Memories being long in Elenea the preparations were meticulous. It was a full eighteen months before Luke’s mounting impatience gave way to a more forceful demand for action.

“We have to move soon,” he told a meeting of the three commanders. “More than another half-month and the autumn rains will destroy us. The men are not prepared for an encounter in bog or dripping forest.”

“If Rah says wait until spring then that is what we do,” replied Commander South. Unused to any argument.

“We do not.” Luke raised his voice, banging his fist on the table in frustration. “Athelea has been under control of the usurpers for three years. Not acting now will make it half a year before we get another chance. By that time they will have strengthened their armies further making it ever more difficult for us. Who knows, they may even seek an alliance with Hartor and we will have no chance at all of liberating the region. Who knows what’s on his mind?”

The others were surprised at the outburst from their junior, with its implied sacrilege against Rah. But looking at each other they took no offence.

“Luke is right in principle,” said Commander Hunt. Holding a pointed stick in one hand he referred them to the map of the island lying unrolled on the floor. It was not the original, long since smeared to a useless rag, but Luke recognised everything he had surveyed.

“These areas to the north of Kipro do not afford a good passage. We would have to cross forest under the mountains. If we travel via the mountains themselves the terrain is too difficult and we would be in enemy territory. So instead we have to use the central trading routes. They are hilly and will take time for the soldiers to cross on foot with or without rains. There is enough space to camp at Halfway House and Stonebridge, the border is hardly used now as there is little trade and the land should provide much of the extra food for a short campaign. Our choices are to go now or wait till late spring. Two months delay and we might manage a lucky strike just before winter if the rain holds off but what is the point of all this preparation if we have to rely on luck?”

Commander South concurred. “Do you think we could be ready to move within fifteen days?”

“My men are battle fit,” said Luke. “They’ve known for a whole year they may have to move at a day’s notice.”

“All the stores and supplies are kept in permanent readiness,” said Commander Mamat. “We can levy one man in ten and those who are left guard the homeland. That comes to about nine hundred including our hundred regular soldiers. Way more than we need for such a small region, as long as we believe we can turn the Athelean villagers our way as we pass. It causes a lot of waste when we keep on delaying.”

“There will be a contingent of Castle Guard as well,” said Hunt. We’ll have to keep Commander Tivoli informed. “They’ll want to provide a lot of men to accompany us.”

“None of my men will defect,” said Luke sternly.

“No, but you may. In their eyes. Always a westerner. And don’t rely too much on the good nature of your own men. Not all of them will give their lives for Rah when the opportunity actually occurs.”

“Commander Tivoli will have his men ready even if we leave in the hour,” said Mamat. He had not been involved so much up to this point. The others suspected, or maybe knew for sure, that he was the one who would alert the Castle Guard to a change of plans. They had to be in all the troops already anyway. One man in ten if rumour was to be believed.

Hunt sat up on his stool. “Let’s make a date for five days. I’ll see Rah this afternoon. If he says yes I’ll be the one to inform Commander Tivoli.”

The meeting broke up. Hunt took Luke to one side. “Beware of the Castle Guard. They don’t want loyalty. They want obedience. And as far as you’re concerned they have only one function on this mission.”

“Yes?”

“You haven’t been allowed to set foot in Athelea in all this time. And only limited visits to Trantrith. If you try to make too close contact with Athelea they will kill you. And maybe even if you don’t.”

*

Over the next days the soldiers in the three troops found their number swelled by reservists and all were assigned to half month training camps. The Horse Troops stayed near Kingston City, overlooked from the Castle. Luke surveyed his forces, arrayed on the plain below the fortified building.

“A hundred horses. I never realised there were so many in the whole world.”

“It’s quite different when you see them all together.” Commander Hunt pulled his hat forward to fend off the sea breeze. “Like soldiers I suppose. Don’t forget that twenty of them belong to the Castle Guard. I believe they have another twenty in The Castle as well.”

“Probably the foot soldiers will be near the border by now.”

“Yes. Two days, to seal the border quickly. That’s a march I don’t fancy.”

“Me too. They’ll have a rest when they get there. How about Hartor’s men?”

“There won’t be so many but we can expect them to be fierce fighters. We can ride to the border and then over to your new border town Koru, arriving late tomorrow. It’ll just be used as a diplomatic post, far from where the fighting will be. The actual troops will be the other side of the mountain towards Athelea. Peter will be there to receive us. We’ll ride meet him at Goat Pass and you can see Thomas again.”

