The Duke rose. 'This will be the final battle,' he told his grim-faced audience. 'Below the ground, underneath the city, you will face a terrible enemy. Karis will explain the strategy to you. It will not be easy to carry out the orders - which is why every man here has been hand-picked. You are the most courageous fighters we have, and I am proud to stand in this room with you.'
With that he sat down, and Karis pushed back her chair and moved to the wall. Using a slender rapier, she pointed to the map. 'This area is where we expect the Daroth to break through. Already we can hear them.
Lanterns have been placed around the catacombs, so that you will be able to see your targets. The object is to hit the enemy hard, then fall back to our second line of defence, which will be here,' she said, pointing to an area where the tunnels branched and narrowed.
'Excuse me, General,' said an older officer, a tall man sporting a curling moustache but no beard, 'but I know the catacombs. Wouldn't it be wiser to fortify the main tunnel? You have us retreating along a branch section.'
'That is a good point,' she admitted, 'but the main tunnel branches further back, then splits into a honeycomb of passages. We could lose a great many men there.' He made to speak again, but Karis raised her hand. 'Do not question me further, sir; you are overlooking the menace of the Daroth talent for reading minds. I don't know how strongly they will be able to penetrate our plans once the killing begins. But I do not want us - here and now - to examine all the possibilities for defence or counter-attacks. What is vital is that you all listen, and obey your orders to the best of your abilities. The fate of the city will depend on you.'
In the silence that followed she mapped out the line of the rolling retreat, the numbers of crossbow-men and the positions they should occupy. 'As each group retreats they should keep close to the walls, so that the next line of bowmen can rake the enemy. When you pass through the lines, take up positions to the rear and prepare to cover your comrades as they in turn retreat.' Slowly and methodically she covered the plan again, then asked questions of the officers until she was sure they knew what was required.
The man with the curling moustache spoke again. 'And what if the line breaks, General? What do we do?'
'You get out as best you can,' Karis told him. Seeing that, he was about to speak again, she raised her hand to halt him. 'No more questions,' she said. 'Go and gather your men, give out your orders, then assemble at the park entrance to the catacombs. Vint and Forin will be there waiting for you.'
'As will I,' said Tarantio, from the rear of the room. Forin swung in his seat and gave a broad grin. As the officers filed out Tarantio moved over to Forin. 'I think you have something that belongs to me,' he said.
'Indeed I do, man. It is good to see you.' Unbuckling his sword belt he passed the weapon to Tarantio.
'What changed your mind?' asked Karis.
'The love of a good woman,' Tarantio answered.
'You and Vint will cover the withdrawals. You will rove freely, making use of the available cover - and there is a great deal of that. The catacombs are a maze of stalactites and stalagmites.'
'I never could remember the difference between the two,' muttered Forin.
'Neither could I,' said the Duke. 'Think of the "c" and the "g" as standing for ceiling and ground. Stalactites grow from the ceiling downwards, stalagmites from the ground up.'
'Thank you, my lord,' said Forin. The Duke gave a short bow.
'When I say free roving,' said Karis, 'I mean exactly that. But do not allow yourself to be drawn away from the retreating lines. There are a number of blind tunnels that lead nowhere, and a great many more that have hidden pits, some of which are very deep. The main areas we are defending have been marked by white paint. Keep to those.'
Vint spoke up. 'I know this is a difficult area, Karis, but all the men who were here heard you talk about a rolling retreat. Retreats do not win battles. They know you will have a secondary plan of action; we all know it. Therefore so will the Daroth. It has to involve the exits; you will be planning to ambush them as they come out. Therefore they will probably not follow us.'
'Forgive me, General,' said the Duke, 'but I was thinking the same thing. Once the battle begins, the Daroth can take any number of exits.'
'That is true,' said Karis, 'but firstly the Daroth may not yet know about the catacombs. Secondly, even if they do, they will not be familiar with the layout.'
'Every man here will have seen the map,' said Forin.
'Yes,' agreed Karis, 'but we cannot cover all the eventualities. As you can see, if the Daroth are drawn into the first series of tunnels the number of exits available to them drops to eight. The further we pull them, the fewer their options.'
'At the risk of labouring the point,' said Vint, 'everything you are telling us can be learned by the enemy.'
'That is why I am not telling you everything. Trust me, Vint. We will surprise them. You see, they also will face a difficult dilemma. They know I have misdirected them once before, by planting false information in the mind of one of our scouts. Therefore, in the chaos of battle within the tunnels, they will not be able to trust completely in the thoughts of the men facing them. That will lead to confusion, believe me.'
'I believe you, Karis,' said Vint. 'I just don't want to be used like that poor scout.'
'You are being used in exactly that way,' she told him coldly.
The smell of lantern oil hung heavily in the still air of the catacombs, and the warriors crouched in nervous silence, listening to the steady thudding sound of Daroth hammers and pick-axes coming ever closer. Forin wiped sweat from his face and glanced at Vint, who was standing beside the column of a towering stalagmite. The swordsman's face seemed strained and tense in the yellow, flickering light of the lanterns.
Some way to his left Tarantio was sitting on a jut of rock, head down and arms on his knees. Forin took a deep, calming breath and walked back among the kneeling crossbow-men. No-one spoke, and the sheen of fear-sweat was bright on every face.
For the second time in an hour Forin strode forward, crossing the cavern floor all the way to the far wall.
Once there, heart pounding, he placed his hand on the rock. This time he could feel the vibration of the Daroth hammers tingling against his palm.
Tarantio looked up as the giant returned, lantern light gleaming on the polished iron breastplate. 'Soon,' whispered Forin.
Where are you, Dace?
There was no response. Tarantio was trembling and terror was growing within him. A splintering thud, louder than before, caused him to jerk as if stung. Rising to his feet, he found his legs unsteady and was filled with an urge to run from this dark, shadow-haunted place. Even as the thought came to him, a young crossbow-man to the rear dropped his weapon and scrambled back along the paint- marked tunnel.
Other men stirred and Forin moved amongst them, patting a shoulder here, pausing to whisper encouragement there, his colossal presence calming them. He gave the signal to cock the weapons.
Tarantio's mouth was dry, and he thought of Miriac waiting for him back at the house, the bright sunshine streaming through the open windows. If the Daroth were to break through here ... The thought was too awful to entertain.
The edge of a pick-axe smashed through the black rock. The crossbow-men set up their tripods, resting their heavy weapons upon them, aiming at the wall. Vint and Tarantio moved back away from the killing area. Tarantio drew his sword, which shimmered in the lantern light.