Or maybe she had extinguished any trust they still had. As surely as if she had slipped a dagger into Morgrim’s chest, Liandra had ensured the war could never be stopped.
Whatever I may have done to hurt you, he thought bitterly, I deserved better than that.
‘We are victorious,’ said Aelis. She looked reinvigorated. The flight of the dragons had given them all hope again. ‘Thanks to you.’
Gelthar, who sat one place to her left, also looked content. His troops had been first out onto the plain once the dwarf retreat had started.
Of all of them, though, it was Salendor who had been most vindicated by events. The mage-lord was at pains not to make too much of it, but his satisfaction was hard to hide.
‘Then the question is: what now?’ asked Imladrik.
‘Go after them,’ said Salendor bluntly. Then he laughed. ‘Did you expect any other counsel? Morgrim’s army is broken.’
‘They are ripe for destruction,’ agreed Gelthar. ‘Now is the time.’
Aelis shot her companions a tolerant look. ‘Have you learned nothing, lords? We will offer our views here, discuss them for an age, and then Imladrik will overrule us.’
Imladrik smiled wryly. ‘So you understand how this works at last.’
In truth, his position was a strange one. His policy of restraint had failed spectacularly, just as they had all warned him it would. On the other hand he had demonstrated the full ambit of power at his command, which had daunted even Salendor. He couldn’t decide quite what that made him.
A fool? A saviour? Possibly both.
‘You have another idea,’ said Salendor.
Imladrik leaned back in his throne. ‘Place yourself in the mind of our enemy. What will he be thinking?’
‘Vengeance,’ said Gelthar. ‘They will come back at us.’
‘Yes, but how? They are not stupid. We have exposed our greatest strength to them, and they have felt just how powerful that is. They will not repeat their mistake.’
‘What can they do?’ asked Aelis lightly. ‘They have no answer to your drakes.’
‘They will find one. Even now they will be thinking on it. As I say, they are not stupid.’
‘They will disperse,’ said Salendor quietly.
All turned to him. Imladrik nodded fractionally. For all their differences, he had always known that Salendor was the most tactically astute of his captains.
‘Six dragons,’ Salendor went on, speaking thoughtfully. ‘Overwhelming together, but they cannot be everywhere.’ His voice grew in certainty as he considered the options. ‘I would send my warriors in every direction. Forget this place – they cannot take it now. But what of Athel Maraya, or Athel Toralien?’
‘Quite,’ said Imladrik. ‘If we had a hundred dragons then we could consider engaging them, but even Aenarion did not command such numbers. This is their land – our numbers are divided between here and Ulthuan. We do not know how many warriors they have under arms, but it is surely many times what we can muster.’
Aelis’s brow furrowed. ‘Then what is to be done?’
‘The dragon riders will be sent out,’ said Imladrik, ‘one to each great fortress. Regiments will travel to the frontier citadels. They must leave immediately, for the dawi move fast when the mood is on them. They disperse; so do we.’
Gelthar looked unconvinced. ‘That is thinning our forces. No early victory can come from this.’
‘You are right,’ said Imladrik. ‘We will be fighting for years.’ He had resolved not to labour the point, but it was worth stating again, just to underline why he had worked so hard to avoid it. ‘This will be the shape of the war now: brawling over scorched earth, each of us as exhausted as the other. History shall judge us harshly for it.’ He shook his head in frustration. ‘And Liandra most of all.’
The others looked awkwardly at one another.
‘You cannot believe that,’ said Salendor.
‘Then where is she?’ Imladrik demanded, trying not to let his frustration spill out too obviously.
‘I do not know.’
‘She went to Kor Vanaeth. We know this.’
‘And only the word of our enemy condemns her,’ said Salendor, ‘I will not doubt her loyalty, not until we know more.’
‘So sure,’ observed Imladrik, looking at him carefully. ‘No qualm at all?’
Salendor looked back confidently. ‘None.’
Part of Imladrik wanted to believe him. Any thread of hope that Liandra was not responsible would be clung to.
For all that, he remembered how she had been when they had last spoken.
We must strike now before they gather more strength.
‘The truth will out,’ was all he said. ‘For now, we have preparations to make. We cannot remain gathered here while the fighting spreads across Loren Lacoi. Salendor, you must leave for Athel Maraya and prepare for attack – they will surely be there soon. Gelthar, take Athel Toralien and order its defences. Aelis, command of Tor Alessi will be returned to you. Each of you shall have dragon riders: two remaining here, two for Athel Maraya, one for Athel Toralien. A lone drake will be a match for all but the mightiest armies, and the memory of their blooding here will not fade quickly.’
Things had changed since he’d first arrived. They nodded readily enough, accepting his orders. Even Salendor voiced no objection.
‘And you, lord?’ asked Aelis. ‘Where will you go?’
Imladrik did not know the answer to that. A dozen places had already sprung to mind: remaining in Tor Alessi; joining Salendor at Athel Maraya; heading to his own citadel of Oeragor on the edge of the wasteland; returning to Ulthuan to petition for more troops and dragon riders. The final option was the least palatable but also the most prudent: it would give them the best chance of survival in the storm to come. It would, though, mean leaving the conduct of the war to others and abasing himself before
