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'Dardalion told me that was the plan. Kaem had promised Degas that the men would be unharmed; it was a foul lie and exactly what you would expect from Kaem, but Degas was too weary to see it.'

'Speaking of weariness,' said Gellan, 'having spent more than ten hours burrowing through rock below the dungeons, I am feeling a little weary myself.'

Karnak thumped him hard between the shoulder-blades. 'Your men worked well, Gellan. The Gods only know what would have happened had we arrived an hour later. Still, it is good to know we are riding a lucky horse, eh?'

'Lucky, general? We have burrowed our way into a besieged fortress and have angered the most powerful general on the continent. Tell me what's lucky.'

Karnak chuckled. 'He was the most powerful general on the continent, but he suffered today. He was humiliated. That won't help him; it will open a little tear in his cloak of invincibility.'

Jonat stalked the wall shouting at the fifty men under his command. They had been disgraced that morning, breaking in panic as the Vagrians cleared the wall beside the gate tower. With ten swordsmen, Jonat had rushed in to plug the gap and by some miracle the rangy, black-bearded Legion rider had escaped injury though six of his comrades had died beside him. Karnak had seen the danger and run to Jonat's aid, swinging a huge double-headed battle-axe, followed by a hundred fighting men. The battle by the gate tower was brief and bloody, and by the end of it the men of Jonat's section had returned to the fighting.

Now, with dusk upon them and the sun sinking in fire, Jonat lashed them with his tongue. Beyond his anger the tall warrior knew the cause of their panic, even understood it. Half the men were Legion warriors, half were conscripted farmers and merchants. The warriors did not trust the farmers to stand firm, while the farmers felt out of their depth and lost within the mad hell of slashing swords and frenzied screams.

What was worse, it had been the warriors who had broken.

'Look around you,' shouted Jonat, aware that other soldiers were watching the scene. 'What do you see? A fortress of stone? It is not as it appears – it is a castle built of sand and the Vagrians lash at it like an angry sea. It stands only so long as the sand binds together. You understand that, you dolts? Today you fled in terror and the Vagrians breached the wall. Had it not been retaken swiftly they would have flowed into the courtyard behind the gates and the fortress would have become a giant tomb.

'Can you not get it through your heads that there is nowhere to run? We fight or we die.

'Six men died beside me today. Good men – better men than you. You think of them tomorrow when you want to run.'

One of the men, a young merchant, hawked and spat. 'I did not ask to be here,' he said bitterly.

'Did you say something, rabbit?' hissed Jonat.

'You heard me.'

'Yes, I heard you. And I watched you today, sprinting away from the wall like your backside was on fire.'

'I was trying to catch up with your Legion soldiers,' snapped the man. 'They were leading the retreat.' An angry murmur greeted his words, but this fell to silence as a tall man moved along the battlements. He placed his hand on Jonat's shoulder and smiled apologetically.

'May I say a few words, Jonat?'

'Of course, sir.'

The officer squatted down amongst the men and removed his helm. His eyes were grey-blue and showed the weariness of six days and nights of bitter struggle. He rubbed at them wearily, then looked up at the young merchant.

'What is your name, my friend?'

'Andric,' replied the man suspiciously.

'I am Gellan. What Jonat said about a castle of sand was a truth to remember and was well put. Each one of you here is vital. Panic is a plague which can turn a battle, but so is courage. When Jonat led that suicidal counter-charge with only ten men, you all responded. You came back – I think you are the stronger for it. Beyond these walls is an enemy of true malevolence, who has butchered his way across Drenai lands slaying rnen, women and children. He is like rabid animal. But he stops here, for Dros Purdol is the leash around the mad dog's neck and Egel will be the lance that destroys him. Now I am not one for speeches, as Jonat here will testify, but I would like us all to be brothers here, for we are all Drenai and, in reality, we are the last hope of the Drenai race. If we cannot stand together on these walls, then we do not deserve to survive.

'Now look around you and if you see a face you do not recognise, ask a name. You have a few hours before the next attack. Use them to get to know your brothers.'

Gellan pushed himself to his feet, replaced his helm and moved away into the gathering darkness, taking Jonat with him.

'That there is a gentleman,' said Vanek, leaning his back to the wall and loosening the chin-strap of his helm. One of the ten to fight beside Jonat, he too had come through without a scratch, though his helm had been dented in two places and now sat awkwardly on his head. 'You listen to what he said – you take it in like it was written on tablets of stone. For those of you "brothers" who don't know me –my name is Vanek. Now I am a lucky bastard and anyone who feels like living ought to stay close to me. Anyone who feels like running tomorrow can run in my direction, because I am not going through those two speeches again.'

'You think we can really hold this place, Vanek?' asked Andric, moving over to sit beside him. 'All day ships have been arriving, bringing more Vagrians, and now they're building a siege tower.'

'I suppose it keeps them busy,' answered Vanek. 'As for the men, where do you think they are coming from? The more we face here, the less there are of them elsewhere. In short, brother Andric, we are bringing them together like pus in a boil. You think Karnak would have come here if he thought we could lose? The man's a political whoreson. Purdol is a stepping-stone to glory.'

'That's a little unfair,' said a lantern-jawed soldier with deep-set eyes.

'Maybe it is, brother Dagon, but I speak as I see. Do not misunderstand me – I respect the man, I'd even vote for him. But he's not like us; he has the mark of greatness on him and he put it there himself, if you understand me.'

'I don't,' said Dagon. 'As far as I can see he's a great warrior and he's fighting for the Drenai same as me.'

'Then let's leave it at that,' said Vanek, smiling. 'We both agree he's a great warrior, and brothers like us shouldn't quarrel.'

Above them in the gate tower Karnak, Dundas and Gellan sat under the new stars and listened to the conversation. Karnak was grinning broadly as he signalled Gellan to the other side of the ramparts where their talk could not be overheard.

'Intelligent man, that Vanek,' said Karnak softly, his eyes locked on Gellan's face.

Gellan grinned. 'Yes, he is, sir. Except for women!'

'There isn't a man alive who knows how to deal with women,' said Karnak. 'I should know – I have been married three times and never learned a damned thing.'

'Does Vanek worry you, sir?'

Karnak's eyes narrowed, but there was a glint of humour in them. 'And if he does?'

'If he did, you wouldn't be a man I follow.'

'Well put. I like a man who stands by his own. Do you share his views?'

'Of course, but then so do you. There are no saga-poet heroes. Each man has his own reason for being prepared to die, and most of the reasons are selfish – like protecting wife, home or self. You have bigger dreams than most men, general; there's no harm in that.'

'I am glad you think so,' said Karnak, an edge of sarcasm in his voice.

'When you do not want to hear the truth, sir, let me know. I can lie as glibly as any man.'

'The truth is a dangerous weapon. Gellan. For some it is like sweet wine, for others it is poison, yet it remains the same. Go and get some sleep – you look exhausted, man.'