do well on our own feet.' Ashtaway sensed that his own words were inflammatory, but he found it impossible to hold his tongue. The blunt conversation with the red- faced man seemed to arouse an instinctive antipathy.
'Animal slaves?' The knight's mustache quivered in indignation, and his fists clenched into firm knots. 'These steeds are the boldest warriors on four legs! Never insult them-for to do so is to insult the men who ride them! To do that is to die.'
The words hit the Kagonesti with the piercing force of a hot lance. 'If there have been insults uttered, it was not I who began the exchange,' Ash replied grimly, his own fingers curling inward. 'I was led to believe that my services would be of some aid to the knights, and to my friend, Sir Kamford Willis. If that is not the case, I will go-or I will fight, whichever you choose.'
His hazel eyes, darkened in the night, remained unwaveringly on the face of the belligerent knight. A small voice grew louder within him, suggesting that perhaps his coming here was a mistake, that humans and wild elves could not work together.
'Patience, Sir Blayne.' It was Sir Kamford who cut through the tension with a soothing voice. 'As I told you- and told the lords of the orders as well-Ashtaway has hunted over this trail on foot. But if he suspects that our horses will pass, I'm prepared to believe him.'
'He passed our pickets, all right. He must know a little something,' murmured another knight, not unkindly.
The one called Sir Blayne made a visible but only partially successful effort to relax. 'Very well.' He addressed Ashtaway. 'Your offer of help is not unwelcome. You should know, however, that these hundred knights could be very useful on the plains during this summer. If our mission here comes to naught, the loss could be catastrophic.'
'I cannot control the success or failure of your mission, but I can see that you will be able to approach Sanction from the southeast. The rest will be up to you.'
Ashtaway felt the flame of his anger slowly doused. As the hazy sense of instinctive rage faded, he wondered about its sudden force and fury, and he told himself that he would have to work hard to hold that tendency at bay.
'That is all we ask,' Sir Kamford declared, silencing Sir Blayne with a firm look. 'Can you tell us what we will do from here?'
'In the morning, we leave this valley, crossing the north ridge. In four or five days, we should reach the summit of the pass, and from there you will be able to see your destination.'
'Up the north ridge of this valley?' Another knight spoke, faintly skeptical. 'That didn't look like any kind of slope for riders.'
Ashtaway shrugged. 'If the little climb out of here is going to stop you, then I can say with certainty that your horses will never make it over the pass. I am sorry.'
'We can make it!' Sir Kamford snapped. 'We'll dismount and lead the horses on foot over the rough parts.'
'I still say we'd be more use forming a line of charge on the plains, fighting beside Lord Huma in the battle that will decide this war!' Sir Blayne, apparently, could not keep himself quiet.
'Why aren't you there, then?' Ash asked in genuine confusion. 'Are you not your own master?' He couldn't understand why the man had joined this mission if he was so doubtful of a positive outcome. Certainly no Kagonesti would ever consent to such behavior.
'Orders,' growled the knight, as if begrudging the word. 'I am a loyal knight who follows the commands of his lord.'
'But if you do not wish to attack Sanction, then don't,' argued the brave. 'I do not wish to lead any warriors where they are afraid to go.'
'How dare you-a painted savage-question my courage?' snarled Sir Blayne, and this time his fist closed around the hilt of his sword.
'Enough!' barked Sir Kamford, stepping between the elf and the angry knight. He fixed Ash with a level gaze. 'There is none who may question the courage of any of my knights without questioning my own. And Sir Blayne is right. We will not tolerate such insinuations.'
Ash remained silent as the leader of the humans turned to his companion. 'And I remind you, good Knight of the Crown, to remember your oath. It is unbecoming that we bicker thus in the presence of one who may help us to a spectacular victory. Neither should we make slander against his motivations or his noble people.'
Sir Blayne stood stiff and tall, and for several moments Ashtaway wondered if he would be able to control himself. Finally he exhaled and bowed his head stiffly. 'You show us the way to Sanction, and our courage will be displayed before all.'
Ash accepted the reply. 'I will go to the ridge crest to sleep tonight, and return with the dawn. You should be ready to walk, then, if haste is of importance.' 'It is,' Sir Kamford declared.
The Kagonesti turned and vanished into the night, seeking his high ledge for a night's rest. He had a strong feeling that most of the knights were not disappointed to see him go.
Chapter 17
'That's the pass?' Sir Kamford was frankly dubious, he stood with Ashtaway on a promontory of rock, staring up at two sheer mountain faces. A narrow notch between them showed a gap of smoky sky, dark clouds roiling and seething in a fiery, unnatural manner. 'Beyond lies the place you call Sanction,' Ash confirmed. 'The clouds you see are not born of the sky, but of the earth-they are belched from the three great mountains of fire.' The elf looked up at the dark, heavy overcast, feeling as though the air itself oppressed him. This grim, omnipresent blackness was one reason, perhaps the strongest, that he had never liked this place.
Behind them, the file of knights waited in the shelter of a narrow canyon. For five days they had followed the paths of the Kagonesti, as Ashtaway had led them through the trackless heart of the Khalkists. Now, with the final barrier before them, the wild elf wondered how they would fare.
In truth, he had been favorably impressed by the knights. Of course, many were arrogant and rude, even hostile, but he was honest enough to realize that many Kagonesti were the same way. During the walk, he had remained separate from the bulk of the knights, though he spoke with Sir Kamford frequently, discussing possible routes and sharing some of his knowledge of these rugged mountains. He made particular effort to avoid Sir Blayne, for he sensed the sparking of anger within himself whenever their eyes so much as met.
The fact that all of these warriors obeyed the bidding of a single captain, Sir Kamford Willis, he found intriguing and, he had to admit, quite useful. To have an attack commence when all the fighters were ready, rather than when a single warrior could no longer contain his bloodthirsty enthusiasm, would be an effective tactic. He could see easily that human customs allowed an army to perform encirclements, traps, ambushes, and even retreats with an order and precision that the wild elves had never known.
Also, he had had a chance to examine the armor and weaponry of the knights, and found it to be remarkably impervious to harm, wear, or age. Of course, the keen head of Ash's axe, too, was made of a strong, hard metal, and it had lasted through many generations of Kagonesti. Still, such weapons were rare among the wild elves, while every one of these knights had a great steel sword, as well as a lance, a dagger long enough to be called a short sword, and a sturdy shield. The elf suspected that, between his shield and plate mail armor, a knight would be virtually invulnerable to the attacks of a single warrior.
He wondered what the knights felt about these wild places through which he took them, and about the wild elf who showed them the path. Did they distrust him? Fear or admire him? He couldn't know, naturally, and a voice within Ashtaway told him that he shouldn't care. Certainly most Kagonesti-and every previous Pathfinder-would have been disinterested in the opinions of a human. Why should it matter to Ash? He couldn't answer the 'why,' but he knew that it did matter.
Of course, some of the humans-most notably Sir Blayne-had been sullen and hostile, but for the most part the riders had expressed wonder at the places to which he had taken them. They were a brave lot. Never had the
