lled
across the grassy plain--evidently steam from the volcanic hot springs
which he had been told were to be found in this valley.

But, for the moment, it was neither the springs nor the city that
interested him most.

In the heart of the valley, spreading over acre after acre, were the
tents and pavilions of a mighty army encampment. From the looks of it,
the estimate of thirty thousand troops which had been given him by
various officials along the way was, if anything, too small.

It was a moment that might have made an ordinary man stop to think, and,
having thought, to turn and go. But the commander was no ordinary man,
and the sheer remorseless courage that had brought him this far wouldn't
allow him to turn back. So far, he had kept the Greatest Noble off
balance with his advancing tactics; if he started to retreat, the
Greatest Noble would realize that the invaders were not invincible, and
would himself advance to crush the small band of strangers.

The Greatest Noble had known the commander and his men were coming; he
was simply waiting, to find out what they were up to, confident that he
could dispose of them at his leisure. The commander knew that, and he
knew he couldn't retreat now. There was no decision to be made,
really--only planning to be done.

He turned back from the boulder to face the officers who had come to
take a look at the valley.

"We'll go to the city first," he said.

XIII

The heavy tread of the invaders' boots as they entered the central
plaza of the walled city awakened nothing but echoes from the stone
walls that surrounded the plaza. Like the small villages they had
entered farther north, the city seemed devoid of life.

There is nothing quite so depressing and threatening as a deserted city.
The windows in the walls of the buildings seemed like blank, darkened
eyes that watched--and waited. Nothing moved, nothing made a sound,
except the troopers themselves.

The men kept close to the walls; there was no point in bunching up in
the middle of the square to be cut down by arrows from the windows of
the upper floors.

The commander ordered four squads of men to search the buildings and
smoke out anyone who was there, but they turned up nothing. The entire
city was empty. And there were no traps, no ambushes--nothing.

The commander, with Lieutenant commander Hernan and another officer,
climbed to the top of the central building of the town. In the distance,
sever