‘General Dhuma,’ Kargan said. ‘I’d like to hear your account now, firsthand, without embellishment. Tell me the facts.’

The general nodded. ‘Of course, Great King.’ He took a deep breath. ‘As you know, we have faced down the tribes many times, and I . . . Well, this time we thought it would be the same. It has been a long time since so many gathered, but they’ve never been strong warriors, no match for ours.’

Kargan stared into the general’s eyes. ‘How many did you defend the city with?’

‘Close . . . Close to two thousand, Great King.’

‘And the enemy?’

‘Five or six hundred tribesmen . . . Perhaps a hundred and fifty foreigners. The strangers . . . I’ve never fought men like them before.’

Kargan’s nostrils flared. ‘Tell me, General, how many did you lead when you fled, leaving my city to the mercy of the savages?’

Dhuma spoke so quietly that Kargan strained to hear him. ‘Four hundred and twelve.’

‘So you were soundly defeated. You had superior numbers and the strength of the city walls. How did you lose? Why did you lose?’ Kargan’s voice became a roar. ‘Malakai is one of my key cities!’

The general swallowed. ‘They attacked with the dawn. But it was the wind that gave them the advantage. A strange wind . . . It rose up from nothing.’ He shook his head. ‘There was a sandstorm, unlike anything I’ve experienced before. So much grit that we couldn’t see. It got into our eyes and into our armor. We still defeated the tribesmen in numbers, but the foreigners . . .’

Dhuma steadied himself, meeting Kargan’s stare directly. ‘King of Kings, I am telling you this truly, as someone who has fought all across the empire. I have never seen armor like theirs, nor weapons. They cut through us like a scythe through wheat, yet our arrows and spears barely scratched them.’

‘And then you lost the walls and fled . . . Leaving the body of the viceroy, Agathon, behind.’ Kargan’s lips thinned as he paused, and the general’s face turned whiter. ‘This leader, the man who killed my cousin. Describe him.’

The general cleared his throat and nodded. ‘They say his name is Palemon. The clan chiefs are in awe of him. Even as we waited for the attack, rumors were rife in the city. The locals have never loved us, and when the usual cries for rebellion began, they were shouting his name. They say he is the ancient King Palemon of Aleuthea, reincarnated in the flesh. All I know is that, without doubt, he and his warriors are the reason the city fell.’

‘So he tells a good tale, and he knows how to use myths to recruit followers.’ Kargan scratched his beard.

‘The Aleutheans built Malakai,’ Dhuma said. ‘It’s one of the world’s oldest cities. This . . . Palemon . . . says that he is merely reclaiming it from usurpers, and he intends to do the same with the rest of the world.’