Word filters back to the capital, brought by runners and breathless peasants whose clothes are still streaked with soot and blood: battle has been joined on the River Musarde; the Falkovnians are harrying the villages that feed the mighty fortress of Ameranthe. The Maitriser's forces buy time for his people to fall back into the great keep; the supply lines to the capital city are holding, but pinched by the countless incursions of the Kingfuhrer's raiders. A decisive battle has not yet been fought, but to many of the soldiers who pass the watch-words and worries from lips to ear, it is only a matter of time.
