and came rushing into the gape, their weapons slashing. And a mile or so away, clarions sounded amid the hammer of hooves.
Still Tipperton and Auly and the men above nocked shafts and let fly, and the Spaunen squad below was devastated, shrieking Rucks running, only to be brought down as they fled.
'Quick, now, let us see if we can help the king,' cried Auly, and the raiders scrambled down the slope and to the ground formerly held by the sentries.
They came to the drop into the gap, and below, men and Rupt fought savagely. Tipperton could not loose an arrow down into the battle for fear of hitting his own, yet Spawn at the back pressed forward, and there did Tip and the men above wing their shafts.
And still the bugles out on the plains blew, and the thunder of hooves hammered across the hard-frozen land, and farther back came men running, a wordless howl on their lips.
And just as the riders arrived, down in the gape the king and his men parted left- and rightward, to let the horses thunder through, the cavalry to smash into and over the Rupt here in the mouth of the gap.
Screaming in fear, the Foul Folk turned to flee toward the strait, yet many were felled as they ran, though some did scramble up the slopes to escape the warriors on horses, only to be pursued by men on foot.
And then the main army arrived, men running and shouting, to find the battle nigh ended, for it was but a small company warding the way.
'I'm sorry, my lord, but I did not see the Rupt behind the boulder, and so the signal was sounded.'
King Agron pushed out a negating hand. 'Hush, Sir Tip-perton, the fault lies not with you. Besides, you said it yourself some months back as we set forth to slay the Gargon: the moment the battle begins is the moment all goes wrong.'
'Aye, my lord, but in this case-'
'Nonsense. Our casualties were light, and the Spawn yet caught in the dregs of sleep even though a horn did cry.'
'Would that all our victories come at such a cheap price,' said Captain Brud. 'But I fear we will not escape so lightly in the days to come.'
King Agron frowned at Brud. 'You and I know that, captain, but for now say nought and let the men celebrate.'
'Aye, my lord.'
Eyeing the snow-laden steeps above, Tip and Auly rode along the slot of the pass between confining walls, the defile twisting this way and that, jinking in the near distance ahead, angling in the distance behind. No more than a quarter mile aft came the vanguard, yet often Tip and Auly lost sight of any followers as the two point-scouts twined beyond turns in the zigzags of the channel. Farther back and lagging, came the bulk of the army along with the wagons and much of the cavalry, for Agron and the vanguard would ride ahead and clear the foe before them, striving to win completely through and ward the far end until the slower wagons and men afoot could arrive. And so, through the pass rode scouts in the lead, the vanguard and others following. And at the fore of this twisting strait fared Tip-perton and Auly on point.
At times the walls were sheer, rising four or five hundred feet or more; at other times but a bit less vertical, sloping upward at steep angles to either side. Yet always the walls were close, no more than a hundred feet apart, narrowing down to twenty-five feet or a bit less for long stretches at a time.
'Lor', Auly, I feel like we're in a vise.'
'We are, my lad, we are,' said Auly. 'And should we meet an army within, it will be quite dreadful.'
Snow lay in the slot, in places three or four feet deep, though in other places the rock was bare. In the white-laden stretches, Auly would lead the way, his horse broaching a path for Tip on his pony to follow.
And always there were maggot-folk tracks in the snow. 'Fleeing, I ween,' said Tipperton, kneeling and examining the trace, 'running somewhere ahead of us.' Tipperton stood and mounted the black again.
Occasionally they came to rubble and scree ramped against the walls and running out across the slot. Here they would pick their way carefully and then ride onward, the vanguard in their wake, all outstripping the remainder of the cavalry and the wagons and the men afoot. Yet often a horn signal came drifting along the passage from behind, noting to those who understood its code that the supply train was temporarily stopped, waiting for a path to be cleared of drifts or loose rock so that the wagons could roll on.
The sun rode beyond gathering clouds in a glum winter sky, its rays but rarely reaching the floor of the twisting slot here and there, and a chill drift of air flowed up the passage. As they rode toward a turn in the channel, Tip said, 'Huah, but I thought Agron said that warm air from the Gwasp in Gron kept this passage clear, but you know what? It seems to me-'
Tip's speech broke off. Ahead the walls pinched inward, and across the way stood a high barricade made of logs, Foul Folk on the far side.
The second skirmish was hard-fought, stone raining down from above. Black-shafted arrows hissed through the air, slamming into the pavises borne by the men.
Unable to o'ertop the barricade, finally Agron sent a group of archers-Tip among them-back down the pass to scale the walls and come forward again to fly shafts at the missileers and rock throwers on the rampart ahead and send them scurrying. And the archers rained arrows down into the Foul Folk defenders below, receiving deadly dark shafts in return.
And as the fighting raged, the wagons and marching men came 'round the turn, the foot soldiers to join in, though only a company or so at a time could be brought to bear on the Ruptish fortification.
The strife lasted nigh half the glum daylight in all, even though the Rupt were outnumbered at least a hundred to one. Yet in the end Agron's army prevailed, though the casualties sustained were considerable.
'As I said,' muttered Auly to Tip, the two of them watching men tear down the barricade, 'we're in a vise… a place where a handful can oppose many, as a handful of Spawn did here.'
That night and still at the place of the barricade, as the army tarried to rest awhile and to take a meal, Captain Brud came forward to join Tip and Auly at the fire they shared. As they sat and chatted, riding on the wind and echoing up the slot from the darkness ahead there came from afar a shuddering howl to be answered by howls even farther.
'Oh my,' said Tip, pausing in his trimming of long arrow shafts to fit the length of his draw, 'is that what I believe it is?'
'If it's Vulgs you are thinking of,' said Brud around a mouthful of bread, 'well then you are right. It's Modru's curs. Fordervelig Vargs!'
By the firelight Auly sighted down one of his arrow shafts, saying, 'Have you ever seen any?'
Tip swallowed, remembering the beasts in Drearwood. He nodded. 'Black and Wolflike, they are, but as large as a pony, or near. Beau and I escaped from one once, though many sought our track. I'm told they have a poison bite.'
As Auly looked at Tip and nodded, Brud said, 'Vulg's black bite slays at night.'
A shiver trembled down Tipperton's spine at Captain Brad's ominous words. 'I've heard that,' said the buccan. 'And a bad poison it is; a Chakia healer once claimed it was a Vulg-poisoned arrow that nearly slew Phais. We almost lost her.'
Auly shook his head and looked westward into the dark of the pass. 'Laddie, let us hope we don't run into any Vulgs out on point as we are.'
Just as Tip nodded in agreement, another howl juddered the swirling air.
Under a dark churning sky, Tip and Auly came riding in haste back to the vanguard. 'There's a large slide ahead blocking the way,' said Auly. 'Mayhap the one you spoke of to the captains, King Agron, back when you first planned this campaign. It's quite a pile and will take a heap of clearing to get the wagons through. But the trouble is, Spawn are using it as a rampart. We're going to have to fight them again.'
'Ah me,' said Agron, 'but I was hoping the way was abandoned. It seems as if Modru has set a watch on this pass, even though I had hoped he would think we would march to the Boreal and take to Fjordlander Dragonships and invade along his north shore. We must hurry now that he knows we are here.'
'My lord,' said Captain Jorgen of the council, 'how would he know we are in this pass? The Iron Tower is days
