CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR

Despite Sigmar's insistence that he make his attack as soon as possible, Babra preparations were fussy and drawn-out, and they stopped altogether when he found out that he was to have 300 men, instead of the 500 he had expected. He stormed in to Sigmar's pavilion, shouting for all to hear that he was resigning his command.
Very patiently, Sigmar told him that the out-post was smaller than had been estimated and that he still had more than enough men to deliver a crushing blow. Babra blustered a bit, then calmed down, and eventually led off his meagre force with tremendous show. Saminad remarked that he looked as though he was on his way to the marriage nuptials of a great ruler, instead of to fight a battle.
As Chaldez watched him ride out of the camp he tried not to think of the disaster that awaited him. He knew he should have tried harder to warn Sigmar of the mistake he was making; he might even have spoken to Babra about it, and tried to discourage him. But then did Babra deserve his concern? He was a loathsome man; stupid, vain, ugly, and on top of that, a rival for the throne of Kroya. Besides, Sigmar had been in no mood to have his mind changed, and Chaldez doubted that Babra would have readily given up his moment of glory.
The day after Babra left, Sigmar struck camp and followed, and in the evening, took Chaldez, Saminad, Regdag and Vanchis a little way ahead of where the army had halted for the night. He led them to a place where the valley becomes quite narrow.
"The barbarians will come along here in pursuit of Babra," he said, his tone matter of fact. "I will be waiting for them. Tomorrow we will deploy in readiness," and he indicated where he wanted his divisions to be drawn up.
Chaldez understood now that Babra had been sent ahead, not as a decoy but as bait. Sigmar was counting on the Muraks being in headlong pursuit and rushing into his trap, but he doubted that Cregitzig would be fooled.
"You may be disappointed," he said. "In the Karandi war I attempted something very similar against my adversary Taksibar, but he was a cautious man, and what I've heard of this Cregitzig he is at least as wily."
Sigmar scowled at him. "We don't want to hear about your campaigns," he said. "We proceed as I say we shall."

* * * *

Babra remained convinced that he was attacking a small out-post of the Murak army, right up until he led his charge. Too late he saw the spearmen emerging from the shelter of the trees high up on his right. They rushed down towards his exposed flank, hurling their weapons as they closed in. Babra's charge faltered, and as it did so, the Muraks counter-attacked. Babra pulled up his horse and was in the act of turning it when a spear plunged into his side, its weight all but knocking him out of his saddle. He clung on, but his life was over; moments later a Murak warrior ended it with a sweep of his battle axe.
Cregitzig watched dispassionately. He had allowed but a twentieth of his army to become engaged; the rest he held back. He shook his head and turned away. "The enemy will be back," he said, "Be ready for him."
The Muraks who were allowed to give chase were as completely out of control as Sigmar had anticipated. When he saw them he turned to Chaldez in triumph. "The day is mine!" he shouted.

