Five days passed with no word from Thornwood, and on the sixth, Tarn's scouts brought news that made the war room go quiet.
"Renner is moving warriors to the ridge," the scout reported. "Not a great host. Perhaps two hundred. But armed, and positioned as though he expects a fight rather than a negotiation."
"He thinks we are bluffing," Vael said.
"Or he thinks two hundred warriors look impressive enough that we will back down rather than risk a real conflict so soon after the last one," Kael said. He looked at Aria. "What do you want to do."
Aria considered the map spread across the table, the boundary stones marked in faded ink, the three miles of disputed land that meant little in themselves and everything in what they signaled.
"I do not want a war," she said. "Renner is not Selene
