Free The web of wizardry by Juanita Coulson

and picketed animals as they carried the news of Danaer's coming to fellow tribes-folk.
    When he rode into the glow of the fourth communal fire, the people were ready for him. A profound silence gripped them, even the youngest babe. If a dog yapped, it was kicked away, its tail between its legs. Rows of eyes watched Danaer. Warriors and dotards, women with sucklings at the breast, big-eyed children, lesser priests and priestesses and herb-healers stared at Danaer in fascination. As he moved by, the stillness broke at last into sharp whispers and angry growling.
    At the next fire, a tribe leader waited out ahead of the circle of people. Arms akimbo and feet planted wide, he blocked Danaer's way. Danaer drew rein. The expression on the man's face was one of smothered fury. The cloak he wore proclaimed him a chieftain of a strong clan.

    Danaer hoped they would give him a chance to be heard. Careful to use his heaviest Azsed dialect, he said, "Maen gra siray, ae may not ask so great a tribesman to step aside. But ae would beg your people move back that ae can ride through . . ."
    "The speech is Destre, but that uniform is much hate to all of the plains." The Siank accent was very thick. "What do you here, Destre? If Destre you be."
    "Destre-Y I am, and I bring message to Siirn Gordt te Raa."
    "All the way from Nyald, and in that uniform?" Ugly laughter rang through the crowd and children clapped with glee, wanting to witness excitement.
    "The message is from Nurdanth, the lit who keeps his vow, te Fael." Danaer gave the General the title the Destre would know. Words could be weapons as much as steel and lance and sling stone, now.
    "An lit! As are you! You speak the tongue and wear the eiphren, but. . ."
    "I will recite Argan's own sacred law if it will prove me a true Azsed," Danaer said. Too much doubt from too many sides was wearing thin his patience, and warning crept into his voice.
    This time there was no laughter, and the chieftain glowered at Danaer's challenging tone. "Get down from there! We will learn if you are a Destre-Y. Put off that lit sword and draw knife!"
    Danaer threw his leg over the roan's withers and dropped to the ground. His boot knife was already in his hand, and he kept the chieftain at bay while he unbuckled his sword. Then he took the message from his tunic and put it into the cheek strap of the bridle. "That is to be given to Siirn Gordt te Raa, whether I live or die . . ."
    "Let us see if your knife is as bright as your tongue, lit!"
    They circled cautiously, blades pointing. Danaer jabbed an elbow into his horse's flank and it shied into the crowd, buying him room to maneuver. This contest must have a quick ending. On every side rose cries of derision, aimed at him. A wave of hatred washed over Danaer.

    Abruptly, he swung his mantle hem wide, into the chieftain's face, then put his foot behind the man's knee. It was a gamble on his greater height and weight, a successful one. They tumbled to the dust and struggled furiously for the advantage.
    As they fell, the tribesman's knife slashed open Danaer's arm but did not hinder him. In the next minute he gained the position he sought, sitting astride his opponent's chest, his blade against the other's throat. "A second? Or is this besting enough, warrior?"
    "Harshaa!" The crowd's hostility changed to a roar of deUght in such fighting skill. "He is no lit, not and handle a knife so!"
    "Let him up, soldier." This was a new voice, very deep and masculine and quite close.
    Boots straddled the fallen chieftain's head, and Danaer lifted his gaze to look into the craggy face of a man more than a half-arm taller than he. The giant was breathing heavily, swelling the barrel chest beneath Destre shirt and a black and gold vest and mantle.
    Black and gold, and a man of such a size—this could only be Gordyan, the notorious personal bodyguard of Gordt te Raa.
    Slowly Danaer stood up. The newcomer appeared no smaller from that angle, and Danaer noted that the