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outside to watch his vassal s every move. The being fought his will, its aura
flaming angrily; but he ended its obstinacy with words of enforcement and made
it agree to do his bidding precisely. With a snarl it sped away, eager to be
done with its servitude and back to its own plane.
As it flew, the rude simulacra began to waver and re-form into brightly
attired soldiers who stood, squatted or lay patiently. And that, in truth, was
their only function.
* * * *
Of all his pleasures, Yardiff Bey most cherished flying his unique sky
craft,Cloud Ruler, through the high airs. Then he felt master indeed of the
wide world unfolded beneath him, removed from the sordid doings and goings of
common men. He d contrived, fought and suffered to achieve its construction,
paying a dear price; his hand went to the ocular where his left eye had once
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been.
Now he leaned forward in his luxurious chair inboardCloud Ruler and uttered a
low oath, peering into the ground-glass optical device before him. His mind
was only partially occupied with his reconnaissance, since he must keep under
his control the fire elemental trapped in the bowels of his ship. He perceived
faint traces of magic smelling of the hated Andre deCourteney, but so slight
were these that he attributed them to minor protective spells and the like. He
didn t consider deCourteney a magician of any note.
The demon ship circled lower on red flames while he stared down through his
magnifying disk. Bivouacked around the castle were more fighting men than he d
thought possible for his enemies to field altogether. Many more besides were
within the walls of the Hightower. Here and there some of them ran for cover,
but most were frozen in fear. Good.
He d have liked to put trees and castle to the torch with his ship, but
disliked bringing it low or otherwise endangering the product of his long
labors.
Then he was gasping in outrage as a boulder half the size of a horse zipped
up from the Hightower. The Keep s biggest stone gun, modified by artisans
working under Gil s direction, had barely missed bringing down the Hand of
Shardishku-Salamá.
Chowderheads! roared the American as the crew reset the long throwing arm
of the stone gun. Don t hit him, dammit! We want to send him on his way, not
bring him down. One more now, lower this time so he thinks he s getting above
our range. We don t want him to risk another pass.
They needn t have bothered. Yardiff Bey was causing the fire elemental to
liftCloud Ruler higher and bring it around on a course for the approaching
force from Earthfast. He d never heard the term beachhead, but he d long since
mastered the concept and didn t intend to see Freegate establish one in
Coramonde.
He was disgusted with his commanders apparent inability to flush out
bothersome peasants. Herdsmen who knew every inch of the wilderness and
hunters who d stalked the lion and the deer were tormenting regulars, fleeing
for sanctuary to treacherous bog and trackless mountain. Yardiff Bey had
contrived through agents to have Lady Hightower kidnapped to force Bulf to
fight, and still his field commander had been beaten.
But here, at last, was an open battle to fight. He d rush up his second great
corps and crush these insects as soon as possible.
* * * *
The return to Freegate began ill.
The bulk of the foot soldiers of Coramonde under Bonesteel were undismayed at
the prospect of fortifying the Hightower. Almost every member of the allied
leadership volunteered to be part of the garrison; but Springbuck overruled
all but one, Bonesteel s second-in-command, a tough old veteran who had
experience in siege, useful to Sordo.
Though they were to travel light, Gil made sure they took certain things
captured with Ibn-al-Yed s tent: writing implements, scrolls, seals, maps and
order-of-battle listings. To Gil s great unease, he found that a large part of
the forces mentioned in the latter couldn t be accounted for. They definitely
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