a young To-gai-ru woman, Chiniruk, who was standing beside hen. "Yatol Daek thins the herd," the woman explained. ?The chosen horses will be taken to Behren for sale."
Before Chiniruk had even finished, Brynn started across the short ex-panse of open ground, toward-锟?tol Daek, who was directing the handling. He saw her coming, obviously, but pretended not to, continuing his stream of commands, including one to Chezhou-Lei Dee'dahk to return to his S1de - a clear sign to Brynn that he meant to incite her.
"My horse is among the group on the left," she said, not waiting for an introduction.
"The group on the left is leaving for the market in Dharyan," Yatol Daek replied, turning to regard her.
"My horse is among - "
"You have no horse!" the Yatol snapped suddenly, the volume and inten-sity of his voice bringing Dee'dahk's hand to the hilt of her sheathed sword and bringing many of the nearby Behrenese soldiers to attention. ?By the terms of surrender, all horses are the property of Chezru Chieftain Yakim Douan. Learn the rules and your place, wandering Ru."
Brynn glanced over at Runtly, but only for a second, turning back on the Yatol, her rich brown eyes going narrow. ?Runtly is my horse," she said.
Yakim Douan glanced back at her, seeming rather amused by it all ?Truly?"
"Truly." Not a hint of submission sounded in Brynn's cold tone.
"Learn your place, wandering Ru."
"If this is not my place, then I will take my horse and be gone from here," Brynn replied.
Yatol Daek gave a snort and a chuckle. ?You have no horse."
"You are To-gai-ru," Brynn declared. ?You understand the meaning. There can be no mistake here!"
"Do not allow the mistake that I was born of To-gai-ru parents to bring any misunderstanding, fool.
You have no horse. Now go back to the other peasants and be silent, before I lose patience with your ignorance."
Brynn turned to Runtly and gave a shrill whistle, and the horse reared and threw his head, tossing the Behrenese handler to the ground.
"Desist, or I will have the horse killed!" Yatol Daek cried, and when he looked again at Brynn, he looked, too, at her unsheathed sword.
"Release my horse, Yatol," Brynn replied, but Daek was in full retreat al-ready, issuing a shrill cry.
"Kill the girl! Kill the horse!"
As she started to pursue, Brynn saw Dee'dahk coming in hard, her curv-ing blade out, spinning a vertical circle on her right, then working its way impressively over to the left, then behind her back and back out to the right again. Her charge came in perfect balance, that sword spinning effortlessly, and Brynn knew that in a fair fight, this warrior would be a worthy oppo-nent indeed.
But this was not a fair fight, Brynn knew, for Dee'dahk thought little of Brynn's fighting prowess. To the mighty Chezhou-Lei, Brynn was just an-other Ru, and unmounted. That did not amount to much in the Behrenese warrior's estimation.
So she came in hard and fast, sword spinning to the right, sword spinning to the left, sword always out too wide to deflect.
Brynn kept her apparent focus on Yatol Daek, pursuing the man, but not really closing ground.
She waited until the last possible second, until Dee'- A hk was upon her. Then, with muscles honed and balance perfected from 11 her years of bi'nelle dasada, the elven-trained ranger pivoted on her back and thrust out, one, two, three, her magnificent sword slicing through he layered armor and driving hard into Dee'dahk's chest.
The Chezhou-Lei stopped in her tracks. All about gasped in astonish-ment at the sheer speed of the strike, for none in To-gai had ever before wit-nessed the precision and straightforward attack that was bi'nelle dasada. Dee'dahk's wide-eyed look was as much in surprise as in pain, Brynn knew. In truth, Brynn wasn't sure that the warrior woman had even registered the fact that she was already mortally wounded.
Mortally wounded, but probably still dangerous, Brynn realized.
Brynn's fourth strike was perfectly aimed, taking her in the heart.
She stood there at the end of Brynn's bloody blade for a long while, star-ing into the rich brown eyes of her killer.
Then she slid back off the blade, falling to the ground.
The reality of the moment, of the kill, hit Brynn hard indeed, but she pushed it away, having no time, and charged hard at Yatol Daek.
The man put his hands up, begging her for mercy. ?Take your horse, wanderer!" he said, and he quickly called out to his soldiers trying to cor-ner Runtly, telling them to desist. ?Be gone from