They moved slowly, taking their time, and an hour later made it to the top of the notch in the ridge. They surveyed the landscape and Laromendis said, “Gods and fathers!”

Before them spread out mile after mile of more twisted and broken rock. In the distance they could see gas plumes and steam vents, and they knew they were reading the outer boundary of volcanic activity. Since coming to this world, the Taredhel had witnessed two eruptions, neither of which was violent enough to threaten the fortification to the south, but large enough to prevent exploration in this region. Had they not occurred, the brothers speculated the Taredhel explorers would have found the human fortress to the north. Of course once the demons had reached this world, it was behind their lines.

“Where now?” asked Laromendis.

“Somewhere out there?” said Gulamendis.

“Can you be more precise?”

“No,” said his brother as he started walking down the side of the solid lava flow.

CHAPTER 12

ALLIES

Sandreena galloped forward.

Farson and Keandar urged their lagging mounts to keep up as they started down the final hillside into Durban. Dust blinded those not seeking shelter as another hot wind blew hard out of the desert. Sandreena had been unrelenting, pushing the poor animals to the limits of their strength, knowing that three fine warhorses were most likely headed for the knackers when this ride was over, their health so compromised they would never again be fit for battle.

Still, she judged it a necessary sacrifice, just as she judged Jaliel’s loss necessary. She prayed each night that the Goddess protect Her servant, and hoped that if Jaliel had been fortunate he was a captive and not a corpse, and that if the mystery she had discovered in the Valley of Lost Men could be further unraveled, he along with the others enslaved down there might be freed.

Durban was by any measure the most dangerous city on the Bitter Sea. The titular seat of Imperial Keshian government in the Jal-Pur desert and the Bitter Sea, it was effectively a city-state. Occasionally an Imperial edict would be handed down from the Emperor’s Court in Kesh requiring reform, but for the entirety of its history, the city was a law unto itself. Strength of arms, gold, and power were the only means of safe passage in this city. Three ragged riders entering at a gallop would hardly elicit a second glance from the city watch and only those considering them as potential prey would cause anyone else to study them.