Enchanter's End Game

"Don't you have one tear for me?"
    "Not one," Brand told him, but Ariana saw that his words were a lie. The grim, gray-clad man's eyes were full, but his face remained granitelike. Without another word, he strode from the tent.
    Wordlessly, each of Olban's brothers clasped his hand in turn, and then they left to follow their father.
    Olban wept quietly for a time, but then his growing weakness and the drug Ariana had given him drained away his grief. He lay, half dozing on his pallet for a time, then struggled to raise himself and beckoned to the Mimbrate girl. She knelt beside him, supporting him with one arm about his shoulders and her head bent to catch his faltering words. "Please," he whispered. "Please tell her Majesty what I said to my father - and tell her how sorry I was." And then his head fell forward against Ariana, and he quietly died in her arms.
    Ariana had no time to mourn, for precisely then three Sendars carried Colonel Brendig into her tent. The colonel's left arm was mangled beyond all hope of repair.
    "We were bringing down the bridge that crosses to the city," one of the Sendars reported tersely. "There was a support that wouldn't give way, so the colonel went down himself to chop it away. When it finally broke, the timbers of the bridge fell on him."
    Ariana gravely examined Brendig's shattered arm. "I fear there is no recourse, my Lord," she told him. "The arm will have to come off, lest it mortify and carry thy life away with it."
    Brendig nodded soberly. "That's about what I'd expected," he replied. "I suppose we'd better get on with it then."
    "There!" King Rhodar shouted, pointing downriver. "The smoke - it's green! That's the signal. We can start the retreat now."
    General Varana, however, was staring at the riverbank upstream. "It's too late, I'm afraid, your Majesty," he said quietly. "A column of Malloreans and Nadraks have just reached the river to the west of us. It very much looks as if we've been cut off."

Chapter Eighteen
    THE NEWS OF the death of Taur Urgas spread through the Murgo army in a vast groan, and the heart went out of the black-robed troops. Taur Urgas had been feared by his men, but his savage madness had lent them all a peculiar sense that they were invincible. They had felt somehow that nothing could stand in his path, and that they, as the instruments of his brutal will, shared in some measure his apparent invulnerability. But with his death, each Murgo became aware with a sudden cold touch of fear that he also could die, and the assault on the armies of the west along the south bank faltered.
    King Cho-Hag watched the crumbling of the Murgo resolve with a certain grim satisfaction, then rode down to the lines of infantry and the milling Mimbrate knights to confer with the other leaders. King Fulrach strode forward from the ranks of his Sendars. The dumpy, brown-bearded monarch looked almost comical in his burnished breastplate, but his sword showed signs of recent use, and his helmet was dented in a couple of places, mute evidence that the King of Sendaria had participated in the fight.
    "Have you seen Anheg's signal yet?" Fulrach demanded as he approached.
    Cho-Hag shook his head. "It should come any time now, though," he replied. "We'd better make some plans. Have you seen Korodullin?"
    "The physicians are working on him," Fulrach said.
    "Is he hurt?" Cho-Hag was startled.
    "I don't think it's too serious. He went to help his friend, the Baron of Vo Ebor, and a Murgo hit him in the head with a mace. His helmet absorbed most of the blow. He's bleeding out of the ears a bit, but the physicians say he'll recover. The baron's in worse shape, though."
    "Who's in charge of the Mimbrates, then?"
    "Sir Andorig. He's a good man in a fight, but his understanding is a bit limited."
    Cho-Hag laughed shortly. "You've just described most of Arendia, my friend. They're all good in a fight, and they all have limited understanding." Carefully he dismounted, holding onto his saddle as his weak legs nearly buckled. "We can make our decisions without Andorig's help, I think." He looked at the retreating Murgos. "As soon as we see Anheg's signal, I think we're going to want to get out of here in a hurry. The Murgos are demoralized right now, but they'll probably stiffen up again as soon as the shock wears off."
    Fulrach nodded. "Did you really kill Taur Urgas in a duel?" he asked.
    Cho-Hag nodded. "It wasn't really all that much of a duel. He was raving when he came at me and