Amara had known the murderous fury was dangerous, but when she imagined what that meant, she hadn’t gotten the right scope of its overwhelming, malevolent power. Clearly, it would seem that Garados was the next best thing to a great fury itself, if not a full-blown superpower in its own right.

“Unbelievable,” she murmured.

“Bloody mountain has been a worry and an almighty trial to me for most of twenty-five years,” Bernard growled. “About time the thing started pulling its weight.”

A few minutes later, a new cry abruptly went up from the vord, a long slow wail that rose and fell in a steady cycle every few seconds. Amara tensed and leaned forward onto the merlon beside her husband, watching the enemy intently.

The vord rushed about, swirling in ranks past and through one another, falling into some sort of unthinkable, alien order and...

And withdrew.

“They’re running!” screamed a legionare.

The men on the wall went berserk with defiance and triumph, screaming imprecations after the retreating vord and raising their weapons into the failing light of the sun. While they did, the vord continued to fall back, and within a few moments, they had all vanished back in the direction from which they had come. A minute later, the only movement on the open field consisted of the still-twitching limbs of slain vord and the black wings of crows swooping down to feast upon the fallen.

“Giraldi,” Bernard said. “Sound stand down. Get a rotation going to get the men food, water, and rest.”

“Yes, sir,” Giraldi said. He saluted and went about his duties.

“That goes for the rest of you, too, people,” Bernard said to his command staff on the roof of the tower. “Get something in your bellies and find a spot to get a nap.”

Amara waited until they had all departed to say, “You did it.”

Bernard grunted and shook his head. “All we did was make them take us seriously. Before today, the vord had never had much in the way of tactics. They just threw more warriors at every problem.” He rubbed at one eye with his forefinger. “Today they tried to turn our flank. Tomorrow...” He shrugged. “They pulled back because someone over there is busy thinking of a way to bring us down. The next time we see them, they’ll have something nasty prepared.”

Amara shivered. He took a step closer and put his arm around her. The movement was awkward in his lorica, but Bernard managed.

“The important thing,” he said, “is that we’re still here. Once we fall back to Garrison, we should be able to hold out for weeks, if need be. We’ve successfully bought time.”

“For what?” Amara asked.

“For the boy to get here,” Bernard said.

“What good will that do us?” she asked. “No one’s sighted the Queen yet.”

Bernard shook his head. “He’s got something tricky in mind. Count on it.”