“It’ll be nice to meet him. Peter’s done well at Treaty, it’s becoming quite a place.”

“I’m sure most of that is your doing. And Thomas. He’s from Goat Pass, isn’t he?”

“Yes, Gat. I still think of him as coming from the far side of Trantrith, don’t know why. But he is Athelean.”

“You do that, Luke. Never just think, never assume. The world is a complicated enough place even when things behave normally.”

Luke took half his mounted troops to the near border in half a day. They washed and fed the horses, then he took a squadron of twenty upstream as an advance unit to meet the infantry, who were moving west at the sedate rate of fifteen leagues a day, converging on the isolated farmstead of Halfway House.

They met Commander Mamat as they passed the supply bearers, who had the other half of the stock of horses, to the east of the condensing army. Only a league or two further on they caught sight of a body of men in Rah’s unmistakable uniform.

Luke turned to his adjutant, an experienced soldier named Simen.

“We can’t tell from here whether that is part of a larger unit or an isolated troop. We’ll stay well behind them till night then you can go over and make contact.”

They camped the horses by the stream next to Halfway House, where Luke had washed the milk from his clothes in an earlier age. Luke led Simen to the former hostel and they met up with the other commanders. There were plenty of soldiers around but Luke knew the main troops would be over the hill in the area that had used to be Stonebridge. They were both glad to be able to walk for a change.

“So what’s it like travelling half way across the world in one day?” asked Commander Mamat.

“Rough on the legs. Next time I think I’ll walk,” said Luke. “The horses don’t seem to mind though. They could probably do it again tomorrow.”

“That’s a good idea. You can send a report back to Rah every day.”

Luke was too worn out to laugh. He lay exhausted on a pallett.

“Plans for tomorrow,” he said.

“The troops were more tired than expected,” reported Mamat. “We’ll rest here two days.”

“Good. The supplies can dig in. And we have time to leave the next stage till morning, which is a relief. Couldn’t ride again today. Presumably we’ll be keeping most of the stuff here?”

“Yes. A quarter of the supplies will move forward. The rest will release their horses to the trained troops and stay until we’ve encircled the forest border below the Hinderith and occupied the borderland as far as the base of Trantrith. Our forces are thin but visibility is excellent. Once the enemy is cut off we’ll bring enough supplies up so we won’t have to tax the local farms. Even on foot it’s only a day’s journey to the Athelean sea so no real issues with looking after our men.”

“Right. My plan now is to use the horses to communicate with Hartor’s party. We’ll go south to Koru then traverse the high mountain to Gat. They may not have arrived yet and we don’t know their numbers or the names of their commanders.”

“I thought we would be sending runners up. But your idea seems easier.”

“Not only that,” said Luke. “We can all go up there. You may as well meet them yourself.”

“What, ...”

“You’ve been trained to ride, haven’t you?”

“If you’re doing such a long diversion I can just walk over to Gat. It’s barely five leagues. But yes I can if I have to, it’ll be useful for getting back and forth.”

*

Hartor’s force was camped on the southern side of Goat Pass, out of view of the target country. It was led by a man named Igor, who did not speak the Elenean language. Luke was told he would be led to his second, who acted as interpreter.

“Peter. Looks like you’ve been promoted since we last met.”

Peter looked at him diffidently. He glanced at his own men. “I’m afraid Igor is not here right now. I’ll get you something to drink while you’re waiting.”

Luke and Simen and Commander Mamat and his orderlies scrutinised the camp. From their position at the lip of a gully they were unable to see whether other camps had been built nearby, but Luke guessed Hartor must have sent many times the number of troops in evidence. Igor was probably visiting one of these other camps, he thought. He longed to run up the slope to the peak and view them all, but the high ground was obviously forbidden, except to selected scouts in light camouflage. Peter returned with hot drinks and confirmed Luke’s supposition.

“I’ve sent a messenger to fetch Igor. He will be here in about half an hour, I expect.”

“Is Commander Hunt here?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yes. He’s on his way. He’ll be here shortly.”

“What about Thomas?”

“He’s not here yet. I’ll bring him over as soon as he arrives. He’ll be with his brother, James. Hartor fished him out of a bandit camp. In Elenean he is called Jogan but Hartor asked me to give him a new name. This is where their family used to live, you know.”

