Motioning Sugama ahead he pressed on up the trail. Watching the back of the man as he hurried ahead, Asayaga wondered whether, if he fell, Tasemu would take commands from Sugama. Another very good reason not to get killed any time soon, he thought dryly.
The storm abated slightly as the day passed. As they turned a bend in the trail he could see a notch in the ridgeline ahead, the crests of the mountains to either side of the pass were concealed by the low grey clouds of the storm.
He paused for a moment, staring up the trail. He had never been this far north, for the ridgeline had always been a backdrop to his war, a distant mystery.
Hakaxa, his lead scout, was down on his knees, gasping for air, with Sugama bent double beside him. Hakaxa looked up as Asayaga approached.
'Crest of trail just ahead.'
Tasemu grunted. 'The crest. At the pass, they'll have something there.'
Asayaga nodded. He looked back again. His men were staggering forward, pressing stoically up the steep incline.
'Five minute rest here,' Asayaga announced. 'I'll scout ahead.'
Tasemu cocked his head slightly, gazing at him with his one good eye. 'No. Sugama with me.'
Tasemu gave him a bit of a hopeful gaze but Asayaga ignored it. No, there would be no knife in the back.
'Sugama,' Asayaga said quietly, and continued on. He could hear the ragged gasps for breath as Sugama struggled to stay up.
The storm was blowing straight into their faces from the north, and he could hear the moaning of the wind as it whistled through stunted trees in the pass just ahead.
He held his hand out, motioning for Sugama to stop, looked back and touched his nose, then flared his nostrils. Sugama stopped, looked at him curiously, and finally realized what Asayaga was doing signified. He sniffed the air. His eyes grew wide.
Good, let him learn that he must use all senses out here.
Asayaga drifted to the side of the trail and moved forward cautiously. The trail turned and his heart froze. Sugama slipped up to his side and a sigh of anguish escaped him.
Asayaga found himself staring intently at a stockade wall. The pass over the top of the mountains went through a notch, the walls of the pass sloping up nearly vertically for a hundred or more feet to either side. The passage was barricaded by a stone wall a dozen feet high, with a crude wooden gate in the centre. Beyond the wall he saw the roof of what must be a garrison house. He sighed inwardly at the thought of the comfort that must lie within.
He saw no one, but the smoke gave it all away. This far north the garrison had to be moredhel.
'Can we go around it?' Sugama asked, whispering.
Asayaga shook his head. 'Not enough time. We don't know how close the pursuit is – those Kingdom soldiers may have bought us time, but we don't know how much. If we try to crawl our way over the mountain to either side, and the moredhel are still chasing us, we'll be destroyed. They'll go through the pass ahead, cut us off…'
'But if we attack and those behind us, Kingdom or moredhel, come up, we're doomed.'
Asayaga forced a grin. 'We take it quickly and hold it. Then let the bastards from the Kingdom sit on the outside while the Dark Brothers come up and finish them. With forty good men I could hold it against three to four hundred.' 'And besides,' he added, 'it's warm in there. We need rest, hot food, and a place to dry out.'
His words trailed off as he caught a glimpse of movement. A sentry, cloak pulled up over his head, peered over the top of the wall for a moment. Asayaga sensed that the sentry was looking straight at him, he froze. Long seconds passed and the head disappeared.
Asayaga crept back from the tree and started down the trail, Sugama following.
'What you did back there, striking me,' Sugama hissed, trying to force the words out through ragged gasps for breath.
Asayaga slowed, fixing him with his gaze. 'If you are demanding a duel there's no damn time now. No time for Tsurani honour, no time even for the Great Game, you Minwanabi lapdog. There is time only for survival. If we die, I can't return home to see my younger brother grown, and you can't serve your masters. Dead, neither of us serves. Do you understand?'
Sugama's anger slowly subsided, and he looked around. Asayaga could almost see the comprehension dawning on the man as to just how alien this world was, how far from home they were, and how trivial matters of honour and politics were at this moment. Asayaga also knew that Sugama had never experienced cold like this in his life.
'It's going to get colder tonight, cold enough that if you sleep, you die.'
Sugama finally nodded.
Asayaga said, 'Good. I need you to help lead. If we are to survive, no man can question your orders. A man who hesitates, who looks to me or Tasemu to see if your order is to be obeyed may get all of us killed. I need you to follow me through this as if I were Ruling Lord of your House. If we survive to get home safely, then we resolve this matter as you like; I will publicly fight a duel, or you may return to the Minwanabi and ask them to send an assassin to kill me. Whatever your honour dictates. But I will let you return home freely and unencumbered if you serve the men who obey us now.'
Sugama looked straight at him, stunned by the bluntness of Asayaga's words.
'We have no time,' Asayaga repeated. 'Will you cooperate?'
Finally Sugama nodded. Without comment, Asayaga gave him a single nod in return, then moved back down the trail, rounding the bend. He knew Sugama was a Minwanabi spy, but he was also a Tsurani noble, and he would never violate this trust. Asayaga had nothing more to fear from him until they were safely behind their own lines. Then there would come a reckoning.
One of his archers tensed, then lowered his bow, arms trembling, as they approached. The cold, the exhaustion, the fact that everyone was soaked to the skin was taking its toll. He had to seize the stockade or none of his command would survive the night.
The last of his men came up, Asayaga looked at them inquiringly. 'Not sure, Force Commander,' one of them reported, 'several times I thought I heard something…' He shrugged. 'It was hard to tell with this wind.'
'They're close,' Tasemu interjected softly.
Asayaga looked over. The old Strike Leader was staring at him with his one good eye. Tasemu had 'the sense'.
Asayaga nodded, ordering the men to gather around.
'Good news,' Asayaga announced. The men looked at him, shivering, pushed to the final limit of exhaustion.
'I found a nice warm cabin ahead. A hot fire, dry bedding, plenty of cooked food, perhaps even some hot wine that will put the fire back in your bellies.'
Some of them looked up, a few allowed their Tsurani impassivity to break with slight smiles.
'We have to kill the owners first. Forest Demons.'
They huddled in close as he explained what had to be done, gazing into their eyes, trying to judge their strength, and also the desperation needed to charge a position not properly scouted.
The men formed up, the few carrying shields deployed to the front ranks, archers to the rear and flanks. As required by tradition he took centre of the first rank of five.
There was no need to issue the command, he simply stepped forward, the tiny phalanx shuffled, stepping off to keep pace. He moved slowly at first, giving them a few extra minutes to get their wind even as they advanced up the steep slope.
Finally they turned the last bend in the trail and the stockade was directly ahead. He continued the walking pace for a few more seconds, perhaps the guard would be looking the other way, but even as the thought formed the high piercing wail of a horn echoed.
'Charge!'
They sprinted straight for the gate, Asayaga leading the way, stumpy legs churning through the slushy snow. The range closed, fifty paces, forty, down to thirty. The lone guard raised a bow, took aim, and released the string. Asayaga heard the snap of the arrow hit the shield of the man next to him.
The gate loomed up in front of them and Asayaga braced himself for the impact. Without slowing the phalanx
