---
"Good," Kai said. "Standing matters."
Luna stood with Miryam sleeping against her and looked each man in the face. "Thank you," she said. "From a mother."
They ducked their heads, each in their own way, and the words went into their bones.
Far out on the flats, a single line of dust moved east. Mardek had not stopped. He had not looked back.
"Do we hunt him," Azhara asked, voice low.
"Not now," Kai said. "He wants the mountain empty. He wants me dead. He gets neither."
Alka clicked her beak, angry. "He will bring more."
"I know," Kai said. "That is what I want. It will be a good battle experience for them. The two thousand army."
He looked down at the new soldiers — two thousand fresh lives who had survived the horror of the pool and took their first fight without losing one of their own. They stared back with steady eyes. They waited for orders. They did not ask for praise.
Kai lifted his voice so the ramp and the ledges would carry it.
