'Take a look at that ship coming into shore, the leading one. It's prow-on. See? Now do you notice somebody standing there, right at the front, bold as shit?'

'Yeah,' Haskeer said, blinking and with a hand shading his brow.

'Recognise who it is?'

It was Coilla who answered. 'Jennesta,' she whispered.

28

'I thought the stars were supposed to be incredibly rare,' Coilla said, 'but it looks as though everybody's got them.'

'Maybe we've just run into everybody who has got them,' Pepperdyne suggested.

Down on the beach the magical battle raged. The new arrivals had sent in boats of their own. They were running a shuttle, dropping troops off in shallow water and going back for more. The soldiers were Jennesta's human followers, along with a much smaller number of her zombie personal guard. But they seemed no more able to overcome the strangers' magic than the orcs were. That was for Jennesta. Ashore now, and sweeping majestically up the beach, she was essentially waging the war single-handedly and, considering her opponents' might, making a good job of it.

Stryke figured that if they couldn't fight the strangers' magic, they could fight Jennesta's army. As there was no way to escape, he argued, they could at least kill something.

At first it went well. They charged into the fray and gave a good account of themselves, downing troops and hacking zombies to pieces. But it didn't take long for both Jennesta and the strangers to notice them. A bombardment of enchantments forced the band to retreat. Though Stryke wasn't alone in thinking that, vicious as their magic was, neither side was actually trying too hard to kill them.

The band pulled back to the edge of the beach and the shelter of rocks.

'The stars!' Haskeer pleaded. 'Use 'em now!'

'Lay off!' Stryke snapped. 'Coilla! Are we all here?'

'No. We're missing Dallog, Wheam and a couple of the other tyros.'

'Bloody typical,' Haskeer moaned.

'I'll go and look for them,' Stryke decided.

'I'll come with you,' Coilla told him. 'No, no argument. You'll need somebody to watch your back.'

'All right.'

'Me too,' Pepperdyne said.

'No,' said Stryke.

'Going to stop me?'

'If I have to. But better that you stay here and help hold our position.'

'But — '

'Do it, Jode,' Coilla said. 'I'll… We'll be fine.'

'If you're going,' Haskeer grated, 'you better get a fucking move on.'

Stryke tossed his head. 'Come on.'

They ran towards the scrum.

The bodies barring their way were all human or zombie. The wizardry was taking place farther down the beach, at the water's edge. But soldiers and the undead were still a formidable obstacle.

Stryke and Coilla hacked, slashed, stabbed and battered their way through them. They had a few errant energy bolts to dodge on the way. Some of Jennesta's horde weren't so lucky.

'I see 'em!' Coilla yelled. She pointed.

Dallog and a couple of tyros were slugging it out with twice their number of soldiers.

Coilla and Stryke fought their way to them.

Their blades quickly turned the tide. A bloody exchange saw the attackers overcome.

'Where's Wheam, Dallog?' Stryke asked.

'Down there!'

Further along the beach, Wheam was trying to hold off a pair of zombies. He had his new musical instrument strapped to his back, and looked more worried about protecting it than about himself.

'I'll get him,' Stryke said.

'We'll come!' Coilla and Dallog chorused.

' No. I'll not have the band scattered again. Get yourselves back to the others. Now.'

They left reluctantly. He plunged back into the fray.

Coilla, Dallog and the tyros had as tough a path to travel on the way back as she and Stryke had had on the way out. The troops seemed to be everywhere, and none left them unchallenged. By the time their goal was in sight, their blades ran with gore.

'Can you make it alone from here, Dallog?' Coilla said.

''Course.'

'Get on then.'

'What about you?'

'I'm going after Stryke.'

'But he said — '

'Just get these two back, all right?' She ran off.

Stryke came at one of the zombies from the back and ran it through. True to experience it hardly registered the blow. So he took to chopping at it, as though he were felling a dead tree. When enough major damage had been inflicted the armless creature hopped on its one leg for an instant, then collapsed. The second zombie Stryke simply decapitated, sending its head bouncing in the blood-soaked sand.

'Am I glad to see you, Captain,' Wheam panted.

'I'm going to get you out of here. Stay close.'

Before they could move, Coilla arrived.

'I thought I told you — '

'You need me,' she said. 'Look around. Somebody's got to cover your back.'

'All right. Let's go.'

It was getting harder to steer a way that didn't have troops in it. So they were compelled to carve a path. But still the increasing opposition made them take a different route back. It took them past a large outcropping of rock.

It was only very shortly after what happened next that Stryke started to think they'd been deliberately herded that way.

Jennesta stepped out from behind the rock.

The trio stopped in their tracks.

'Run, Wheam!' Coilla pleaded. 'Get out of here!'

The youth fled.

Jennesta laughed, disturbingly. 'It seems not all orcs are courageous.'

Stryke and Coilla rushed her as one, their blades levelled.

She made a swift hand gesture. The pair instantly froze in their tracks, rigid as statues.

Strangely, the fighting seemed to have frozen too. Or at least the sound and sight of it had. It was either more of Jennesta's magic, or her followers had fallen back, reinforcing the suspicion that it had been a setup.

'Now that I've got you nicely calmed,' Jennesta said, 'we can have a civilised conversation.'

Stryke and Coilla were helpless. They struggled to move or make a sound but couldn't.

'When I say conversation, of course, that doesn't imply that you'll be taking part in it. Actually, Stryke, I've got someone here who knows you. Or did.' She snapped her fingers loudly.

Two zombies lumbered into sight. They walked on either side of somebody.

It was Thirzarr.

Stryke's mate showed no sign of recognising him. She looked healthy enough, apart from a few bruises, but

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