Page 334 of Of Empires and Dust

When the door had shut, Eltoar locked the chest, then carried it to the table where his armour lay on the far side of the room. He set the chest on the ground, then ran a finger across the black flame set into the white steel breastplate.

“If we go, we leave Elkenrim vulnerable,” Voranur said.

“And if we don’t, then we leave the forty thousand souls laying siege to the rebel outpost at the mercy of dragonfire. We make the choices we can live with.” Eltoar turned to Voranur and Lyina. “Ready yourselves. We leave at once.”

Lyina stood beside Eltoar as Voranur strode from the room. She looked into his eyes, her voice low. “Do we fly in aid of the armies or for another reason?”

“If I can talk to him, then I will. That is my hope. But if not, then I will do as I must.”

She nodded slowly. “We need to know how the egg hatched, Eltoar. If something has changed…” She looked down at the chest. “We need to know.”

“Agreed.”

“What will you do with that? Surely you cannot leave it here.”

“I will leave it somewhere safe.” Eltoar laid a hand on the chest. “This gemstone may yet be the future of our race.”

Chapter 79

The Lion and The Dragon

22ndDay of the Blood Moon

Firnin Mountains – Winter, Year 3081 After Doom

Ristand the others were about halfway up the mountain by the time the sun had joined the red moon in the sky. The mages of the First Army had set out in the middle of the night, divided into ten groups of ten. Each led a contingent of five hundred soldiers along narrow mountain paths discovered by Taya Tambrel’s scouts the day before. Four of the Chosen had also joined Rist’s contingent.

The mages of the other armies remained with the bulk of the force for the main assault that had begun at daybreak.

It was Garramon’s plan. Taya Tambrel had discovered the main track on the first day, but the path was long and treacherous and the rebels were heavily dug in. With an army of forty thousand and near six hundred Battlemages, the rebel outpost would fall. But a full-frontal assault alone would takeheavy casualties. However, if enough mages could find a way inside the mountain while the rebels were focused on the main assault, the rebels would be caught in a pincer and the battle would end swiftly.

It was a plan Rist agreed with. Pincer movements were among the most effective battle stratagems in history and often resulted in a dramatic reduction in the loss of life – at least from the attacking side. Sumara Tuzan’s works spoke of them extensively. Besides, it was the defensive fortification of the mountain that made the assault so costly. If that factor was removed, more men and women would live to see another day – live to see their families again.

A gasp from behind him pulled Rist from his ponderings and he stuck out his hand by instinct. He grabbed hold of Samala’s belt and had to dig his heels into the ground to stop the both of them from tumbling over the cliff edge. Dirt and rocks dropped over the edge, bouncing off the mountainside as they fell.

When he was sure his feet were stable, Rist leaned back to balance Samala’s weight and tugged her away from the ledge.

“Thank you,” she said, a tremble in her voice, her hands shaking before her. “I… my mind was elsewhere.”

“Keep moving,” Magnus called back.

“Don’t look down,” Rist said to Samala. “And if the path gets too narrow, turn your hips towards the mountain to keep your weight balanced. It’s what goats do.”

She looked at him as though he had two heads but thanked him again before he turned and continued on. He didn’t know the woman well. She had seen five or six summers more than he had and had been drafted in from the Circle after the Battle of the Three Sisters. But he’d learned her name – as he had for every mage in the First Army. That was a promise he’d made to himself after Ilnaen, and he’d kept it. Of the nine that climbedwith him, he only truly trusted Garramon, Magnus, and Neera, but at least he knew all their names.

“That hand was dangerously close to her arse,” Neera whispered, dropping back to Rist, her eyes narrowing.

Rist knew it was a trap. It was always a trap. And yet, he had no idea how to avoid it. “Would you rather I let her fall?”

“Yes.” Neera said nothing else. She simply turned to look back up the steep narrow path ahead to where Garramon, Magnus, and Yoric led the way, threads of Earth probing at the rock for any concealed entrances or hollow points.

Rist drew a long breath and let it out in a sigh. His father’s words that women were ‘equal parts confusing, irritating, and completely unavoidable’ had made more and more sense the longer Rist had known Neera.

As they climbed, he looked out at the landscape beyond. The army was spread out in columns near the main path. The assault was already underway, but the bulk of the army stood in reserve as the path was only wide enough for five or six to walk abreast.

He had spent most of the night as they’d climbed thinking about the men and women who marched at the head of the army – those who walked the path first. No matter what he or anyone else did, those soldiers would be dead before the next sun. There was no path where that did not happen. They would face the full force of the rebel defences, and they would be cut down, only so that those behind them might push further and in turn be cut down, and so on and so forth.

“Magnus?” Rist whispered.

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