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There was a red anemone on the pillow beside herShe looked at it without moving for a moment, then picked it up and crushed it to her face inhaling the fragile scentShe wondered if he knew the legend of that flower hereAlmost certainly not, she thought She rose, and a few moments later Scelto came in with a mug of khav in his handHe was wearing the stiff leather vest of a messenger; lightweight inadequate armor against arrowsHe had volunteered to be one of the score of such men running orders and messages up and down the hillHe had come to her first though, as he had every morning in the saishan for a dozen yearsDianora was afraid that thinking about that would make her cry: a brutal omen on such a dayShe managed a smile and told him to go back to the King, who needed him more this morning After he left, she slowly drank her khav, listening to the growing noises outsideThen she washed and dressed herself and went out of the tent into the rising sun Two men of the King's Guard were waiting for herThey went wherever she did, a discreet step or two multicolor louis vuitton bags behind, but not more than thatShe would be guarded today, she knewShe looked for Brandin and saw Rhun firstThey were both near the front of the flattened ridge, both bare-headed, without armor, though with identical swords belted at their sidesBrandin had chosen to dress today in the simple brown of an ordinary soldierNone of them were, or could be Not long after that they saw him step alone toward the edge of his hill and raise one hand above his head for all the men in both armies to seeWithout a word spoken, any warning at all, a dazzling blood-crimson flare of light sprang from that upthrust hand like a flame into the deep blue of the skyFrom below they heard a roar of sound, as, crying their King's name aloud, Brandin's outnumbered army moved forward across the valley to meet the soldiers of Alberico in a battle that had been coming for almost twenty years "Not yet," Alessan said steadily, for the fifth time, at least"We have waited years, we must not be too soon now Devin had a sense that the Prince was cautioning himself more than anyone elseThe louis cartier truth was that until Alessan gave the word there was nothing for them to do but watch as men from Barbadior and Ygrath and the provinces of the Palm killed each other under the blazing Senzian sun It was noon or a little past it, by the sunDevin tried to grasp how the men below must feel, hacking and battering each other, slipping on blood, treading the fallen in the broiling caldron of battleThey were too high and far away to recognize anyone, but not so distant that they couldn't see men die or hear their screams Their vantage point had been chosen by Alessan a week before with a sure prediction of where the two sorcerers would base themselvesAnd both had done exactly as he judged they wouldFrom this sloping ridge less than half a mile south of the higher, broader rise of land where Brandin was, Devin gazed down over the valley and saw two armies knotted together in a pitiless sending of souls to Morian "The Ygrathen chose his field well," Sandre had said with an almost detached admiration earlier that morning as the cries of horses and men began"The 925 tiffany's necklace plain is wide enough to allow him room to maneuver, but not so broad as to let the Barbadians flank around him without serious trouble in the hillsThey would have to climb out of the valley, and then along the exposed slopes and back down again "And if you look, you will see," Ducas di Tregea had added, "that Brandin has most of his archers on his own right flank, toward the south, in case they do try thatThey could pick the Barbadians off like deer among the olives on the slopes if they attempt to go around One contingent of Barbadians had, in fact, tried just that an hour agoThey had been slaughtered and driven back by a rain of arrows from the archers of the Western PalmDevin had felt a quick surge of excitement, but then that congealed within him into turmoil and confusionThe Barbadians were tyranny, yes, and all that it meant, yet how could he possibly exult in any kind of triumph for Brandin of Ygrath? But should he then desire the death of men of the Palm at the hands of Alberico's mercenaries? He didn't know what to think or feelHe felt as black chanel tote though his soul was being stripped raw and exposed here, laid out for burning under the Senzian sky Catriana was standing just ahead of him, next to the PrinceDevin didn't think he'd seen them apart from each other since Erlein had brought her back from the gardenHe'd spent a disoriented, difficult hour the morning after that, struggling to adjust to the shining thing that had so clearly overtaken themAlessan had looked as he did when he made music, as if he'd found a hearthstone in the worldWhen Devin had glanced over at Alais it was to find her watching him with a curious, very private smile on her face; it left him even more confused than beforeHe had a sense that he wasn't even keeping up with himself, let alone with the changes around himHe also knew that there wasn't going to be any time to deal with such things, not with what was coming to Senzio In the next two days, the armies had arrived from north and south bringing with them a bone-deep awareness of destiny hanging before them all as if suspended on some balance scale of gods in the summer tiffany co jewelry