In the hour before dawn, a cruel wind blew from the West Kingdom army toward the walls of Solfygg. Warriors in battlesuits kept watch from the walls, but Hansen had no intention of committing his forces to unfamiliar streets in the face of a hostile army.
"They'll be marching out soon," said King Prandia. He let his voice trail off as his mind considered what would happen next.
"We've got to assume that," Hansen said. He thought he could hear shouting from within the city, but it might have been the wind which skirled around the rooftops.
"We're ready for them," said Wood, the king's sideman. He used his helmet speaker rather than the radio, so only the two teams—the king's and the marshal's—could hear his words.
"Marshal, this is Tapper," said Hansen's earphones. "Eagle Battalion is fully arrayed. Over."
"Report accepted," said Hansen, knowing his AI would do the rest.
Just like a good secretary.
"Ready to die, you mean?" said Culbreth in what seemed to be no more than a tone of idle question. Culbreth hadn't been right since the morning Arnor killed Baron Vandemann, but there was nothing physically wrong with him.
Hansen had offered to remove Culbreth from the line on the grounds that the army had no time to repair his damaged battlesuit. Culbreth refused. He now wore an equally good suit, one abandoned by a Solfygg warrior in one of the units which had failed to support the baron.
"Marshal Hansen," the king said formally over the channel to which only the pair of them had access, "this time I will not be left with the reserve. You'll need my armor in the front rank."
"Marshal, this is Sears," said the right wing commandant over the general command channel. "Wolf Battalion is fully arrayed. Over."
"Of course I'm ready to die," responded Wood in a tone of wonderment. "I'm a warrior. We're all warriors."
"Report accepted," Hansen said. Then, "Your Majesty, I'll need first-class warriors in the reserve also. Without you at Ice Ford—"
"We lost twenty-five men from the front rank at Ice Ford!" Prandia interrupted angrily.
"We won!" Hansen said. "Your Majesty, your job today is to do what I tell you to do. Dig latrines if I tell you to do it!"
The net passed a spurt of sound, a brief snippet before the AI realized that it was a shocked intake of breath rather than a syllable.
"They'll be coming out anytime now," said Culbreth softly. "I can feel the Searchers gathering. Can't you?"
"Marshal, this is Epson. Bear Battalion is fully arrayed."
There was definitely an uproar within the walls of Solfygg. It might have been warriors jockeying for the order in which they would march from the city and fall upon the West Kingdom attackers.
"Report accepted," Hansen said.
The eastern sky hinted dawn. Arc weapons quivered in Solfygg, lighting the battlements into momentary silhouette like summer clouds in a distant storm.
And the black wings of Searchers trembled just out of sight, waiting for the slaughter to begin.