“To arms!” Chiune shouted as she climbed the slope back to the road. “First company stand at the ready!” Women began to stir and stumble about as she shouted the order again, urging them to move quicker. She ordered the noncombatants to tear the camp down and throw it in the wagons. “Hitch the horses and be ready to run!”
“Governess Commander Chiune!” Yarvine shouted as she stormed down the road with her guards in tow. “I gave you an order!”
Chiune turned to face her with armor stained in blood from the wound in her throat. “I have seen the enemy forces first hand. We have no choice but to flee. We cannot defend this road; the line is too broad.”
“You will stand down this instant!” Yarvine barked. “I am sure you are mistaken.”
Chiune held up a hand and produced a water-light of her own. “Look at my armor and see the blood I have spilled to get this warning to you in time. I am sorry, my prime, but I have seen an army that outnumbers us with beasts alone. For the sake of my sisters, we must flee to a more defensible position.”
“I will replace you with somebody more fit to command!” Yarvine shouted.
Chiune held firm and bowed her head. “With all due respect, you can't remove me without the vote of at least three primes.” She turned and resumed her orders, urging women to work faster or die.
Yarvine glared at Tavis and Ayawa before turning about and marching away with hands clenched in fists.
“You would think she would be grateful we saved her sisters,” Tavis said.
“That woman doesn’t like being wrong,” Ayawa said. “She might be a good leader of prayer, but she has no place in a war camp.”
“How big is it?” Jessivel asked as he arrived with Captain Sallins.
“Thousands,” Ayawa said. “We can’t possibly hold the road against so many. We have to make a run for safety. Our destination is less than a day away and is far more defensible.”
Jessivel nodded and ordered the men off their horses so women could be put in the saddle to ride. In less than ten minutes, Chiune had the camp hastily pulled down, and horses hitched to wagons. She shouted orders to press hard then nodded to Ayawa to lead them away.
Ayawa took the lead, setting a fast trot as the column began to move. In the east, the sky was starting to brighten, and she knew the attack couldn't be more than an hour away.
“We wasted to much time,” Ayawa said from the back of her horse, as she held a limp Gedris to her chest with one arm. “If there is a rut or rockfall ahead, we will have to abandon the wagons.”
“All we can do is go as fast as we can, and pray the path is clear,” Tavis urged as he tipped his hat low.
“That woman may have thrown away her army,” Ayawa scolded.
“They are armed and ready,” Tavis said. “I am sure they can put those blessings to use and do some damage.”
“Bandersooks don’t care about tangling plants or green shields. They are going to rush in like a flood of teeth and chew them apart.”
“You saw actual bandersooks?” Jessivel asked as he rode behind them with Herris and captain Sallins.
“At least two thousand of them,” Ayawa said. “Another five hundred or more Doan and the woods are crawling with assassins.”
“How?” Herris asked. “The war is a month hard driving to the west.”
“I told you, the dragons carry them in cages. They deliver them in groups of fifty or more,” Ayawa replied with a growl in her voice.
“Why would dragons be helping the Doan?” Jessivel asked.
“We don't know,” Ayawa remarked. “But, we need to warn Gersius, and we need to check the road ahead.”
“I have no riders to send,” Jessivel lamented. “I am using my horses to carry the weak.”
“We will send the southern warriors,” Ayawa replied and called in a loud voice in the southern dialect. A moment later, Two Crows ran up, and she explained the need to scout the road ahead and deal with any obstacles. He readily agreed to send a dozen men ahead, running fast to clear the way. He offered to put Gedris in one of his wagons, but Ayawa refused, clutching Gedris as if her life depended on it.
“You can’t fight with her in your arms,” Tavis pointed out.
“I just want to hold her,” Ayawa said with a tear in her eye. “That was my fault.”
“That wasn't anybody's fault,” Tavis corrected. “That woman was a shadow dancer; she struck the moment the light went out.”
