Most of the dead and dying robbers were well away from the road. One wounded hill pony lay thrashing feebly in the ditch south of the road. “Save poor Blor the pain of this,” Jerdren muttered as he found the big neckvein and drove his dagger in deep. The animal fell back and lay still. His brother hated seeing a horse suffer but hated having to dispatch one even more.

“And how we’re to get you moved,” the older man toldthe dead beast, “I don’t know.” A dead horse wasn’t as nasty a mess as ten ormore dead men, but he’d rather not leave any bodies behind.

He climbed back onto the road. The hired men were making a pile of swords, daggers, spears, and the like behind the last wagons, and one of the hide merchant’s apprentices was helping stow the cache. Jerdren wiped hisshort sword and sheathed it, then checked his bay gelding over carefully before mounting. Blorys rode up to join him.

“Ready, Blor?” he asked.

Blorys shrugged. “Almost. Lhodis and his woman will probablyhave bad dreams for a while, but they didn’t actually see anything, and theyweren’t hurt.”

“They’ll be fine,” Jerdren said shortly and gave the sign forthe wagons to start. “I warned that man about bringing his woman.”

“He’s no worse than most of the merchants, Jers,” Blorysreminded him. His gaze stayed on the north side of the road, searching as they rode. “One reason they hire men like us for journeys into the wilderness. Likethis one, remember?”

“Yeah. I know.” Brief silence. “There’s blood on the road,but there’s not a thing we can do about that.”

Blorys grinned briefly. “Pray for rain.”

“Hah. By tomorrow, it’ll be buried under dust anyway.”

“That pony-”

“Be realistic, Blor. The dead men and horses will all be gonebefore we reach the branch in the road at the foot of the Keep. Captain of a band that ill-manned won’t last long as captain if he doesn’t bury his dead, andthey’ll want the horses for the meat.”