“You’re not feeling weak, are you?” Lander asked.
The widow shook her head. “My head aches, that’s all.”
“Thanks to Mielikki,” the Harper sighed. “Mount up and come with me.”
Ruha obeyed, asking, “Where are we going?”
“Into the canyon,” Lander replied. “We may have need of more magic.”
The widow was so shocked that she nearly fell from her camel’s back as it returned to its feet. “What if somebody sees me?”
“We’ll try to avoid that,” the Harper replied, urging his camel back to the camp. “But there’s too much at stake to let that worry us.”
“That’s easy for you to say. I’m the one they’ll banish!”
Lander stopped his camel and twisted in his saddle to face the widow. “There are fifteen hundred asabis in that canyon. A wizard, as well. Sa’ar is about to attack with a tenth that number and not even the faintest idea of what magic can do to him. Whether they know it or not, you’re probably all that stands between the Mahwa and annihilation. Ruha, there is only one thing you can do.”
Without waiting to see if the widow would follow, Lander started riding. When he reached the fire, he found a hundred and fifty of the Mahwa’s best warriors mounted and awaiting their sheikh.
As Lander and Ruha approached, Sa’ar turned to them. “This time, I have no need of your advice, berrani. I know asabis better than you.”
“True,” Lander said. “There is also a wizard or two in the canyon, and I know magic better than you.”
“I cannot argue,” the sheikh replied. He looked beyond Lander. “Will you take Ruha into the canyon?”
The Harper looked over his shoulder and saw the widow stopping her camel just behind him. She spoke before Lander could respond to Sa’ar’s question. “My thoughts have not changed, Sheikh. I will be safest in Lander’s company.”
“No!” Kadumi cried. He was mounted on one of his white camels and sat in the company of the sheikh’s warriors. “It is too dangerous!”
Ruha turned her gaze on the youth. “This will not be the first time my jambiya has tasted the invaders’ blood,” she said, her voice stern and steady. “Or have you forgotten who was the rescuer when the Zhentarim ambushed us outside of Rahalat?”
The boy quickly looked away. Lander could not tell whether he was embarrassed at recalling the mistake that had almost gotten him killed or upset at the memory of Ruha’s magic. In either case, the widow’s tactic worked well. Without turning his gaze back to Ruha’s face, Kadumi nodded to Sa’ar. “If it pleases you, Sheikh, allow my brother’s wife to ride with the berrani. As she claims, she will not cause us any trouble.”
Sa’ar raised an eyebrow, then nodded to Lander. “See that she stays out of the way.” The sheikh went to his camel. As he mounted, he pointed at Kadumi. “Why don’t you lead the way, fearless one?”
“Isn’t he a little young?” Lander objected.
The sheikh frowned at the Harper. “Did you not hear me earlier? This boy killed three men tonight.”
Kadumi paused to cast a self-righteous glance at the Harper, then turned to lead the way toward the canyon. Lander and Ruha waited for the end of the column with the sheikh before they fell into line. A few minutes later, the line switched to single file and rode into a narrow, dark ravine. The Harper rode behind the sheikh, and behind Lander came only Ruha.
Three feet to either side of the riders, the canyon walls rose high into the starry sky. On the ledges and shelves of the cliffs, heaps of yellow sand reflected the pale light of the crescent moon, making the rock itself seem all the more dark and foreboding. The floor of the canyon, too, was covered with a thick layer of sand.
Lander felt the footing grow softer beneath his mount’s feet, and the camel began to lunge as if going downhill. Ahead, the dark silhouettes of the war party were descending down the narrow chute two abreast, the shoulders of their mounts almost brushing the rock walls. Already, Kadumi had disappeared around a dark corner.
Though the tight quarters made Lander nervous, he knew that they worked to the Bedine’s advantage in this instance. It would be impossible to attack more than four abreast. Under such circumstances, the Zhentarim’s numerical superiority would do them little good. On the other hand, the Bedine could hardly mount a charge, and it would be an easy matter for the asabis to defend themselves. The Harper found himself searching the canyon rim, hoping to glimpse the warriors Sa’ar had assigned to attack from above. He saw nothing but the jagged silhouettes of rocks and, directly overhead, thousands of brightly twinkling stars.
Less than ten minutes into the canyon, a shrill amarat trilled from up ahead.
“That was Kadumi!” Ruha gasped.
“Don’t worry,” Sa’ar reassured her. “He’s as good a scout as I’ve seen in many a year. He’ll be fine.”
A murmur of excitement ran up the length of the column. The sheikh’s warriors pressed forward, nocking arrows in their bows. Lander could not see what was happening at the front of the line, for it was out of sight around a sharp bend.
An amarat with deep, rich tones called from the canyon, its sound muffled and softened by distance and the snakelike rift.
“Utaiba!” Sa’ar exclaimed, smiling. He fished his own massive amarat out of his djebira and hung it around his neck, ready to call off the attack from above when the time came.
A moment later, Lander and his companions rounded the corner. Because of the path’s steep slope, Lander could see over Sa’ar’s men for quite a distance. Fifty yards ahead the ravine, still descending at a steep angle, bulged out to a width of eighty feet. The bulge continued for a distance of a hundred yards, then the canyon once again narrowed to a width through which only two men could ride abreast.
Sa’ar’s warriors were crammed into the canyon in twos and threes. The front ranks, still led by Kadumi’s youthful form, had stopped and were firing their bows. The rear ranks had also stopped and drawn their bows. By slightly elevating their aim, many of these riders were using the advantage of the steep slope to lob arrows over the heads of their fellows.
The target of both groups was a throng of asabis, crowded into the bulge so thickly that they could hardly move. Under the direction of a Zhentarim officer, two dozen of the mercenaries had turned around to meet the attack from the rear, but most of the reptiles remained unaware of the peril. Their attention was directed at the far end of the bulge, where Lander could just see the silhouettes of a second group of Bedine warriors blocking the way deeper into the canyon.
The sheikh pointed at the Bedine obstructing the far end of the bulge. “My allies, the Raz’hadi,” he explained. “The asabis and their masters are trapped between us.”
As Sa’ar suggested, the Bedine were in excellent tactical position, but Lander felt far from confident. “I don’t like this,” he said. “The enemy is smart enough to have a rearguard.”
The sheikh chuckled and pointed back up the canyon. “It is gone. We chased it away!”
“Perhaps,” Lander allowed. Even if they had realized the Mahwa were coming to attack, the Zhentarim would never have believed that the force protecting the canyon mouth could be driven away. Still, he suspected that the enemy would spring a surprise or two of its own before the battle ended. “I hope we can take advantage of our good fortune.”
No sooner had he spoken than a flight of arrows whooshed down from the canyon rim. The Harper looked up and, two hundred feet above, he saw the dark forms of seventy-five men loosing another round into the bulge. Pained moans and confused growls rolled from the crowded ranks of the asabis. The Mahwa in the canyon gave a boastful cheer and added a volley of their own to the attack.
“The invaders are caught between the lions and the leopards,” Sa’ar bragged. “Not one shall escape!”