«Yes. That is the way of Emperor Kul-Nam. If you were to flee, you would be killing many people, as surely as if you took a sword and cut off their heads. My brother and I would certainly be among them. I beg you, think of us now as you did in the fight, and show this mercy that is so honored in England. Do not flee! Do not even speak of it as a joke!»

«I will not,» said Blade, and kissed her.

On the morning of the fourth day they rode out of the forested borderlands and onto the southern plains of the Empire. Here the land was flat and the roads straight and well maintained. The party swept along at fifty and sixty miles a day, starting at dawn and making camp only at twilight. They were heading north, toward the Emperor's current residence and toward the Silver Sea, which stretched a thousand miles toward the east.

This was also a land of broad fields of waving yellow grain and of walled towns. The party rode around the towns, close enough for Blade to notice that only those towns with Imperial garrisons had their walls defended. Sentries strode back and forth, carrying bows and muskets. Small cannon jutted from the tops of the towers and larger ones defended the gates. Mounted patrols swept the roads for miles around.

In the ungarrisoned towns, on the other hand, the walls rose unguarded, unarmed, and sometimes half crumbled into ruins. In none of the towns did Blade see anyone armed, except soldiers of the Emperor and handfuls of thuggish-looking types who seemed to be the local policemen.

As before, Haleen was able to help Blade make as much sense as possible of things in Saram. Blade found himself respecting her more and more as he got to know her better. She was only nineteen, born a slave and resigned to being one until she died. She could neither read nor write nor count without the help of her fingers and toes. But she had sharp eyes, a keen mind to understand what she saw, and clear words to explain what she understood.