Lord Lun-yu looked puzzled for a moment, caught on, went to work. He received data from two more assaults. He developed a crude, skewed arc. “It doesn’t look right, Lord.”

“Guess me a maximum and minimum radius. The terrain they crossed should account for the irregularities.” He peered at the map. Neither of his methods was working well. The first, in fact, now looked a little foolish. He had, in effect, collected a lot of lone legs of triangles. He did not know any lengths or angles.

The scope of search did seem to be narrowing.

He accepted a casualty report from a messenger. “Hmm?”

“Lord?” Tasi-feng inquired.

“These people are reasonably good fighters.”

Another runner reported that the force attacking Yang-chu had withdrawn. Soon similar reports arrived from the other attacked parties. Shih-ka’i observed, “Their communications are fair.”

Tasi-feng asked, “Shall we pursue, Lord?”

Shih-ka’i glanced at the map. “Slowly.” He indicated two parties which had not been attacked. “Move these people to pincer the group dropping off here. We’ll take more prisoners. Tell Yang-chu to hold his position. I want to see what he’s got.”

Yang-chu’s group had received the most attention. The slope below his perimeter was littered with bodies. “They took some of their fallen with them,” the Tervola told Shih-ka’i. “As many as they could carry.”

Shih-ka’i looked across the desert. Among the dust devils he could see a cloud raised by the retreating enemy. “Any wizardry used?”

“Neither by us nor them, Lord.”

“Good.” He watched the dust. Where could they have come from? How could people exist in this? He glanced at the bodies, quickly averted his gaze. He was not accustomed to seeing the aftermath of battles.

The corpses were of men who had been well-fed, well-clad, and well-armed. “Yang-chu.” He indicated the dead. “Collect them. Strip them. Keep each man’s things separate. Send the bundles through to the fortress.” He summoned his will, looked into a few lifeless faces. They told him very little. All dead men had the same message for the living. It was a message Lord Ssu-ma did not want to hear.

They were a curious breed. Both kinds. Shih-ka’i had never seen their like before. But how were they so different?

He shrugged. The legion’s surgeons would dissect them and let him know.

He took a last look at the dust cloud. It was moving straight out the line he had drawn on the map. He returned to the fortress.

Tasi-feng greeted him with, “Lord, Hsu Shen says there were soldiers of the empire in the band that attacked him.

“Ours?”

“They wore our armor. Their badges were of the Seventeenth.”

“Your missing men?”

“Perhaps. I told him to keep it quiet till we can explain it.”

“Good. Shift those two intercept groups around. Tell them to double-time and get into position to stop that party. Tell Hsu Shen to go after them and resume contact. I’ll want a portal open out there when our people are in position. I want to see this myself.”