“It was well done, Duke of Reist,” he said. “Will you shake hands with me?”
For a moment Reist hesitated, and in that moment the King, stung by his indecision, withdrew his appeal.
“I will not have a grudging reconciliation,” he said. “As we are, so we will remain until your apology is ready. But I am glad at least to see that you are still a patriot. I cannot have you fighting in the ranks, Duke of Reist. What post will you have?”
Reist stood very still for a moment, and the pallor on his cheeks was more than the pallor of exhaustion.
“Your Majesty,” he said, “there is a report that General Kolashin is wounded. Send me to Althea.”
The King turned his horse.
“As you will,” he answered. “Captain Hartzan, ride with the Duke of Reist to Althea, and take this ring to General Kolashin, whose command the Duke of Reist will take over.”
Then the King, flushed with fighting, the blood indeed still upon his face from a wound on the temple, rode slowly down the lines of his army. From far and near the men of Theos greeted him lustily. This was indeed a born leader, whose dispositions had prevailed against the wily Turkish generals, and whose personal valour they had, with their own eyes, beheld. Even from Solika, far in the background, came an answering echo to that strange thunder of men’s rapturous voices.
Brand touched him on the arm.
“Your Majesty,” he said, “you have won a victory to-day which will amaze all Europe. Be careful that you do not lose what you have gained by treachery!”