"Ladenscion is finished!" Lattens cried, shaking his fist at DeWar and holding on to the projecting spire of the steps with his other hand. "Providence protects us!"

"Oh, it's Ladenscion now, not the Empire?" UrLeyn laughed.

"Brother," RuLeuin said, "I cannot think which would be the greater honour, to be at your side or to help rule in your place. Be assured I shall do whatever you ask of me to the best of my abilities."

"I'm sure you will," UrLeyn said.

"As your brother says, sir," Commander ZeSpiole said, leaning forward to catch the Protector's eye.

"Well, it may not come to that," UrLeyn said. "We may have news by the next rider that the barons are desperate to sue for peace. But I am glad you both accept my proposal."

"Gladly, brother!"

"Humbly, sir."

"Good, so we are all agreed."

DeWar's next shot thudded into farmland, causing him to caper arid make cursing sounds. Lattens laughed and followed that with a shot which destroyed a town. DeWar's next demolished a bridge. Lattens replied with a couple of offtarget rocks but then hit a city while DeWar's matching shots hit nothing but earth.

Lattens decided to use his biggest rock and attempt to obliterate most of DeWar's remaining cities in one go.

"That's the boy!" his father called. "Strike now!"

With much groaning and creaking from the coiled twists of stretched hide — and a few groans and whimpers from DeWar, standing watching — the arm of Lattens" catapult was tightened to its maximum extension and sat arched with stored power.

"Are you sure that's not too much?" UrLeyn shouted. "You'll hit your own sea!"

"No, sir! I'll put other rocks on as well as the big one!"

"Very well then," the Protector told his son. "Mind you don't break the weapon, though."

"Father!" the boy called. "May I load it myself? Oh, please?"

The servant dressed like a bombardier was about to pick up the heaviest rock from Lattens" pile of ammunition. He hesitated. DeWar lost his comical expression. Perrund took a deep breath.

"Sir," she said, but was interrupted.

"I cannot allow the boy to lift such a large rock, sir," Doctor BreDelle said, leaning close to the Protector. "It will put too great a strain on his system. His frame is weakened by the long time spent in bed."

UrLeyn looked at ZeSpiole. `I'm more worried about the catapult loosing while he's loading it, sir," the Guard Commander said.

"Generals do not load their own weapons, sir," UrLeyn told the boy sternly.

"I know that, Father, but please? This is not a real war, it is only pretend."

"Well, shall I give you a hand then?" UrLeyn called.

"No!" Lattens yelled, stamping his foot and tossing his redblond curls. "No thank you, sir!"

UrLeyn sat back with a gesture of resignation and a small smile. "The lad knows his own mind. He is mine, all right." He waved to his son. "Very well, General Lattens! Load as you will and may Providence guide the projectiles."

Lattens chose a couple of smaller rocks and loaded them one at a time into the waiting cup of the catapult, panting as he lifted them up. Then he squatted, took a firm grip of the biggest stone and with a grunt lifted it to his chest. He turned and staggered towards his catapult.

DeWar took a half-step closer to the machine. Lattens did not seem to notice. He grunted again as he hoisted the rock up to his neck level and shuffled closer to the tensed arm of the waiting machine.

DeWar seemed to slide rather than step another stride closer to the catapult, almost to within grabbing distance of the boy, while his gaze concentrated both on the firing latch and on Lattens" feet and legs as they edged nearer to it.

The boy teetered as he leant over the catapult's cup. He was breathing hard, the sweat running down his brow.

"Steady, lad," Perrund heard the Protector whisper. His hands clutched at the arms of his chair, the knuckles pale with their own loaded tension.

DeWar was closer now, within reach of the boy.

— Lattens grunted and rolled the rock into the cup. It crunched on top of the two already occupying the scoop. The whole catapult seemed to quiver, and DeWar tensed, as though about to pounce on the child and tear him away, but then the boy took a step back, wiped his sweating face and turned to smile at his father, who nodded and sat back in his seat, sighing with relief. He looked at RuLeuin and the others. "There now," he said, and swallowed.

"Mr Bombardier," Lattens said, with a flourish towards the catapult. The servant nodded and took up his position by the machine.

DeWar had drifted back towards his own catapult.

"Wait!" Lattens called, and ran up the library step-ladder again. His nurse resumed her place beneath. Lattens took out his sword, raised it and then dropped it. "Now!"

The catapult made a terrific snapping noise, the one large rock and the two smaller ones sailed into the air in significantly different directions and everybody sat or leant forward to see where they would land.

The big rock missed its target, splashing into the shallows near one of DeWar's coastal cities and showering it with mud but otherwise doing little damage. One of the smaller stones hit some of DeWar's farmland and the other demolished one of Lattens" own towns.

"Oh.,

"Oh dear."

"Bad luck, young master."

"For shame!"

Lattens said nothing. He stood, looking utterly crestfallen, at the top of the ladder, his little wooden sword hanging loosely in his hand. He looked back at his father with sad, dejected eyes.

His father frowned, then winked at him. The boy's expression did not change. Silence hung under the platform's awning.

DeWar jumped up on the balustrade and crouched there, knuckles dragging on the stonework. "Ha!" he said, then jumped down. "Missed!" He had already tensioned his own catapult, the arm bowed back to about the two-thirds position. "Victory is mine! Hee-heel" He chose the biggest stone from his own supply, wound some more tension into the machine and put the rock in the scoop. He looked up at Lattens with a fierce, mischievous grin, which faltered only momentarily when he saw the look on the child's face. He rubbed his hands and wagged one finger at the boy. "Now we see who's boss, my young pretender-general!"

He adjusted the catapult slightly and then pulled the lanyard. The catapult juddered and the great rock whooshed up into the sky. DeWar leapt back on to the stone railing again.

The giant stone was a sailing black shape against the sky and clouds for a long moment, then it rushed back to earth and dropped with a titanic splash into the sea.

The water threw itself up into the air in a great explosive tower of white foam, then slumped back down and rushed out in all directions in a mighty circular wave.

"What?" DeWar screeched from the balustrade, putting his hands to the sides of his head and grabbing two handfuls of hair. "No! No! Nooooo!"

"Ha ha!" Lattens yelled, pulled his general's hat off his head and threw it in the air. "Ha ha ha!"

The rock had fallen not into the lobe of the sea which was rimmed mostly by Lattens" towns and cities but that which held almost all DeWar's intact settlements. The great wave rushed out from where it had landed, a good couple of strides or so from the straits separating the two lobes of the sea. One by one it swamped the cities and towns by the water, flooding one or two of Lattens" but destroying a great deal more of DeWar's.

"Hurrah!" RuLeuin yelled, and threw his own hat into the air. Perrund smiled broadly at DeWar from behind the veil. UrLeyn nodded and grinned and clapped. Lattens gave a deep bow and made a rude, tongue-wagging gesture at DeWar, who had rolled off the stone railing and was curled up on the tiles by the side of the balustrade, thumping one clenched fist weakly off the tiled surface.