strands and allowed his hair tohang neatly down his back, as was the fashion among his people.Afterslipping on soft leather boots, he gave himself a cursory once-overin the mirror. He did not care much for the stunning visage reflectednor did he appreciate how the jerkin matched his eyes and pointed upthe ivory hue of his skin. Some townsfolk attributed Lassensdisinterest to his youth but that was hardly accurate for few ofLassens peers were as unaware of their charms as he was.Thelad took the stairs two steps at a time. Coming out of the Idanasmodest house, he spotted his brothers Yuilan and Fileg climbing tothe ramparts whence they would have a better view of the wide plainfronting Tal Ereq. As with most prosperous communities that layoutside the bounds of Ylandres fiefdoms, the town proper wasenclosed by earthen fortifications.Lassenhurried after his siblings. It would be his first glimpse ofpolitically powerful bluebloods and these ones from the farawaycapital of Rikara at that.TalEreq was located near the eastern bounds of the Autonomous Provinceof Velarus. Essentially buffer zones between Ylandre and theneighboring nations, the Provinces populaces neither owed fealtyto the realms Herune or fief-lords nor were under directmonarchial control. Only rarely did the government interfere in theiraffairs. But such leniency had a price.Royalaid was limited and often delayed. Trade with the fiefs and Crownlands was minimal at best. Consequently, the Provinces were not asaffluent as the vassal states. Outlawry was also more prevalent.Ruinous when left unchecked, such brigandage had spread too widely oflate for the comfort of Tal Ereqs citizens. Hence the petition thetownsfolk sent to the capital posthaste.Wordhad arrived the previous week that the Ardan would send a delegationto negotiate terms with them. Visits by high-ranking dignitariesbeing extremely rare, the news had thrown the town into a state ofexcitement. For while the most prominent families of the town were ofthe gentry, none could claim more than fleeting social contact withthe enyra,the elite True Bloods who formed the ruling class of every realm inAisen.TalEreqs folk were sedyraor Half Bloods, that is to say, Deira whose ancestors had bredindiscriminately with the aboriginal Aiseni. The result had been thewholesale diminishment of the mental prowess passed down by theirNaeren forebears. Few sedyrapossessed the talent today, let alone wielded it. Not so the enyrawho, through judicious breeding with the ancient natives, preservedboth their bloodlines and the mind gifts in large part. They alsoaged more slowly than the Half Bloods and often surpassed the averageDeiran lifespan of one hundred and fifty summers by another twentyyears or so.Justas Lassen reached his brothers, an excited murmur spread among thetownsfolk. The Idana sons turned their gazes on the wide plain beforethem. Lassen caught his breath when he descried the ripples in theatmosphere that heralded the blossoming of a translocation portal.Not even True Bloods all possessed the skill to create thesetransient gateways. In eastern Velarus, it was a phenomenon so rarelywitnessed as to be almost mythical.Withinmoments of the portals blossoming, figures materialized in thecorridorwithin,which swirled and blurred like shifting sand across a barren dessert.As if coming from the other side of a mirror, Lassen thought.Severalcloaked riders