“But why, Gedris?” Ayawa asked.
“She is an assassin, she wanted to take something from you and leave you in despair,” Tavis said.
“What is a queen of assassins doing here anyway?” Ayawa spat. Tavis shook his head as Jessivel rode closer.
“Her name is Zahdain, and the Father Abbot hired her to find Gersius and his dragon,” he admitted.
“You knew?” Ayawa asked as she locked eyes with him.
“We all knew,” Jessivel replied. “I did save you from them, remember?”
“But you knew specifically who she was? We thought it was just a bunch of bounty hunters. Why didn't you tell us an assassin queen was driving them?” Ayawa growled.
“I honestly didn’t realize you didn’t know. You like to keep so many things secret and share as little as you can. I know she is hunting you because she believes you will lead her to Gersius. She was rather upset to discover I was hunting you as well. I have read a report that said she nearly had him near Millwater, but the dragon arrived to rescue him.”
Ayawa nodded as she remembered the night Gersius was abducted, and the subsequent rescue by Lilly. “Did it say anything else?”
“It said he was hiding in Eastgate. Sources placed him in the temple of Ulustrah.”
“And the temple was attacked,” Tavis said with a shake of his head. “Then Thayle was ordered to wage war on Astikar.”
“This Thayle sounds like an important woman,” Jessivel pointed out.
“She is just a country priestess,” Ayawa said. “She has a knack for meddling.”
“She saved his relationship and made all this possible,” Tavis said.
“How did she do that?” Jessivel asked.
Tavis recounted the story in great detail, filling him in on what happened and the subsequent division that occurred between Gersius and Lilly. He always took great care to portray Lilly as a dragon, not sure if he should give away her human form. He described how Thayle saved that relationship so that Lilly agreed to go on and help him fulfill the prophecy.”
“So this Thayle is important,” Jessivel surmised.
Ayawa let out a sigh and looked down at Gedris. “She is a priestess from a tiny country temple we met on the way. She saved his life, and his relationship and hid us away in Eastgate. She should have stayed there but insisted on going with.”
“And they are all in the north someplace?” he asked.
“You already knew that. I am not giving you anything more specific,” Ayawa said.
“You don't have to,” Jessivel replied. “If he plans to meet you soon, he must be just the other side of the mountains or rounding them. That places him north or northwest, a day maybe two away.” Ayawa growled, and he smiled quite pleased with himself for making her angry.
“I just want this burden off my shoulders,” Ayawa said. “The sooner I can turn you all over to Gersius, the sooner I can focus on training her properly.”
“What has left her in this state?” Jessivel asked.
“A barbed spike coated in poison,” Ayawa said with a sniff. “That monster shoved it through her back. She screamed in terrible pain when we pulled it out. I nearly got her killed.”
“Is she well?” Jessivel asked deep concern in his voice.
“Chiune healed the poison and the wound. She just needs some time to sleep and recover,” Ayawa replied. “The brave fool saved us again.”
“She does seem to be rather reckless,” Jessivel agreed.
“In her defense, she had no choice this time,” Tavis said. “She put her blessings to good use and helped keep us alive until help arrived.”
“Two Crows is right, she does have a fierce heart,” Ayawa said more to herself than the others.
Tavis looked away from the scene, wondering just how far they could push horses and tired women before the bandersooks caught up to them. They rounded a bend and found the plainsmen working frantically to remove a fallen tree in the road. Tavis rode ahead and used his weave to make it lighter, and it was quickly pulled aside, but it delayed the column a few minutes. Ayawa insisted they push hard, pressing animals to the breaking point, and women until they stumbled and fell.
Blessings were used to heal sore feet and keep them marching, but that took its toll as well. The priests of Astikar had a blessing to banish fatigue and used it on animals to keep them plodding along. They dared to put three women in a saddle, rotating them out to relieve the strain as the sun began to climb the sky.
