Only one day later, however, a new bes cohort arrived. The same leader led this new group through the portal and then turned and tossed his blue stone back into the clearing. One psoglav remained. He picked up the stone and ran into the forest with it.
Rurik used his augur power and sought a vision. In it, he saw Abaddon’s army storming the cratered clearing where he stood and entering the gate. There were hundreds of besy, in all shapes and sizes.
Rurik knew what he had to do now. He waited for a little while and then gathered his family. They used Cato’s stone to enter the gateway again. They had to warn the inhabitants of the other world about the bes army, and try and stop its advance. Once they were through the portal, they started tracking the cohort, hoping to find someone to warn.
“We split up after the first day, with Cato and Bard heading west and Astrid and I heading east, to try and find a village or other people to warn. But we didn’t find anyone.”
Rurik and Astrid did find a lone bauk, seemingly separate from the cohort, and they killed it.
Rurik fell silent after his long recitation.
I felt dismay but also relief. Dismay that Rurik confirmed the bes camp below was only the vanguard of a larger, incoming force. Relief that at least we had enough information to make our plan of action.
“We need to destroy the besy in that camp below, and then we need to close the portal for good,” I stated. Everyone nodded at me.
I told the Varangians quickly what happened to the rest of the besy that had come through the first time. They were disappointed to hear that we had no more Greek fire nearby.
“Our home is about a two-and-a-half-days’ walk, and the fire takes us a day to make. I think that will take too much time,” I said and Rurik agreed.
“My Sight was not clear on when Abaddon’s army will go through the gate, but it felt very soon. There was only a little bit of new snow in the crater.”
“Should we split up?” Julian asked. “Some guarding the portal and some battling here?”
I shook my head. “I think that it will take all of us working together to complete both tasks. There are still only 8 of us and more than 20 of them.”
I checked the sky. The sun had probably been up for an hour at this point.
“Since we’re all up, let’s go take a look at the camp together. Owen and I took some tallies yesterday but we still don’t have an accurate species count, I don’t think. We also didn’t see any scouts in the woods around the camp, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. So only speak if it’s absolutely necessary and try to stay in between the trees.” I grinned at Cato as he slowly vanished from sight.
“Let’s observe together for an hour, then split up again, leaving two watching the camp and the rest back here, strategizing.” I stopped and the group started to break apart.
Then, Astrid, who hadn’t said a word to anyone outside of her family yet, asked, “Why is she the stratego?”
Cato and Bard looked embarrassed.
I turned to her and said, “That’s a valid question,” I finally answered. “You don’t know me.”
Astrid sniffed and stared at me. “I think my father should be in charge. He’s the oldest. He’s been fighting besy all his life. This is our tracking mission.”
Rurik started to shake his head, but I waved him back. I answered her evenly, “And this is not his world. This is not your world. You may know more about how to fight besy, but there are other hazards here. There are also other resources. I certainly welcome your help and your input, but this is my family’s problem to solve. I will not cede that responsibility to your father.”
I made my voice steely, “I assumed you came here to help. If that’s not the case, if you don’t want to help, then I ask that you please return to your own world. You will only slow us down.”
Astrid shrugged and turned away.
I met Rurik’s eyes and he smiled at me. “We want to help,” he confirmed, and he turned away too.
I ducked back into my tent to snag my gloves. Bard was waiting for me when I climbed back out.
“Ignore her,” he said quietly. “Since she blew the Greek fire over the walls in the battle at the citadel, she is all arrogance. She will follow your orders.”
“Hopefully, she’ll relax when she gets to know us,” I answered. Bard just shrugged.
SOON we were ranged in the snow on the forested ridge, looking down at the camp. I didn’t see any new tents. There were three or four psoglavs, however, by the tree line and they appeared to be chopping down trees. I also saw two balachko digging a trench.
One of the todorats was training, or taunting, an azhdaya; its flames chased him back and forth across the valley.
They were digging in, maybe building fortifications.
The bes with the tall horns, the leader, paced back in forth in front of a line of bauks. It appeared to be instructing them – it dropped its arm and they lunged forward with their clubs and swords; it shouted something and they roared back.
I handed the binoculars to Rurik and after his initial surprise, he adapted quickly to using them. He passed them along the line. I watched as Astrid waved them off without trying them. I didn’t know what to do with her attitude, other than give her time.
Finally, after about an hour, we left Cato and Theo on the ridge and the rest of us hiked back to the camp.
There, I built up the small fire again and borrowed
