At the great city-castle of Enchantment's Reach the Karai siege endured. Prince Anzejarl's bristling cordon had tightened about the base of the soaring scarp. Karai troops were positioned in strength on all sides. Some occupied fortified pockets on areas of the scarp itself, in clear view but beyond the range of the city-castle's artillery. From behind the massive defensive walls of Enchantment's Reach this was perceived as a brazen challenge, a taunt, an invitation to sally forth in strength and dash the enemy from his apparently vulnerable perches. To Pader Luminis, Lord Protector pro tem of Enchantment's Reach, it represented something quite different. He had learned well the lesson of Giswel Holt and erred on the side of prudence. Not everyone was of like mind. One or two of his senior knights advocated a rapid strike against the nearer of the Karai positions on the scarp. 'My Lord, we could descend upon them from sally ports and send them to the foot of the scarp far more quickly than they ascended!
