Towers of Midnight

  Light, but it was hot. Sweat ran down his cheeks, making his neck itch. It shouldn't be this hot so early in the morning. It wasn't natural. Those burning drums, still pounding.

  He sighed, climbing off his sweat-dampened cot. His leg ached. It had for days now.

  You're an old man, Rodel, he thought, stripping off his sweaty smallclothes and getting out some freshly washed ones. He stuffed his trousers into knee-high riding boots. A simple white shirt with black buttons went on next, and then his gray coat, buttoning straight up to the collar.

  He was strapping on his sword when he heard hurried footsteps outside, followed by whispers. That conversation grew heated, and he stepped outside just as someone said, "Lord Ituralde will wish to know!"

  "Know what?" Ituralde asked. A messenger boy was arguing with his guards. All three turned toward him sheepishly.

  "I'm sorry, my Lord," Connel said. "We were instructed to let you sleep."

  "A man who can sleep in this heat must be half-lizard, Connel," Ituralde said. "Lad, what's the word?"

  "Captain Yoeli is on the wall, sir," the youth said. Ituralde recognized the young man he'd been with him from near the beginning of this campaign. "He said you should come."

  Ituralde nodded. He laid a hand on Connel's arm. "Thank you for watching me, old friend, but these bones aren't so frail as you think."

  Connel nodded, blushing. The guard fell into place behind as Ituralde crossed the courtyard. The sun had risen. Many of his troops were up. Too many. He wasn't the only one having difficulty sleeping.

  Atop the wall, he was greeted by a disheartening sight. On the dying land, thousand upon thousands of Trollocs camped, burning fires. Ituralde didn't like to think about where the wood for those fires came from. Hopefully all of the nearby homesteaders and villagers had heeded the call to evacuate.

  Yoeli stood gripping the crenelated stone of the wall, next to a man in a black coat. Deepe Bhadar was senior among the Asha'man whom al'Thor had given him, one of only three who wore both the Dragon and the sword pins on his collar. The Andoran man had a flat face and black hair that he wore long. Ituralde had sometimes heard some of the black-coated men mumbling to themselves, but not Deepe. He seemed fully in control.

  Yoeli kept glancing at the Asha'man; Ituralde didn't feel comfortable with men who could channel either. But they were an excellent tool, and they hadn't failed him. He preferred to let'experience, instead of rumor, rule him.

  "Lord Ituralde," Deepe said. The Asha'man never saluted Ituralde, just al'Thor.

  "What is it?" Ituralde asked, scanning the hordes of Trollocs. They didn't seem to have changed since he'd bedded down.

  "Your man claims to be able to feel something," Yoeli said. "Out there."

  "They have channelers, Lord Ituralde," Deepe said. "I suspect at least six, perhaps more. Men, since I can feel the Power they're wielding, doing something powerful. If I squint at the far camps, I think I can sometimes see weaves, but it may be my imagination."

  Ituralde cursed. "That's what they've been waiting for."

  "What?" Yoeli asked.

  "With Asha'man of their own -"

  "They are not Asha'man," Deepe said fervently.

  "All right, then. With channelers of their own, they can tear this wall down easily as knocking over a pile of blocks, Yoeli. That sea of Trollocs will surge in and fill your streets."

  "Not so long as I stand," Deepe said.

  "I like determination in a soldier, Deepe," Ituralde said, "but you look as exhausted as I feel."

  Deepe shot him a glare. His eyes were red from lack of sleep, and he

  clenched his teeth, the muscles in his neck and face tense. He met Ituralde's eyes, then took a long, forced breath.

  "You are correct," Deepe said. "But neither of us can do anything about that." He raised his hand, doing something that Ituralde couldn't see. A flash of red light appeared over his hand the signal he used to draw the others to him. "Prepare your men, General, Captain. It will not be long. They cannot continue to hold that kind of Power without . . . consequences."

  Yoeli nodded, then hurried away. Ituralde took Deepe's arm, drawing his attention.

  "You Asha'man are too important a resource to lose," Ituralde said. "The Dragon sent us here to help, not to die. If this city falls, I want you to take the others and whatever wounded you can and get out. Do you understand, soldier?"

  "Many of my men will not like this."

  "But you know it is for the best," Ituralde said. "Don't you?"

