every bush, the perils and temptations are too great. Either the common craftsman is possessed by his encounter or, if he achieves domination, he cannot resist using the power for his own petty ends. And if the concentration of demons is as strong as I now fear, then we have little enough time to prevent the complete disaster.' He stopped and looked into one of the alleyways. 'With what Grengor has caught, we will get the confirmation.'
Alodar turned in the direction Handar indicated and saw the marine dragging a screaming youth by the scruff of his neck back to the feet of the wizard.
'I never doubted the identity of the fair lady,' the boy sobbed. 'I never doubted it. Let me go to join my brothers. Let me go. I hurl no rocks into your midst.'
'Control yourself so that you speak properly to a wizard,' Handar ordered. 'We seek information about what has transpired in Bardina and the rest of Procolon.'
As Grengor released his grip, the youth nodded and shifted to one knee to bow to the queen. 'My fair lady,' he stammered. Aeriel nodded encouragement and the boy started again with a rush.
'It was barely a month ago that all this began. Kellic's daughter had a spat with another lass down the road and woke the next morning with her comely face covered with pox blisters that would not heal. The cows in the herds nearest the east went dry and the hens would lay no longer. The peddlers who trudged from Bardina to Graymill and back would disappear for weeks. When they returned, they had eyes of madmen and tongues that none could understand. And then in this very square, one of the merchant wives ripped the shawl from another to expose a little imp riding near the base of the neck and working his mischief on whomever he passed.
' 'You witch!' the first exclaimed. 'So this is how my Hentor's eye is made to wander. Well it is only just that you are dealt with in kind.' And the next morning the second was struck dumb within the confines of her own well-guarded house. It did not take long for the curse to be full upon us after that. The smallest slight was dealt with in most cruel fashion; revenge answered revenge as more and more trafficked with demonkind.
'And those who did not lash out, those in fear of what was happening around them, they became unreasoning avengers seeing evil wherever they looked. On the slightest pretext, many were trapped and slain, some protesting their innocence to the end. All commerce stopped and we became no more than roving bands, suspicious of one another and always tempted to use demonpower to protect us from each other. And we have no news from the south. No one ventures anymore from Bardina and no one dares step foot within the city walls.
'My mother, even she…' The boy shuddered and then shut his eyes. His voice trailed off and he said no more.
'It will be the same in every town and hamlet of the kingdom,' Handar told the queen. 'Part of the citizenry possessed, part temporarily dominating sprites until their wills falter as well, and the rest guided only by suspicion and terror. As more and more are coerced in the battles with Bandor, far wider does the influence of demonkind spread throughout the land.'
The wizard shook his head. 'It is even worse than I feared, although our first efforts must be the same. First to the south to defeat the forces of the petty kingdoms and exorcise those demons that we can. And then to the west to add to the forces trying to route Bandor from his strongholds. But from what I have seen and can infer, even ten times our number may not be enough.'
Alodar released the cinch and removed the saddle from the horse's back. He looked into Aeriel's eyes and read the same weary resignation. For the last two days the meaning of Bardina had slowly sunk in and weighed them down.
At the very least, they had all looked forward to a rest from the trail, a return to familiar and comfortable surroundings, decent food after a month of rabbit meat.
But Handar had said that all of the towns would be the same. Wherever there was a concentration of mankind, the demons would also be. The queen's party had to continue as before, foraging from the countryside, taking all livestock from each farm they chanced upon, trying to ignore the sullen faces, driving like exiles rather than the royal party of a queen in her own realm.
And behind the loss of comforts, the depressing isolation, the hostility of the plundered subjects, the bickering of the free-spirited nomads, was the true meaning of what they had seen. A quarter of the population was demon-possessed; the rest had turned into snarling mobs. Periac, a master thaumaturge, rotted away in some hidden hole, undiscovered despite Alodar's careful search. And with each day, more demons poured across the bridge between the two worlds.
A sudden commotion behind Alodar spun him around and he looked up the slope. They were encamping on a gentle rise, with the nomads scattered into rough groups of fifty. The ridgeline to the south cut off their view. Now over the crest appeared two of the marines, whipping their flagging ponies.
They raced across the inclines, splattering foam from their mounts. With a swirl of dust, they savagely reined to halt in the middle of the camp and called for the queen.
Alodar crowded around with the rest and heard the gasping report, 'Banners of Procolon, no more than an hour's march away. But hotly pursued by a far larger force. They are in retreat and sundown will find them in our midst.'
Alodar ran to the ridge and looked across the broad valley on the other side. The land dipped to the bed of a small, meandering stream and then rose to a crestline slightly higher than the one on which he stood. Long- stemmed grass rippled in a gentle breeze. Here and there domes of bare rock poked through the cover. An occasional glint of sunlight reflected off the stream as it sluggishly trickled to the east.
The opposing ridgeline was silent and bare. Except for the stubble of grass nothing moved. Alodar sank to the ground as Vendora and her followers arrived and clustered about. Her crude banner was thrust into the soft earth and fluttered in the quickening afternoon breeze.
Eventually a small cluster on horseback came into sight, followed by precisely formed, squares of men on foot. As they splashed across the stream, additional groups appeared, more ragged than the first?partially filled squares, wavering oblongs and chaotic clusters that seemed to stagger and lurch rather than hold to a definite direction. Finally in the rear, craftsmen whipped horses pulling overloaded wagons, and men with backs piled high with family possessions tugged at the gowns of women staggering under the load of small children. Isolated individuals zigzagged back and forth in a daze. In a ragged wave they tumbled down the slope, straining to keep up with the warriors in front.
As the last stragglers forded the stream, the horsemen trotted up to where Alodar stood. With an arm dangling at his side, the leader slowly dismounted and threw back his casque. The face was gaunt and deeply lined, and the eyes glistened with pain, but Alodar recognized the bristly moustache and bulky frame.
'Cedric!' he cried, 'Cedric, what luck to see you here and in service to the fair lady!'
The warmaster nodded back to Alodar and stiffly approached the queen. He grabbed the offered banner from the man behind and placed it at her feet.
'The volunteers of Ambrosia,' he announced. 'And a few units of the army of the west as well.'
Alodar looked at the men who formed a line a respectable pace behind. His eyes widened as he saw white- haired men and spindly youths far younger than he was. Another two thousand?but they looked ready to drop.
'Your fame is still remembered, warmaster,' Vendora said. 'And no doubt it aided you well in recruiting a militia to my cause.' She paused and looked at the haggard faces staring back. 'But why a forced march northwards? You could have aided in the siege or waited in Ambrosia until we arrived for our offensive to the south.'
'There is no longer a siege to conduct in the west,' Cedric answered. 'Bandor burst through the lines which tried to hold him.'
'Impossible!' Feston shouted above the sudden chorus of voices. 'Bandor and his allies were in a vice-like grip. He was to be crushed for his impudent rebellion?not our efforts against him abandoned.'
'Abandoned they were not,' Cedric replied. 'But with each day, Bandor grew stronger, sending forth more sallies, wrecking the engines of war, capturing more of the disheartened besiegers. Whole companies of men, nobles and warriors alike, changed their allegiances, joining the force which seemed to burst out of the west with demonic power. The three squares which marched with me are all that are left. Even those I had to persuade back into formation as they fled in panic before the very gates of Ambrosia.'
'And the kingdoms to the south?' Basil asked. 'How deeply have they penetrated into our heartland? How many leagues between them and the royal palace?'
