Virtually every airship sitting out on the platforms was destroyed, and the platforms themselves were so badly damaged they could not be used for landing without posing a danger to the ships and crews attempting to do so. The attack was swift and purposeful, and-once the intended result was accomplished-it broke off and retreated from sight.

That was when Keeton, consulting with Sefita Rayne and a handful of ground commanders, made the decision to begin evacuating the city. The Coalition Council was in disarray, its members scattered. Many had already left in private airships, fleeing for the safety of other cities. Many had simply gone to ground. No one seemed to be in charge. Edinja Orle was still missing, although there were rumors that she had flown to Wayford and Dechtera to seek additional support for the Federation's capital city. Whatever the case, members of the military were making all of the decisions by now, and Keeton was still their commander in chief.

The decision to evacuate was arrived at easily enough, however. With the transports still intact, there was no reason not to remove as many of more vulnerable residents as possible, beginning with women and children and the sick and elderly. The city was in imminent danger of falling, and those trapped within were unlikely to survive what happened afterward. With warships available to act as escorts, saving those who could be saved was a choice that met with unanimous approval.

The loading of the carriers had begun at once, and transport had been under way ever since. The vessels would convey as many passengers as possible to one of the nearby cities and then return for more. Warships would act as escorts, and keep careful watch for airborne attackers-especially the dragon.

But now sunset was approaching, and the transports had been active all day. No further attacks of any sort had been made. What remained of the army had been divided by commands and dispersed to positions that would allow for at least limited defense of all four walls and a chance for overlap where it became needed. The warships not acting as escorts to the transports continued to patrol the air overhead, keeping watch against surprise attacks.

Not that Keeton believed there would be any. The next attack would come at nightfall, when the light was gone and the new moon rendered the landscape black and impenetrable, and there would be nothing surprising about it. It would include all of the remaining creatures, and they would sweep across the walls and into the city, and that would be the end of Arishaig.

"Wint!" he called, catching sight of his second as he neared the stations designated for loading the transports. Wint turned at the sound of his voice, and Keeton hurried over. "How many more do we have?"

The other looked as if he hadn't slept in days. "You don't want to know."

"Tell me anyway."

"Two. Both are in the process of loading. That's all we have left until the others come back. That won't happen before nightfall."

Keeton shook his head. "That's not soon enough."

Wint laughed. "You don't think so?" His laughter trailed off. "Nothing is soon enough, Captain. We've evacuated maybe half of the population. What we need is another day or two."

"Then we'll start using the warships as transports, too."

Wint stared. "If we do that, we can't hold the city!"

Keeton gave him a look of disbelief. "We've already lost the city! Haven't you noticed?" He made a dismissive gesture. "I hate this."

He glanced around as if the answer to his problems might be found in the growing darkness. "Could you form a command of First Response and regular soldiers to act as a convoy, escorting those who still remain out through the north gates and into the hills?"

Wint shrugged. "Pretty dangerous, trying to do that. Women and children. Pitch black. Creatures everywhere."

"At least they'll have a chance out there. They can get out through the evacuation tunnels. If we wait for the next attack, there's a chance they won't be noticed."

"I'll get on it." Wint paused. "You'll be coming with us?"

Keeton shook his head. "Someone has to stay behind."

"That would be you and me, I guess."

"I'd rather you went. The convoy will need a capable leader."

Wint shook his head no. "It will have to be someone else. Don't ask me again."

Keeton nodded. "Guess I knew you'd say that. Okay. Do what you have to and get back with me. Night is coming. They'll attack when it does."

He was turning away when Wint said, "Been a pleasure serving with you, Captain."

Keeton turned. Gave his second a broad smile. "Let's find a softer duty when this is over, you and me."

"You and me, Cap."

Keeton waved wordlessly over his shoulder and kept walking.

He spent a little time with Sefita Rayne, devising an exit strategy for when defending any part of the city was no longer possible, even though by now both knew that escape was reduced to a faint glimmer of hope. After that, he walked the walls, visiting with his Federation soldiers and their unit commanders, joking and laughing, teasing and cajoling, praising and reassuring, saying all the right things and speaking a few hard truths, trying to help them keep it together.

All the while, he watched the darkness deepen.

When the last of the sunset was a purple hue balanced on the edge of the western horizon and the darkness was just closing down, the last attack began.

It was a relief when it did.

CHAPTER Twenty-one

It was just approaching midday when Seersha and Crace Coram piloted their two-man out of the north and into the smoky ruins of Arishaig. They city was gone, the defenses breached, the gates forced, and the walls taken. The Druid and the Dwarf Chieftain could still hear the screams and cries of wounded and dying as the victors prowled the ruins in search of whatever caught their eye. Diapson-crystal-powered weapons still flashed here and there at regular intervals as the last of the survivors fought to keep their stalkers at bay. Black smoke coiled skyward in twisted columns and gave the cityscape the look of a volcano heating up for another explosion. Dark shapes darted through the rubble, and it was impossible to tell which army or persuasion they belonged to.

"We're too late," Crace Coram rumbled, the regret and dismay evident in the tremor of his deep voice.

Seersha nodded. "The Straken Lord's army must be huge for it to have done this. Arishaig was heavily defended, and the best Federation soldiers in the Four Lands were stationed here."

"Do you suppose anyone got out?"

She shook her head. "Not enough, I'd guess."

They were silent for a moment, looking down on the carnage, listening to its still-living voice rise up in a ragged plea. The destruction swept across the whole of the fallen city and well beyond. Thousands of dead lay heaped about the walls. Seersha searched for signs of airships, even small ones, but couldn't find any. They had either made it out already or been destroyed.

"Look there!" Crace Coram said suddenly, pointing north behind them.

She looked obediently. Beyond the immediate destruction, far in the distance west of where the Prekkendorran sprawled and the grasslands below the Tirfing divided in rugged folds, a dark mass seethed. She stared, not sure what she was seeing at first.

"The Straken Lord's army," her companion declared. "Already on the march. Not wasting a moment more on what's happened here. Why should they? They have a new destination."

She took a moment to orient herself. The Borderlands lay in that general direction. The great fortress city of Tyrsis. But the drift of the enemy march to the west suggested another destination entirely.

"History suggests the demons will want to be certain the key to their prison is destroyed once and for all." The Dwarf Chieftain shrugged. "Even a madman like Tael Riverine might be able to figure out the importance of that one."

She nodded in dismay.

The demon army was marching on Arborlon.

Far to the north, Aphenglow and her companions angled their Sprint toward the Tirfing to begin their search for the couple who had stolen the Ellcrys seed from Arling. It was a search that the Elven Druid expected to conclude quickly with the help of the Elfstones, but one that required some caution, as well. After all, none of them knew anything about the couple. Aphen and Cymrian had met them only briefly and Arling, unconscious at the time, remembered nothing at all. All this suggested that rushing in, no matter the urgency, could be a mistake.