“Yes I know. We saw some abandoned huts the other side. I wondered ...”

“There a quite a lot of ruins here. Must have been a village of the Old Ones originally. In these mountains it may even have kept going after the apos died.”

A group of soldiers approached the stone ledge where they sat. A familiar figure strode up to meet Luke.

“Good afternoon, Captain Luke.”

“Good afternoon, Commander Hunt.” For the first time Luke realised how the captain’s accent reflected his breeding. Being with the soldiers for a couple of days made the Kingston City speech stand out.

“Have you just arrived, Luke? I’ll take you down to see the waterfall while you’re here. It’s quite spectacular scenery.”

“I’m expecting Igor in a few minutes sir. How far is it?”

“Oh, only five minutes walk. Tell Peter we’re going and they can come down to meet us.”

Luke ambled on foot with him down the gully, which steepened as it accommodated a fast stream.

“We have ten minutes. I know the situation from your side so I shall tell you what I have discovered about Hartor’s army.

“There are five camps on this hill. Igor is in overall control and each camp has its own deputy. You will meet them all this afternoon. When we bring the other commanders up we’ll have a general meeting of the officers, but that will be tomorrow. Now, none of Hartor’s men will speak our language. You won’t get a word out of them. But plenty of them understand it. So no loose tongues. You must impress all the men with that.

“Peter is the key man on our side. He is Igor’s personal interpreter and adjutant and knows all the deputies. Be wary of talking privately with him as it may raise suspicions. He is also one of few men on our side who speak the Athelean dialect. Thomas and his brother also. Plus yourself and any you have chosen for that specific skill, but as far as this division is concerned communication will be difficult. You should assume all Hartor’s men will understand Athelean even if they don’t show it.

“When we invade the land this division will swing north to take the coastal area beyond Agor. If all goes well we shall hold the coast to the westernmost edge of the forest. The next settlement up the coast from there is Northcliff. The foot soldiers will not immediately engage the enemy, that will be up to you and the Horse Troops. If they force us, we shall first of all retreat and regroup. When we know their numbers we shall decide the scene of operations. Not the forest, we don't have much experience. Better to make use of the horses in the open countryside. Time to go back, I think.”

“So I don’t get to see the waterfall?”

“Forget that. It’s not that good anyway. We can always make a trip here once all this is over.”

Igor wore his beard in the style of the bandits. Bulking over Luke he carried an air of authority hard to define but easy to register. Peter sat between the pair translating though after a time Luke found his opposite number’s gestures so coherent that he began to understand the speech even before it was interpreted. The initial meeting lasted just ten minutes, then Luke was dismissed with a wave of the hand.

“You can certainly tell who rules this area of the mountains,” he observed wryly.

“No diplomat is he.” Commander Hunt gazed up at the pass, the declining sun illuminating his thin hair. “You should see his command of the men though.”

“They look up to him?”

“They love him. He seems to know these mountains better than anyone alive. Must have ranged here twenty years or more. Every hill, pass and valley has a name. Probably knows the Hinderith too, though I haven’t been able to find out whether he’s actually been there.

“D’you reckon Hartor’s mapped the Hinderith then?”

“Undoubtedly. Probably has maps drawn way before we were born. I sometimes get the feeling that we’re the newcomers to this world.”

“But your family goes back before the Flood.”

“Only one generation. My great-grandfather lived in Rakir as it was then, and lived through the earthquake. There are legends in Elenea about earthquakes preceding floods but this was real. I am thinking probably the western part of Kipro was not affected and perhaps Athelea or Trantrith helped the survivors to recover. Maybe that is how the countries came to their present form. My grandfather lived on The Mountain. He told me the Castle had its first block laid at the highest point reached by the floodwater. I wonder how far Hartor goes back.”

“Maybe I can ask when I see him. For now I want to find out where Thomas is.” Luke also wondered what might have happened to Stefan but dared not trust anyone with the question.

Luke had to cross to the neighbouring camp to find Thomas. The guide led him down the gully to avoid cresting the ridge, then they scrambled over difficult rock and traversed to the start of the adjoining stream.

“Good afternoon, Thomas. May the god of this spring serve you with success.” Luke spoke his native language as he picked up a clump of grass from near the source and handed it over. The boy reacted then remembered how Luke had spoken to him when they first met.