  Deepe hesitated. "Yes. You are correct, as you so often are. I will get them out." He spoke in a lower voice. "This is a hopeless resistance, my Lord. Whatever is happening out there, it will be deadly. It galls me to suggest it . . . but what you have said about my Asha'man applies to your soldiers as well. Let us flee." He said the word "flee" with bitterness.

  "The Saldaeans wouldn't leave with us."

  "I know."

  Ituralde considered it. Finally, he shook his head. "Every day we delay up here keeps these monsters away from my homeland a day longer. No, I cannot go, Deepe. This is still the best place to fight. You've seen how fortified those buildings are; we can hold inside for a few days, split apart, keep the army busy."

  "Then my Asha'man could stay and help."

  "You have your orders, son. You follow them. Understand?"

  Deep snapped his jaw shut, then nodded curtly. "I will take- "

  Ituralde didn't hear the rest. An explosion hit.

  He didn't feel it arrive. He was standing with Deepe one moment, then found himself on the floor of the wall walk, the world strangely silent around him. His head screamed with pain and he coughed, raising a trembling hand to find his face bleeding. There was something in his right eye; it seared with pain when he blinked. Why was everything so quiet?

  He rolled over, coughing again, right eye squeezed shut, the other watering. The wall ended a few inches away from him.

  He gasped. An enormous chunk of the northern wall was simply gone.

  He groaned, looking back in the other direction. Deepe had been standing beside him . . .

  He found the Asha'man lying on the wall walk nearby, head bleeding. His right leg ended in a ragged rip of flesh and broken bone above where the knee should have been. Ituralde cursed and stumbled forward, dropping to his knees beside the man. Blood was pooling beneath Deepe, but he was still twitching. Alive.

  I need to sound the alarm . . .

  Alarm? That explosion would have been alarm enough. Inside the wall, buildings were demolished, crushed by stones flying in a spray away from the hole. Outside, Trollocs were loping forward, carrying rafts to cross the moat.

  Ituralde pulled the Asha'man's belt off and used it to bind his thigh. It was all he could think to do. His head was still throbbing from the explosion.

  The city is lost. . , Light! It's lost, just like that.

  Hands were helping him up. Dazedly he glanced about. Connel; he'd survived the blast, though his coat was torn to shreds. He pulled Ituralde away while a pair of soldiers took Deepe.

  The next minutes were a blur. Ituralde stumbled down the stairs from the wall, nearly pitching headfirst fifteen feet onto the cobbles. Only Con-nel's hands kept him from falling. And then ... a tent? A large open-sided tent? Ituralde blinked. A battlefield should not be so quiet.

  Icy coldness washed over him. He screamed. Sounds assaulted his ears and mind. Screams, rock breaking, trumpets sounding, drums throbbing. Men dying. It all hit him at once, as if plugs had been yanked from his ears.

  He shook himself, gasping. He was in the sick tent. Antail the quiet, thin-haired Asha'man stood above him. Light, but Ituralde felt exhausted! Too little sleep mixed with the strain of being Healed. As the sounds of battle consumed him, he found his eyelids treacherously heavy.

  "Lord Ituralde," Antail said, "I have a weave that will not make you well, but it will make you think you are well. It could be harmful to you. Do you want me to proceed?"

&nbsp
; "I . . ." Ituralde said. The word came out as a mumble. "It . . ."

  "Blood and bloody ashes," Antail muttered. He reached forward. Another wave of Power washed through Ituralde. It was like a broom sweeping through him, pushing away all of the fatigue and confusion, restoring his senses and making him feel as if he'd had a perfect night's rest. His right eye didn't hurt anymore.

  There was something lingering, deep down, an exhaustion in his bones. He could ignore that. He sat up, breathed in and out, then looked to Antail. "Now that is a useful weave, son. You should have told me you could do this!"

  "It's dangerous," Antail repeated. "More dangerous than the women's version, I'm told. In some ways more effective. You're trading alertness now for a more profound exhaustion later on."

  "Later on, we won't be in the middle of a city that is falling to the Trollocs. Light willing, at least. Deepe?"

  "I saw to him first," Antail said, gesturing to the Asha'man lying on a nearby cot, his clothing singed and his face bloodied. His right leg ended in a healed stump, and he appeared to be breathing, though unconscious.

  "Connel!" Ituralde said.

