“Okay, you spread the word, and I’ll get the wag into position,” Ryan said decisively. “See you on the inside of the redoubt.”
“Count on it,” J.B. answered.
DETTE TOLD THE OUTRIDERS about the amendment in the plan, and they rode off to scout the area for the war party, which was now dismounting the horse-drawn wags and readying themselves for battle. There was a change in the atmosphere. A tension crept into the party that spoke of the danger to come. There was also a sense of camaraderie that had been fostered by the first stage of the journey, and as J.B., Jak and Doc—who had been rapidly informed of the changes by the Armorer—moved amongst the war party, bringing them up to speed, they were aware of the feeling of determination that had spread among the warriors. The forest became alive with the movement of the war party as it moved over the tangled roots and rich soil, any light filtering through from the moon above drastically reduced by the canopy of foliage overhead from the stunted dwarf elms. The small mammals that inhabited the forest and roamed it by day hid from the imminent danger as the Gate skipped over the obstacles with ease, the Crossroads dwellers following a little less surefooted. The outriders scouted the far edge of the woods, where it emerged onto the open ground leading to the hill and the ingress in its side where the entrance to the redoubt lay.
J.B. and Jak led, with different sections of Gate following varying routes through the wood that would enable them to flow smoothly, without engendering a jam of warriors in some of the narrowing paths. Their progress was rapid, and the leaders of each faction soon reached the edge of the woods, where they were joined by the outriders who were lurking just within cover.
“All clear everywhere,” Dette reported. “The motor wag is on its own out there.”
J.B. chewed at his lip. “Good. We wait till it starts up the trail, then move each section to cover there and there—” he indicated small crops of shrub and tree that took an arcing path around the lower slope of the hill “—so that we’re spread along as near as possible, still in cover, and we avoid the open area. When the wag gets to the redoubt, we wait until it’s in, then prepare to move as soon as it starts to open again.”
“What if it doesn’t?” Dette asked.
He shrugged. “We think about that when it happens, ’cause that’ll just be a full frontal assault. No other options.”
The sound of the Illuminated wag approaching the track leading up to the redoubt could be heard.
“Here comes,” Jak said. “Go, yeah?”
J.B. agreed, and the group leaders returned to their warriors, relaying the Armorer’s instructions and taking their people forward to the farthest reaches of available cover.
As the wag rumbled up the path toward the redoubt, the sky began to lighten where the morning sun began to rise above the horizon. The groups of warriors, spread out along the side of the hill in their makeshift cover, settled to wait. There was nothing more they could do right now.
The next move was firmly in the hands of the seven warriors in the wag that now reached the entrance to the Illuminated Ones’ redoubt base.
Chapter Eleven
Inside the wag, Ryan turned to his fellow warriors.
“Better cover up now. We know what to do if we have to be the chilled ones?”
“Keep as quiet as possible, and keep these damn helmets on,” Mildred muttered with disgust in her voice, adding, “And I’d better hope that they don’t look at the rips in this suit too closely. There weren’t any black sec among the chilled.”
“We’ll just try not to give them time to look,” Krysty said with a determined manner.
For a second, all the inhabitants of the wag took a last look at their companions before the large black helmets, with their impenetrable tinted visors, were put in place. A last look to confirm who they were, before their identities were erased and replaced by the threatening blandness of the visors.