 to eat.  Ill explain it all later.  Now get back to work.  Or are you not hungry? he asked pointedly.
	That cut the questions short.  Telven worked hard and fast until he had a large patch of ground turned over, then he stamped it down as Tarrin quickly and expertly dressed the kill.  They watched in curiosity, Zyrilin by Jals side, as he built a fire, and to Telvens disappointment, didnt use magic to get it started.  A Sulasian Ranger could start a fire with two sticks, and though he wasnt one, hed been trained by one.  Once he got the fire going, he cut sticks for a spit and got the venison roasting over the fire.  The two children watched these actions as well, both with some hungered longing as they looked at the venison cooking over the fire.  There was nothing but the sound of the crackling fire, and then a ghostly light as the odd blue, white, and green moon of this world rose up over the trees of the clearing.  The patterns of white on that moon had changed once again trained by one. start a fire with two sticks, and though he wasn'ver, then he stamped it down as Tarrin quickly and exper, as they seemed to do so every night when it rose.  He noticed that it was waning, that it had been full when they arrived but now only about three quarters of it was visible.
	After the venison was roasted well enough, he allowed them to eat.  He watched as they attacked the venison like starving wolves, but he also noticed that Zyrilin took one large slab and set it aside, telling Telven that it was for Jal when he woke up, and she didnt so much as look at it.  He had to chuckle at that a little.  Zyrilin, theres an entire deer over here.  You dont have to hold back food.  I roasted this for you.  Ill put on more in a bit so Jal will have something when he wakes up.
	But
	But nothing.  Eat.
	She flushed a little, then attacked the food she was saving.
	After he made sure both of them ate as much as they could, he checked on Jal as they got some water out of the tiny brook.  The young boy was sleeping comfortably now, and Tarrin marvelled at him a moment.  Jal looked much like Zyrlin in the cheeks and chin, but his nose was a bit longer, and his eyes were a bit smaller and a tad further apart.  His hair was a sandy blonde rather than the dark, almost black hair of his sister and brother, dirty and shoulder length, the bangs falling over his eyes.  He looked at Telven and realized that the boy didnt look much like his siblings. His face had a width about it that wasnt present in his brother and sister, his eyes were blue instead of the hazel of Zyrilin and whatever color eyes Jal hadhe hadnt seen them yetand there was a hint of stockiness in the boys emaciated frame that suggested that the boy might grow up to be very large and quite strong.  Zyrilin looked to be about fourteen or so, Telven about eleven, and Jal looked only eight or nine.
	Is he alright, Master Tarrin? Zyrilin asked quickly as she knelt beside her brother, putting her hand on his forehead and stroking his hair gently.
	Hes fine.  Hes about to pass into a natural sleep, he answered.
	Did you use magic to find out? Telven asked quickly.
	Magic is something I only use when I have to, Telven, he said patiently.  Like with all things, theres a time to use it, and its not right to use it when its not needful.  If I just ran around and magicked everything, Id be disrespecting my gift.
	Oh.  How did you learn magic?
	Its a very long story, and we dont have time right now, he answered, giving the boy a look.  You need to sleep.  The others wont be here until dawn at least, and I think youve had a very busy day.
	But Im not sleepy! Telven complained.  Not after they locked us up in that dungeon, then they were going to kill us like we were the ones that were Defiled in the square, then you appear with your magic sword and fight the executioners, and then we flew!
	I dont care if youre tired or not, Tarrin told him shortly.  Lay down.  If you cant sleep, then pretend to sleep.  Either way, I want you on the grass and eyes closed.  You too, little bit.
	But I have to
	Sleep.  I dont think Jal will wake up until morning if we dont disturb him, and he can use the sleep.  It will help him recover faster.  Tarrin reached into his pouch and withdrew the charm that allowed him to go without sleep, and affixed it to the back of his amulet.  There was that familiar rush of alertness that always came with putting it on, as if someone had dunked his head in icewater, then it settled down.  Lay down.  We have a long way to go, and I dont want you falling out of the saddle tomorrow.
	Saddle? Zyrilin asked.
	We get to ride a horse? Telven said in excitement.
	Trust me, its not as great as you think it is, Tarrin chuckled.  By tomorrow night, youll really hate it.
	Why?
	Saddlesores, he answered.
	What are those?
	Youll find out tomorrow.  Now lay down.
