The legionnaire headed off into the flame-broken night.
"That's kind of you," said Noran as the pair set off in the opposite direction, towards the centre of camp.
"It's the most I could do," Ullsaard joked. "I do feel partly responsible for your predicament."
"Partly?" Noran's voice rose an octave with incredulity.
"You're the one who decided to flee from the Brotherhood. You could have stayed and explained what happened."
"With everything that's been going on these last couple of days, I panicked, all right? No one in the palace is open to reason and explanation at the moment. And that is your fault."
"More Aalun's than mine. He started all of this."
"And without you going along with him, he wouldn't have dared be so bold."
Ullsaard was too tired to argue any more. When they came to the grand pavilion, Aalun was sitting in Ullsaard's campaign chair dictating a letter to a scribe. He looked up, waved the attendant away and signalled for Ullsaard and Noran to approach. Ullsaard bit back a comment about being invited into his own home and took up a stool in front of the prince. Noran did the same and briefly recounted what he had told Ullsaard. Aalun looked at Noran with sympathy.
"My father's unreasonableness about this whole affair is beyond comprehension," said the prince.
"You don't understand your father's 'unreasonableness', not yet, Prince," replied Noran. He looked at Ullsaard. "He has instructed the Brotherhood to declare you traitor to the empire. I heard about the trouble you had trying to leave. Now the Brothers are dragging your name through the dirt across the city, from the hill to the goat quarter."
Ullsaard absorbed this without comment and Noran continued.
"On top of that, messages were sent to Nemtun more than a week ago. He has gathered two legions from Okhar, will pick up another in Nalanor and is marching here right now."
"More than a week ago?" said Aalun. "That's before Ullsaard even entered Askhor."
"Someone must have sent word," said Ullsaard. "I kept from the main routes, but you can't avoid everybody when you're marching with that many men."
"It's a rare rumour that travels faster than a legion," said Aalun. "And when it arrived, I heard nothing of it."
"Probably the Brotherhood again," said Noran. "Some reckon they used trained crows to carry messages between the precincts."
"It doesn't matter," said Ullsaard. "Nemtun surely knows he can't threaten us with two less legions, and untested ones at that."
"That's the other bad news," said Noran. "I spoke to a clerk in the treasury, who confided in me a letter sent to Kulrua in Maasra. It authorised the governor to release monies from the imperial vaults for the hiring of Nemurian mercenaries."
"How much money?" asked Aalun.
"At the going rate, enough for five thousand at least."
Ullsaard let out an explosive breath of air.
"Five thousand Nemurians? Nemtun needn't bother with his legions."
"But they'll take time to get here," said Aalun. "Nemtun will probably be trying to keep us here until the mercenaries arrive."
"I don't think I've ever heard of so many Nemurians in one place," said Ullsaard, unable to shake the picture of rank upon rank of massive dark-scaled bodies clad in iron armour. A nervous tingle ran down at his back at the prospect of facing such a force. "Best that we don't allow Nemtun to trap us."
Aalun called for the servants — borrowed from Ullsaard — to bring in more lamps while he delved around in his chest of scrolls and parchments. He produced three maps and laid them out on the rugs. One showed Narun and most of Nalanor; another covered more of Nalanor and the lands to duskwards; the third was a broad map of Greater Askhor as a whole. The three of them knelt down beside the broad sheets.
"So, once we get past the Wall, where do we go?" the prince asked.
"Wait a moment, that's a big assumption," said Ullsaard. "It seems to me that the men at the Wall were given orders to let us in, so that we would be trapped in Askhor. Getting out might not be a foregone conclusion."
"In which case we might as well not bother planning any further," said Aalun. "Just humour me, Ullsaard."
"Couldn't we head dawnwards to the coast and take ships instead?" asked Noran.
"Maybe we could," replied Ullsaard. "Getting the other thirty thousand men transport would be nearly impossible. We would need at least four hundred ships. We could start building right now and they wouldn't be done before the Nemurians show up. No, if we're going anywhere, it's through the Wall."
Aalun looked at the other two men, his expression asking whether they had finished interrupting. He pulled the Narun map to the top of the pile.
"The Greenwater is our next big obstacle," the prince said. "If Nemtun keeps to the duskward bank, he could contest any crossing we make. Our numbers would not count for much in that case."
"Narun's the worst place to cross, no matter what Nemtun decides to do," said Ullsaard. He retrieved the Nalanor map and spread it out in front of the prince. "We turn coldwards once we're outside the Wall. Head into the foothills. The river's faster there but not so wide. The autumn floodwaters won't start for another thirty days at least, so we should find safe crossing. Also, that puts us even further away from Nemtun, who'll be coming up the river from hotwards."
Noran and Aalun both nodded in agreement.
"What then?" asked Noran. "We can't stay in Nalanor. Head duskwards into Anrair, or Ersua?"
"Enair," said Ullsaard.
"You just want to go home," Noran said. "There's barely anything up there."
"Exactly," said Aalun, smiling at Ullsaard. "We need a sanctuary over the winter. Nemtun won't be able to chase us too far into Enair before the weather turns really bad. And the king won't want to pay the Nemurians for the whole winter. If we go to Enair, what do you think Nemtun will do?"
Ullsaard looked at the map, and located a small town on the intersection of the borders of Nalanor, Ersua and Anrair.
"He'll make winter quarters at Parmia," the general decided. "There's enough forage, not too far from supplies along the Greenwater, and he's placed to move in any direction come the spring."
"You know Enair better than any of us," said Aalun. "Where would you stay out the winter?"
"As far duskwards and hotwards as possible without being too close to Parmia. Somewhere near the coast."
Aalun pored over the map, his finger tracing the duskward coastline of Enair down to the Ersuan Mountains. "What about this place? Luurastin?"
Ullsaard shrugged.
"As good as any. Fishing town. No problem with food, woods in the nearby foothills for timber. Not a lot of livestock around there, we'd have to slaughter the kolubrids; can't feed them grass or grain."
"Anything else?" asked Noran. "You seem rather pleased."
"I raised most of the Thirteenth from that area. A lot of them still have family there. We can disband the legion over the winter and muster them again just before spring breaks. We could probably do the same with some of the Fifth and Tenth, as long as they don't go too far dawnwards."
Aalun straightened, his face serious.
"I have to ask you this again, Ullsaard: will your legions follow us? It is one thing for them to abandon Mekha, another for them to march into exile."
"Well, I won't tell them we're marching into exile, will I?" Ullsaard replied. "I'll tell them we're going to Enair to raise another legion ready for the Salphorian campaign."
"You would lie to your men like that?" said Aalun. "What will happen when they find out the truth?"
"Winter is a long time, Prince," Ullsaard replied as he stood up. "A lot can happen. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. For the moment we have two things to plan for. First, getting past the Wall. Secondly, the march to Enair. I suggest that we spend tomorrow preparing for the first. Then set out the day after. The quicker we can be on our way, the less chance of running into trouble with Nemtun."