Guardians of the West

fields beyond. He wandered, tired and sick, for a time until he came across Silk, seated comfortably on a large rock, casually watching the destruction of the city.
    "Is it just about finished?" the little man asked.
    "Nearly," Garion replied. "They only have a few buildings left in their control."
    "How was it?"
    "Unpleasant. A lot of old people and women and children got killed."
    "That happens sometimes."
    "Did Anheg say what he was going to do with the survivors? I think there's been enough killing already."
    "It's hard to say," Silk replied. "Our Cherek cousins tend sometimes to be a bit savage, though. Some things are likely to happen in the next day or so that you probably won't want to watch -like that." He pointed toward the edge of the wood where a crowd of Chereks were working on something. A long pole was raised and set into the ground. A crosspiece was attached to the top of the pole, and a man was tied by his outspread arms to that crosspiece.
    "No!" Garion exclaimed.
    "I wouldn't interfere, Garion," Silk advised. "It is Anheg's kingdom, after all, and he can deal with traitors and criminals in any way he sees fit."
    "That's barbaric!"
    "Moderately so, yes. As I said, though, Chereks have a certain casual brutality in their nature."
    "But shouldn't we at least question the prisoners first?"
    "Javelin's attending to that."
    Garion stared at the crowd of soldiers working in the last ruddy light of the setting sun. "I'm sorry." he said, choking in revulsion, "but that's going entirely too far. I'm going to put a stop to it right now."
    "I'd stay out of it, Garion."
    "Oh, no -not when he starts crucifying women!"
    "He's what?" Silk turned to stare at the soldiers. Suddenly the blood drained from the little man's face, and he sprang to his feet. With Garion close on his heels, he ran across the intervening turf. "Have you lost your mind entirely?" he demanded hotly of the bony Chief of Drasnian Intelligence, who sat calmly at a rough table in the center of a group of soldiers.
    "What seems to be your problem, Kheldar?"
    "Do you know who that is that you just crucified?"
    "Naturally. I questioned her myself." His fingers moved almost idly, but Silk stood directly in front of the table, cutting off Garion's view of the thin man's hands.
    "Get her down from there!" Silk said, though his voice seemed for some reason to have lost the edge of its outrage.
    "Why don't you attend to your own business, Kheldar?" Javelin suggested. "Leave me to mine." He turned to a burly Cherek standing nearby. "Prince Kheldar and the Rivan King will be leaving now." he said coldly. "Would you escort them, please. I think that they should be somewhere at least a quarter of a mile from here."
    "I'll kill him," Silk fumed as he and Garion were herded away. "I'll kill him with my own two bare hands."
    As soon as the soldiers had led them to a spot some distance from Javelin and had turned to go back to their grisly work, however, the little man regained his composure with astonishing speed.
    "What was that all about?" Garion asked.
    "The girl he just crucified is his own niece, Liselle," Silk replied quite calmly.
    "You can't be serious!"
    "I've known her since she was a child. He promised to explain later. His explanation had better be very good, though, or I'm going to carve out his tripes." He removed a long dagger from under his pearl-gray doublet and tested the edge with his thumb.
    It was after dark when Javelin came looking for them. "Oh, put that away, Kheldar," he said disgustedly, looking at Silk's dagger.
    "I may need it in a minute," Silk replied. "Start talking, Javelin, and you'd better make it very convincing, or I'll have your guts in a pile right between your feet."
    "You seem upset."
    "You noticed. How clever of you."
    "I did what I did for a very specific reason."
    "Wonderful. I thought you were just amusing yourself."
    "I can do without the sarcasm, Silk. You should know by now that I never do anything without a reason. You can put your mind at rest about Liselle. She's probably already been released."
    "Released?"
    "Escaped, actually. There were a dozen of cultists hiding in those woods. Your eyes must be going bad on you if you didn't see them. Anyway, by now, every prisoner we crucified has been released and is on the way to safety back in the mountains."
    "Exactly what is this all about, Javelin?"
    "It's really very simple. We've been trying for years to get someone into the upper echelons of the Bear-cult. They