The Desert Spear

kill him.”
    “But why?” Leesha asked.
    “Because there can only be one Deliverer,” Abban said, “and the Par’chin and Ahmann have…disagreed before, as to who it should be.”

    Abban went right to Jardir’s throne room from the Palace of Mirrors. The moment Jardir saw the
khaffit,
he dismissed his advisors, leaving the two men alone.
    “She has left?” he asked.
    Abban nodded. “Mistress Leesha has agreed to allow me to set up a trading post for the Hollow tribe. It will help facilitate their integration, and give us valuable contacts in the North.”
    Jardir nodded. “Well done.”
    “I will need men to guard the shipments, and the stores at the post,” Abban said. “Before, I had servants for such heavy duty.
Khaffit,
perhaps, but fit men.”
    “Such men are all
kha’Sharum
now,” Jardir said.
    Abban bowed. “You see my difficulty. No
dal’Sharum
will take orders from
khaffit
in any event, but if you would allow me to select a few
kha’Sharum
to serve me in this regard, it would be most satisfactory.”
    “How many?” Jardir asked.
    Abban shrugged. “I could make do with a hundred. A pittance.”
    “No warrior, even a
kha’Sharum,
is a pittance, Abban,” Jardir said.
    Abban bowed. “I will pay their family stipends from my own coffers, of course.”
    Jardir considered a moment longer, then shrugged. “Pick your hundred.”
    Abban bowed as deeply as his crutch allowed. “Will your promises to the mistress of the Hollow tribe alter your plans?”
    Jardir shook his head. “My promises affect nothing. It is still my duty to unite the people of the Northland for Sharak Ka. We will march on Lakton in the spring.”

CHAPTER 33
A PROMISE KEPT
    p.
333 AR SUMMER

    “ WHY ALL THESE RAFTS , if there’s a perfectly good bridge?” Renna asked, gesturing toward the nameless collection of huts, too few to even be called a hamlet. Each tiny structure had a raft out by the water, surrounded by wards staked into the bank of the Dividing.
    A few demons prowled the area, testing the wards on the huts, but Renna was wrapped in her warded cloak, and Arlen radiated such power that the occasional hiss and eye contact were enough to keep the corelings back from him as they walked along the riverbank.
    “Merchants who don’t want the bridge guards rooting through their goods sometimes pay raftsmen to take them across the Dividing,” Arlen said. “Usually because they’re carrying something, or some
one,
they shouldn’t.”
    “So we can hire one?” Renna asked.
    “Could,” Arlen said, “but that would mean waiting till dawn and dealing with more rumors. Can’t swing my arm in these parts without hitting someone who acts the fool ’cause they think I’m the Deliverer.”
    “Don’t know you like I do,” Renna smirked.
    “There,” Arlen said, pointing to a raft big enough to carry Twilight Dancer comfortably. There was a great groove in the riverbank where it was hauled up and down each day. He handed Renna one of his ancient gold coins. “Go and leave this by the door.”
    “Why?” Renna asked. “It’s new moon. He ent gonna see us take it, and even if he hears, he sure as the sun ent gonna cross his wards to run after us.”
    “Ent thieves, Ren,” Arlen said. “Smuggler or no, someone earns their keep with that raft.” Renna nodded and took the coin, leaving it on the hut’s doorstep.
    Arlen examined the raft. “Not even a ripping water ward!” He spat on the bank.
    Renna returned, kicking at one of the stakes. “These ent worth spit, either. Dumb luck much as anything, protectin’ these rafts.”
    Arlen shook his head. “Can’t explain it, Ren. Any ten-year-old in the Brook can out-ward most folk in the Free Cities, where they been raised not to trust anyone without a guild license to ward a ripping windowsill.”
    “Can you ward it now?” Renna asked, nodding at the raft.
    Arlen shook his head. “Not so it’ll be dry before dawn.”
    Renna looked out at the wide expanse of water. Even with her warded eyes, she couldn’t see the far side. “What happens, we try to cross without wards?”
    “There’s usually froggies that hide right at the bank,” Arlen said. “We kill those first…” He shrugged. “It’s a new moon. No light to shine on the raft from above and point us out to the river demons, so odds are we ’ll get across the deep water safe. By the time we reach the far bank, the sky will be lighter and most of the froggies will have gone back to the