‘Yes,’ said Kaspar. ‘But it was just one battle.’
‘And unless the Dasati are total idiots,’ added Alenburga, ‘they won’t let themselves be drawn into a cluster like that again. I won’t guess how they think, but if I was their commander, I’d be plotting how to get my own cavalry into the fight.’ He let out a sigh. ‘It’s been a long day.’ As the sun lowered in the west, he asked, ‘Do we know if they fight at night?’
‘We have no intelligence on that,’ answered Kaspar.
‘Your young Jommy is right. We cannot make assumptions about how these creatures think and act.’ Alenburga turned to those officers waiting behind the three senior leaders of the Empire’s army and said, ‘I want the field cleared of the wounded as quickly as possible, and I want defensive positions erected even faster. We will act as if we know another attack is coming after sundown.’
Another attack came after sundown.
In the vast tunnel, Pug held up his hand and they waited, listening. He had given himself the responsibility of moving ahead of the vanguard as an advanced scout, because he was, except for Magnus, the most powerful single being in this invasion force. Magnus had been stationed next to Valko and told to protect him at all costs.
There had been a constant background sound as they entered the tunnel, and it had got increasingly loud as they passed near tunnels that Martuch said led from the palace complex to the Black Temple, in a rough latticework fashion. It was hard to put the name to the sound, but it caused Pug’s skin to crawl.
Pug motioned for the force behind him to move along, and over a thousand Deathknights loyal to the White came forward, moving with deliberate haste. No one knew for certain exactly how long the palace guards would be occupied with the slaughter of the city’s vast population, but this attack had to be conducted before any significant number of them returned from this mission of death.
Pug detected movement ahead, and felt his pulse race as he anticipated, at long last, a direct confrontation with the Deathpriests who protected the TeKarana. While preparing for this raid, Pug had asked Valko and the others for as much information as they could provide about what they might encounter. It proved to be sketchy at best. Little was known beyond this old, abandoned sub-basement complex attached to the closest access to the TeKarana’s private complex within the Great Palace. The TeKarana was served by a thousand dedicated Talnoy – Pug didn’t feel the need to share his knowledge of the real Talnoy still hidden on Midkemia, or that these were merely men in armour that looked like the ancient captured gods of the Dasati. He lived in a community almost completely isolated from the rest of the beings on this planet. He had his own staff who were separate from the larger palace staff of Effectors, Facilitators, Interlocutors, and other minor Lessers, and a harem of females chosen from the better houses in the Empire. There had never been any record of his acknowledging a son. Moreover, it was unclear when this TeKarana had taken over from his predecessor and how. Rumours abounded, but no one knew the truth of it. It was suspected that one of the planetary Karanas would be selected to replace the ultimate leader when it was time, but no one outside the innermost society of rulers on this world knew exactly how the system worked.
Pug reached what appeared to be a dead end, a blank wall of the ubiquitous black-grey stone used as the primary building material in the Empire. He motioned for Valko to approach and said, ‘Is there a way in or do I have to break it down?’
Valko seemed impressed, for the first time since meeting Pug. ‘You can break this down?’
‘Not quietly.’
Valko actually smiled, the first time Pug had seen him do so. ‘No, there is a way.’
Martuch and Hirea came forward and the three of them spread out and placed their hands on the wall, feeling for something that Pug could not see, no matter what aspect of his magic-enhanced sight he used. After a few minutes, Hirea reached low and triggered a mechanism. There was a deep but surprisingly soft rumble and the massive wall rolled into a pocket on the right, revealing another passage leading up.
‘This way,’ Valko said, and Pug and Magnus entered the passageway, towards the palace.