	But Telven started, but Tarrin gave him a withering stare that effectively shut him up.  He pointed at the ground near Jal, beside his sister.
	Boy, youre walking a very fine line.  I dont have much patience with people who dont obey me.  Now lay down and go to sleep, or pretend.  Either way, I dont want to hear you make one more sound until sunrise.
	Telven looked fearfully at him, then quickly crawled over beside Zyrilin and laid down.
	I can stay up, Zyrlin offered.  I have to watch Jal.
	Jal doesnt need watching, Tarrin told her.  Sleep.  Youll need it.
	What, what are you going to do with us? she asked quietly.
	I dont know yet, he answered.  But for now, youll be going with us, at least until we can find someplace safe for you.
	Where are you going?
	I dont really know quite yet, he answered.   Were following the trail of a pair of our friends who are lost.  When we find them, we have to accomplish a mission, and then well be going home, I suppose.
	What mission?
	I was sent here to find some people who disappeared from mymy homeland a very long time ago,
 he answered, not quite ready to explain things in detail yet.  If there are any left, Im supposed to offer to bring them home, and then Ill be going home as well.
	Who are these people?
	You wouldnt know them, little bit, he told her, then he glanced at her.  Or maybe you might.  There are two distinct groups of them.  One group is made up of non-humans, about yea big, he said, holding his hand up beside him about the height of an average Dwarf.  Theyre stocky people, have beards, and theyre craftsmen by nature.  Theyre called Dwarves.
	Ive never heard of them.
	The other group are a mixture of humans and tall brown-skinned people that have pointed ears.  Theyd call themselves katzh-dashi.
	She gasped and stared at him wildly.  Those are the Damned! she told him breathlessly.  Theyre the first Defiled, the ones that brought the blight of evil to the land!  She stared at him in horror.  YoureYoure one of the Damned! she said with barely a whisper.
	They still exist here? he asked quickly.
	Only legends, she answered, giving him a fearful look.  Nobodys seen one of the Damned in a long time, or at least no stories Ive ever heard.  The Priests say the Damned were destroyed centuries ago, and that their taint infects the pure and makes them Defiled.  She gave him a sheepish, frightened glance.  Are, are you one of the Damned, Master Tarrin?  Are the stories false?
	Im a katzh-dashi, Zyrilin, but were not the Damned, he told her evenly.  We are magicians who serve our Goddess.
	There are no gods but the One, Telven said reflexively from where he was laying down, then sat up and put his hands over his mouth.
	Its alright, Telven, Tarrin said with a light chuckle.  Im sure that youre a bit surprised right now.  And youre wrong, there are gods outside the One.  His name should tell you that, you know.  If hes called the One God, doesnt that mean that theres more than just one?  If he was the only one, wouldnt he be called something else?
	All other gods are false, he said immediately.  Fake gods.
	If Mother ever heard you say she was fake, shed probably paddle you, Tarrin chuckled, holding up his amulet.  This is the symbol of my Goddess.
	Thats the mark of the Damned, Zyrilin told him.  They brand that on the Defiled before killing them, so if something happens and they actually survive or escape, theyre marked so they can never hide.  She sniffled.  They did that to Jal.  The brands on the back of his right hand.
	They didnt brand you?
	She shook her head.  We were going to be killed because we were harboring Jal, she answered.  Not because were Defiled.
	Tarrin got up and moved over to Jal, then knelt and carefully turned his hand over.  She was right, it was there.  The shaerams triangles and circle burned into Jals hand, the wound still raw, his flesh red and blistered around it.  He looked at it, and realized quite soberly that now they had proof that the lost children of the Goddess had indeed been here.  They had been the Damned, and they had been caught up in the holy war of purity that the Priests of the One God waged on the land.  His heart sank as he realized that odds were, most of the children of Niami were now dead, and he had little hope of finding any left.  Not after five thousand years.  And since these fanatics held non-humans in the same regard as Sorcerers, he also had little hope of finding any Dwarves alive.  Odds were, they had been killed not long after coming here, and the symbol of Niami had become the mark of hatred and the mark of evil in this world.
	Shed be very upset when he told her.
