going to stop the rape of the city now that it had begun. He had seen such things before, during the Clockmaker’s rebellion back in Talorea.
'I don't think we have much choice in the matter,' said Lord Azaar. 'Events have taken the decision out of our hands.'
Elakar looked at his fellow General as if shocked by his honesty. Rik guessed he was not a Terrarch who would ever admit to his own powerlessness. 'Halim has resisted. Halim will pay the price,' he said eventually. 'In three days you will see what your folly has brought upon your city.'
'In three days I will not be alive to see it,' said Telarn. 'I will atone for my folly with my life.'
'Tell me why you chose to resist us?' Azaar asked. 'It must have been obvious that you could not withstand our forces.'
'We were promised aid,' said the Lord Governor of Halim. 'It never came.'
'Who promised you this?'
'King Khaldarus.'
'Khaldarus is not king,' said Elakar. 'He is a mere pretender to the throne that is rightfully his sister's.'
Telarn looked as if he wanted to disagree. For a moment his features became almost animated but then one of the accompanying delegation, a tall, fine-featured Terrarch woman, reached out and touched his hand.
'It is as you say,' he said, almost grudgingly.
'Not only is he a pretender to the throne, he is a liar and a traitor to those who trusted him. As you have found out to your cost.'
'It is as you say, Lord Elakar. We have come to throw ourselves on your mercy and offer ourselves as hostages for our city. We place our fate in your hands, and request you show mercy as well as wisdom.'
'You may approach,' said Elakar. 'We will accept your surrender, and your parole.'
Elakar surveyed the approaching Kharadreans as if he had personally defeated every one of them in hand- to-hand combat and he expected applause and recognition for the deed. It was as if he, and not Azaar, was the famous General, and as if his plan, and not Azaar's had achieved the victory.
One by one the Kharadreans approached and were announced. Elakar gestured his acknowledgment but said nothing. Occasionally Azaar spoke, greeting some old acquaintance among the conquered. There seemed to be a fair number of them. Eventually, after some hours the procession passed and was led off to a tented compound nearby. Azaar turned to Elakar and his fellow general nodded.
'Halim has surrendered,' Elakar said. 'We are triumphant. Let our victory be celebrated.'
The Taloreans began to cheer. Azaar rose from his throne and limped wearily back to his pavilion.
Sardec sat amid the ruins of the burned out building and looked at his men. Their uniforms were dirty, their faces smudged with soot but they looked happy and more than a little drunk. All of them carried sacks filled with plunder. The army had fallen on Halim like a swarm of locusts set on devouring a field of corn. Anything of the slightest value had been grabbed, any liquor or beer seized. Now men guzzled stolen food and glugged down stolen wine.
Sardec did not blame them. They had risked their lives for months for the pittance the army paid them. This was their chance to get something for their trouble. Nonetheless he found it depressing. They were using tapestries as blankets and cloaks, and the frames of paintings burned on bonfires. In the distance he could hear the screaming of women, and now and again, a man would rise from the fires and head of in the direction of the sound. Some looked ashamed, some looked expectant but most of them went. A few men sat by the fires and muttered prayers against temptation, but some of those whom Sardec would have thought the most devout were among those most eager to head off. It was as if all normal rules of behaviour had been suspended. Laws did not apply in this time and place. Men could do now what they would have been hanged for at other times, and a significant number of them were taking advantage of that fact.
Woe to the vanquished indeed, Sardec thought. He knew from previous experience that in a few days many of those men would be ashamed of what they were doing now. He supposed that they knew that as well as he, and yet it did not stop them. It constantly surprised him what war brought out in men. At times they could be selfless and heroic as saints, sacrificing their own lives as they tried to help fallen comrades. At other times they were little better than beasts.
Out in the night now a whole city was being savaged by packs of marauders. Tens of thousands of people were suffering and thousands of their fellows were taking pleasure in that suffering, and making themselves richer while it happened.
He thought of the elementals he had seen unleashed earlier today, demonic entities that could be trapped and compelled to do what a sorcerer wished. They were potent and yet they could not survive long away from the home planes. In this world they were like fish out of water or divers holding their breath deep below the surface of a river.
Tonight another sort of demon had been let out of its bottle. He wondered how long it would take for it to vanish, or whether it ever truly did. The most terrifying thought for him was that perhaps it was there all the time, lurking behind the respectful faces of the men who followed him, and the servile grimaces of the servants. If that were the case he thought this whole world was in trouble.
Perhaps those who said the Shadow made this world were right, he thought. He took another sip of victory wine. It tasted very sour.
Azaar's tent was surprisingly spartanly furnished, Rik thought. He sat beside Lady Asea and a small number of the higher officers of the General's staff. A few eyed him resentfully, a few enviously, no doubt because of the carefully spread rumours that he was Asea's lover. Some of them looked at him calculatingly. His stock was high, and it was said that news of his bravery had reached the ears of the Queen of Talorea. They were no doubt trying to work out how to take advantage of that fact. It was the Terrarch way. Their lives were politics and politics were their lives. Now the same was true for him.
Azaar gestured for his guests to be seated. Servants in the livery of his house produced wine and filled goblets. Azaar raised his glass. All present did the same.
'To victory,' he said. His voice was flat and dry, but it carried through the tent as clearly as a shout. Rik would have given a lot to master that trick.
'To victory,' the guests echoed.
The glasses were refilled. 'To her Majesty, Queen Arielle of Talorea.'
'To her majesty.'
'To her majesty, Queen Kathea of Kharadrea.'
'To her majesty.'
The General seemed to be taking a mocking pleasure in making the toasts and getting his guests drunk. Rik took only sips from each glass. He wanted a clear head this evening.
The elaborately spiced food of the Terrarchs was set on the table. The drinking and chatter proceeded. 'I thought Lord Elakar basked in his triumph very graciously,' said a colonel from the far end of the table.
'He was entitled to speak first,' said Lady Asea. 'The Queen gave him precedence.'
Rik's glance flickered from her to Azaar. Both of them were unreadable. They ought to be, having had thousands of years to practise hiding their thoughts. 'He has the airs of a Viceroy,' said someone else.
'And the garb of one too,' said the Colonel. “Where did he dig up that sceptre?”
'We are not here to rule Kharadrea,' said Azaar. His voice was flat and calm but there were compulsions in it that commanded belief, despite the subtle hints of mockery. More magic, Rik thought. 'We are here to see that Queen Kathea gains what is rightfully hers.'
'It would seem our job is almost done then,' said the Colonel. 'The capital is ours. The nobles are lining up to swear fealty to Kathea, and we have not seen hide nor hair of the damned Sardeans.'
Azaar's tone was dry. 'It's always been easier to get the Kharadreans to swear fealty than to make them keep their oaths. They are sworn to Kathea now because we appear to be winning. They will follow Khaldarus next year if our luck turns in the field.'
'Surely that is not likely,' said the Colonel. 'We have shown the Sardeans for the cowards they are. The Dark Empire has not dared interfere with our conquest of Kharadrea.'
