get a decent moon tonight, my archers can make camping right under our
wall very expensive for him.”
“Save your arrows,” I told him.
“There’ll be plenty of targets when the sun comes up.”
“We’ve got lots of arrows, Belgarath. Mandor here’s got Mimbrate
fletchers turning them out for us by the barrelful.”
“I did note that Asturian arrows are much longer than ours by reason of
the extreme length of the Asturian bow.” Mandor noted, shifting his
armor.
“Since we are temporarily allies, it seemed to me provident to give our
friends an ample supply.”
“Isn’t he a nice boy?” Wildantor said outrageously, flashing his
friend that infectious grin of his.
Mandor laughed. The impudent young redhead seemed to charm him to the
point that he was willing to lay aside two eons of hereditary enmity. I
approved of that. Their friendship was a good sign of things to
come.
“You gentlemen might as well get some sleep,” I told them.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.” Then I left them and went on down
to my room.
Polgara was sitting by the fire waiting for me.
“Where have you been?” she asked me.
I shrugged.
“Having a look at the defenses.”
“The Mimbrates have been preparing for a siege of this city for over
two thousand years, father. They know what they’re doing. I’m going
to be gone for a look around.”
“Be careful out there.”
“Of course. Are you going to bed?”
“Why bother? I’m not going to be able to sleep. I want to talk with
Beldin anyway. Don’t be out all night.” How many fathers have ever
said that?
She nodded a bit distantly, and then she left.
“Beldin,” I sent out the thought, “are you making any progress?”
“We’re at Tol Honeth,” he replied.
“We’ll start down-river in the morning. How are things going there?”
“We managed to delay Torak. We’re inside the city now. I expect he’ll
try to pay us a call first thing in the morning. Are you going to make
it in time?”
“It shouldn’t be any problem. It’s only forty leagues down the river
and another forty to Tol Vordue. We should reach the mouth of the
River Arend sometime day after tomorrow.”
“You won’t be able to count on a following wind when you start up the
river, you know.”
“Then we’ll row. That’s why oars were invented. Do me a favor and
keep Torak out of Vo Mimbre. We’re working on a tight schedule, so I
won’t have time to take the city back from him. Don’t pester me any
more, Belgarath.
I’m busy.”
I grunted and wandered down the hall to talk with the twins. I didn’t
really have anything important to say to them, but I was feeling edgy,
and I needed some company.
It was well past midnight when Polgara returned.
“He’s bringing up his siege engines,” she informed us.
“Do you think the walls’ll hold?” Beltira asked me.
“Probably,” I replied.
“Vo Mimbre’s not quite as impregnable as the Algarian Stronghold, but
it comes fairly close. I think it’s secure–as long as Torak doesn’t
start getting exotic. He could knock down a mountain if he really
wanted to.”
“That’s forbidden,” Belkira assured me.
“The Necessities have agreed on that point.”
“I think we’re relatively safe on that score, father,” Pol said.
“If Torak were going to knock down mountains, he’d have knocked down
the Stronghold. He hasn’t once been out of that iron pavilion since
his army crossed the land bridge.”
“How do you know that?” I asked her.
“He and Zedar were talking about it this evening, and I was
eavesdropping.”
She smiled faintly.
“I definitely wouldn’t want to be in Urvon’s shoes–or Ctuchik’s.
Torak’s really put out with both of them. He was really counting on
Urvon’s second army. Zedar seems fairly smug, though.
Now that Urvon and Ctuchik are in disfavor, he’s the cock of the
walk.”
She paused reflectively.
“I think we’ll have to keep an eye on Zedar, father. Torak might abide
by the prohibition, but Zedar might not. If things start going badly,
Zedar’s probably going to break a few rules.”
“My brother and I’ll keep an eye on him,” Beltira promised.
“What else were the two of them talking about?” I asked Pol.
“Their instructions, for the most part,” she replied.
