suffer?'
'Being in this place is suffering enough, m-m-m-ma'am,' Callow stuttered.
'But it doesn't make me feel any better. Where's the justice in that? Where's the lesson learned?'
'Please,' Callow called out to Mallory, 'have a heart! I made a mistake, that's all. You are Brothers and Sisters of Dragons. You celebrate all that is good about life.'
Distractedly, Mallory polished the lantern. 'True. But unluckily for you we're not Church's group. They've got compassion in spades. Existence brought us together with specific qualities in mind. They're the good guys. We're the hard bastards.' He gave Callow a brutal smile. 'All except Hal, and I'm betting he's not feeling very sympathetic towards you right now.'
Callow let out a small whimper. Caitlin dragged him to Etain and retrieved a rope from her saddle. His searing cries echoed across the entire swamp as Caitlin bound his wrists tightly behind his back, looped the rope around his ankles, then threw the other end over the branch of one of the spindly trees overhanging the swamp. With a jerk, she whipped Callow's feet out from under him and suspended him an inch above the water, where snapping shapes swam hungrily just beneath the surface.
He cried and pleaded until his throat was raw, and when he finally stopped, Caitlin said, 'I think the best thing would be to leave you here where you can't do any more harm. With a few friends for company.'
Another jerk of the rope plunged Callow's head into the water up to the bridge of his nose. The water boiled around him as the razor-worms plunged into his eyes and ears, burrowing and eating for what could be eternity.
Half an hour later they could still hear his terrible screams as they made their way out of the swamp and onto a barren plain, once again following the lantern's blue flame.
4
In the hard, silvery gleam of dawn, Decebalus came round deep in the mire of the battlefield. The storm had ended, and a strained quiet lay across the great plain, punctuated by the occasional cry. All around were scattered dismembered corpses of both allies and enemy. It took a second or two for Decebalus's thoughts to flicker into some semblance of cohesion, and then another few seconds to realise he was alive and intact. His first thought was how Seth had been prepared to devastate his own side to achieve a minor advantage.
The remnants of the once-enormous Enemy force trailed across the battlefield towards the city in small pockets, pausing occasionally to slay a survivor. They skirted much of the area where the gods had fought. Decebalus guessed that if he lived, most of the gods would have survived too. Seth would want to achieve his aims before they returned to the fray.
Drawing his strength back into his shaky limbs, Decebalus was gripped by a flash of memory. Keeping low, he desperately searched amongst the fallen, overturning bodies to peer into blood- and mud-stained faces. Finally he located Aula buried under a heap of dismembered Lament-Brood. She was deathly pale, her eyes closed, her blond hair matted with gore. Decebalus muttered a brief prayer before taking her wrist and locating a thready pulse. Relief flooded through him; the Pendragon Spirit would work its magic; she would survive. Bowing his head to her chest, he closed his eyes and remembered Dacia, so far away in time and space. He wished he could have shown Aula the beauty of the forests on a summer's twilight, the great river at dawn with the sun glinting off the water and the smell of a new day rising. Gently, he kissed the back of her hand. So many things unsaid, so many emotions buried deep in his heart that in his rough ways he had never been able to express. But she knew, he was sure.
Kissing her on the lips, he re-covered her with the bodies to protect her from the Enemy's sight. As he prepared to crawl towards the city, he caught sight of a small group of Redcaps moving his way, emitting their deep, throaty growl as they tore chunks of flesh off dead limbs. If he stood and fought, it would attract other enemies to him, and he would not last a moment, but there was no way he could escape the Redcaps' advance without being seen.
Crawling on his belly, he rounded a larger pile of corpses to find better shelter where he could gather his thoughts. Nearby, two Brothers of Dragons slumped together, bleeding heavily from fatal wounds. Decebalus had nursed high hopes for both of them: Jim Davey, softly spoken and with Shavi's empathic nature, and Michael Koefman, a messy-haired former musician. Decebalus crawled over to them.
'What kind of thing destroys its own side to get at us?' Blood leaked from the corner of Michael's mouth as he spoke. Neither had long left.
'Something that does not care in the slightest about life,' he replied. 'I have to get to the city before the Enemy's bastards reach the Caraprix. Yet there are Redcaps nearby who will see me when I move…'
He let the words hang. Understanding what he was asking, the two Brothers of Dragons exchanged a fleeting glance of acceptance for their fate, and then Jim said quietly, 'You can count on us.'
'You are good men, both. I will make sure you are remembered.' Decebalus's farewell nod couldn't begin to convey what he truly felt and he crawled away quickly. Not long after he heard them both begin to shout loudly. The roar of the Redcaps followed instantly, and when he heard their savage attack, Decebalus ran for the city.
The remnants of the shattered gates hung raggedly from the twisted hinges. The city beyond was still, the residents cowering in their rooms. At the entrance, Ronnie darted from a hiding place. His wounds were superficial, but his face had a haunted expression as the devastation across the Great Plain ignited memories of his terrible experiences in Flanders during the Great War.
'I was going after that bastard, sir,' he said. 'He's on his way to the palace and the Caraprix.'
'You will not be able to stop him. He is too powerful,' Decebalus said.
'And you will? Excuse me, sir, but we're both of a kind.'
'Not so much, Ronald. You are a better man than me. My experiences have better prepared me for what is necessary.' Decebalus silenced Ronnie's protests. 'I have more important work for you. You must find a way to raise the gods.'
'To help you?'
'No. The game here is almost played. You must leave this place immediately, do you hear me?'
Ronnie looked unsure.
'Do you hear me?' Decebalus gripped Ronnie's shoulders forcefully until Ronnie nodded, unsettled. 'Bring together our own survivors quickly.' He told Ronnie where Aula was hidden, and then added, 'You must strike out for the Enemy Fortress, to offer what support you can to Church and the others. Time is short. Make haste. Do not wait here a moment longer than necessary.'
Decebalus raced through the gates before Ronnie could argue. A brief detour took him to the Hunter's Moon where Crowther and Mahalia waited behind a barricaded door. The teenage girl had been a shadow of herself since Jack's departure, but now her old fire flashed in her eyes.
'Let me help.' She drew the small switchblade she carried with her at all times.
'I have greater work for you two,' Decebalus said. 'You must save an entire city.'
'The Enemy's broken inside?' Crowther asked.
Decebalus nodded. 'Sound the alarm. God knows, we have practised the escape enough times in recent days. There will be fear, panic. You must show leadership to calm them, and then take them to safety in the foothills. Can I count on you to do this?'
Crowther's heavy-set face glowed; as Decebalus had anticipated, the gift of purpose had brought him alive. 'You can count on us.'
Within moments of Decebalus leaving the inn, the first tolling bell echoed across the silent city, joined soon by another, and then an entire host. People were already creeping from their hiding places as Decebalus ran up the winding cobbled road towards the Palace of Glorious Light, where he could hear the Enemy advancing. His relief freed him to concentrate on the trial ahead.
In the courtyard before the palace, Seth waited with a few ranks of Lament-Brood and Redcaps. The god's head hung to one side as though he was listening, and then he nodded and forced his way through the palace doors.
Once Seth and his troops had entered, Decebalus slipped in behind and followed one of the many secret passages and hidden stairways that would put him ahead of the Enemy. Math's chamber was silent, but Decebalus