  "My Lord," the soldier said, stepping up. He'd found a squad of soldiers to act as a personal guard.

  "Let's investigate this mess," Ituralde said. He ran out of the sick tent, toward Cordamora Palace. The city was in chaos, groups of Saldaeans and Domani rushing this way and that. Connel, showing foresight, sent a messenger to find Yoeli.

  The palace stood nearby, just before the front gate. Its wall had been damaged in the blast, but the building still looked hale. Ituralde had been using it as a command post. Men would expect to find him here. They ran inside, Connel carrying Ituralde's sword the belt had been cut free at some point. They climbed to the third floor, then ran out onto a balcony that surveyed the area broken by the blast.

  As he'd originally feared, the city was lost. The swath of broken wall was being defended by a hastily assembled jumble of defenders. A mounting tide of Trollocs were throwing down rafts on the moat, some beginning to surge forward, followed by Fades. Men ran through the streets, disoriented.

  If he'd had more time to prepare, he could have held, as he'd told Deepe. Not now. Light, but this defense has been one disaster after another.

  "Gather the Asha'man," Ituralde ordered. "And any of my officers you can find. We will organize the men into a retreat through gateways."

  "Yes, my Lord," Connel said.

  "Ituralde, no!" Yoeli burst out onto the balcony, uniform dirtied and ripped.

  "You survived," Ituralde said, relieved. "Excellent. Man, your city is lost. I'm sorry. Bring your men with us and we can "

  "Look!" Yoeli said, pulling Ituralde to the side of the balcony, pointing

  to the east. A thick column of smoke rose in the distance. A village the Trollocs had burned?

  "The watchfire," Yoeli continued. "My sister has seen aid coming! We must stand until they arrive."

  Ituralde hesitated. "Yoeli," he said softly, "if a force has come, it can't be large enough to stop this horde of Trollocs. And that's assuming it's not a ruse. The Shadowspawn have proven clever in the past."

  "Give us a few hours," Yoeli said. "Hold the city with me and send scouts through those gateways of yours to see if a force really is coming."

  "A few hours?" Ituralde said. "With a hole in your wall? We're overwhelmed, Yoeli."

  "Please," Yoeli pled. "Are you not one of those they name Great Captain? Show me what that title means, Lord Rodel Ituralde."

  Ituralde turned, back at the broken wall. Behind him, in the palace's top room, he could hear his officers gathering. The line at the wall was fragmenting. It wouldn't be long now.

  Show me what that means.

  Perhaps . . .

  "Tymoth, are you here?" Ituralde bellowed.

  A red-haired man in a black coat stepped onto the balcony. He'd be in command of the Asha'man now that Deepe had fallen. "Here, Lord Ituralde."

  "Gather your men," Ituralde said urgently. "Take command of that gap and have the soldiers there retreat. I want the Asha'man to hold the breach. I need a half-hour. I want all of your energy everything you've got to hit those Trollocs. You hear me? Everything you've got. If you can channel enough to light a candle when this is done, I'll have your hides."

  "Sir," the Asha'man said. "Our retreat?"

  "Leave Antail in the Healing tent," Ituralde said. "He can make a large enough gateway for the Asha'man to run. But everyone else, hold that breach."

  Tymoth dashed away. "Yoeli," Ituralde said, "your job is to gather your forces and stop them from running through the city like . . ." He paused. He'd been about to say, "like it's Tarmon bloody Gai'don." Burn me! ". . . like there is nobody in command. If we are going to hold, we will need to be organized and disciplined. I need four cavalry companies formed up in the courtyard in ten minutes. Give the orders."

  "Yes, my Lord," Yoeli said, snapping to it.

  "Oh," Ituralde said, turning. "I'm going to need a couple of cartloads of firewood, as many barrels of oil as you can come up with, and all of the

  wounded in either army who can still run but who have face or arm wounds. Also, get me anyone in the city who's ever held a bow. Go!"

  Nearly an hour later, Ituralde stood, hands clasped behind his back, waiting. He'd moved in from the balcony to look out a window, as to not expose himself. But he still had a good view of the fighting.

  Outside the palace, the Asha'man line was finally weakening. They'd given him the better part of an hour, blasting back wave after wave of Trollocs in an awesome display of Power. Blessedly, the enemy channelers had not appeared. After that show of power, hopefully they were drained and exhausted.

