The Battle Lord's Lady by Linda Mooney

perform his job,
the Battle Lord hurried to assign two of his most trusted men to
the task of seeing that all would be ready to leave within the
hour.
    As preparations were being made, he walked
into the compound and stood in its center, surveying the area with
a new eye. A different eye, now slanted to see things with a
completely unbiased perspective.
    This time he could see the rows of houses
with their tiny window boxes and the intricate decorations painted
on the doors. To his left began the line of shops he’d never
noticed, and probably wouldn’t have, except for the fact that one
lone warrior girl had managed to tilt his personal axis within the
span of a single night.
    To his right lay the open meeting area. Small
stalls and carts still sat, unoccupied since the invasion. A small
breeze flowed over him, sending him a final scent of roasted
meat.
    She had killed a badger five times her own
weight.
    I slew a wolfen, as
instructed, and I brought its head back to the
compound .
    A shiver ran cold fingers down his
back, and Yulen suddenly realized what she had told him last night.
A wolfen! She had killed a wolfen ! He could count on two hands the number of
warriors he personally knew who had gone out to slay one of the
many huge predators that lived in the forests just beyond their
encampment, only to have none of them return. Yet she had killed
one with just a bow. She, a mere slip of a girl, and not even a
seasoned soldier.
    He knew she spoke the truth. No man, or
woman, would dare make such a claim unless it could backed up with
proof.
    The Battle Lord drew a deep, shaky breath.
Thinking back on what Karv had done, Yulen felt his anger begin to
boil inside himself. He knew how much the Second hated Mutah. The
little man had lost two of his own family members to a rogue band
of Mutah scavengers. But that didn’t excuse the man from the
viciousness of his attacks on—
    Atty
    —the prisoner. Especially in light of the
fact that he had made a deal with her, and offered her his
protection once she had silently agreed.
    He watched as his men continued to gather the
rest of the Mutah community together, dragging many of them from
their abodes. Again, with an eye directed toward that which he’d
always ignored until now, Yulen saw the little things which showed
these savages were more than three levels above the mutated
animals, the way he’d been taught to believe.
    There was the ruffle of hand-crocheted lace
around the neckline of one Mutah’s blouse. There was the older
female bending over her young son to help him re-button his coat
when he’d missed one buttonhole in his haste to dress. There was
the male holding a smaller version of himself in his arms, bouncing
the child upon his hip and tenderly shushing the boy so as not to
draw any undue attention to themselves.
    And at their feet, the blood of those who his
men had slaughtered still pooled in dark congealed splotches in the
dirt.
    Turver came to let him know they’d gathered
all they could find, although the number looked less than it had
the night before. Without a doubt some remained in hiding, hoping
to survive until the Cleaners had left. Never mind. There were
enough here to heed his message.
    Walking into the middle of the clearing,
Yulen looked fully into their faces and gave them a few moments to
see the still-healing wound that would mark him forever. When he
was certain they would never forget him, he spoke.
    “My name is Yulen D’Jacques. I am the Battle
Lord of the compound city called Alta Novis. Novis is five days’
ride from here, to the south.
    “I have taken prisoner the girl you call
Atty. She has bought your lives with her own. She has agreed to go
back to Alta Novis with me, and in exchange, we will leave this
compound as it stands. We are leaving you without further
bloodshed, but I am also leaving behind two emissaries to help you
with refortification, in the event another Battle Lord from another
compound discovers you.
    “You