Her Wolves had now broken from the shadows and were scurrying forward, bent double. Her sword gleamed faintly as the moon slipped from the clouds. The Greeks closest to them were struggling to hoist a banner, the pole slipping in the mud. Rain chewed at her lip, unable to believe they still hadn’t been spotted as they crept across the picket lines. Not for long. A Red Cloak frowned in their direction, a look of puzzlement on his face as he squinted into the darkness. Everyone held their breath. ‘What the—’ and then he had an arrow in his neck.

Rain barely heard the bowstring snap. So much for surprise. More Greeks spilled into the light with torches, trying to arrange themselves into a semblance of order. Storm raced past Rain, ‘Surprise, motherfuckers!’ Rain shook her head. As the Leader of the Wolves, it fell upon her to come up with a better opening line. ‘For Satyabhama!’ she cried into the night. It was echoed behind her. For Satyabhama!

Wood cracked, metal screeched, and flesh burst open as they crashed into the Greeks. The shouts were deafening. Rain’s own the fiercest among them. She twisted sideways, missing a fumbling spear thrust by a lad young enough to be her son. She rammed her shield into his mouth, snapping his head back and sending him crashing into a Greek bowman. There was barely space to swing. She turned to slay the man she had rammed, but found him already dead with an arrow in his neck. No matter. She saw a frozen bowman stare at her with fear. Good. Fear is good.

TELLIS could barely move. Hadn’t they won the battle? That is what they had been told. Then why had the Mathurans attacked them? All those armoured legs had charged towards them like some vengeful beast. Not the wild charge of a mob, but a purposeful jog. Most were young women. One had a short pixie cut. One was fat. Tellis wasn’t afraid of any woman but there was something wrong with these Mathurans. He had seen the one the Archon had fought. It had been by Gaia’s luck that he had survived, no matter what he claimed afterwards.

Shit, shit! They should have run. Why the hell did Cilix and the rest stay? He had wanted to nudge Cilix and urge him to get out. Why should they give a shit whether Kalyavan got to win a city he did not even plan to rule? Kalyavan was a runt for fuck’s sake.