“There’s something else, sir …” After seeing the Commander’s reaction, Lasgol almost did not dare show him the message that had been left at the entrance to the pass.
When he showed them the two dead soldiers, Sven roared with rage, as he had expected.
“How dare they! These are Norghanian soldiers! They have no respect!”
“It’s a message they’ve left for us,” Gatik explained in a more restrained voice. “They knew we were coming. It’s a clear warning.”
“So that we don’t cross?” Sven asked.
Gatik nodded. “That’s right. They’re warning us what’ll happen to us if we cross. It’s a rather barbaric way of sending us a serious warning, but a very effective one. I’ve understood it, and I have no doubts about it. Right, Lasgol?”
“Yes sir.” He glanced at Enker and Misten. “That’s what we understand too.”
Sven shook his head and muttered something under his breath. “Take them down from there and give them a decent burial. They’re Norghanian soldiers.”
“With honors?” one if his guards asked.
“Of course.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Gatik warned him. He pointed up at the snow-capped peaks. “They’ll see the smoke and know we’ve arrived.”
“The tracks indicate that they have watch patrols on the other side of the pass,” Lasgol said quickly, confirming what the First Ranger had suggested. A Norghanian soldier’s burial with honors involved burning his corpse on a funerary pyre, and the Wild Ones would see the smoke from the far side of the mountains.
“Fine,” Sven said. “We’ll move on and leave some men behind to give them a decent burial. Take them down.”
The two soldiers were quickly taken down and carried away.
“You three,” he said to Lasgol, Enker and Misten. “Go forward and make sure there’s no ambush waiting for us on the other side. When it’s clear, one of you come back and let us know.”
Lasgol knew that this was a very dangerous order. There was a good chance that their enemies would be waiting for them on the other side. It might be an advance party, or it might be an ambush by a thousand Wild Ones. In either case, it was extremely dangerous, and the look on Enker and Misten’s faces confirmed this.
“The Rangers will do their duty and warn us if we’re going head-first into an ambush,” Gatik said. “There’s nothing better than a Ranger for this type of errand,” he added with conviction, and glanced at Lasgol.
They could not refuse. Gatik was the most senior of the Rangers after Gondabar and the leaders of the Camp and the Shelter.
Lasgol signaled to Ona, who was waiting beside Trotter on one side of the entrance to the pass, to let her know they were moving on. The three Rangers mounted and went on into the pass, while the troops rested and prepared to cross, once it was established that it was safe.
“I’ll go first,” Enker said as they entered the deep, rocky gorge. “I’m an Explorer, and the most experienced.”
“I can do it too,” Lasgol objected. “Ona helps me.”
“It’ll be better if I go. You follow a little behind in case I’m attacked or fall into a trap, and Misten can go last with Fire Arrows. If we’re attacked, release high toward our own side as a signal, so they can see it.”
“I’ve got two Fire Arrows ready,” Misten said. “They’re soaked in oil, and they burn with a very black smoke that’s visible from a long way off.”
“Perfect. That’s that sorted out, then,” Enker said, and took the lead.
As they went forward through the pass at a distance of five hundred paces from one another, they looked constantly in every direction, almost involuntarily. Lasgol had the feeling that at any moment hundreds of gigantic Wild Ones were going to hurl themselves at them, although his mind told him that this was impossible. The walls of the gorge were very high and practically vertical. Even so, he was distinctly uneasy. He used his Gift and called upon Hawk’s Eye, Cat-like Agility, Improved Reflexes and Owl Hearing, just in case.
Alert. Track, he told Ona.
The panther looked at him. Her eyes were uneasy.
Yes, there’s danger. The Wild Ones of the Ice are right ahead, I’m sure of it. We have to see whether we can cross the pass.
Ona growled. She had understood. She would be on the alert.
Enker went on, bow in hand, his eyes fixed on the ground, checking everything in front of him. Lasgol kept an eye on the heights and the distance, trying to decipher the sound of the breeze as it brushed against the walls of the pass on its way to him. He was restless, and nor was he the only one: Ona was equally so. She had discovered the trail of a dozen Wild Ones beside the right-hand wall and was following it with her ears pricked and the fur on her tail on end. Misten, behind them, was carrying three elemental arrows in one hand and his bow in the other, ready to raise the alarm.
They were nearing the exit of the pass, and this was the most complicated moment. Enker dismounted, crouched and studied the trail, trying to see whether there were any signs of a trap ahead. Lasgol did the same and leapt off Trotter. He nocked an arrow and watched Enker, who was already leaving the exit at a crouch, hugging the left wall as he went. Lasgol was aware that the older Ranger’s chances of survival were growing incrementally less with each step he took outside the canyon mouth.
Suddenly Enker released in a lightning-fast move. He nocked again and released again, confidently, then turned and ran into the pass. As
