In Ralanast itself, a man in the attire of a Halrana High Lord stood at the vortex of a constant stream of activity, issuing orders and receiving messages from his command centre in one of the four great storehouses in Ralanast's cargo district. There was a whisper, a hum that was impossible to suppress, as the number of men under Prince Tiesto swelled at the last minute, with every young Halrana wanting to play a part and join their fellows in this moment. The newly created officers — recruits whose only credentials lay in the fact they'd been with the resistance since the beginning — tried to keep the murmurs of anticipation quiet, but the Halrana could not be silenced. By nightfall, the storehouses were filled to bursting, and still they came. Prince Tiesto would not turn any away.

Expectancy hung in the air.

~

AMBER looked around her, nodding in satisfaction. To all outward appearances, the density of the clustered groups of prisoners was the same as it always was, but she and Lina had coordinated a shifting, so that the most able-bodied prisoners were clustered near the gate.

Their task was made infinitely more difficult by the various personalities of the prisoners. Some were willing and ready to fight — desperate to, even — while others were terrified, their spirit crushed by the constant fear and merciless beatings. Amber often felt that more of their efforts had gone into handling the other prisoners than anything else.

There were many more prisoners than there were guards, but the guards had sharp swords and long pikes, steel armour and prismatic orbs. The tough warriors of the Black Army would cut through the weak and unarmed prisoners with ease.

Amber sat with Lina and Samora, wondering if she looked as nervous as the other two women. "What if they noticed the food was tainted?" Amber asked Samora.

"Then it's over before it starts," Samora said.

Amber looked at the guards, men who were on duty and wouldn't be eating with the others, knowing that no matter what, they would need to take these men out. At best, the poisoning would reduce the numbers of their reinforcements. "Are you sure she used enough?"

"How would I know?" Samora said. "I'd never even heard of celemar three days ago. It's not like I was there to watch her."

The off-duty guards always took an evening meal at their own encampment. There were three shifts in a day, which meant that at any time two-thirds of the total complement of soldiers would be resting, ready to come to the prison camp at a moment's notice in the event of trouble, while those on guard duty cursed their luck and would take their meal later, passing the time making sport with the prisoners.