Three men were produced for Sigmar's inspection. One of them had a small wound in the shoulder; the way he bore himself suggested that he was not an ordinary soldier. Sigmar made Kraeger ask him who he was.
"He says he is a farmer," Kraeger translated, "but that is not true. The armlet he wears tells me that he was a company commander."
"Ask him what happened to my people."
"He says they all ran away, long ago."
"Then ask him why we found their corpses in the fields and in the houses."
"He says he does not know. He says he saw no bodies."
"If he saw no bodies," said Sigmar, "he cannot see, and if he cannot see, he has no need of his eyes. What does he says to that?"
The prisoner, trembling but otherwise in control of himself, repeated that he was just a farmer.
Sigmar began to shout "He lies! He lies! You dare lie to me? I have a punishment for you. Tell him! Tell him I know a punishment that will have him crying to his accursed gods for deliverance. Tell him!"
Kraeger stumbled along but Sigmar interrupted. His voice, quite quiet again, he said "In my service I have a skilled craftsman." Kraeger did his best to translate. Sigmar continued "He will flay you alive, and I will leave you, bleeding, to rot. That is what the Danbedekkan does to farmers who lie to him!"
The prisoner, very pale, shook his head, as though denying that he had lied. His two companions moaned and would have prostrated themselves at Sigmar's feet if their guards had let them.
Sigmar turned his attention to the man next to him. He admitted straight away that he was a soldier.
"Did you kill the people of this country?" Sigmar asked, and he shook his head vigorously.
Sigmar told him that he too would die, and he started to weep.
The third prisoner admitted that he was a soldier and that he had been ordered to kill the slaves.
"How many?" Sigmar asked.
He shrugged.
"Ask him why I should not have him killed."
"He says that life and death are in the hands of the gods and that he must accept the fate they ordain for him."
"He speaks the truth" Sigmar remarked. He put his head on one side, as though considering, and stroked his chin. Then he spoke again "The gods ordain that I should spare him. Find out if he can do anything useful and put him to work, where I can see him."
Lam, indicating that he had something to say, caught Sigmar's attention and spoke to him quietly.
Sigmar said "Lam thinks he should die with the others; he says you don't try taming a viper and that we might be in danger from him. Ask him his name."
Kraeger exchanged question and answer, and said he was called Morgfest.
Sigmar addressed him directly. "Morgfest . . . "
The man looked up at him.
"The gods ordain that you should live. Would you repay the gods by trying to harm those that have shown you mercy today?"
After Kraeger's translation, the prisoner made a dramatic gesture, as though disembowelling himself with an imaginary sword. Sigmar said "I do not fear this man. Lam, have you not heard of the snake charmers? Our barbarian will show us gratitude for sparing him, you see if he doesn't!"
Lam scowled, and Chaldez wondered if Sigmar was not being foolhardy. He remembered Lam's reputation for shrewdness, and that Sigmar had had reason, once, to regret ignoring his advice.
Perhaps Regdag thought he might change his mind about the other two prisoners and decide to preserve their lives as well. He said "Sire - the prisoners you sentenced to death; shall I see to it?"
Sigmar seemed to be impatient. "Yes yes," he said. Then added, as an after thought "Don't waste time on them."
Regdag hesitated. "You mentioned flaying . . . " he began.
"We haven't time for niceties," said Sigmar. "There is serious work to be done. We take Metsarn immediately; I intend to be in my own kingdom by nightfall."
The Muraks in the walled town, having seen their potential reinforcements wiped out by Abrikal, fired the town and fled over the bridge into Sair, Sigmar on their heels.
Across the Kell from Metsarn, the road to Felewith meets the Arril Klybet, an ancient trade route between the southern Laifyan states and the countries in the east. At the crossroads stands the small Sairish town of Issenganwith, and when he reached it, Sigmar called on the priests of Arwarnhi to conduct a celibratory rite, and he invited Chaldez to attend. "Your gods and my god have a common enemy in the demon Histigga; they are brothers and sisters. The priests of Arwarnhi will welcome you."
Once before, when Chaldez had observed a ritual performed by the priests of Arwarnhi, he had been moved to tears by it. He remembered, as though it were yesterday, the quizzical expression on Sigmar's face when their eyes had met, and he wondered if Sigmar, too, remembered it? When he spoke he was conscious of a tremor in his voice. "I agree that our gods are in alliance. I have always known it." What he did not know was whether Sigmar had noticed the tears in his eyes that day, and he wished he did.
After the celebratory ritual, in which the priests annointed Sigmar and all his karmikvals, including Chaldez, with scented oil mixed with Sairish soil, Sigmar summoned his council. He had received news, he said, that Jaejisir and Cregitzig had defeated the Osarians and were on their way south. "They come to my bidding!" he exclaimed. Chaldez thought he was boasting, but his next words were bitter. "Would I was ready for them. Where is Zarkahn Jeng; where is the Imperial Horse?” He looked at Chaldez, as though he should know the answer. Chaldez remained silent. Sigmar went on "I am resolved to cross the great river," which Chaldez supposed was the Put, "and make my dispositions on that side. It will be easier then for Zarkahn Jeng to join me."
The council was still assembled when he summoned Nopin and Abrikal the Laifyan, and instructed them to locate Zarkahn Jeng and tell him what was planned.
The nearest crossing was at Jadmranput, one of the great cities of Sair Jisenner. The bridge there is on the Arril Klybet trade route, which passes through the heart of the city.
Abrikal asked if it was his intention to use the Jadmranput bridge, and when Sigmar said, yes it was, he warned him that the city was well defended. It was a Murak military headquarters for the whole region; from there they had conducted their campaign against the Imperial Horse. But Sigmar had made up his mind. "We take the city," he said. "We must not fail in this because the fall of Jadmranput will bring the barbarian generals to the battlefield of my choosing."
Chaldez shook his head, but not so obviously as to be seen; he wondered if Sigmar had forgotten what had happened the last time he had tried to bring Cregitzig to battle on his own terms.