Emban laughed a bit sheepishly. ‘I guess I’m a born busybody,’ he said. ‘I can’t stand letting anything go by without sticking my nose into it.’ He clasped his hands reflectively behind his back. ‘We’ll have everything under control in Chyrellos just as soon as Wargun gets here. I think it’s safe to say that Colonel Delada’s testimony will eliminate the candidacy of the Primate of Cimmura once and for all, so why don’t we clear away this election business right away – before the Hierocracy has time to gather its collective breath. Patriarchs are political animals, and as soon as they’ve had the time to collect their wits, they’re going to start to see all sorts of opportunities in the present situation. We don’t really need a number of unanticipated candidacies clouding things over right now. Let’s keep it simple if we can. Not only that, we alienated a fair number of Patriarchs when we decided to let the outer city burn. Let’s catch the Hierocracy while it’s still overwhelmed with thanksgiving and gratitude and fill that empty chair in the Basilica before they start brooding about lost houses and the like. We’ve got the upper hand for the moment. Let’s use it before our support starts to crumble.’

‘That’s all you ever really think about, isn’t it, Emban?’ Dolmant said.

‘Somebody has to, my friend.’

‘We’d better get Wargun into the city first, though,’ Vanion told them. ‘Is there anything we can do to help him?’

‘We can move out of the inner city just as soon as Martel’s generals start turning around to face his army,’ Komier suggested. ‘We can hit them from behind and sting them enough to force them to chase us back inside the walls. Then they’ll have to divert enough troops to keep us penned up in here. That should reduce the force facing Wargun a little bit.’

‘What I’d really like to do is figure out some way to defend those bridges across the Arruk,’ Abriel said. ‘Replacing them is what’s going to cost Wargun time – and lives.’

‘I don’t see that there’s very much we can do about that,’ Darellon said. ‘We don’t have enough men to keep the Rendors away from the river-bank.’

‘We have got enough to disrupt things inside the city though,’ Komier asserted. ‘Why don’t we go back to the wall and size things up a bit? I need something to do to take the taste of that siege out of my mouth anyway.’