“Very well,” she went on, her humorous mood passing. “We will set the trap during the night. Until then, we will merely follow the barbarians—not too close and not too far. We must not lose sight of the Sem, or make any obvious move that will reveal our plans. If anyone compromises this surprise attack, I will have him beheaded! See that Astrias is informed of his new command.”
“Yes, my lady!” Feldrik hurried to deliver the orders.
“This operation took much longer than I expected,” Amnelis turned and spoke more quietly to Gajus. “Now finally it will be ended. And after that, before searching with Cal Moru for the lost valley, we will establish a forward camp with a garrison of troops, and the rest of us will return to the River Kes to rest and resupply. Gajus, divine a propitious day for our return home.”
Softly, Amnelis laughed.
The lady’s high spirits had affected her aides, and Vlon and Lindrot joined in her merriment. If Count Marus had still been alive, he might have spoken up and checked the young general’s indiscretion. Amnelis—it is not yet the time to relax. I am proud of you for your success, but what is this about runecasting a date for our return? Thinking ahead is the job of a leader, fine. But it is too optimistic to believe that everything will go as planned: no plan is certain until it has been made real. It is too early to relax your hand from your sword. Please, don’t grow incautious. Do not forget that teaching of Alzandross' Book of Tactics: “A war is not ended until the last soldier falls.”
Count Marus was not there, however. Beginning with Feldrik, the white knights who served as the general’s aides did not dare correct her moods; instead they spent every moment catering to them.
Amnelis spent a moment lost in thought, gazing around absently as she twisted a strand of her long, shiny blond hair around one finger. The sun was setting across the desert, and darkness was gently laying its shroud upon the scene of blood and death around the oasis.
“Prepare to move immediately after sundown. Upon my signal, all soldiers will light flaming torches and begin to advance eastward along the path the Sem have taken. We must give the wildlings no hint that part of our force is elsewhere. Instruct the captains to spread the marching columns into broader formations, to cover more ground and make our numbers appear greater than they are. Astrias' unit will maneuver separately, and I trust that, this time, none of the Sem leaders will escape.” Amnelis paused, and then with a faint smile she added, “Consider this an order for the Sem’s execution.”
“Certainly, my lady!”
The Sem following Loto had no way of guessing the fate Amnelis had prepared for them. The path to Dog’s Head Mountain was long, and their progress was slow in the darkness. If they had dared to light their way they would have been able to advance through the rugged terrain more easily, and torches would also have helped to protect them from dangerous creatures such as stone-mimics. But in their fear of pursuit they did not dare call attention to themselves. Meanwhile, the flickering torches that followed behind them only heightened their anxiety; it was as if the Mongauli were mocking them, and the flames urged them forward. The fear of the desert wolves and the pain of wounding their feet on jagged rocks in the dark were as nothing compared to the terror of the Mongauli pursuit. Dog’s Head Mountain was tantalisingly close, but their journey seemed to be prolonged endlessly by the rocky ridges and defiles that crossed their path.
Kalto asked once to pause for a rest, but Gaulo told him coldly, “If you want to take a break, only the Rasa will take a break.”
After that, even Suni did her best to give no hint of fatigue.
The incessant howling of the wolves also caused the Sem great distress. The desert packs seemed to be waiting eagerly for the wildlings’ arrival, calling out with hungry howls. From every side the dangers closed in on the Sem: the wolves’ mountain ahead, the cold-hearted Mongauli following behind, and all around the perilous, tumbled rocks that held the prospect of attack by stone-mimics. And yet the wildlings had no choice but to trudge onward, holding back their misery in grim silence. How long could this march of terror continue?
“Gaulo.”
Loto’s voice was low, but its unusually sharp tone stopped the feet of the Sem.
“What is it? You cannot walk anymore because you are tired?” Gaulo spoke poisonously. “We will leave you here, then.”
Loto raised his hand, his grizzled white face looking upwards.
“Don’t you feel that something is not right?”
“What?”
Loto seemed hesitant to speak, but after a moment’s indecision he said, “Have you noticed that the howling of the wolves just dropped off?”
Gaulo shrugged his shoulders irritably. “The pack must have moved to the far side of the mountain.”
“No, I don’t think so. Balto cries have also ceased. This area has become too quiet. Something is wrong.”
Gaulo turned around and checked to make sure that the Mongauli torches were still in the distance. “The oh-mu are coming behind us. We are getting close to Dog’s Head Mountain. If the oh-mu could catch up with us, they would have already attacked us.” Gaulo gave Loto a fierce look. “Instead of standing here and worrying about wolves’ howling or not howling, why don’t we hurry on and try to get to the mountain? Once we reach Dog’s Head it will be safer—there is food and water there. The way up is right ahead. Let us hurry—”
“Ohh!”