  It felt like dusk, with those oppressive clouds overhead and the masses of figures darkening the hillsides beyond the city. The Trollocs, fortunately, didn't bring ladders or siege towers. Only wave after wave at that breach, whipped into attack by the Myrddraal.

  Already, some of the black-coated men were limping away from the breach, looking exhausted. The last few threw a final blast of Fire and erupting Earth, then followed their companions. They left the gap completely open and undefended, as ordered.

  Come on, Ituralde thought as the smoke cleared.

  The Trollocs peered through the smoke, climbing over the carcasses of those the Asha'man had killed. The Shadowspawn loped on hooves or thick paws. Some sniffed the air.

  The streets inside the gap were filled with carefully placed men who were bloodied and wounded. They began to scream as the Trollocs entered, running as commanded. Likely none of their fear was feigned. The scene looked more terrible now that many of the nearby buildings were smoldering, as if from the blast, roofs on fire, smoke pouring from windows. The Trollocs wouldn't know that the slate roofs had been designed not to burn, and laws kept buildings from containing too much wood.

  Ituralde held his breath. The Trollocs broke, running into the city, howling and roaring, groups breaking apart as they saw the opportunity to pillage and slaughter.

  The door behind Ituralde slammed open, and Yoeli hastened in. "The last ranks are placed. Is it working?"

  Itutalde didn't answer; the proof was below. The Trollocs assumed their battle won the blasting Power of the Asha'man had the air of one final stand, and the city appeared to be in chaos. The Trollocs all ran down the streets with obvious glee. Even the Myrddraal who entered appeared at ease.

  The Trollocs avoided the burning buildings and the palace, which was walled. They moved deeper into the city, pursuing the fleeing soldiers down a wide avenue on the eastern side of the city. Carefully piled rubble encouraged the bulk of them down this avenue.

  "Do you have aspirations of being a general, Captain Yoeli?" Ituralde asked softly.

  "My aspirations are not important," Yoeli said. "But a man would be a fool not to hope to learn."

  "Then pay attention to this lesson, son." Below, shutters on windows were flung open on buildings along the avenue the Troll
ocs had taken. Bowmen surged out onto balconies. "If you ever have so much as an impression that you're doing what your enemy expects you to do, then do something else."

  The arrows fell, and Trollocs died. Large crossbows that shot quarrels almost the size of spears targeted the Fades, and many could be seen lurching across the pavement, not knowing that they were already dead, as scores of Trollocs linked to them fell. Confused, enraged, the still-living creatures began to bellow and pound in the doors of the buildings filled with archers. But as they did so, the thunder began. Hoofbeats. Yoeli's best cavalry charged down the streets, lances forward. They trampled the Trollocs, slaughtering them.

  The city became an enormous ambush. A man couldn't ask for better vantages than those buildings, and the streets were wide enough to allow a charge by those who knew the layout. The Trollocs went from bellowing in joy to screaming in pain, and scrambled over one another in their haste to get away. They entered the courtyard by the broken wall.

  The Saldaean horsemen followed, their hooves and flanks wet with the noxious blood of the fallen. Men appeared at windows of "burning" buildings the fires carefully created in sectioned-off rooms and began loosing arrows down into the large courtyard. Others tossed new lances to the horsemen, who, reequipped, lined up and rode into the Trollocs. The arrows stopped falling, and the cavalry made a sweeping charge crossed the courtyard.

  Hundreds of Trollocs died. Perhaps thousands. Those that didn't die scrambled out of the gap. Most of the Myrddraal fled. Those that did not were targets for the archers. Killing one of them could kill dozens of Trollocs linked to them. The Fades went down many sprouting dozens of arrows.

  "I'll give the order to unite and hold the breach again," Yoeli said eagerly.

  "No." Ituralde said. "But "

  "Fighting at the breach will gain us nothing," Ituralde said. "Give the orders for the men to move to different buildings, and have the archers take different positions. Are there warehouses or other large buildings that can hide the horsemen? Move them there, quickly. And then we wait."

  "They won't be caught again."

  "No," Ituralde said. "But they'll be slow and cautious. If we fight them head on, we lose. If we hold, buy time, we win. That's the only way out of this, Yoeli. To survive until help comes. If it's coming."