The Desert Spear

and scurried away as fast as his lame leg would allow.
    As Jardir watched him go, a fist connected hard with his kidney, sending him sprawling. Agony fired over him, but he opened himself to it, and the pain washed away as he turned to face his assaulter.
    “You should have let him fall,” Qeran said. “You did him no favors this night. A
dal’Sharum’s
duty is to support his brothers in death as well as life.” His spittle splattered on Jardir’s shoulder. “No gruel for three days,” he said. “Now fetch my far-seer.
Alagai’sharak
does not wait for cowards and fools.”

CHAPTER 3
CHIN
    p.
333 AR

    ABBAN RETURNED WITH JAYAN and Asome some time later. They dragged with them a number of Northern
chin
and a single
dama.
    “This is Dama Rajin, of the Mehnding,” Jayan said, ushering the cleric forward. “It is he who ordered the silos burned.” He shoved the
dama
hard, and the man fell to his knees.
    “How many?” Jardir asked.
    “Three, before he could be stopped,” Jayan said, “but he would have kept on burning.”
    “Losses?” Jardir looked to Abban.
    “It will be some time before I know for sure, Shar’Dama Ka,” Abban said, “but it could be close to two hundred tons. Grain enough to feed thousands through the winter months.”
    Jardir looked to the
dama.
“And what have you to say?”
    “It is written in the Evejah’s treatise on war to burn the enemy’s stores, so they cannot make further war,” Dama Rajin said. “There remains grain enough to feed our people many times over.”
    “Fool!” Jardir shouted, backhanding the man. There were gasps around the room. “I need to levy the Northerners, not starve and kill them! The true enemies are the
alagai—
something you have forgotten!”
    He reached out and took hold of the
dama’s
white robe, tearing it from his body. “You are
dama
no more. You will burn your whites and wear tan in shame for the rest of your days.”
    The man screamed as he was dragged out of the manse and cast into the snow. He would likely take his own life, if the other
dama
didn’t kill him first.
    Jardir looked to Abban once more. “I want the losses and remainder totaled.”
    “There may not be enough to feed everyone,” Abban warned.
    Jardir nodded. “If there isn’t grain enough, have the
chin
too old to work or fight put to the spear until there is.”
    The color left Abban’s face. “I will…find a way to make it stretch.”
    Jardir smiled without humor. “I thought you might. Now, what of these
chin
you bring before me? I wanted leaders, but these men look like
khaffit
merchants.”
    “Merchants rule the North, Deliverer,” Abban said.
    “Disgusting,” Asome said.
    “Nevertheless, it is so,” Abban said. “These are men who can help ease your conquest.”
    “My father needs no…,” Jayan began, but Jardir silenced him with a wave. He gestured to the guards to bring the
chin
forward.
    “Which of you leads the others?” Jardir asked, switching to the savage tongue of the North. The prisoners’ eyes widened, and the men looked at one another. Finally, one stepped forward, arching his back and holding his head high as he met Jardir’s eyes. He was bald, with a gray-shot beard, and was dressed in a soiled and torn silk robe. His face was blotched where he had been beaten, and his left arm was in a crude sling. He stood almost a foot shorter than Jardir, but still he had the look of a man who was accustomed to his words carrying weight.
    “I am Edon the Seventh, duke of Fort Rizon and lord of its peoples,” the man said.
    “Fort Rizon no longer exists,” Jardir said. “This land is known as Everam’s Bounty now, and it belongs to me.”
    “The Core it does!” the duke growled.
    “Do you know who I am, Duke Edon?” Jardir asked softly.
    “The duke of Fort Krasia,” Duke Edon said. “Abban claims you are the Deliverer.”
    “But you do not believe it is so,” Jardir said.
    “The Deliverer will not bring murder, rape, and pillage with him,” Edon spat.
    The warriors in the room tensed, expecting an outburst, but Jardir only nodded. “It comes as no surprise that the weak men of the North hold to a weak Deliverer,” he said. “But it is no matter. I do not ask for your belief, only your allegiance.”
    The duke looked at him incredulously.
    “If you prostrate before me and swear an oath to submit to Everam in all things, your life, and those of your councilors, will be spared,” Jardir said. “Your sons will be