the low light. Another grunt of effort came, and she saw a Maquar poking one of the dog-sized formians with a spear. The creature scuttled to a corner to avoid the strikes. The guard spit a curse before stepping toward the big formian who stood still, bound and blindfolded.

Taennen lunged forward, grabbing the man's shoulder and pulling him back. The spearman shrugged off Taennen's grasp but halted his progress toward the formians. 'You are dismissed, soldier!' Taennen shouted.

'Sir, the prisoners were planning something. Didn't you hear it?' the man replied. 'It was terrible. My ears felt as though they might ignite.'

'Soldier, the Maquar do not harm their prisoners, regardless of the noises they make. You're new to this outfit, but surely you know that,' Taennen said.

The man nodded but quickly replied, 'Yes, sir, but the sound… Sir, it was making me crazy, and the leader of the new men heard it as he went by earlier and said if it were up to him, he'd do something about it.'

'Bascou told you to do this?' Adeenya asked.

The Maquar man blanched and stammered, 'Well, he didn't order me to. But… well, you know… he sort of…'

'Enough. Your orders come from me, the orir, or the urir. Do you understand, soldier?' Taennen said.

The man nodded, and Taennen dismissed him, suggesting that the soldier get some rest. The man skirted past Adeenya on his way out the door. She closed the door behind him.

Taennen went to one knee and looked to the assaulted formian. The young man stood after a few moments and approached Guk. He stared at the large formian for a few moments as though the blindfold were not there.

'We'll see the wounds are tended to,' Taennen said.

'What do you think the sound was?' Adeenya asked.

'I don't know, and I don't really care. They're free to make noise. It's not harming anyone,' Taennen replied.

'True enough,' she said. She wanted the prisoners to be well treated, but the sound had unnerved her.

'Your plan is working,' Taennen said in a low voice, stepping in close to her and pointing at the formians. 'Word they might have seen someone in the tower is all over the citadel.'

'What next?' she said.

'You keep watch, and I'll see what the Aerilpar holds for us,' Taennen said.

'Good luck, Taennen,' she said. 'Watch your back.' 'You too.'

Before she could reply, Taennen moved out the door, his shadow blocking the light that barely touched the darkness of the interior of the prison.

He was right not to linger. It might look strange to an observer if they stayed in the company of the formians for too long. Besides, the strange ability of the creatures to manipulate those they came in contact with was nothing she felt like struggling with at that moment.

Adeenya followed Taennen and stepped back out into the sun. He motioned the two guards outside the building to him and nodded as Adeenya indicated she would be leaving. He told the soldiers that no one was to mistreat the prisoners unless they wanted to deal with him. The guards nodded vehemently and answered every question with affirmatives.

Loraica's warnings came back to Adeenya. Maybe her plan did put the formians at risk unnecessarily. Whoever had killed Loraica was heartless at best. That person would not hesitate to kill alien enemies. If there were a traitor and the prisoners died in that room alone and defenseless, how would she feel? She had no love of the creatures, for certain, but the thought of them being executed by some assassin made her grim. The rumors had been circulating for a while. Surely the traitor would strike soon. Or perhaps the saboteur was wiser than that. Perhaps he or she would let anger and frustration boil over among the ranks. Maybe the sinister soul knew that eventually the soldiers would succumb to loss and infuriating helplessness until they reached the point where they would take care of the formians themselves in an attempt to ease the call for vengeance and action they all craved.

Adeenya glanced over at Taennen. The man was distracted, lecturing his soldiers. The guards nodded, their backs turned to her.

Adeenya ducked into the prison again and looked around. In the corner opposite where the formians huddled, she found a stack of stone blocks like those used to make the dividing walls in the room. She dashed behind them, pulling them in to make a snug space against the wall. She knelt down, hidden from the rest of the room. The formians had seen her, no doubt, but anyone else entering the room would not be able to.

Every bad idea she had ever had flooded into her mind, but that tidal wave of feeling was turned away when she considered the guilt that would weigh her down if her plan led to the deaths of the formians. She; would hide here and protect the creatures. She almost laughed at herself, the utter ridiculousness of the plan occurring to her. But impending guilt, duty, and a need to solve the mystery anchored her to the floor. She peered over the stones to see Guk's head turned in her direction. Adeenya sank back to the floor and sat, waiting, hoping she was there for no reason.

Taennen clasped hands with the young guards, a pact of trust forged between them. He disliked lecturing them, but he knew that tensions were running high. If one of their own had been willing to discipline a prisoner the way the spearman had, things were out of hand. He gave them a smile, confident that his words would be heeded, and left the two to guard the prisoners once again. He ordered them to see to the small formians wounds but otherwise to grant the creatures privacy. Taennen walked away from the building, his mood dark after the disappointing incident with the spearman and the nearly devastating interaction with Jhoqo earlier in the day.

Groups of soldiers, Maquar and Durpari, huddled here and there in the courtyard. No doubt the newcomers were the cause of the whispers. Even Jhoqo's impassioned speeches weren't enough to put the Maquar at ease. As much as Taennen agreed with his soldiers' discomfort, it was better to have the Chondathans working with them then not to have anyone. The midday sun beat down on him, but Taennen's skin absorbed it hungrily and he enjoyed the warming sensation. It burned at the edges of his bad feelings, its warmth a kind of forgiveness he would not earn from any other source.

Taennen saw Bascou speaking to one of the Chondathan men as a group of Maquar stood nearby. Bascou, clearly aware of his observers, offered them a smile and salute. When Muzahar Haddar sneered back in response, Taennen saw an opportunity to set the proper tone. He bolted to stand before the Maquar and took satisfaction in their rigid salutes.

'You will show the proper respect, Muzahar,' Taennen said.

Haddar eyed him hard, never one to hold his tongue,

'They are darkblades, sir,' he said. 'Foreign sellswords. Even the Durpari have more honor than they do. At least the Durpari serve their own country and only their own country.'

Taennen glared at the man, long enough for Haddar to notice and become quiet. When he did, Taennen looked him in the eye before doing the same in turn to each of the other three Maquar gathered there. 'Do you believe in the ways of the Maquar?' he asked Haddar.

The man blinked but maintained his gaze straight ahead at attention before saying, 'Yes, sir. Of course, sir.'

'The Maquar are my family. Are they yours?'

Haddar nodded.

'A family must be willing to change and grow. After all, people die, marry, have children… isn't this so?' Taennen asked.

Again, the man nodded.

'A family must also stand united, or surely it will dissolve. They may disagree, of course, but they must come together in times of need, yes?'

Taennen did not wait for the man's response before continuing. 'The head of your family has asked of you all that he must-no more, no less. We are in trouble, brothers,' Taennen said, turning to look each man in the eyes. He added, 'We must save one another. We are in a strange land, and we are overwhelmed. A good warrior must know when this is true and admit it to himself.

'There is no shame in it. Jhoqo knows this and so has done what was necessary,' Taennen said, pointing toward the sellswords. 'To protect his family,' he added, indicating the men standing before him.

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