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.He sensed bodies, but none he could touch.He would have to put his own warriors inside first.The enemy were too much in control right now.He was not disappointed.His strategy was working.The pass would be his.He laughed.Most of his soldiers had gone down at least once, but few had been badly mauled.They rose again and again.His laughter rang across the night.Sahmanan heard it.She called back, her voice merry with imminent victory.The Tervola heard it as well.They responded defiantly.The Seventeenth's battle drums roared.The drums.Those infernal drums.He had heard his father tell of their endless, terrifying rumble, but never had heard them before.Chills crept down his spine.Fear hit him.He began to doubt.Those were the drums of the Dread Empire, drums of promise, drums which proclaimed, "We of the Seventeenth do not stand alone.We of the Seventeenth know no fear.A hundred legions will rally behind us.Come find your doom, enemy of the empire."Though his blood ran hot with the joy of victory, Ethrian could not help but hear the drums.He was winning.The mountains would be his.He would travel on and meet Shinsan again, round the fortress beyond desolation's edge.There were other legions and other armies.A hundred legions might be an exaggeration, but, for certain, this victory would be a small one.A minor incident on the road.The great battles were yet to come.He had heard his uncle Valther describe the battles in Escalon, when Mist and O Shing had taken war to that once mighty kingdom.Compared to those this was a skirmish.For battles of that epic stature he would need all the might of his stone godling, and more.The moon was a sickle that night, and rose just an hour before dawn.Its wan silver light splashed the concluding movements of a battle determined and grim, clearly lost and won, yet still as vicious as when it had begun.The Dread Empire did not yield.Not a step.Before the last of her defenders fell, Ethrian lost forever his twenty-thousandth man.And yet he was joyful.He had seventy thousand left, and was knocking on the doors of lands where others could be conscripted into his cause.The last few drums spoke their defiance.He thought to his dead battalions.The dead gave voice to a battle cry."Deliverer!" they rasped.All together, like a hellish choir."Deliverer!"He smiled as they completed the demolition of Shinsan's fabled Seventeenth Legion.9 Year 1016 afeThe Fortress in the BorderlandLORD LUN-YU SENT the message via Meng Chiao."Lord Ssu-ma, they're attacking again.And there's a new mind in control.""Oh?" Shih-ka'i had a cold feeling."What makes you think that?""Their effectiveness.Their tactics.Perhaps you should come see what we mean, Lord."Shih-ka'i considered the Tervola.Chiao was disturbed.His stance and little fidgety movements betrayed his inner turmoil."All right.Pan ku.We're going to the mountains." He glanced at the big map.Everything was shaping up nicely.Eastern Army was coalescing.Should the dead break through the pass, they would find a hard knot blocking their path here.A few days more would help.Yes.Every minute would help.Shih-ka'i followed Meng Chiao through the transfer.He sensed the new mind immediately.He said, "We're in trouble.""Yes, Lord," Tasi-feng agreed."We won't be able to hold them.""I didn't expect to.This was a delaying tactic.Stall them as long as you can." He glanced skyward, where a woman in white circled on a small dragon."Is she good?""The best, Lord.Nearly as powerful as the Princess Mist.She's given us no chance to support the men, so they're not having much luck capturing enemy casualties."Shih-ka'i glimpsed a second dragon."Who's that?""We don't know, Lord.Possibly the new control."There had been two people atop the thing in the desert."I don't want to waste shafts, Lord Lun-yu, but if you get a good shot, call for one.""As you command, Lord.""I'll return to the fortress.Guard your portals carefully.""We're shifting them now, Lord.We'll fall back on them as they force us.""Very well." Shih-ka'i walked toward the nearest transfer.He told Pan ku, "This new mind is a dangerous one.I sense a whole different outlook.""I felt it too, Lord.""I think we can expect a siege."The Seventeenth remained rooted longer than Shih-ka'i expected [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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