“Evidently the Ashabine Oracles gave Torak far more in the way of
details than the Mrin Codex gives us. He knows that Eldrig’s bringing
the legions, for example, and he knows that there’s not a great deal he
can do about it. He also knows that the event’s going to take place in
three days. He’s known about that for a long time now. He doesn’t
really want to meet Brand.
Apparently there’s some bad news for him in the Oracles. When he came
across the land-bridge and gathered up the western Angaraks, there was
no way we could have matched his numbers, but his campaigns in Drasnia
and Algaria and his trek across Ulgoland have cost him at least half
his army. I guess Zedar went out and counted noses. If the legions
get here in time, the numbers are going to be fairly even. At that
point, Torak won’t have any choice but to accept Brand’s challenge.”
“Well, now,” I said, “isn’t that interesting?”
“Don’t start gloating, father. Torak’s ordered Zedar to throw
everything they’ve got at Vo Mimbre here. If they can take the city,
the advantage swings back his way, and he’ll be able to ignore Brand’s
challenge.
Once we go past that third day, we go into an entirely different
EVENT.
Torak knows what it is, but we don’t. He seemed a bit smug about it,
though.”
“That suggests that he’ll win if this goes into the fourth day,”
Belkira said.
“And the corollary to that is that we’ll win if the EVENT takes place
on the third day,” Beltira added. He frowned.
“Did they talk at all about trying to delay the war-boats on their way
upriver, Pol?”
“Zedar suggested it,” she replied, “but Torak said no. He’s not going
to split his forces. He wants Vo Mimbre, and that’s going to take
every man he’s got. How long is it until morning?”
“Three or four hours,” I told her.
“I’ll have time for a bath, then. If you gentlemen will excuse me,
I’ll go see to that.”
The night seemed to drag on forever. I wound up prowling the tops of
the walls and staring out into the darkness. The stars overhead were
very bright, but there was no moon. Poets rhapsodize about starlight,
but you really can’t see very much by it.
Then, after what seemed an eternity, a faint stain of light touched the
eastern horizon. It grew and gradually began to wash out the stars
with its steely luminescence. At first, all I could see on the plain
before the walls of Vo Mimbre were dark masses. Far out on the rim of
Kal Torak’s army, twinkling watch-fires glowed like fireflies. Torak’s
generals had just come through Ulgoland, and the cat-eyed Ulgos made
them nervous.
I joined Mandor and Wildantor on the wall above the massive main gate,
and we waited.
“It looks like we’ll have good weather,” Wildantor observed in that
quiet voice men use when it’s very early in the day.
“If it doth not rain,” Mandor added. I don’t think he was trying to be
funny, but his remark set Wildantor to laughing.
The dawn light grew gradually stronger, and details began to emerge.
The siege engines Pol had mentioned looked very much like large,
spindly black insects with slender limbs; long, arched-back necks; and
small, bucket-shaped heads. They encircled the city about a hundred
and fifty paces out from the walls, and the dark bulky forms of the
Thulls who manned them swarmed around them like clusters of fleas.
Wildantor chuckled.
“Something funny?” I asked him.
“I don’t think the Thulls are going to laugh very much,” he replied.
“They’ve set up their siege engines within bow-shot of the walls.
Thulls seem to have trouble learning from experience, don’t they? When
we were coming down the valley, we were picking them off at half again
that range. Give the word, Belgarath, and I’ll have my archers educate
them some more.”
I considered it.
“Let’s hold off on that,” I decided.
“When they start shooting rocks at us, their assault troops are likely
to start massing up behind the engines. That’s going to impede escape
routes for the Thulls manning the engines and create a great deal of
confusion.”
The sky gradually began to take on some color. It was blue off to the
east above the mountains of Ulgoland now.
“Why do they wait?” Mandor asked.
“Time’s a part of the EVENT, my friend,” I explained.
“Torak’s waiting for a specific moment to begin. The first rock he
throws at us starts the battle, and if he’s off by so much as a second,