“Look!” Captain Sallins said as he pointed behind them. In the distance, they saw smoke rising in three columns from the trees in thick black columns.
“That's two hours behind us,” Ayawa said with a shake of her head. “We're never going to make it.”
“We can push harder,” Tavis suggested.
“Bandersooks can run faster than a man, and keep running long after we have exhausted,” Ayawa argued.
“Captain Sallins, Rotate all our mean to the rear, were going to protect our retreat,” Jessivel said with a tone of worry.
“If they come, you won't have enough men to stop them,” Ayawa said.
“I can stall them for an hour,” Jessivel replied with a stern look to his eyes.
“An hour won’t get us to safety,” Ayawa insisted as Gedris started to stir. She looked down and smiled as her eyes opened and looked into hers.
“Are we safe?” Gedris asked weakly.
“Far from it,” Ayawa replied and looked back at the black clouds.
“What if we empty the wagons and throw all the women into them and drive hard,” Tavis suggested.
“We don't have enough wagons, and it would take too long to empty them,” Ayawa replied.
“Not to mention they need those supplies,” Jessivel pointed out.
“Then we have to turn and fight them,” Jessivel said. “Make the best stand we can.”
“Half of these women don’t even have weapons, and are in no condition to fight,” Ayawa snapped.
“We have the weapons from the battle on the road,” Jessivel pointed out.
Ayawa flared her nostrils and shook her head. “Yarvine had them disposed of.”
“What?” Jessivel cried. “Why?”
“I haven’t had a chance to ask her yet,” Ayawa growled.
“Oh my, we are stupid,” Tavis said as he leaned back on his horse.
“What?” Ayawa asked.
Tavis shook his head. “Two Crows said she was discarding it in bits as we traveled. She has been leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for our enemies to follow.”
“I am going to kill that woman!” Ayawa spat. “A temple mother who is used to servants and supplication has no business making decisions on how to run a war camp!”
“We don’t have time for this now,” Jessivel argued. “We will have to make do with what we have.”
“This is a losing strategy,” Ayawa growled as they started to ride passed a narrow canyon. She looked down its length and called a halt.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Why are we stopping?” Jessivel asked, but Ayawa ignored him and looked to Gedris.
“How quickly can your women grow full trees?”
Gedris looked up in confusion and worked out the answer. “A few minutes if they work together to combine the blessing.”
“What are you thinking?” Tavis asked.
She looked down the narrow canyon to see it was relatively clear of debris and nodded her head. “The ground in this canyon rises, which means it may open up on the upper plateau. We turn here and follow the canyon then use the priestesses of Ulustrah to grow trees and brush to hide the entrance.”
“Can we reach our destination from in there?” Gedris asked.
Ayawa looked again and wasn’t sure. “Maybe, but I doubt the passage will be as easy as the road. If we had any other option, I wouldn't risk it, but we may be able to trick our enemies into following a false trail while we escape through the canyon.”
“At the very least, we can Hide,” Tavis nodded. “If we sent a dozen light horses and the plainsmen to run the road and make a trail, the enemy might follow them while we sneak away.”
“And your people can run for a long time,” Gedris added as she looked at Ayawa. “They can stay well ahead of our enemy.”
“If that canyon dead ends, we will be trapped,” Ayawa pointed out. “But we don't have a better option.”
“You said so yourself, we're not going to make it,” Jessivel said. “At least the canyon will bottle them up where Captain Sallins heavy infantry can meet them in a solid wall. We might even turn the tide and win such a battle.”
Ayawa shook her head and called the leaders to relay the plan. She spoke to Two Crows, who saw the wisdom in it, and his people volunteered to lead the enemy away. He even suggested giving them some spare wheels so they could make fake wagon tracks to provide the enemy with a clear path to follow. Chiune was immediately agreeable, and in minutes they were heading into the canyon desperate to get off the road. Men ran ahead to use raw muscle to shove stones aside and clear a path as Ayawa waited with a several dozen women of Ulustrah to create the final disguise.
