“Don’t lecture me, Koramite. These are the facts. One of your own was practicing the dark arts. And one of you is harboring-”

“Ridiculous,” said Da.

The man raised his sword to Da’s neck. “Don’t interrupt me again. We’re going to search this place. Then maybe you’ll make us some dinner. Afterward, if we feel like it, your tasty daughter there will entertain us.”

“This is why hunts are regulated. Now, I want you to move on.”

“You want?” Then the man’s face changed and he jabbed his sword forward.

But Da moved. One moment he was standing heron still, the next he dodged to the side and delivered a blow to the man’s sword hand with such violence that the sword leapt from the man’s hand and fell to the dust a number of yards away.

The man gasped. He clutched his sword hand.

Da kicked the man’s leg and sent him to one knee.

The two men by the house rushed forward, but Ke and River, fast as snakes, snatched up the Hog and fallen sword and faced the hunters.

The two hunters hesitated. But Talen saw the others draw their swords.

Da knocked off the man’s helmet and held him by the hair with a knife at his throat. “Now,” said Da. “You-”

A man Talen had forgotten was behind him took Talen by the neck and pressed a knife to his back.

“Two can play that,” the man said. “Throw down, you buggered Koramite!” There was nervousness in the man’s voice. “I’ll poke him! I’ll poke him! I’ll poke him!” Each time he said it, the pitch of his voice rose, and Talen felt the knife point push a little harder into his back just where his ribs ended.

There was a deep thud like the sound of a stick hitting a melon, and the man suddenly slacked his grip and fell to the ground.

Talen turned. There stood Nettle holding a hunk of firewood.

Talen felt his back. When he pulled his hand away, blood stained his fingers.

“The sword!” Nettle said. “Get his sword!”

Talen bent over, fumbled at the man’s scabbard, and soon held the sword. It was heavy and did not feel right in his hands.

“You call your men off,” said Da to the big armsmen whose head he held by a fistful of hair. “You tell them to drop their weapons.”

“You’re dead, Koramite,” the big armsman said. He tried to break Da’s grip, but Da simply pushed the knife closer.

“Now,” said Da.

“We can take them,” one of the hunters said, and the remaining four men began to move forward. Talen would not be a match for any of them. Ke might be able to hold his own. But if they had to fight these armsmen, they would lose.

In a flash, Da stabbed the big armsman’s shoulder and put the knife point back to his neck.

The big man cried out in pain.

“The next one goes right into your neck,” said Da.

“Put them down!” the armsman called out.

The hunters hesitated.

“Drop them!” the leader bellowed.

The men reluctantly dropped their swords.

“Everything,” said Da and he pushed the knife harder into the man’s neck. “And kick them away.”

“Do it,” the leader said. His face was red and strained, a massive vein standing out on his forehead.

The men threw daggers after their swords.

“Get the bows, Nettle,” said Da, then he stood the big man up. By the time he’d walked the man past the weapons, Ke, Talen, and River each had a bow, and had strung it.

Da shoved the big man forward. “I’m going to give you ten seconds to get across that stream. Then I don’t want to see you here ever again. You can make complaints to the Shoka warlord to get your weapons back.”

The man looked at the arrows pointing at him. “You’re going to pay for this, goat-lover.”

Da took a step toward him. The man raised his arm in defense, but Da was too quick. One, two punches to the face, and the man’s nose folded to the side. Blood ran down in a thick stream. Then a kick to the groin.

The man doubled over in pain and fell to the ground.

Da grabbed him by the hair and wrenched his head back.

“Am I going to see you again?” asked Da.

The man sucked in great breaths. “No, Zun,” he managed at last. This time there was no mockery in the tone. “No.”

“Because if I do,” said Da, “I’m just going to assume you’re one of those men who hasn’t got the sense to know when to leave well enough alone. And there’s only one way to deal with those types. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Good,” said Da. “You’re a big man, a fine asset; I’m sure your Fir-Noy commanders would hate to lose one with your good sense. And just in case you change your mind, I’m going to alert the Shoka warlord that there’s someone lost on his lands.”

Then Da released him and looked at the other hunters. “I think I’ll start counting at one.”

These weren’t cowards, but Talen could see they knew they’d been beaten.

The big man got to his feet, holding his nose, the blood matting his unkempt beard, but he didn’t say a word. He limped off toward the stream. Two others helped the man Nettle had brained.

Talen and his family followed a comfortable distance behind the men, stopping at the crest of the stream bank. Talen kept his bow up but did not dare to keep his arrow fully drawn lest he accidentally loose it and strike one of them. Da may have beaten the leader, but the presence of these men still frightened him. What would happen next frightened him even more. They’d been sent by the Fir-Noy at Stag Home. You couldn’t shame part of an order and not expect the rest to rise up against you. Who knew what string of events this had initiatied?

The hunters splashed through the water. On the other side, one of them turned. It appeared he was going to say something, but before he’d fully turned, Ke’s bow hummed and Talen watched an arrow miss the man by only a foot and bury itself in a tree behind him.

The man jumped back and cursed.

“Don’t badger them,” said Da.

But Ke had another arrow nocked. “I won’t. I’ll just maim a few.”

“Ke,” Da warned.

The hunters hurried to the woods. Just before they disappeared around a bend, one of them turned and gestured a curse at them. Then he too turned and slipped into the trees.

“Those men will be back,” said Talen. “And they’ll bring the rest of their cohort with them.”

“There’s no cohort,” said Da. “This wasn’t a military mission. If it had been, we would have seen many more. And it would have been led properly. These were opportunists.”

“Someone ought to follow them anyway,” said Ke. “Just to be sure.”

Da nodded. “But you use that bow only as a last resort. We blew the fire out of them. I don’t want you stoking it up again.”

“They won’t even know I’m there,” said Ke. Then he loped after the men.

“River,” said Da. “I need you to scout the hills around the farm. I don’t want any more surprises.”

“Yes,” she said.

Da turned to Talen and Nettle. “And you two: go see to that dog.”