	He sighed and put his amulet back under his shirt, then slid back a bit and sat down cross-legged on the ground, close to the children.  It looked to him that now, the only thing they really had to do was find Kimmie and Phandebrass, and then take them home.  He would need to poke around a bit more to make sure of his assumptions, but he already knew that he wouldnt look for very long, nor would he probe too deeply.  He was fairly certain that the children of the Goddess that had brought the Dwarves to this world had perished here at the hands of religious zealots, as had the Dwarves themselves, most likely.
	Such a pity, and such a waste.  The last of the Dwarves, who had survived the horrors of the Blood War, escaping to this world to try to find a place of safety, only to walk out of one fire and into another.  Sometimes, he felt, life simply was not fair.
	Well, Miranda can get rid of that brand, he told them.  Easily.
	Who is she?
	Miranda is a Priestess, he answered.  She can heal Jal and remove the brand, like it was never there.
	Why isnt she trying to kill you? Telven asked.
	Tarrin gave him a curious look, then he laughed.  Mirandas not a Priest of the One God, Telven.  Shes a Priest of a god named Kikkalli.
	There are no gods but
	I wouldnt finish that if I were you, Tarrin interrupted him with a slight smile.  Just wait until tomorrow.  Youll see.  When you see Miranda, youll never be able to say that again.  He pointed at Telven.  Now, Ive given you enough leeway, young ones.  Lay down and try to get some sleep.  Tomorrow will be a very long and trying day, and youll need your rest.
	Are you going to watch?   They say there are orcs and bandits in the forest, Zyrilin said fearfully, looking around.
	Ill be watching, little bit, he answered gently.  Dont worry.  I wont let anything hurt you.  As long as youre with me, you will always be safe, and you will always be cared for.  I promise.
	She gave him the most profound look of sincere gratitude he had ever seen on anyones face, then she laid down beside her injured brother and closed her eyes, putting a hand on his shoulder as if to reassure him that she was there.  Telven laid down on her other side and closed his eyes, laying on his back with his hands under his head, and Tarrin took out his Gnomlin Travelling Spellbook and spoke the word that caused it to expand to its full size.  He figured that now was as good a time as any to go through it and see if there were any spells in it that would be useful to know, and besides, it would give him something to do other than brood over what he had learned from Zyrilin this night.
	He already felt like this was a wasted trip, and a fruitless one.  Were it not for his need to find Kimmie and Phandebrass, he would probably be telling Miranda to take them home in the morning.  But, he did owe it to Niami to make sure of it.  Hed need to look around and see if there was any evidence that some of the Dwarves or the katzh-dashi survived after he found Kimmie and Phandebrass.  He owed it to Mother, and he owed it to the memory of those he felt had died long ago.  If only to make sure that they were dead.

	Morning dawned over the tiny clearing, the light catching the dew that had fallen during the night and making the grass of the clearing almost make it look like it was glowing.  Tarrin sat by the fire, his spellbook back in his pouch, and seval Wizard spells now comfortably within his memory.  They were combat spells mostly, battle magic that he might have a need to use, most of which would require no material components.  But he also memorized a Wizard spell the Gnomes put in the book that he knew would be very handy, a spell that mimicked the Druids ability to Summon.  The spell required a small diamond as a material component, but if he had one, he could summon any one object that he possessed that was weighed less than he did.  They had quite a few diamonds in a pouch on Dolannas horse, gems brought along with them to use for money, and he silently told himself that he was going to have to lay claim to them.  With that spell, he could summon to him anything that he owned.  Right now, that would be very nice, for he wanted his bow, which was still slung to his horse.  He didnt need it, not really, since they still had nearly half the deer left over from last night, but hed feel comfortable having a missle weapon at hand, because of the sounds.
	There had been something out there about a half an hour ago, a large group of creatures on foot.  They had spoken in a harsh, gutteral language he had never heard before, and they had passed within two hundred spans of the clearing, on its east side, moving north.  They had been moving quickly, as if they were trying to get away from something, and hadnt put out any scouts.  That had worked in Tarrins favor, for their lack of scouts meant that the main host of them passed without ever knowing how close they had come to Tarrin and the children.  That close call had made him feel decidedly unarmed.  Because of the dangers involved in revealing the fact that he could use magic, it meant that he had to hold magic back as a weapon of last resort.  That was especially true because of Telven, for the boy seemed to have this obsessive need to talk about Tarrins magic, and kept calling him a witch or Defiled.  If he kept doing that and did it in public, he could get the group attacked.
