about twenty years of age, her belly swelling with child, the other a little older.
'Neerita!' squealed Meliu, launching from her chair towards the pregnant woman. Ullsaard's youngest wife swamped Noran's with a hug and a shower of kisses.
'What is g-' began Ullsaard. He was silenced by Noran's fist catching him flush on the chin.
'You fucking selfish cunt!' the herald raged while Luia laughed behind Ullsaard. 'Of all the pig-headed, fucking stupid things you have done, this is the worst! You utter m-'
Ullsaard's return punch caught Noran square between the eyes, knocking him to his backside.
'Don't ever raise your hand to me, friend or not,' Ullsaard said, rubbing his chin.
Noran blinked with disbelief, slightly cross-eyed. Ullsaard reached out and helped Noran to his feet.
'Let us leave you two alone,' said Allenya, hustling Meliu, Neerita and Anriit towards the back of the tent where canvas screens had been hung to create separate rooms. Luia lingered a while longer, hoping that Noran would hit her husband again. When it became clear that this would not happen, she huffed disapprovingly and joined her sisters.
'Perhaps you should start again,' suggested Ullsaard. He lifted the wine jug and Noran nodded and sat down at the table. Noran scrunched his nose a few times.
'Is it broken?' the herald asked.
'Not even bleeding, you weakling,' Ullsaard replied, placing a mug of undiluted wine in front of Noran. 'Drink this and tell me what's happening. Why so upset?'
Noran took a large swig from the mug and fixed Ullsaard with a resigned stare.
'Because I brought you to Askh on the prince's orders, Lutaar has accused me of being in league with you and Aalun. Members of the Brotherhood came to my apartment, but my servants held them off until we managed to get out through the window. Imagine it!'
'I'd say you've had plenty of experience of hasty window retreats over the years,' chuckled Ullsaard. 'This isn't fucking funny.' 'No, it isn't. Sorry. Carry on.' Noran drank some more before continuing.
'There is not a lot more to say. We slipped out of the palace grounds, managed to pick up a few things from Neerita's old house and then left the city before the gates closed at Howling. Here I am.'
'Did you manage to find anything out before you were chased off?'
'Yes, but it would be better to tell you and Aalun together. Where is the prince?'
'Let's go and see him.' Ullsaard downed the contents of his cup and Noran did the same.
As they left the tent, Ullsaard beckoned to one of the legionnaires on guard with a crooked finger.
'Ask First Captain Jutiil if he'll give up his tent for Herald Noran and his family. He can share with Luamid.'
The legionnaire headed off into the flame-broken night.
'That's kind of you,' said Noran as the pair set off in the opposite direction, towards the centre of camp.
'It's the most I could do,' Ullsaard joked. 'I do feel partly responsible for your predicament.'
'Partly?' Noran's voice rose an octave with incredulity.
'You're the one who decided to flee from the Brotherhood. You could have stayed and explained what happened.'
'With everything that's been going on these last couple of days, I panicked, all right? No one in the palace is open to reason and explanation at the moment. And that is your fault.'
'More Aalun's than mine. He started all of this.'
'And without you going along with him, he wouldn't have dared be so bold.'
Ullsaard was too tired to argue any more. When they came to the grand pavilion, Aalun was sitting in Ullsaard's campaign chair dictating a letter to a scribe. He looked up, waved the attendant away and signalled for Ullsaard and Noran to approach. Ullsaard bit back a comment about being invited into his own home and took up a stool in front of the prince. Noran did the same and briefly recounted what he had told Ullsaard. Aalun looked at Noran with sympathy.
'My father's unreasonableness about this whole affair is beyond comprehension,' said the prince.
'You don't understand your father's 'unreasonableness', not yet, Prince,' replied Noran. He looked at Ullsaard. 'He has instructed the Brotherhood to declare you traitor to the empire. I heard about the trouble you had trying to leave. Now the Brothers are dragging your name through the dirt across the city, from the hill to the goat quarter.'
Ullsaard absorbed this without comment and Noran continued.
'On top of that, messages were sent to Nemtun more than a week ago. He has gathered two legions from Okhar, will pick up another in Nalanor and is marching here right now.'
'More than a week ago?' said Aalun. 'That's before Ullsaard even entered Askhor.'
'Someone must have sent word,' said Ullsaard. 'I kept from the main routes, but you can't avoid everybody when you're marching with that many men.'
'It's a rare rumour that travels faster than a legion,' said Aalun. 'And when it arrived, I heard nothing of it.'
'Probably the Brotherhood again,' said Noran. 'Some reckon they used trained crows to carry messages between the precincts.'
'It doesn't matter,' said Ullsaard. 'Nemtun surely knows he can't threaten us with two less legions, and untested ones at that.'
'That's the other bad news,' said Noran. 'I spoke to a clerk in the treasury, who confided in me a letter sent to Kulrua in Maasra. It authorised the governor to release monies from the imperial vaults for the hiring of Nemurian mercenaries.'
'How much money?' asked Aalun.
'At the going rate, enough for five thousand at least.'
Ullsaard let out an explosive breath of air.
'Five thousand Nemurians? Nemtun needn't bother with his legions.'
'But they'll take time to get here,' said Aalun. 'Nemtun will probably be trying to keep us here until the mercenaries arrive.'
'I don't think I've ever heard of so many Nemurians in one place,' said Ullsaard, unable to shake the picture of rank upon rank of massive dark-scaled bodies clad in iron armour. A nervous tingle ran down at his back at the prospect of facing such a force. 'Best that we don't allow Nemtun to trap us.'
Aalun called for the servants — borrowed from Ullsaard — to bring in more lamps while he delved around in his chest of scrolls and parchments. He produced three maps and laid them out on the rugs. One showed Narun and most of Nalanor; another covered more of Nalanor and the lands to duskwards; the third was a broad map of Greater Askhor as a whole. The three of them knelt down beside the broad sheets.
'So, once we get past the Wall, where do we go?' the prince asked.
'Wait a moment, that's a big assumption,' said Ullsaard. 'It seems to me that the men at the Wall were given orders to let us in, so that we would be trapped in Askhor. Getting out might not be a foregone conclusion.'
'In which case we might as well not bother planning any further,' said Aalun. 'Just humour me, Ullsaard.'
'Couldn't we head dawnwards to the coast and take ships instead?' asked Noran.
'Maybe we could,' replied Ullsaard. 'Getting the other thirty thousand men transport would be nearly impossible. We would need at least four hundred ships. We could start building right now and they wouldn't be done before the Nemurians show up. No, if we're going anywhere, it's through the Wall.'
Aalun looked at the other two men, his expression asking whether they had finished interrupting. He pulled the Narun map to the top of the pile.
'The Greenwater is our next big obstacle,' the prince said. 'If Nemtun keeps to the duskward bank, he could contest any crossing we make. Our numbers would not count for much in that case.'
'Narun's the worst place to cross, no matter what Nemtun decides to do,' said Ullsaard. He retrieved the Nalanor map and spread it out in front of the prince. 'We turn coldwards once we're outside the Wall. Head into the foothills. The river's faster there but not so wide. The autumn floodwaters won't start for another thirty days at least, so we should find safe crossing. Also, that puts us even further away from Nemtun, who'll be coming up the river from hotwards.'
Noran and Aalun both nodded in agreement.
