grandsire. It was Hartraft, storming forward, leading the charge, a short warrior wearing a lacquered breastplate by his side. Hartraft came in at the run, bow cast aside, both hands held high on his heavy sword.
Bovai spared a final glance at his brother even as he began to raise his dagger.
The sword arced in. There was a brilliant flash of light… and then silence.
'No!'
Dennis turned even as he completed the blow, spinning around on his heel, watching as Bovai's head tumbled away, striking the snow, body collapsing. Screaming, he struck again at the body, the blow nearly cutting Bovai in half at the waist. Sobbing, he drew the blade back, ready to strike again, then saw that Asayaga had raced past, had killed one moredhel and was closing on another. Behind him another moredhel was closing in, spear lowered… and his mind suddenly conjured the image of Jurgen trying to save Richard in similar circumstances, for Asayaga was struggling to save one of the Kingdom privates who was down on the ground, desperately trying to block a moredhel closing in with raised sword.
Dennis sprinted forward.
'Asayaga!'
The Tsurani did not hear him.
He was too far off to close in time. Still holding his blade with both hands he lofted it behind his head and threw. The sword tumbled end over end, slamming into the moredhel even as he braced himself to run his spear through Asayaga's back.
The sword struck so hard that the moredhel leapt backwards as if yanked from behind, his only sound the breath knocked from his lungs. Asayaga, killing his own opponent a second later, turned and saw Dennis standing weaponless, the moredhel between them, kicking and thrashing, Dennis's sword stuck in his side.
Men charged past, eyes wide with lust and battle-fury. The moredhel, caught so completely by surprise, had given way in panic and were running to where the goblins and human cavalry waited over the distant rise. Few made it, many falling with arrows in their backs, or were cut down as they fled. The humans and goblins on the far side of the hill came swarming up, drawn by the loud outcry at the end of the battle between Tinuva and Bovai. After hours of bored waiting many had built fires; a few were even asleep, fewer still on the crest of the hill were in armour or even had weapons.
Within seconds they, too, were breaking in panic as a squad of Kingdom and Tsurani troops, led by Tasemu, hit their flank. The watchers on the hill broke, running back down to the camp, screaming in terror that they were being attacked by hundreds.
The moredhel's advantage and the edge gained by having calvary vanished in an instant. Horsemen died before they could saddle their mounts, and in the first onslaught, so many moredhel, men, and goblins were killed that within minutes Dennis's and Asayaga's command held the edge. One more minute, and the goblins broke in panic.
More than one goblin turned on the moredhel commanders who tried to rally them, and soon men, goblins and moredhel were slaying each other in a mad frenzy as all tried to escape.
The ground was littered with the dead and dying. Tasemu marched forward, a squad of Kingdom soldiers forming a ring of archers around him. A ragged line of Tsurani crested the hill, slaying everyone in their path as they advanced, and more Kingdom soldiers fell in around their disciplined line, loosing bolt after bolt into the milling, terrified mob.
Behind Dennis, who stood in a daze, Gregory held his friend and wept.
Asayaga joined Dennis, and the two of them slowly approached the fallen elf.
Tinuva looked up at them and smiled. 'Foolish, you should have gone over the bridge,' he whispered.
'We would not leave you here,' Asayaga said.
'Bovai?'
'I killed him,' Dennis replied, voice trembling.
Tinuva sighed. 'Bury him beside me: we were brothers once.'
Dennis nodded.
Tinuva sighed. His eyes flickered and then he looked back at Dennis and Asayaga. 'Fate has made you enemies, now let honour turn that fate.'
As he started to slip away he began to chant softly. Dennis recognized the words as eledhel, but did not know their meaning.
Gregory, sobbing, spoke the words with him and at last Tinuva's voice fell silent, his spirit slipping away to the distant shore of the Blessed Isle.
Dennis reached down and gently touched Tinuva's forehead. 'Go in peace my friend,' he whispered.
Asayaga did the same, touching Tinuva's blood and anointing his forehead with it.
The two looked at each other in the grim silence, then together went to finish the fight.
SEVENTEEN. PARTING
The evening was quiet.
Cresting the ridgeline, Dennis stopped and shaded his eyes from the glare of the sun. Gregory was riding up the slope, trailed by the half-dozen scouts who had been walking point.
'It's clear ahead,' Gregory said. 'Another mile we'll cross the river and be into the dwarves' territory. I dare say they already know we are approaching.'
Dennis nodded. Turning, he looked back at the column. Kingdom and Tsurani troops advanced at an easy pace – more than one had a woman from Wolfgar's fort at his side, and children were chattering, dodging back and forth. In the middle of the column was a line of a dozen horses many of them taken from the enemy dragging palanquins which bore the wounded who had been carried out from the battle. No one had been left behind this time.
Asayaga, who had been walking by Alyssa's side, broke away and came forward. As he did so, all eyes followed him and the group slowed, coming to a stop without orders. In the clearing at the top of the ridge the men gradually started to break apart from each other, Kingdom troops to one side, Tsurani to the other.
Asayaga reached the crest and nodded to Gregory.
'I take it the dwarf realm is just ahead.'
Gregory nodded.
'Then you are home safe. I doubt if they would welcome us.'
'No, Asayaga, they wouldn't.'
'Then Hartraft, our truce is at an end. We have reached the lines where our war resumes.'
Dennis nodded, his hand drifting to the hilt of his sword.
Asayaga's did the same.
Tsurani and Kingdom soldiers slowly moved to take up positions behind their respective commanders. The women and children felt something coming and retreated into a small knot in front of the horses.
The two leaders stared at each other. Dennis could sense the expectant hush, and knew that everyone was waiting for what had to come. He thought of his duty, for here were thirty-one surviving Tsurani – enemies who, if he let them go today, he would undoubtedly face again come spring; enemies who might slay other Kingdom soldiers, for they had learned their skills well in the last month and would be the nucleus of a formidable unit.
'What are you thinking, Hartraft?'
'I am thinking that if I let you go now, you could do considerable damage to my side come next spring.'
'Just as much damage as you will do to us, no doubt.'
Dennis looked past Asayaga. Roxanne and Alyssa were standing nearby, watching, both silent. Behind them he could see so much more – his burning keep, Gwenynth dying, Jurgen in his cold grave, and others as well, young Richard and Osami, the look in Asayaga's eyes as he cradled his nephew and then knelt by Tinuva's side.
Tinuva, buried in the woods thirty miles to the north, resting beside his brother… He wondered if somehow the two would find peace together in their afterworld.
Dennis smiled. His hand fell away from the hilt of his sword and he extended it to Asayaga. 'Honoured enemy,' he whispered.
Asayaga, not sure if this was the start of the challenge, or something else, grasped Dennis's hand. 'Honoured
