Valyn tried to force aside his worries and focus on Talal’s injury. He wiped his forehead, blinking past the sheeting rain, then took hold of the arrow while Laith held the leach’s leg. The wet wood was slick in his hands, and each time he lost his grip he felt Talal’s body spasm beneath him, heard him groan through clenched teeth. Finally, his hands mired in blood, and rain, and mud, Valyn forced the arrow through, twisting it as best he could to avoid scraping the bone, bearing down viciously to get it out and over as quickly as possible. Talal growled low in his chest, straining against Laith’s grip, then went slack as the arrowhead burst out. He was panting, eyes wide, rain streaming down his face.

“You all right?” Valyn asked.

The leach expelled a long, shuddering breath between his teeth, then nodded. “Finish it.”

Valyn broke the shaft with one quick motion, then yanked the remainder of the arrow free as Talal bit off a curse.

Behind him, Huutsuu snorted. If the rain bothered her, she didn’t show it, leaning over the fire to get a better view of the injury. “You are warriors?” she asked.

Valyn nodded curtly, taking the heated knife from Laith’s hand, then pressing the glowing metal to the exit wound. Talal twisted sharply, then passed out. Valyn breathed out slowly. Unconsciousness would spare the leach the pain of the second cauterization and keep him still while Valyn attended to the entry point.

Huutsuu snorted again. “A warrior should face his pain.”

“He faced it well enough,” Valyn snapped. “We’ve been flying all night.”

“He fled,” the woman replied, waving a finger at the flier’s limp body. “Fled into the Softness.”

Valyn pressed the knife to the entry wound, counting to eight silently, then rounded on Huutsuu.

“We don’t want a fight,” he snapped, “but keep talking, and you’ll find out something about pain.”

The woman regarded the glowing knife with scorn. “This is a small thing,” she replied, “for one who is tsaani three times over.”

“What in ’Shael’s name is she talking about?” Valyn demanded of no one in particular.

“Children,” Talal murmured, rousing from his stupor. “She’s had three children.”

Valyn shook his head. He had no idea why that mattered. Between the driving rain and the pounding agony in his shoulder, all piled on the fatigue of a long night spent in the harness, he felt ready to snap.

“I don’t give a shit how many kids she’s got.” He pointed at Huutsuu with the blade, then gestured toward the tied Urghul. “Over there. With them. Now.”

She looked him up and down a long moment, then shook her head and stalked away.