‘You’d better keep the little girl back here until I can get a burial detail up there’

‘No, Sparhawk. This sort of thing is a part of her heritage, too. All Styrics know that it happens. Besides, I might be able to help the survivors – if there are any’

‘Have it your own way,’ he said shortly. A huge rage had descended upon him, and he curtly motioned the column forward.

There was some evidence that the hapless Styrics had made an attempt to defend themselves, but that they had been swarmed over by people carrying only the crudest of weapons. Sparhawk put his men to work – some of them digging graves and others extinguishing the fires.

Sephrenia came across the littered field, her face deathly pale. ‘There are only a few women among the dead,’ she reported. ‘I’d guess that the rest fled back into the woods.’

‘See if you can persuade them to come back,’ he said. He looked over at Sir Parasim, who was weeping openly as he spaded dirt out of a grave. The young knight was obviously not emotionally suited for this kind of work. ‘Parasim,’ Sparhawk ordered, ‘go with Sephrenia.’

‘Yes, my Lord,’ Parasim sobbed, dropping his spade.

The dead were finally all committed to the earth, and Sparhawk briefly murmured an Elene prayer over the graves. It was probably not appropriate for Styrics, but he didn’t really know what else to do.

After about an hour, Sephrenia and Parasim returned. ‘Any luck?’ Sparhawk asked her.

‘We found them,’ she replied, ‘but they won’t come out of the woods.’

‘I can’t really blame them very much,’ he said. ‘We’ll see if we can fix up at least a few of these houses for them to keep them out of the weather.’

‘Don’t waste your time, Sparhawk. They won’t come back to this place. That’s a part of the Styric religion.’

‘Did they give you some idea of which way the Elenes who did this went?’

‘What are you planning, Sparhawk?’

‘Chastisement. That’s a part of the Elene religion.’

‘No. I won’t tell you which way they went, if that’s what you’ve got in mind.’

‘I’m not going to let this pass, Sephrenia. You can tell me or not, whichever you choose. I can find their trail by myself if I need to.’

She looked at him helplessly. Then her eyes became shrewd. ‘A bargain, Sparhawk?’ she suggested.

‘I’ll listen.’

‘I’ll tell you where to find them if you promise not to kill anybody.’

‘All right,’ he agreed grudgingly, his face still black with anger. ‘Which way did they go?’

‘I’m not done yet,’ she said. ‘You’ll stay here with me. I know you, and you sometimes go to extremes. Send someone else to do it.’

He glared at her, then turned. ‘Lakus!’ he bellowed.

‘No,’ she said, ‘not Lakus. He’s as bad as you are.’