Chapter 5
Thorat trudged across the Anamat valley with the rest of the hired blades at the back of the Tiadun prince’s procession. At the border shrine, he turned to look back at Anamat one last time. Anara and the other dragons were under the earth now, having their own councils, so he would only say farewell to the valley, to try to see her presence in the ripening fields and orchards, in the swift-flowing streams and blossoming gardens. He wished for the hundredth time that day that he could stay in the city, among friends.
They would cross this thin reach of Na’s realm by nightfall and camp on the edge of Galamun. The year of a hired guard fell into several parts. At Midsummer, there was the hiring in Anamat. While the princes gathered for their councils, their masters-at-arms watche
