Pug stood up, still feeling shaky. Tomas said, “Ryana will bear me back to Elvandar.”
Pug embraced his old friend and said, “Again, we say good-bye.”
“And we’ll meet again,” answered Tomas.
“Fare you well, old friend,” said Pug.
“And you three as well,” said Tomas.
He climbed aboard the dragon’s back and she leaped into the sky. Two beats of her wings and she banked off to the west and started on the journey back to Elvandar.
Pug said, “Are you up to getting us all to Krondor?”
Miranda said, “I can manage.” She took them both by the hands and closed her eyes, and reality swam around them.
They appeared in the great hall of the Prince’s palace in Krondor as the war horns sounded the call for the reserves to come to the main gate.
Gustaf said, “If you can’t slip inside the gate and unlock it—”
“Kick it down,” finished Dash.
They heard the rumble as the ram was rolled down the road toward the main gate. The road into the city from the east was a long incline from a series of rolling hills, and the ram was a huge one, fashioned from five trees lashed together by heavy ropes. Horsemen rode on either side with guide ropes, and as they reached the last stretch of road before the gate, they released the ropes and veered off.
The ram picked up speed and the rumbling grew louder as the ram closed to within fifty yards of the gate. As it bore down, Dash reflexively gripped the stones of the wall as he anticipated the impact.
Then someone shoved between Gustaf and Dash and stuck his hand over the wall. A sheet of light extended from the man’s hand, and Dash turned to see his greatgrandfather standing next to him. “Enough!” Pug shouted, his anger clearly evident on his face as the ram exploded into a thousand flaming splinters.
Whatever the Keshians expected, this display of magic wasn’t it. Their attack, timed to coincide with the ram smashing the gate, faltered as men on horseback were suddenly greeted by the sight of a very high wall surmounted by archers instead of an open gate for them to charge through.
They pulled up and milled around in confusion, as the defenders on the wall unleashed a barrage of arrows. Pug shouted, “No!” and with a wave of his hands sent out a curtain of heat that turned the arrows into flaming cinders that fell far short of their mark. Turning to Dash, he said, “I don’t see any other officers. Are you in charge here?”
Dash said, “For the moment.”
“Then order your men to stop shooting.”
Dash did so, and the Keshians retreated to their lines unharmed. Pug said, “Send a herald to the Keshian commander. Tell him I want to meet with the commander of that army in the Prince’s palace in one hour’s time.”
“In the palace?” asked Dash.
“Yes, when he gets here, open the gate and let him in.”
“What if he won’t come?”
Pug turned his back, motioned to Nakor and Miranda on the rear of the gatehouse, and said, “He’ll come, or I’ll destroy his army.”
“But what do I tell him?” asked Dash.
“Tell him the war is over.”
A pale and weak-looking Patrick stood before his throne as General Asham ibin Al-tuk marched into the throne room, flanked by a guard and a servant. He bowed perfunctorily. “I am here, Highness.”
Patrick said, “I did not call this meeting.”
Pug stepped forward and said, “I did.”
“And you are?” asked the General.
“I am called Pug.”
The General raised an eyebrow in recognition. “The magician at Stardock.”
“The same.”
“Why have you summoned me?”
“To tell you to take your army and go home.”
The General said, “If you think that display outside the gate will turn my attention—”
A guard ran in and said, “Highness, fighting has erupted!”
The General said, “I am under a flag of truce!”
Patrick asked the guard, “Where is the fighting?”
“Outside the wall! It appears as if cavalry from both the north and south has attacked the Keshians.”
Patrick said, “General, those are units not presently under my command. They are obviously riding to relieve Krondor and do not know of the truce. You are free to rejoin your men.”
The General bowed and turned to leave, but Pug said, “No!”
“What?” asked both the Prince and the General simultaneously.
Pug said, “This will end now!”
He vanished from sight.
Nakor, who had been standing in the corner near Miranda, said, “For a tired man he manages to get around, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, he does,” Miranda agreed with a faint smile.
Pug appeared over the heart of the battlefield and saw that baggage wagons were afire at the rear of the Keshian position and that a company of horse was attacking along the coast road from the north, catching the Keshians between two attacking columns.