Water-former gazes at me uncomprehendingly. Though I don’t turn around, I sense the other Pathwalkers and small group of Warriors I’ve Bound all watching intently. Several of them have understood – I feel it in their sorrow and pity for Water-former.

  I don’t understand, Water-former says almost plaintively.

  “It should be pretty clear,” I tell her scornfully. “You don’t want to play by my rules? Then you get out of my territory. Go back to your village, run somewhere else, I don’t care. Just never come back to my village on pain of death.”

  But…but…without Warriors…I’ll die! Clearly she’s intelligent enough to realise that I’m not offering her any sort of escort. I flash her that toothy smile again.

  “Quite likely. But if you refuse my mercy, then you’ll face the forest’s judgement. Good luck,” I wish her offhandedly, then start walking back to the rest of the group.

  Wait! Water-former calls before I’m more than five steps away from her. I pause without turning around. Please! I’ll help. Just…don’t abandon me to the forest and its beasts. It’s too far to my village…I’ll never survive it, she admits, her grunts and clicks becoming almost inaudible. Fortunately, the Bond makes up for that.

  I half-turn back to her.

  “You’ll obey any in the village, regardless of what you might think of them or their stations? You’ll work to repair the damage you created without complaint?”

  I…. Yes. I will. The Pathwalker’s agreement is more than a little grudging, but I sense that it’s sincere. Finally, she’s been brought to realise that her spoiled attitude isn’t going to be tolerated, and that there are worse fates than having to do the scut work for a bit. Good. I have to deal with Windy’s attitude because she’s smart enough not to push it further than her position justifies, and I’m already changing so much about samuran culture that I don’t want to push at the very bedrock of their society. But I refuse to deal with another arrogant Pathwalker who thinks that just because she Evolved to be able to use magic, she’s worlds better than anyone else around.

  “Then you may rejoin your sisters,” I tell her with a hard look, “and get on with your work. There’s a lot to do before nightfall, thanks to your unprovoked attack.” I fix each of the other Pathwalkers with that same hard gaze. “Do any of you want to take the forest’s mercy over mine?”

  There’s a chorus of disagreement, none of the Pathwalkers seeming to entertain the possibility for more than a moment.

  Is that option open to us? asks one of the Warriors I Bound, the one I think was the leader. His gaze is calculating. I meet his eyes with my own hard gaze, anger still simmering just below the surface, having thawed back into heat. I consider it carefully. A Pathwalker in the forest is one thing; a Warrior is quite another.

  That said, the whole reason I gave Water-former the choice – and it was a genuine choice even if I was pretty certain of what her response would be before I presented it to her – was because I didn’t want to have to use the Bond to force her. Of course, I could have. I could even have assigned one of my loyal Bound as her party leader, deputising the ability to force her to comply.

  But all that would do is build resentment which would enable her to fight ever harder against the chains which bind her. Letting her choose her chains, even if the other option is practically unthinkable, gives her the slightest sense of control and may weaken her resistance. What happens after that, only time will tell.

  The same will be true of these Warriors, and particularly so of those who are only bound by their word to obey. Perhaps giving them a choice isn’t a bad idea. But a choice of my choosing, not theirs.

  “I want work from you first,” I tell them, making sure that even those not Bound to me will understand. “You attacked my village for no good reason, destroying our houses, and killing valuable members of our community. You can never make up for the deaths you’ve caused, but you can at least work to help our community reestablish itself. So, work hard for the next two moon cycles. If by the end of that I feel that you’ve honestly applied yourself and have shown remorse for your attack, I will give you the option to leave. If you choose to take me up on it, you must leave my territory immediately. Any attempts to remain or to hurt my people will be met with lethal reprisal.”

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  Of course, I don’t tell them that I will ensure that they’re out of my part of the forest by having them followed, but if they are true to their word, I will be too. “Any uncooperative behaviour, attempt to escape, or attempt to help others to escape in the meantime will significantly reduce the chances of me releasing you. And if any of my people spot you in the wrong place, believe me that they will be authorised to use lethal force if they need to.” I glare at them, making sure that my message has been fully understood.

  The Warriors accept that, several of them gaining a slight brightness to their gaze which had been missing. Hopefully that will stop any attempts to escape or cause problems – hope is a powerful thing.

