The Exile looked at Ruekig. “Can I trust you?” he asked simply.
Ruekig shrugged. “That is for you to decide.”
“That’s a no,” Tarq said flatly, rummaging in his pack for a rope.
Garnuk frowned. “I could turn you loose, if you wanted” he said to Ruekig.
The commander frowned. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am,” Garnuk assured him. “But, I must ask you not to mention our existence to the Ramshuk. If he learns I am still alive, he will become distracted. And if he is distracted hunting me, it will take his focus away from defending our people and thwarting the Sthan. Do you understand?”
Ruekig nodded slowly. “I understand,” he said at last. “And I know we are on the same side . . . for now.”
“You do, but the Ramshuk may not agree,” Garnuk pointed out. “It is safer for you, and for our people, if the existence of our group is not brought to light.”
“You have my word,” Ruekig said. “I swear on the spirits themselves, the Ramshuk will not hear anything about you or your band from me.”
Tarq grunted in surprise. “That is a serious oath to be making,” he observed.
Ruekig shrugged. “A small price, for my freedom. And for a general and captain I believe in.” He smiled slightly, nodding to Garnuk and Tarq. “The two of you have given me much to think about. Perhaps we will meet again, but if we do not I want you to know you have my respect and gratitude.”
“May the spirits watch over you, Ruekig,” Garnuk replied graciously.
Tarq smiled as well, and reached into his pack. “If you are leaving, you will need this,” he said, tossing Ruekig’s axe to him.
The commander grinned and caught the weapon easily. “Thank you. Good luck, Tarq. Good luck, Garnuk. I hope our paths cross again.”
“Be careful,” Garnuk warned. “These lands are swarming with our enemies.”
“That they are,” Ruekig agreed. “But I’m not helpless. Or foolish,” he added, glancing at Tarq. “I will be fine.” He saluted Garnuk crisply, then continued on his way. The Exile watched him go, smiling slightly.
“Much has changed,” Tarq murmured. “There goes a vertag who once thought us his enemy.”
Garnuk nodded solemnly in agreement. “If only the rest of our people could be convinced,” he mused.
Tarq laughed. “It would take a long time to capture them one by one and spend five days converting them.”
“Far too long,” Garnuk agreed. “I hope this all works out in the end.”
“It will,” Tarq said confidently. “We have you, after all.”
“You could try shouldering the burden of leadership every once in a while,” Garnuk muttered.
“It would crush me,” Tarq said simply. “I am capable, a good fighter, reasonably smart. But you are the only one among us with the natural skills to snatch victory from defeat.”
“I hope I can do so one more time,” Garnuk murmured. “I don’t really care what comes after. I just want to protect our people and put an end to this, whatever that takes.”
Tarq eyed his general uncertainly, wondering what plans he had come up with over the last few days. “You’re not planning on doing something foolish, are you?”
“No,” Garnuk assured him. “Not yet, anyway. Come on. We have a long way to go.”
Tarq nodded and strode down to the base of the hill, gathering the warriors of Shadow Squadron to him and preparing them to move out. Garnuk surveyed them, all bundled in thick, dark, furs that stood out against the snow. Frowning, he jumped down from the ledge and scooped up a double handful of snow. Then, he moved up behind Tarq and slammed the snow onto his back, sending him stumbling.
The captain spun around, cursing, and saw Garnuk. “What was that?” he asked warily.
Garnuk took his captain by the shoulders and spun him around, surveying his handiwork. The furs on Tarq’s back were powdered white now, far less noticeable. With a few more applications, he would blend in quite well.
“We’re a little obvious as we are,” Garnuk explained to the group at large. “Roll in the snow, get the outsides of your furs and cloaks good and covered. We don’t want that dragon coming down on us.”
The warriors dropped immediately and rolled onto their backs, coating themselves in snow as best they could. Some took turns slamming piles of snow on each other’s backs to fill in the gaps. Eventually, a large group of partially camouflaged vertaga were standing before Garnuk, some of them shivering slightly.
