The moustached animator hurried up to Miro as the ironmen continued their advance, forming an unbroken line.

"I'm needed to help control the ironmen, Lord Marshal, but I thought you could use a briefing. The enemy destroyed the woodmen and the bonemen, but the ironmen proved too difficult, and so they were buried. Most are buried haphazardly, in a pile, but some like these were still filed up in their carts. We were able to renew them without too much difficulty."

"What about the others?"

"They'll take days to extract, reassemble, and renew."

"How many?"

"We now have two hundred ironmen, fully activated and combat-ready. But buried in the ground is perhaps three times that number."

Miro made a snap decision. "Captain? Send a message to Marshal Beorn. Tell him to send reinforcements, every man he can spare. Quickly!"

The captain despatched a messenger and then looked up at Miro. "Are we holding here?"

Miro nodded. "We're certainly going to try."

~

ONE bladesinger, fifty Alturan soldiers, and two hundred ironmen held against the Black Army's counter-attack for nearly an hour before Marshal Beorn arrived with reinforcements.

In the end, they held the field, and the Black Army fled to nurse its wounds. Of the fifty Alturan swordsmen, only twelve lived. The Alturan captain numbered among the dead, and as he looked at the brave man's body, Miro realised he'd never even asked his name.

Throughout the night, Marshal Scola harried the enemy, maintaining the initiative while Miro and Beorn consolidated their defences. With every hour that passed, the animators unearthed more constructs, but the moment of greatest triumph came when, cheering wildly, they even salvaged two massive colossi. Miro instructed them to keep going, rescuing as many as they could until the essence ran out.

As the next day dawned, Miro realised there had been no more counter-attacks. He had held Halrana soil for a full day. At midday the animators told him there would be no more constructs to add to their numbers.

Miro ordered the army to decamp and advance further into Halaran, while the Black Army fled in front of them.

Now Miro had the initiative.

He didn't plan to lose it.

32

32

SUMMER was over, but it was two weeks more before Ella told the prince that the time was right.

Ella and Shani had spent long hours planning while the desert warriors fought amongst themselves, spoiling to fight. The prince eventually took a personal hand keeping his men in line, publicly trying eight men for insurgency, and another three for their poor treatment of Petryans. All eleven men were executed by beheading. Shani told Ella she was finally beginning to believe the prince would keep his word and treat her people well.