‘I see which way your thought goes, Anakha,’ Ghworg said.
we will take our children to that high place and wait there for
Cyrgon’s children. Our children will not eat Aphrael’s children.
They will eat Cyrgon’s children instead.’
That will cause hurt to Cyrgon and his servants, Ghworg.’
Then we will do it.’ Ghworg turned and pointed toward the
landslide. ‘Our children will climb Klael’s stairway. Then
Ghnomb will make time stop. Our children will be in the high
place before the sun goes to sleep this night.’ He stood up
abruptly. ‘Good hunting,’ he growled, turned and went back to
join his fellows and the still terrified Trolls.
we still have to proceed as if things were normal,’ Vanion told
them as they gathered near the fire a couple of hours past noon.
The sun, Sparhawk noted, was already going down. ‘Klael can
probably appear at any time and any place. We can’t plan for
him – any more than we can plan for a blizzard or a hurricane.
If you can’t plan for something, about the only thing you can
do is take a few precautions and then ignore it.’
‘Well spoken,’ Queen Betuana approved. Betuana and Vanion
were getting along well.
‘What do we do then, friend Vanion?’ Tikume asked.
‘We’re soldiers, friend Tikume,’ Vanion replied. ‘We do what
soldiers do. We get ready to fight armies, not Gods. Scarpa’s
coming up out of the jungles of Arjuna, and I’d expect another
thrust to come out of Cynesga. The Trolls will probably hamper
Scarpa, but they can only move out a short way from those
mountains in southern Tamul Proper because of the climate.
After the initial shock of encountering Trolls, Scarpa will probably
try to go around them.’ Vanion consulted his map. ‘We’ll
have to have forces in plate to respond either to Scarpa or to an
army coming out of Cynesga. I’d say that Samar would be the
best location.’
‘Sama,’ Betuana disagreed.
‘Both,’ Ulath countered. ‘Forces in Samar could cover everything
from the southern edge of the Atan Mountains to the
Sea of Arjuna and be in position to strike eastward to the
southern Tamul Mountains if Scarpa evades the Trolls. Forces
in Sama could block the invasion route through the Atan
mountains. ‘
‘His point’s well taken,’ Bevier said. ‘it divides our forces, but
we don’t have much choice.’
‘We could put the knights and the Peloi in Samar and the
Atan infantry in Sama,’ Tynian added. ‘The lower valley of the
River Sarna’s ideal for mounted operations, and the mountains
around Sama itself are natural for Atans.’
‘Both positions are defensive,’ Engessa objected. ‘Wars aren’t
won from defensive positions.’
Sparhawk and Vanion exchanged a long look. ‘invade
Cynesga?’ Sparhawk asked dubiously.
‘Not yet,’ Vanion decided. ‘Let’s wait until the Church Knights
get here from Eosia before we do that. When Komier and the
others cross into Cynesga from the west, that’s when we’ll want
to come at the place from the east. We’ll put Cyrgon in a vice.
With that sort of force coming at him from both sides, he can
raise every Cyrgai whore ever lived, and he’ll still lose.’
‘Right up until the moment he unleashes Klael,’ Aphrael added
moodily.
‘No, Divine One,’ Sparhawk told her. ‘Bhelliom wants Cyrgon
to send Klael against us. If we do it this way, we’ll force the
‘issue in a place and time that we choose. We’ll pick the spot
Cyrgon will unleash Klael, and I’ll unleash Bhelliom. Then all
we have to do is sit back and watch.’
‘We’ll go to the top of the wall the same way the Trolls went,
Vanion-Preceptor,’ Engessa said the following morning. ‘We can
climb as well as they can.’
‘it might take us a little longer,’ Tikume added. ‘We’ll have to
push boulders out of the way to get our horses up that slope.’
‘We will help you, Tikume-Domi,’ Engessa promised.
‘That’s it, then,’ Tynian summed up. ‘The Atans and the Peloi
will go south from here to take up positions in Sarna and Samar.
We’ll take the knights back to the coast, and Sorgi will ferry us
back to Matherion. We’ll go overland from there.’
‘it’s the ferrying that concerns me,’ Sparhawk said. ‘Sorgi’s
going to have to make at least a half-dozen trips.’
Khalad sighed and rolled his eyes upward.
‘I gather you’re going to embarrass me in public again,’ Sparhawk
said. ‘What am I overlooking?’