While the column fled down the narrow pass, some of the women were already growing trees along the cliff. They wanted the growth to look as natural as possible, a forested section of trail with a clear path to follow. They worked in teams of nine rapidly growing the plants as the time ticked away.
To make it look more natural fallen branches and rotted logs from the trees down the hill were gathered and strewn about. Ayawa guided the effort to make sure it looked like a natural growth of trees. They retreated into the canyon, and the women sang again, working together to grow trees in the entrance sealing it off and hiding it from anyone who didn't go out of their way to look for it. As they retreated, they wiped away the tracks and footprints, even rolling stones back into the path to make it look unusable.
“Let's hope this works,” Tavis said from where they hid behind rocks looking down the canyon at the trees. They decided to stay behind to act as a warning if the enemy discovered the canyon. Tavis would risk his fire to seal the narrow passage and light the trees while they ran to warn the others.
Ayawa felt tense as they waited to see if their hard work would pay off. It took over an hour to turn the column into the canyon and disguise the entrance with trees. If they were right, it would be less than half an hour before their enemy passed, and they knew if their work would pay off.
Minutes before they saw anything, they could hear them. The hooting and screeching of savage animals echoed from the hills, followed by a rolling thump of feet. The sound was terrifying to listen to as it got louder and louder, causing Gedris to cover her ears and hide. They crouched low as the first bandersooks started to appear, paying the trees no mind as they followed the road.
“It's working,” Tavis said as the beasts went by, their shrieks echoing down the canyon. Now and then, a tall man in skins or leather would run by with them, always holding a horned staff. It went on for several minutes as they passed by in the thousands. Finally, they started to thin out, but one of the men paused and stepped into the trees.
“What is he doing?” Tavis asked.
“I don’t know,” Ayawa said as she drew her bow. She took aim and tested the string as the man bent down and picked up a helmet.
“What fool dropped a helmet,” Ayawa said under her breath as the man turned it over in his hands.
“I hope that wasn’t Yarvine,” Tavis said.
“That fool woman is going to be the death of us all,” Ayawa whispered as the man looked into the trees.
“I am going to shoot him once he’s inside,” Ayawa said as her fingers began to pull.
The man looked back to the helmet and cast it aside, turning to join the tail end of the bandersooks.
“Thank the divines,” Tavis breathed in a sigh of relief.
“Better pray to the divines the canyon isn't blocked ahead,” Ayawa said as she relaxed her arm. “Pray, I haven't just trapped us all.”
They worked their way ahead, struggling in places where the canyon was narrow, and in others where a shallow stream rutted the passage, making it challenging for wagons to cross. Brute force was used to overcome most of the challenges, and they made good progress.
They caught up to the column and reported the success much to the relief of the men and women. Jessivel suggested they needed scouts for the path ahead. Since most of the southern warriors were creating a false trail to lead the enemy away, Ayawa and Tavis took the lead, moving forward to look for danger. Jessivel called for them to leave Gedris with him, but Ayawa refused.
They were a good thirty minutes ahead of the wagons now, carefully picking their way down a sandy canyon as the sun beat down from overhead. Tavis took his hat off and put on Gedris to protect her from the heat as they approached a split in the canyon.
“Both paths look viable,” he said.
“These were cut by floodwaters washing out of the hills,” Ayawa said. “They are both likely to end in cliffs.”
“We have no choice but to keep on,” Tavis urged.
“Then follow the left one, the slope of the ground is stronger; it might go up high enough for us to get out.”
Tavis nodded, and they rode into the left passage as the heat grew. As they rounded a bend, Ayawa threw out an arm and motioned for silence. She pointed to her eyes and then to the dry mud of the canyon floor. There were tracks in the dirt, something big dragging a tail. They had three long claws and sank deeply into the soil.
