Sundrinker

his plan, and, as she heard, Jai felt her heart pound painfully. Dagner protested. Duwan the Elder rose, his face grim.

'I see the wisdom of your plan, my son,' Duwan the Elder said. 'I question only one aspect of it. I will stand at your side.'

'Father,' Duwan said. 'You must protect my mother. You must do as I say, or we have fought and died for nothing. Dagner, you have regained youth here in this land, and you must use your skills to train other fighters. You must all trust me. Many will die tomorrow, and perhaps I will be among the fallen, but I will die with my heart at ease knowing that you have obeyed my wishes, that the hope will not die with us who remain on the field of battle.'

'Do not ask me to desert you,' Jai said.

'I don't ask, my love, I order,' Duwan said. 'And if you don't obey me I will have you tied hand and foot and carried.'

'Duwan,' she wailed.

'No more,' he said, and she was silent until, with the ordered movements made during the night, she lay by his side with the lights in the night sky putting a dim glow on his face.

'Let me stay,' she begged.

He held her closely. 'I do not plan to die. I will hold until you are safe among the hills, and then I will follow.'

'Let me stay. Life without you would be more pain than pleasure.'

'And to know that you die at my side, would that give me pleasure?' She wept silently.

Chapter Six

With the coming of darkness Duwan's army began to dissolve. Small groups began to make the difficult ascent of the steep walls of the canyon at its narrow, eastern end. There were quiet but tearful leavetakings, promises to meet again in the west, in the land of the free runners. The groups had been assembled carefully, with a male of fighting experience in each.

Duwan made the rounds of his camp, speaking to as many as he could.

'On you rests the hope of tomorrow,' he told them. 'You have faced the enemy and you know that in his veins runs blood, and that that blood can be spilled. You must be my cadre, my teachers, until I can rejoin you. You must spread the word that Drinkers can and will drive the enemy from this land.'

He found Tambol speaking to a large group of males and females and he halted in the darkness, outside the glow of the campfires, to listen.

'Of you, much is asked,' Tambol was saying. 'I, myself, shudder to think of going back among the enemy, but I will go and if it is your desire, you will go. There you will spread the word. Be cautious, my friends. Speak in whispers and in the protection of the darkness in the settlements, in the cities, anywhere you can find a slave to listen, and tell him of his true heritage. Tell him of the Master. Say that our battle here was not a defeat, but a victory, a victory marked by hundreds of enemy dead, a demonstration of what we can do if we all stand together.' When Tambol was alone Duwan approached and was greeted with an arm clasp and sudden tears from Tambol.

'I had counted on you to consolidate them in the west,' Duwan said.

'Yet I hear you speak of going back into the cities.'

'I will do as you wish, Master.'

'Then guide a group to the west,' Duwan said. He'd given up on trying to prevent Tambol's using the exalted title in addressing him. 'Tramp the hills. Gather the scattered elements together. Be my voice, Tambol, and gather others to you until the army numbers in the tens of thousands. Tell them to listen to the valley Drinkers, to my father, to Dagner, and the others, and to learn their lessons well before making another attempt to meet the enemy head-on. He is warned now, and he will be prepared.'

'Master,' Tambol said tearfully, 'it is you they follow, you who gives them the strength to die. Let me fight the holding action. You go and lead them into the west.'

Duwan smiled and put his hand on Tambol's shoulder. 'My friend, I have seen you with a sword. Your tongue is your weapon. Use it well.' Duwan climbed with his mother and father and the small group chosen to accompany them to stand on a high place and look down on the camp. The few who were left were kept busy adding wood to the hundreds of fires that were kept burning to prevent the enemy from suspecting the mass escape from the canyon. He saw Jai working among the others and his heart filled. For one painful moment he considered going to get her, taking her and fleeing with the others.

'Don't stay too long,' Duwan the Elder said. 'We will have the hours of the night. It is the enemy custom, as you well know, to attack at first light and then to pause at midmorning while fresh troops are moved up. When that