He supposed he should be grateful to be here at all. As senior mage attached to the army, Asea enjoyed many privileges and one of them was having her favourites present in this specially screened area near where she had inscribed the circles and Elder Signs of her calling.

A flicker of movement in the northern sky grabbed Rik's attention.

A flight of dragons streaked across the heavens, wings spread, exhalations of flame bursting from their nostrils. Traceries of energy danced around them as the defenders lobbed alchemical weapons into their path and the wizards of the besieged city invoked powerful spells. The great winged reptiles kept their line. Destructive spheres, each as large as a barrel of ale, arced down from the dragons and exploded on the rooftops adding their freight of destruction to the inferno below.

A murmur of dismay rose from the nearby wizards. As if born of this new torrent of flame, a massive fiery humanoid was taking form over the burning city. At first Rik could not tell whether it belonged to the defenders or his own side but he got his answer soon enough. The fire giant gathered all the flames into itself and leapt skyward, aiming for the dragons. Even at a distance of over a league, Rik could hear his crackling roar. The dragon flight split, one section veering left, the other right, the other heading straight up. The elemental bellowed its frustrated fury and sprang towards the army of its tormentors.

Fear filled Rik for a moment. The sorcerous thing was tall as a six-storey tenement building and much larger than a bridgeback wyrm. It looked capable of defeating the entire Talorean army on its own. As it walked, the flames of the burning city leapt to it, increasing its size even as it damped out the fires on the buildings within the walls.

Asea stood within a circle rimmed with Elder Signs. She was the greatest of the Talorean sorcerers, and this hill had been chosen to give her a view of the whole battlefield and to let her protect the battery of siege artillery nearby. A whole regiment of infantry was posted downslope to protect her. Two squadrons of cavalry waited nearby.

As the fire elemental left the city, the warding spells protecting the besieging army took their toll. Parts of its body broke off and spluttered out as it moved. It tried to reach down to the troops below but enchantments protected them. Only once did it break through and lift the swiftly blackening form of some poor soldier from the mass. Rik prayed it was nobody he knew. The Seventh, his old regiment, was down there getting ready to storm the city when the walls finally gave way.

Asea began to chant. A glow appeared on the lid of one of the urns in front of her. Rik has seen its like before in the ruins beneath the demon-haunted city of Deep Achenar. That one had contained a bound fire elemental. This urn looked different. The binding was blue crystal; the Elder Sign on its side resembled a snowflake. Asea's chant rose in pitch even as the fiery behemoth came closer.

Cracks appeared on the seal of Asea's casket. Rik hoped she could complete her ritual in time. The frustrated fire giant had given up attacking the soldiers and was coming straight at them now, as if guided by some malign intelligence that knew only too well that they were there despite the spells of concealment that were supposed to shield their position.