Sovereign

When the sun rose Dekelon found the Amanite in the same spot. 'Are you alright?' he asked.

Amemun stared at him for a moment as if he did not know where he was. 'Yes,' he said eventually. 'Do you think we will find another clan tonight?'

Dekelon shrugged. 'I do not think so. They are rarely so close together.'

'The night after?'

'It is possible.'

'Good.' He bent over to pick up the sabre, admired its long, steel hardness. The body of a Chett warrior lay a few paces from him and he went over to it. An old man's face stared up into his own, blood caked around his eyes and mouth. For a second Amemun thought he was looking in a mirror. The thought seemed funny to him and he laughed as he undid the dead man's sword belt and sheath and strapped it around himself.

'I like this sabre,' he told Dekelon, and sheathed the sabre.

'You'll have a great need of it in the weeks to come.'

'Did any of the enemy escape?'

'I don't think so.'

Amemun nodded. He looked inside himself again. The pain was a little less, but it would need a great deal more blood before it went altogether.

CHAPTER 12

Ager was dreaming about the sea. After the Slaver War and before meeting Lynan he had worked on merchant ships as a supply clerk and purser. There was a great deal about ship life he did not miss—the food and drink, the storms and smell of bilge water—but there were some things he missed a great deal. In his dream he was lying on the aft deck of a small trader sailing a calm sea under a brilliant night sky. He could hear the sail flap gently with each caught breeze, the creak of the mast and yardarm, the tugging of the sheets. He could smell the ocean, the salty tang of life in the deep, and warm tar. He could see so many stars he knew he could not count them all in a lifetime. He felt each gust as it caressed his skin, stroking him to sleep, and his own breathing slowly timed itself with the gentle movement of the ship as it rocked with the swell. And then he opened his eyes and it was all changed. He was lying at the top of a small rise on the Oceans of Grass, and above him was the clearest blue sky he had ever seen. He could smell the musty earth, still damp with rain, and the clean scent of wild horses. He could see tall grass waving with each movement in the air, and high above a single eagle soaring and sliding, using its wing tips like rudders. He felt his body fold along the ground, and from deep in the earth the gentle rumble of a herd moving far away.

Part of him was wondering where he would be taken next when he was shaken awake. He sat up and turned to Morfast to ask what she thought she was doing, but she was still fast asleep. He looked the other way and saw Lynan's face staring at him in the darkness. It had a strange luminous quality, and in that place between dream and reality it seemed oddly appropriate.

'I'm sorry for waking you,' Lynan said.

'What's wrong?'

'I need you to come with me. There is no need to disturb Morfast.'

Ager dressed quickly and followed Lynan out of the tent. It was still dark. 'What time is it?'

'It will be dawn soon. I want you to see something.'

Lynan mounted his horse and held out to Ager the reins of his own mount, already saddled. Together they rode east then south to the Barda River. 'I was here earlier this evening,' Lynan told him. 'I thought I saw something in the walls, but I need you to tell me whether or not it is important.'

'You need a sapper,' Ager said.

'You were involved in sieges in the Slaver War.'

'One or two, but you still need a sapper.'

'You know how to set a siege?'

'I've taken part in sieges, Lynan, not directed them.'

'But you know the basics,' Lynan insisted. 'You saw others do it.'

'I suppose so.'

'I need someone to direct the sappers and infantry we brought with us from Haxus.'

Ager grinned. 'I wondered when you'd be getting around to that. You don't trust the Haxan officers?'

'Not yet,' Lynan admitted.

They were near the river now. They could hear water lap against the banks.

'And I will need to know how it is done,' Lynan continued. 'There may be many more cities to besiege.'

A terrible vision flashed in Ager's mind of burning cities dotting the continent of Theare like the stars in the night sky in his dream of the sea. A shiver passed down his spine.

A tip of light showed on the eastern horizon.

'Now!' Lynan warned. 'Watch the line of the north wall!'

Ager peered with his one eye along the wall, and as the sun rose it cast long shadows along its length. But not all the shadows were straight.

'God, it's uneven!' Ager cried.

'That's what I thought,' Lynan said excitedly. 'They must have hurried to repair damage done by Salokan. Part of the wall carries too much weight.'

Ager looked crossly at Lynan. 'If you know so much about it, why don't you personally command the engineers?'

'Last night when I was here I saw you had set archers along the bank to intercept any river traffic. I know I should have thought of that, but I did not. I don't have your experience. What I know about besieging walled cities I gleaned from books. What you know about besieging cities you've gained from experience. I know the difference.'

Ager grunted but did not disagree. He felt foolish for questioning Lynan. He always seemed to have an answer ready these days. Once, of course, he did not, and he had relied on Kumul and Ager for advice; to Ager that time seemed an aeon ago, now.

But that is what he is doing now, he reminded himself, and felt doubly foolish.

'Of course, the north wall is the one with the main gate in it,' Ager said. 'That means it will have the heaviest defences.'

'We will have to think of ways to weaken them.'

'They will have to be very convincing ways to fool Charion, I think.'

'You mean costly,' Lynan said.

Ager nodded. 'That's the problem with diversionary assaults. They have to have a genuine chance of breaking through to get an enemy to take them seriously.'

Half the sun was over the horizon and the shadows along the north wall were beginning to distort.

'It is time we returned,' Lynan said. They started riding back to camp. 'Eynon feels he has a great deal to prove.'

'Yes, he feels he missed out on…' Ager's voice dropped and he reined back, but Lynan let his horse walk on. 'You're going to give him command of the diversionary attack, aren't you?'

'I have to show my trust in him,' Lynan said over his shoulder.

Ager spurred his horse and caught up with the prince, 'The fact that he is Korigan's main rival has nothing to do with it, of course.'

'Of course,' Lynan replied. Before Ager could say anything more, he added: 'Someone has to command it. Someone's followers have to make the sacrifice.'

'I understand,' Ager said sarcastically.

'No, Ager, you do not understand,' Lynan said, looking at him. Ager could not meet that gaze. 'You not understand at all.'

Lasthear threw a handful of powder onto a small fire. Brightly coloured sparks flew into the air. Jenrosa surprised herself by laughing.

'What magik is this?' she asked.

Lasthear laughed with her. 'No magik.' She opened her palm, and Jenrosa saw small particles of glittering powder caught between the folds of her skin. 'These are metal scrapings. Copper, tin, that sort of thing. It amuses children.' She produced a small pouch and tipped some of the contents into Jenrosa's hand. Jenrosa threw it onto the fire, and more sparks whooshed up between them.

Jenrosa laughed even harder. 'The lesson being that I am a child?'