculous, Chlin," she replied hotly. "I have better things to do than sit around listening to bell-messages about the price of grain in Chikae."

"Well, you should have been listening this time." Chlin was becoming insulted that Hanu continued to ignore his gaiety. "It seems Fichiku managed to take that Halidu hall with very little trouble AND," and he puffed up even prouder and vainer, "he even managed to capture my renegade wife in the bargain."

That caught Hanu's interest. "Karinna? She was at Sarans'hyl?"

"Oh, so you do listen from time to time," Chlin mocked. "That's right, Karinna. And he wants me to tell him what I want him to do with her; whether I want him to send her back here to Tharea, kill her outright, keep her as hostage there, or what!" The laugh that came out was cruel and triumphant again. "The way I feel right now, I think she might make an excellent hostage; don't you agree?"

Hanu nodded, wondering all the while why she didn't enjoy hearing this news about her former nemesis in the Palace; why of all people she now felt pity and compassion for the former Princess. "If the Halidu think as much of her as they might, she would make a very valuable hostage. Certainly she shouldn't be killed outright."

Chlin rubbed his hands together. "If I have her, then I might be able to trade her for the babies. Why would the Halidu want to keep them and lose her? Babies are only so much trouble, except to their parents."

Hanu shrugged. "What you decide to do with her, or use her, is really none of my business, Chlin. Just remember: she's been up in those mountains for over two years now, and who knows what has happened since she got that divorce from you."

Chlin lost some of his gaiety at that remark, for Hanu had hit directly upon the one idea he couldn't tolerate contemplating concerning his former wife. That she would have had their marriage annulled so easily and quite possibly found another man with whom to spend her life was almost intolerable to think about. That he had done exactly that and turned around and spurned even that wife didn't even occur to him. Hanu knew how vain he was in deluding himself into thinking that no woman could ever find a man to compare with him; and it was a small delight to watch him squirm.

"Well," he straightened again, pulled his shirt straighter over his ample chest, and nearly unseated his unhappy morynch once more, "perhaps I should have her brought back to Tharea." He sniffed haughtily. "I wouldn't want her..."

Hanu broke out laughing. "You just can't stand the idea that she found herself a mountain man and prefers him to you, can you?"

"I want my son and daughter back!!!" he shouted, making himself believe that was the reason he wanted Karinna isolated from the mountain people who had given her sanctuary.

Hanu shrugged, not having the heart to taunt him any longer and wanting him to leave her to her work. "Then send for her. Fichiku will probably be more than happy to get her off his hands."

Chlin nodded thoughtfully. "I think that's exactly what I will do," he mused aloud, then tossed a distracted "thank you" over his shoulder while he ambled from the room.

x

Byrol, Gyrl, Choran and Harryhl were in the first, smaller group of riders to pull up to a halt just one hillside away from Sarans'hyl. Harryhl looked over the hillside, staring at the dark places between boulders and rocks; and soon his watchfulness was rewarded, for the black thatz who had hidden themselves in the deep shadows at the sound of burri hooves slowly crept from their hiding places to meet with their human allies. Two long nights of hard riding from Rhyls'hyl had tired both Gyrl and the Rhyl men; Harryhl had been in the saddle only half a day less than they.

One by one, they dismounted and sat on the ground in what had become a convenient way for the humans and thatz to communicate, with Byrol asking anxiously, "Any signs of life in the hyl?"

"Only the fire the first day," Vrraiyow answered simply. "There have been none to try to leave either. Indeed, if I were to hazard a guess, I would say the humans inside await a message from elsewhere just as we have been."

Byrol and Harryhl frowned at each other, and Harryhl got to his feet quickly. "Larm!" he called softly, "Bring three men and ride with me. Let's see if we can find just where it was that these invaders came up the mountain." The five leaped back on their mounts and trotted away.

"If you are right, and they are waiting some word, then they managed to get a man through - probably before Shima got back."

Gyrl crawled the last few paces to the ridge of the hill and took a careful and studying look at the hall below. "Look there," he pointed at the gaps in the wall around the hall. "If we can get through that gap without being seen, we might just be able to do to the lowlanders what they did to the Saranth Clan."

"Do you mean you would kill these plainsmen, Gyrl?" Wrrowya's voice in the minds of the men was tinged with curiosity and repugnance.

Gyrl's face was hard as he answered without taking his eyes from the massive hall. "It depends on what they've done." He turned and looked around the numerous black muzzles. "Where's Shima?"

