There is only one direct route into Kroya, and it is over the bridge which crosses the Cy Gorge. It had once been described to Chaldez as the greatest bridge in the world, and when he saw it he believed it was, for it crosses the sheer-sided Cy Gorge supported by numerous stanchions of enormous height. Immediately beyond the bridge is the Kroyan town of Lowith, dominated by a massive stone castle standing on a hill within the town walls. Where the road enters the town at the end of the bridge it is within range of the castle battlements, and the road itself is only wide enough for a wagon and a team of oxen. No enemy, it was said, had ever taken Lowith by force from across the bridge.
Chaldez got the impression that Sigmar was unpleasantly surprised by the strength of Lowith's strategic position. He made no attempt to cross the bridge, and summoned a council meeting instead. He made it clear that he was open to suggestions, and after several hours' discussion a plan was formulated. The army would retreat somewhat, and under cover of darkness the Imperial Horse, the Feet and several other infantry regiments would slip away, to enter Kroya by stealth across Morden Mire. The route to be taken is called Rath's Way, notorious for the number of travellers who have attempted to follow it, become lost and perished in the mire. The Feet were at home among the marshes, lakes, bogs and forests which make the region so treacherous and impenetrable, having used it as a refuge from the Muraks, and they knew Rath's Way. They would lead.
Chaldez was in command of the expedition and it left, as planned, after nightfall.
It skirted Bedekka's Bog and remained on the move until it met the beginnings of Rath's Way. The expedition made camp and awaited daylight, the Mire being impossible to cross at night. Chaldez and Dan made an inspection before taking to their own beds, and during the course of it Chaldez recognised Redz, one of the four guides who had travelled with the Imperial Horse out of the Ix valley into Sair. Chaldez stopped to ask him what had become of Azrat, the guide who had reminded him of a bandit. Redz shrugged and said that he was dead too. Chaldez looked at Dan, and Dan said yes, he was dead. Chaldez assumed he would get no more from Redz on the matter. He said goodnight and he and Dan continued on their way.
"What happened to Azrat?" Chaldez asked.
"It was necessary to kill him. He became dangerous." There was no emotion in Dan's voice, and it was apparent that he was not prepared to say any more. Chaldez let the subject go.
In the morning Weffjan, commander of the Feet, impressed upon Chaldez the importance of everyone staying to the route that was to be indicated by his men. To wander off it meant certain death.
Rath's Way is not a path, as Chaldez had expected it to be; to the inexperienced eye there is nothing to distinguish it from the tractless wetlands which stretch to the horizon in every direction. It consists of more or less firm ground meandering haphazardly among the watery hollows of the mire. It passes through woods of small, twisted trees with semi-submerged roots which loop and writhe as though they had been huge worms, petrified at the height of a frenzied orgy; it makes its way between silvery reed beds and sinks of black, stinking water; it follows the margins of wide, glinting lakes, and dodges malevolent pools, slimy edged and green, venting foul air and threatening to cut it off for good. Chaldez thought himself to be in the very land of the damned, and he prayed to Arwarnhi for safe deliverance.
Towards midday the mountains of Kroya could be seen in the distance. When they lay ahead Chaldez felt encouraged, but Rath's Way is so tortuous that he was as likely to have his back to them, and then he was filled with apprehension.
On the dry, rising ground at the far side of the mire, the bare mountains forming a dramatic backdrop, the expedition made camp. From now on it would move only at night.
The landscape was remarkable for being without a single tree. Weffjan of the Feet told Chaldez that the timber had all been cut down to make charcoal to fuel the smelting furnaces at the mines. Chaldez was outraged by it, and grew convinced that Arwarnhi, God of forests, wanted him to punish the Theigans for their desecration of his domain. He used the word "desecration" to Dan, whose reaction was disappointing. The lack of trees annoyed him - he made no secret of that - but only because of the difficulties it caused. The Imperial Horse and Feet were masters of invisibility, and the absence of cover called for all their ingenuity.
The expedition reached Lowith at mid-night; by the light of a half moon Chaldez surveyed the town walls and massive gates. Denied the use of timber, he would be unable to burn them down, as he had burned the gates at Jadmranput, or build a battering ram, as he had done at Shagnam. There was no alternative but to rely upon the Theigans being ignorant of his presence, and take them by surprise. He moved his forces beneath the walls, and there they waited in total silence until sunrise. The gates were opened, and they rushed in.
The few Theigan soldiers who were on duty died in the first ferocious onslaught, and then the townsfolk were streaming into the main square to greet their liberators. Dan held up the severed head of one of the soldiers and shouted "Death to the Theigans!" and at once they took up the cry in their own language, and still shouting it they moved in a body against the garrison, burst open the gates and set fire to the living quarters inside. Some Theigans escaped to the castle on its hill, and the pursuing townsfolk, when they neared it, were showered with arrows from the battlements. They withdrew to a safe distance, but it was apparent to Chaldez that no-one inside the castle would leave it alive.
The taking of the town was signalled to Sigmar by a volley of flaming arrows shot high into the air from the town walls, and what Chaldez saw next amazed him.
Sigmar's encampment on the far side of the bridge was clearly visible, and soon there appeared on the bridge an extraordinary creature. It looked like a worm moving ponderously forward; a worm made of hides stretched over a flexible frame, its legs the legs of soldiers sheltering beneath it. Slowly it came across the bridge. The town gates were open for it, and as it reached them, the Theigan archers on the castle battlements let fly a storm of useless arrows at it.
Beneath the protective canopy, Sigmar's army entered the town unscathed.
Chaldez met Sigmar at the gates, and was shocked by his appearance. He was drawn and the skin on his face grey and waxy-looking. The wound in his arm, Chaldez learned, had begun to heal well enough but was now giving him trouble, and he was showing signs of fever. Nevertheless he was determined not to weaken, and personally made the arrangements for laying siege to the castle.
On the third day there ceased to be any visible activity; a cautious approach towards the gates provoked no reaction. The gates were forced open and the defenders were found to be dead. They had killed themselves rather than surrender and face the fury of the townspeople.
The fall of Lowith caught the Theigans unawares, and the army they hurriedly mustered outside Budenrath, the capital, was badly organised and ill-prepared. Havil, more accustomed to coping with recalcitrant slaves than fighting a battle-hardened army, took command, and his dispositions betrayed his lack of experience.
Sigmar ignored the advice of his physicians and personally led the attack on the Theigan centre. The fighting there was fierce, but a flanking movement by the Imperial Horse had a destabilising effect which spread quickly throughout the Theigan position. The horsemen/archers were, as always, devastating. Chaldez then unleashed the Feet and several cavalry companies which had been held in reserve, and the fury of their onslaught shattered what remained of the Theigan resistance. The collapse was rapid and it was total; long before nightfall Sigmar was riding into Budenrath at the head of his army.
Havil, it became apparent, had escaped him. Chaldez assumed the worst; that he had fled by boat to Theigia. In Budenrath, however, it was reported that he and his staff had passed through the city on their way back to his castle at Bodegan.
Sigmar set up quarters in a palace, and summoned Chaldez. He needed to rest, he said. He would remain for a while in Budenrath, and in the meantime Chaldez was to continue the campaign, but with a much reduced army. It was his desire to let as many of his soldiers return to their homes as Chaldez could spare.
"When the Theigan king has answered for his crimes," he said, "come back to me here at Budenrath and we shall consider what is to be done with this tidy little realm. I have a mind to put an ally of mine on the throne but I would like your ideas on the matter. There was a time when I had many friends to discuss such things with but this war has cost me dear."