Loric was starting to wonder if he was ever going to see any action at all. It was all very well being in charge of the gate guard, but being good at keeping a tight hold on the security of the centre of the city made his chances of going off to the front slim at best.

In fact the worst thing about wanting a chance to prove his mettle was that in order to get into a fight the Ellenians would have to over-run not only the outer curtain wall, but fight their way through four circles of the city and defeat his guard before he attempted to defend the door from the keep yard into the King’s chamber. There was no circumstance under which this would be a good thing; the war would be over to the detriment of his country.This was too high a price.

As the sun set to his left, across the city, he turned his attention back to the latest dispatches and tried to count his blessings, to be thankful for being close to his wife and children. All he wanted to do was join his friends on the front, under the setting sun.