As soon as they were alone he described his meeting with the usurper. "When he said who he was I nearly fell over! The man who murdered my parents standing right in front of me - I could hardly believe it."
"You told him you were Zhakharra?"
"Of course."
"Do you think he believed you?"
"He had no reason not to."
"You spoke Seian?"
"I let him know I could speak Laifyan; I had to or we'd have got nowhere, though I now know one of his people does speak a little Seian. Tsem told me."
"You don't think it made him suspicious - your speaking Laifyan?"
Chaldez could only say "I hope not."
Dan seemed to think about it for a moment, then he uttered a short laugh. "So here we are - in Sigmar's army! The god's are surely playing games with us?"
Chaldez remembered that he had said the same thing after their release from the village; and how quickly he had then been proved wrong!
"I have learnt that Arwarnhi is full of surprises," he said, "but that he does not play games with us. Remember what happened to Valtrern?"
"What worries me," said Dan, "is that Arwarnhi may not be in command of our destinies. There are greater deities than he - Tin Wina, for instance. I often wonder if she is not responsible for what is happening to us."
Chaldez shook his head. "The Muraks brought us here. They possess my kingdom, and if it takes Sigmar's army to destroy them so be it. Where would we find another?"Dan pulled a wry face. "If Sigmar knew about us being here our lives wouldn't be worth that," and he clicked his thumb and forefinger.

* * * *

Although out of his own kingdom, Sigmar behaved as though he were still in it. He treated the local Kraitian rulers as though they were his subjects, and demanded from them support for his army. Every day, trains of mules and asses with armed escorts brought supplies to his camp from the surrounding countryside, and every day its needs increased as fugitives from the lands being overrun by the Muraks were drawn to it.
Immobilised by the winter, Sigmar put his men to work building vast earthen defences for his encampment; he made them take part in tournaments, in which archery contests formed a prominent part, and games, and sometimes sent them out in small raiding parties to punish a recalcitrant ruler.
Through all this, Dan maintained the separate identity of the men whom Chaldez and Feldak had brought with them. All of them horsemen, he would not allow them to be absorbed into other cavalry companies; he personally drilled them, and when they took part in the tournaments and games it was a team effort.
At first Chaldez was surprised that he was allowed to get away with it, but as he got to know Sigmar's army better he found out that it was organised into quite distinct regiments, between which a competitive spirit was fostered. Indeed, there was nothing unusual about what Dan was doing; he might almost have been working to an approved plan.
As in the Seian army, he insisted on a high standard of discipline. The Kroyans, many of them young men from the landed classes who had joined Feldak as his companions, bitterly resented him, but Dan was a remarkable officer. He thrived on confrontation, and no one could be as difficult, as contrary, as unpredictable, as provocative, as arbitrary as he; his presence was unsettling, but the sheer force of his personality was irresistible. He pursued his objectives with ruthless single-mindedness; he never backed down, and while he might be feared and hated one day, he was just as likely to be admired and respected the next for there were two things of which he could never be accused: cowardice or incompetence. And as a horseman he was superb.
The mixed company of Laifyans and Seians became known as the Imperial Horse, and it attracted many of the young men who arrived daily to be enrolled in Sigmar's cavalry; it was over 300 strong when Kudrah Vanchis called on Chaldez.
"Three days' journey from here," he said, "is a chieftain called Axbegt. He has stopped sending his quota for the maintenance of the army, and my lord desires that you take your men and teach him a lesson. He must learn that the Danbedekkan of Sair is not to be trifled with. You are to leave in the morning."
The prospect of some action excited Chaldez as much as it did Dan, and the news that they were to be accompanied by a representative of Sigmar to act as observer did nothing to dampen it.
Chaldez made it clear to Feldak that he himself would be in command, and that Dan would be his field officer. "I want you," he said, "to look after Sigmar's representative. Keep him out of mischief, eh?"
If Feldak were disappointed not to be entrusted with a military role he did not show it.
The campaign was perfect. Axbegt had a considerable army and he was expecting trouble, but Chaldez drew on his experience in the Karandi war and anticipated his every move. Meticulously he plotted his operations, and almost before Axbegt knew what was going on his army had been routed and his citadel raised. Chaldez seized his herds and brought them back to Sigmar's camp. Over 100 of Axbegt's men had been killed or wounded; Chaldez had lost no more than 20 of his.
Sigmar's observer, a giant of a man called Regdag, remained inscrutable throughout. He spoke some Laifyan, but hardly opened his mouth. When they got back, however, he obviously opened it a great deal because Sigmar sent for Chaldez and through Lam, the interpreter, he said "My karmikval Regdag is full of your praises, Zakarrah. He tells me you are a formidable commander, and you should know that when such a man says such a thing Sigmar listens. Regdag does not give praises lightly, and I am bound to believe him."
Chaldez glowed, and when Sigmar invited him and Dan and Feldak to join him at his table that evening he forgot entirely that he was being addressed by his mortal enemy.