Barden felt a surge of pride when he looked on the ranks of his draugar, still holding formation, pikemen bristling and swordsmen holding firm. He was using the draugar sparingly and they were holding out well. It would be close, but at the end of the day the fight would be his.
He was surprised at how tired he felt. What was he doing here, anyway? He felt a fool now for being tempted by the Primate's hidden relic, the prize that had been dangled in front of him. Yet Dain Barden was an honourable man, and he would live up to his end of the bargain. He had promised the Primate he would defend Tingara against her enemies, and he had given that strange templar, Zavros, the secrets of the necromancers. In return the Primate had let him rejoin the Tingaran Empire. Even so, Barden felt he had let his people down the day he made that deal.
When the battle was over, Dain Barden decided he would take his people home to Ku Kara, the ice city. He had known not to trust the Primate, but he had been eager to rejoin the other houses and open up discourse and trade. How could he have known the mighty Tingaran Empire built by Xenovere the Great would have been in such a state? The relic he could understand — it was only ever a possibility, and the Primate was evasive when pressed about its location — but what was the use of rejoining an empire at war, led by one such as the Primate?
Dain Barden had promised to defend Seranthia, and as a man of his word he would, but then he would leave.
"Dain," a young Akari said, his blonde hair wild and wispy and his chest heaving like he'd been running.
"What is it, lad?" Barden said.
"The Primate's left the Imperial Palace."
Dain Barden grunted. "What's he doing, fleeing?"
The Dain knew that if the Primate really had access to this relic he wouldn't be brooding in the Imperial Palace, nor would he be fleeing."
"He's asked to be taken to the Sentinel."
Barden fixed his full attention on the man. "Did you just say the Sentinel?"
It made sense all of a sudden. The relic had been hidden in plain view the entire time!
"The weapon," the Dain muttered to himself, "it's at the Sentinel. He's going to use it." He thought for a moment. The Primate had promised it to him! He turned back to the young Akari. "I must get there before the Primate uses it. It's ours, in the name of the Nightlord! Get me two draugar as guards."
As Dain Barden departed the battlefield he heard someone call his name. Turning, he saw Moragon waving at him.
"Your master's trying to take the relic for himself," Dain Barden said. "I haven't fought your battles for nothing. Don't try to stop me, melding."
"Give me command of your men," Moragon said.
"What?"
"Who will lead them with you gone? Please," the word sounded strange coming from Moragon's mouth, "you made a bargain. You will have the relic, and when we win today your help won't be forgotten."
Barden knew that every moment he waited, the Primate was getting closer to the relic. "Can I trust you to lead them?"
"I have no wish to see these barbarians in the streets of Seranthia," Moragon said. "I would say my motives are stronger than yours."
"You'll lead them well and wisely? On your honour?"
"On my honour," Moragon said.
Dain Barden made a quick decision. "Let it be so. I'll put out the word. Take care of my men, melding. I will be back."
~
MORAGON watched the Dain's departing back; the leader of the Akari took only two revenant bodyguards.
Moragon summoned four of his meldings.
Like himself, each had an arm of metal, and they carried enchanted swords by their sides. Fearless fighters and skilled swordsmen, they were loyal to their High Lord.
"Follow him," Moragon said. "Kill him before he finds the Primate."
"Yes, High Lord," they acknowledged.
Moragon quickly took command of the battlefield. With the Black Army and the draugar all under his control, he could finally fight the battle the way he wanted it to be fought.
"Sound the clarion. I want to pull back behind the Wall. They will dash themselves against the gate, and that's when we'll come out and strike with everything we've got. I want every draug, every avenger, and every legionnaire lined up behind the gate, with nothing held in reserve. They will think we've gone behind the Wall to lick our wounds. We'll crush them with one mighty blow."
57
"THERE'S fighting outside the gates of Seranthia," Ella cried. "I need to help my friends!"
"Ella, you know this is more important," Killian said. "If Evrin was trying to keep the Primate from some kind of powerful weapon, now is the time he'll try to use it."
"I know," Ella said, tearing her eyes from the scene below the hill they'd just crested. The prince's men had been met in open battle outside Seranthia, a swarming force of legionnaires and revenants pouring out of the city, rivalling even the numbers of the Hazarans. "We need to get into the city. How will we get in?"
"Not this way," Killian said. He was pensive for a moment. "The harbour. We'll take a small boat and enter from the harbour."
"Where will we find a boat?"
Killian looked at her. "Do you have a better idea?"
He took her by the hand and they started to run.