“You didn’t know I was from Athelea when I first saw you, did you?”

“No, sir. I thought you were from Kingston City.”

“I’m sure my accent isn’t that good. Where’s your brother?”

“He’s in his tent. Shall I fetch him?”

“Yes please.”

Thomas ran off and returned two or three minutes later with a young man in tow. Luke observed then closely. James was about four years older, with similar features, but his eyes were a darker shade and his hair almost black compared to Thomas’s brown. He appeared slightly submissive in contrast to his brother’s eager enthusiasm.

“How does Hartor treat you?” he asked the pair. James did not seem surprised to hear his own language but Thomas took it on himself to reply.

“We’ve neither of us seen Hartor. But we’ve felt the benefit of his command. He sent Jogan - James - to Koru a few weeks after I arrived. He had been very ill and nearly died but was taken into the mountains for treatment. That was over a year ago.”

“And what have you been doing in the service of Rah in that time?”

James flushed. Thomas explained that James did not have the sun tattoo on his shoulder and therefore was not officially a subject of Rah. He pulled his brother’s shoulderband forward to reveal the symbol of an eagle.

“Do you have Hartor’s emblem on you as well?”

Thomas showed his own eagle, sitting at the top of his arm below Rah’s symbol on his shoulder.

“Because we’re from the mountains, sir, the soldiers of Elenea don’t give James the chance to earn his mark. And the rumour now is that your troops will be doing all the fighting. Can we fight in your army please, sir?”

“Rumour? Good soldiers don’t repeat rumours. I have a job for you and your brother may or may not be up to the task. He can go with you but if he is a hindrance that is your worry. It is very important and you will be in great danger if you are caught.”

Thomas brightened visibly. “Do I have to go into enemy territory?”

“Yes, the journey is about twenty leagues each way. Downhill out, of course, uphill back. Do you know Cano?”

“Yes, sir. It’s down near the forest. It’s less than twenty leagues. I’ve been there before.”

“Right. I want you to go there and fetch someone. On your own or with your brother. It’s up to you.”

“Who is it? Someone important?”

“Anyone you can find. There may be no one there who can help. I want someone who knows me. Best would be my brother Marcos, or a friend, or someone from The Lodge. I have to be able to trust them.”

“Your brother? In Cano?”

“That’s right. I want you back by midday tomorrow.”

Thomas gradually came to realise that his adventure would consist of a wearing twenty league ride reaching enemy territory in the failing light, followed by negotiations with suspicious villagers then an overnight stop and another twenty back up the mountain. The horses were fit and luckily both of them had been getting the chance to ride regularly but still the constant rubbing against their legs was not something to look forward to.

“No problem, sir. Come on, Jogan, let’s go pack our bags.”

Luke watched them picking a path along the stream that would eventually become the Tecana, not so far from his own birthplace. They hurried down as best they could on the steep slopes, making the most of the light. The three quarters moon would illuminate their path on the lower ground, but would not reveal treacherous rocks on the hills.

“You’d better get back to Halfway House, sir.”

“What?” Luke jumped back to reality as he heard Simen’s voice. “Oh, yes. I need to talk to the men tonight. Keep their morale up. Now they’re on alert they can’t even sing to keep themselves amused.”

*

Luke was up to Gat again before dawn, and posted three look-outs near the peak, expecting the brothers to come in sight early on. He was sitting hunched on a flat stone when they called him.

“Sir, we’ve spotted someone down in the valley. He called us in semaphore.”

“Well what did he say?”

“There are three of them, he thinks they are being pursued. He asked for something.” The man looked embarrassed.

“What? Come on, show me the sign.”

The look-out raised both hands in the air then brought his fingers to his head, bending the elbows until they gave the appearance of enormous ears.

“Horses. My fault, I should have made sure everyone understood the new signs. They may be in trouble. Peter. Get Igor. We need two horses. Good ones, used to mountain terrain.”

Peter strolled over as Luke untied his own horse. “Don’t underestimate Igor,” he said as Luke mounted. “You’ll find two of his men have already started down.”

Luke bounded down the steep hillside, taking considerable risks on the difficult terrain. Reaching a flat patch about a third of the way down he paused to allow the horse to recover its breath.

Igor’s two men with their black mares were about a league and a half ahead, and further down the valley two small shapes moved slowly uphill. A horse with one rider and another with two. Looking beyond them he saw a pursuing party of two foot runners, and further back, about two leagues from Agor, a horseman approached.