To one side of the group, a thatz rose in answer. "I am here, Gyrl," the young thatz sent in reply.

"Are you sure she's not dead? You heard her?"

"I heard her call to her mate just before her mind dulled and dimmed. I think she must have been knocked asleep." Shima shifted through the other gathered thatz to Gyrl's side. "What shall we do?"

Byrol crawled up the hillside to stop next to Gyrl and stare at Sarans'hyl in his turn. "If Harryhl and Larm can find that snarking bridge and take it out, then the lowlanders have no way to get more provisions in."

"You don't think we are going to wait around until we starve them into surrender?" Gyrl was aghast.

"We can't just charge them in a full attack, Gyrl; we have Karinna to think of. If they consider her a hostage, attack would mean that she no longer serves a purpose." Byrol looked at the man who had become one of his closest friends as well as the father of his daughter-in-law. "You know the way the lowlanders think better than we do; do you think they would hesitate in killing Karinna if she no longer had any value as a bargaining point?"

Gyrl's face fell somewhat. "I just want to go in there and get her out safely. This waiting is hard."

The afternoon stretched into evening, and finally the faint sound of burri hooves resounded over the hillside. Harryhl and Larm, along with the three men who had gone to help them, returned with arms raised in the victory signal. "It was one of the worst construction jobs I've ever seen over any gorge here in the Halidem," Harryhl commented as he dismounted and neared the glowing heatstone, "and one of the easiest to collapse too."

Larm and the three clansmen scattered to other glowing heatstones in the chill of the early evening. Blankets specially treated with the juice of the panzu grass hid the glow of the stones from any enemy eyes. Harryhl squatted next to Choran and looked around the circle of faces and muzzles. "Alright. What do we do next?"

x

Fichiku looked out over the valley as he stood up in the watchtower. The past few days of waiting had been difficult; the men were bored and wanting to take out their frustrations on the captive Halidu, something he personally could not allow. With the exception of the storeroom in which the two women were still held, the other storerooms had not exactly been full of provisions. Some sacks of grain were found still in the packs in the stables, evidently left there through carelessness or laziness after the trader had stabled his pack animals. The cook, miraculously, had survived the battle in the kitchen; and Fichiku brought her out and set her back to work under the threat of dire consequences.

The Tharu commander shivered. Sarans'hyl was one of the coldest places he had ever been, inside as well as out. No hearths existed in any of the rooms in which to set warming fires, so the meager supply of heatstones every soldier carried was all the comfort that existed. He no longer wondered at the rough and heavy clothes these clansmen had worn. Even from here, looking out over the barren and dismal landscape, the scenery was as chilled as the autumn air. Imagining this place buried deep in freezing snow was not difficult.

Five days had passed since Nimitch had left for Karem; certainly it wouldn't take that long for the man to walk down the mountain, make the arrangements according to the King's orders and his own requests, and then lead another group of burris up with more men and provisions. Fichiku frowned, and then turned to clamber back down the rickety ladder.

"Cherbin!"

"Sir!" The sergeant's answer rang from the far end of the courtyard.

"Get one of your men down the road and see if he can help the messenger get up here faster. We can't sit here forever."

"Sir!" Cherbin saluted and turned to the group of foot soldiers he had been drilling in swordplay to select one for the job.

Fichiku looked back up at the watchtower. "And set a double watch from now on. I have a suspicion that something may be going wrong for us at this late date."

x

"This is not the time for you to get sick, Ilia," Karinna sighed. "I don't think I could help you."

Ilia remained doubled over. "Sorry," she managed to gasp. The mixture of flour and water which had been sustaining them for the last few days had suddenly begun turning her stomach. "Believe me, if there were anything I could do about it, I would."

Karinna frowned in frustration, wishing there were enough light in this dungeon they had been confined in for her to at least be able to Check her cell-mate. As if straining at their bonds, her Healer's senses struggled to extend themselves through the blackness; and Karinna saw once again the painfully bright and shocking sparks play behind her eyes. "I'd try to help you even now, but I don't know how to get rid of these lights in my head," she explained lamely.

The only answer she received was the sound of Ilia's retching in a far corner, and Karinna leaned back against the opposite wall in tired frustration at her inability to do anything. "Choran!" she whispered vehemently and desperately. "Shima! Father! Somebody! Help us!"

x

"Lord Harryhl!" Banl's urgent whisper roused Harryhl and the two older Lords who rested with him. "Lords! Ffzai reports a soldier has left the hyl on the road to the bridge."

