Part 56 (2/2)

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a'Stay, my Lord,' Grey Goose cried out, necking an arrow ~ to his bow and taking aim at the Chancellor's heart.

Proudpurse laughed cruelly, pointing at his strike of box men. 'You are defeated, Archer, and dead if you do not tin your bow. The last Granite King has reached the end of h road and stands all alone.'

'He is not alone!' cried Breakmaster, lowering his spa and urging Mulberry forward.

Proudpurse sneered and called his Gallopers out to fax the single horseman. 'Abandon your King. Look how ma' stand against you, but if you kneel at my feet there is a plan for you amongst my hors.e.m.e.n. Come forward, Breakrnaste

and join the new rulers of Elundium.'

Breakmaster spat on the ground and dug his spurs in,

Mulberry's sides, driving him forward.

'No! No!' shouted the King, raising his hand to stop Breakmaster's reckless charge. 'I will parley and strike a bargain for the people of the Granite City before blood is spilt.'

'Parley?' laughed Chancellor Overlord. ~

'Bargain!' sneered Proudpurse. You have nothing to bar-. gain with. Your life is worth less than the sharp stone that honed my spear blade.'

King Holbian sat easily in the saddle letting the suns.h.i.+ne warm his face. Laughing, he held the Chancellor's eyes, 'There is more to Kings.h.i.+p than just taking a crown, surely my wise Chancellors know that. I do not deal with you for my life, but for the future of the people of Elundium.'

Turning in the saddle he swept his arm across the city dwellers that knelt in neat lines in front of the entrance to the secret road, the weapons they had taken from the armoury held steady in their hands. 'They will be your inheritance if you kill me. They are the future of Elundium.'

Chancellor Proudpurse hesitated. He had expected rage of anger, even fear, m the aged King, but not this strength of purpose in the city folk that stood behind him. Their grim and

256.

angry faces mocked at his treachery and made him stand back a pace.

'We will kill your city folk. All of them,' he cried. 'Elundium will belong to the Chancellors and those they choose to share it with.'

'Then you will have nothing,' answered the King quietly, 'nothing at all, for the warriors you whispered into treachery are beyond trust and will in turn betray you at the first twist of fate.

It is you who stands alone through your own black thoughts and deeds. It is you who totters on the edge of defeat.'

'You lie!' screamed Proudpurse. 'It is you who stands alone to die! Those so-called warriors will not fight, they are servers, Candlemen, the sc.u.m of the lower circles of the city.'

King Holbian laughed and lifted his hand for silence. 'It matters not which circle they came from, the Nightbeasts levelled the city and made us one. But we are not alone, listen to the changing wind, brave Chancellors, for it whispers out your fate in sweet music. Listen.'

Proudpurse frowned and lowered his spear. Listening, he turned his head from left to right. Faint on the wind it came as horse bells on a summer breeze.

'Look about you, traitors,' shouted Grey Goose, bending his bow, 'and see the warriors who are true to the King.'

Proudpurse spun round and dropped the spear, falling on to his knees in terror as he saw the bright glitter of Dawnrise's steelsilver coat and the shadow of a forest of spears ascending the bank. Errant let his hand fall to his side and the Nighthorses

of Underfall swept forwards in a fast-moving crescent, galloping beside the Warhorses. The thunder of their hooves drowned out the Chancellor's screams and the cries of the treacherous warriors who, as the King foretold, turned their weapons on the Chancellors, felling them before the Nighthorses could check their pace.

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