The Warded Man

go out there?” she asked quietly, pointing her chin toward the cave mouth.
    The Warded Man slumped, staring at his knees. “I broke a promise,” he said.
    “That’s all?”
    He looked up at her, and for once, she didn’t see the tattoos lining his face, only his eyes, piercing her. “I swore I would never give them anything,” he said. “Not even to save my own life. But instead, I’ve given them everything that made me human.”
    “You didn’t give them anything,” Rojer said. “I was the one that took the circle.” Leesha’s hands tightened on her bowl, but she said nothing.
    The Warded Man shook his head. “I facilitated it,” he said. “I knew how you felt. Giving them to you was the same as giving them to the corelings.”
    “They would have continued to prey on the road,” Rojer said. “The world is better without them.”
    The Warded Man nodded. “But that’s no excuse for giving them to demons,” he said. “I could as easily have taken the circle—killed them even—face-to-face, in the light of day.”
    “So you went out there tonight out of guilt,” Leesha said. “Why all the times before? Why this war on corelings?”
    “If you haven’t noticed,” the Warded Man replied, “the corelingshave been at war with us for centuries. Is it so wrong to take the fight to them?”
    “You think yourself the Deliverer, then?” Leesha asked.
    The Warded Man scowled. “Waiting for the Deliverer has left humanity crippled for three hundred years,” he said. “He’s a myth. He’s not coming, and it’s time people saw that and began standing up for themselves.”
    “Myths have power,” Rojer said. “Don’t be so quick to dismiss them.”
    “Since when are you a man of faith?” Leesha asked.
    “I believe in hope,” Rojer said. “I’ve been a Jongleur all my life, and if I’ve learned one thing in twenty-three years, it’s that the stories people cry for, the ones that stay with them, are the ones that offer hope.”
    “Twenty,” Leesha said suddenly.
    “What?”
    “You told me you were twenty.”
    “Did I?”
    “You’re not even that, are you?” she asked.
    “I am!” Rojer insisted.
    “I’m not stupid, Rojer,” Leesha said. “I’ve not known you three months, and you’ve grown an inch in that time. No twenty-year-old does that. What are you? Sixteen?”
    “Seventeen,” Rojer snarled. He threw down his bowl, spilling the remaining broth. “Does that please you? You were right to tell Jizell you were nearly old enough to be my mother.”
    Leesha stared at him. She opened her mouth to say something sharp, but closed it again. “I’m sorry,” she said instead.
    “And you, Warded Man?” Rojer asked, turning to him. “Will you add ‘too young’ to your list of reasons why I shouldn’t travel with you?”
    “I became a Messenger at seventeen,” the man replied, “and I was traveling much younger than that.”
    “And how old is the Warded Man?” Rojer asked.
    “The Warded Man was born in the Krasian desert, four summers ago,” he replied.
    “And the man beneath the wards?” Leesha asked. “How old was he when he died?”
    “It doesn’t matter how many summers he had,” the Warded Man said. “He was a stupid, naive child, with dreams too big for his own good.”
    “Is that why he had to die?” Leesha asked.
    “He was killed. And yes.”
    “What was his name?” Leesha asked quietly.
    The Warded Man was quiet a long time. “Arlen,” he said finally. “His name was Arlen.”

CHAPTER 29
IN THE PREDAWN LIGHT
332 AR

    WHEN THE WARDED MAN AWOKE, the storm had broken temporarily, but gray clouds hung heavy in the sky, promising more rain to come. He looked into the cave, his warded eyes easily piercing the dark, and made out the two horses and the sleeping Jongleur. Leesha, however, was missing.
    It was early still; the false light before true sunrise. Most of the corelings had likely fled to the Core long since, but with the heavy cloud, one could never be sure. He rose to his feet, tearing away the bandages Leesha had tied the night before. The wounds were all healed.
    The Herb Gatherer’s path was easy to follow in the thick muck, and he found her not far off, kneeling on the ground picking herbs. Her skirts were hiked up far above her knees to keep them from the mud, and the sight of her smooth white thighs made him flush. She was beautiful in the predawn light.
    “You shouldn’t be out here,” he said. “The sun’s not yet