	Besides, because of the tremendous danger involved in using any kind of magic in a public forum, it meant that magic had to be his last option at all times, because using magic would mean that absolutely everyone who saw him do it would then have to die, even the innocent bystanders, for they were just as much a danger to him and the others as a Hunter.  It would be the only way he could protect himself and the others from attack, for a survivor or observer could run straight to a chapel of the Church of the One and bring a cadre of Hunters down on them.  So, he had a choice.  Use magic and destroy everyone who saw him, even women and children, or attempt to solve the problem by mundane means.
	To Tarrin, that was little choice at all.
	Tarrin, Mirandas disembodied voice called from just before him.
	Miranda, he replied in acknowledgement.
	Were out of the city, and on our way.  Youre about two hours ride from us, or so.  I cant locate you with magic, at all, Tarrin, so Im using a spell thats leading me to those children with you.
	My amulet defeats any attempt to locate me with magic, thats why.  Do you need me to do anything?
	No, nothing at all.  Im using a rather archaic old spell thats allowing me to lock in on that unconscious boy, and I have a marker set where Kimmies trail is, so we can come back to it.  She went due north from Dengal.
	Any trouble?
	None, the citys in chaos right now, she answered.  Almost all the Priests are dead, not just the High Priest.  Most of them were in the chapel when you destroyed it.  The city guard did open the gates this morning at dawn, so we just rode out, about five minutes ago.  Were not the only ones.  I think about a quarter of the citys population is leaving the city and moving northwest along the road.  The gossip were overhearing is that they think Dengal is cursed now, and they wont stay.  Youre not on the road, are you?
	No, were in a clearing about a longspan from it, he answered.
	Good.  Well be there as soon as we can, Tarrin.  Do you need anything?
	Id feel more comfortable with my bow, but its over there.
	Hold on.  Tarrin waited with mild curiosity, then he gave a slight start of surprise when Mirandas hand simply appeared out of thin air, above his head and about two spans in front of him. She had his bow and two quivers of arrows in her hand, reaching them out to him as if she was kneeling on an invisible platform above and before him.
	Tarrin chuckled.  My, that must really be an advanced version of the spell, he told her.
	You bet, she said in a cheeky manner.  Take them, Tarrin.  I cant drop them, and its making my arm numb to reach into the pool like this.
	Tarrin took his bow and the two quivers, and she withdrew her hand back into nothingness.  Need anything else?  Make it count, I can only reach into the pool twice.
	Not that I can think of, he answered.  We have everything we need here.  Ive been hearing things moving around in the woods, so I wanted my bow as a safety measure.
	I can understand that.  Alright, were on the way.  See you soon.
	Be careful, he told her.
	Dolannas leading us, so thats a rather dumb thing to say, she said with a giggle, and he knew she ended the spell because her giggle ended abruptly.
	Wow, was that magic?  Was that the other witch? Telven asked breathlessly.
	Boy, if you dont stop calling me that, Im going to make you forget that word, Tarrin said in an ugly tone, pulling his bowstring tentatively to ensure that it wasnt damaged.  Then he remembered that the thing was enchanted to be unbreakable, and pulled arrows from his quiver one by one to check them.
	Why do you have that when you can just magic things? Telven asked.
	Telven! Zyrilin said hotly, slapping him on the shoulder.  Sit down and be quiet!
	Yes, Zyri, he said meekly, sitting by the embers of the fire.
	Stir up the fire, and well warm up the rest of the venison, Tarrin told them absently as he eyed the fletching on one of his arrows.  Good morning, Jal.
	Zyri gave a gasping sound, then rushed over to where the small boy was sitting up.  His eyes were bleary, and he held his hand over the brand on the back of the other carefully.  Zyri put her hands on his face, then hugged him fiercely.  I was so worried!  Are you hungry?  Are you thirsty?
	Jal looked at her with his dark eyes, and nodded.
	He doesnt talk, Telven told him excitedly.  Not since what happened with Mama.
	What happened with your mother? Tarrin asked curiously.
	Its when we found out Jals a witch, he answered.  Mama tried to take him to the chapel, but Papa wouldnt let her.  They started fighting, and Mama slapped Papa.  Well, Papa did magic on her, and he was all surprised and stuff.  Papa was a witch, and hed never known it til then, Zyri says.  Papa got took away by the church soldiers, and we never saw him again.  Mama died a few days later.  The neighbors threw rocks at us cause Papa was a witch, and one hit her in the head and she died.  Jal did magic when it happened, but lucky for us nobody saw it.
