Hal indicated Stig and Thorn with a vague gesture. “Because none of us want to knock a woman unconscious,” he said, adding with a malevolent smile, “and because you brought the subject up in the first place.”
“So, it’s all right for me to knock her out because I’m a woman too? Is that what you’re saying?” Lydia asked with some heat.
Hal shifted uncomfortably. “No. You’re a woman and you’re ingenious. I’m sure you’ll find a nonviolent way of silencing her.”
Lydia was about to object further, but Hal gestured to the eastern horizon, where the yellow disk of the moon was showing itself.
“Moonrise,” he said. “Time we were moving again. Lydia, you take the lead.”
“Because I’m ingenious?”
He shook his head. “No. Because it’s your turn. Let’s go.”
* * *
• • • • •
They plodded on through the night, heads down, legs trudging as they concentrated on making one step follow another. The land around them was empty and monotonous. Their muscles ached. Their throats were dry and they drank from their water canteens regularly. Each of them carried two canteens—one filled with freshwater and the other with lukewarm coffee. But they knew that the coffee, heavily sweetened with honey, would do little to assuage their thirst—in fact, the sweetness would only accentuate it.
They were disciplined campaigners and they contented themselves with small sips of water at a time, making sure they left plenty in reserve for the return trip. After several more hours, Thorn called their attention to the light in the eastern sky.
“We’re getting close,” he said. “That’ll be the camp.”
Stig whistled softly at the extent of the loom of light. Hal and Lydia had told them of the size of the Temujai camp. But this was bigger than he’d expected. It seemed to stretch from one horizon to the other.
“There must be hundreds of fires,” he said softly.
Lydia looked at him. “There are.”
The light was so bright and so widespread that it seemed the camp must be over the next horizon. But they crested another low ridge and still the featureless grass plain stretched out before them.
“Let’s pace it up,” Hal said, and they increased their speed, stumbling occasionally as they crossed the plain, leaving a clear trail behind them. As they approached the next rise, Hal, who was in the lead once more, held out a cautioning hand.
“Take it easy,” he said, crouching, then dropping to his knees as he reached the crest. The others followed suit, then crept forward, staying low.
And there was the massive Temujai camp once more.
chapter twenty-five
They paused for several minutes, studying the giant encampment, with Hal and Lydia making sure there were no significant changes since they had seen the camp before.
There were several empty areas where there had previously been yurts, and one of the horse corrals was half empty. Otherwise, nothing had changed. Hal indicated the depleted horse paddock and the bare spaces.
“They’ll be the Ulans that have gone to the south bank,” he said in a whisper.
Thorn nodded. “Still leaves a lot of them here. Where’s this wagon the Sha’shan lives in?”
Hal pointed to the left and, dropping back below the crest so that he wasn’t visible from the camp, led the small group several hundred meters to a spot opposite where the Sha’shan’s wagon-yurt was positioned. They moved up to the crest on hands and knees and lay in a line, studying the situation.
“Still six sentries,” Lydia said.
Hal nodded and pointed to the outer ring of guards surrounding the camp. “And the perimeter guards,” Hal pointed out. “We’ll have to get past them before we take on the Sha’shan’s guards.”
The nearest of the perimeter guards was thirty meters away. He stood facing out from the camp, resting his weight on his grounded spear. His small, hide-covered shield was on the ground beside him, leaning against his left leg. As they watched, they saw him raise his left hand to his mouth and heard him yawn. As ever, Hal fought down a ridiculous urge to emulate the action. Yawns were highly contagious, he thought.
“He doesn’t look too lively,” Stig said.
Hal nodded. “I’ll wager that a Temujai camp hasn’t been attacked in living memory,” he replied. “As Thorn said, they don’t get attacked. They attack other people. I wouldn’t be surprised if half the perimeter guards were asleep on their feet.”
“Can you do that?” Stig asked. “Sleep on your feet?”
“On your feet and with your eyes open,” Thorn said. “It shouldn’t be too hard getting by them. Getting out again might be a different matter. We’ll need to make sure we keep the noise down. How do you propose we get past the Sha’shan’s sentries?” he asked Hal.
Hal studied the situation for several seconds. He’d formed a plan for taking care of the sentries. Now he made sure that they hadn’t changed positions since the last time he and Lydia had observed them.
They were situated in a ring around the wagon, each man about four meters from the large structure. There was a man posted at either end, and the other four were placed opposite the corners of the wagon. Each sentry was visible to the two men on either side of him.
“Lydia,” he said, “have you got any of those blunt darts with you?”
It was an unnecessary question. He knew she always carried two or three of the blunts in her quiver. They were darts fitted with a blunt lead-filled warhead instead of the razor-sharp points they usually carried. They were designed to knock a man unconscious rather than kill him. Somehow, the idea of killing the sentries in cold blood didn’t appeal to him.
“I’ve got three,” she said. “Not enough to take care of all of them.” She made a sweeping gesture, encompassing the ring of sentries.
“I only need you to take down one,” Hal told her. “The one opposite the steps at the front of the wagon. Can you manage that?”
