position, so that a military action previously would not have been
predictable, with either side being capable of winning. Under such
conditions war is avoided, but now you have arrived. The Zards, as well
as ourselves, have been expecting a kinsman redeemer, you see, and our
war has been kept from raging by the belief of each side that their god
would propel them to victory with certainty by the sending of one such
as yourself. Your arrival changes things, it marks the beginning of our
dominance," he told me vaingloriously.

"The muted felicity I have witnessed about my arrival is explained,
then," I ventured, "Excitement that the end is near and victory close at
hand, yet that feeling subdued by the realization that a period of
deeper darkness must first be gone through."

"Your words are true," Wagner replied, "And yet I have a great
confidence in our plans, which have been matured through many years of
careful deliberation. As the time will never be more ready than at the
present, in the present we must act."

"What is your plan, then?" I asked.

"It is calculated to end in the conquering of the Zards, and as such,
only an unexpected and unrelenting attack at the very heart of their
strength will succeed. Anything less will only bring them to a full
alert, and then any battle will have to be drawn out with excessive
casualties on both sides. Therefore, we have decided upon an attack on
Nunami, their capital city and main strength, being the center and
majority of both their population and economy. Yet an outright siege of
the city is impossible for those very reasons, it being so self-
contained that it can resist bitterly, and its military is so clustered