‘There is another point,’ said Rek, ‘and one equally important. Sooner or later we will be pushed back from the wall, and despite the fire gullies our losses will be enormous. If we retire during the night, we will save lives.’
‘And let us not forget morale,’ Hogun pointed out. ‘The loss of the wall will hit the Dros badly. If we give it up as a strategic withdrawal, however, we will turn the situation to our advantage.’
‘What of you, Orrin? How do you feel about this?’ asked Rek.
‘We have about five hours. Let’s get it started,’ answered the Gan.
Rek turned lastly to Druss. ‘And you?’
The old man shrugged. ‘Sounds good,’ he said.
‘It’s settled then,’ said Rek. ‘I leave you to begin the withdrawal. Now I must meet the Council.’
Throughout the long night the silent retreat continued. Wounded men were carried on stretchers, medical supplies loaded on to hand-carts and personal belongings packed hastily into kitbags. The more seriously injured had long since been removed to the Musif field hospital, and Eldibar barracks had been little used since the siege began.
By dawn’s first ghostly light the last of the men entered the postern gates at Musif and climbed the long winding stairways to the battlements. Then began the work of rolling boulders and rubble on to the stairs to block the entrances. Men heaved and toiled as the light grew stronger. Finally, sacks of mortar powder were poured onto the rubble and then packed solid into the gaps. Other men with buckets of water doused the mixtures.
‘Given a day,’ said Marie the Builder, ‘that mass will be almost immovable.’
‘Nothing is immovable,’ said his companion. ‘But it will take them weeks to make it passable, and even then the stairways were designed to be defensible.’
‘One way or the other, I shall not see it,’ said Marie. ‘I leave today.’
‘You are early, surely?’ said his friend. ‘Marrissa and I also plan to leave. But not until the fourth wall falls.’
‘First wall, fourth wall, what is the difference? All the more time to put distance between myself and this war. Ventria has need of builders. And their army is strong enough to hold the Nadir for years.’
‘Perhaps. But I will wait.’
‘Don’t wait too long, my friend,’ said Marie.
Back at the Keep, Rek lay staring at the ornate ceiling. The bed was comfortable and Virae’s naked form nestled into him, her head resting on his shoulder. The meeting had finished two hours since and he could not sleep. His mind was alive with plans, counter-plans and all the myriad problems of a city under siege. The debate had been acrimonious, and pinning down any of those politicians was like threading a needle under water. The consensus opinion was that Delnoch should surrender.
Only the red-faced Lentrian, Malphar, had backed Rek. That oily serpent, Shinell, had offered to lead a ‘delegation to Ulric personally. And what of Beric, who felt himself tricked by fate in that his bloodline had been rulers of Delnoch for centuries, yet he had lost out by being a second son? Bitterness was deep within him. The lawyer, Backda, had said little, but his words were acid when they came.
‘You seek to stop the sea with a leaking bucket.’
Rek had struggled to hold his temper. He had not seen any of them standing on the battlements with sword in hand. Nor would they. Horeb had a saying that matched these men:
‘In any broth, the scum always rises to the top.’
He had thanked them for their counsel and agreed to meet in five days’ time to answer their proposals.
Virae stirred beside him. Her arm moved the coverlet, exposing a rounded breast. Rek smiled, and for the first time in days thought about something other than war.
*
Bowman and a thousand archers stood on the ramparts of Eldibar watching the Nadir mass for the charge. Arrows were loosely notched to the string, hats tilted at a jaunty angle to keep the right eye in shadow against the rising sun.
The horde screamed their hatred and surged forward.
Bowman waited. He licked his dry lips.