obvious to her that many of her warriors were using any excuse they could find to label Behrenese as combatants, and many of the freed slaves would not walk away without ex-acting the harshest retribution upon those who had so badly mistreated them. Late the next morning, a fat, whining man was brought out before Brynn and thrown down in the dirt at her feet. He looked up, his hands entwined in a pleading position.
"Yatol Grysh," explained one of the two To-gai-ru warriors who had brought him out. ?We found him hiding in a deep wine cellar, trembling with fear. ?
"The coward! ? the other warrior said, and he spat in Grysh's face. ?Please, I beg of you! ? Grysh pleaded. ?I am a rich man. I can pay." ?I do not want your money," Brynn said to him. ?I want your people out of my city. ?
It took a moment for the words to register to those around her, but when they did, they brought whoops of delight from the To-gai-ru and a wide-eyed stare of disbelief from Yatol Grysh.
"Bring the emissary to me," Brynn instructed Pagonel, and the mystic rushed off to find Carwan Pestle.
"You cannot think to hold Dharyan," Yatol Grysh dared to say. Not Dharyan, no," said Brynn, moving about him and putting her fin-?r to pursed lips as if she was working through some details even then. No, that is a Behrenese name, and not one I desire. No, we will name it Dharielle. Yes, that is a fitting name."
Triumphant cries erupted all about her, and as the news filtered down the ;reets, more and more took up the chant of ?Dharielle! ? 1 agonel and Carwan Pestle arrived soon after.
Yatol!" the poor Shepherd cried, and he moved for his master but was paly detained by the mystic. ?You were my witness to the conquest and so you shall be my witness fore the court of the Chezru Chieftain," Brynn said to the confused ?Tell him that To-gai is free, and that any Behrenese caught uninvited our soil will be killed. Tell him that this city, Dharielle, is now part of To "Tell him," she said, moving very close and imposing, staring so hard" the man that he seemed to wilt before her, ?that if he ever again sends a s' gle soldier against me, I will burn Jacintha to the ground, and him alo with it."
"You fool!" cried Grysh, and somehow, as if he had only then realiz H that he had absolutely nothing left to lose, he found the strength to stand before her. ?Heathen, barbarian dog! He is the God-Voice, the chosen avatar of Yatol! He is - Brynn looked to some of her soldiers around her and ended the tirade with two simple words. ?Hang him."
The next day, every surviving Behrenese man, woman, and child marched out the eastern gate, down the long and difficult stone-paved roads through the empty desert, exiting the city right beneath the wind-twisting corpse of the man who had ruled over them for decades.
PART 4 THE DRAGON OF TO-GAI Chapter 27 Ghost Town
Carwan Pestle had entered the same chamber tentatively only a few months before, nervous then because he had been sent by Yatol Grysh to beg for hundreds of soldiers. How much greater that ner-vousness was now for the poor Shepherd, walking into the chamber of the Chezru Chieftain with the news that Yatol Grysh had failed, that all twelve hundred of the soldiers the Chezru Chieftain had sent to Dharyan were dead, and that Dharyan had fallen!
Merwan Ma shot Pestle a truly sympathetic look as the young man, so much like Merwan Ma in many ways, made his slow way about the room, to stand right before the seated Yakim Douan.
They already knew much of the tale, Carwan Pestle realized, from the sympathy of Merwan Ma to the intense expression on the face of the Chezru Chieftain. The man wasn't even looking up at him, but was staring straight ahead, his thumb and index finger fiddling with his bottom lip.
With his free hand, the Chezru Chieftain motioned for Carwan Pestle to speak.
"I hardly know where to begin, God-Voice," the Shepherd remarked, his voice quivering.
"Is Yatol Grysh dead?" He was hanged by the Dragon of To-gai."
Yakim Douan's fierce eyes turned up to bore into the poor man. ?The Dragon of To-gai?" he echoed. ?Pray you tell me, who, or what, is the Dragon of To-gai."
"A woman," Pestle stammered. ?A young and small woman. But fierce,