behind her.
'Good sauce,' he said.
'It's made from two different fruits and more spices than I can remember,' she replied.
'Congratulations on the expedition.'
She turned a curious eye on him and was rewarded with a genuine smile. 'We didn't find much.'
'Any expedition where everyone returns unharmed…' he said, leaving the sentence unfinished as he bit into a piece of meat.
Adeenya couldn't stop a chuckle and agreed. 'And what about here, Durir? Any news? I've not spoken with the commander yet.'
Taennen's face turned dour. 'Twelve dead, Orir. Seven Durpari and five Maquar.'
Adeenya bowed her head, offering a prayer of balance to the Adama, asking for the powers that be to replace what had been taken.
'Your dorir can give you the list, sir,' Taennen added.
'How did the invaders get in?' she asked. 'Even opened, the gates should have forced them all into one spot.'
Taennen blew out a long breath. 'We still don't know. And then there's Khatib.'
She placed her plate on the ground and turned her body square to his.
'He was locked in. I've no doubt about that,' Taennen said.
'Then they found a way to break the lock?' she said.
'It isn't that simple,' Taennen said. 'Jhoqo believes the attackers got the passphrase from the citadel's former wizard.'
'A traitor?' Adeenya said.
'Maybe,' Taennen said, 'or they may have tortured the phrase out of his or her mind.'
'That makes sense, I suppose,' she said. 'But you don't seem certain.'
Taennen glanced around and said, 'One of the prisoners told me that Khatib's murderer was not one of the attackers.'
Adeenya's head swam with too many questions. She did not know where to begin. 'Which prisoner? How did they see?'
'The big formian,' Taennen replied as he looked at the ground. 'Guk.'
Adeenya sighed. The word of the formians meant less than nothing. 'You can't be serious. Who does he say is the traitor?' she asked.
'He won't tell me until I free the formians.'
'Who do you think did it, if Guk's not just spinning tales?'
Taennen dropped his fork to his plate and set both on the ground. 'I haven't any idea. There are over two dozen people in this camp that I do not know. It could have been any of them.'
'You assume it was one of my people?' she replied, turning to see the man's face turning red. 'I…' he stammered.
Taennen stared at her for several moments before holding out his left hand, palm up. He gripped his left wrist with his right hand and closed his eyes while lowering his head. Adeenya was humbled by the gesture, remembering its roots. Before Southerners learned of the Adama they lived very differently by often savage rules. If a man stole or even offended someone, a common punishment was the removal of his hand. Offering one's hand in such a gesture as Taennen was doing was a sign of great apology and acceptance of wrongdoing.
'Besides, it probably wasn't anyone here,' he said. 'Jhoqo is right. The last wizard of this place probably died right after revealing the passphrase. Poor soul.'
Adeenya nodded, but she just wasn't sure. She debated telling him about her pendant. 'Why would the formian lie?' she said.
'For his freedom, of course,' Taennen replied.
'Yes, I suppose. He just…' she said.
'What?'
'He just doesn't seem dishonest,' Adeenya said. 'Frightening in his goals, yes. But not dishonest.'
Many moments of silence passed between them. All around the courtyard, soldiers from both armies went about their duties, some on watch, some inspecting the small buildings, others hauling the dead bodies toward the citadel gate. They would be taken outside and burned some distance from the fortress.
'Time to start new,' Adeenya said, quoting the founder of the Adama.
'The beginning is the beast,' Taennen said.
'What?'
He turned toward her, a weak smile on his face. 'My father used to say that every time he was working on a new spell or making a new piece for a customer.'
Adeenya agreed. 'He was full of quotes. You said he was good.'
Taennen nodded. 'He was the best enchanter in Estagund.'
'Then I'm not sure I understand what you said about him needing the coin. He must have been a wealthy man if he was that good.'
Taennen shook his head. 'He refused to use his magic on weaponry or armor.'
Adeenya lifted an eyebrow. 'In Estagund, I'd imagine that limits one's business opportunities tremendously.'
Her companion affirmed her thought. 'I should have known before I did,' Taennen said. 'Who makes an honest living putting charms and dweomers on jewelry and decorations?'
She still could think of nothing else to say about the topic. Taennen had lost one father and gained a new one in the same day. The idea of making such a choice at a young age was beyond her. Knowing that Jhoqo had taken the boy in should have made her feel more warmly toward the man, but Adeenya still found the whole situation unsettling.
She decided to change the subject. 'So where do we start on Guk? Where does the beast begin?'
'If Jhoqo is right about the former wizard of this place, then we have nothing to do, no leads to follow.'
'You might have guessed this about me, Taennen, but I don't like to sit idle,' she said. She wasn't going to tell him about the pendant, she decided. She couldn't trust him with that part of the puzzle. She hated the feeling, but Adeenya felt little reason to trust anyone at that moment.
Taennen grinned and said, 'I figured as much.'
'So even if Guk is a dead end, even if he's just trying to con his way to freedom, it's still a lead worth following simply because it's there. If Jhoqo's right, then it won't lead us to this supposed mystery person of Guk's, but we might find some other information of use. We both know that the formian knows more than he's saying,' she said.
Taennen considered for a moment before saying, 'I think we can arrange to interview him more carefully on the matter. I can talk to Jhoqo.'
'That won't get us anywhere,' she said. 'You know that. You've seen how hard Guk is. He won't crack.'
Taennen nodded.
'I have an idea,' she said. 'But I don't think you're going to like it.' Before he could reply, horns sounded, and Adeenya noticed a commotion at the gate. They both ran toward the front of the citadel, pushing through the crowd of soldiers as they went. As expansive as the place was, Adeenya fought against the feeling of being hemmed in as she waded through the crowd. She lost sight of Taennen for a moment, but found herself standing behind him an instant later, as he stood stopped in his tracks. She moved next to him as he shouted for the onlookers to stand back.
On the ground before them lay the bodies of four soldiers at the feet of another five. Three of the dead were Durpari, the other Maquar, while two Maquar and three Durpari still stood. All bore scratches and were smeared with dirt. Adeenya shouted for a healer to be fetched.
Taennen stepped forward to face one of the Maquar who did not bear a serious wound. From the sweat and mud on his brow, he had clearly been in battle. The two men stood silently there another moment, Taennen's eyes locked onto the man before him, while the wounded man stared at his fallen comrades on the ground.
'Report,' Taennen said, his voice a growl.
The soldier shook his head and lifted his eyes to Taennen, giving his superior officer a look that Adeenya
