In English, Reggie said, “Sure, no problem brother. But what are you going to do?”
In the universal language, Alex answered, “I’m going to try and end this war once and for all.”
ALEX ACCOMPANIED THE young boy back to the river. Once there, Alex greeted the two Rinta-ah warriors who had carried the boat across.
“Gunta.”
“Gunta, Manta-ak,” answered a warrior who recognized him instantly. With his short stature and lighter skin, Alex stood out wherever he went in Kragdon-ah, which could sometimes be a problem.
The warrior beamed at the boy. “When we sent you to warn Manta-ak, we didn’t think you would bring him back with you!”
“Are the Lasta-ah keeping watch on the bridge? Do they see who comes and goes?”
“No,” the warrior said with a disdainful tone. “They are lazy. They have walked so far that they think this time should be used to rest. Their numbers are so huge that they are overconfident. They have guards set at the perimeters of their camps, but that is all.”
“Good. That overconfidence is what I am counting on. I’d like to ride back across with you, then.”
The two Rinta-ah warriors exchanged glances. “Do you know how many men have come to our land just to kill you?”
“I am hard to kill.”
“We will hide you in the bottom of the boat then, just in case.”
Alex agreed that was a good idea. He laid in the shadows at the bottom of the boat while the two strong warriors hauled it across.
When they reached the other side, the warriors and the boy departed while Alex stayed in the bottom of the boat, thinking, and waiting for dusk.
When the sun set in late afternoon, he waited a few minutes more, then eased from the boat. He thought back to the first time he had been at this spot—after he had thrown himself from the top of the spar tree to get across. He had been beaten and bloody that day. Senta-eh had correctly surmised that the people in the village ahead might not be welcoming after Alex destroyed their bridge, so they had taken a circuitous route around it.
That day, Werda-ak had gotten treed by a gigantic wild boar and had yelled so loudly that he had brought the warriors that were searching for them. Still, Alex thought he could recreate their path now. He headed up the trail toward Rinta-ah for a few hundred strides, then found the same game trail they had used before. It branched off to the east and Alex followed it. As full darkness descended, he moved into the forest.
Alex was armed only with his two-bladed axe, his stone hammer, and the sharp stabbing sword that had belonged to Senta-eh. He knew that no matter how silently he moved through the forest, the predators who might be in the area would be aware of his presence. His scent alone was enough to alert them. He spent as little time in the forest as he thought he could, for that very reason.
After just a few minutes of hiking as quietly as possible, he turned north, hoping to come out to the east of where the Lasta-ah had camped. There was no path going in that direction, so he moved from tree to tree, getting scratched by branches and briars.
When he came out onto the trail that ran below Rinta-ah, he discovered that he had badly underestimated how large the army was that had come to kill him. He thought he would have come out well to the east of it, but instead saw that it stretched in both directions.
He revised the number of warriors in the army upward by hundreds.
No matter what we do, an army this size will overwhelm us. I can use tricks and traps to kill a few more of them, but in the end, any stand we make will have the same result as the three hundred at Thermopylae. I need to end this now.
Alex faded back into the woods, found the path he had been on and followed it east for two hundred more strides.
When he found the path that ran at the edge of the forest this time, he was on the far side of the invading army. He walked north, counting his paces, trying to get an estimate of the true size of the army.
He didn’t like the answer he came up with.
He didn’t want to get too close to their perimeter, but he crept along in the dark, marking where the guards were.
The boy had said they were lazy and overconfident, and Alex agreed. They had guard posts around the perimeter, but there weren’t enough of them and the guards themselves were playing a dice game or telling each other stories.
Alex counted and marked the spots where the guards were, then settled in to watch them. He wanted to know how often the guards were changed. He knew that a lookout was likely to be at his most engaged early in his shift.
After watching the rotation twice, Alex realized that they waited several hours between guard shift changes.
Perfect. Plenty of time for them to get bored and maybe fall asleep.
Chapter Thirty-TwoDraka-ak the Younger
Nature is never completely quiet, even in the heart of the night. Night birds still fly, insects still scurry, and the wind still blows through the trees.
Alex Hawk had been trained to use all cover available, both visual and audible.
He did a slow belly-crawl to within twenty feet of the guard posting he had selected as most vulnerable. He slowed his breathing and focused on the guard. He stood, but he was leaning against his long spear. After watching him for a few minutes, Alex was sure he was asleep standing up.
With
