captive and mused through bloody lips, "We take more strength in this way. I do not expect you to understand, Aleran."
The girl looked around, frantic, her eyes red with tears, body shaking in the cold, her lips blue. "Please," she gasped, toward Fidelias. "Please, sir. Please help me."
Fidelias met her eyes. Then walked over toward the stone upon which she was bound. "Matters have changed. We must change the plans to suit them."
Atsurak followed him with his eyes, expression growing wary. "What change, Aleran?"
"Sir," the girl whispered up at him, her expression desperate, ugly with tears and terror. "Sir, please."
"Shhhh," Fidelias said. He rested his hand on her hair, and she broke down into quiet, subdued sobs. "We have to move forward now. The troops at Garrison may be warned of our coming."
"Let them know," Atsurak said, lazily leaning against one of the women at his side. "We will tear out their weak bellies regardless."
"You are wrong," Fidelias said. He raised his voice, enough that all of the Marat around the pool would hear. "You are mistaken, Atsurak. We must strike at once. At dawn."
Silence fell over the hilltop, abrupt, deep, almost as though the Marat were afraid to breathe. All eyes went from Fidelias to Atsurak.
"You call me mistaken," Atsurak said, the words low, soft.
"The younger of your people listen to the elder, headman of Clan Herdbane. Is that not true?"
"It is."
"Then you, young hordemaster, listen to me. I was there when last the Alerans fought your people. There was no glory in it. There was no honor. There was hardly any battle. The rocks rose against them, and the very grass beneath them bound their feet. Fire was laid on the ground, and fire swept over them and destroyed them. There was no contest, no trial of blood. They died like stupid animals in a trap because they grew too confident." He twisted his lips into a sneer. "Their bellies too full."
"You dishonor the memory of brave warriors-"
"Who died because they did not use what they had to fullest advantage," snarled Fidelias. "Lead your people to death if that is your wish, Atsurak, but I will be no party to it. I will not waste the lives of my Knights in an attempt to neutralize the Knights of a forewarned and prepared garrison."
Another Marat, a Herdbane, rose and snarled, "He speaks the words of an Aleran. The words of a coward."
"I speak the truth," Fidelias said. "If you are wise, young man, you will listen to the older."
Atsurak stared at him for several moments in silence. Then he exhaled and said, "The Alerans fight as cowards. Let us force them to the trial of blood before they can prepare their spirits to hide behind. We will attack at dawn."
Fidelias let out a slow breath and nodded. "Then this celebration is over?"
Atsurak looked at the captive, shivering beneath Fidelias's hand. "Almost."
"Please sir," the girl whispered. "Please help me."
Fidelias looked down at her and nodded, touching her mouth with his other hand.
Then he broke her neck, the sound sharp in the silence of the hilltop. Her eyes looked up at him in shock for a few seconds. Then went slowly out of focus and empty.
He let the dead girl's head fall limply back onto the stone and said, to Atsurak, "Now it is over. Be in position when the sun rises." He walked back across the circle to Aldrick, working to hide the limp.
"Aleran," snarled Atsurak, his voice heavy, bestial.
Fidelias paused, without turning around.
"I will remember this insult."
Fidelias nodded. "Just be ready in the morning." Without looking back, he walked, with Aldrick, back down the hill and toward the litter. Aldrick paced beside him, silent, scowling. Halfway down the hill, Fidelias's belly rolled violently, out of nowhere, and he had to stop and squat down, weight on his injured feet, his head bowed.
"What is it?" Aldrick asked, his voice quiet and cool.
"My feet hurt," Fidelias lied.
"Your feet hurt," Aldrick said, quietly. "Del, you killed that girl."
Fidelias's stomach fluttered. "Yes."
"And it doesn't even bother you?"
He lied again. "No."
Aldrick shook his head.
Fidelias took a breath. Then another. He forced his belly back under control and said, "She was dead already, Aldrick. Chances are, she'd just seen her family or friends eaten alive. Right there in front of her. She was next. Even if we had taken her out of there in one piece, she'd seen too much. We just would have had to remove her ourselves."