Forl looked at Byrol and Harryhl. "We have them trapped up here. Let them discover it and then cook in their own juices for a while."

Harryhl shook his head. "We need information almost as much as they do, if they are getting desperate enough to send someone out looking." He turned back to Banl. "Ask Vrraiyow and Ffzai and Shima to go with you and two other clansmen. I want that soldier alive and talking."

Banl nodded and left. Byrol frowned. "If we take the man, then the hyl will know that someone or something is out here waiting for him."

"I think Gyrl would agree that the psychological torment of wondering is a good weapon to be used in a case such as this," Harryhl reasoned quietly, shaking out his blanket and folding it away. "It does no harm to any hostages that might be held, because the threat will remain undetected until it is too late."

Byrol shrugged. "If you say so, Harryhl. I think we should question the man and then kill him. Should he escape..."

"Gyrl and I agree that there are very few lowlanders who would try to do anything against a group of thatz, and we talked to Wrrowya about it. The thatz will be our guards and keepers."

Byrol looked after Banl's departing back. "At least it is something they can do that doesn't offend against their Law or Traditions - whatever they are."

Harryhl put a hand on Byrol's shoulder. "An ally is an ally, Byrol. The thatz have done much for us already; we should respect their ways just as we are asking them to respect ours."

Byrol smiled weakly. "You`re right. I must be still tired; I don't seem to be thinking very clearly right now."

Harryhl clapped the shoulder companionably. "Get yourself some strong cha and wake up, my friend. We will be needing your brains when we question the lowlander."

x

Persivan stood at the city gates, staring at the returning burri-train led by Fichiku's emissary. "What's this?" he asked quickly, as the man dismounted and saluted.

"The bridge is down," Nimitch explained simply, his eyes wide with worry. "There's no way for us to get up there anymore - at least, not by that road."

"Z'f'thon!" Persivan swore under his breath. "Sergeant Harbach!" he bellowed suddenly.

A guard at the watchtower above him leaned over and answered,"Sir!"

Persivan looked up at him. "Who else do we know here in Karem who might be acquainted with the roads and trails of the Halidem?"

Harbach straightened and scratched his head for a moment, then leaned back over the edge of the railing again. "There was an old trader, Toivan I think his name is, who used to make trips into the mountains around midsummer-time to gather herbs from the locals up there." He thought again for a quick moment. "The last time I knew of him, he had bought interest in a tavern over by the temple square named Chiva's Breath."

Persivan ran to one of the pack burris and dumped the bundles to the ground. Springing onto the animals back and gathering the reins, he shouted to the soldier "Come on!" and wheeled the burri around before kneeing it into a quick trot. Nimitch remounted and kneed his own burri hard to catch up with the commander, and side by side the burris raced through the maze of streets scattering venders and commonfolk in their wake.

The Chiva's Breath was, indeed, located across the square from the temple, a small, dark and filthy place that made Persivan's skin crawl at the thought of entering. Inside, once his eyes had adjusted to the lack of light, he saw most of the benches occupied by those decrepit or disabled commonfolk who had found a font of comfort at the bottom of a skin of visju, mimosia's bitter and potent cousin. The stench of dried liquor, as well as those from other less tolerable sources reached out and slapped Persivan and Nimitch in the face, causing tears to begin forming in their eyes. Persivan coughed to clear his lungs without success, then strode over to where a tall, old man stood amid the filth wiping the inside of a pottery mug with a dirty cloth.

"We seek the man named Toivan," the commander demanded loudly. The barkeep looked at him without expression, then nodded toward a corner.

"There he be, for what good he be doin' ya."

Persivan and Nimitch followed the barkeep's nod and found what he had been showing them. On the floor in the corner, snuggling a crock of visju in his drunken slumber, sprawled an old, wizened man. Nimitch looked over at Persivan in anguish and disgust, and the commander shrugged at him in answer. They had no choice.

Nimitch stalked to the corner and nudged the recumbent form with the toe of his boot. "Toivan! Wake up!"

"Begone wi' ye'!" the drunkard mumbled sloppily and snuggled his crock of visju again.

"Get up, man, before we haul you to the dungeon!" Persivan insisted in a loud and angry voice.

Toivan opened one eye blearily and peeked out at his tormentors. "Wha' be e wantin from me?" he mushed, his words almost unintelligible.