Lydia measured the distance to the sentry Hal had nominated, her eyes slitted as she imagined the shot she would have to make. After several seconds, she replied.
“No problem.”
But Hal wanted to make sure. “You’re sure? The light isn’t so good.”
They were eighty to ninety meters away from the sentry as they lay on top of the low rise in the ground.
Lydia looked sidelong at Hal. “Did you want me to hit him from here? I assumed we’d move a little closer.”
“We will. I figure you’ll be throwing from about forty meters away,” Hal told her, and she nodded emphatically.
“Then, as I said, no problem. When do you want me to do it?”
“We’ll work our way inside the outer ring of sentries, then give Stig and Thorn time to get close to your target. When they’re in position, you let fly and knock him out.”
“All right,” Lydia said, but she was frowning. “But if Stig and Thorn are in position near him, why don’t they do it?”
“Because they might be seen by the two men at the front of the wagon. This way, if they see anything, they’ll see their comrade collapse for no apparent reason. My guess is, they’ll move in to investigate. That’s when Thorn and Stig take care of them.” He looked now at his two friends, who were watching him intently. A small smile played around the corners of Thorn’s mouth. He loved this sort of thing, Hal realized.
“If they don’t see him go down, lay him out as if he’s sleeping,” he told the old sea wolf. “They’ll notice he’s missing after a while and come to investigate. If he looks like he’s asleep, they won’t be too suspicious.”
“What about if they don’t come to investigate?” Stig asked. “What if they just raise the alarm?”
“I’m guessing they won’t do that. They’ll make sure there’s a problem first before they risk ruining the Sha’shan’s beauty sleep. He wasn’t too thrille
d the other morning when they woke him up.”
“Does the Sha’shan have a beauty sleep?” Stig asked, grinning.
Hal shook his head. “He doesn’t look as if he does. But he should. Anyway, once you’ve taken care of those two sentries, we’ll skirt around the wagon to the other three. We’ll take one each. Lydia, you stay back and be ready to take down any of them that get away or try to raise the alarm.”
Lydia nodded her understanding. Hal waited several seconds, then said: “All right. Everyone clear on what we have to do?”
There was a muted chorus of grunts. Taking them as affirmative, Hal slid forward on his belly, over the grassy crest where they were lying.
“Then let’s get into position.”
* * *
• • • • •
They snaked their way downhill through the long grass, Hal in the lead and the other three following. Within a few minutes, they had passed through the outer ring of perimeter sentries, leaving them behind them, facing outward. The risk now was that one of the Sha’shan’s guards might see them coming. But, judging by their general lack of vigilance, that seemed unlikely.
Strange, thought Hal. They knew there was an enemy present on the high grasslands and the lake. He would have expected them to be more on their toes. Then he amended the thought. They knew there were a dozen Skandians somewhere on the lake. And there were thousands of armed men in the Temujai camp. They obviously felt there was little to fear. The Skandians might be a nuisance, but the Temujai thought they posed no actual threat.
They reached a point forty meters from the sentry Hal had selected. He held out a hand to stop Lydia going any farther, and gestured for Thorn and Stig to continue slipping on their elbows and knees through the long grass.
He and Lydia watched as the two warriors crawled toward their target. They could see the grass waving slightly to mark their passage, but on the whole, the warriors moved quickly and quietly into position without too much visible movement to give them away. Any movement could be put down to the ever-present evening wind stirring the long strands.
Hal waited several minutes to make sure they were in position. Then he gave it another two minutes, counting the seconds slowly. Finally, he touched Lydia’s forearm to gain her attention and nodded toward the sentry, who was leaning on his spear, looking bored.
Lydia slid one of the blunted darts out of her quiver and unclipped the bone-handled atlatl from her belt. Slowly, she rose to one knee, fitting the notched end of the dart into the hooked end of the thrower. She waited until a stronger-than-usual gust of breeze swept across the grass, setting it waving and moving. Then she rose smoothly to her feet, sighted, and threw.
Instantly, as soon as the dart was away, she sank back to her haunches in the grass, still moving smoothly and without any sudden, jerky action.
A second later, Hal heard the dull thud of the blunt hitting the skull of the Temujai sentry. The man gave a low, strangled grunt of surprise. Then his knees buckled and he fell to the grass, disappearing from their sight.
Hal and Lydia remained motionless, hardly breathing, as they waited to see if there was any reaction from the other sentries. Concealed in the long grass close to where Lydia’s dart had knocked the man unconscious, Stig and Thorn waited as well. Their pulses raced as they waited for some reaction, some indication that the other two sentries had seen their comrade go down. Seconds passed.
Nothing.
“Let’s go,” Thorn breathed.
He and Stig slid forward on their bellies, emerging from the grass into the cleared space around the wagon. They moved quickly to the side of the unconscious sentry. He lay facedown, crumpled on the grass, one arm thrown out and his right leg buckled underneath him. His spear was a few meters away, where it had fallen from his hand. Lydia’s dart lay on the ground beside it.
