Then she cursed and tore the clothing off the corpse’s body, clearly searching for something. Then, as Abi fought down nausea and sank to her knees in the bracken, she cursed even louder and began kicking the dead body.

“These bastard’s aren’t even Karsite!” she screamed, kicking it again and again.

Stev paused, his swordpoint at the Mage’s throat. “Is that so?”

“What the hell, Stev?” she screeched at him.

“That’s what I’m about to find out,” Stev said, far too calmly.

Abi looked down at the ground a moment to control her stomach, wiped blood off her face, and by the time she looked back up, the blue glow of the Truth Spell surrounded the prone Mage. And the faint glimmer of shielding was gone from around her and the other two. Thank you, Korlak.

“Are you Karsite?” Stev asked the captured Mage.

“No!” the Mage spat, “Holy hells, man, get your knife out of me! I surrender! You Valdemarans have to take a surrender!”

Stev pondered a moment. “I think we’ll leave the knife where it is for now. Why are you here?”

Abi couldn’t control her stomach anymore; she vomited. But that didn’t keep her from hearing the man’s answer.

“To keep you crazy people from annexing this area. Get it out! Help me!” The Mage’s hand kept reaching for the knife as if to pull it out himself, but then he seemed to lose the courage to do so. Which was probably all for the best, as the wound would certainly start bleeding badly if he did get the knife out. But Abi could scarcely believe how indifferent everyone else seemed to be to his pain.

Abi, you idiot, he tried to murder us all! He could have killed other people if he’d rigged a bridge to fall!

“I like the knife where it is. It looks good on you,” Jicks said, and sat down in the bracken as Korlak and his crow approached.

“Sorry I didn’t do more,” Korlak said apologetically. “I was putting the fires out. I mean, literally putting them out.” He looked pale, and a little sick, but no worse than Abi felt. He glanced at the enemy Mage, and his lips curled up, just a little.

“Just as well you did, or they’d have had us pinned down for the fire to take,” Jicks told him, thumping his shoulder. He staggered. “Good thinking.”

He shrugged. “There wasn’t much more I could do, anyway. Nothing else I tried seemed to work.”

“Help me!” the enemy Mage shrieked.

“That’s an odd demand from someone who was trying to kill us a few moments ago. Why were you doing this?” Stev continued, doggedly.

“We were hired! Help me! You’re a Herald! You’re supposed to help people!”

“I’m supposed to help Valdemarans,” Stev corrected. “And you’re not a Valdemaran. Who hired you?”