“I’ll put mounted knights in the bailey, ready to issue from the castle gate. When Groverman’s men come in, I want you to have them sweep in from the north side of the hill. It’s a gentle slope down. It should give your lancers a great deal of benefit. Then my knights will ride out to your side, and we’ll have the old monster in a vise—

“But you must promise me one thing, Gaborn. You will let me fight Raj Ahten personally. I will be the serpent’s head. I alone am prepared for this fight.”

“Raj Ahten may be more dangerous than you know,” Gaborn said. “He seeks to become the Sum of All Men. He has so many endowments of stamina, you cannot kill him easily. You will need to strike for the head, take off his head.”

“I surmised as much,” King Orden said, smiling down at his son.

Gaborn looked into his father’s eyes, felt his heart lightened a bit. The castle walls were growing thick with men, and this was a small castle, easily defensible. With six thousand men on those walls, his father should be able to hold this castle even against Raj Ahten’s Invincibles.

His father wasn’t rushing headlong to his death. He’d fight a measured battle. Already the die had been cast. As head of the serpent ring, his father would have to battle Raj Ahten. In his heart, Gaborn knew that of all the men in the castle, his father was most qualified for this task.

Yet it hurt, it hurt terribly to know what might come, to let it come without saying goodbye.

“Where is Binnesman?” Gaborn asked. “He can help protect you.”

“Sylvarresta’s wizard?” Orden asked. “I haven’t the slightest idea.”

“He said . . . he’d meet me here. He called a wylde from the earth last night, and hopes to bring it into battle. He is coming to Longmot.” Gaborn felt certain that Binnesman would come.

Gaborn hugged his father, leaned his forehead against the older man’s cheek. I’ve been anointed to become King of this Earth, Gaborn thought. It was said that Erden Geboren had been so sensitive to the earth powers, to life, that when one of his chosen friends was in danger, he could sense that man’s fear. When one of them died, he sensed the loss of that life.

Right now, Gaborn could smell danger around his father, and as he leaned against his father’s face, he probed with his mind, sensed life there, like a lamp struggling to stay lit. It was an odd sensation, one he’d never imagined before, and Gaborn wondered if he only imagined it now.

Yet Gaborn had ridden all last night. In that time, he’d seen the world more clearly than ever before. The eyebright still affected him, long after he thought its effects would diminish. Perhaps it always would affect him.