If Alyss had risked her life to defeat the Kyofu, Evanlyn had done no less. She wondered if the princess realised that and she felt a deep regard for the other girl, not just for her skill with the sling, but for her readiness to put herself in danger to save a companion.
If only…Alyss resolutely pushed the unworthy thought aside. But Evanlyn seemed to be thinking along similar lines.
'Alyss,' she said uncertainly, 'one day I'll be queen. And I'm going to want people around me who are courageous and dedicated and imaginative.'
'That's as it should be,' Alyss said.
'Frankly, I'd like quite a few of those people to be women. I think women have a different perspective on things, as your mentor has proven time and time again. I'd like you to be one of my inner circle, Alyss, professionally and personally. I think that we could work very well together.'
Alyss made a half bow from her sitting position and winced as the back muscles stretched again.
'I'll always be happy to serve my queen and my country in any way I can,' she said politely.
Evanlyn spread her hands in exasperation. 'Why do you have to be so formal, Alyss? Why can't I get through to you? I respect you. I admire you. I like you! I want to be your friend! My father has shown that having good friends as advisers is the best way to rule. Halt, Crowley, Baron Arald. They're not just advisers. They've been his friends for years. And friends will tell you when you're wrong. I want that!'
'Have I been unfriendly, your highness? I've always tried to be respectful.' Alyss's face was a mask, but now two spots of colour appeared in Evanlyn's cheeks.
'There always has to be a niggle between us, doesn't there?' she said angrily. 'Thank you for that, your highness. Have I been unfriendly? I've always been respectful.' She mimicked Alyss's words savagely. 'I'm offering my friendship, but you seem determined to push me away. Why? Let's get it out in the open, once and for all!'
Alyss drew in a deep breath. She hesitated. She was an ambitious girl and she knew she might be jeopardising her future career if she took this any further. But then the dam broke.
'We both know what it is! Keep your hands off Will, all right?' She stood up, dominating the smaller girl with her superior height. But Evanlyn stood her ground and shouted back at her.
'Will? What about Will? What is it with you about me and Will?'
'Because you're in love with him! You're the princess and you think you can have anything you want, and you want Will. Any fool can see that!'
'Then I'm afraid you're the fool, Alyss Mainwaring, because I am not in love with Will. I'm in love with Horace.' Evanlyn had lowered her voice, but her words carried no less weight for the sudden drop in volume.
'Of course you are! Don't deny it. You…' Alyss suddenly realised what the princess had said and floundered to a stop. 'You're what?' she said. 'I mean, I know Horace is in love with you. But you…'
'I am in love with him. Deeply in love with him. And only him. Why do you think I came halfway round the world to help him? Because he's a good dance partner? Oh, I love Will, Alyss. But I'm not in love with him. We went through so much together and he was a wonderful friend and protector for me. Look, years ago, when we came back from Skandia, I thought I was in love with Will. I'll admit I made a play for him then. But he refused me – and he was right. We're friends, good friends. Surely you can deal with that?'
Alyss hesitated. She still wasn't certain. She wasn't sure that she trusted Evanlyn's motives.
'I'm not…' she began but Evanlyn erupted in anger once more.
'Oh for god's sake, girl! Tell me, how do you feel about Horace?'
'Horace?' Alyss said in surprise. 'Well, we grew up together. I love him, of course. He's like a big brother.'
'Exactly! Now has that ever seemed to bother me? Or have I coped with it?'
Alyss couldn't help a wry smile. 'Well, when we found him, you nearly broke my arm getting him away from me,' she said and Evanlyn rolled her eyes to heaven. 'But no…I suppose it hasn't bothered you. There's no reason why it should. There's nothing like…that…between Horace and me, as I say.'
'Aaaaaaaggggggghhhhh!' Evanlyn let out a frustrated yell. Alyss actually recoiled a pace in surprise. 'That's what I'm trying to tell you! There is nothing like that between me and Will, either! Cope with it! For god's sake, cope with it!'
More than a little taken aback, Alyss studied the determined stance of the small figure before her. Alyss was an honest person and she was forced to admit that Evanlyn had an excellent point. Alyss had spent the past few months, and some considerable time before that, acting suspiciously towards her, distrusting her and jealously resenting any time she spent with Will. Yet she realised that Evanlyn, if she chose to, could feel exactly the same way about her relationship with Horace.
But she didn't. She accepted it.
And suddenly Alyss felt very small when she remembered the sarcasm and the taunts and the bruised knuckles that had characterised their relationship. Evanlyn had behaved well, she thought. It was she who had behaved badly, who had been petty and distrustful. This was a noble and courageous girl, she realised. She hadn't hesitated to risk her life when Alyss was in danger. She had acted quickly and resourcefully.
She had offered her friendship and Alyss, as she always had in the past, had rebuffed her.
'I'm sorry,' she said meekly. 'I never thought of it that way.' She felt ashamed and for a few seconds she couldn't meet Evanlyn's eyes. But then she heard the unmistakable smile in the smaller girl's voice.
'Well, thank goodness we got that out of the way. After all, our future husbands are best friends. It'd be damn awkward if we continued to hate each other.'
'I never hated you,' Alyss protested, but she saw Evanlyn's eyebrow raise in a familiar expression.
'Oh really?' the princess said.
Alyss shrugged awkwardly. 'