‘We should have bows enough,’ the captain replied. ‘As for armour, any man who gets so much as a padded jerkin can count himself lucky. If those Sumnians get close, we’re fucked.’
‘I don’t intend that they get close,’ said Barandas.
‘Commandant,’ gasped a breathless voice behind him. It was the young officer he had spoken with earlier.
‘Yes?’
‘I bring news from the city. Marshal Halendorf passed away during the night.’
‘Passed away?’ Barandas repeated slowly, as if the words had been spoken in a language he did not understand.
‘Yes, Commandant. One of his servants found him dead in his bed, blood all over the sheets. It seems that he… coughed up his innards.’
‘I was led to understand he had a bad case of acid.’
‘What devilry is this?’ Bracka demanded. ‘The Marshal was fine last time I saw him. Just a bit under the weather.’
Barandas turned to the captain. ‘Finish overseeing the disbanding of the camp. I must speak with our lord immediately.’ He spun around and marched back towards the eastern gate, wondering what other news this day would bring.
‘You will continue as before. The army is yours to lead now, Supreme Augmentor.’
Barandas blinked and cleared his throat. ‘But, my lord… what about my other duties? I am sworn to protect you.’
Salazar pursed his lips. Grand Magistrate Timerus watched on, the only other man in the room. They were in the Magelord’s private chamber on the Obelisk’s sixth floor. The chair to Salazar’s right was empty — the chair normally occupied by Halendorf’s fleshy arse when the Tyrant of Dorminia demanded an audience. Barandas recalled the Marshal’s look of satisfaction when he had been summoned following Shadowport’s destruction. That seemed like a lifetime ago now.
‘I am quite capable of protecting myself,’ the Magelord said. ‘You and your Augmentors will be needed to defend the gates. Dorminia’s walls might halt the Sumnian mercenaries for a time. They will pose little obstacle to the White Lady’s servants.’
‘As you command, my lord.’ Barandas hesitated. ‘I would have Thurbal posted here, just as a precaution. With your permission, of course.’
Salazar narrowed his eyes. ‘You are persistent, Supreme Augmentor.’
‘I care only for your safety, my lord.’
The Tyrant of Dorminia sat back in his throne and sighed. ‘Very well. Now, you must take your leave. The Sumnians will arrive before the moon is in the sky. You have much to do.’
‘Yes, my lord.’ Barandas hesitated again. ‘Do we know what befell Marshal Halendorf? He is not the first man to meet such an end these last couple of months.’
This time it was Timerus who answered. ‘I had the corpse delivered to one of the finest physicians in the city. It will be examined for signs of anything unusual. It is not a matter with which to concern yourself, Supreme Augmentor.’
‘As you say.’ With a final bow to Salazar, Barandas departed the chamber. There was something odd about Halendorf’s untimely death, but for now he had too many things demanding his attention. He wondered if he had time to pay Lena a brief visit before departing the Noble Quarter for the western gate.
With a great sense of regret, he decided he did not.
The grey granite wall of Dorminia rose to three times the height of a man, surrounding the city on all sides save for the south, where the harbour formed a natural barrier. The wall was three feet thick at its weakest point and could withstand all but the heaviest assault from ballista or trebuchet.
Barandas climbed the rough stone steps leading up to the gatehouse that overlooked the city’s western entrance. Battlements ran down the length of the wall on both sides, with a narrow walkway providing just enough room for an archer to snipe at enemies from behind the relative safety of the merlons. The militia’s training had mostly centred on the longbow. Barandas was confident he had enough men to drown their assailants in a storm of arrows if they were foolish enough to launch a head-on assault.
They won’t be, he realized grimly. These Sumnians are expert soldiers, veterans at laying siege to towns and cities. They will have a great many tricks up their sleeves.
Fortunately, he too had a secret weapon.
The Halfmage was on the gatehouse’s parapet, staring out through the crenellated wall at the western horizon. The sun was already beginning to sink, and though the approaching army was not yet within sight it was only a matter of time before their aggressors arrived and the siege would begin in earnest.
The man seated on the strange contraption looked up, a troubled expression on his face. ‘Supreme Augmentor,’ he said with a smile that appeared not the least bit genuine. ‘Or rather, should that be Marshal? I believe congratulations are in order.’
‘Supreme Augmentor will suffice,’ Barandas replied. ‘Do you have everything you require?’
‘I could use a bottle or two of his lordship’s best wine and a whore to keep me entertained while we wait. No? In that case I am as content as a pig in shit.’
Barandas moved to stand beside the wizard. He was a somewhat bizarre sight, in truth: a scholarly-looking man of a similar age to him, dressed in outlandish green robes that seemed to accentuate his missing legs. Barandas had felt sorry for the wizard, at least at first, but the man’s sarcastic manner and constant barbs made him unpleasant to be around.
‘You do realize I am to magic as a eunuch is to an orgy, or dear Chancellor Ardling is to the art of witty banter. If you’re expecting me to eviscerate our enemies in clouds of spattering gore, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.’
‘I am aware of your limitations. You are to concentrate on destroying any siege weapon that gets close enough to launch an attack. In this weather they will spark like kindling.’
‘It might have escaped your attention, but there is only one of me…’ The mage paused for a moment. ‘That is to say, there is only half of me, and yet there are two gates to defend. And what if they attack from the north?’
‘They will not,’ Barandas replied. He had discussed this with the four captains. The Redbelly River flowed into the city on the northern side from where it wound down from the Demonfire Hills. The only way the invading force could enter Dorminia from that direction was by scaling the walls or sailing down the waterway. The Sumnians had no boats. Several of Dorminia’s surviving warships now patrolled the spot where the river entered the city, their artillery ready to blast apart anyone foolish enough to get close and attempt a breach.
‘Lord Salazar will support the eastern wall,’ Barandas added. ‘The Obelisk provides the ideal vantage point from which to observe an approach on that side of the city. Our master may be weakened, but he remains formidable.’
‘Yes. I am aware.’
The two men said nothing for a time. Barandas could hear the Crimson Watch trying to maintain order on the streets below. The bellmen were already doing the rounds, informing the citizenry that a hostile force was approaching and advising those not involved in the fighting to remain indoors.
He glanced down at the wizard. ‘My wife is pregnant,’ he said. He had no idea where the words came from or why he decided to break the news to this strange fellow of all people, but they tumbled out before he could stop them.
The Halfmage looked at him with a blank expression. Then he laughed. It was a horrible sound, like a dying man gasping for breath. Finally he quietened, wiping tears from his eyes and snot from his chin. ‘First Supreme Augmentor. Then Marshal. Now soon to be a father? Do you want me to shake your hand? Give you a manly embrace? I would offer you a gift as is the custom, but I am certain there is nothing one so blessed as you does not already possess.’
‘I want nothing from you. It was foolish of me to expect any empathy from a hateful-’