'Oh my, but I am sorry to hear of that,' said Beau.
'It was just west of Stonehill,' said Arth. 'Da was a hero: saved the King's life.'
'The mayor saved Blaine's life?'
'Aye. King Blaine was unhorsed. A Ghul on Helsteed was riding him down. Da charged in between and engaged the foe and fought furiously. But Ghuls shrug off wounds that would slay any ordinary man, and in the end Da was speared through and fell.'
'What of the King?'
'He caught up Da's horse and mounted and charged the Ghul, but by this time I had won past and with my sword I took off the corpse-foe's head.'
'Good,' said Beau.
'The King then gave me command of the folk of the Beacontor muster, and we've been with him ever since, though nearly half altogether have been slain. I alone remain of the entire Company of Twoforks.'
'You alone of all those men?' Sudden tears spilled down Beau's face.
Arth nodded, his own cheeks wet as well.
'They've stopped alongside the shield wall,' said Nix, as Tipperton and Linnet came up the back of the hill to the crest in response to his signal.
Tipperton peered 'round the crag and down toward the enemy. As Nix had said, the foe stood on the broad flats along the rim of the rift, the shield wall stretching away eastward. Sheer and high was this barrier and some ten miles long, a perpendicular stone rampart spanning the width of the narrow neck between the ocean and the mighty rift below, the hundred-cubit-thick barricade keeping the two apart. Beyond the wall, beyond the foe, they could see the waters of the Avagon Sea and hear the roar of the ocean crashing against the hard stone.
'Have you seen any ships on the sea?' asked Linnet, taking a place beside Arylin.
'Nay,' replied the Dara, 'though they could be anchored beyond our sight at the base of the cliffs.'
Linnet nodded and glanced at the rim, where the land dropped down steeply to an unseen shore below. 'Vail and Flandrena rode ahead to look,' said the damman.
'But if there are ships, then why are these forces waiting?' asked Nix. 'Why aren't they climbing down the cliffs to board the craft?'
Ere any could answer-'Hist,' said Arylin, 'I ween they draw into formation.'
'Be ready to cut and run,' warned Nix, 'for if indeed they are forming up, they may send sentries into these hills.'
'Oh my,' said Tipperton.
'What?' asked Linnet.
'They are facing back the way they came,' replied Tipperton. 'As if-'
'As if expecting someone,' said Arylin.
'The High King,' said Tipperton. 'That's who they expect. I knew they were making no attempt to escape.
'A last stand?' asked Nix. 'Are they making a last stand?'
Nix and Linnet turned to Tipperton, yet he looked to Dara Arylin. 'Cornered foe oft make a final trial,' she said, 'and most dangerous are they then.'
'But if they are expecting ships…' Linnet's words fell silent, but finally she added, 'I think there are no ships there.'
'We will soon know,' said Tipperton, looking toward the ocean and seeking to see Vail and Flandrena but finding them not.
'Oh my, so this is H?l's Crucible,' said Rynna, as darkness descended on the land. 'Now I know why Lord Steward Voren called it a terrible place.'
Even as she said it, word came from the fore. They would spend the night encamped on the flats between the hills and the rift, and turn toward the enemy on the morrow, for scouts had seen their fires nigh the shield wall, no more than ten miles hence.
As Rynna prepared her bedroll, Beau and Farly and Dinly came to her side. And Rynna said, 'Rest well this night, my dearest friends, for on the morrow we will fight. And although I would have this be the last battle of the war, I fear it is not.'
'Not the last battle?' asked Dinly.
Beau looked up from spreading his bedroll. 'No, Dinly. You see, these are but the Hyrinians and Chabbains and Rovers and the Fists of Rakka; Modru and the Foul Folk are yet on the loose. And it is Modru and his master Gy-phon who drive all. Nay, until we can deal with them, the war will not be ended.'
Glumly Dinly nodded, while Farly pulled biscuits of crue from his saddlebags to pass around. In spite of the fact that none had any appetite, they each took one.
'There are no ships directly below,' said Vail, sitting down beside Tipperton and taking a wafer of mian from Arylin, 'but sails approach from the southwest.'
'Fjordlander sails,' said Flandrena.
'Fjordlanders?' blurted Tipperton. 'Have they thrown in with the foe?'
Vail shook her head. 'I think not, Tipperton. Instead I ween King Blaine, acting on word borne by Farly and Dinly, has sent the Fjordlanders to stop any seaward escape by the enemy below.'
'Ah,' said Nix, taking another bite of mian. 'Makes sense.' 'How far down to the ocean?' asked Linnet. '-I mean, how high are the seaside cliffs?'
'Sixteen, seventeen fathoms, and sheer,' replied Flan-drena. 'If enemy ships do come, 'tis not an easy climb up nor down.'
'Thou canst bear such word back to King Blaine as well,' said Arylin, looking from Tipperton to Linnet to Nix.
Vail raised an eyebrow.
'That the foe stands with their backs to a cliff with no ships waiting below,' said Arylin, 'but is instead arrayed to meet the host.'
'I made a sketch of their deployment,' said Tipperton, 'though I still think that I should remain here while Linnet and Nix take it back.'
Arylin shook her head. 'Nay, for 'tis better that ye all three be with thy kind when the conflict comes. Vail, Flan-drena and I will wait till the last to join with ours.'
As Tipperton reluctantly agreed, Vail said, ' 'Tis but some three or four leagues back to where Farly and Dinly parted to bear word back to the King, hence ye should await the host there if they have not already come.'
Tipperton nodded and then stood and said to Nix and Linnet, 'Let us be gone, and then.'
Each of the Elves embraced the trio and kissed them, and then watched as down the hill and toward their ponies the Warrows went.
With a gentle kiss, Tipperton awakened his dammia. Together they quietly took up her blanket and slipped in among the nearby crags, even as Linnet and Beau did the same.
'There are no ships for the enemy,' said Bekki, riding alongside Tipperton in the early-morning light. 'And they fear to march through H?l's Crucible. As you say, it seems they have readied themselves to make a last stand. Even so, it matters not, for we will soon make short shrift of them.'
'I deem thou canst not be certain of that, Lord Bekki,' said Loric, 'for did we not hear the Fists of Rakka fought formidably at the Dragonboat bridge? And I can say the Battle at Gunarring Gap was bloody indeed. Nay, I ween they will give good account of themselves, much to our regret.'
'Pah!' snorted Bekki, but said no more.
'Tell us again, Tipperton,' said Phais, 'just how they are arrayed and the lay of the land nigh.'
'In long rows, Phais: the Fists of Rakka out front; the Askars of Chabba next; then the mounted files of Hyrinians and Kistanians after them. Many of the Chabbains are armed with bows, but most wield short spears. The Fists of Rakka wield scimitars and axes and they bear small round shields, though some of the Fists are armed with crossbows. The Lakh of Hyree also bear small round shields but their swords are long and curved-like the sabers the Jordians wield-tulwars I think they are named. They also have bows at hand, strangely curved. The Rovers wield cutlasses and crossbows and spears.'
Phais nodded, then said, 'And the land?'
'They stand on the level ground between the brim of H?l's Crucible to their right and the hills on their left,
