The Blood Knight - J. Gregory Keyes [13]
As it turned out, there was mixed news. The men Stephen had heard were allies—four of the knights from Dunmrogh—crouched behind a cairn of stones at the top of the nearest hill. They were hunkered there because the next ridge over was held by their enemies.
“This was very well planned,” Neil said to Aspar. “A main assault to distract us, sorcelled horsemen to take the girls, and a series of rear guards to slow us down while they escaped. But why not brave it all on a single assault?”
Aspar shrugged. “Maybe they’ve heard tell of us and think we’re stronger than we are. More likely you’re wrong. Could be their plans didn’t go as well as it seemed. I think they did mean to kill us all in a single assault, and if you think about it, they came pretty close. We had near forty men when we left Dunmrogh. Now there are nine of us left, but they don’t know that. What with the snow and us separating, they’re as confused as we are.
“For all we know, we outnumber them now. That could be the last three of ’em there, over on that ridge, and the girls might be with ’em. No way to tell, now that it’s getting dark.”
“There are six of them,” Stephen said, “and I do hear a girl, though I can’t swear she’s one of ours.”
“It must be,” Neil said.
“Werlic,” Aspar agreed. “So we’ll just have to go and get ’em.” His eyes traced lazily through the trees, down into the small valley, up to the opposing ridge.
“Aspar…” Stephen murmured.
“Yah?”
“There’s something—something else. But I can’t tell you what it is.”
“With the men?”
Stephen shook his head. “No. It might be very far away.”
“Then we’ll grab the first branch before reaching for the next,” Aspar said. “But if you make out anything more clearly—”
“I’ll let you know,” Stephen promised.
Neil was still studying the terrain. “They’ll have plenty of clear shots at us before we can get to them,” he noted.
“Yah,” Aspar said. “That would be a good reason not to charge them through the valley.”
“Is there another way?”
“Plenty of other ways. They’ve got the highest ground, but this ridge joins theirs up to our left.”
“You know this place?”
Aspar frowned. “No. But that brooh down there’s pretty small; see? And I can smell the springhead. And if you look at the light through the trees—well, its high ground up there, trust me. The only thing is, if we all go that way, they might bolt.
“If they follow the ridge down, it’ll take ’em to the marshes on the Warlock, and we’ll get them there. But if they go north, down the ridge, they’ll find themselves breaking out of the woods onto prairie, and there they’ll have a choice of crossing the river and taking the Mey Ghorn plain or heading east.
“Either way, we’ll have to catch them again, if we can. Right now we know where they are.”
“But why are they waiting there?” Neil asked.
“I reckon they’re lost,” Aspar said. “They can’t see the open ground from where they are. If they ride a hundred kingsyards, though, they will. Then we’ve got trouble.”
“What do you propose? Have someone sneak around on the high ground?”
“Yah,” Aspar said.
“And I suppose that person would be you.”
For answer, the holter suddenly bent his bow and let fly a shaft. A sharp cry of consternation echoed from across the dale.
“Ney,” the holter said. “I’m needed here to convince ’em that we’re still on this ridge. You and Cazio go. When Stephen hears you near, we’ll make our run down the valley and back up the other side. You just be sure and keep them busy.”
Neil thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “That’s worth trying,” he said.
“Can you keep it quiet?”
“In the forest? I’ll leave my armor. But still…”
“I’ve no sense that they’re woodsmen,” Aspar said. “We’ll try to keep things lively here.”
Neil glanced over at Cazio. “Stephen,” he said, “could you explain to Cazio what we just said?”
Stephen did, and when he was done, the swordsman grinned and nodded. Neil stripped down to his quilted gambeson, took up Draug, and a few moments later they were skirting the ridge east, wincing at the sound of each broken twig, hoping Aspar was