Giln stepped away from the other two and approached the wagon.  He smiled up at us and said, "We've been waiting.  The stable boy saw the dust lifting up from the road and as soon as he recognized your crossans, he ran into the tavern and alerted us."

As though recognizing she was the object of the stable boy's observation, the gray mare suddenly thrust her head in the air, shook her muscled neck and whinnied.
 
Zurn giggled with enjoyment from the doorway.  I saw that he wanted to race over to the crossan, but the way he kept glancing over at Giln, whose back was to him, he must have been warned ahead of time to stay back with Sheleck.  Zurn grinned at Sheleck, whose tan shirt was unbuttoned, exposing a white bandage the doctor must have wrapped a half-dozen times, or so, around his chest.  There was a dull, dark circle on the bandage near his left nipple.

"Was your journey productive?" Giln asked Klasco in a soft voice.

Klasco smiled.  "Productive of what?"

"Well … I mean …" he glanced furtively, left and right.

"We have the papers," Klasco said, keeping his voice down, too.

Giln's eyes filled.  He clasped his hands over his mouth and looked down.  His breath caught in his throat.  When he looked up his eyes were red and he pulled his fingers across his cheeks, wiping the wetness on his trousers.  He sniffed.  "Thank you, sir—Thank you.  I couldn't tell him.  I couldn't give him any hope."  In the brief silence that ensued, I thought he would weep again.  "It would break his heart to stay behind.  It would break mine and Sheleck's to leave him.  After all, he is our brother."

Klasco looked over at me and then back to Giln.  "We understand brotherhood."

Giln made some kind of movement of his hand behind his back.  Sheleck saw it and a full grin spread across his face.  They must have planned the signal.  Zurn was oblivious of it all, intent on watching every movement of the gray mare, who was just now nuzzling the Chestnut's nose.  He pointed and giggled again.
   
Klasco settled—after some good-natured dickering—on a fair amount to pay Klynch to board the crossans and he left to secure our room.  I accompanied the brothers and Zurn to have a drink at the Tavern.  I explained that Klasco had driven the wagon the entire journey and was looking forward to a nap before dinner.  Before all this, Klasco had told me he would make arrangements with the Innkeeper, who in turn would inform the tavern maidens that the tally for the drinks and any food was to be added to the room cost.

I knew it was his way of honoring our enlistment, in absentia, while allowing him rest from an emotionally draining day.

"I wish Klasco could be here with us," Giln said, as he pulled up a chair.  Sheleck agreed and sat down, with Zurn taking a chair between them.  We ordered ale and when Giln dug in his pocket to pay for it, the maiden shook her head.  "Mr. Braanz has taken care of it."

Seeing their confusion, I told them Braanz was Klasco's surname.  "So, you see, he is with us in spirit.  He is tired, though," I added, "and he must leave in the morning for the rest of the journey home.  Besides, he'll be meeting us for dinner."

"He is a good man, your brother."

I nodded.

"I like his crossans," Zurn said, as though that were a part of the conversation.

I decided to make it a part.  Since I would be commanding him, even indirectly, I figured it would be good to get to know more about him.  "Do you have a crossan, Zurn?"

"No."  The thought seemed to trouble him.  "They said I would forget to take care of it."

I shared glances with Giln and Sheleck.

Sheleck shook his head.  "They!  The people in the village.  That's why we took him away from them to live with us.  They filled his head with all kinds of nonsense.  Robbed him of his confidence.  Zurn, you would take better care of a crossan than any of them would.  You know why?  Because you love crossans.  You believe that, don't you?"

Zurn shrugged.  He was obviously feeling uncomfortable.  "I do love crossans," he said.

"And, they know that.  Crossans know that, don't they, Giln?"

"They sure do.  And, you take care of things you like and things you know like you.  You won't forget."

"Someday, you'll have your very own crossan, Zurn," Sheleck told him.  "And, you'll be able to show us all how well you can take care of it."

Zurn sat up, squared his shoulders.  "I will?" he said.

"You bet you will.  That's a promise."

Zurn leaned back in his chair, smiling.  I wondered if the unasked, unanswered question was running though his mind.  When?  When do I get my crossan?  But he continued smiling long after the conversation had ended for the brothers.

After a few swallows of ale around the table, I figured it was time to find out how I would fit into their plans by being a travel companion during our journey to the enlistment camp.  Soon enough they were going to find out I would be leading them into battle as their general.  The title of general didn't fit well with me yet.  I wasn't sure it ever would.  Where was the persona that had invaded my body at the Council and won me the position?  Where was the confidence, now, that she instilled me with then?  "Have you said your goodbyes to your family yet?  We’ll be gone a long time."

