Traitor's Moon

would find themselves out ahead of the others, and for a while it was like old times: the two of them off on a mission for Nysander, or pursuing some harebrained quest of their own for the sheer hell of it.
    But then the sun would strike siivery glints in his old friend’s hair, or he’d catch sight of Micum’s crippled leg, stiff in the stirrup, and Seregil’s exhilaration evaporated again into a twinge of guilty sadness.
    Micum’s was not the first generation he’d outlive, but it didn’t get any easier with experience. In Skala, among these Tír he loved, only the wizards endured, and even they could be killed.
    Now and then he caught Micum watching him with a bemused expression that suggested he was having similar thoughts, but he seemed to accept the situation. It was Seregil who’d quietly drop back to find Alec, like a cold man seeking a fire.
    The roads grew drier as they turned west the next day, and the rolling plains were already thick with crocus and yellowstar. Trusting the clear nights, they rode long and slept rough, letting the horses forage as they went.
    Except for the number of troops they met, Seregil found it hard to imagine the terrible war that was being waged on land and sea. Talking with Beka’s riders soon brought the reality of the situation home to him, however. He recognized only four of Rhylin’s ten riders: Syra, Tealah, Tare, and Corporal Nikides, who’d aged into a man since they’d met, as well as acquiring a jagged white scar down his right cheek. The other six were new to the turma, replacements for those who’d fallen in battle.
    â€œWell, Beka, I always knew you’d amount to something,” Seregil said as the group sat around the fire their second night on the road. “Right hand to Commander Klia? That’s a mark of real favor.”
    â€œIt gets them out of harm’s way for a bit, too,” Micum added.
    Beka shrugged noncommittally. “We’ve earned it.”
    â€œWe’ve lost a lot of people since you last saw us, my lord,” Sergeant Rhylin remarked, stretching the day’s stiffness from hislegs. “You recall the two men who were planked? Gilly lost a hand and went home, but Mirn healed up fine; he and Steb are in Braknil’s decuria now.”
    â€œWe lost Jareel at Steerwide Ford a day after we got back,” Nikides put in. “And remember Kaylah? She died scouting an enemy camp.”
    â€œShe had a lover in the turma, didn’t she?” asked Alec, and Seregil smiled to himself.
    Alec had been more taken with the idea of soldiering than he’d ever let on and had formed quite a bond with Beka’s riders in the short time they’d known one another in Rhíminee, and later during the dark days in Plenimar.
    Nikides nodded. “Zir. He took it hard, but you have to go on, don’t you? He’s Mercalle’s corporal now.”
    â€œSergeant Mercalle?” Seregil looked up in surprise. Mercalle was an experienced old soldier, one of the sergeants who’d helped train Beka and then requested the honor of serving with her when she was given a command. “I thought you lost her in the first battle of the war?”
    â€œSo did we,” replied Beka. “She went down under her horse and broke both arms and a leg, along with a few ribs. But she tracked us down again before the snow flew that fall, ready to fight.”
    â€œWe were lucky to get her back,” said Corporal Nikides, “She fought with Phoria herself in their younger days.”
    â€œShe and Braknil have seen us through some dark days,” Beka added. “By the Flame, their lessons have saved us a time or two!”
    Never one to waste valuable time, Seregil spent much of the journey drilling Alec and anyone else who cared to listen on the clans of Aurënen: their emblems, customs, and most importantly, their affiliations. Alec took in the information with all his usual quickness.
    â€œOnly eleven principal clans?” he’d scoffed when someone else complained at the complexities of Aurënfaie politics. “Compared to dealing with Skalan nobility, that’s no worse than your mother’s market list.”
    â€œDon’t be too certain,” warned Seregil. “Sometimes those eleven feel more like eleven hundred.”
    Beka and the others also saw to it that Alec brushed up his swordplay.He was soon bruised but happy to be