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trepidation. After the past few days, it felt frightening to have her family widely separated again. She took a deep breath and reminded herself the raiders weren’t just out of sight, they were dead .
    Over her shoulder she heard Arco’s voice, “Where are Daum and your son?”
    Eva looked up at the handsome, but unhappy looking guard captain. “They’re taking Kazy, the farm girl who’s joined us, to her farm to retrieve any possessions she can.”
    Arco frowned, “You guys picked up a stray farm girl?”
    Eva nodded, “Her entire family was killed by the raiders. Turns out she’s one of Daum’s cousins, though he didn’t know she lived around here.”
    Arco scowled as he looked out along the road the caravan was taking. “Dammit, I wanted Daum and his bow up on top of the guard wagon until we were absolutely sure none of the raiders were still around.”
    “Sorry,” Eva said, thinking Arco really didn’t have to worry, but remembering how she’d felt uneasy herself just a few minutes ago. “They wanted Kazy to have time to say goodbye.”
     
    As they approached the farmhouse, Tarc started to worry. It seemed unlikely that anyone had come to bury Kazy’s family and it had been quite a few days since they had been killed. What if their bodies are rotting? Or what if they’ve been chewed on by animals? Kazy shouldn’t see that should she? He nudged his horse over closer to Daum and expressed his concerns.
    Daum didn’t look happy, but he shrugged and said, “They say it’s better to see your loved ones after they die, even if they’re pretty messed up. It keeps you from constantly thinking you’re going to see them again.” He glanced down at the shovel Tarc balanced in front of him on the saddle. “That’s why I had you bring the shovel, so we could bury them and have a little ceremony.”
    “I thought it was because Kazy’s family had some money buried somewhere.”
    “That too,” Daum said, swinging down off his horse. “I think we should be the first ones in the door, don’t you?”
    Tarc wasn’t very happy about that either, but he reluctantly followed his father in the door of the little farmhouse. Fortunately the door had kept animals out, however the bodies were swollen and the odor was pretty bad even though the day was cool.
    Daum stared despondently at his cousin’s body. “Looks like we get to dig some graves.”
    They went back outside to tell Kazy. After some discussion, they decided to dig up the strongbox and the ground next to it to make the graves.
    They found a couple more shovels in the barn. Lizeth and the two men started digging graves while Kazy searched the barn and other outbuildings for valuables. It didn’t take very long to find the strongbox which proved to have quite a bit of money in it. However, despite desperately hurrying and Kazy taking a turn with a shovel too, they were only about halfway done digging the five graves when they saw the caravan going by on the main road.
    Finally, Tarc and Daum rolled each of the bodies in a blanket and carried them out to the graves while Lizeth tried to comfort Kazy. They filled in the graves and Daum said a few words. Kazy sang the mournful song she, Eva, and Daussie had sung the evening before.
    The strongbox would be clumsy on a horse so they emptied it into a couple of heavy bags as Kazy went through her home picking out a few mementos and items of value.
    Their hearts were heavy as they rode after the caravan.

Chapter Two
    Tarc walked alongside the lead horse of their team, taking his turn. In the distance ahead and to the left, he saw a small plume of dust that looked like it would meet the road they were on. Turning he called back to his sister, “Daussie, find a guard and make sure they’ve seen that plume of dust up to the left.”
    Daussie lifted her eyes to see the plume herself, then turning, she untied their black horse, and leapt into the saddle. She trotted forward to talk to the guard leading the