Corha grabbed Garanth's hand and hurried down the halls of Har-Tor's, slipping with effortless grace between frightened bystanders who were casting about for the reason behind the alarm.

"Sorry! My fault!" Caught in her grip, Garanth apologized while caroming from one person to another. The archon! Garanth thought. The leader of all the spears of Har-Tor, dragged along by the hand like an errant child. Who, seeing me now, would believe men were expected to follow me?

Corha zig-zagged from a side-corridor to a service passage then a short dwerkan maintenance tunnel, moving with a certainty of one who had already been told where to find the source of the problem. Working her way westward and upward, Garanth realized they were headed toward the gates. Somewhere along the way, Harkin materialized beside them, shadowing them in a bouncing long-legged stride. They stepped out into a wider passage and nearly colliding with Netac in the press of people. Garanth wondered if they had some means of silent communication or if they somehow always kept track of each other. He felt a slight twinge of jealousy at the thought, or was it loneliness?

The four darted into a narrow side entrance and up a steep spiral stairway that led to the battlement over the main gate. They caught up to Karux on the stairs and slowed to an impatient procession. They were forced to match him step for step as he thumped each riser with his staff and dragged his bad leg up with well-practiced determination.

The crisp winter air out on the battlement felt refreshing after the warm humidity of the mountain, though Garanth knew it would not take long for the cold to seep into the bones. Standing at the furthest right end of the walk, they could just see around the curve of the mountain to the outer buildings and the front gate below.

"It looks like they're attacking," Karux said. "Now we'll see if our dwerka fortifications will hold."

The attack was anticlimactic. The defenders stood on the walls hurling down spears and jeering, but few spears made it back over and the attackers soon stopped. The watchers at the main gate waited several minutes more, but the attack appeared to have ended.

"Well, that was disappointing." Harkin turning back to the stairs.

"I'd rather it not get too exciting," Corha said.

"They're not done yet," Karux said. "They were testing our defenses. They'll adjust their tactics and be back. Still, I think we have some time before then." Karux returned to the stairs, descending more slowly than his ascent. He paused and swept them with a sharp look over his shoulder. "You three stay close by and don't get lost." His glance lingered on Corha, then gave Garanth a dismissive nod. "Shouldn't you be archon-ing somewhere?"

Apologizing to Corha with his eyes, Garanth returned downstairs where his key arcanths were already in mid-argument about tactics.

Macander rapped the ever-present map table with a knuckle. "We should keep our forces here inside Har-Tor, this is what it was designed for."

Anankaes nodded over a rough sketch of Har-Tor's outer defenses. "We should already be evacuating the outer buildings."

Z'taes straightened, the tall man's head nearly brushing the ceiling. "The halls are packed now and the outer defenses appear more than adequate."

"They were never supposed to be there in the first place." Labrose flung a hand out in the general direction of the front gate. "We'd need an entire soreav just to hold the walls."

"Of which we have plenty of men," Z'taes said. "I'd be happy to stay out in the fresh air and lead them while the rest of you choke together in here."

Tekmos laughed. "I care not either way." He turned to Garanth. "What do you say?"

"Prepare for the worst and hope for the best or so I've always been told."

Tekmos gestured at Z'taes, "Unfortunately, even hoping for the best requires some planning of its own."

"Judging from what I've seen, the defenses at the outer gates are quite sufficient to stop the enemy. If Z'taes and his men want to guard the outer wall, I see no reason to say no. If it becomes necessary to evacuate the outer buildings, then he'll be in a position to help. In the meantime, the rest of us will stay in Har-Tor and prepare for the worst." Garanth paused to look each arcanth in the eye. "What do you say?"

The arcanths shrugged in agreement.

<====|==|====>

"What do you mean you failed?" Andral roared.

"I told you, unless we find a way over under or through that wall, we won't even see Har-Tor."

Andral growled. "I want to see this wall."

With a resigned nod, Pronos led him across the river and up the hill, stopping just outside spear range of the wall. He thought he caught a faint twitch of surprise as Andral scowled up at the massive stone structure. A long, silent, motionless minute followed, ending when something shuddered up through Andral's spine and twisted his face into a narrow-eyed grin. "Have your axemen bring me a tree. It should be as big around as I am and twice—no—three times as long. Also, trim off the limbs except along two sides."

"But why?"

"So my angorym can make use of it."

"I don't understand."

"Nor are you required to. Just do it."

Fearing a prank, Pronos hesitantly relayed Andral's command to his men. Surely such strange instructions could have no purpose. It took nearly half a day to find the tree, fell it and prepare it to Andral's instructions. The men returned with a solid section of log from which all the branches had been stripped except along each side where the thickest limbs had been cut at about a yard's length. They brought it to Andral and found him pacing back in forth across the narrow road leading from the ford up to Har-Tor. A pack of drwg chained nearby echoed his growling mutter.