‘The rafts, Sparhawk,’ Khalad said in a weary voice. ‘Sorgi’s
gathering up the rafts to take them south to the timber markets.
He’s going to lash them all together into a long log-boom. Put
the knights in the ships, the horses on the boom, and we can
all make it to Matherion in one trip.’
‘I forgot about the rafts,’ Sparhawk admitted sheepishly.
‘That log-boom won’t move very fast,’ Ulath pointed out.
Xanetia had been listening to their plans intently. She looked
at Khalad and spoke diffidently, almost shyly. ‘Might a steady
wind behind thy logs assist thee, young Master?’ Xanetia asked
Khalad.
‘it would indeed, Anarae,’ Khalad said enthusiastically. ‘We
can weave rough sails out of tree-limbs.’
‘Won’t Cyrgon – or Klael – feel you raising a breeze, dear
sister?’ Sephrenia asked.
‘Cyrgon cannot detect Delphaeic magic, Sephrenia,’ Xanetia
replied. ‘Anakha can ask Bhelliom whether Klael is similarly unaware.’
‘How did you manage that?’ ~Aphrael asked curiously.
Xanetia looked slightly embarrassed. ‘it was to hide from thee
and thy kindred, Divine Aphrael. When Edaemus did curse us,
he did so arrange his curse that our magic would be hidden
from our enemies – for thus did we view thee at that time. Doth
that offend thee, Divine One?’
‘Not under these circumstances, Anarae,’ Flute replied, swarming
up into Xanetia’s arms and kissing her soundly.
CHAPTER 2
The log-boom Captain Sorgi’s sailors had constructed from the
rafts was a quarter of a mile long and a hundred feet wide. Most
of it was taken up by the huge corral. It wallowed and wobbled
its way south under threatening skies, and it was frequently
raked by stinging sleet-squalls. The weather was bitterly cold,
and the young knights who manned the raft were bundled to
the ears in furs and spent most of their time huddled in the
dubious shelter of the flapping tents.
‘it’s all in attention to detail, Berit,’ Khalad said as he tied off
the rope holding the starboard end of one of their makeshift
sails in place. ‘That’s all that work really is – details.’ He squinted
along the ice-covered line of what was really much more like a
snow-fence than a sail. ‘Sparhawk looks at the grand plan and
leaves the details to others. It’s a good thing, really, because
he’s a hopeless incompetent when it comes to little things and
real work.’
‘Khalad!’ Berit was actually shocked.
‘Have you ever seen him try to use tools? That was something
our father used to tell us over and over.”‘Don’t ever let Sparhawk
pick up a tool.” Kalten’s fairly good with his hands, but Sparhawk’s
hopeless. If you hand him anything associated with
honest work, he’ll hurt himself with it.’ Khalad’s head came up
sharply, and he swore.
‘What’s wrong?’
didn’t you feel it? The port-side tow-ropes just went slack.
Lets go wake up those sailors. We don’t want this big cow
turning broadside on us again.’ The two fur-clad young men
started across the icy collection of lashed-together rafts, skirting
the huge corral where the horses huddled together in the bitterly
cold breeze coming from astern.
The idea of making a log-boom out of the rafts was very good
in theory, but the problems of steering proved to be far more
complex than either Sorgi or Khalad had anticipated. Khalad’s
thickly woven fences of evergreen boughs acted well enough
as sails, moving the sheer dead weight of the boom steadily
southward ahead of Xanetia’s breeze. Sorgi’s ships were supposed
to provide steerageway by towing the boom, and that
was where the problems cropped up. No two ships ever move
at exactly the same rate of speed, even when propelled by the
same wind. Thus, the fifty ships ahead and the twenty-five
strung out along each side of the boom had to be almost constantly
fine-tuned to keep the huge raft moving in the right
general direction. As long as everybody paid very close attention,
all went well. Two days south of Bhelliom’s wall, however,
a number of things had gone wrong all at once, and the log-boom
had swung round sideways. No amount of effort had been able
to straighten it out, and so they had been obliged to take it
apart and reassemble it – back-breaking labor in the bitter cold.
Nobody wanted to go through that again.
When they reached the port side of the boom, Berit took a
dented brass horn out from under his fur cape and blew a flat,
off-key blast at the port-side tow-boats while Khalad picked up
a yellow flag and began to wave it vigorously. The pre-arranged