ON THE third Gathering of autumn, a day usually reserved for the harvest, when child, parent and grandparent would head out into the fields to reap the rewards of their sunny land, plans were put into action in Ralanast.

The officers of the Black Army were the first to play a part, although for them it was nothing far from the ordinary. An hour after dawn the guards stationed at Ralanast's eastern gate were relieved; those finishing their tour would return to Tingara, while the new soldiers settled in for a long spell and wondered if the rumours they'd heard about Halrana women were true.

As the sun climbed in the sky, farmers brought drudge-pulled wagons carrying loads of grains, fruits, and vegetables into the city. The new guards examined several carts for weapons, but couldn't see much reason to be meticulous, and eventually waved the rest through.

To the south of Ralanast, an army of grim-faced men in green and brown looked down from a sloped hill, maintaining a rigid formation as they gazed at the indomitable southern gate. They had been here for days, and with little in the way of siege weapons, the Black Army's officers were starting to believe they wouldn't attack after all — they hadn't even encircled the city in an attempt at siege! If this was out of sentiment to the Halrana who would be the first to starve, well then perhaps the Alturan commander didn't have the stomach for what it took to win in a war like this. Reinforcements would arrive from Tingara soon. The allied army would be crushed, the same way they had been crushed at the last Battle for Ralanast.

The heat started to leave the day as the sun crossed the centre of the sky and began to fall towards the horizon. In the cool autumn evening the farmers and workers left the city to return home to their quarries, mills and fields. The soldiers at the gates and outposts remarked that they seemed a reticent, sober-faced bunch, but then their speculation dried up as they, too, felt the import of the day, without quite realising why.

At the prison camp, the soldiers in black sensed that their prisoners were stirring. Their captain warned his men to be especially vigilant, although there was nothing specific he could point to — no rebellious behaviour that could be punished with whipping, hanging, or a brief and educational visit to the vats.