Tarrin was fixated by what was going on over on the training grounds of the Knights. It wasn't that far from the gardens. One of Keritanima's massive lizard Wikuni guards was on the field, being pressed by four cadets at once. Using a warhammer with a head almost as big as a log, the huge monster of a Wikuni kept his attackers well in control. Tarrin noted that the Wikuni swung that warhammer with an exacting precision that spoke of his true skill, a skill that would allow him to strike any of his attackers exactly as hard as he wished.

"I didn't know you let your guards train with the Knights," Tarrin noted.

"What they do on their own time isn't my business," she shrugged.

"He's really giving those cadets a fight," Tarrin chuckled. "They'll never touch him."

"Of course they won't," she said with a wicked smile. "That's Binter. He's one of the best Marines my daddy has. That's why he was sent to be my personal bodyguard."

"What about the other one?"

"Sisska," she said. "She's good, but nowhere near Binter."

"She? She doesn't look female."

"Binter and Sisska aren't Wikuni," she told him.

"They're not? What are they?"

"They're Vendari Lizard Men," she replied. Tarrin had heard stories of the almost legendary Vendari. They were massive lizard-men who lived on the continent of Sharadar, in the Jungles of Vendar. They were very advanced and cultured. The Vendari culture centered around war and combat, but they also had a very, very refined sense of honor and propriety that didn't make them barbarically warlike. They treated fighting as a field of honor, something to take very seriously. Because they didn't raid, and their powerful sense of honor prevented them from breaking the treaties they had formed with their neighboring nations, the Vendari often hired out as mercenaries in wars in other parts of the world. Honor was everything to a Vendari, and he would die rather than have his honor stained. They also were well known for living by a strict code that prevented them from lying. A Vendari absolutely would not lie. Ever. Because of that, they were often employed as messengers and arbitraters.

"How did the Wikuni end up with Vendari in their army?"

"There's a very small colony of Vendari who live in the jungles of Wikuna," she told him. "Binter and Sisska are Vendari, but their allegiance is to Wikuna. Almost every single one of them is either in the Army or the Marines, but to keep them centralized, they're allowed to be stationed at home, so their colony isn't disbanded by them having to serve in different places."

"That's considerate of your father."

"Keep the Vendari together, and they'll have little Vendari, who grow up into future soldiers," Keritanima said with a smile. "It's not an act of consideration. My father never does anything that doesn't help him, either personally or as King."

"No wonder they look the same," Tarrin said. "Female Wikuni always have breasts, even reptillian ones. I guess the same isn't true for Vendari."

"I can tell the difference, because females smell different. Sisska was sent so she could enter my bedchamber when I'm not dressed. Sisska is Binter's wife."

The cadets were called off, and the massive Mahuut cadet, Azakar, was sent in to challenge Binter. Azakar was by far the largest man Tarrin had ever seen, but he was almost a full head shorter than the incredibly huge Vendari. Those two had the rare distinction of being taller than Tarrin, something to which Tarrin was not accustomed. Tarrin came up to Azakar's chin, but he probably only came up to Binter's chest.

"This should be interesting," Keritanima said between bites of roasted pork.

"Azakar's good, but he's not that good," Tarrin said. "Binter will have him down within two minutes."

Much as Tarrin predicted, the Vendari put Azakar on his back only about a minute into the fight. Binter's raw size and power made him almost invulnerable to the smaller humans, because he understood how to use that size and power to his utmost advantage. He had a style like Karn the blacksmith back in Aldreth, he set his feet and dared someone to try to move him. He moved with deceptive slowness, until he could explode into action and take his opponent off guard.

Azakar was called off, and one of the Knights was sent on to challenge the Vendari. "Now it gets interesting," Tarrin said. "That's Ulgen. He's one of their better Knights. Ulgen will give Binter fits, because he's sneaky."

As they ate, they watched Ulgen and Binter dance around. The Vendari was forced into a real fight, and Ulgen gave him a serious run for his money. Ulgen understood the advantages of his adversary, and forced Binter to attack him in ways that eliminated the majority of his advantage. Ulgen was a wily Knight, one of their better fencers, flicking his heavy broadsword with as much delicacy as a Shacean Musketeer. He put Binter back on his heels as the Vendari struggled to use the warhammer, not a weapon of finesse, to block a clever and intricate series of light slashes and thrusts. Being put off balance took most of the threat out of Binter's responses, and it put the pair on even terms. After about five minutes, however, Binter got the Knight off balance by using his weight advantage, and then used his huge muscled tail to slap Ulgen to the ground. Just like Tarrin, Binter understood the advantage of his tail, and had learned how to use it as a weapon in a fight.

"I think that with two Vendari guarding your door, you'll be very safe," Tarrin predicted after watching that. It took a good fighter to put Ulgen down in five minutes. Ulgen was no wet-nosed puppy.

"That's the idea," Keritanima said with a giggle. "Forget the two hundred Marines garrisonned here. Binter and Sisska are all I need."

"Where are they, anyway? I never see them."

"They're on the far side of the grounds, in the southern corner. They train on their own field. There's a bit of, friction, between the Marines and the Knights. I think it's a professional desire to see who's better. So they're kept apart to prevent a general war on the grounds."

Tarrin chuckled. "Wikuni Marines squaring off against the Knights of Karas? That would be a war."

"I was curious about something," she said.

"What?"

"I noticed that all the Knights are branded, just like you and Allia. What's going on with that?"

"Oh," Tarrin said with a rueful chuckle. "Allia branded me so I could be her brother," he began. "Well, the Knights consider me and Allia to be part of them, and if you know anything about the Knights-"

"Where All Are One Under Karas," she quoted the Knight parable, the one core ideal which identified the Knights as a group. "So they saw your brands, and decided that if you two had to wear them, so did they."

Tarrin nodded. "Now every Knight who passes training is branded in the Ceremony of Spurs. They have the holy symbol of Karas on one shoulder, and the standard of the Knights on the other."

"I'm sorry to say it, but you warrior types are weird," she said in a serious voice that made Tarrin burst out laughing. "Well, you are," she said in a defensive voice as Tarin reclaimed control of himself. "I'd never let someone put red-hot steel on my shoulder just to feel like I belonged."

"You wouldn't do it even if it meant that you attained what you dreamed of attaining for years?" he asked.

"Well, in that case, I probably would," she acceded.

"The Knights wear those brands like badges of honor now," Tarrin told her. "They're all very proud of them. And, I've been told that a priest of Karas is always on hand to help out, just in case. I get the funny feeling that they cheat a bit by having the priest deaden the feeling of the cadets just before they're branded."

"I'd rather be knocked out," Keritanima grunted.