  Perhaps I’m being more merciful to them than I should be – again – but I have another reason for my decision. The fact is, it’s not much more than two moon cycles before I am due to leave. Since I’m not planning on taking the whole village with me, that means I’ll be leaving a mass of samurans behind me who won’t be Bound with Dominate any more. If the Warriors at that point are still determined to attack or leave, it will be much harder to stop them. Better that they’ve had the opportunity to leave ahead of that, I figure.

  It doesn’t take too much longer before there are work groups spread around the village, rebuilding the huts, unearthing everything buried beneath – and finding more bodies.

  I watch carefully to make sure that all of the invaders are fully applying themselves. Without their magic, the Pathwalkers aren’t as effective as even the Unevolved, but I don’t care about that – ultimately, that’s not the point here. If I have an objective at all beyond punishing them, it’s to bring home to them exactly what their actions have done, the destruction and deaths they’ve caused.

  And when the heart-breaking sight of a hatchling’s body mangled by the falling lumps of earth of the hut it was sheltering inside is pulled out from the wreckage of the hut, Sticks and Jumpy – our Earth-Shaper – stabilising its walls, I see that I’m not the only one affected. Flickers of true remorse make their way through the new Bonds I hold with several of the Evolved before me. Not enough.

  Not enough when who knows how many more are buried under there. I can only hope that some might still be alive – with Tarra and the two healers present, anyone who’s still drawing breath can be saved. But my earth-sense tells me that it’s a vain hope.

  “Come on,” I say to my core group, unable to take just watching the miserable task any longer. Better to go and actually help someone. “Let’s go and find those who escaped into the forest and tell them that it’s safe to return.”

  They agree and I enter the forest surrounded by my closest Bound. Sirocco soars overhead, lending me her eyes when I ask for it, Fenrir sets his powerful senses to the task, the three raptorcats scout around, leaping nimbly through the undergrowth, Lathani jumps from shadow to shadow and uses her Earth Sense to detect any creatures around, and I use Inspect. Catch and River stay by my side, Pride guarding our backs. I probably should have insisted that the two Evolved samurans stayed with our prisoners – at this point, the more of my loyal Bound are keeping them in check, the better. But I don’t – I don’t have the heart to do so. I value their steady support far too much. At least the task forces me to focus, taking my attention away from the warring emotions within me.

  We move through the forest silently, none of us in the mood to talk. Thanks to all our advantages, it’s not long before we find our first group, the Bond I have with Elder Twig helping more than anything to pinpoint their location.

  He’s surrounded by a group of hatchlings, sheltering in a large bush. They’re utterly silent, even the normally-rambunctious hatchlings understanding how to be still when a predator draws near.

  “It’s me,” I tell them, doing my best to project calm. “The village is safe again.”

  “Thank the ancestors!” I hear sighed from within the bush. “Come on little ones,” he orders gently, and the bush starts to sway. One by one the hatchlings pop out. One, two, three…twenty-one. And then Elder Twig himself. He looks at me with a searching gaze.

  “The village is truly safe again?“

  “It is,” I say, looking down at the fearful, yet trusting eyes peering up at me from the baby samurans clustered around their brood-mother. “The attackers are either dead or currently working to put our village back together, so don’t be surprised when you see them there. Come on, let’s escort you back. Then we’ll try to find everyone else.”

  “They will all return eventually,” the elder samuran says, eyeing me. “They will not expect our honoured leader to go searching through the forest for them. They will return to check whether it’s safe to reveal themselves. If not, they will find an alternative.”

  “And if they see their attackers still present, putting the village back together? What are the chances that they will just run away again?” I ask him gently. He looks away from my gaze which is enough answer. “No, we’re going to do our best to make sure everyone gets back to the village before nightfall.”

  The elder looks at me and then tilts his chin high in the air.

  “You honour us with your care, Pathwalker Tamer.”

  My heart tugs at his words, the image of the broken hatchling body I saw flashing before my eyes again. If anything, I don’t feel like I care enough. But at least if I can make sure that no more are lost to the forest than have already been lost to the raid, perhaps I’ll be able to sleep tonight.

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