Maybe, Khollo replied. Or, I will by the time we return at any rate.
Good, Kanin replied, gliding for a few seconds. If you have a plan, then I am not worried.
Khollo frowned unhappily. He appreciated Kanin’s confidence, but the repeated burden of coming up with a successful battle strategy was wearing on him. So far, he had a perfect record. But what if this time, when everything was on the line, it all went wrong?
When they returned to Relam’s camp in the pass, Khollo realized that it had grown westward, an oblong blob of tents tacked onto the main body of the army. In the center of the new arrivals, he saw a pale blue wolf’s head on a field of white, the symbol of Lord Horam of Ishkabur.
They made it! Khollo said relieved. As they had flown, he had worried that Lord Horam had been pursuing the force of wounded vertaga that had returned to Dun Carryl, and were about to stumble onto an enemy fortress. But, it seemed his fears had been for nothing. Horam was here, with several hundred soldiers, swelling Relam’s ranks even more.
Kanin began descending lazily, gliding in a downward spiral over the camp. Our army is strong, he observed critically. But what stands against us?
I don’t know, Khollo replied grimly. And that’s the biggest problem facing us right now, the things we don’t know. How many entrances to the underground do the vertaga have? What are their numbers? What weapons are they armed with? How strong is the gate? Are there hidden arrow slits lining the walls of the canyon all the way down?
That would be bad, Kanin said worriedly. You have a plan, yes?
Still working on it, Khollo replied. There’s a lot of things to consider with this one.
Consider faster, Kanin grumbled as he began the final descent, dropping straight down towards the ground. I want to hear how we will beat the vertaga.
There’s no guarantee we will beat the vertaga, Khollo reminded the dragon.
That is hardly reassuring, Kanin observed as he settled on the ground, folding his wings.
Khollo slid down from Kanin’s back. I know, but it’s the truth. He started to turn towards the tent, then stopped, frowning. The leather strap which ran around Kanin’s middle was stretched and fraying. He loosened it slightly, thinking perhaps it was under too much strain. I’ll have to do something about that at some point, he thought.
Putting the matter from his mind for the moment, Khollo turned to the tent Kanin had landed in front of, a structure of plain canvas, albeit larger than its neighbors. A full squad of guardsmen flanked the entrance, standing rigidly at attention. At the end of the line stood Relam’s bear head and crown standard, flapping gently in the light breeze.
Almost immediately, the front of the tent exploded as Relam emerged, clad for battle. He smiled with relief when he saw Khollo and Kanin.
“Welcome back, Keepers. What did you find on your search?”
“A lot of mountains,” Khollo said truthfully. “And Dun Carryl.”
Relam’s eyes lit up with interest. “Indeed,” he murmured. “Please, come in. I want to know everything about this place.” Khollo followed Relam into the tent. Kanin hesitated a moment, then lowered his body to the ground and shoved his head in after the two young men.
The tent was sparsely furnished, especially considering it was the current residence of a king. A low folding cot was tucked against the back wall, a neatly rolled bedroll perched on top of it. In the center was a wide, but rickety table, over which was spread a map of the kingdom. A few camp chairs were ranged around the table, but Relam remained standing so Khollo did as well.
“We found Dun Carryl this morning,” Khollo began, pointing to the place on the map. “It backs up to this tremendous peak here, and the fortress actually appears to be inside the mountain.”
“And, therefore, nearly impossible to breach,” Relam muttered. “Continue.”
“The mountain is surrounded by heathland, on the near side at least. A gray, dead-looking place. Then there is a canyon that runs in a straight line until it widens out around a long lake. At the far end of the lake is the gate into the fortress.” He looked up from the map and saw Relam struggling to follow along. “Do you have any writing materials lying around?”
“Of course,” Relam said quickly, stopping and rummaging under the table. “Here,” he said, handing a writing stick and a slightly crumpled sheet of parchment to Khollo.
The young Keeper spread the parchment over the map and began drawing Dun Carryl and the surrounding land, chewing his lower lip thoughtfully as he worked. “So . . . here is the mountain . . . the canyon . . . the lake . . . and the entrance to Dun Carryl. Made of stone, Kanin thinks. Very sturdy.”
“Set back into the cliff, I assume?”
“Actually, no. It’s flush with the cliff face, which reduces the number of defenders that can shoot down at us while we breach the gate.”
“That’s surprising. Makes you wonder what other tricks and traps line the valley.”
“Exactly my concern,” Khollo agreed. “For all we know, there are secret entrances along the canyon which will allow the vertaga to deploy troops behind our forces or rain arrows on us. There might even be rigged avalanches in some places if they are particularly clever and devious.”
“So what do you propose?” Relam asked briskly, leaning forward and looking from Khollo to Kanin and back again.
Khollo smiled wryly. “Let me lay out some concerns first: One, we don’t know how many vertaga we are up against. How many soldiers did Ishkabur send?”
“About five hundred.”
“Then we have a little over seven thousand warriors now, with Horam’s addition,” Khollo continued, chewing
