Straight to the palace steps I rode and flung myself from the exhausted dahara, running up the steps, half staggering with pain, exhaustion and the weight of the sword—proof of what I had to tell!

Shizala came running into the main hall. She looked disheveled and her face bore traces of her earlier anger.

"What is it? Michael Kane! What means this disturbance?"

"The Argzoon!" I blurted out "The Blue Giants— your enemies—a great horde of them attacks the city!"

"Impossible! Why have we not heard? We have our mirror posts that signal messages from hill to hill. We should have heard. Yet..."

She frowned thoughtfully.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The mirrors have had no messages for some time. Perhaps the stations were destroyed by the wily Argzoon."

"If they have reached this far before, they will have known roughly what to expect."

"But from where comes their strength! We had thought them beaten and quiescent for at least another ten years. They were all but wiped out by my father's army and its allies! My father headed the army which hunted down the survivors!"

"Well, the horde he defeated must have been only a fraction of the Argzoon strength. Perhaps this raid is part of a consistent strategy of surprise, meant to weaken you."

"If that is their plan," she sighed, squaring her beautiful creamy shoulders, "then it was a good one, for in truth we are unprepared!"

"No time for self-recrimination now," I pointed out. "Where is your brother Darnad? As chief Pukan-Nara of Varnal it is up to him to direct preparations for defense. What of the other warriors of Karnala?"

"They patrol borders, keep the peace against roaming bandit bands. Our army is scattered, but even if it were all assembled in Varnal it might not suffice to meet an Argzoon horde!"

"It seems impossible that you received no warning at all—not even a runner from another city. How have the Argzoon been able to get this far south without you knowing?"

"I cannot think. As you say, it could be that they have been planning this for years, that they have had spies not of their own race working for them, travelling in small groups under cover at night and in disguise, assembling in some nearby remote quarter of our land—and now ride on the city with none of our allies knowing our fate."

"The walls will resist heavy siege," I pointed out. "You say you have some aircraft. You can bombard them from the air, using your Sheev-guns. That is one advantage."

"Our three aircraft will not achieve much against so large a force."

"Then you must send one of them to your nearest ally. Send your—your ..." I paused as memory flooded back. "Send the Bradhinak of Mishim Tep to summon his father's aid—and seek help from your other, weaker, allies on the way."