Skarnu winced. That hit home, painfully hard. He said, “We’re stillin the fight.”

“A whole table’s worth of us,” the tough said. “Speaks well forthe kingdom, that it does. But you’re right, Pavilosta. We’re what Valmiera’sgot, and we’re the ones who are going to set her to rights when the day isours.”

One of the other irregulars was about to say something when thetavern door opened. The fellow with the silver-rimmed spectacles nodded tohimself. “Maybe that will be Zarasai after all.”

But it wasn’t yet another Valmieran who hadn’t given up on thefight against Algarve. Instead, it was a kilted Algarvian officer, backed by ahandful of his own countrymen and quite a few more Valmieran constables. Hespoke in a loud voice: “I am hearing there is an unlawful assembling here. Youare all under arresting for questioning.”

Somebody threw a mug at him--not somebody from the table at whichSkarnu sat. It caught the redhead in the face. He went down with a yowl,clutching at his smashed face. A moment later, all the mugs in the DrunkenDragon seemed to be flying. Skarnu wasn’t sure the Valmieran army had tossed somany eggs at the redheads while it was still a going concern.

But mugs were less deadly than eggs, and these Algarvians andtheir Valmieran stooges surged into the tavern. Some of them had bludgeons, andstarted beating on anyone they could reach. Some of them had sticks. To Skarnu’sshame, the redheads trusted the Valmieran constables with such weapons, surethey would use them against their own countrymen.

Except for the fire, all the lights in the tavern went out. Thatjust made the brawl more confusing. Skarnu sprang off his chair and laid abouthim. The chair slammed into somebody’s ribs. Whoever it was went down with agroan. Skarnu hoped he’d flattened a foe, not a friend.

“Back here!” That was the bespectacled man’s voice. It came fromthe direction of the bar. Skarnu fought his way toward it. Someone close by himtook a beam in the chest and toppled. When Skarnu smelled burnt flesh, he wentdown, too, and crawled the rest of the way. The Valmieran army had failedagainst Algarve, but he’d learned how to fight in it.