Sparhawk kept a very tight rein on his temper at that point. ‘Interesting notion, neighbour,’ he drawled in a tone hovering on insult, ‘but I thought I might go and have a bite of lunch instead. Would you care to join me, Annias? Sephrenia’s roasting a goat, I think. Roast goat thickens the blood, I’m told, and you’ve been looking just a bit watery of late, if you don’t mind my saying so.’

‘So kind of you to invite me, Sparhawk, but I have a pressing engagement elsewhere. Church business, you understand.’

‘Of course. Oh, by the way, Annias, when you speak with Martel, give him my regards. Tell him how eager I am to continue the conversation we began back in Dabour.’

‘I’ll be certain to tell him, Sir Knight. Now, if you’ll excuse me.’ There was a faint look of annoyance on the Primate’s face as he turned and went out through the wide doorway.

‘What was that all about?’ Tynian asked.

‘You have to know Sparhawk a little better,’ Kalten told him. ‘He’d have died before he gave Annias any satisfaction right there. He didn’t even blink when I broke his nose. He just gave me a friendly smile and then kicked me in the stomach.’

‘Did you blink?’

‘No, as a matter of fact, I was too busy trying to get my breath back. What are we doing, Sparhawk?’

‘Vanion wants to talk with us.’

The Preceptors of the militant orders were talking together tensely just to one side of the huge door. Patriarch Emban of Ucera was with them. ‘I think our major concern at the moment is the condition of the city gates,’ Preceptor Abriel was saying. Abriel’s burnished armour and his gleaming white surcoat and cloak gave him a deceptively saint-like appearance, but there was not much of saintliness in his face just now.

‘Do you think we can count on the church soldiers at all?’ the blue-cloaked Preceptor Darellon asked. Darellon was a slender man and seemed not quite robust enough to carry his heavy Deiran armour. ‘They could demolish the bridges at least.’

‘I wouldn’t advise it,’ Emban said bluntly. ‘They take their orders from Annias, and Annias isn’t likely to put any impediments in the way of this Martel person. Sparhawk, exactly what are we facing out there?’

‘You tell him, Berit,’ Sparhawk told the raw-boned young novice. ‘You’re the one who actually saw them.’

‘Yes, My Lord,’ Berit agreed. ‘We have Lamorks coming down from the north, Your Grace,’ he told Emban, ‘and Cammorians and Rendors coming up from the south. Neither army is actually massive, but in combination they’re serious enough to threaten the Holy City.’

‘This army to the south,’ Emban said, ‘how are they deployed?’

‘The Cammorians are in the van, Your Grace, and covering the flanks. The Rendors are in the centre and bringing up the rear.’