The Fireseed Wars

"Captain, toss the Archpriest into the pit with the rest of the dead. Let him think we thought he'd been killed, not knocked out. Throw a couple more of the badly-wounded in with the dead ones. The Archpriest will be so busy thanking Styphon he won't question his good fortune, if it's done right!"

"Yes, sir," Reme said with a big smile. He shouted over at the scouts, "You can stop cutting throats now! Scouts get back out on patrol. The rest of you have another candle to strip the dead and search for loot."

** SUMMER**

FIFTY-ONE

he twenty-one members of the Inner Circle assembled in the Great Council Hall were all the Archpriests in Balph. This was the first Temple emergency since the Daemon Kalvan had been driven out of the false Kingdom of Hos-Hostigos. Unlike the last years of former Styphon's Voice Sesklos' reign, there was no table talk or gossip; the new Styphon's Voice on Earth ruled the Innermost Circle with an iron gauntlet.

Supreme Priest Anaxthenes, seated at the apex of the triangular High Table, longed for the counsel of someone with a real military background. Unfortunately, Archpriest Grythos and Grand Master Soton were still overseeing the Siege of Agrys City and were unavailable, while Knight Commander Orocles, who had recovered from his amputation, had returned to Tarr-Ceros. Still, with this latest crisis, even the most naive priest could see disaster was on the horizon.

After Archpriest Neamenestros called the meeting to order and performed the ritual invocations, Styphon's Voice rose to his feet. "As most of you have heard, the nomads are moving across the Great Mother River again. They are moving in numbers as large as they did when they attacked Tarr-Ceros! We believe this is the work of Warlord Ranjar Sargos, who has recently returned from the far south where his armies defeated those of the Mexicotal."

There was an audible gasp of breath from the assembled Archpriests. It was only in the last century that the fierce warriors from the far south had crossed the Great Desert and made incursions in the Sea of Grass, reaching as far east as the borders of Xiphlon. They were rarely defeated in the field; however, it was also true that they had never faced mass musket fire or artillery. Still, they had reigned supreme in battle over the disparate Urgothi clans and Ruthani tribes that filled the Sea of Grass. Only the fierce warriors of the southern Numunuu had kept the Mexicotal from adding the southern portion of the Great Desert that bordered the Sea of Grass to their domains.

"This Sargos is the same Warlord who allied himself three winters ago with the Daemon Kalvan, chasing Grand Master Soton and his Knights from the Trygath back to Tarr-Ceros. There they besieged the Order's great fortress for several moons, almost taking it. There is good evidence that these nomad attacks against the Order's castles are being orchestrated by the Daemon himself."

Archpriest Dracar rose, his face pale from anxiety. "The Daemon Kalvan, as I have said many times, has a very long reach. We must stop the barbarians before they cross into Hos-Ktemnos! If the clans pass through the Sastragath and into Ktemnos we will lose our support among the peasants and serfs."

To say nothing of the nobles and princes, thought Aristocles. It had been over two hundred winters since the last major barbarian incursion had flooded over into the Southern Kingdoms. That was when Menistophon the Great, Grand Master of the Order of Zarthani Knights, had ordered the Great Wall of fortresses to be built along the Great Mother River from Tarr-Syklos in the south to Tarr-Ceros along the Lydistros River in the north. From that time on, most of the major tribal onslaughts had gone farther northeast into the Trygath or Middle Kingdoms. Now, if the barbarians broke across the southern marches, it would be the Order and Styphon's House who took the blame. And, with most of the Sacred Squares of Hos-Ktemnos off fighting in the west with the Grand Host of Styphon or in the east, besieging Agrys City, there would be no army big enough to stop the barbarian hordes before they reached Balph herself.

This was what worried Anaxthenes the most. "I have just received news from Knight Commander Orocles that Tarr-Pynros has been taken."

This was news which the assembled Archpriests hadn't heard and brought open consternation. An Order fortress hadn't fallen to the barbarians in two generations.

"How did they breach the walls, Your Divinity?" one of the Archpriests asked.

"They had artillery and all the fireseed they needed," Anaxthenes answered. "More evidence that the dark hand of the Daemon Kalvan is behind these attacks."

"But the Grand Host of Styphon is busy fighting the Usurper's army in the Upper Middle Kingdoms," Archpriest Dracar said. "How can the Daemon be in two places at once?"