Before Gaulo could finish speaking, the two chiefs’ ears were smitten by the piercing cries of the Rasa, who were leading the way for the Sem force.
“Oh-mu!”
“Oh-mu were waiting for us!”
“Yeee-aaa!”
“Gaulo! Siba!” Loto’s reaction was instantaneous. “It’s a trap! Let’s fight our way out! We will cut our way through the ambush!”
“That’s impossible!” Kalto screamed. He seemed on the verge of weeping. “The Sem cannot fight anymore! We must escape! Esca…” He turned around, and his despairing voice trailed off. The Mongauli torches were moving more quickly now, and drawing closer.
“Look!”
Siba pointed to the foot of Dog’s Head Mountain. Where until now there had been only shadow, lone torches had sprung to life and were moving like the ill-omened spirits of the dead, drawing strange figures in the darkness. With a feeling of dread the Sem realized that a force of Mongauli troops had placed a trap for them precisely where they intended to go; no doubt, those were signal fires communicating to the pursuing army that the Sem had been cornered.
“You bitches’ spawn! You swine!” Gaulo roared at the half-seen enemy.
But the wildlings had no time to waste in outrage or stupefied shock. As suddenly as if it had risen from the ground, a Mongauli ambush unit had emerged to close off the path between the Sem and Dog’s Head Mountain; meanwhile, the main force was catching up quickly from behind, their torches flickering like fireflies in the night.
“Loto!” Siba looked beseechingly at his aged chieftain, desperate for a plan of action.
“Keep calm. Be ready to hide behind the rocks as soon as the attack begins.”
Loto spoke serenely, and in his tone was something that transformed the Sem around him from cornered mice to formidable warriors once again. The wildlings readied their quivers of poisoned darts and lifted their stone axes. They placed Loto, Suni, and the others who were badly injured in the center of their force, and faced outward in all directions to be ready for the first attack. Rough breathing filled the darkness, and whispered cries of “Alphetto!”
“Attack!”
Suddenly the shout of a young Mongauli captain broke the silence of the night. Horses were not useful in this rocky area, and the Mongauli had dismounted along the way and advanced on foot. The metallic sounds of their armor revealed their position as they moved.
“Ayee-yaa!”
Gaulo, Kalto, and Siba issued rough orders, and battle was joined in the darkness—a battle to the death, with no quarter given.
“Au-ah! Aiee, ayee-yaaa!”
“Alphetto! Alphetto!”
“Mongaul! Mongaul! Mongaul!”
The moon was hidden and the stars had vanished from the sky. In the total darkness amongst the crags, the clash of stone axes against helmets and steel swords created bursts of blue sparks that illuminated the grimacing teeth of ape-men and the raised blades of knights in sudden, eerie flashes.
“Don’t lose them! Don’t let them escape!”
“Kill them all!”
There was no difference now between the Karoi and the Raku—it was difficult even to distinguish between Mongauli and Sem. The knights advanced with outstretched hands, and if they touched hard, cold armor they pulled back, but if they felt warm bristly hair a swift sword stroke would follow. Screams, high-pitched death rattles, and the thrashing of mortal agony proclaimed the result.
Siba picked up Suni and pushed her into a hole in the shelter of a large rock, then hefted his axe and returned to the battle. Huddled miserably in the bleak, narrow place, Suni tried to shrink her tiny body still smaller; she curled into a ball, wishing that she could sink into the ground.
Then, with a sudden thud, a Mongauli soldier who had been fighting nearby tripped over the rock that protected Suni and fell into the hole beside her. Eyes that burned hungrily with the lust of battle spied the hairy creature with shining eyes that cowered at the bottom.
“Here is one more!”
Even as the soldier shouted in his thick voice he raised his sword and prepared to plunge it into the cowering wildling girl.
“Hiiieee!” Suni screamed—
And the soldier made a faint gurgling noise and toppled over on his side. This time, it was not the rock that had taken him off his feet. Suni’s eyes grew round with surprise, and she tried to shrink deeper into the hole, but someone grabbed her roughly by her arms and pulled her out. Familiar eyes glinted at her from the darkness.
“Come on now, let’s save Rinda and Remus,” whispered Istavan. Then, tugging Suni along behind him, he made his way downhill from boulder to boulder.
The rocky area where the Sem had made their stand was illuminated now by a mass of torches that was drawing nearer along the path the wildlings had taken. The battle was clearly visible now; the Sem were fighting a desperate fight as one by one they were surrounded and killed. The stones resounded with their frantic growling, and the smell of blood filled the air as though it had leaked there from the oasis. It would only be a matter of time until all the Sem were slaughtered.