Paksworld

Lyonya.  The rest should be obvious.    This is early in Book Three but should not contain any terrible spoilers other than the king is fighting, which you probably suspected would happen at some point

.  Obviously, first draft.

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Kieri shifted his weight; Banner shortened into collection and half-pass in counter-canter, bringing Kieri directly to one of those in mid-change.  Kieri’s sword-stroke took the creature across the middle, splitting a still-soft carapace.  On the backswing he took the second.  Even as he looked back, Banner snorted and changed leads, swinging his hindquarters around.

————————-At this point in his reign, Kieri has been targeted by enemies more than once, but the current situation is the most serious so far.   Lyonyans, unlike Tsaians, and even more unlike some other groups, do not demand that their sovereign lead troops in the field–in fact, they’d rather he stayed safe somewhere.  But that’s in part because they haven’t much military experience and do not know the value of a leader who leads as opposed to a manager from the rear…yes, it’s risky, but the example of a leader  has, through history,  contributed to military success.   Certainly for the size of force and cultures involved, personal command and leadership are highly effective.   In Lyonya right now, Kieri and Aliam Halveric are the only experienced combat commanders.

There’s more to this scene, but it’s otherwise studded with spoilers for both previous books, so…this is it for the time being.