I believe they will let us stretch our line of supply as far as they calculate we will go, and then next year they will intervene with all their strength. And let us not delude ourselves, my lords and ladies and youthful friends, their strength is very great indeed. I think this will be the last of our easy victories."

"You consider this campaign to have been easy, General?" asked the Colonel.

"You fought in the last great war between Talorea and the Dark Empire, Colonel. What do you think?"

"I think you are right, General." After that the conversation became subdued and the taste of victory did not seem quite so sweet.

After the dinner Rik escorted Lady Asea back to her pavilion. She considered it best to keep up the fiction that they were lovers now that it was established in the minds of the army. Rik agreed with her there. It was better than having people know the grim truth about his heritage and the way Asea had chosen to exploit it.

Once they were inside her tent, she spoke a word and the glowglobe sitting in its tripod sprang to life. She spoke another word and wards sprang into place around them, dulling the sounds from outside, making the noises seem as if they came from a very long way off. She slumped down in a folding chair, looking suddenly very weary.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I am just tired."

"It's been a long day," he said.

"I thought my time had come when we faced that dragon earlier." Rik looked at her in surprise. It was the first time he had ever heard her admit something like that. “I owe you my life. I will not forget that.”

"We are still here," he said.

"Only just," she replied.

"You do not sound very triumphant."

"Let idiots like Elakar make speeches about victory. I know, you know and Azaar knows that the real war has only just begun."

"You think the Dark Empire will intervene soon."

"We both know that it has intervened already. You fought with the Nerghul in Morven. You saw what their agent Zarahel got up to in the mountains. I just wonder what their next surprise will be. I fear it will not be long till we find out."

Rik was forced to agree. She smiled brightly. “Now, let us continue your education in the principles of sorcery.”

“No rest for the wicked,” said Rik.

“No rest indeed.”

Chapter Four

Rik looked out the window as the coach approached Parliament Square. Its wheels clattered jarringly on the cobblestones. Above Karim, Asea’s deadly South-born body-guard, rode beside the driver, his bow in his hand even here. A month after its fall Halim was still dangerous enough to require that. Some of the crowd filling the square looked well-off but there were plenty of starving people who knew their situation was only going to get worse as winter approached. Their pinched faces and patched clothes contrasted with the graceful lines of the beautiful old buildings. Halim was an enormous city, constructed on a monumental scale. It had been built to be the new capital of the Terrarch Empire only a few years before that Empire had torn itself apart. Now it had a curiously sick and sinister look, like an age-ravaged beauty dressed in the gown bought in a more prosperous year.

The coach swept them into the square. On its western side, the Temple's great dragonspire rose towards the sun. To the north lay the vast colonnaded frontage of the parliament building. To the east was the Royal Palace.