The residents of Wind's Breath Keep were jolted awake by the sudden boom of cannon fire. At first, scattered candlelights appeared in the stone houses along the streets, but soon they joined into one flickering expanse.
Several bold men threw on their nightclothes and opened their doors to look outside, only to be harshly shouted down by Bradley's knights riding past.
"Get back inside!" The knight slammed the shaft of his spear against the bluestone road. "Anyone else who sticks his head out will be arrested as a spy!"
After the hoofbeats faded, old Tom, the baker at the street corner, saw the neighbor's boy still peeking through the crack in the door. He quickly made a throat-slitting gesture and frightened the boy back inside.
In the bedroom of the castle's main tower, Leimuster suddenly sprang up from the feather mattress.
The distant cannon fire had awakened him!
The duke's bare feet stepped onto the cold flagstones. His pacing formed an eerie rhythm with the cannon fire in the distance.
"My lord, please get dressed!" The attendant stood anxiously at the door, holding his armor.
Leimuster acted as if he had not heard. His fingers nervously rubbed the window frame. Through the stained glass, he could see torches darting chaotically through the city like frightened fireflies.
He turned toward the city-defense map hanging on the wall. The Defensive Fortifications he had once been so proud of now looked somewhat laughable beneath the bombardment.
Yulgar stood before the crack of the open North City Gate, and his murky pupils suddenly contracted.
On the distant plain, illuminated by the flashes after each cannon fired, he saw dozens of cannons lined up in a row, spewing flames of death.
"Quick! Charge out! This is our last chance!"
He shouted himself hoarse, but his