healed right, and I’ve limped ever since.”
Mynstad du Möcher gaped. “But how are you alive?”
“Oh! My fellows saved me. The gravemaw opened wide for his dessert, and they had been right behind me. They took the opportunity to ram their pikes up into his brain through the upper palate, and I fell to the ground next to it. Broke a bone in my forearm coming down, but that healed properly.”
“So it’s true what they say about their natural armor? Impenetrable, so you have to kill them from the inside?”
“Absolutely true. And it’s why they don’t run from anything, since they’re so hard to kill.”
“That was good service.”
I snorted. “Hardly. I couldn’t save anyone, didn’t kill the gravemaw, and I got injured. In fact, I got dismissed as soon as I could walk again.”
“That was a poor decision by your superiors, if I may say so. You saw the danger. You called the alarm. You charged in first. That deserved commendation. Battles rarely work out the way we wish them to, so it is quick thinking and good judgment that matter outside of physical prowess. What was your rank?”
“I was a Mynstad, like you.”
Mynstad du Möcher straightened and gave me the veteran’s salute. “Since it seems no one has bothered to thank you for your actions, let me thank you now, years too late and far, far away.”
I smiled. “That’s very kind.”
She flashed a grin at me, a brilliant, dazzling thing. “The only kindness you’ll get from me, I’m afraid. Because now I must assess your physical prowess, Mynstad.”
“I stopped using my military rank long ago. You can call me Dervan.”
“Very well, Dervan. Let us review the basic forms. Side by side, we will step through them.”
It was so very fine at first. My fervent practice allowed me to look respectable until it was time to lunge. I couldn’t fake that or go halfway, and my knee buckled under the strain. I collapsed but didn’t cry out.
“Master Dervan! Are you all right?”
“Eghh. Embarrassed but not hurt. That’s a resounding no from my knee concerning lunges.”
“Is there any pain?”
“Not much. But not much strength, either.” She extended a hand, and I grabbed it, allowing her to pull me upright again.
“It’s an interesting challenge,” she said. “With that lack of mobility you will be hard pressed. Let us see what we can do.”
We worked on upper body moves only, quick parries and thrusts or slashes to end the fight as quickly as possible. Mynstad du Möcher dismissed me after a couple of hours, enjoining me to return for additional practice for an hour whenever I had the time. I saluted her and thanked her for her time and pivoted smartly on my good leg to go meet Fintan. I was exhausted and my hand throbbed with forming blisters, but I didn’t care. At least I wasn’t an utter failure.
—
Some hours later, our work finished and energized by a mediocre lunch not worth remembering, Fintan took to the wall and greeted his audience with a strum of his harp.
“Today we’ll hear all about events in the west. But first, at risk of putting you to sleep, a Hathrim lullaby—specifically one from Harthrad, as you will note from the mention of Mount Thayil. I know it’s strange to think of giants cooing their children to sleep, but that’s why I think such songs are fascinating.”
Another strum of the harp and then:
Hush now, heart of my hearth,
Bank your fire for the night,
I will keep the coals bright
Until you wake at dawn.
Hush now, heart of my hearth,
It is time for us to rest,
The bellows in our chests
Are making us both yawn.
Tomorrow we will be stronger
While Thayil sleeps a bit longer,
But now you need to close your eyes
And dream of summer berry pies.
There were titters in the audience at the end, and Fintan chuckled with them. “I have no idea where those pies came from,” he said, and the laughter grew louder in response. We’d all been thinking the same thing. “Get ready, everybody; the tales begin soon!” His first seeming transformed him into Gorin Mogen.
Fire blast the Fornish! We lost six houndsmen and very nearly lost my son to some slithering flesh-eating plant! And because the Fornish lived to report our presence here, we are getting attention earlier than I would have wished, but the essential plan remains the same. We will lie, delay, and build our defenses until we are unshakable, and the city of Baghra Khek will stand long after I am ashes. But we