‘A commitment. But tell me, Ghiz, do you think if we presented our guest to his brother’s forces, that they would immediately pack their wagons and depart without a word? Is that seriously your expectation?’

‘There is a chance—’

‘There is no chance, Ghiz! When they levelled Korowan, the die was cast. Corvel already calls himself emperor-in-waiting. How much clearer could this be? You call yourself a tactician? What would you be planning in their place?’

The commander stood silent for a moment, spear-stiff, moustache quivering. ‘Then we must sally! Meet them on the plateau, crush them with our cavalry, torch their engines. We can rout them back to the pass before they begin their earthworks.’

‘No.’

‘They will not be expecting—’

‘There is every chance that they are, and it is a pointless risk. If come at us they must, then come at us they will, but I will not throw the lives of our troops away in a great gamble. The city can withstand them, we have the plains at our back, the gorge at our front, and a triple gatehouse at the bridge’s end. Any army attempting to breach us will be shredded at our door.’

‘It won’t be enough.’

The group turned at the voice. Rennic leaned at the gallery rail, framed by the late afternoon sun, affecting casual indifference, cleaning a fingernail with a slim knife. Chel had no idea how long he’d been there, and was confident that the big man was feeling very pleased with himself.

‘Who,’ Ghiz said, meaning ‘what’, ‘is this?’

Matil didn’t miss a beat. ‘This is one of Prince Tarfel’s military advisers. Rumic, was it?’

Rennic smiled. ‘Rennic, Exalted.’

‘And why do you say it won’t be enough, Master Rennic?’

He half-shrugged, as if it seemed too obvious to say aloud. ‘You saw what they did to the fortress. All the gatehouses in the world won’t stand up to that.’

‘Korowan was undermined and collapsed from beneath,’ Ghiz said, a dark flush building in his cheeks. ‘Tell me, military adviser, how will they undermine the jaws of Arowan?’

‘Undermined, you say? You’re sure of that?’

‘We have been unable to inspect the ruins, of course,’ Ghiz declared, ‘but how else could it be done?’

‘How else indeed, commander.’ Rennic offered a head-shake of synthetic wonder. ‘How else indeed.’

Matil was humouring the big man, but her patience had limits. ‘And what do you suggest, Master Rennic, in the service of Doing Enough?’

‘Collapse the bridge.’

Ghiz’s squawk of laughter was strangulated outrage. Matil stared very hard at Rennic.

‘Do what?’

‘Collapse it. Bring it down. Before they can even think of crossing. Before it’s too late.’

‘That bridge has stood for centuries, in one form or another. It is our lifeline to the south. As soon as the siege is broken, we will need it—’