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admitted. "Where is Alloi?"
Fanlyre had no idea. Distracted by his freezing hands, he clumsily removed his
gauntlets and blew on his fingers. While easing his hands painfully back into
his gauntlets, Fanlyre recalled the strong drink that he had tried while in
Vetanium. He wished he could have a sip now.
It crossed Fanlyre s mind to take Dreibrand prisoner and rally some success
around his career, but
Fanlyre gained no motivation from his ambition. With the killing of Ambio
fresh in his mind, Fanlyre wanted to avoid the attention of the Darhet
altogether. Fanlyre still had not sorted out the events that had led to the
death of the Cinivese lieutenant.
Dreibrand glanced worriedly in the direction of Sandin and gauged the progress
of Sandin s troops.
"Cevlead, help me make a truce before it is too late," he pressed.
"You will not make me a traitor," Fanlyre insisted.
Dreibrand argued, "But Sandin Promentro deserves the loyalty of no man here.
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He has led this army to disaster. You know what you must do."
"And what must I do?" Fanlyre snapped.
"Stay alive, keep you men alive, seek victory for Atrophane, which in this
case would mean escaping total annihilation," Dreibrand said.
Fanlyre chuckled derisively but then started to cough. He cleared his throat
and said cynically, "I
suppose you are going to kill us all?"
His sarcasm provoked Dreibrand, who said impatiently, "Look, Cevlead, I do not
know where Shan and Alloi are, but wherever they are, Shan is winning. And
when the rys King returns and sees that this army has not turned back for its
own territory, I doubt that I can save you again. Shan has been taken over by
some awful madness that I have never seen in him before. The Atrophane must
cease to antagonize the rys King, or your doom will be certain."
Because Fanlyre had witnessed the horrid seizure of souls and their murderous
rampage, he could not deny that the invasion had driven the rys King beyond
all restraint.
Dreibrand said, "Cevlead, you saw for yourself what Shan can do to his
enemies. No warding can protect you from his fury. Your weapons, your
training, and your courage cannot stop him. Nor could your vicious rys allies.
My devotion and pleas for mercy were barely sufficient to draw Shan back from
a complete massacre. I do not know that he will listen to me a second time if
you continue toward Jingten. And Sandin clearly means to continue. Do you
think that King Shan will stay away if his rys are attacked again? Can you
risk yourself and your soldiers on the chance that King Shan might stay away?"
Fanlyre did not answer the questions but he looked in the direction of the
Darhet. Slowly, the soldiers were being reassembled, and Fanlyre contemplated
his duty to report to his lord. Then, he surveyed the faces of the soldiers
under his command. They flapped their arms and huddled together, trying to
combat the wet that chilled their bodies to the core.
Dreibrand watched Fanlyre assess the condition of his men. Softly, Dreibrand
said, "Help me make a truce, Cevlead. Then I can rid you of the man who flung
you into an ill-begotten campaign that wasted many lives."
The suggestion startled Fanlyre. He hated that he had even listened to such
treasonous words, but he could not stop thinking about what Dreibrand
proposed.
"I cannot fight him for you," Fanlyre said. He scared himself with his weak
response. He felt like an infant abandoned on the doorstep of an unreliable
caretaker.
"I ask only that you support the truce," Dreibrand said. "I am the only man
who is going to fight
Sandin. This dispute is between Sandin and me now. He will answer for invading
my land, and he will answer to all of you for misusing the imperial military."
"He is my Lord General," Fanlyre protested rigidly, as if arguing with
himself. "Have the memories of duty and honor grown so dim in your mind?"
"You chastise me well, Lord Cevlead, but I am an Atrophane noble, and a noble
demands a practical cause before choosing to be the servant of another noble,"
Dreibrand said with conviction.
Fanlyre could not decide if he should ridicule the cockiness of Dreibrand or
admire it.
Unwilling to let Fanlyre make the wrong decision, Dreibrand heaped more
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