This was not a word Hweilan knew. “Zugruuk?”
“It means,” said Vurgrim, “that in battle, we are the first ones in. The real killers.”
The swords he and his twelve wore looked suited to the task. They weren’t even two feet long, but they were wider than her palm and looked as thick as two of her fingers. With enough strength behind them, Hweilan knew they would crack even thick plate armor. Each one of the small shields strapped to the zugruuk’s forearms had a curved spike off the top and bottom rim, and every one was bloodstained.
“Did Maaqua or Buureg send you?” asked Hweilan.
Vurgrim sneered. “No one sent us. We heard you needed killing done. That means you need us.”
“And the other raiding parties?”
“Already gone,” said Vurgrim. “Left before first light. They’ll take the northern and southern trails to Highwatch, while we come up the middle.”
Hweilan turned her attention to the other hobgoblin. Two full quivers of arrows rode his back, and he held a horn bow in one hand. Tucked into his belt was a wood-handled weapon capped with an iron hammerhead with a sharp spike behind it.
“And you?” Hweilan asked.
“Flet,” he said. “I lead the four archers.”
“Your warriors are good?”
“We’re the best.”
Vurgrim bristled at this.
“If it comes to a fight,” she said, “aim for the eyes. Plant an arrow in each one. And you”-she turned to Vurgrim-“tell your warriors to lop off pieces. The head if you can. If not, take out the arms.”
“This will kill the monsters of Highwatch?” asked Vurgrim.
“No,” said Hweilan. “But it might slow them down long enough for me to kill them.”
Hweilan turned her back before they could barrage her with more questions. She walked over to the Damarans. Darric and Valsun stood straighter and offered her a small bow, but both eyed her bone mask warily. She knew it could be an unsettling sight, which was rather the point.
“Good morning, lady,” said Valsun.
Hweilan looked at each of them in turn. They all needed a shave and a bath, but there was none of the fear she’d hoped to find. If anything, they looked eager.
“You don’t have to come,” said Hweilan. “You know what we’re getting into. Darric, take your people and go home.”
Darric held her gaze. “Where you go, I go.”
Valsun chuckled and said, “And where he goes, I go.”
“We owe you our lives,” said Mandan. “I will not shirk that debt.”
They all looked to Jaden, who blinked and looked at each of them in turn. “Well, I’m not walking back to Damara by myself, now, am I?”
Darric was the weak link then. If he broke and decided to leave, the others would follow.
“You remember that horror you faced in the mountains? How only one of them slaughtered most of your party? Even the wizard-”
“You think I could forget?” Anger flashed in Darric’s eyes. “Those men died because of me.”
She didn’t agree but didn’t contradict him either. She needed him thinking like a leader.
“Where I’m going,” she said, “there won’t be just one of those monsters. There will be dozens. Perhaps hundreds. And their lord …” Hweilan looked to each of the men in turn. “That thing you faced in the mountains was a puppy. Jagun Ghen is a rabid hound. You think those men died because of you, Darric? Yet you want to lead these men into a place a hundred times worse.”
Darric opened his mouth to speak, but Valsun spoke first. “We are knights. We swore an oath. If this demon is half as bad as you say, he’s building a kingdom near our homeland. We cannot allow that. If we turn away, we’re worse than cowards. We’re traitors. If I die fighting this lord of demons, I will not be ashamed when I stand before Torm.”
“And if I ask Maaqua to throw you back in that hole until I’m well away?”
Darric snorted. “You think you could trust that old adder not to throw us in a cook pot the moment you’re gone?”
Hweilan sighed and looked away. “You won’t be any safer where we’re going.”
“If we die,” said Darric, “we die fighting.”
“It’s on your head, then. My days of saving you and your friends are over. I’m going to kill that thing. It’s going to take everything I have-and perhaps more.”
“Then you should take everyone willing to help you.”
It was done, then. She’d tried. Hweilan looked to Urlun and addressed him in his own tongue. “You should stay. See to your family. This hunt is too much to be your first.”
He stood straight and glared at her. “I am no coward. And your big friend must hold to his word.”
Mandan scowled at not being able to understand them, then pointed his chin at Rhan, who was standing apart from everyone, the fresh cuts and dried blood still prominent on his chest. “What happened to your friend?”
Hweilan answered, “He took an oath. He’ll keep it. Don’t worry about him.” She lowered her voice. “But those eighteen over there? Watch your backs.”
They left without ceremony or even so much as a farewell from Maaqua. Hweilan did not mind. If she never saw the queen again, that would sit with her just fine. Over the past year she’d met two queens, and both of them had imprisoned and tried to kill her. She’d had her fill of royalty.
The Razor Heart had provisioned them well and knew how to pack in order to move fast in their country. The weather held, and they made good time, eating as they walked and stopping only to sleep the first night. Hweilan could see the toll it took on the Damarans, but she gave them each a small bit of kanishta root to keep them moving.
Hweilan told the hobgoblins she wanted to approach Highwatch from the western mountains rather than through the main gates at the entrance of Nar-sek Qu’istrade. The hobgoblins knew their country well, and Hweilan let them lead the way. But midway through their second day the surrounding peaks began to look familiar to Hweilan, and she knew they weren’t far from the Long Road. Less than a day’s ride from where the Gap ended, the last hills broke themselves against the mountains, and the grasslands of Nar stretched to the horizon.
The steady beat in Hweilan’s brain was growing stronger with every mile. She could feel Jagun Ghen pulling her in, like a fish on a hook. But nothing else behind or around them. None of Jagun Ghen’s minions. Either the baazuled were all waiting in Highwatch or the demon had found a way to hide them from her senses.
They walked on a trail that cut its way through sparse brush and trees as it snaked its way midway up the side of a mountain. The hobgoblins were spread out ahead, only the last few stragglers in view. Rhan followed just behind them. The Damarans, Urlun, and Hratt brought up the rear. When the going was easy enough that they could talk, Mandan had begun teaching Urlun to speak Damaran. In return, Urlun taught Mandan a bit of the goblin language.
They came to a small rise where the trees disappeared and the path lay open to the sky. The hobgoblins stopped, weapons in hand, eyeing Hweilan warily as she approached. Beyond, the path fell down a low rise for a mile or more before cutting through a gap. Hweilan saw ravens circling down there just as a howl sounded-four high yips followed by a long, undulating song.
Hweilan stopped beside Rhan. “What is it?”
Crouching on a nearby boulder, Vurgrim waited for the Damarans to catch up, then said, “See the ravens? Something down there is dead. Or lots of somethings by the number of ravens.”
Hweilan said, “Be ready.”
“Ready for what?” said Jaden.
“For whatever killed them,” said Hweilan. She strung her bow.
The path ran through the gap and, one of the hobgoblins explained, went for another half mile until it ended at the Long Road, which they would have to take for a while before breaking off to another trail that led back into the heights behind Highwatch. After that, their knowledge ended.
When they approached the site where the ravens were circling, Hweilan could see many more were already feasting on the bodies and fighting over the choicest bits. The hobgoblins were wary and went in under strict formation. Flet and his archers held back, each with an arrow notched to his bowstring. Vurgrim and his warriors rushed forward, four at a time, then stopped and watched all directions while four more ran past them, stopped, and did the same.