“A Moorak,” Tavis whispered. “It probably lives in the mountains and hunts the hills for goats.”
Ayawa nodded and started to climb down from the horse as Gedris looked on nervously. She leaned in close to whisper as she took up her bow. “You stay on that horse, and if things go poorly, you ride for your life.”
“But I can’t leave you,” Gedris said.
“This is a beast the size of a small dragon with no fear. If you fail to run when you should, you won’t get away.”
Gedris nodded but looked decidedly unhappy about it as Ayawa walked ahead on foot, her fingers lightly testing the pull of the bow, ready to draw and fire in an instant. Tavis tied his horse to Gedris's and walked with his weapons drawn as they made their way forward.
The sun made the air shimmer as the stone heated under its relentless glare. They followed the tracks to a dead carcass of an alpine deer, and Ayawa looked about in concern.
“It has to be nearby,” she said. “That kill was dragged in here only a few days ago.”
“It must have a lair nearby,” Tavis agreed. “They are excellent climbers; it might be above us.”
Ayawa glanced all about and focused her senses listening for any disturbance on the wind. As the canyon widened ahead, they saw a cave on the left, and Ayawa pulled her bow back just an inch to buy her that fraction of a second in time.
A growl filled the air as she spun about, firing into the shape that leaped off the rocks above. It was easily the size of two horses with a lizard's body and three powerful legs on each side. Its skin was sandy gray made of bumpy scales streaked with black lines. A great maw opened to reveal rows of hooked teeth as an arrow buried into its jaw. It crashed to the ground digging at the arrow with a clawed hand as Ayawa rolled away, coming up with another and loosed it.
The horses panicked at the sight and bucked wildly to turn away. Gedris struggled to keep control but tumbled to the side as the two animals tugged on one another and raced off. She hit the ground hard, stunning her as Tavis called out in a loud tone, hurling a white wave of light that struck the monster causing it to roll over for a moment. It came to its feet in time for an arrow to bury in its neck and make it flail to dig it out.
Ayawa took careful aim spending the second more needed and fired again the arrow striking an eye and going in. The monster twitched and heaved before falling to one side, clawing at the air. She watched it for just a second before a second growl made them look to the cave and a second moorak.
It ran with blinding speed on its six legs bearing down on Tavis as he fell into another weave. Just as the beast was about to reach him, he punched out, and a flash struck the monster throwing it over as if struck by a great blow. A hail of arrows sank into its flesh, but the beast was undeterred. It suddenly leaped to the cliff walls, its six clawed hands digging in, allowing it to cling to the side.
It leaped again diving for Ayawa as a green shield went up, and the monster collided with a crunch. It flopped over again, rolling to right itself as a twisting red light cut a furrow across its hide. It went to lunge at Ayawa, but green chains wrapped around its rear legs as Gedris pulled to shackle the creature in place.
“How long can you hold that?” Tavis asked.
“It depends on how strong it is!” Gedris groaned as her feet slid on the ground from the monsters pulling. “Not long.”
Tavis nodded and pushed his swords into the ground. He reached to the skies and began a dance of hands as he called in clear, concise tones.
“Tavis, that takes too much time!” Ayawa shouted as the monsters six arms pulled with a terrible might to break free. Gedris cried out as she slipped again, her chains straining to keep the beast in place.
Ayawa fired arrow after arrow at a beast that thrashed wildly, making another aimed shot impossible. Its face and neck were punctured with arrows, but still, it pulled against the chains to reach her. She looked up as Tavis brought his hands together in a loud clap as a black light swirled around his fingers. He made a low tone, growing in tempo slowly, and drew his hands down, pointing them at the monster. Around them, the light made an intricate pattern of lines and swirled, seeming to dance with the sound of his voice.