“Not bad,” he muttered. “If you notice someone light on snow, hit them with some first chance you get. We need to avoid being seen on our way back to the mountains. Now, let’s get moving.”
Garnuk turned to go, and almost immediately felt several heavy impacts on his back. He stumbled, fell, and sprawled in the snow.
“What was that?” he demanded, turning on Tarq.
The captain shrugged. “Can’t have our leader being the only noticeable one out of all of us,” he explained, his hands coated in melting white crystals. “You’ll blend in now too.”
Garnuk scowled and got to his feet deliberately, noticing that his cloak and furs were considerably heavier than before. “Thank you,” he managed, before turning and striking out to the southeast. Behind him, Tarq chuckled and waved for the others to follow him as the journey home began.
The Exile led the way, keeping a steady but not unreasonable pace. There was little reason to hurry, since it would not be difficult to beat the Sthan army back to the mountains. They would be burdened by the siege equipment they had brought, as well as the countless wagons of supplies. Limited by the slowest member of the group, forced to waste hours each day breaking camp in the morning and setting up a new camp each night, the army would be positively crawling across the Basin.
While they ran, Garnuk kept eight warriors in a loose ring around the main body of his forces. These eight were tasked with watching the horizon in every direction for threats, as well as the pale blue skies above. The watchers were rotated every hour to break up the monotony and make sure none of them became bored or distracted. A single lapse in concentration could allow the dragon to approach undetected, and cost the lives of every vertaga under Garnuk’s command.
At the end of the first day, Garnuk gathered his warriors to him, eight scouts facing out from the group still, watching diligently. Garnuk raised his voice enough so they all could hear him, making sure he had their attention.
“There’s something we need to decide,” he announced. “And it’s a decision I think that we should make together, for it affects us all.”
He looked around at the others, holding their gaze for a moment, then continued. “We need to decide if we will make camp during the nights, or if we will press on to return home with all speed.”
“The army is not moving,” Tarq rumbled. “There is no need for such haste.”
“Not with respect to the army,” Garnuk agreed. “I am more worried about the dragon.”
Several warriors flinched at that and looked around quickly, as though expecting the beast to come hurtling out of the night. Garnuk waited another moment, then spoke again.
“The less we stop, the sooner we return home,” he reminded the vertaga massed before him. “And once we are in the mountains, we will be far safer.”
“I will run with you, general,” one of the warriors at the rear called. “Without stopping if I must.”
Garnuk nodded gratefully. “That’s one vote,” he said to the others. “What do the rest of you think?”
“Not all of us may be able to keep the sort of pace you normally set, general,” Tarq warned. “And if someone gets hurt or drops from exhaustion, we will lose much time.”
“That’s why I set a slower pace today,” Garnuk replied. “To see how you would all hold up. At this rate, we could be back among our mountains in another three days.”
The others murmured uncertainly at that. Three days was a long time to run without significant
rest, even for a vertag. Even for vertaga who had once been elite warriors and had served as special forces under Garnuk for several months. This would be a test of endurance.
“I will do it,” another vertag called from the center of the group. “If the general thinks this is the best way to stay alive, then I am all for it. As long as there is time for us to rest when we do finally return.”
Mumbled agreement rippled through the others, and several warriors hitched their packs higher on their backs, faces set in hard, determined lines.
“Then we are agreed?” Garnuk asked.
“Lead on, general,” Tarq replied. “We are with you.”
Garnuk nodded. “Then we had best be off. Watchers, keep rotating every hour.”
The Exile turned and jogged off into the night. There was the slightest hesitation, then the others were off and running as well, forming into three ranks almost automatically, the protective watchers staying in a loose ring around the others.
Garnuk tried to drive the dragon and the army from his mind and focus on running, but throughout the night a niggling fear in the back of his mind continually made its presence known. The dragon could appear at any moment, and it would all be over. All his plans, all of his hard work would be for nothing, reduced to a smear of ash on the pristine white surface of the plains.
