be produced by wood, sinew and metal, to be unleashed as required. Such weapons had a resonance, a restrained stillness, like that he felt now in Lord Styrax’s presence. Power hummed through the man and strained at the clamps keeping it in check. The engineer fought down the urge to run, his deepest instincts screaming to be away before such catastrophic force was unleashed.
When Styrax turned away sharply he nearly sagged with relief. His shoulders jerked as he tried to hold back another hiccough, and he flinched as the ugly old sergeant appeared beside him.
Sergeant Deebek clapped him on the shoulder and grinned toothily, about to lead him away, when Lord Styrax spoke again. ‘Engineer, estimate the range of their fire-throwers.’ He pointed to the nearest of Aroth’s two high bastions.
Though no rival to Tor Salan’s defences, the fire-throwers of Aroth were still formidable, if their intelligence was to be believed. From what they knew, when it was fired, it released a curious horizontal main beam that whipped around the entire tower, then disengaged from the powering mechanism and pivoted back to its starting point, leaving the hanging bowl ready to be refilled while the mechanism was swiftly reset.
‘I — That is difficult, my Lord,’ the engineer stammered, ‘the mechanism has magically enhanced sections and we have yet to see it in action.’
‘I understand that. My concern is whether it could be employed against anyone attacking the causeway.’
Aroth was built on the shores of two lakes - a larger one, three miles across, that comprised nearly a quarter of the city’s perimeter, and a smaller body of water that had been artificially created; it was less than a mile wide. Between the two was a narrow belt of land no more than a hundred yards wide that served as the main entrance to the city. This was considered Aroth’s strongest point, and it was heavily defended with artillery-barges, positioned on both lakes, to turn the causeway into a killing ground. Naturally, that was where Lord Styrax had chosen to attack.
‘Would it have the range? Aye, I’d expect so,’ he said after a long while. ‘Whether it could be brought to bear, that’s more the question. They must have a way to tilt and turn it, because it’s covering that entire flank, but it’s one thing to cover half the circle; another entirely to go beyond that.’
‘Especially with that loading system,’ Styrax added, staring at the city. Aroth was set on a slight rise, making the tops of those towers the highest point for fifty miles in either direction, the lakes the lowest. Cultivated fields stretched into the distance on all sides, fertile lands that begged the question of whether King Emin could afford to continue his fighting retreat. Taking Aroth would shore up the Menin Army’s supply-lines and change the complexion of the war — but Styrax had a different plan in mind to change the game here.
‘Most likely they’d need a second reloading station, on the other side,’ the engineer said, swallowing a hiccough.
‘The effort would be worthwhile though,’ Styrax mused, almost to himself. ‘The smaller lake will have far fewer artillery-barges; it’s the weaker flank - unless the fire-thrower can hit its far bank.’
The engineer didn’t argue. He thought it unlikely they would have bothered; the long city wall at the back of Aroth unguarded by water was still the weaker point, and these defences had been designed before King Emin conquered the city. Chances were the builders hadn’t worked through every scenario as the King of Narkang might.
‘Gaur,’ Styrax said over his shoulder, ‘are they all in position?’
‘They are, my Lord. Shall I give the order?’
‘Not yet.’ Styrax set off towards his saddled wyvern. As he put on his whorled black helm the creature snarled and crouched down, hind legs tensing with anticipation as Styrax climbed into the saddle and clipped the silver rings of his dragon-belt to it.
General Gaur advanced towards Styrax, stopping short as the wyvern’s head lifted and its mouth opened hungrily. ‘My Lord, this is not necessary. The Litse white-eyes have already scouted from the air.’
‘Their mages weren’t unduly panicked by the scouts, so another demonstration is in order. It — ’ The white-eye paused and gathered up the wyvern’s long reins. ‘Trust me, my friend.’
With that he tugged hard on the reins and the wyvern unfurled its wings fully, with two half-beats to ready it, then, driving up with its powerful hind legs, it leapt into the air and caught the cool