''Maybe Perrin deserved death, O Kantri, but maybe he did not. You are so bound by your laws, you creatures of order, they dictate so much of your lives. They are killing you! As you forget how to value time, as you lose sight of the joy of each single day as it comes and passes, I believe you forget how to value life itself. Even—especially—your own."

Her eyes blazed as she stood tall and faced the Kindred, her courage bright around her, her heart as high and fierce as any of the Kindred that ever lived. "Every time the Harvesters have come, I would guess that there is at least one who crosses the Boundary against the treaty. Is that not so?"

"It is,'' I answered her.

"And what is the fate of that one, or two, or however many?''

"By the terms of the treaty they have written their own death in the crossing,'' growled Rishkaan in truespeech.

"Death! Always death! Yet consider, O ye of the Greater Kindred. In all these centuries, what retribution have the Gedri remanded? What restitution for all those deaths?"

''They are due none,'' Rishkaan replied coldly.

"And if my people claimed that Akor broke the treaty in crossing the Boundary to come to my aid, that he interfered with Marik, destroyed property, and that restitution was required? As I understand it, there is no provision in the treaty for such a thing, though he did what he did in full view of all my people. What if we in our foolishness were to demand his death, as we have paid with death so many times? Do you tell me you would sit calmly and accept it, treaty or no?''

The murmur died down, as many stopped to consider her words. However, from one corner a mind voice rang out.

"You cannot kill us, Gedri, You are not strong enough."

She paused a moment for effect, then said one word, her voice very low and calm.

"Demonlord."

Every soul in the assembly drew back and hissed, but she raised her voice and called above the noise, "All it would take is one demonlord, from among the many thousands of my people. One demonlord, to exact revenge for all the deaths over all the centuries. Yet there have been none!"

"Do you call for Akor's death?" hissed Erianss.

"Sweet Goddess, no! No! Not death! Don't you understand, do you still not understand me? I call for life. Life!"

I smelt the seawater as it ran down her cheeks. "Life for both races, dear people of my beloved, life truly shared between Kantri and Gedri—as when the world was younger, and our two peoples dwelt together in peace." She bowed her head. "Oh, my brothers and sisters," she said brokenly, suddenly spent and weary, "I call for life."

She had no more words. The final echoes of her voice rang round the walls and met only silence.

I had them. One more word and Akor and I would walk free.

Ah, well.

I heard Kédra's voice clearly. "Lanen? Lord Akhor? The Lady Rella whom you left in my charge bears news of the Gedri that you must hear. She says it is urgent.

"How could she have news if she has been in your keeping?" I asked him.

''One came from the camp seeking all of the Gedri, and spoke with her as I kept out of sight listening. She followed after him and was gone for some while, but she has returned.''

I stood motionless on the dais, filled with the fear that I had not reached the Kantri, and aware of a rising dread. What news could possibly have sought her out so far from the camp? Dear Lady, what had happened now?

Kédra's voice was grim when he spoke again. "Lady, it is the Merchant Marik. His order has gone out among your people that you are to leave on the morrow. They are beginning even now. And the Lady Rella says that there is no sign of Marik, and that you will understand when she says that she saw him with the demon master not half an hour gone. She says you will know what this means.''

I did. I knew as if I had heard it from his own lips. I whirled on Akor.

"He got away, didn't he? He got out of the cabin before your battle."

"He did."

I nearly choked on my own words. "Akor, don't you understand? He has already been across the Boundary and returned. He boasted of it to me!" I ground my teeth. "I meant to tell you earlier, but in the face of that demon I forgot. Akor, he and that slug Caderan must have found a way to hide all trace of his passing from you and yours, even the smell of the Rakshasa!"

My fists clenched, my gut tightened, I felt the whole fabric of my impassioned plea to the Kantri crumbling from under my fingers, but there was no help for it "Akor, I tell you he is here in your lands even as we speak. I know in my bones that he has found kadish or something he desires even more. As sure as I live he will take it with him tonight and be gone in the morning. He must be stopped!"

Akor stared at me. "It would explain much. I could not find you in your imprisonment until you bespoke me, though once past the wards the Raksha-sign was obvious and the very air was thick with it." He shook his head, a very human gesture. "Name of the Winds, is such a thing possible?"

"It must be. He told me, Akor. He meant to kill me, he taunted me with it. Oh, dear Lady. Now we are lost." I bowed my head, despair rising in me like a flood until I could hardly bear it. Here I had stood before the Greater Kindred, forced them into silence with my version of the truth, forced them to see their failings as a people, and now I must tell them their fears were true and my words the ramblings of a dreamer. I felt as though I had held out a new beginning for Kantri and Gedri shining in my hands, and Marik had snatched it away before ever it knew life.

There was nothing else for it. I mustered my thoughts, how to tell them, how to—

''My people, hear me!'' called Akor. His voice caught me unawares, stirred my blood. Even those few words had my heart hurrying to answer. His truespeech sang like a call to battle.

''Truly it is said the great balance will not be denied. While we work here to find justice, another has brought a great evil upon us. The Merchant Marik, he who would have sacrificed Lanen to the Rakshasa, has made some new league with them.

"He has been in our lands already, though no Guardian sensed him sight or smell, and none felt the Raksha-trace even so near. We must disperse now and find him. He seeks plunder or worse. Go carefully, find him if you can. If not, find what has been taken. Look even unto the khaadish in your chambers. Go, my people.''

There was some movement among the gathered Dragons, but suddenly a voice rang loud in my mind. Someone else was shouting in the Language of Truth.

"She is here as distraction, Akhor, it is a plot between them!" cried Rishkaan before any other could speak. His voice flew high, cracking with emotion. I shrank back. Suddenly Rishkaan reminded me of Marik, Marik with his knife at my throat. "She must be kept under guard lest she escape the Council's decree!" He moved towards me with the grace and speed of a striking snake, he was upon me in an instant. I cowered and raised my arms, turning my head away, for I knew that my death was come upon me.

And so it would have been, but Shikrar was faster. He all but flew to stand between, taking across his chest plates the swipe that was meant to appear accidental. It barely scratched him. It would have cut me in half.

I fell to my knees.

None of the Kindred had moved.

They watched.

Shikrar stood, wings spread wide to protect my Lanen, all his being fixed on the furious figure before him.

"Why, Rishkaan?" I asked quietly. "This is not for some ancestor you never knew. This burns in your heart."

"Burns! Burns! Yes, yes, you speak truth at last, Silver King. She must die, she is a Lord of the Hells in Gedri guise. You have not seen what I have seen!" he raved. His voice echoed in the shocked stillness of the chamber, throbbing with a truth that spoke only to him. "I have seen, I know what is to come. I too have had Weh dreams, Lord Akhor, but mine have been of death and ending. My people, she would mingle the blood of Kantri and Gedri! Her children will be monsters, the world will fill with Raksha-fire and none to stand between because of her!"