Gedris shrieked as her chains started to flake away, the monster dragging her nearly three feet as it tried to pursue Ayawa. Tavis's voice went higher still as the black light danced and reached out as if alive. There was a flash as a bolt of pure night raced down from above, striking like lightning on the monster. It slammed into the ground and bounced back up from the force of the blow a hole blasted wide in its back. It rolled over several times as its clawed hands twitched and vainly.
“What was that?” Gedris asked.
“A very difficult weave of great power,” Tavis said as he stumbled. Gedris was to his side in a moment, holding him up as Ayawa ran to collect them both.
“You are more than a fire weaver,” Gedris said with a searching gaze. “You know two schools.”
“Four,” Ayawa said as she shouldered Tavis’s arm to hold him up.
“Four? That would make him a master,” Gedris said in shock.
“It would,” Ayawa agreed. “Now help me set him against the wall. He will need a minute to recover.”
Gedris helped set him down as he kept his eyes closed and took deep breaths. Ayawa got him some water from her flask and helped him drink.
“You’re out of practice,” Ayawa teased as he swallowed.
“I prefer to fight with blades,” he replied, setting his head back to rest.
“Why are you here and not in a school or palace?” Gedris asked.
Tavis shook his head. “I have no interest in being a pawn in the political schemes of the weaver schools. I want a simpler life, with a good woman at my side.”
“But a man of your training could command high prices and live like a king,” Gedris argued.
“I am a king, I married a princess after all,” he said and lifted a hand to Ayawa’s face. “She is all I need to be happy.”
Ayawa smiled and held his hand against her cheek. “Get your breath back and get on your feet,” she urged. “We lost our horses, and will have to go ahead on foot.” He nodded and looked to Gedris, who still wore his hat as she gawked at him in awe.
“I am just a normal man,” he said.
“You are one of the most powerful weavers in the land,” Gedris said. “I am a cellic, and I know the weaver system. I have no illusions about what you just did.”
“It only worked because you held it in place,” Tavis said. “The weave takes too long to cast.”
“Hmm, any other secrets you want to share with me?”
“Tavis has plenty of secrets, and we don't have time to hear them all,” Ayawa said as she pulled him up. He wobbled for a moment and then nodded that he was alright and went to get his swords.
Ayawa stood as his side as Gedris walked behind them, and together they headed down the canyon. An hour later, the ground began to rise, and Ayawa breathed a sigh of relief to see the lip of the canyon wall growing broader and shallower. Twenty minutes later, she gazed over a rocky landscape of stone and grass looking to the northwest.
“The wagons will have trouble negotiating this hill,” Tavis said as she climbed up.
“They will have to use manpower to pull them up,” Ayawa said as she smiled. Her plan worked; they were on the upper plateau, and the enemy was nowhere to be seen. Just as she was about to praise the earth mother, a shadow passed overhead. They looked up to see a giant winged creature flying just below the clouds as it snaked it's way across the sky. Its scales were red as rubies and the skin of its wings nearly black.
“By Ulustrah,” Gedris gasped as the beast headed northeast.
“Is that the dragon you saw?” Ayawa asked.
“I can’t be sure, it was dark and very far away,” he replied. “But if it is, it must be looking for us.”
“This ground is too open. Once they start moving up here, it will spot us for sure,” Ayawa said.
Tavis watched as the shape flew north into the mountains, growing smaller by the moment. “Maybe it lives there and is returning to its lair.”
“We are going to have to hope that's true, and it won't be back for the rest of the day,” Ayawa said as she dared to climb up. She pulled Gedris with her and surveyed the land around them. “We need to go east and a little north, the keep is in the hills.”
“How fare do you think it is?” Tavis asked, squinting into the distance.
Ayawa looked over the flat expanse to hills too far away to see clearly. “Five hours,” she replied. “Over rough ground, which means it could take twice as long. We need to get them up here and dash for the fortress. Even if the bandersooks follow the false trail, they will eventually be steered to the keep.”
“Why would they go to the keep?” Tavis asked.