	Tarrin sighed, seeing that even in this world, people could truly be ugly towards one another.  The rest of the family was condemned in the eyes of the people because of the actions of only one.  It just showed him how deeply these people were conditioned to hate.
	Tarrin looked gravely at the young boy, who simply stared back at him unblinkingly.  Im sure you know how to roast meat? Tarrin asked the children.
	I can do it, Zyrilin said happily after she saw that her brother was well.
	As he checked all his arrows, Zyrilin helped her brother get something to drink from the brook and Telven got the fire going again, then she and Telven spitted the meat he had cut into sections and wrapped in the does pelt near the fire.  He watched from where he sat as they heated breakfast and then started eating, as Zyrilin helped Jal get something to eat before she started herself.  He put his arrows back in the two quivers and simply waited, because they really had nothing to do until the others arrived.  The three children ate quite a bit, so much so that Telven groaned and laid down by the log after he was done.  I havent eaten this good since Mama died, he said with a sigh of contentment.  Tarrin went over and knelt by Jal, then turned his head so he could inspect the injury.
	Well, thisll heal up in no time, he said.  Any headaches?  Dizziness? he asked the boy.
	Jal nodded, and waggled his open hand before him.
	Alright.  Just dont get up, and it should pass in a while.  Sometimes dizziness lingers when you get bumped in the head.  Trust me, I know.
	Show him what you can do, Jal, Telven prompted.  The nice mans a witch too!
	Telven! Zyrilin said reproachfully, but Jal simply nodded.  Tarrin watched on as the boy closed his eyes, a look of quite serious concentration on his face, and then he held out his hands.
	What happened next shook Tarrin to the foundations of his soul.  The boy created a small globe of water between his hands, and then it froze solid in the span of a blink of the eyes.  But under that, Tarrin felt what the boy had done.  He felt it quite distinctly and quite sharply, because what the boy had done was so similar to Sorcery that he was open to the sense of its use.  The boy had reached out and touchedsomething, just like touching the Weave, but the boy did not touch the Weave.  Instead, he reached beyond this world and tapped directly into some other power, and the resonations of that touch were familiar to him.
	The boy had directly made contact with those dimensions where Elementals lived.  The boy had drawn substance and energy directly from the plane of Water.  The substance had appeared before him, and the power had been channeled, had been directed, to cause the water to freeze.  In addition to representing water, the plane of Water also held sway over weather, and to a lesser degree, cold.  Ice was water, and the cold of ice became part of the sphere that represented waters power.  All four elements had little tertiary representations like that.  Fire also represented change and concealment, earth represented continuity and growth, and air represented weather and lightning.  Air and water overlapped with the weather, for it required both air and water to make weather happen.
	Tarrin gaped at the boy in shock.  How could he feel that?  And yet he could, as clearly as he could see the little boy before him, holding his little ball of ice proudly.  It felt so, so much like Sorcery, but it obviously could not have been!  Incredible!
	Um, master Tarrin? Zyrilin asked meekly.  Are you alright?
	Im fine, little bit, Tarrin said, blinking and shaking his head.  Its just that your brothers ability stirred something in me.  I could feel it when he used it.
	Jal nodded gravely.
	You can feel it when other people do this too? Tarrin asked.
	Jal nodded again.
	And that, Tarrin realized, was how Hunters found the witches.  Because the Hunters were witches.
	Jal, listen to me, and listen to me carefully, he said grimly.  Dont use your power unless I tell you that you can, or you think that your life depends on using it.  Its very important.  When you use this power, people who can sense it are going to know, and not all of those people are going to be friendly to you.  I think thats how the Church finds witches, I think theyre using people with this gift to hunt down the others.
	Jal nodded, covering the raw brand on the back of his hand reflexively.
	Wow, you mean the church uses witches to find witches? Telven said excitedly.
	I think its a definite possibility, Tarrin said brusquely, standing up, then throwing his braid back over his shoulder.  Im going to look around.  I want you three to stay here by the fire.  I wont be out of earshot, so if you need me, just yell.  Some things passed near the clearing before you woke up, and I want to see what they were.
	How can you tell? Telven asked.
	They leave footprints, he answered evenly.  Someone who knows about that can tell who made them, how many there were, which direction they were going, and how long ago they passed since making the tracks.
