but they aren’t. Zedar, Urvon, and Ctuchik hate each other with a
passion that’s almost holy. Zedar was having a great deal of trouble
keeping his gloating under control while he was talking with Torak.
Urvon and Ctuchik are currently in disfavor, and that makes Zedar
the cock of the walk. He’s going to try to consolidate that by
delivering Vo Mimbre to Torak in one day. He’ll throw everything
he’s got at us tomorrow. Torak might abide by the prohibitions laid
down by the Necessities, but I don’t think we can be sure that Zedar
won’t break the rules.’
‘That’s the story of Zedar’s life, Pol,’ father grunted sourly. ‘He’s
made a career out of breaking the rules. What else were the two of
them talking about?’
‘Their instructions, for the most part. Evidently the Ashabine
Oracles gave Torak far more in the way of details than the Mrin
Codex gives us. The third day of this little confrontation’s going to
be very important, father. The legions absolutely must be here,
because their presence will force Torak to accept Brand’s challenge.’
His eyes brightened. ‘Well, now,’ he said. ‘Isn’t that interesting?,
‘Don’t start gloating, father. Torak’s ordered Zedar to throw
everything they’ve got at Vo Mimbre. If they can take the city, the
advantage swings back to them. Once we go past that third day,
we’ll be looking at an entirely different EVENT, and we don’t want
that at all.’
‘Are they going to try to delay Eldrig’s war-boats?’ Beltira asked.
‘Zedar suggested it, but Torak said no. He doesn’t want to split
his forces. How long is it until morning?’
‘Three or four hours,’ father replied.
‘I’ll have time for a bath, then.’
Father rolled his eyes toward the ceiling.
Dawn stained the sky off to the west, but Zedar was obviously
waiting for specific instructions before launching his attack. Then,
as the rim of the sun peeped up over the Ulgo mountains, a
hornblast came from the iron pavilion, and Zedar’s siege engines, all in
unison, whipped forward to hurl a huge shower of rocks upon the
city, and that began the battle of Vo Mimbre.
There was the usual adjusting of the catapults until the rocks were
all hitting the walls instead of being scattered all over the city. Then
things settled down into the tedious thudding of rocks smashing
into the walls.
We could clearly see the Angarak troops massing at some distance
behind the catapults. Still father waited. Then, about mid-morning,
he ordered Wildantor to respond. The Asturian archers raised their
bows and loosed their arrows in unison. The hail-storm of
steeltipped arrows fell onto the Thulls manning the siege-engines, and
the bombardment of the walls stopped instantly. The surviving
Thulls fled back into the teeth of the massed Angaraks, leaving their
siege-engines unmanned and unprotected.
That was when Mandor signaled his mounted knights at the north
gate. The gate opened, and the knights charged out, armed wit”
battle axes rather than lances. When they returned, Zedar’s
siege engines had all been reduced to kindling-wood.
I found the sound of Torak’s screams of rage and disappointment
rather charming, actually. Evidently the idea that we might retaliate
against his attacks had never occurred to him ~ as his childish
temper-tantrum clearly demonstrated. Had he actually thought that
we’d just meekly hand the city over to him just because he wanted
it? I rather imagine that Zedar’s life hung by a thread at that point.
Desperately, and obviously without thinking, he ordered a frontal
assault on that north gate. The assault melted under a storm of
arrows, and those few Angaraks who reached the walls were
drenched with boiling pitch and then set on fire. The sun went
down, and the first day was over. We were still safely inside the
walls, and Zedar was obliged to return to Torak’s palace to report
his failure. Mother and I both wanted to eavesdrop on that particular
conversation.
As smoky evening settled over Vo Mimbre, mother and I merged
again and flew on silent wings over the wreckage of Angarak to the
place where Torak’s rusty palace stood.
‘Methinks I have erred, Zedar,’Torak was saying ominously when
we wriggled through our favorite little window. ‘An Angarak
disciple would not have failed me so miserably this day. Should I
summon Ctuchik or Urvon to replace thee?’