As he had the thought, Garnuk looked back and swore, cursing himself for a fool. He should have realized earlier that they were leaving a massive trail, a swath of churned and flattened snow that ran in a nearly straight line all the way back to the camp they had left the previous day. As he began thinking about a solution to the problem, Tarq increased his pace and moved alongside the general.
“I noticed it too,” he muttered, shaking his horned head in disgust. “But I don’t have a solution. If there were boards or vegetation lying about, we could have some of the rams smooth out our trail after we passed, but we don’t have either.”
“And it would take too long,” Garnuk grunted, having reached the same conclusion as Tarq. “We must push on. Speed is our greatest protection right now. The dragon will not stray too far from the army in case it is attacked in the open. The farther we get from the Sthan, the safer we are. I’m going to increase the pace a little, see if the others can handle it.”
“Aye,” Tarq agreed. “I’ll rotate the watchers and distract them a little so they won’t notice.”
Garnuk chuckled at the captain’s duplicity, then slowly increased his speed. He heard Tarq moving about behind him, detailing several vertaga to take the place of their comrades watching for danger. A few minutes later, the switch had been completed and Shadow Squadron was running on, even faster than before.
Dawn came and went and Garnuk did not stop. The other rams doggedly followed, keeping their complaints and hurts to themselves. Garnuk knew that they were tiring though. He could see it in the way their backs were starting to hunch from the weight of their equipment, how some rams grunted with each pace, how others were breathing heavily through both mouth and nose in an effort to suck in enough air. Finally, a couple of hours after dawn, Garnuk slowed to a stop.
“Short break,” he announced. “Eat, drink, and rest your legs. Don’t let the muscles stiffen though or you won’t be able to run again.”
“How long?” one of the rams grunted, scratching at his lower legs irritably.
“Half an hour,” Garnuk replied curtly. As the warrior turned his back to the general, Garnuk noticed that most of the ram’s camouflaging snow had fallen off during their journey.
“And recoat yourselves in snow,” he added, glancing around at the others. “Tarq, set four watchers for the duration of the break. The others can rest for now.”
The captain nodded and quickly changed out the current watchers for four other rams. He selected those that appeared to be handling the arduous journey the best, reasoning that they would hold up to the monotony of guard duty better, and those who were struggling would benefit more from the break. When the assignments were complete, Tarq rejoined Garnuk a short distance away from the others.
“Do you think they can manage?” Garnuk asked his captain in an undertone, eying the weaker warriors among his small band critically.
“They will keep running,” Tarq promised with a shrug. “They are afraid, Garnuk.”
“Of the dragon?”
“Yes. But I think they also fear you will leave them behind if they fall behind.”
“I won’t. We are too few as it is.”
“I know, but the others are aware you have a bit of a ruthless streak.”
Garnuk turned to face Tarq directly, gazing at him sternly. “Not when it comes to my own soldiers,” he growled. “I am demanding, yes, and when it comes to my enemies I make absolutely sure they will no longer cause me trouble. But not one of these rams will be left behind. They are our brothers, Tarq. They have done everything I have asked of them and more. If I were to abandon even one of them, I would be no better than – ”
“General!”
Garnuk whirled around, seeking the ram that had shouted out. The sound had come from the rear of the group. From one of the watchers?
“General!” the warrior shouted again, turning towards Garnuk this time. “I see something!”
Garnuk swore and ran to where the warrior was standing, peering north and slightly east anxiously. “What is it?” he asked, his voice low and urgent.
“I don’t know,” the watcher replied uncertainly. “I’ve lost it, it was there just a moment ago.”
“What did you see?” Tarq pressed, leaning forward and peering in the same direction.
“A . . . A flash or a glimmer of something,” the vertag replied. He glanced at Garnuk apologetically. “I thought you should know, but it could be nothing.”
