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.The Sword of Fury in itself ought not to blunt the Mindsword's power: But what Townsaver might do, to any portion of an attacking army that came within a bladelength of its wielder, was enough in itself to give a field commander pause.The Dark King shuddered, the fear that was never far below the surface of his thoughts suddenly coming near the surface.As he shuddered, the humans watching him thought that he was still listening to the demons' speech.And then, there was the matter of Farslayer, too.Until he had that particular weapon safely in his hands, he had to be concerned about it.Any monarch, any man, who dealt consistently in such great Page 119ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlaffairs as King Vilkata did, was bound to make enemies and would have to be concerned.There were always plenty of short-sighted, vengeful little folk about.and neither the Dark King's wizards nor his immaterial demons could give him any idea of who possessed theSword of Vengeance now.If only he had been able to pick up Shieldbreaker from the field of battle!But no, another distraction, another threat, had intervened to prevent that.And now no one could tell him where that trump of weapons was located either.Coinspinner was another potential problem.It, too, was now thought by the Dark King's magical advisers to be present inside the walls of Tashigang.And he was sure that the Sword of Chance would bring those damned impertinent rascals good luck, good fortune of some kind, even in the face of the Mindsword's influence.Vilkata kept trying to imagine what kind of good luck that would be.Whatever it was, it would not be good for him.But despite all of the obstacles and objections, he could be royally stubborn, and he was going forward.None of his fears were great enough to prevent that.In the end he decided to keep his own supernal weapons under wraps for the time being, and to try what he might to induce the city to surrender under threats.The afternoon he arrived before the walls, he had his great pavilion erected within easy sight of them-though not, of corse, within missile range.At the same time Vilkata ordered a complete envelopment of the city, and entrenchment by his troops, as if for a lengthy siege, all along their encircling lines.Even his great host was thinly spread by such a file:///G|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Fred%20Sa.20-%20The%20Third%20Book%20Of%20Swords.txt (141 of 171) [2/5/2004 12:22:43 AM]file:///G|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Fred%20Saberhagen%20-%20Swords%2003%20-%20The%20Third%20Book%20Of%20Swords.txt maneuver, which necessitated occupying a line several kilometers long; but Vilkata intended to concentrate most of his troops in a few places later, if and when it actually became necessary to assault the walls.Meanwhile he wanted to give an impression not only of overwhelming force but of unhurried determination.And still he was not satisfied that things were going well; he kept urging both his scouts and his wizards to provide him with more information.At dusk on the second day of the siege, the Dark King's vaguely growing sense of some impending doom was suddenly relieved.The last flying messenger to arrive during daylight hours brought in a report saying that the troublesome Beastlord Draffut was finally dead, and the god Mars-who was also troublesome, because he had managed to remain free of the Mindsword's control-was dead with him.And that Vulcan, triumphant over both of them, was headed toward the city of Tashigang, waving the Sword Shieldbreaker and crying his own eternal loyalty to the Dark King.When the half-intelligent courier was asked to predict the time of the god's arrival, it gave answers interpreted to mean that the progress of the Smith across the countryside was slow and erratic, because he was stopping frequently to offer sacrifice to his god Vilkata, and also because he walked a zig-zag course; but Vulcan continually cried out that he was coming on to Tashigang, where his other Swords were gathering, and where he meant to do honor in person to the King.His other Swords? Vilkata pondered to himself.Of course the Smith had forged them all, and perhaps that was all that he meant by the use of such an expression.In any case, there was nothing Vilkata could do about the Smith, or any other god, until they came within the Mindsword's range.And the Dark Page 120ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlKing did not want to appear to be worried by what sounded, on the surface, like very good news indeed.Therefore he gave permission for a celebration of Vulcan's triumph to begin, and sent out trumpeters and criers to make certain that the death of Draffut and the advance of the victorious Vulcan were made known within the walls of Tashigang as well.Vilkata even took part in the revel himself, at least as far as its middle stages.He retired comparatively early, thinking that in any case he was giving himself time to sleep and recover before Vulcan could possibly arrive.He wearied himself with women, and came near besotting himself with wine, and then tumbled into his private bed to sleep.His awakening was hours earlier than he had expected, and it came not at the gentle call of his valet, or some officer of his bodyguard.The sound that tore Vilkata out of dreams of victory was the ripping of his pavilion's fabric, not far from his head, by some enemy weapon's edge.No matter how mad the odds seemed against success, when merely human calculation was applied, file:///G|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Fred%20Sa.20-%20The%20Third%20Book%20Of%20Swords.txt (142 of 171) [2/5/2004 12:22:43 AM]file:///G|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Fred%20Saberhagen%20-%20Swords%2003%20-%20The%20Third%20Book%20Of%20Swords [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]