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that she was now a refugee. Her
home was burning. She had no servants, no clothing save what was on her back,
no goods, no money or jewels, no property.
    All of it suddenly
overwhelmed her. She saw again faithful Rander Malk, so anxious to please in
his new post as her protector, dying almost at her feet as the shadow demon
strangled him. She felt again the heat of the flames and smelled the thick
smoke filling her bedchamber. Her ears rang with the war cries of the Madruns
as Caelan fought them down the stairs. She remembered the hideous touch ofthe
shadow’s fingers upon her throat, the metallic taste of blood on her tongue
where she bit herself in her struggles.
    Her lips trembled,
and she pressed her fingers to them, swaying as she fought her own exhausted
emotions.
    Sergeant Baiter
came running up and saluted the general. “Five minutes until the men are ready,
sir.”
    Paz nodded. “The
emperor’s horse?”
    “Yes, sir. I’ve
attended to it myself. And my own mount will go to the empress.”
    Elandra swung around,
the tears on her face forgotten in her gratitude. “Sergeant—”
    “Nonsense,” Paz
snapped as though she had not spoken. “We need all the able-bodied fighting men
possible. Keep the assigned order. Sergeant. Make no changes. And tie on the
emperor’s saddlebags for him.”
    “Sir!” Saluting,
Baiter cast Elandra a swift, apologetic glance before he strode to the
emperor’s side.
    Still sunk in
thought, Kostimon looked up at the sergeant. “Lord Sien has come?”
    “No, sir. Which
saddlebags have you selected to take?”
    “Am I to run for
my life like a pauper?” Kostimon roared loudly enough to make everyone pause
and look. “Great Gault, is it not enough that I was convinced to fall back when
I should have held? Is it not enough that I was persuaded to save myself when
my men have died without me? Is it not enough that I abandoned wife and
concubines for expediency? Is it not enough that I cower down here in a hole
like a damned mouse while those murdering brutes pillage and sack my own
palace? And now, am I to flee without the means of preserving anything I have
built all these centuries? Am I to run like a beetle seeking a new crevice,
without my treasures, without my maps, without my literature, without my
possessions? Be damned to you! I shall not go!”
    “Perhaps, Majesty,”
Baiter ventured nervously, “if each man were to strap one item behind his
saddle—”
    “No,” Paz said.
“Begging your Majesty’s pardon, but fighting men cannot be burdened with
nonessentials—”
    “Nonessentials!”
the emperor shouted. “Murdeth and Fury, man, why don’t you say I am a
nonessential? These foolish objections do nothing but delay us. Where is Sien?
Sergeant, see that he comes at once.”
    Saluting, Baiter
hurried away as though glad to escape.
    Vysal reappeared,
hurrying through the cluster of guardsmen. He looked increasingly pale beneath
his bandage. Concerned for him and his injury, Elandra wished the others would
have more consideration than to send him running back and forth like an errand
boy.
    “Majesty,” he
said, saluting the emperor and sounding out of breath. “Lord Sien is—is not at
leisure to come. And I think the Madruns are in the temple.”
    Kostimon received
this news with a deepening scowl, but Paz stepped forward.
    “I told you she
would lead them to us, and she has!” Paz said, glaring at Elandra as he spoke.
“There is no time to spare. Captain, mount the troops.”
    Vysal swung away
and beckoned to Baiter, who came running back. “Mount the troops.”
    “Sir!” Saluting,
Baiter spun about and bawled orders at the men with such vigor his voice echoed
from the ceiling.
    The men scrambled
to line up, each one standing at attention with his hand on his mount’s bridle.
Fifteen men, not counting the emperor or her or the officers, and only twelve
horses. Elandra counted them again to be sure, and with a sinking heart
wondered who was to be left