distribute supplies and ferry wounded from the walls once the fighting started. But for most their departure had been decreed by the order of the Merchant King’s General, and none had been left in any doubt regarding the consequences of refusal. Even so, Vaelin found their obedience strange. Had he ever attempted such a thing in North Tower, or any town in the Unified Realm, this would certainly have been a scene of chaos and angry remonstration, if not riot. But here the people made their farewells, heart-rending though they were, and meekly trooped onto the barges to be carried away south.
“Were I a braver man I’d be begging to stay,” Erlin said, meeting Vaelin’s gaze with a grimace of self-reproach.
“And were you a wiser man you’d already have left,” Vaelin pointed out.
“An interval of self-delusion, I’m afraid. I had visions of joining the fight, repelling the savage horde, as much as my old bones would allow me, until I met my valiant end. It would have been a fine epitaph, don’t you think?”
“You are commanded by the Tower Lord of the Northern Reaches, as a loyal servant of the Realm, to undertake a mission of vital importance and no small amount of peril. In truth, I feel shamed in not sending anyone with you.”
“Your niece refused to leave, I take it?”
“Sehmon, too.”
“I walked these realms alone for many a year, in times of war and in times of peace. Have no worries on my account, I will reach a port and find a ship.”
Erlin hefted his staff and started towards the plank linking the barge to the dock. Before stepping aboard, he paused, voice faint with reflection as he said, “The Princess said I would be the last of us, you know. The old ones. I knew there had to be others somewhere in the world, but she was the only one I met. She told me of our fellow ancients, how, one by one, they had all come to seek her out, journeying from the far recesses of the world entire to hear her song. I was the only one who came back, because she and I were the only ones left now. She told me something once. I’m not sure if it matters amidst our current trials, but something tells me it does. She told me that whatever kept death from our door was not born of the black stone, for she was old before the first stone was ever dug from the earth.”
He smiled and shrugged. “Something to ponder on the trail, I suppose.” All humour faded from his face as he turned back to Vaelin. “Don’t die here, brother,” he said before striding onto the barge.
Vaelin watched the craft draw away from the mooring and join the line of barges, soon slipping beneath the huge iron portcullis that guarded the entrance to the harbour. The portcullis fell as soon as the final barge departed, chains rattling and iron squealing. It birthed a tall wave as it crashed into the water, causing the few remaining barges to bob at their moorings.
“Won’t the Tuhla try to block the canal?” Vaelin asked Sho Tsai.
“Commander Deshai assures me they could never cover the distance in time,” the general replied. “Why would they when they have so many other fleeing people to amuse themselves with in Keshin-Ghol?”
Sho Tsai called out to his son, who duly hurried over and snapped to attention. “General!”
“Burn those.” Sho Tsai pointed to the bobbing barges. “Any avenue of retreat, however slight, may weaken the men’s resolve.”
“At once, General.”
“I thought you might have promoted him by now,” Vaelin said as the apprentice officer hurried off, shouting orders for the Red Scouts to light torches. “He’s performing the duties of a captain, after all.”
“He has been a soldier for less than two years,” Sho Tsai replied. “The Merchant King decrees at least five years’ service before promotion can even be considered.”
“You still cling to such things? Even now?”
“Do you throw off your Queen’s Word simply because times are troubled?”
“No, but I will endeavour to find room for interpretation.”
“Brother!” Vaelin turned at the sound of Ahm Lin’s call, finding the mason hastening across the quay. “The tune,” he said, coming to a halt, face grim. “It changed.”
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
“How many?”
“See for yourself.” Sho Tsai stepped back from the spyglass and gestured for Vaelin to take his place. Peering through the eyepiece, he was struck by the clarity of the image, the steadily approaching riders appearing close