Nimitch and Persivan looked at each other; and at a mutual signal, each reached down and grabbed hold of one arm and dragged the man to his feet. "Let's get him out of here before the smell makes me sick," Persivan growled to the other soldier, and Nimitch nodded in grateful agreement.

"Oiye! Lemme go!" Toivan struggled weakly in the soldiers' grasps, but he was unable to prevent them from dragging him out of the comfortable darkness of the Chiva's Breath into the harsh, open sunlight. He squinted painfully. "Wha' d'ya wan'?"

"You traded with the Halidu, didn't you?" Persivan asked curtly.

Toivan struggled to focus his gaze on his inquisitor. "Tha' was a goo' many ages ago, Sor. I na' lon'er be a..."

"Do you still remember the way you used into the mountains - to the Halidu hall?"

The drunk frowned. "There be only two way... ways. One wa' the main trek, the other be only fo' the Hali...idu theysel'." The drunk chuckled. "I be a chiva m'sel' if t'other bridge be still up; it were sa bad when I be goin' o'er it."

Persivan stared at Nimitch. "I know for a fact that the main road is down long since. So you must have got over the other - and now that one's down?" A sense of horror dawned as Nimitch nodded slowly. "Then they're trapped up there."

"'Tis a bad'n time ta be trapped, Sor." Toivan had somehow followed the tersely whispered exclamation. "The cold do come early i' th' mountains up north 'ere."

Nimitch obeyed Persivan's defeated wave and dropped his grip on the drunkard's arm, and he trailed along behind Persivan as the commander walked back to the waiting burris. "I suppose," Persivan sighed in worried tones, "I had better advise Tharea of this development." He sighed again. "From the way your commander spoke, I doubt the King is going to be very pleased about this."

x

Forigan's eyes were wide and fearful, and he felt very small with the mountain men towering over him on either side. Somehow, the battle with the clansmen of the hall had not prepared him to deal with the might of the other Halidu clans; the northern Halidu that had been so easy to subdue suddenly showed themselves as the weak link in the clan chain. As his captors led him inexorably toward the giant they called Byrol, Forigan's knees went weak.

The mountain Lord was huge and cloaked all in shaggy fur, and at his side were two thatz. Forigan had never even seen the legendary beasts, and here he was face to face with two that seemed to be under the control of the mountain Lord! His pale lips parted and let through a moan of utter terror.

"So this is the quality of man who subdued the Saranth," the huge Lord boomed, his voice matching him in size and ability to intimidate. The tone was scathing. "It doesn't speak well of the Saranth clan, does it?"

Banl chuckled at his father-in-law's humor as well as the defeated admission apparent in the face of the captive. "Not if this is the best they had," he agreed.

More huge men seemed to be gathering around, appearing as if out of nowhere and garbed in the same thick fur. Forigan's wide eyes nearly dropped from their sockets; he had seen Lord-General Gyrl from a distance and knew that the King had formerly sought him throughout the Thaelian countryside shortly after the overthrow, but had no idea that the man had sought and found sanctuary here in the Halidem with his daughter. Another of the Lords was also a formerly familiar sight about the palace: Lord Harryhl.

Gyrl didn't hesitate to take control of the interrogation, as had been agreed upon beforehand. "Well, soldier. You might as well tell us what we want to know now: how many there are in the hyl, how many clansmen still live, if the Lord still lives, where the captives are being held, everything."

Forigan tried mightily to stomp down his fear and look the former head of the Thaelu forces in the eye to defy him, but his terror got in the way. "A... I..."

Gyrl could see that the young soldier's attention was more on the thatz than on him, and he used the conditioned fear. "So you see our allies, do you?" He leaned over and, very gingerly, ran his fingers across Shima's great head. The thatz rumbled softly and bumped his head into Gyrl's hand as if realizing what the Lord was doing. "Have you ever seen what they can do with those claws of theirs? Terrible!" He shook his head for emphasis, and Shima followed the oblique suggestion by stretching and displaying his massive fangs and imposing claws.

Forigan swallowed hard. No amount of preparation could have made him less terrified of the black horror that gazed at him with glowing eyes. Something bumped the back of his legs, and he nearly screamed when he saw three more thatz had moved in very close to him and allowed Banl to back away. Again he moaned his terror and shifted his gaze to the Lord-General. "I'll... I'll tell you anything... everything you want, but... please..." The last was soft, terror-stricken and pleading.

