Pagonel, dirty and unshaven, his wounds thick with infection, looked at the man curiously, blinking his eyes repeatedly against the sudden intrusion of light.
"Tell me of the Dragon of To-gai," Mado Wadon bade him. ?What does she desire? ?
Pagonel continued to stare at him.
"Time is short," Mado Wadon said. ?Save yourself."
"I will not betray my friend."
"Betray?" the Yatol echoed incredulously. ?I offer you the chance to save her." Mado Wadon leaned in closer, his face barely inches from Pagonel's. ?I offer you the chance to realize her dreams."
"You will pardon my skepticism."
Mado Wadon nodded, expecting as much.
He did notice that Pagonel's mood had brightened considerably the next day when they sat together on the wagon in the midst of a great caravan rolling down the western road out of Jacintha.
"They will not eat the horses," Tanalk Grenk said to Brynn. ?Nor will they stay in here to starve."
"They want us to try to break out," she replied, looking down at the be-sieging army, as she had for more than a week.
"We have a few days more of food, even if we starve the prisoners."
"Which we shall not do!"
Tanalk Grenk's expression grew intense for a moment, but he relaxed and nodded. ?I would rather die with a sword in my hand," he said. ?And not with that hand limp from starvation."
Brynn looked hard at him, and at those others standing along the wall listening in to the conversation.
Gradually, she began to nod. ?As would I ? she said. ?As shall I!"
A cheer went up about her.
"Let us consider our options more carefully," she said to Grenk. ?Per-haps we can make a ruse of a breakout, luring our enemies in to us one more time."
The man's expression was doubting, and when she thought about it, Brynn could not disagree. ?Or if not, then let us ride out in full force and kill as many as we may before our end."
"I will begin formulating the plans," the fierce To-gai-ru warrior offered, and Brynn nodded.
It wasn't the end she had hoped for, but it would have to do.
The next morning, the To-gai-ru leaders met and argued over the plans, with some thinking it would be best to charge east, instead of the expected burst to the west. ?If we are not going to break through anyway, then better to gain even more surprise," one argued.
The banter settled much, and Tanalk Grenk and Brynn broke away to draw up the final plans. They were nearly finished, when a call from the wall roused them.
"A lone emissary!" came the cry.
"No doubt to reiterate their call for surrender," Tanalk Grenk reasoned as the pair made their way to the parapets. ?We should send his head back without his body."
His words were lost in his throat as he gained the wall and looked out. No response was forthcoming from Brynn, either, for both recognized the lone figure walking toward them, his gait the practiced and balanced walk of a Jhesta Tu mystic.
Brynn fell into Pagonel's arms as he came through the gate, burying her face in his strong chest.
"Yakim Douan is dead," Pagonel said to her, to all of the warriors gather-ing about. ?The new leading Yatols wish to discuss the terms of peace."
"We have already dismissed their calls for surrender!" Tanalk Grenk said angrily. ?We will die as warriors before surrendering the freedom of To-gai!"
That brought a cheer, of course, but Pagonel held calm. ?I said peace, not surrender," the mystic replied.
The expressions were doubtful, even Brynn's.
"Their kingdom is in disarray," the mystic explained. ?They cannot hope to continue a unified struggle to hold To-gai."
"But this is the hour of their victory," reasoned Brynn.
"A victory that many of them fear more than defeat," Pagonel replied. ?Come with me, Brynn, and you, Tanalk Grenk, to the tents of our enemies."
Brynn wore a puzzled expression, but Tanalk Grenk's was one of open suspicion.
"This is no ruse," said Pagonel. ?For they need none to finish this battle. We have caught ourselves in the middle of their political games, and they would all prefer that we leave."
"Those are my terms," Brynn said coldly, after three days of arguing with Mado Wadon and the others at the Behrenese encampment encircling Dharyan "Preposterous!" said Yatol Bardoh, Brynn's greatest enemy at these discus-sions, and the Yatol who least desired peace. Pagonel had explained it all to her, and so she understood that Bardoh wanted this fight to strengthen his own position in the ftermath.