"What took you so long? The day is nearly done."

"The men only followed your orders." Pronos knew any explanation would only invite an argument. He tried to avoid eye contact without looking like he was doing so. "Considering the hour, perhaps it would be best to wait until tomorrow."

"No!" Andral leaned forward and measured the length of Pronos' face with his clenched fist. "I mean to have that man's throat in my hands tonight!" The mass of callous-wrapped bone and gristle hovered an inch from his nose.

Pronos swallowed. "If we attack now, the men will be fighting into the dark."

"Which will not inconvenience the angorym or the drwg. They prefer it." Andral turned and shouted out a word in the angorym speech. One of the monsters bellowed back and gestured at his companions.

A wise leader would have realized his men had had little rest the night before they invaded N'shia-Potoma. The icy grip of anxiety made a fist in Pronos' stomach to rival Andral's. It looked like they'd get little rest until Har-Tor was taken.

Andral's repeated another gargling word a couple of times. The angorym sidled up on either side of the log and picked it up by its shortened short limbs. Pronos commanded his men to attack the walls again and this time, his spears concentrated on the defenders standing over the gate. Shrugging off falling stones while spears glanced from their armor, the angorym charged forward. They swung the log in unison. It crashed against the door. A second time and the door shook violently on its hinges. On the third blow, the wood began to crack. On the fourth blow, splintered pieces fell away and by the sixth blow, the door flew open. With a roar and a howl of drwg, the rest of the soreav charged in through the gate. The drwg separated, left and right, running down streets and pouncing on defenders.

"To me! To me!" Pronos tried to keep his forces together because he knew Karux would not be found in any of these outer buildings. He screamed at his men and collected enough to continue the assault on Har-Tor proper. They raced up the steep curving ramp to a second set of doors and fortifications even more massive than the first.

His men halted out of spear range, taking turns darting in and throwing spears before scampering back out of range. The defenders returned fire and the two sides traded spears, only occasionally getting a lucky hit in. After awhile, the attackers seemed to be getting the worse of the exchange, but not so badly that they were ready to pack up and leave.

"Stay here and harass them," Pronos told a man he presumed to be a tacarch. "I'll bring the angorym and more men."

Pronos trotted back down the slope. Several hands of men were herding citizens together into a tight circle. Pronos grabbed the nearest reaver. "What's happening here?"

"The oracle wants to take them all alive."

"What is he thinking?" Pronos demanded of no one. It would take many hands of men to keep these captives under control. They had already left too many men behind in N'shia-Potoma as it was. "Where is he now?"

The reaver jabbed a finger northward. "The last I saw of him was that way."

Pronos strode off passing several teams of men running into houses and pulling people out. He was surprised none of the buildings were on fire yet.

Andral strolled along the street shouting, a pair of angorym at his side as bodyguards. "Alive! Bring them to me alive!"

Pronos called out to Andral "He's not here!"

"Who?" Andral asked.

"Karux. He's inside Har-Tor. This isn't Har-Tor yet."

Andral frowned. "Do you think I don't know exactly where my foe is? I can smell him cowering inside the mountain."

"Then why don't we go get him? I have men harassing the defenders right now. I need more men. With your door-smashers, we can end this now."

Andral's smile exposed his large slab-like teeth. The twisted inspiration lit his expression. "All in good time. We don't want to rush a good thing. First I have to gather and crush the nuts before we can make our New-Year's bread."

With a shudder, Pronos returned to the base of the ramp and paced. Was Andral mad? Or was he merely a giant puppet, manipulated by spirits so alien that the word mad could hardly be applied to them. Every time a stray hand of reavers crossed his path, he sent them to support his men at the top of the ramp. When the number of captives had grown to an unmanageable size, Andral appeared with one last group of victims.

"Pronos! Good. I was hoping to find you here. I need someone to take these trophies back to N'shia-Potoma."

"What? But I'm needed here. Our attack has already lost momentum. We have to get our spears organized."

Andral surprised Pronos by slapping a familiar hand on his shoulder. "I'll send the angorym and the whole lot up the ramp right away, but first I want you to take these people back to the city. Right now, that is more important."

"But—" Pronos' objection was cut off by a hard squeeze. All the humor died in Andral's eyes. Pronos knew any objection would be worse than useless. "Very well." He shouted to the reavers standing guard. "Let's get these people out of here."

Pronos led them back across the river to the city, where Bania and his group of reavers stood guard over those previously captured. "Why am I not surprised to find you here?"

"Just trying to stay out of trouble, dra," Bania said.

"I have some more prisoners for you."

"For me? I'm not in charge here."

