JENOE ONJAEF, a marshal in the Qalsyn army

TIRNYA ONJAEF, Jenoe and Zira's daughter, a captain in the Qalsyn army MAISAAK TOLM, lord governor of Qalsyn

ENLY ToLM, Maisaak's son, lord heir of Qalsyn and a captain in the Qalsyn army

STRI BALKETT, a captain in the lord governor's army

OLIBAN HERT, a lead rider in Tirnya's company

QAGAN FAWLER, a lead rider in Tirnya's company

DYN GRATHIDAR, a lead rider in Tirnya's company

CROW, a lead rider in Tirnya's company

GRIES BALL IDYNE, lord heir of Fairlea and a captain in the Fairlea army

HENDRID CRISH, marshal in the army of Waterstone

BESH, an old Mettai man, a member of the village's Council of Elders LICALDI, also Lici, an old Mettai woman

EMA, Besh's wife, now deceased

ELICA, his daughter

Situ, Elica's husband

MIHAS, Sirj and Elica's elder son

ANNZE, Sirj and Elica's daughter

CAM, Sirj and Elica's younger son

SYLPA, Lici's foster mother, now deceased

On the Plains of the Fal'Borna

GRINSA JAL ARRIET, a Weaver from the Forelands

CRESENNE JA TERBA, Grinsa's Wife

BRYNTELLE JA GRINSA, Grinsa and Cresenne's daughter

EMENLTA, a'laq of a Fal'Borna sept in the Central Plain

D'PERA, n'qlae of E'MennU'VARAept and E'Menua's wife

UVARA, E'Menua and D'Pera's eldest daughter

Q'DAER a Weaver in E'Menua's sept

L'NORR, a Weaver in E''Menua's sept

T'Lisua, a girl in E'Menua's sept, L'Norr's concubine

F'SOLYA, a Fal'Borna woman

I'JOLED, F'Solya's husband

F''GHARA, a'laq of a small Fal'Borna sept in the Central Plain

S'PLAED, a'laq of a Fal'Borna sept in the northern plain, now deceased

O'TAL, a'laq of a Fal'Borna sept in the northern plain

H'LORYN, a'laq of a Fal'Borna sept in the northern plain

B'VRIL, son of S'Bahn, a Fal'Borna warrior

TORGAN PLYE, an Eandi merchant from Tordjanne

JASHA ZIFFEL, an Eandi merchant, deceased

BRINT HEDFARREN, an Eandi merchant from Tordjanne, also known as Young Red

LARIQENNE GLYSE, an Eandi merchant from Stelpana, also known as Lark, deceased

R'SHEV, a Qirsi merchant on the plains of Stelpana

STAM CORFEJ, an Eandi merchant

Lifarsa (a Mettai Village)

FAYONNE, a Mettai woman, eldest of the village MANDER, Fayonne's son

Lowna (a Fal'Borna VilS'DORYN the CompanionN'TEVVA S'DoRYN, a QirsiT'NOTH

N'TEvyA, S'Doryn's wife

T'Nom, a Qirsi man, friend of S'Doryn and N'Tevva T'KAAR, a A'VINYAman, brother of T'Noth

NVINYA, T'Kaar's wife

U'SELLE, a'laq of the village

JYNNA, an Y'Qatt girl

VETTALA, a young Y'Qatt girl

ETAN, a young Y'Qatt boy

He was being hunted. Somehow he had become their prey, like the rilda that grazed on this plain. Except slower. So much slower.

Stam Corfej had been peddling his wares among the Fal'Borna for the better part of eight fours, more than half a lifetime. He knew as well as anyone how hard the white-haired sorcerers of the Central Plain could be. He'd bargained with them, been threatened by them, been called a cheat and a dark-eye bastard and worse. More than once he'd considered giving up on the Qirsi and returning to his native Aelea. A peddler could do well in the Mountain Nation, perhaps not inland, but along her rocky shores, in Redcliff or Yorl.

But it had never taken him long to dismiss the idea of returning to the sovereignty. Whatever gold he might make in Eandi territory he could double and then some trading among the Fal'Borna. He knew the tastes of the golden-skinned clan. He knew their ways, and he knew how to best them in a negotiation.

And while he didn't particularly like the white-hairs, he had never felt threatened by them. At least not until now.

It was said among peddlers in the Southlands that commerce cared nothing for the color of a man's eyes. Qirsi and Eandi, white-hair and dark-eye; they had spent nearly a thousand years fighting the Blood Wars, learning from their fathers to hate the other, and passing that lesson along to their children. But when it came to trade, men and women of both races managed to put aside their enmity. Gold was gold. The Qirsi might have thought the Eandi brutish and cruel, but they loved Qosantian honey wine; Eandi nobles cursed the white-hairs and their frightening magic, but they decorated the hilts of their swords and the hands, wrists, and necks of their mistresses with gems from the Nid'Qir.

Stam had done well over the years catering to such appetites. He'd traveled the length and breadth of the Southlands searching for wares that would fetch a good price. He'd traded in the fishing villages of the D'Krad and the woodland towns of the M'Saaren, the shining cities of the H'Bel and the septs of the Fal'Borna, and he had learned a great deal about the likes and dislikes of all the Qirsi clans.

So when he saw those Mettai baskets that Brint HedFarren was selling at the bend in the wash, where he and his fellow merchants often gathered, he jumped at the chance to buy them. The Mettai were renowned for their basket weaving, and these baskets were as beautiful as any Stam had ever seen. Tightly woven, brilliantly colored, and, best of all, clearly dyed by hand, which increased their value. If Barthal Milensen and Grijed Semlor and Lark hadn't been there claiming their share, Stam might well have bought every one that Young Red was selling. As it was, he only got twelve.

Who would have guessed that twelve Mettai baskets-fewer, actually, since he still had three in his cart-could kill so many people? Who would have thought that they could destroy two good-sized septs so quickly and so completely?

That night in the first sept, Stam had no idea what was happening. At first it seemed that the pestilence had come and he assumed that he would fall ill like the Fal'Borna around him. But as the night wore on and the white-hairs began to destroy their z'kals with fire and shaping magic, he realized that whatever illness had struck at the sept was nothing like any pestilence he had ever seen. He fled the village, amazed that he had managed to survive and

wanting only to put as much distance as possible between himself and the horrors he had witnessed.

Three nights later, when the same disease struck at another sept he was visiting-a sept more than eight leagues away from the first-he began to suspect that this was more than mere coincidence. He still didn't understand, but he knew that he wanted nothing more to do with white-hairs and their magic.

He decided that he'd lingered too long in the north. He resolved to turn his cart south and make his way to the warm waters of the Ofirean Sea. The Snows were coming; the plain was no place for an old merchant during the cold turns.

A few days later Stam stopped at a Fal'Borna village along the Thraedes River, intending to trade for some food and wine. This wasn't a sept, but rather a small, walled city, known as H'Nivar. It had once belonged to the Eandi, but it was taken by the white-hairs during the last of the Blood Wars. As Stam approached the north gates of the village, he saw a line of peddlers' carts stretching in his direction. He slowed, unsure of what to make of the column.