‘They know.’
‘So they will be hunting me also?’
‘They are already hunting you.’
‘Agreed. But they don’t know where I’m going. If I set off on this quest of yours, they’ll soon find out.’
‘True.’
‘So … there will be Nadir warriors, warrior wizards and Vagrian troops. And if I get through those I have to scale the Sacred Giant, the holiest place on the Steppes, and risk myself in the bowels of a dark mountain. Then I merely have to ride out again, burdened down with half a ton of armour.’
‘Eighty pounds.’
‘Whatever!’
‘There are also the werebeasts who live in the caves of Raboas. They don’t like fire.’
‘That’s comforting,’ said Waylander.
‘So will you go?’
‘I am beginning to understand your comments concerning foolishness,’ said the warrior. ‘But yes, I will go.’
‘Why?’ asked Orien.
‘Does there have to be a reason?’
‘No. But I am curious.’
‘Then let us say it’s in memory of a dog that should not have died.’
6
Dardalion closed his eyes. Danyal was asleep beside the sisters and the young priest released his spirit to the Void. The moon was an eldritch lantern and silver light bathed the vast Sentran Plain, while the forest of Skultik spread like a stain from the Delnoch mountains.
Dardalion hovered below the clouds, his mind free of doubts and cares. Normally when he soared he found himself clothed in shimmering robes of pale blue. But now he was naked and, try as he might, no robes appeared. He didn’t care. In the blink of an astral eye he was garbed in silver armour, a white cloak flowing from his shoulders. By his side hung two silver swords and as he drew them exhilaration flooded him. Far to the west, the camp-fires of a Vagrian army blazed like fallen stars. Dardalion sheathed his swords and flew towards them. More than ten thousand men were camped in the foothills of the Skoda mountains. Eight hundred tents lined the area in ranks of four and a wooden corral had been hastily erected for two thousand horses. Cattle grazed on the mountainside and a sheep-pen had been built beside a fast-moving stream.
Dardalion moved south over rivers and plains, hills and forests. A second Vagrian force was camped outside Drenan – no fewer than thirty thousand men and twenty thousand horses. The city gates of oak and bronze had been sundered, and no citizens could be seen within its walls. To the east of the city a vast trench had been carved from the earth and Dardalion swooped towards it – then veered away, repulsed. The trench was filled with bodies. Two hundred yards in length and six yards wide, the enormous grave housed more than a thousand corpses. Not one wore the armour of a soldier. Steeling himself, Dardalion returned to the trench.
It was over ten feet deep.
Returning to the night sky, the priest headed east where a Vagrian army was waiting on the borders of Lentria. The Lentrian force, only two thousand strong, was camped within a mile, waiting grimly for the invasion. North travelled Dardalion, following the line of the sea until he reached the eastern valleys and finally the sea citadel of Purdol. By torchlight the battle for Purdol was still being waged. The Drenai fleet was sunk in the harbour mouth and the Vagrian army camped in the area of the docks. The fortress of Purdol, manned by six thousand Drenai warriors, was holding back a Vagrian force of more than forty thousand led by Kaem, the Prince of War.
Here, for the first time, the Vagrians were facing a setback.
With no siege engines they could not storm the thirty-foot walls, and were relying on ladders and ropes. They were dying in their hundreds.
Dardalion soared to the west until he reached Skultik, the forest of dark legend. It was immense, thousands of square miles of trees, clearings, hills and valleys. Three towns – one verging on city status – had been built within the forest: Tonis, Preafa and Skarta. To the last of these flew Dardalion.
Here Egel was camped with four thousand Legion warriors. As Dardalion neared the clearing he felt the presence of another mind and his swords flashed into his hand. Before him hovered a slender man in the blue robes of the Source priest.