He looked down at his bleached leather armour, now splotched red with blood. He'd killed more of the desert men than he could count, but the scratched Hazara kept pulling away, harrying his flanks, protecting the fire-wielders before regrouping again out of range.

Barden felt a surge of pride when he looked on the ranks of his draugar, still holding formation, pikemen bristling and swordsmen holding firm. He was using the draugar sparingly and they were holding out well. It would be close, but at the end of the day the fight would be his.

He was surprised at how tired he felt. What was he doing here, anyway? He felt a fool now for being tempted by the Primate's hidden relic, the prize that had been dangled in front of him. Yet Dain Barden was an honourable man, and he would live up to his end of the bargain. He had promised the Primate he would defend Tingara against her enemies, and he had given that strange templar, Zavros, the secrets of the necromancers. In return the Primate had let him rejoin the Tingaran Empire. Even so, Barden felt he had let his people down the day he made that deal.

When the battle was over, Dain Barden decided he would take his people home to Ku Kara, the ice city. He had known not to trust the Primate, but he had been eager to rejoin the other houses and open up discourse and trade. How could he have known the mighty Tingaran Empire built by Xenovere the Great would have been in such a state? The relic he could understand — it was only ever a possibility, and the Primate was evasive when pressed about its location — but what was the use of rejoining an empire at war, led by one such as the Primate?

Dain Barden had promised to defend Seranthia, and as a man of his word he would, but then he would leave.

"Dain," a young Akari said, his blonde hair wild and wispy and his chest heaving like he'd been running.

"What is it, lad?" Barden said.

"The Primate's left the Imperial Palace."

Dain Barden grunted. "What's he doing, fleeing?"

The Dain knew that if the Primate really had access to this relic he wouldn't be brooding in the Imperial Palace, nor would he be fleeing."

"He's asked to be taken to the Sentinel."

Barden fixed his full attention on the man. "Did you just say the Sentinel?"

It made sense all of a sudden. The relic had been hidden in plain view the entire time!

"The weapon," the Dain muttered to himself, "it's at the Sentinel. He's going to use it." He thought for a moment. The Primate had promised it to him! He turned back to the young Akari. "I must get there before the Primate uses it. It's ours, in the name of the Nightlord! Get me two draugar as guards."