A loud explosion shook the keep to its foundation.
"What the Styphon was that?" Kalvan cried.
Rylla pulled out a horsepistol from underneath her blankets and said, "It's the Harphaxi! They're attacking Tarr-Hostigos in the dead of winter!"
But how? Kalvan asked himself, as Rylla gave Demia to a nursemaid and proceeded to prime and load her pistol. Even if by some miracle the Harphaxi were able to move a small detachment over a hundred and fifty miles of snow, what could they do to a castle like this? Surely they couldn't bring guns over these roads, not without my getting a message from the Beshtan semaphore.
Cleon rushed through the door. "King Kalvan, there has been an explosion! One of the guns! Men are hurt."
Kalvan ran to the door only to be met by Captain Xykos and a score of the Queen's Bodyguard. "Follow me, Your Majesty. Make way for the King!"
Xykos led the way down the narrow keep stairway, while Kalvan fought his initial irritation at being nursemaided once again. He was the critical man in a bad situation and nothing was going to change that until either his University started turning out graduates by the hundreds, or Styphon's House fell.
In the Great Hall half a dozen blood-soaked bodies were stretched out, one or two still moving. Just let Thalmoth be alive and I'll wrestle Styphon himself.
In the bailey he met a powder-blackened and bloodstained, but apparently unhurt, General Thalmoth being helped by two soldiers. "Are you all right?"
"Curse and blast it! Oh, Your Majesty! I'm fine, but my gun isn't. Must have been an air pocket in the barrel. To Styphon with whoever poured that gun! Where's Captain-General Harmakros?"
"Harmakros?" Kalvan asked.
"Yes, he was with me a minute ago. Then the gun blew and threw me like a bit of wadding cloth. Allos, where are you?"
A thin man with a powder-darkened face ran up to the General. "What is it, General Thalmoth?"
"Find Harmakros for me."
"I saw him back at the courtyard. He was badly hurt and they were carrying him to the Infirmary next to the stables."
"Follow me, Your Majesty. To the stables."
Kalvan felt his insides drop. Not Harmakros! His friend, confidant, and finest general. He pushed his way through the crowd of soldiers to the gate leading to the outer courtyard. Xykos and the Queen's Beefeaters followed close behind.