‘King Eiric, I still maintain that there is another option,’ Dalton said, his ancient voice thin and reedy. ‘We can talk. Our friends in Xanthos can broker—’

‘Friends?’ Caleb’s lip curled. ‘Humans were never our friends.’

‘The king of Xanthos is half eldran.’

‘That’s enough from both of you.’ Eiric glared at his two companions. ‘We will stand our ground. If they try to take our position, we will fend them off. But we will aim to kill as few of them as possible. Caleb, I’m looking at you to control some of the firebrands among—’

‘They’re coming,’ Dalton said softly.

Soldiers with the brown cloaks of Tanus on their shoulders were leaving the trees, row after row of hoplites marching forward and then coming to a halt. Sling and javelin throwers formed up on both sides of the main host, while archers brought up the rear. An officer with a brown-crested helmet of horse hair rode a black stallion along the front of his force. He pointed his spear up at the mines. The soldiers began to slap their spears against their shields, creating a threatening rumble that rolled up the hillside to the eldren watching from behind the blockade.

Eiric and Dalton exchanged glances. ‘There must be a thousand men down there,’ Dalton said.

Eiric again looked along the length of the embankment. He had close to a hundred men and women ready to follow his lead. At present the eldren, slender figures with thin limbs and silver hair, appeared completely outclassed by their opponents. That would soon change.

‘It’s going to be difficult to keep the casualties low,’ Eiric murmured.

‘But we must try,’ Dalton said.

A trumpet sounded. The soldiers began to run.

Hearing the trumpet, Gorlax nodded at the men around him. ‘It’s time.’

He had twenty men with him, all lightly armored, wearing leather breastplates, skirts of hide strips, and wooden spears strapped to their backs. Unwieldy swords had been left behind, but they were Tanus’s elite, trained since birth in combat, their skills honed fighting wildren back in the days when they regularly preyed on their city’s livestock and populace. Even without their usual equipment, they would succeed at the task the general had set them.

Gorlax tilted his head back, gazing up the cliff. He and his men had already planned their route. It looked sheer, but Tanus was a city surrounded by mountains, and they all had years of experience climbing similar faces. It was a difficult ascent, but not impossible.

‘Remember,’ Gorlax addressed his men. ‘When you’re climbing, you’re on your own. Never scale below another man. When you reach the summit, scout the area and form a defensive perimeter until all of us are up. If you’re slow, we won’t wait for you, and if you can’t make it up, we’ll see you back at the camp. Understood?’

‘Yes, sir,’ the soldiers murmured.