'What you saying? Another force?'
'Maybe. I've never seen anything like it before.'
'Could that be Jennesta,' Coilla asked, 'and the bunch westward somebody else?'
'No. They have a totally different… flavour. Jennesta's a murky diamond. Whatever this is, it's… a whole string of them, only shining white. If I was using my eyes for this I'd be blinded.'
'Could it be natural?' Stryke said.
'Possibly. Sometimes you get a particularly strong impression from something like a large, fast-flowing river, or certain rich mineral seams. And of course we don't really know Acurial very well; there could be any number of things that affect farsight. Still damn strange though.' He pulled his hand from the earth. 'Like a second opinion from Spurral? Her gift's at least as strong as mine.'
Stryke pondered the offer. 'That won't tell us any more than we know, will it?'
'Unlikely.'
'Then we'll hope it's natural, and harmless. Forget it. It's Jennesta we're concerned about. Let's head west.'
As Jup had said the distance wasn't too great, Stryke ordered the band to lead their horses, the better to approach with stealth.
Their march took them into the lengthening shadows of evening. Until at last a pathfinder returned noiselessly to tell them the encampment was ahead.
It lay in a grassy hollow at the foot of a chalk cliff. There were guards, but they were easily dealt with. On their bellies, the band peered down at the camp from the cliff-top. There were perhaps a couple of hundred humans present, mostly uniformed. Three covered wagons stood to one side of the clearing, and a carriage, presumably Jennesta's, was parked near its centre.
'How we going to deal with that many, Stryke?' Coilla said.
'We've faced bigger odds.'
'Hmm. Something wily might be better.'
'You're our mistress of strategy. So strat.'
She smiled. 'I'll think of something.'
Stretched out full-length nearby, Spurral idly worked her fingers into the sward. She closed her eyes.
' Shit!' The ground could have been boiling hot going by the speed with which she pulled out her fingers.
' Ssshhh! Keep it down,' Jup whispered. He saw how she looked. 'What is it?'
'I just used the sight. Think I picked up what you did, only this seems a hell of a lot stronger and closer. It's really intense, Jup.'
'Where?' Stryke demanded.
She turned and pointed to the darkening plain behind them.
Stryke looked up and down the Wolverine line. 'Anybody see anything out there?'
Nobody could.
'If that's another bunch of Jennesta's supporters,' Coilla speculated, 'it could be a flanking action.'
'That makes us sitting ducks. All of you: back from the edge and down to the plain.'
They withdrew, moving furtively. They knew Jennesta would have more guards stationed around the camp, and probably patrols. The last thing they needed was to alert them.
Back on the plain, they peered into the gathering gloom.
Haskeer glared at Jup. 'You sure your female's right about this? I can't see a fucking thing.'
' His female,' Spurral told him, 'is quite capable of speaking for herself; and yes, I'm sure.'
Haskeer grunted but otherwise kept quiet.
They all stood motionless for several silent minutes, surveying the plain. Stryke wasn't alone in starting to think it was some kind of mistake.
It was Pepperdyne who pointed and said, 'What's that?'
Stryke strained his eyes. 'Can't see anything.'
Coilla chimed in with, 'I can! Look, just to the right of that stand of trees.'
Something was coming out of the murk. As it got nearer they realised it was someone mounted on a white horse. A slight figure, lean and straight-backed.
It came near enough for them to make out what kind of being it was.
'What the fuck?' Haskeer exclaimed, voicing the amazement they all felt.
The rider was unmistakably of a race that didn't exist on Acurial.
Halting just short of the band, the rider lifted her hand in a gesture of greeting. 'I'm here in peace. I intend you no harm.'
Stryke found his tongue. 'Who are you?'
'My name is Pelli Madayar.'
'You're an elf.'
'Very observant of you, Captain Stryke.'
'How do you know my name? What the hell is — '
'There are some things you'll have to take on trust.'
'Like a member of the elfin race turning up here?' Coilla said. 'We need more than trust to take that in our stride. Where are you from?'
'That's not important.'
'Is there a tribe of elves living in Acurial we didn't know about?' Stryke persisted.
'As I said, that's not important.'
'If you're not from this land you must have come from… elsewhere.'
'As you did.'
Stryke was taken aback by that, as they all were. 'You seem to know a hell of a lot about us.'
'Perhaps. But I repeat: it's not my intention to do you harm.'
Jup said, 'You wouldn't have come from Maras-Dantia, would you?'
'No. My kind are not confined to any one world. No more than orcs are, as you have found.'
'You with Jennesta?' Stryke wanted to know.
'No. My allegiance lies elsewhere and shouldn't concern you.'
'Helpful, ain't she?' Haskeer muttered.
'There are some things it's better you should not know.'
'Is that so? So how about we beat it out of you?'
The elf was unruffled. 'I wouldn't advise you trying that. We don't want to hurt you.'
Haskeer laughed derisively. 'Hurt us? You and whose army?'
No sooner had he spoken than some of the grunts started shouting and pointing along the plain. A group of riders, about equal in number to the Wolverines, were emerging from the shadows. Many in the band went for their swords.
As the newcomers slowly advanced, their nature could be seen. There were goblins, trolls and harpies in their ranks, along with centaurs, gremlins, gnomes, satyrs, kobolds, were-beasts, changelings and individuals from many other races, including some the orcs hadn't seen before.
'This just gets creepier,' Jup remarked, clutching his staff with rapidly whitening knuckles.
'Who the hell are you, Madayar, and what do you want?' Stryke demanded.
'We've come to parley.'
'About what?'
'You have certain things that don't rightfully belong to you. Our duty is to retrieve them.'
'What things?'
'She means the stars, Stryke,' Coilla reckoned.
'Yes,' the elf confirmed. 'The artefacts more properly known as instrumentalities. They cannot stay in your possession.'
'They're ours by right!' Stryke thundered. 'We fought and bled for them. Some of us died on the way.'
'Yeah,' Haskeer added, 'you want 'em, you rip 'em from our corpses.'
'You have no understanding of their power.'
