Marshal Doro Feld rang the bell at noon, and the sound went out over the sand like a dropped plate.
The ring was full. Vanmoor had come out to see the dead list, with its children, its dogs and its wine. People stood three deep along the rail.
A man with a drum sat on a low stool near the south gate. Brask sat above them all in a chair with a cushion, a cup in one hand and a cloth over his knee.
Calen stood at the rail with the class on his left. Hesper was at the end of the line with her arms folded. Liss had a pencil in her fist and her eyes on the sand.
Dorran was not there, and Tobin was not there. Nell stood beside Calen with her bandaged arm in a sling and one foot on the bottom board of the rail, as close to the ring as she had been allowed to come.
Kade walked out onto the sand alone.
He did not hurry. He stopped in the centre of the ring and turned once, slowly, to look at the crowd, and then he looked at the Vanmoor champion who had come out from the north gate. The champion was tall and lean, with a shaved head and a long, plain blade. He did not look at the crowd at all.
