not face us alone, but with reluctant, fearful allies.’
The king gestured at the faces arrayed below him. ‘The blessed of the War God march on us, yet I see no fear on your faces. They have hurt us, they have razed our towns and murdered our countrymen, yet still I do not see fear. Instead I see a people of one mind, a people of one unstoppable resolve!
‘Together, brothers, we will show them the quality they fear, the true strength of the nation that eclipses them! This day I leave the field as King of Narkang, or not at all, and as a watchman once laid his life down for his wife and children, so shall I, if the Gods demand it!
‘We are steel, tempered in the flames of their disdain. On steel, their ancient bronze will break. Tomorrow we will pity them, for their time is done, but today we will show them only our rage!
‘Rage for the innocents they have slain. Rage for the threat to those we hold dear. Face them, my brothers - face them and show them the strength of free men!’
CHAPTER 36
‘Where is that novice-fucking cripple?’ bellowed a voice from somewhere behind. ‘Osh! Where are you, you cockless relic?’
Hambalay Osh stifled a smile and turned stiffly. He had positioned himself on a small rise, the better to view the troops under his command, and from there he could see a figure forcing its way through the crowd of soldiers. The Mystic of Karkarn was today dressed in a long red robe with bronze-coloured braiding, and a bronze helm covered the grey stubble on his head and cheeks. A long shield rested against his left side, partially hiding the metal brace that encased his leg.
‘Daken!’ he called as the white-eye barged through the assembled soldiers, knocking one infantryman to the ground in the process.
‘That’s fucking General Daken to you,’ the man roared cheerfully, grinning in anticipation of the battle to come. He grabbed the ageing mystic in a bearhug, chuckling madly. ‘Still upright, then?’
Osh gestured to his ruined knee - after escaping the Ruby Tower in Byora, with a little help from the Brotherhood, the mage, Tomal Endine, had healed the injury as best he could, but Osh still need the brace to stop the knee collapsing underneath him. ‘Until you give me a good shove anyway.’
Daken did just that, thumping Osh hard on the chest and doubling over with laughter as he fell backwards onto his rump. The mystic gave a wheezing cough, trying to recover his breath while Osh’s aides helped him up.
‘I suppose,’ Osh puffed, ‘I asked for that.’
‘Sounded like’n invitation to me,’ Daken agreed, beaming. The white-eye general wore a battered breastplate and a plundered Menin helm, but the cloak around his neck was pristine: white, with a red border. Osh tilted his head to get a better look at the design on it: a massive curved axe.
‘Fate’s eyes,’ Osh breathed, ‘he really has ennobled you?’
‘Aye, but he made me a marshal too!’ Daken said, grinning. ‘Likes a man who carries out orders well, does King Emin.’
Osh turned and looked towards the defensive lines ten yards away. ‘So you’re here commanding this flank?’ They were near the tree-line, and the smaller of the two Menin forces was closing in, now only four hundred yards away.
Daken nodded. ‘He wants my axe here, help hold the line. I command this flank, General Lopir’s got the cavalry, and Suzerain Tenber has the right, for all the good he can do there.’
‘The reserve?’
‘Yours to call when you want ’em, half o’ Tenber’s infantry are moving this way already.’ Daken’s face twisted in scorn. ‘Fer some reason he’s given command of the reserve to a bunch o’ Raylin there — some local crone and that blind bitch who smells like a Demi-God and is pretty enough to be the next thing I ask the king fer!’
A tall soldier in Canar Fell colours interrupted them. ‘Sir, the first line of skirmishers are withdrawing.’
The pair looked over the heads of the blue-liveried infantry and watched the furthest division of archers scramble back towards the Narkang lines. They were pursued by two regiments of light cavalry, but without enthusiasm as a second division of bowmen positioned behind the next staggered ditch had already started firing.
‘Hurry up, ya bastards!’ Daken called out to the enemy army, ‘we’re gettin’ bored back here!’
Osh smiled, watching the effect one white-eye’s belligerence could have on a unit of men. This was why Daken had