“No, no, you did the right thing,” Garnuk assured him sharply. Puzzled, the Exile peered in the direction the scout had indicated as well. He could see nothing, but that didn’t mean that nothing was there.
“Where was it?” he asked curiously.
“Just above the horizon,” the watcher replied nervously, stepping forward a few paces, as though that short advance would allow him to see significantly further.
“In the sky?”
“Yes, general.”
“Then it might have been the dragon,” Tarq muttered, glancing back at the rest of the group. They had all heard the sentry’s original shouts and were clustered in a nervous, compact group.
Garnuk whirled around to confront the murmuring vertaga. “Who among you has keen eyes?” he demanded. “Come here, and see if you can see anything.”
A shorter vertag with a sword on his hip darted forward immediately, shading his eyes and sweeping the northern horizon slowly.
“Nothing,” he reported finally. The group let out a collective sigh of relief.
“Sorry, general,” the first scout said, shrugging. “I could have sworn I saw something.”
“I don’t mind a false alarm,” Garnuk replied. “Don’t hesitate to report anything else that you see, it wouldn’t-”
“Wait!” the new watcher said urgently. “Something just rose into the sky! It’s headed this way.”
Garnuk swore and peered to the north. Sure enough, a dark speck had appeared in the sky, and it was growing larger by the moment, winking in the sun.
“It’s the dragon,” Tarq reported, his voice low and defeated. “They’ve found us.”
Chapter 49:
Shadow of the Broken Peak
To their credit, Shadow Squadron did not immediately descend into chaos. They muttered unhappily and dropped into defensive crouches, prepared to take off running at a moment’s notice. Garnuk frowned at the advancing speck, trying to decide their best course of action.
“Why did it appear and disappear and appear again?” Tarq wondered aloud. “Assuming the first ram actually did see the beast a moment ago.”
“He did,” Garnuk said confidently. “The dragon must have landed briefly. May
be to examine the trail we left behind or to hunt, who knows.” He checked the dragon’s course again and shook his head. “Whatever the case, it’s headed almost right for us. We only have a couple minutes.”
A few minutes. To find shelter where there was none. Garnuk looked out over his assembled warriors, standing right in the middle of an obvious trail of trampled snow. “If we run, we die,” he murmured to Tarq.
“So we stand here and die?”
“No,” Garnuk murmured, an idea coming to him. “No, we hide in plain sight.”
“What?”
“Take off your cloaks!” Garnuk called to the others. “Smooth the snow around you, and start moving east. Leave no tracks or we are all dead.”
The warriors did as they were bidden, shedding their packs, then their cloaks and beginning to swipe furiously at the snow while they shrugged their packs back on. Garnuk led them to the east, wiping out his own tracks with his cloak as he went. As he did this, a thin layer of snow and ice built up on the outside of his cloak.
“Come on,” he murmured anxiously, glancing at the distant speck that was the dragon. “Faster, faster.”
The other warriors sensed his urgency and worked faster, following him east and wiping out every track that they made. Tarq supervised from the rear, making sure that no telltale mark escaped the scourge of the warriors’ cloaks.
The dragon continued to close the distance, following the original trail. When Garnuk judged that the beast would be close enough to see them soon, he shouted to the others.
“Drop flat, cover yourselves with your cloaks completely, snow side up!”
The warriors did as he commanded immediately, dropping face down in the snow and spreading their cloaks over themselves. The result was a suddenly empty plain, except for a few roughly natural looking humps of snow. In some places, gray skin or the dark surface of a pack was visible, but that could easily be passed off as a rock.
“Not bad,” Tarq muttered, joining Garnuk. “We might have a chance.
Garnuk nodded. “The best chance we have,” he agreed, shoving the captain flat and lying down himself a short distance away. “Now hide, it is almost upon us.”
The Ramshuk (Heirs of Legacy Book 3) Page 49