"Oh, yes," Sheleck said.  "It was a tearful time, but that’s now behind us."

"It was before we met you here," Giln added.

"Won't it be a hardship, not having you there?"

"Nothing like the hardship of having our Kabeez overrun by the savages from the Far Northern Province."  Giln's voice raised an octave in saying these words; Sheleck put his hand on his brother's forearm, patting it.

"We're gonna kill them right there, aren't we Sheleck?" Zurn said.

"You bet we are, brother!"

"I like us being brothers."

"You make a good team," I observed.

Giln raised a hand for the maiden who came over and retrieved his and Sheleck's tankards.  Zurn's seemed not to have been touched and mine was half full.  She returned moments later with three tankards, not bringing one for Zurn.  "Have you arranged for your journey to the enlistment camp?" I asked.

"Not entirely," Giln said.  "Klynch—you remember, the stable boy—he told us we should be able to hitch a ride on one of the wagons that come through here, usually every day on their way to Kabeez.  We figured we'd have to split up because of the size of the wagons and join together at the camp, but as it turned out yours was the only wagon so far.  Klynch is keeping a watch for us.  If one doesn't come before we sleep then my father will take us."

"I hope we don't have to ask him," Sheleck said.

"He’ll do it."

"But, I hope it doesn't come to that."

Giln turned to me.  "How will you be going?"

"I thought I would hitch a ride as well."

"If there is none other, then you will join us with my father.  Ah, but look!"  He pointed to the door where Klynch had entered.  "Let's see if the lad has good news for us.  Helooo Klynch!  Give us the good word."

Klynch approached the table at a fast clip.  "Kind sirs," he said, holding his chest with one hand and flattening his palm and the weight of that side of his body down on the tabletop as he huffed and caught his breath.  "Sorry, I was up on the roadway hoping to flag down a kind person, not planning to stay at the inn, just passing by us, but one who would welcome the company of you gentlemen."

"Oh!  And you found someone!"

"No, I'm afraid not.  From out on the road, though, I saw Mr. Braanz here at the inn, waving at me to get my attention.  I ran back to him at full speed."

"And, what did he want?" Giln and Sheleck asked at almost the same time.

"He wanted me to run an errand for him."

"Why are you telling us this?  What errand, man?" Sheleck asked with agitation lifting his voice a pitch.

"Ah," he smiled, "for that you'll need to come with me outside."

We all shared baffled looks, but got up from our table and followed him to the door.
   

• Doctrex:  The name Axtilla gave to the man who woke up on the shoure of an alien land without memory or identity.
• Axtilla:  The young lady who discovered the ailing man on the shore, brought him to health and then held him captive, certain he is Pondria.
• Pondria:  According to the Tablets of Kyre, he is the one who comes from the sea, to infiltrate the people of the Encloy, deceiving them with his language, setting them up to be destroyed by the Trining.
• Pomnots:  (Pom = Dark not = Force)  Formerly on the plane below, these ancestors of the people of the Encloy were drawn up to the Kojutake during the Bining's 30 days of darkness.  Fierce, living for their appetites, they are not above killing each other to satisfy their insatiable hunger.
• Glnot Rhuether:  According to Axtilla, the name of the dark entity who is destined to empower the lodging [the Trining] on their plane.
• Klasco Braanz: Husband to Metra and father to Sarisa and Klea.
• Metra Braanz: Wife to Klasco and mother to Sarisa and Klea
• Sarisa Braanz: Klasco's and Metra's youngest daughter.
• Klea Braanz: Klasco's and Metra's eldest daughter
• Giln Profue: One of the three who helped Doctrex & Klasco in the Tavern Brawl.
• Sheleck Profue: One of the three who helped Doctrex & Klasco in the Tavern Brawl & was stabbed.
• Zurn: Intellectually challenged, Giln and Sheleck are watching out for him.
• Kyreans:  According to Kabeezan Myth, a people who lived 5,000 years ago (1,000 D’s) who were ultimately destroyed by Glnot Rhuether and the Dark Force
• Crossans: They are similar to horses, but broader in the chest and sloping down to smaller haunches than horses.
• Trining: 1) According to The Book of Kyre it is “a sudden, easy and complete translation of authority.”  2) A code word used by the enemies in the Far Northern Province marking the beginning of the all-out assault by Glnot Rhuether on the other provinces.
• Kunsin: The magic that Pondria possessed.
• Kojutake: In the provinces it is the afterlife.
• Prevaluate: In the provinces, it is where you go just after you die, where you measure yourself to find out whether you will go to Kojutake
• Papper: In the provinces, the ability of one language being automatically translated into another so there is no reason for one to learn a foreign language.