"No, I'll be there. But go on, I can't run."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Daksha needs you. Watch over him?"
"I will," Mara said, giving her a tight hug.
"I'll be along," Prithvi promised. The ache relented somewhat so long as she kept walking, and there would be water jars at the wall. Her mouth was sticky with thirst.
When she finally reached the wall all thoughts of water flew from her mind, and she deeply wished she had found the strength to run. The women were drawing and firing, drawing and firing, but the grassy plain below was filled with men. It was a sea of brown leather and gray wool only occasionally broken by the brightly dyed cotton of the city dwellers. For each tall, long-haired, bare-chested man of the People there were a dozen or more nomads surrounding him, cutting him off
