The party they had been following was crossing the Fissure now. The final fifteen meters of roadway was yet to be constructed, and only a temporary timber footway was in place. It was barely wide enough for the Celts to cross, tethered in pairs as they were, but the miners of Celtica were used to awkward footing and dizzy drops, and they crossed without incident.
He'd seen enough for the time being, he thought. It was time to get back. He wriggled his way backward into the cover of the broken rocks. Then, bending almost double, he ran back to where the others were waiting.
When he reached them, he slumped down, leaning back against the rocks. The tension of the last two days was beginning to tell on him, along with the strain of being in command. He was a little surprised to realize that he was physically exhausted. He had no idea that mental tension could sap a person's strength so thoroughly.
"So what's going on? Did you see anything?" Horace said. Will looked up at him, wearily.
"A bridge," he told him. "They're building a huge bridge."
Horace frowned, puzzled by it all.
"A bridge?" he repeated. "Why would Morgarath want a bridge?"
"It's a huge bridge, I said. Big enough to bring an army across. Here we've been discussing how Morgarath couldn't move an army and all its equipment down the cliffs and across the Fissure, and all the time, he's been building a bridge to do just that."
Evanlyn picked at a loose thread on her jacket. "That's why he wanted the Celts," she said. When both boys looked at her, she elaborated. "They're expert builders and tunnelers. His Wargals wouldn't have the skill for an undertaking like this."
"They're tunneling too," Will said. "There's a narrow crack-sort of a cave mouth-in the far side that they're widening."
"Where does it lead to?" Horace asked, and Will shrugged.
"I don't know. It might be important to find out. After all, the plateau on the other side is still hundreds of feet above this point. But there must be some access between the two because there's no sign of ropes or ladders."
Horace stood and began to pace back and forth as he considered this new information. His face was screwed up in thought.
"I don't get it," he said finally.
"It's not that hard to 'get,' Horace," Will told him, with some asperity. "There's a barking great bridge being built over the Fissure-big enough for Morgarath and all his Wargals and their supply wagons and their blacksmiths and their oxen and Uncle Tom Cobbley and all to come waltzing over."
Horace waited until Will had finished his tirade. He was outwardly calm, but Evanlyn could see a slight flush of anger on his face. He let the awkward silence stretch between them for some time, then said, in a deceptively quiet voice:
"You're quite finished, are you?"
Will shifted uncomfortably in the saddle, realizing that he might have gone too far.
"Welclass="underline" yes," he said, making a vaguely apologetic gesture for Horace to continue.
"What I don't get: " Horace said, enunciating very carefully and with heavy emphasis, "is why it was never mentioned in those plans you captured."
Evanlyn looked up curiously. "Plans?" she said. "What plans?"
But Will gestured for her to wait for an explanation. He realized that Horace had made a vital point, and the sarcastic response he had been planning was instantly dispelled.
"You're right," he said softly. "The plans never mentioned a bridge across the Fissure."
"And it's not as if it's a small undertaking. You'd think it would be in there somewhere," Horace said. Will nodded agreement. Evanlyn, her curiosity thoroughly piqued by now, repeated her question.
"What are these plans you keep talking about?"
Horace took pity on her. "Will and Halt-his Craftmaster-captured a copy of Morgarath's battle plans a couple of weeks ago. There was a lot of detail about how his forces are going to break out of the Mountains via Three Step Pass. There was even the date on which they were going to do it and how Skandian mercenaries were going to help them. Only there was no mention of this bridge."
"Why not?" Evanlyn asked. But Will was beginning to see what Morgarath had in mind, and his horror was growing by the second.
"Unless," he said, "Morgarath wanted us to capture those plans."
"That's crazy," Horace said instantly. "After all, one of his men died as a result."
Will met his gaze evenly. "Would that stop Morgarath? He doesn't care about other people's lives. Let's think it through. Halt has a saying: When you can't see the reason for something, look for the possible result-and ask yourself who might benefit from it. "
"So," said Evanlyn, "what's the result of your finding those plans?"
"King Duncan has moved the army to the Plains of Uthal to block Three Step Pass," said Horace promptly. Evanlyn nodded and continued with the second part of the equation.
"And who might benefit from that?"
Will looked up at her. He could see she'd reached the same conclusion he had, and at the same time. Very slowly, he said:
"Morgarath. If those plans were false."
Evanlyn nodded agreement. Horace was not quite so quick to see the point.
"False? What do you mean?"
"I mean," said Will, "Morgarath wanted us to find those plans. He wanted the Araluen army assembled at the Plains of Uthal-the whole army. Because Three Step Pass isn't where the real attack will come from. The real attack will come from here-a surprise attack from behind. And our army will be trapped. And then destroyed."
Horace's eyes widened in horror. He could envisage the result of a massive attack from the rear. The Araluens would be caught between the Skandians and Wargals in front of them and another army of Wargals in their rear. It was a recipe for disaster-the kind of disaster every general feared.
"Then we've got to tell them," he said. "Right away."
Will nodded. "We've got to tell them. But there's one more thing I want to see. That tunnel they're digging. We don't know if it's finished, or half finished, or where it goes. I want to take a look at it tonight."
But Horace was shaking his head before he even finished. "Will, we've got to go now, " he said. "We can't hang around here just to satisfy your curiosity."
It was Evanlyn who solved the argument. "You're right, Horace," she said. "The King must know about this as soon as possible. But we have to be sure that we're not taking him another red herring. The tunnel Will's talking about could be weeks away from completion. Or it could lead to a dead end. This whole thing could be yet another ruse to convince the army to divert forces to protect their rear. We have to find out as much as possible. If that means waiting a few more hours, then I say we wait."
Will glanced at the girl curiously. She certainly seemed to have a better grasp of strategy than one would expect from a lady's maid. And there was an unmistakable air of authority about her as well. He decided that Gilan's theory was correct.
"It'll be dark in an hour, Horace. We'll go across tonight and take a closer look."
Horace looked from one of his companions to the other. He wasn't happy. His instinct was to ride now, as fast as he could, and spread the word of this bridge. But he was outvoted. And he still believed Will's powers of deduction were better than his own. He was trained for action, not this sort of tortuous thinking. Reluctantly, he allowed himself to be convinced.
"All right," he said. "We'll look tonight. But tomorrow, we leave."
Wrapped in his cloak and moving carefully, Will returned to his former vantage point. He studied the bridge carefully, thinking that Halt would expect him to be able to draw an accurate plan of the structure.