Brynn's initial thrill at finding the To-gai-ru was dampened quite a bit as she made her way through that huge encampment, for this was not the same group of eager warriors she had encountered on her last visit. Or at least, it was much more than that same group. Where that previous band had numbered two thousand, this one had to be ten times that number! Most of the people here were not warriors, however, but were the very young and the very old, were mothers with their children. And it was obvi-ous to Brynn that they were not faring well. Only then did it hit the woman how profoundly her kinfolk back home were suffering because of the war. They had left the settlements - the Autumnal Nomaduc had seen to that - but forced together in a conglomeration of all the old tribes, they could not yet retain their old ways In a tent with the leaders, including old Barachuk, the woman quickly got her answers.
"The Behrenese hoard all of the food, slaughter all of the elk and deer. They leave those which they cannot take to rot on the steppes," said a man whom Brynn surely recognized: Tanalk Grenk of her old tribe, Kayleen K.ek. ?They stockpile the foodstuffs in their outposter settlements and guard them fiercely."
"They continue to seek us," added another leader, a fierce-lookir who could not have been much older than Brynn. ?If we reveal ourselves'h striking at a settlement, they close a wide noose about us."
"We have lost several battles and many warriors," said Tanalk. ?We h five thousand ready to fight, but we cannot hope to defeat the thousands the Behrenese. And as the numbers of our warriors have grown, so t have our responsibilities."
"We are in no condition to do battle against them!" a third interjected angrily. ?We cannot repair our weapons.
We cannot refill our quivers! On horses starve, and we starve!"
Brynn took it all in stoically. Until this moment, she had viewed the dis traction of the Chezru Chieftain's great army as a blessing, allowing her to run wild through western Behren. But now she understood the brutal truth Now she questioned her decision to initiate the Autumnal Nomaduc. Would her people left in To-gai have been better off to remain conquered, to re-main under the control of the Behrenese, even if that meant that Brynn s army would be having a much harder time of it in Behren?
"The winter will not be kind to us," another voice piped in, and many concurring murmurs followed.
"We have won great victories in Behren," she said, if only to judge the re-action. And that reaction was more positive than she had hoped, with Bara-chuk leading a cheer for Brynn Dharielle, for the Dragon of To-gai.
Tanalk, who had obviously gained great respect among the folk, readily joined in. That these beleaguered people still stood behind her despite the terrible conditions her revolution had exacted upon them, struck Brynn profoundly and made her vow then and there, silently to herself, that she would not for-sake them through this difficult season.
"I will return to you tomorrow night," she promised. ?We will find a way to bolster your supplies and your readiness. We will find a way to strike hard at the Behrenese, to chase the remnants of their once great army out of To-gai!"
She was surprised again at the response, for it seemed much more somber.
"They are strong," Tanalk Grenk remarked quietly.
"Where will we hide this time?" Agradeleous asked her sarcastically when she returned to him out from the encampment.
* - - i Brynn didn't immediately answer, going instead to the pile of netting and large skins on the ground beside the dragon. She had intended to make a supply run during her return to the Mountains of Fire, using Agradeleous in his customary role. That was fortunate, she now knew.
"Hide?" she replied skeptically. ?We have several hours remaining until the dawn. Why would we hide?"
The dragon looked at her curiously.
"Let us find a settlement to destroy," Brynn said grimly, and the dragon's lips curled back.
They swooped down like a great bird of prey, right into the middle of a all outposter settlement. For those Behrenese still awake and near to the the first warning came too late, a sudden rush of air, the flap of a leath-wing, just in time for them to look up and see their doom as the dragon breathed its killing fire over them.