‘Berit’s been keeping an eye on things, My Lord,’ Kalten replied. ‘That boy’s going to make an awfully good Pandion. We ought to try to keep him alive if we can. Anyway, he reports that Martel’s almost completed his deployment. He could probably give the order to march on the city now. I’m surprised that he hasn’t, really. I’m sure some of Annias’s toadies have reached him by now to report what happened in the Basilica this morning. Every moment he delays just gives us more time to get ready for him.’

‘Greed, Kalten,’ Sparhawk told his friend. ‘Martel’s very greedy, and he can’t believe that his greed’s not universal. He thinks we’ll try to defend the whole of Chyrellos, and he wants to give us time to get spread so thin that he’ll be able to walk over us. He’d never be able to bring himself to believe that we’d abandon the outer city and concentrate on defending the inner walls.’

‘I suspect that many of my brother Patriarchs feel much the same way,’ Emban said. ‘The voting might have been much tighter if those of them with palaces in the outer city had been aware of the fact that we’re going to abandon their houses to Martel.’

Komier and Ulath came up the marble steps to join them. ‘We’re going to have to pull down some houses just outside the walls,’ Komier said. ‘Those are Lamorks to the north of the city, and Lamorks use crossbows. We don’t want any rooftops out there for them to shoot at us from.’ The Genidian Preceptor paused. ‘I’m not very experienced at sieges,’ he admitted. ‘What kind of engines is this Martel likely to bring against us?’

‘Battering rams,’ Abriel told him, ‘catapults, assault towers.’

‘What’s an assault tower?’

‘It’s a sort of high structure. They roll it up until it’s flush against the wall. Then the soldiers come spilling out right in the middle of us. It’s a way to cut down on the sort of casualties they’ll take with scaling ladders.’

‘Roll?’ Komier asked.

‘The towers are on wheels.’

Komier grunted. ‘We’ll leave the rubble from the houses we pull down lying in the streets then. Wheels don’t run too well across piles of building blocks.’

Berit came galloping into the broad square and along the quickly opened path through the ranks of the church soldiers massed in front of the Basilica. He leapt from his saddle and ran up the stairs. ‘My Lords,’ he said a little breathlessly, ‘Martel’s men are beginning to assemble their siege engines.’

‘Will someone explain that to me?’ Komier asked.

‘The engines are transported in pieces, Komier,’ Abriel told him. ‘When you get to the place where you’re going to fight, you have to put them together.’