shouted and screamed but he paid no attention; he swung his bludgeon
over his head with a ferocity that made it whistle with a low sound in
the wind. One of the defenders broke through the line around him, and he
brought the bludgeon smashing down at him before he could thrust with
his sword; the warrior fell to one side at the last moment and took the
blow along one arm. He could feel the pain in his own mind, but he
ignored it. Before the warrior could bring up his sword again Tebron
crushed his head with the bludgeon, and the scream of pain in his own
head disappeared. He heard the grunting and gasps of his own warriors
and the clash of bodies and weapons around him....

The Hirlaji could not really be moving so quickly, Rynason thought; it
must be that to Tebron it seemed so. They were quiet, slow-moving
creatures. Or had they degenerated physically through the centuries?
Still smelling the sweat of battle, he found Tebron's mind again.

There was still fighting in the city, but it was far away now; he heard
it with the back of his mind as he mounted the steps of the Temple.
Those were mop-up operations, clearing the streets of the last of the
priest-king forces; he was not needed there. He had, to all intents,
controlled the city since the night before, and had slept in the palace
itself. Now it was time for the Temple.

He mounted the heavy, steep steps slowly, three guards at his back and
three in front of him. The priests would be gone from the Temple, but
there might be one or two last-ditch defenders remaining, and they would
be armed with the Weapons of Kor ... hand-weapons which shot dark beams
that could disintegrate anything in their path. They would be dangerous.
Well, there would be no temple-guards in the inner court; his own men
could remain outside to take care of them while he went in.