Wrenyk fought to control his face. ‘My answer is the same as my father’s,’ he replied eventually, his voice quieter. ‘We came in our battle array not to threaten but to show you our weakness. We can’t avenge ourselves nor do we seek weregild for our dead. We acknowledge your domination of the tribes of the plains, but we ask that you leave us alone. We want none of your folly. We live at peace with this land and all its creatures and its plants and its endless mystery. We have neither need nor desire to bring flame and sword to the peoples of distant lands. To bring to others the pain that we ourselves are feeling even now.’
‘Desire!’ Ivaroth snarled, suddenly angered by the young man’s grief and the seeming absence of any wish for vengeance. ‘My intentions for the south aren’t some idle