Zedar choked a bit on that. ‘Prithee, Master,’ he begged. ‘Permit
me to redeem myself in thine eyes. I do now perceive mine error.
Mine engines were not equal to the task I set them. I shall begin
anew, and by first light shall engines invincible be at mine immediate
disposal. Vo Mimbre is doomed, Master.’
‘Or thou art, Zedar,’ Torak replied in that dreadful, echoing voice
of his. ‘Do that which is necessary to place me inside those golden
walls by nightfall.’
‘Were it not for the restrictions which have been lain upon us,
might I easily accomplish that task, Lord.’
‘The restrictions have been lain upon me, Zedar. They need not
be Of concern to thee.’
Zedar’s eyes brightened. ‘Then I may proceed without fear of the
chastisement of Necessity?’
Thou art commanded to proceed, Zedar. Should that result
in thy chastisement, it is no concern of mine. Take comfort in the fact that
I shall always remember thee fondly when thou art gone, however.
‘but this is war, Zedar, and wars do frequently carry off friends. It
is regrettable, but the attaimnent of a goal doth always take
precedence. Should it come to pass that thou must lay down thy life
so that I may achieve mine ends, so be it.’
The casual indifference of the Dragon-God chilled Zedar’s blood,
I’m sure, and it quite probably rearranged his thinking about just
how important he was in Torak’s view of the world.
Mother and I returned to the city, and once again she told me to
go out and play’ while she continued her surveillance of our
enemies. She wasn’t quite as cold-blooded about it as Torak had
been, but still
Then, even as I was going down the stairs to the throne-room, I
realized that the battle had erased – or pushed into the background
– Torak’s unwholesome lust for me. I was terribly disappointed in
him. A genuine suitor would never have let anything as petty as the
fate of the world distract him from what was supposed to occupy
his every waking thought. I sadly concluded that he probably didn’t
really love me as much as he’d claimed. Sometimes a girl just can’t
depend on anybody to do what’s right.
Everyone was in the throne-room when I entered.
‘What are they up to, Pol?’ father asked. Father’s protests when
I’d told him that I was ‘going out to have a look’ had been vehement,
but his objections hadn’t been quite strong enough to prevent him
from using every scrap of information I’d managed to pick up. I’ve
noticed over the years that men frequently take strong positions
that are mostly for show. Then, having established their towering
nobility, they come back down to earth and take advantage of
whatever turns up.
‘Zedar seems to have fallen out of favor,’ I answered my father’s
question. ‘He was supposed to take Vo Mimbre yesterday, and Torak
was seriously put out with him for his failure.’
‘Torak’s never been noted for his forgiving nature,’ Beltira said.
‘The years haven’t mellowed him very much, uncle.’
‘Were you able to pick up any hints about what we should expect
tomorrow, Pol?’ father pressed.
‘Nothing very specific, Father. Torak himself is going to abide by
the restrictions the Necessities have placed on him, but he as much
as ordered Zedar to ignore them. He did say that he’d be just
brokenhearted if the Necessities should obliterate Zedar for breaking the
rules, but if that’s the way it turns out – ah, well. Zedar seemed to
be quite upset about Torak’s willingness to feed him to the wolves.’
‘I wonder if our brother’s starting to have some regrets about
changing sides yet,’ Belkira said with an almost saintly smile.
‘I rather think that Zedar’s going to follow his Master’s lead in
this,’ I told them. ‘Zedar just adores his own skin, so he’s not likely
to risk it. More probably he’ll order some Grolim priest – or several
Grolim priests – to stick their necks out instead. Grolims are fanatics
anyway, and the notion of dying for their God fills them with
ecstasy.’
‘We could speculate all night about that,’ father said. ‘Just to be
on the safe side, though, we’d better assume that they’ll try it and
that it’ll work. If it doesn’t, fine; if it does, we’d better be ready. We
might as well try to get some sleep now. I think we’ll all need to
be alert tomorrow.’
The conference broke up, but father caught me in the hall
afterward. ‘I think we’d better start repositioning our forces,’ he said.
,I’ll go tell Cho-Ram and Rhodar to start closing up the gap between