Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...

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"la," Shkai'ra said again, with the distracted look on her face that meant she was mind-talking to
Hotblood.Probably going over another order not to kill anything or anybody until she tells him .
The buildings nearer the center of the town were Arkan-built, during the occupation, it seemed. People
looked up as they passed; some waved, some didn't.
Once they had the herd corralled and Hotblood stabled for the night, they went into town, to the first
place always open after war went through, if it ever closed: the inn. It was an old stone place, a rarity
here, obviously rebuilt after the fire: the walls were soot-stained, the rafters new.
"Morrre passers through," the serving-boy said in a pleasantly accented Enchian. "From Brahvniki? I
hate to say, we hahve no beerrrh." Yeolis tended to like wine better, and so had more. It was good;from
being stored in cellars for longer than expected , Megan thought,because there's fewer Yeolis to
drink it .
"You have baths?" Megan asked.
The boy made a face. "Tseh neighbo'hood bathswere three buildings down." A heap of rubble, they'd
seen: the process of picking the stones up and mortaring them back together again had just recently
begun. "But we cahn heat water ahn' bring a wooden tub to you' chamber."
"Please," Megan said fervently, lowering herself to the seat of a corner table with a wince.Ishould be
fish-gutted used to this by now. Of course , she inwardly added to comfort herself,Shkai'ra still gets
seasick .
"May I join you, friend allies?" It was a Yeoli man, dressed roughish, looking too able-bodied to be
here, not with He Whose Bottom Is Dipped in Gold; that was the running joke, now, whenever they
mentioned Chevenga. Shkai'ra looked the Yeoli up and down, appraising on several levels at once, as
usual; he didn't look like one who carried hidden knives, though, and the place was full, so Megan said,
"Certainly." They all swapped names, and she forgot his immediately.
"You are going to join the army, I guess," he said, ordering wine. His Enchian was crisp and accentless.
"Spirit infuse you."
"Thank you." Megan leaned back. "Where are they now?"
"Coming up fast on Roskat was the last I heard."
Shkai'ra whistled through her teeth. "At that rate, they'll be halfway to Arko before we catch them. He
moves, that king of yours. We'll have to stop lolling about andreally ride."
As Megan moaned, the Yeoli grinned, and made the hand-sign: palm up,itai , their word for chalk,
meaning yes. They'd already gone through the old joke,How do you gag a Yeoli? Tie his hands behind
his back . "He always does things fast." Almost religiously he added, "It's not king, though. It's
semanakraseye." The-people-wills-one . Every Yeoli, without exception, would make that correction;
one was almost tempted to say "king" just to get a rise out of them.
They'd heard no Invincible or Immortal, though; his own people's only nickname for him wasamiyaseye :
beloved. Mostly they just called him Chevenga, as if they knew him personally.
"You are fighters by trade?" he asked.