Quickly, they rolled him over onto his back, Thorn checking to make sure he was still alive and breathing. His fur-trimmed felt hat had flown off with the impact of the dart. Stig retrieved it now and placed it under his head, while Thorn folded his hands across his chest. There was a massive bruise on the side of his head but from a distance it shouldn’t be too noticeable. Thorn retrieved the dart while Stig arranged the spear and shield beside the unconscious man.
Stig studied him for a few seconds. “Do we need to tie his hands?” he asked, but Thorn shook his head.
“He won’t be coming round for quite a while yet. That girl is downright dangerous with her darts.”
Stig shrugged. “Could have been worse. She could have used one of her killing points.” He looked at the recumbent sentry, trying to see if there was any more they could do to make him look at rest. Deciding there wasn’t, he raised his head carefully and peered at the sentry on their left. So far, the man had shown no sign that he had noticed his comrade was missing.
“What now?” he asked Thorn. The one-handed warrior gestured to the long grass a few meters away.
“Back into cover and wait to see if they notice their pal has gone missing,” he said, and the two of them slid quietly back into the long grass, moving a few meters apart so that they’d be close to and behind the two other sentries if they came to investigate.
They waited for a minute or two, then the sentry on Thorn’s side called in a low, anxious voice. He spoke in the Temujai tongue, so they couldn’t understand the exact words. But the intonation indicated it was a question and the meaning was all too obvious: Where are you?
Hal was right, Thorn thought. They weren’t going to risk the Sha’shan’s anger by raising the alarm until they were sure there was a problem. Perhaps the man thought his comrade had simply gone off into the long grass to relieve himself.
A short time passed and the sentry called again, a little louder this time but still voicing a question, not sounding the alarm. This time, the sentry on Stig’s side of the wagon replied, also in a low voice. A short conversation followed. Thorn, with his head just above the grass, saw the two men start to walk toward the position where the missing sentry should be. He slowly lowered himself back into hiding and said in a low voice:
“They’re coming.”
chapter twenty-six
The two sentries approached the point where their companion was laid out on his back, seemingly asleep. As they came closer, the sentry from Thorn’s side saw the unconscious man’s feet protruding from the long grass and stopped with an exclamation of annoyance. He called softly to the other sentry, who increased his pace now and joined him, standing over their comrade.
The second sentry gave a snort of disgust. He said something to his companion, then kicked the unconscious man’s feet, none too gently.
The man on the ground stirred and groaned, but didn’t awaken. The kicker frowned, puzzled, and leaned closer to study the unconscious man. The two sentries were grouped close together.
“Now,” said Thorn quietly, and rose from the long grass behind his man. He wasn’t wearing his huge club-hand, but he had his hook in place, made of hardened wood. He brought it down on the back of his man’s skull. There was a dull thud and the Temujai sentry went down, never knowing what hit him.
The second sentry had been shocked by Thorn’s sudden appearance from the long grass. For a moment, he struggled to comprehend what was happening. But a moment was long enough.
As he drew breath to shout an alarm, Stig’s muscular arm went around his neck from behind, cutting off air and sound. The sentry struggled briefly but Stig was bigger and stronger. The Skandian warrior lifted the smaller man off his feet, maintaining the choke hold as he did so. The effect was that the Temujai’s own weight added to the pressure on his windpipe. He writhed wildly, trying to shout, but no sound came. He kicked futilely against the Skandian’s shins but his soft felt boots made no impression. Finally, his eyes glazed over and he went limp in Stig’s grip. The tall warrior maintained the pressure for another ten seconds,
in case the Temujai was foxing. Then he gently lowered him to the ground.
“You took your time,” Thorn said.
Stig shrugged. “I didn’t have a big wooden hook to hit him with.”
“True. You can’t beat a right hook in a situation like this,” Thorn replied. He turned as there was a rustle in the grass behind them, and Hal and Lydia emerged, rising to their feet as they moved onto the cleared patch around the wagon. Hal nodded approvingly at the three unconscious sentries.
“Nice work,” he said. “Let’s take care of the others before they notice these fellows are missing from their posts.”
Stig turned to head back into the long grass. But Hal stopped him, indicating the huge wagon.
“We’ll go this way,” he said. “Under the wagon. That way, we’ll come out behind them.”
Stig nodded. “Good thinking,” he said, and followed as Hal led the way toward the massive wagon-yurt, dropping to his knees to crawl underneath it, then leading the way to the rear, where the remaining three sentries were standing guard.
As Hal had anticipated, when they reached the far end of the wagon, they found themselves behind the three sentries, who were all facing outward. So far, none of them had noticed that any of their counterparts weren’t at their posts. But then, Hal thought, they were all keeping watch outward, not checking up on one another. However, that situation wouldn’t persist for too long. Sooner or later, one of the outer pair would glance toward their companions and see them missing. He waited until Stig and Thorn had crept forward to join him, the three of them lying on their elbows under the edge of the wagon. Hal indicated the left-hand sentry and tapped his own chest. Then he pointed to the center man and then to Stig. Finally, he indicated that the right-hand sentry would be Thorn’s target. Receiving nods of understanding from his two friends, he began to crawl toward the left-hand wheel, as Thorn moved toward the right-hand side. Stig, who was already in position behind his man, remained waiting until the others were in place.
Return of the Temujai Page 17