"Not yet," said Chaldez. "Cregitzig is playing your own game. This isn't the Murak army."
Sigmar realised quickly enough that he was right. "Cut them down," he ordered, "but they're not to be pursued."
His ambush worked to such devastating effect that only a handful of the trapped Muraks survived it.
That evening Sigmar was sullen; Chaldez felt that he was being blamed for the failure of his ploy; as though, by predicting Cregitzig's reticence, he had somehow caused it.
Saminad said "you've hurt his pride, but he'll get over it."
He did. The next day he called for Chaldez. "You must feel some satisfaction at having judged the barbarian commander correctly?" he said, giving him a rather odd look.
Chaldez pretended to be perplexed. "He only did what I would have expected of my former adversary. I wish I had been proved wrong; your tactic could have been decisive."
Sigmar obviously approved of this answer. He said "Yesterday was disappointing, but at least we've seen the last of that fool Babra. The Muraks have done Kroya a favour, don't you think? No kingdom deserved the likes of him on its throne. When the time comes, I suppose I shall have to find someone to replace him."
For a moment Chaldez had the wild thought that he was referring to him, and he at once felt the urgent need to change the course of the conversation before he said something that gave too much away. "Many good men died with your cousin the king," he said.
"Not many," Sigmar contradicted him. "Some of them, I believe, knew what to expect, and got back here in safety."
Chaldez, remembering Babra's complaints during the winter march, concluded that Sigmar had punished him by deliberately sending him to his death, and thinking about it later he went cold with fear at the thought of what Sigmar might arrange for him if he were to find out who he was.
Sigmar's attempt to provoke an attack on his own terms having failed, he moved to cut off Cregitizig from Eujinni and the west. His target was the Yiesia border town of Shagnam, but well before he reached it he and his troops could see the smoke rising from its burning ruins. Cregitzig had got there first.
The near-by bridge over the River Usippol, which lies between Eujinni and Yiesia, was down, and when Sigmar was told of it he called his karmikvals for a council. Chaldez, not formally declared a karmikval of the Danbedekkan, was not summoned, but Sigmar sent for him.
"Why didn't you come when the others did?" he demanded.
"I wasn't told I should do," he said.
Sigmar looked at Lam, who was beside him. His expression softened and his tone was more friendly as he asked for an explanation.
"Zhakarrah is not a karmikval of the Danbedekkan," Lam said simply.
Sigmar looked astonished. "Of course he is!" he exclaimed. "If I have overlooked the ceremony it is of no matter. Zhakarrah should consider himself admitted to my council. We have no time for oaths and ceremonies now."
Chaldez smiled. "I will," he said.
Sigmar's mood changed abruptly and his eyes glowered. "Enough of all this," he snapped. "Regdag. Tell us what you know."
Regdag said that the barbarian army was heading north west, and burning and destroying everything in its path.Sigmar allowed a pause, then declared that the two Murak armies were planning to unite. He said "I cannot stop them. Every bridge will be down, every town will be burnt, every mouthful of food will have been destroyed. I cannot give chase across a desert. When they unite, as they are bound to, these two barbarian armies will be more powerful than any army in the world. The world will belong to Jaejisir; he will turn it into an altar to Histigga, his demon god. Those who are not yet enslaved will be enslaved, and a river of blood will flow from the death tower."
Chaldez was shocked; everyone, judging by the silence that followed this brief but dramatic speech, was shocked.
Saminad began to speak, but the words died on his lips.
Sigmar shouted "Has no one anything to say?"
Chaldez said "Yes."
The attention which that affirmation focussed on him gave him a feeling of power, and when he spoke he did so with confidence and conviction. He said "There are enough men, horses and weapons beyond the control of the Muraks to wipe them off the face of the land. We need only to unite them. The Muraks can be stopped."
In fact he was only repeating the tactics that he had anticipated using against Sigmar when he had thought him to be the universal enemy.
Sigmar looked at him thoughtfully, scratching his cheek."
"And where do I engage the Muraks in battle, bearing in mind that there will be nothing but a wasteland between my army and theirs?"
Chaldez had an immediate answer. He believed, he said, that Cregitzig had marched to assist Jaejisor against the Osarians, whose king had proved to be such a formidable obstacle. Sigmar's response, therefore, should be to march back through the Soan territories, picking up reinforcements from among the Soans, Ashtaks and Kraitians on the way, and attack them from the south.
Sigmar looked at Lam. "Well," he demanded. "What do you say to that?"
"The only thing we can be certain of," Lam said, "is that wherever Cregitzig is taking his army, he intends to make it very difficult for you to follow him. His army is weak, we can conclude that much; too weak to face you in battle. Gather what reinforcements you can, by all means, but the movement suggested by Zakarrah makes too many assumptions. My suggestion is that we cross into Eujinni, re-take its capital, and march on Felewith. The barbarians could not ignore such audacity, and instead of you having to search for them, perhaps in vain, they would be certain to come to you."
Sigmar looked at Chaldez. "I trust Lam's judgment more than any other man's. We will do as he says. I shall re-build the bridge, and while that work proceeds you shall be my envoy and raise the reinforcements you spoke of."
Chaldez nodded. "I shall send them here. You will enter Eujinni at the head of the greatest army ever seen."

* * * *

Sigmar assigned Vanchis, interpreters, guides and a guard of 150 men to Chaldez, who set out on his mission full of confidence.
It was not to last. As the next weeks passed, and one chieftain after another promised only a token contribution - and some of them none at all - he knew that he had wildly exaggerated the support he could expect. The rulers he visited were, without exception, wary of his mission. They would not be convinced that their best defence against the Muraks lay with Sigmar. Did he not intend to repossess his former kingdom, and if so, why should they supply men and arms to help him? Who could tell what the barbarians intended; what if they should suddenly appear on their own borders? Some of the chieftains called in their soothsayers and astrologers, who invariably advised against denuding the states of their defences.
Chaldez returned to Shagnam just as Sigmar's new bridge over the River Usippol was being completed. He was dreading his reception, and when Sigmar summoned his council he was so ashamed of his failure that he was unable to look him in the eyes. But there was no tantrum, no barbed comments. Sigmar said "My allies will not support my venture, and who can blame them? I know that Kudrah Vanchis and Zhakarrah put our case with great skill. If success eluded them, it would have eluded anyone. They have my full confidence."
Chaldez was grateful.
Sigmar was a difficult man to like, he had found that out. But he was impossible to hate.