“Thank you,” he said solemnly.
“Don’t thank me yet,” Sendarus said. “We both have to survive the next few weeks first. Now get some rest. You move out at first light tomorrow.”
Chapter 23
Gudon’s hands were tied to the pommel of a saddle. His horse was too big for his legs, and the muscles from his groin to his knees ached as if they had been permanently pulled out of shape. Prado would occasionally favor him by riding by his side and slapping and punching him, saying, “Tell me again where Lynan is,” and Gudon would concentrate to repeat the story without making a mistake, concentrate through the pain that filled him like a winter mist fills a valley.
“He found refuge with the queen.”
“Which queen?” Prado always asked, his scarred face scowling.
“Korigan, who succeeded Lynan.”
Prado, confused the first time he had heard the story, punched Gudon in the kidney. “How could she be the daughter of Lynan?” he roared in Gudon’s ear.
“Lynan is a Chett name,” Gudon had explained. “Lynan was the name of the first king of all the Chetts. Korigan is his daughter.”
“Why did Lynan find refuge with Korigan?”
“Because her clan is the White Wolf clan, and their territory is closest to the Strangers’ Sooq.” Gudon bit his tongue to make sure he did not tell the whole truth: the Strangers’ Sooq was in her territory.
“Where is the White Wolf clan?” Prado would ask.
For Gudon, this was the hardest part. “Maybe still at the High Sooq.”
And this is where Prado would always hit Gudon again. The last time he cut him with a knife, cut his ear right open so blood poured down his cheek and neck. “And if it isn’t at the High Sooq?”
“Then the clan is on its way to the Ox Tongue, the best spring grass in its territory.”
“Where is the Ox Tongue?”
And Gudon would stare at Prado and say, so quietly that the mercenary had to lean forward to hear his words, “It is a secret way. You must know the hills and valleys in between. I can show you the way, master, but please, please, let me live.”
Prado always laughed then, and slapped the Chett on the back in an almost genial way. “Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t. Show me the way to the Ox Tongue and I will think about it.”
So Gudon showed Jes Prado and his two thousand cavalry and his five hundred archers the way to the Ox Tongue.
Thewor was getting out of hand. Rendle decided it was time to kill him.
“How many bloody days are we going to chase a dust cloud, General?” Thewor demanded for what seemed the hundredth time, and for what seemed like the hundredth time, Rendle said, “The dust a herd pushes into the air can be deceptive. It can be a small herd close by or a large herd far away. We are chasing a large herd.”
“Then we are chasing a large clan!” Thewor shouted. “We will all be killed!”
“No, they are afraid of us, that is why they are moving away. If they were not afraid of us, we would already be dead. My people are now scouting, and they will not make mistakes like your scouts did. This time we will not only see the Chetts first, we will find out where their main group is and we will attack them. From prisoners, we will find out where Lynan is and complete our mission. It is even possible Lynan is with this clan, since they are so close to the east.”
“You are guessing, General,” Thewor said with a sneer. “You are an amateur at this game.”
Rendle gave the hand signal to his escort, and each of them slowly, carefully, edged their horses closer to a regular officer.
“You are not only an amateur, General,” Thewor continued, “you are a dangerous amateur.”
“And you speak too much,” Rendle said.
As Thewor opened his mouth to protest, Rendle drove a dagger up through the bottom of his throat. The point drove on, stabbing into the roof of Thewor’s mouth. Blood sprayed Rendle. He gave the dagger one good twist and pulled it out. Thewor, already dead, dropped from his saddle.
Not believing what they had seen, each of the regular officers hesitated a moment too long in reaching for their own swords, and in the next second they, too, died and dropped to the ground. All except one. The youngest officer. His mercenary guardian, under instruction, had clubbed him unconscious. He was kept in his saddle and, when Rendle was ready, was woken with water thrown in his face. He opened his eyes and looked around, remembered what had happened, and promptly fainted. Rendle sighed and ordered more water thrown in the young officer’s face. When he woke the second time, Rendle grabbed a handful of his hair and shook him so hard his eyeballs almost fell out.
“Stay awake,” Rendle ordered. “Your name is Ensign Tyco, is it not?”
“Yes, General.”
“You are now in command of all the regular forces, do you understand?”
“Sir, yes, sir. But Captain Yan is with the supply horses. He outranks me—”
“Find this Captain Yan and kill him immediately,” Rendle told one of his men, then turned back to Tyco. “You are now in command of all the regular forces. You will do as I tell you. You will not talk to me unless I talk to you first. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. In the name of King Salokan of Haxus, I promote you to captain.”
“Thank you—”
“Ah!” Rendle warned, and Tyco shut up. “You are to stay close to me, but not so close my men get nervous. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now you may thank me.”
“Thank you, General.”
“You will make an excellent captain, Captain. Now hang back.”
Tyco reined back on his horse so he fell behind, still trying to absorb everything that had happened in the last few minutes and still dazed from the clubbing he had received. He looked over his shoulder and saw only a few hundred paces away the bodies of Thewor and all his fellow officers. He shat himself.
“We are close now,” Korigan said to Lynan. “Maybe a day’s ride, depending on how soft the grass is between here and the Ox Tongue.”
“Have our scouts sighted the mercenaries yet?”
“Terin has sent word of Rendle’s force. They are within a half day’s ride. We have no word yet about Prado.”
Lynan said a silent prayer for Gudon. He knew he had asked his friend to perform a mission so dangerous he might not survive it. But it had been the right thing to do, he told himself, and wished that was enough.
“They will be close, too. We will ride for half the night and then camp; but no fires. That will take us within half a day of the Ox Tongue.”
“Will that be close enough?” Korigan asked.
“It will have to be. I won’t risk Rendle’s or Prado’s scouts stumbling on us before we’re ready to show ourselves.”
A flash of red caught his eye, and he glanced up to see his pennant waving in the wind. It was quite a beautiful flag, he thought, and simple. A gold circle on a dark red field. A circle for unity, for eternity, for strength. And red for blood, of course, and maybe courage. It seemed to him then to be a potent symbol, and wondered if anyone else saw it that way. Would his enemies recognize it for what it was, and what it represented? Would they see that pennant and know that Lynan Rosetheme rode under it?
He looked around, saw the Red Hands determinedly looking forward, proud of their distinction among their own people, with Makon at their head and never far from Lynan’s side. He saw Kumul ahead and to the left, leading his lancers who tried so hard to ride in proper column; in the last few days they had actually started to get it right, and it was strange to see a forest of lances sticking up into the sky above the Oceans of Grass. He saw Ager leading the warriors of his own clan, and also saw how the Ocean warriors kept an eye on the crookback, so proud to have him for their chief. He saw Jenrosa riding among a swarm of fellow magickers, all asking her questions, and also saw how frustrated she was that it was not her asking the questions, and afraid of what she might be becoming—a feeling Lynan understood so well himself. And he saw Korigan, the noble queen, the golden queen with the golden eyes, and wondered what it was he felt toward her; he recognized respect, and he recognized desire, which made him feel ashamed because he did not recognize love as well. Perhaps with time, he told himself. And he saw all around him the rolling tide of the Chett army, riding into a future never predicted for them but eager to discover what it held.