Only one, thought Luke. That means their resources are small. We would have sent more. He carried on downhill, moving on to the wide grassy slope to present a direct and visible challenge to the approaching enemy.

The oncoming rider came up fast and seeing the officer coming down the hill bypassed the two travellers to try and take him out. Cantering up to find level ground he steadied the horse and drew arrows from his pack. Luke charged down the hill at full tilt heading straight for him. The first flint tip struck Luke’s body armour, but the leather was hardened to meet metal blades and the stone bounced harmlessly off. The second aim was true to the face and he ducked to avoid it. The third grazed smoothly off his shoulder.

The enemy horse reared when she realised Luke was not going to stop but the rider somehow kept control of his mount. The horse side-stepped and Luke saw the danger too late.

Beyond the flat-topped mound where the enemy had paused were rocks. Only a few, and not very steep, but visible only in time for the horse to panic. Stumbling down the slope she ran out of control, trying to slow but unsure of her footing until inevitably her foot snagged in a hole and she unseated her rider.

Luke half rolled, half skidded down the slope until he came to a halt. Dazed he clambered so that his head faced upwards and checked around him.

As he saw the enemy hurtling down the hill he realised he now had no weapons. His pack was still tied to the horse, to prevent him being speared by his own arrows in a fall. Only his metal dagger remained, strapped to his leg. It would be useless against a horse.

The enemy charged him and he crouched low. She had not been well trained so she treated him as a jutting boulder and pulled up. As she faced him Luke saw a bow drawn.

An arrow whistled from the left and Luke was aware of a black horse only twenty yards distant. The enemy was startled to find the point sticking deep into his arm through the leather sleeve. A second arrow found a better mark, catching him in the ribs. Taking the advantage of surprise Hartor’s man hurled a spear at the neck, passing straight through the protector on both sides.

The enemy horse had already galloped off to safety by the time Luke had gathered the body, still breathing lightly on the grass.

“Stay there,” commanded Luke’s rescuer, together with a number of words Luke did not understand. Luke set about recovering the metal heads as the horseman ran off with his partner to complete their mission against the two enemy footmen who were already within arrowshot.

The spear head was easy to remove but the arrows had struck deep and it was not pleasant to extract them from a still living body. Luke did not want to offend the gods by killing a man unnecessarily, but could not delay in case new pursuers appeared. His uniform was badly stained by the time he had helped cut out the bloody metal and returned the few yards up the slope where his horse was limping around.

The front leg was clearly broken, but with encouragement she managed to hobble on three feet. Luke tied the damaged limb to prevent it rolling around and waited for the others.

The black horse returned, this time with Thomas in attendance, having made his way up to the scene. He waited to receive an instruction from Hartor’s soldier before speaking.

“Sir, the three enemy have been killed. James is with the other soldier taking your father up the pass.”

“My father?”

“Yes, sir. He insisted on being the one to come. We thought it too far for an old man and he could have been killed in the fight. He said he wanted to see you before the battle, er ...”

“Yes? Go on.”

“Er, in case he couldn’t see you afterwards. I’m sorry, sir, that’s what he said.”

“Well I hope it won’t bring bad luck on us. But don’t worry. We’ve got horses and trained men. We don’t need to rely on luck.”

Thomas was visibly excited at the prospect of victory. He brought the horse over to Luke, who noted the skill with which he handled the animal. Luke became uncomfortable aware of stiffening bruises as he tried to mount.

“Sir, stand on my hands.” It seemed a strange thing to say but Thomas stooped, interlocking his fingers to make a step. Luke placed his foot in the cupped hands and swung the free leg over the saddle.

“You seem to know a lot about horses.”

“Yes, sir. I am in charge of the horses in the mountain village. James washes and feeds them and I exercise them. This one is called Mist. Aren’t you, my precious?” He scratched a fly away from the horse’s cheek.

“Will you be able to get my lame horse up the mountain.”

“Yes, sir. But she won’t come down again I’m afraid.”

“How do you mean?”

“We had that problem with one of Hartor’s horses. It will take all day to get her up there then Igor will know what to do. He is not a man for much emotion. Tonight the men will be having meat for dinner.“

Luke fought back his feelings, realising the realities. “Seems uncivilised but we have to be practical. Right, then. Get it started.”