Sails unfurled on every vessel and drums stirred the blood, the pounding beats sounding primal, sparking a memory from the days when men lived in caves. Leaving the Chasm far behind, miles soon separated the armada from the narrow passage and Kargan again paced the deck as his thirty-two biremes spread out to form two perfect lines. He squinted ahead into the setting sun.

‘Messengers! Assemble!’ Kargan bellowed. He headed up to the bow, nodding as he cast his eyes over the fleet, before turning to wait impatiently near the forked bench as the dozen young messengers gathered.

‘Take these orders to the captains,’ Kargan said. ‘We’ll head slowly to Malakai through the night. Keep the men rested; work them in shifts. We’ll arrive with the dawn. My flag will signal the attack.’

He gazed ahead, to the row of sixteen warships that made up the first wave. Their decks were cleared for battle and they were burdened mainly by archers. The Nexotardis was at the midpoint of the second wave, where Kargan could watch every ship and issue adjustments if needed. The vessels at his flanks traveled far more slowly under the weight of all the heavily armored soldiers on board.

‘The first wave,’ he continued, indicating with a sweep of his hand, ‘is to take the brunt of any attempts to strike the fleet itself, whether from the sea, land, or sky. When we arrive at the city, the captains are to engage with any enemies and peel to the sides, allowing our troops to disembark on the shore.’

Kargan glowered at the young messengers.

‘Understood?’

The youths nodded. They’d all been trained to recall orders word for word, even to the point of Kargan’s inflections and hand gestures.

‘Our first objective is to control the harbor. Then, when we’ve unloaded the men, we’ll storm the gates.’ He glanced at Dhuma. ‘I know Malakai. The gates facing the harbor aren’t strong. Our iron ram will make short work—’

Kargan frowned when he was interrupted by a growing chorus of chatter. The murmurs became cries, and then he began to hear distant shouts of alarm. He turned and faced forward, shielding his eyes.

‘What is it?’ he muttered.

All around him, men were gazing at the sky. Finally, spread across the sunburned heavens, Kargan saw them. A great flock of birds hung just over the horizon, growing larger and larger with every passing moment. Their wings were spread in twin arcs, joined at the middle by a lean, muscled body. The wings were more like a bat’s wings than a bird’s . . .

Immediately he realized what they were.

The witnesses to the destruction of the barges at Verai had spoken of five dragons, or sometimes six. He had enough archers to deal with half a dozen dragons, and enough ships to cope with losses.