"A lot. Your friend Nassef has been kicking ass all over the country. Most of them don't seem to know where else to go."
Dawn's light was seeping into the dank, misty forest when Regnarson's brother appeared. "They're coming, Bragi. Two lines deep. We won't have a chance if they make contact."
"Could we break through?" Haroun asked.
"That's what they want us to try, I think. Then the whole mob could close in."
"And if we run, they'll be waiting on the other side of the forest."
"That's how I'd set it up."
"Let's do it anyway. We'll locate them and I'll attack with my horsemen. You run for Alperin after they start chasing me. It's only twelve miles. Its walls are strong and it has its own garrison. I can circle around and catch up with you there."
"I don't like it," Ragnarson said. "What good will it do? We'll still be surrounded."
"But with a wall to protect us, and people to help."
"The Scourge of God hasn't been intimidated by walls yet." Nevertheless, Ragnarson acquiesced. He could muster no plan of his own. "All right," he grumbled. "I kind of stumbled into this, you know. I kind of hoped I could make some kind of showing before High Crag replaced Sanguinet. I thought this was my big chance."
Haroun smiled thinly. "Look what I'm going to lose. A whole kingdom. It's so huge. It stretches as far as I can throw a rock."
"Yeah. Haaken! Reskird! Let's move out."
Haroun came to respect the Guildsmen even more. The passage through the wood took a day and a night and most of another day. The warrior brothers seldom rested, and frequently spent their own strength to help the weaker of their allies. And many of them were burdened with wounded. He questioned Ragnarson about it, but the youth could not explain. That was the way his brotherhood did things.
Yet the Guildsmen were no less weary than the others, Haroun saw. They just seemed to have more will.
And these, he thought, are the Guild children. No wonder old generals like Hawkwind and Lauder, with their select followers, were so feared.
The sun was well to the west when they reached the nether verge of the Bergwold. Haroun considered the time of day. "We'd have a better chance of pulling it off after dark."
Ragnarson agreed. "We can use the rest. Send some of your people to scout it out. They're better at it than mine. Mine can't see anybody out there, and I think that's too good to be true."
"You're right. Beloul!" Haroun called. "I have a job for you." He explained what he wanted.
The sun had set before Beloul returned to say, "Lord, he's there. The Scourge of God himself, with the Invincibles. They're hiding in a ravine beside the road to Alperin. They don't know that we're here yet. And from what I could overhear, they're exhausted from their ride around the forest."
Haroun translated for Ragnarson. He added, "Let's give it another hour. Then I'll try to draw them off to the south."
"Make it two hours and you'll have the moon."
The time rushed away. The moon seemed to streak into the sky. Suddenly, Haroun was on his mount and Altean countryside was rushing beneath him. He was kicking his mare because she was reluctant to run in the weak light. To his left, one of his followers went down as his mount stumbled.
Nassef was not ready for him. Not for him to come smashing straight in behind a swarm of arrows. The Invincibles remained disorganized for the critical few minutes Haroun needed to lead his band past and take them flying into the night.
Then they came after him.
He could see little, looking back to the northwest, but he could hear the thundering hooves and the exultant warcries.
The Invincibles, like their Guild enemies, were tenacious. Haroun could not shake them. His success consisted of staying ahead. Gradually he swung round northward, circling back toward Alperin.
"Why are we doing this, Lord?" el Senoussi wanted to know. "Why aren't we escaping? Towns are traps."
Haroun did not answer for a while. He did not know how to put it into words. "There's a duty, Shadek. A responsibility. How can I explain? You imply an argument, and the sense of it is inconstestable. Radetic would have commended you. Mine is purely emotional. Maybe it's the hand of fate that moves me. But I do have a feeling this Ragnarson might be critical to my future. To all our futures."
"You're the King, Lord."
Haroun laughed. It was a weak, drained gesture. "I love your enthusiasm, Shadek. You're like an oasis after six days of hard desert. You shelter me from the sandstorms of tomorrow."
El Senoussi chuckled. "Thank you, Lord."
Moments later, Beloul said, "Something's wrong, Lord. They're not pushing us as hard as they should be."
"I've noticed. We must be doing what they want."
"I told you, Lord," said el Senoussi.
Daylight arrived. And Haroun learned why the Invincibles had relaxed. He had come back to Alperin.
"Damn! He's outfoxed us again." There was fierce fighting at the town gate. "He let the Guildsmen get there so he could catch them with their gates open."
"Would that we had such a plotter in our ranks, Lord," said el Senoussi.
"Be patient, Shadek. He's teaching me."
"Indeed, Lord. What now?"
"What about our friends back there? In no hurry, eh? Unless we try to break away? Let's see if we can get up on yon hill and watch for a while. Our friends might get so interested they'll give us a chance to get away."
He spoke lightly, as if unconcerned, but he was sure this was the last day of his life.
The Invincibles allowed them the hilltop and did not offer battle immediately. The Scourge of God seemed content to delay his gratification while he dealt with the Guildsmen.
"That's the end of some brave boys," Beloul said gently.
Haroun glanced at the town gate. Fanatics in white were flooding through. "Yes. A pity."
"That Nassef is one crafty bastard," Haaken told Bragi as the Alteans defending the gate collapsed. They had made a valiant stand. Their task had been hopeless, but they had held long enough.
"He thought on his feet," Bragi replied. "He outguessed us. We've got to pay the price. Let's just hope this trick is something he's not expecting. Come on, Reskird!" he shouted. "Quit screwing around over there. They're coming." He could see most of the curved street running from the gate. Horsemen swept toward them like a sudden spring flood, forced on by those behind them.
Alperin was typical of towns that spent centuries constrained within walls. It had had to grow upward and together instead of spreading. Its streets were narrow and twisted. Its buildings stood three, four and sometimes five storeys high, often overhanging the cobbled streets.
It was a bad place for horsemen to engage bowmen who had taken to the rooftops.
Arrows swarmed down onto the Invincibles and their animals. The desert warriors tried fighting back with their saddle bows, but could find few targets. The Guildsmen exposed themselves only long enough to loose their shafts.
The Invincibles still entering the town kept forcing their fellows into the deadly streets.
"Keep it up! Keep it up!" Bragi screamed. He scuttled across a steep slate roof. "We're going to do it, Haaken! We're going to do it! They don't know what's happening."
He was right. The Invincibles, absolutely certain of victory and unable, because of the twisting streets, to see that the slaughter was not localized, kept driving into the killing rain.
"Haaken, I'm going to find that Altean captain. What was his name?"
"Karathel."
"Yeah. Maybe he can rally his men and grab the gates again. We can trap them in here and murder them all."