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.Tavi leaned forward, cupping her face with one hand.Both of them trembled, and he hardly dared move for fear of shattering that shivering moment.For a little time, he did not know how long, there was nothing but the two of them, the drowning depths of her green eyes, the warmth of her skin pressed against his side, smooth under his fingertips, her own fever-hot fingers trailing over his face and throat, and through his hair.Time passed.He didn't care how much.Her eyes made time into something unimportant, something that fit itself to their needs and not the other way around.The moment lasted until it was finished, and only then was time allowed to resume its course.He looked into Kitai's eyes, their faces almost touching, and said, his voice low, steady, and certain,"You are not alone."Chapter 33Amara stared down at the outlaw's cave through the magnifying field of denser air Cirrus created between her outstretched hands."You were right," she murmured to Bernard.She beckoned him with her head, and held her hands out so that he could lean down and peer over her shoulder."There, you see, spreading out from the cave mouth.Is that the croach?"The ground for two hundred yards in every direction from the cave mouth was coated with some kind of thick, viscous-looking substance that glistened wetly in the light from the setting sun.It had engulfed the heavy brush in front of the cave entrance, turning it into a semitranslucent blob the size of a small house.The trees near the cave, evergreens mostly, had been similarly engulfed, with only their topmost branches free of the gummy coating.All in all, it gave the hillside around the cave a pustuled, diseased look, especially with the ancient mass of the mountain called Garados looming over it in the background."That's the stuff from the Wax Forest, all right," Bernard said quietly."This cave has always been trouble.Outlaws would lay up there, because it was close enough to Garados that none of the locals would be willing to go near it.""The mountain is dangerous?" Amara asked."Doesn't like people," Bernard said."I've got Brutus softening our steps so that the old rock won't notice us.As long as we don't get any closer, the mountain shouldn't give us any trouble."Amara nodded, and exclaimed, "There, do you see that? Movement."Bernard peered through her upheld hands."Wax spiders," he reported.He swallowed."A lot of them.They're crawling all over the edges of the croach."Doroga's heavy steps approached and paused close beside them."Hngh," he grunted."They are spreading the croach.Like butter.Grows out by itself but I figure they are trying to make it grow faster.""Why would they do that?" Amara murmured.Doroga shrugged."It is what they do.If they get their way, it will be everywhere."Amara felt a cold little chill run down her spine."They won't," Bernard said."There's no sign of any of our people, taken or otherwise.I don't see any of their warriors, either.""They are there," Doroga said, his rumbling voice confident."They get in there in the croach, you can't see them.Blend right in."Bernard put his hand on Amara's shoulder and stood, inhaling slowly."I'm of a mind to go ahead with our plan," he told her."We'll wait for dark and hit them hard.Get close enough to make sure the vord are in there, and finish them.Countess?"Amara released Cirrus and lowered her hands."We can hardly stand about and wait for them to come after us," she said.She glanced back at Bernard."But these are your lands, Count.I'll support your decision.""What is there to decide?" Doroga asked."This is simple.Kill them.Or die."Bernard's teeth showed."I prefer hunting to being hunted," he said."Doroga, I'm going to go circle that cave a good ways out.See if I can find out if they've got any other surprises hidden in there waiting for us.Want to come along?""Why not," Doroga said."Walker is foraging.Better than standing around watching him root things up.""Countess," Bernard said, "if you're willing, I'd like to see what you can spot from the air before we lose the light.""Of course," she said."Three hours," Bernard said after a moment."I'm telling Giraldi to be ready to hit them in three hours, just after full dark.If we don't find any surprises waiting, that's when we'll take the fight to them."Amara inhaled and exhaled deeply, then rose with a forced calm and poise she did not feel, and called Cirrus to carry her up and into the air.She was still weary from an excess of windcrafting, but she had enough endurance for a short flight over the proposed battlefield.It would take her only a few moments.And once it was done, the remaining hours before they moved would feel like an eternity.Once Amara returned from her uneventful (and unenlightening) flight over the vord nest, she had settled down with her back to a tree to rest.When she woke, she was lying on her side, half-curled, her head pillowed on Bernard's cloak.She recognized the scent without needing to open her eyes, and she lay there for a moment, breathing slowly in and out.But around her, Giraldi's veterans were stirring, and weapons and armor made quiet sounds of metal clicking on metal and rasping against leather as they secured their arms and gear and prepared to fight.No one spoke, except for short, hushed phrases of affirmation as they checked one another's gear and tightened buckles.Amara sat up slowly, then rose to her feet.She stretched, wincing.The mail hadn't been made to fit her, though it was tolerably close to functional, but her muscles weren't used to the weight of the armor, and they twitched and clenched painfully at odd moments and places as she put the strain on them again.She looked for the man closest to the vord nest and walked toward him."Countess," rumbled Bernard.There was a weak half-moon in the sky, occasionally veiled by clouds, and there was barely enough light for her to recognize his profile as he stared at the vord nest.His eyes glittered in the shadows over his face, steady and unblinking.The vord nest, by night, looked eerie and beautiful.Green light flowed up from the croach, a faint, spectral color that created shapes and swirls of color while not managing to give much in the way of illumination.The green werelight pulsed slowly, as though in time to some vast heartbeat, making shadows shift and roil in slow waves around it."It's beautiful," Amara said quietly."Yes," he said."Until you think about what it means.I want it gone.""Absolutely," she said quietly.She stepped up beside him and stared at the nest for a while, until she shivered and turned to Bernard."Thank you," she said, and held out his rolled cloak.Bernard turned to her to accept it, and she heard the smile in his voice."Anytime." He slung the cloak around his shoulders and clasped it again, leaving his left arm clear for shooting."Or maybe not anytime,"he said then.His voice was thoughtful."You've changed your mind.About us."Amara suddenly went very still and was glad that the darkness hid her expression.She could keep her voice steady.She could tell that much of a lie.She couldn't have looked him in the face as she did it."We both have duties to the Realm," she said quietly."I was blighted when I was a child."Bernard was silent for a very long time.Then he said, "I didn't know.""Do you see why it must be?" she asked him.More silence."I could never give you children, Bernard," she said."That alone would be enough to force you to seek another wife, under the law.Or lose your Citizenship.""I never sought it to begin with," Bernard said."For you, I could do without it.""Bernard," she said, frustration on the edges of her voice, "we have few enough decent men among the Citizenry
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