He wasn’t a cold-blooded murderer, and his action had not been impulsive. “Skewered him right through the chest!”Īdan flinched at the loud statement. But I never thought you’d kill him.” He let out a booming laugh. “I despise the sandwreths, Starfall, especially that vile one who wanted to take my baby granddaughter. That’s what we do.” He worked his jaw and spat on the ground, then looked at his son-in-law with new admiration. “ Cra! The Utauk tribes know how to pack up and disappear. Hale Orr, Penda’s father, stood with his wrist stump propped on his hip.
“This camp must scatter.” He spoke mainly to his wife, but loud enough for others to hear. All human lives would be forfeit if the sandwreth queen ever guessed that King Adan Starfall had murdered her brother. The enemy corpses had been burned in a hot pyre to leave no evidence.
They would take the spears, swords, and pikes away, disposing of them where they would never be found. With businesslike determination, Utauks moved around in the firelight gathering the sandwreth weapons strewn on the ground. Pulling away, he turned to survey the devastated Utauk camp: fires from the ravages of the dragon and the sandwreths, torn tents, smashed wagons, mangled horses, scattered and broken bodies. He relished the intimacy, the peace, knowing it might be his last calm moment for a long time to come. She cradled their newborn daughter in her arms, and Adan wrapped both of them in his embrace. “I had no choice.” King Adan reached out to stroke her dark, sweat-streaked hair. Her face was drawn and weary, but still beautiful to him under the stars on a night that had been filled with bloodshed and dragons.