In the following days the attack on Tor Tartarus ground on with catastrophic loss of life. Imperial troops had taken the lower levels. Fighting was going on within the fortress as well as on the outside, through tunnels and guard chambers and access shafts. It was murderous battle fought at close quarters, with blade as much as shot.

The traitors were forced to block all access points. They mined some and drove tanks into others, Leman Russes plugging the larger corridors and filling the confined corridors with furious fire.

At the base of the fortress, like a high-water mark, the dead now lay in mountains and yet still both sides were forced to pour increasing numbers of troops into the quagmire.

At the General’s Palace, Imperial commanders grew increasingly unhappy with the tactics of General Bendikt. After one planning meeting, von Horne stayed behind. He was a blunt man even for a Mordian and he was not a man to beat about the bush.

‘Sir. With due respect. Is this progress? The rate of attrition…!’

‘Less than anticipated,’ Bendikt said.

‘But how much longer can this go on for? Will Tor Tartarus fall?’

Bendikt put the chart down and let out a long sigh. ‘General. I am not trying to take Tor Tartarus.’

Von Horne paused. He did not understand. ‘No?’

Bendikt stepped forward and brought him to the maps pinned to the wall. ‘No. The attacks on Tor Tartarus are a trap. I offer Holzhauer no choice. Either we take the gatehouse or he has to commit more troops. And yet more troops. As he does, we bleed him dry.’

‘But we must be losing twice as many as he,’ von Horne started.

Bendikt almost smiled. ‘Yes. But it is not an equal swap. The majority of our losses are penal legionnaires while Holzhauer is forced to spend the lives of his troops. Even if we lost three to each of his, it is a trade that he is losing. We have many more lives to spare than Holzhauer.’

‘But will this bring about the fall of Crannog Mons before the Feast of Sanguinalia?’

Bendikt shook his head. ‘Alone, no. But while Holzhauer struggles to hold us back at Tor Tartarus, my attack there is just a feint to lure him into a deadly barter.’

Bendikt pulled a sheet from his charts and pointed to the other end of Crannog Mons, to the volcanic cone of Tor Kharybdis. ‘My real intent is to strike the rear. Tor Kharybdis is currently held by reserve troops. The Hundred-and-First have been training since their arrival on the island. They will launch an amphibious assault and then Holzhauer will have to defend himself on two fronts!’

Part Two

PART TWO

One

ONE