Pony shrugged again, then came forward and wrapped Bradwarden in a hug, and though that embrace was supposed to show the centaur that all was forgiven, was in effect supposed to comfort Bradwarden, as the centaur wrapped his muscular arms about Pony and held her even closer, it was she who was most comforted. The tears began to flow, and she let them come forth. Her shoulders bobbed with sobs, but Bradwarden held her steady and tight.
Sometime later, Pony moved back from the centaur and gave a little self- deprecating laugh as she reached up to wipe her tears away.
"What a silly old woman I've become," she said.
"Ye're neither," the centaur replied without hesitation. "If ye're feeling a bit old now, then ye've the right, I'm guessing. Not many who've seen such pain as Pony."
"And it is only beginning, I fear."
"Bah, it's one more thing for ye - for us - to go out and beat, don't ye know?" Bradwarden said.
Pony looked at him skeptically. "You want me to fight against my own son?"
Bradwarden didn't even bother to answer.
And Pony understood, and she gave another sigh of resignation.
"Prince Midalis will be riding hard to put things aright, and he's to be needing Pony at his side," the centaur said.
"And Pony's to be needing Bradwarden at her side, to hold her on her feet," the woman said.
The centaur flashed that typical grin of ultimate confidence and promised with a wink, "I'll keep the mountain off o' ye."
"Do not underestimate the Palmaris garrison," Duke Kalas warned. "They have been hardened by many trials over the years. Their leaders are veterans of battles."
"We can hunt them down and kill them, and quickly," argued Marcalo De'Unnero. "Before they cross through Caer Tinella, if we are fast."
Seated across the table from the two men, Aydrian leaned back in his chair. They were certain that Bishop Braumin had pulled a trick here in Palmaris, slipping a large portion of his trained militia out of Palmaris' northern gate before Aydrian's forces had arrived. Very shortly before, from what the young king and his men had learned in interrogating citizens of the conquered city. Now, a few days after the fall of St.
Precious, they could assume that the escaped garrison was well on the way to Caer Tinella and Lands-down, the two largest towns north of Palmaris, halfway between the great city and the Timberlands region, where Aydrian's parents had lived.
"We must move quickly," De'Unnero implored Aydrian. "We have tarried too long already."
"The securing of Palmaris is all-important," remarked Duke Kalas. "Winter will fast descend upon this region and we must have complete control of the city, and have it in full operation."
Aydrian nodded. They had already discussed this at length. The first priority for this stage in strengthening his hold on the kingdom was to secure Palmaris in good order. The people would tighten their ties to Aydrian only if he did not too greatly disturb their lives. Thus, after the conquest, when his soldiers had charged through the streets, he had held them in great restraint. Palmaris had been taken with minimum casualties, and with even fewer repercussions to the conquered folk. One by one, the prisoners taken in the conquest had been interrogated, and almost all had been released. Aydrian's soldiers had told them to go home, to tend to their families, and to understand that the new and rightful king of Honce-the-Bear was a just and decent man who harbored no vengeance against those misinformed souls who had dared oppose him.
"You would allow an opposing army to run about the edges of the conquered land?" De'Unnero asked Kalas. "These garrison soldiers have family remaining within the city. Do you not believe that they will try to come back and reclaim their homes? "
Kalas laughed, as if that hardly mattered.
De'Unnero conceded the point. They had ten thousand Kingsmen in the Palmaris area, including the Allheart Knights. The Palmaris garrison might have put up a strong defensive stance against Aydrian's force if they were huddled behind the city's strong walls, but now, operating as the invader, the Palmaris garrison would be sorely outmanned.
"They will not turn back," Duke Kalas said to Aydrian. "They ran north because they are confused. They seek Prince Midalis to guide them, but they'll not reach Vanguard before the winter begins to blow. Let them go! Give Prince Midalis more mouths to feed through the difficult months of winter. It will be a ragtag and homesick bunch he