Gyrl nodded. "You've nothing to fear from them as long as you stand very still. Now, I've already told what all I need to know. Let's start with the Lady Karinna. Where is she and is she alright?"

Forigan shook his head, blanching at the thought that even that little movement would make his inhuman guards attack. "I don't know, sir; I swear by the One. All I know is that she's alive and in some room under guard."

Gyrl frowned in quick frustration but continued. "How many men are in your company? Who is leading them?"

Forigan nodded slowly, still keeping an eye on his feline guards, and began telling the Lord-General everything he knew.

A very long hour passed, and finally Gyrl rejoined Harryhl and Byrol and the rest of the Lords of the Six Clans. Byrol held out a skin of diluted shainsa. "Alright, you look grim enough; tell us what you've learned."

"Fifty men, heavily armed. The commander's name is Fichiku. I remember him from before; he was a good training sergeant and officer material, but not a great head for consistency in leadership. What is left of the Saranth clansmen are being held in several places in the hyl: some in the chambers on the top floor and some in one of the storerooms in back. Sharhl's dead, as are both sons; the Lady of the hyl lives, but the man doesn't know where she is any more than he knows where Karinna is."

"He's sure she's alive, though?" Choran's voice was agonized.

"All he could tell me was what he had heard. He was in the kitchen battle, or so he called it, and didn't have anything to do with the attack on the hallway where the Lord and his family were housed."

"What about provisions?" Harryhl asked in great seriousness. "Do we have to go in and attack, or are they running low enough on food that we can wait them out before the snows come?"

Gyrl shrugged. "The soldier says they've been on short rations every since taking the place; that the trader who led them up the mountain trails hadn't managed to do very well in the Karemu marketplace."

"What do we do then?" demanded Forl. "Do we attack or wait?"

"I'll bet they might send out a party to scavenge the hillsides for tubers or edible plants," Banl suggested thoughtfully. "There are enough of us, between humans and thatz; we should be able to handle small groups of captives easily enough."

"Do you really think that the commander might send out more of his men after this one doesn't return, Gyrl?" Harryhl asked pointedly.

Gyrl threw his hands aside to show his inability to answer. "The Fichiku I knew years ago? Absolutely not. The Fichiku who masterminded this takeover?" He shook his head. "Your guess and mine are equal."

x

"I don't think I've seen Chlin this depressed since he realized that Lord-General Gyrl and his father had managed to get away," Mylu commented quietly. Kor and Cham nodded agreement. Hanu looked from one to the other.

"We knew that Fichiku was risking a great deal in this gamble," she sighed sorrowfully. "I seriously doubt that we'll see him again."

"Thara!" Kor was more shaken by the bell-message than he had realized. "Now we are only four."

"Gentlemen," Hanu shook herself from the depths of her depression, "we may have to make a decision soon. Are we going to follow Chlin and allow him to drag the country down, or are we going to fight him when he makes his next mistake, or leave him to make his own mistakes and not take any more of the blame for things going wrong?"

Cham's face was bleak. "From the way things are going, I don't know if it would be healthy for any of us to stay here if things get much worse."

"There are enough people who understand bell-code; what is the reaction of the commonfolk?" Kor asked Mylu in serious curiosity.

"I think they were surprised that the victory that was announced only a few days ago has turned so sour so quickly." Mylu assessed solemnly. "There is a lot of muttering about having made a big mistake in letting Chlin take the throne."

Hanu cast her eyes skyward. "That's all we need right now. I hope he realizes he has the beginnings of a rebellion on his hands if he's not careful."

"Alright, Lady," Kor reached out in Hanu's direction to catch her attention, "what do we do? Do we stay?"

Hanu arched her back wearily and gazed around the half-empty warehouse that had been chosen as the meeting place for the evening. "I will make arrangements if any of you wish to get your families away," she sighed. "I certainly wouldn't begrudge anyone wanting their families away if trouble starts. For myself, all the family I have left is here in Tharea; I can't leave, no matter how much I want to."

"You would stay with Chlin even after all this?!" Mylu was amazed. "I didn't think you were that loyal to him any longer. I thought we were doing all this for the country, and not the King."

"That's the truth," Hanu conceded. "We are doing everything for the good of Thaelia and not for Chlin. But, my friend, you forget that Chlin is not the only family I have in the Palace."

"You aren't referring to Shamira?"

"No," the tiny old woman shook her head. "Jakon."

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