	Ooh, youre a woodsman? Telven asked breathlessly.  One of those men who explores the wild forests?
	My father was.  He taught me everything he knows, he answered, slinging his quivers, one over each shoulder, and uncapping the one on his right.
	But, I thought witches just did witchcraft, he surmised.
	Telven! Zyrilin snapped hotly.
	Tarrin sighed, then he chuckled despite himself.  Keep them out of trouble, little bit, he told her.  If you need me, just yell.
	Yes, master Tarrin, she replied immediately.  I think we need to clean up the camp a little, and maybe cut some more meat for lunch, she announced.  May I borrow a knife, master Tarrin? she asked him.
	Tarrin unsheathed his belt dagger and handed it to her.  Dont lose it, he told her.  Someone I care about gave me this.
	Ill be careful with it, master Tarrin, she told him with a shy smile.
	The separation gave Tarrin time to think, even as he quickly located the tracks those people left behind earlier.  Jals power wasnt Sorcery, but it certainly felt like itat least initially.  He had no idea why Jals gift spurred that sensation in him, because it should have been impossible.  Sorcerers could sense the use of Sorcery, that was true enough, but what Jal did wasnt Sorcery.  Sorcery couldnt be used on this world, because there was no Weave.  And because of that, he shouldnt have sensed the use of that boys power.  The idea that the powers were somehow similar, just similar enough to spur that sense of it in him, occurred to him, but it seemed outlandish.
	Or perhaps not.  Sorcery was a gift from Niami, but it was also, in its own way, elemental magic.  The seven Spheres represented seven forces of nature; fire, water, earth, air, the power of the mind, the power of the gods, and the binding force that held it all together.  This witchcraft was obviously elemental magic, a direct tap into the power of the Elemental planes.  Just as Wizards drew from elsewhere, these witches drew from points of magic that Sorcery could access.  Perhaps that commonality was allowing his powers of Sorcery to sense the use of this magic.  After all, he wasnt totally powerless as a Sorcerer.  Just as he could speak to animals using a Druids trick, he could still use the senses that being a Sorcerer granted him.  Those aspects of his abilities didnt require the use of the magic itself.
	Yes, that made sense.  He went over it once again as he found the tracks of the people or things who had passed earlier, and found that the theory was sound.  He saw no holes in it.  Hed need to talk to Dolanna about it, and perhaps Haley as well, and have Jal use his power again to see if Haley could sense it.
	The tracks were not human.  That was immediately obvious to him.  They were about an hour old or so, made by creatures who were humanoid, but not human.  The tracks were booted, made by people wearing shoes and boots, but those feet had an unnatural breadth to them, and the pattern of weight distribution in the tracks told him that whoever made them walked with a kind of rolling gait not found in anyone who wasnt a five year veteran sailor.  After about ten minutes of careful inspection, he deduced that there had been about forty of them.  They had moved due north, and had done so very quickly, so quickly that he found little bits and pieces of things theyd dropped but had been too much in a hurry to stop and pick up.  They were crude possessions of people he realized were raiders and hunters, and those paired with what he remembered Merik say told him that these had to be those orc creatures.  Sub-humans, Merik had called them.
	Strangely, though, the tracks seemed vaguely familiar.  He wasnt quite sure why, but they did.  But he was too busy to dwell on that, so he dismissed it in his mind and moved on to the matters at hand.
	There was no sign of pursuit, so Tarrin figured that the commotion down in Dengal had spooked this band, who probably made a living by preying on travellers on the road, and they were now beating a hasty retreat northwest, shadowing the road, to avoid any kind of armed conflict with soldiers out of the city.  Little did they know that a good thousand or so people were also moving in this general direction, people who had fled Dengal, and if they stopped for any amount of time they might get more than they bargained for.
	They werent really a threat, so Tarrin dismissed them in his mind and went back to the clearing.
	And he was met with a rude greeting.  Instead of finding the children making themselves either useful or a nuisance, he was greeted by a band of thirteen men wearing mismatched, patchwork armor and carrying rusty, badly kept weapons.  There were four horses picketed behind them, being cared for by two middle-aged women in dirty, torn homespun smocks.  They had the children sitting by the log, where they clutched at each other fearfully and watched these men.  Tarrin had heard their voices well away, and had crept up to the edge of the clearing to get a better