Ayawa looked back to the distant dragon, now just a black dot in the sky. “Because they knew we were going here all along. The assassins have been following us and spying. They are hoping we are leading them to Gersius.”
“Then why attack us now?” Tavis asked.
“Because they know where we are going, and no longer need to follow us. Now they need to get us out of the way before we reinforce the keep and make it hard to penetrate.”
“Then we need to get there as quickly as we can,” Tavis said with a shake of his head. He looked to Gedris, who still wore his hat, standing to Ayawa's left like her shadow. “We should wait here for the army and then scout ahead once they start climbing,” Tavis suggested.
Ayawa agreed, and they set about searching the immediate area for anything of use. A half-hour later, the lead members of the column arrived with Jessivel and Chiune walking side by side in an argument of words. They were not pleased to see the steep ramp, and extra horses had to be added to every wagon with men pushing from behind to get them up.
It took hours to get them all onto the upper ledge. Ayawa made them aware of the presence of a dragon, and they labored the whole time in fear the beast would return. When the priests of Astikar protecting the rear finally climbed up, the wagons were set to move again.
It was now high noon, and a relentless sun beat down on the empty land. Not a tree grew for miles around, denying them any hope of the reprieve of shade. Men and women wearing armor and coats began to show signs of fatigue as they marched hard across the barren landscape.
Tavis and Ayawa rode again, their horses recovered by the advancing column in the canyon. Jessivel admitted to believing they had died to an ambush ahead and was relieved to see them. Ayawa now sat in the saddle with a head firmly pressed to her shoulder as Gedris held her waist. She put an arm over those hands to cradle them tight as they scouted ahead, searching for the elusive keep.
“Shouldn’t we see it by now?” Tavis asked.
“That canyon curved back, and took us away from it,” Ayawa said as she searched the hill. “It should be visible in the next few minutes.” Even as she spoke, the flat of a wall appeared on distant slopes, and she pointed it out to Tavis.
“No sign of the Bandersooks,” he said as he looked around.
“They are coming,” Ayawa replied. “There were too many for this to be a spur of the moment decision. They had to be moving that mass for days, preparing for the attack. Their objective was the keep. We are just in their way.
“I know you think the assassins have been following us, but how could they know about the keep? They would have needed to know a week ago to organize this and begin massing.”
Ayawa shook her head and looked around with a deep sense of dread. There was nowhere to hide or fall back too. If they were attacked out here in the open, they would be surrounded and cut off in minutes. “I don't know, but let's hold here and wait for the others to catch up.”
Tavis nodded and looked back to see a faint line on the distant horizon, slowly following their tracks. Nearly an hour later, Jessivel looked relieved to see Ayawa point to the hills and say that was where they were going. Chiune looked hopeful as well, her women tired from hard marching in full armor for fear of attack.
“Two hours to reach,” Ayawa guessed. “And then we will have some walls for protection.”
“And some reinforcements,” Tavis added.
“All I care about is safety and rest for these women,” Jessivel said. “This has been a grueling march.”
“Made all the more difficult by Yarvine,” Ayawa spat.
“What has my prime done this time?” Chiune asked.
“As the bandersooks ran by one of their handlers stopped to investigate the trees because somebody discarded a helmet,” Ayawa growled.
Chiune closed her eyes and shook her head. “I will not think such poor thoughts of my prime,” she said more to herself than the others.
“I will think them for you,” Ayawa replied as they continued.
“I have meant to ask you a question,” Jessivel said. “Why did the enemy start fires and alert us?”
Ayawa looked down from her horse and sighed. “It wasn’t for us. It was a message for somebody else. Probably that we slipped away.” She could see he didn’t like the answer as his frowned deepened.
“Then there is a major effort being made here,” Jessivel said. “Are you sure they don’t know where your secret meeting place is?”
Tavis shook his head and looked over to Ayawa as she scowled every bit as deeply as Jessivel. He looked to Chiune, who was eagerly waiting to hear the answer. “We are fairly certain they do,” he replied.
