Now that she had a chance to catch her breath, Evvy looked at the trickles of blood that emerged from beneath the heap of thorns and felt unclean. She scrubbed her hands on her breeches. We had to kill them, she told herself. The emperor’s soldiers were going to kill us, them and their mages. To stop us from getting word to Gyongxe that the emperor is coming. So the emperor can torture Parahan to death.

Why did we bother? she wondered, swimming in self-hate. She trembled from top to toe. All of this means nothing. These dead horses and dead men, it’s all camel spit in a high wind, because the emperor is coming. Gyongxe is so small. Gyongxe doesn’t have a chance against Yanjing.

The two warriors dismounted before Rosethorn and Briar. They put their palms together before their faces and bowed low to Rosethorn. “Dedicate,” the taller of them said, “I had the honor of seeing you in Gyongxe over the winter. I am Captain Rana, sent by the God-King and First Dedicate of the Living Circle Jangbu Dokyi to ensure your safe arrival in Gyongxe. This is my sergeant, Kanbab. I beg your pardon for our lateness. We did not know the beast Yanjingyi had crept up the gorge to lay in wait. Excuse me.” He turned and held up a hand. A warrior trotted forward. “Get to General Sayrugo. Tell her the enemy is here. We surprised a company and are dealing with them. There may be more moving northwest above the road. As fast as you can ride, and I know that’s fast.”

The soldier bowed and ran to collect his horse. To Sergeant Kanbab the captain said, “Take half of our people. Help Sergeant Yonten mop up on the road. We must take the dedicate and her companions to the general as soon as possible.”

Rosethorn took a drink from the flask at her belt. “Forgive me, Captain Rana, but we are on our way to Garmashing. We have important news for the God-King and First Dedicate Dokyi.”

The captain smiled. “The First Dedicate has anticipated you,” he replied. “He waits at Fort Sambachu, at the end of this gorge — our home base.”

“A fort? Not the temple in Garmashing?” Rosethorn said.

“I am certain the First Dedicate will explain when you see him,” Rana said. “If you will excuse me, I must see to my wounded.”

Rosethorn and Briar walked slowly over to Evvy, towing the mules and their ponies. Once the animals were tethered, both of them sat beside her in silence. After a moment, Evvy leaned against Briar’s shoulder. A glance told her Rosethorn had stretched out on the grass and cradled her head on Briar’s knee.

“Do you want to lie down?” Evvy asked Briar. “I don’t mind.”

“I’ll just lean against you,” he said. “We can prop each other up.”

“Good,” Evvy whispered. She let her eyes close. If she had her way, she would never fight again.

Evvy slid off his shoulder at some point. Briar woke in time to catch her and lowered her to the grass. Rosethorn had rolled away from him and curled up in a knot. Once awake, he felt too itchy to rest. One of the Gyongxin soldiers offered him a flask of tea. Briar had a drink and looked around at the mess they had made — they and the emperor’s soldiers — of a beautiful mountain cove.

Now that he had time to think and remember, something puzzled him. He went back to the rock slide Evvy had made of the ridge. At first his feet simply went out from under him as he tried to reach the two dead Yanjingyi mages. Suddenly the sliding rocks held still. He turned to see Evvy’s eyes on him. He smiled at her and pursued the short climb to the corpses.

He hadn’t been mistaken. Their bead necklaces had strangled them while he had bound their hands using the wooden beads in their bracelets. Briar knelt and touched a bare spot where the cord lay exposed against a dead mage’s throat. Cotton. The necklace had been threaded on cotton. Not only that, but the cord tingled with the remnants of a magic he knew very well.

He scrambled down to solid earth and walked over to his teacher. She was sitting up and talking with Captain Rana. When they stopped and looked at him, Briar said, “Cotton.”

Rosethorn raised an eyebrow at him.

“You strangled them with the cotton thread on their own mage necklaces. They didn’t even try to stop you?”

“They couldn’t even tell I was there,” Rosethorn replied calmly. “Briar, they truly don’t understand ambient magic. We will be very useful here.” Her voice was perfectly reasonable. “You could have done it just as easily.” She looked at Captain Rana. “Would someone build us a small fire? We need to collect these beads and burn them, before they fall into someone else’s hands.” She and Briar went to collect the beads as the captain gave orders.

It took some of their supplies of herbs that kept magic from spreading, but they saw all of the Yanjingyi mages’ beads destroyed in a nice, hot fire. They were even able to destroy the enemy’s mage kits. A part of Briar wanted to go through them, for curiosity’s sake. Rosethorn pointed out that just as they left special surprises in their own mage kits for snoops, the Yanjingyi mages could be expected to have something similar. Briar and Evvy both sighed at the missed opportunity and let the kits burn.

By the time they were finished, Parahan and the other Gyongxin warriors returned to report success at the road. There were no Yanjingyi soldiers left to carry word of Gyongxin soldiers in the pass. Just as good, from Briar’s point of view, those Gyongxin who took wounds were not badly hurt. Rosethorn, Briar, and Captain Rana’s healers were able to patch them up quickly before they all rode out.