"Who is?"

"No one. We simply started guarding the prisoners and the Oracle and the tacarchs just let us continue."

"Well then, you're in charge now."

"I'd really rather not be."

"Tacarch Bania, you're in charge of these prisoners," Pronos repeated in a commanding tone. Whatever happens to them is now your responsibility. If any are hurt, or worse, escape, you will become food for the drwg and the angorym."

Bania looked ill. "Yes, dra."

"Now I have to get back to the—"

A series of loud cracks and a deep earth shaking rumbling came from Har-Tor where a plume of dust rose up. Pronos sprinted back to the river, fearing the soreavs had already broken into the mountain. Running through the empty streets of Har-Tor's outer buildings, he stopped before a pile of rubble where the ramp should have been.

<====|==|====>

After the meeting, Garanth fought the urge to go see Corha again. He anticipated Karux would keep them busy with whatever measures they could take to prepare for the battle ahead. He visited the armory and made sure the staff was ready to hand out weapons and armor as needed. He visited the waiting spearmen and discussed the first attack, quashing some nascent rumors about the whole attack being a diversion so gob-bocari could sneak into Har-Tor.

When he could think of nothing else to occupy himself, he went to the main dining hall for food. One thing he'd learned in the field was, that one should always eat or sleep whenever the chance came, because once the battle started it was too late to gather your strength. The cooks always kept a full pot of porridge cooking on the fire for the spearmen. A kind word and some bread and sausage could usually be found as well. For several minutes, Garanth ate by himself at a long table before noticing Eiraena standing just inside the door, staring at him.

"Oh, hello, Eiraena. Why don't you come over here?"

Eiraena didn't move; she only stood staring at him.

Garanth wondered if she had been following him around, and if so, for how long. Just what is going on inside her head? He wondered. "Suit yourself." Garanth continued eating with only an occasional glimpse at her.

"Soon," she said

He looked up. She hadn't moved. "Soon, what?"

Eiraena didn't reply.

Garanth finished his bowl and dropped it in a bucket of soapy water, but when he turned back around, she was gone.

In the end, he returned to the walk over the upper gate and so was in a position to see the second attack on the outer gate. He heard the yelling, saw the spears flying and heard a distant boom followed by a loud crack. Impossibly, the doors fell inward and the dark shapes of drwg darted down the outer streets to a chorus of rising screams. Roaring men followed behind the charging angorym.

"Secure the gate," Garanth called to the guards below. The thick doors slammed shut and the heavy timber bar slide into place. Remembering the horn at his side, Garanth raised it and blasted out the rallying call. In a dozen rapid heartbeats, more men piled out onto the overlook as attackers rushed forward and began to fling their spears up. I should have called up the faeyn, Garanth thought, wondering where Theris was at the moment.

The reavers below were relatively few in number and seemed largely ineffective. Garanth turned to the nearest tacarch. "Can you hold things here for a while?"

Sweat trickled down the side of the man's face. His eyes stayed fixed on the buildings below. He nodded. "Yes, dra."

"Good. I'm going to see if I can bring up the faeyn archers."

Garanth pounded down the stairs, passing a grim-faced Karux on the way up. "They're through the lower gate."

"Did Z'taes evacuate the lower buildings?"

"No. They were through too quickly. He didn't have time."

Karux rushed up the stairs while Garanth ran back to Macander's family quarters. Theris was playing with his niece and nephew while Macander watched and laughed. They both turned worried expressions on Garanth when he pounded into the room. "They're attacking again and this time, they've broken through the lower gate." Pausing to gasp for breath, Garanth nodded to Theris. "We could really use some faeyn archers at the main gate."

Theris put down his niece, rose and gave his nephew a pat on the head. He followed Garanth and Macander from the room, then they each ran off in different directions. Garanth had just reached the spiral stair leading to the battlement over the gates when the walls lurched back and forth, bouncing him between them. He fell to his knees, cracking his shins against the steps and slid down half a flight before the shaking stopped. Outside, a deep and persistent rumble rose up through the ground carrying with it the scent of newly crushed stone. When Garanth could get his feet beneath him, he scrambled up the stairs. A dozen reavers leaned out over the edge of the parapet staring downward. Karux knelt on one knee, clutching his staff to hold himself upright. Garanth followed their gaze, searching the dust and shadows for whatever had caught their attention. As the dust cleared, he blinked in disbelief. He turned to Karux. "Did you...?"

Karux gave Garanth an uncharacteristic questioning look and Garanth, gripping his upper arm, helped him to his feet.

"They were about to break in," Karux said softly.

The broad stone ramp which had curled around the mountain had disappeared. In its place, a high sheer cliff looked down on a rubble pile where a large number of the enemy's reavers had recently been standing.