“By the divines!” Chiune grumbled. “I thought this was a secret? You wouldn’t even tell us!”
“We don't know how they found out,” Ayawa answered. “But we suspect the assassins have been following us this whole time. We made a straight line directly to the keep. They may have simply deduced it.”
Jessivel looked over his shoulders to the army of people marching across the open landscape. “Then, I am not taking them to safety.”
“We told you that before you rescued them,” Ayawa grumbled.
“There is no safety this far west,” Chiune interjected. “The common lands are being torn by fighting between the orders. Every town is either a stronghold of Ulustrah or Astikar, never both. Eastgate is our new capitol, and everything east to the sea is ours. You would have to march them all the way to Eastgate to find the rest you seek.”
“There were temples to Astikar in the eastern provinces,” Jessivel replied.
Chiune looked up and shook her head. “Not anymore.”
Jessivel turned away and let out a sigh as the cost of this war became plain to see.
They marched on in silence for nearly an hour as the distant fortress grew on the hills. It was a large complex with three layers of walls. One a stout outer wall, only ten feet high but circling the flatlands around the base of the hills. The inner wall was taller and built on the slope, acting more like a cliff. Fresh wooden shelters were built all along this upper wall acting as protection from arrows. The top of the hill was broad and flat at its center was the keep with its own wall protecting four towers and a large square building that rose above them all. A flag of white and red flew in the wind on the keep's heights, and similar banners hung from the walls.
“Gams has been busy,” Tavis said as the inspected the woodwork from afar.
“Gams?” Jessivel said. “You have Gams aiding you?”
Ayawa smiled for the first time in days. “He is managing the keep for us, and organizing the forces sent his way. Hopefully, he has had some luck recruiting on his own as well.”
“Gersius has some powerful friends,” Jessivel remarked. “I was told quite a few went missing after he vanished.”
Ayawa glanced at Tavis, and they both smirked and kept on riding. Another ten minutes in and smoke began to rise from the outermost walls.
“Is that another signal?” Jessivel asked.
“Yes,” Ayawa said, standing in the saddle. “But, this one is for us.” Ayawa watched as the smoke broke and then returned climbing in puffs off three.
“And what does it mean?” he dared to ask.
She looked to Jessivel with deep concern in her eyes. “It means run.”
“It has to be the southern warriors that were leading them away,” Tavis said. “They must have retreated to the keep.”
“Which means our enemy might reach the other walls before we do,” Jessivel pointed out.
“Get them moving!” Ayawa shouted. “We need to run the remaining distance.”
“We are still twenty minutes out!” Jessivel interjected. “We couldn’t run for that long even if we weren't exhausted.”
Ayawa sat down and pointed to the distant keep with a stern face. “If we don't' reach those walls first, we will all die out here!”
In the distance, an alarm bell started to ring as Chiune turned about running down the line ordering the column to triple its pace.
Horses wailed, and dust kicked up as men, women, and animals began to race forward. The safety of the keep was close, but then they saw a second dust cloud aproaching from the southwest.
“There they are,” Tavis said with a resigned sigh.
“We're going to reach the keep at the same time,” Jessivel said as he tried to work out the distance.
“We are slightly ahead,” Ayawa countered. “Push them hard!” Ayawa shouted and climbed down from her moving horse to run beside it.
“What are you doing?” Gedris asked when she was given the reigns.
“Ride, girl. Get to the keep and find a man who goes by the name of Gams. Tell him everything we have learned, Gersius must know.”
“But I can’t leave you out here!” she pleaded.
“Gedris, you obey my command!” Ayawa shouted. “Now, go!” She slapped the horse in the rear to get it moving, and Gedris bolted away, riding at full speed for the safety of the walls. Ayawa looked to Jessivel with dire eyes, silently acknowledging they might not make it.