“And what of me?” protested Prince Lome from his chair. His chin was wet with wine. He had slopped some on his tunic. “Who will protect me while I try to satisfy your demands? Your man Malder does his best, but he will go with you to the bay. Who will enforce your authority?”

In the same harsh tone, King Bifalt answered, “Land-Captain Erepos. He is known everywhere. Use my name. Tell our people I have planned for their escape. Do not let their stubbornness discourage you. They may not heed you at first. When Rile comes closer, they will think differently. In better times, they will remember who saved their lives.”

Lome muttered an obscenity; but he did not argue.

After that, the King sent his brothers away. He told Jaspid to help Matt and Hegels get ready. He had not given them much notice. And he suspected that Lome could use a chance to vent his dismay and drink in private, where no one would hear or judge him.

But Bifalt also wanted solitude for himself. He would ride for the bay with his squads soon enough. Until then, he did not know how to suffer feeling so cold. Not so long ago, he had enjoyed riding in every weather, in summer’s baking sun and winter’s biting winds. But that man, the King he had chosen to be, was gone. Rile’s war had come to claim him. It would dominate his days until he died.

He would never see Estie again.

The monk Third Father had told him that he would have to surpass himself; but he did not know how that was possible.

He did not stop shivering until General Klamath returned from the Bay of Lights.

SIX

THE EFFECT OF CANNON

After General Klamath rode away, Captain Heren Flisk left the kitchen where they had spoken. Grimly, he went back out into the falling snow. Chilled despite his warm garb, he followed the trench from the encampment to the rim of the cliff and the head of the road. There was nothing he could do about what was coming: not in this weather, or at this distance. Nevertheless he felt compelled to watch the assault on the reef that shielded the Bay of Lights. The General had left him in command.

When the Great God Rile’s ships passed the reef, Flisk would have to shout orders as if he knew what he was doing. As if he felt qualified to direct the first defense of Belleger.

Snow still fell thickly, but it had begun to diminish. Urged by a current of deeper cold from the east, the storm was drifting out to sea. Snow still masked the crest of the steep drop to the strand, but in an hour or two Flisk would be able to see more.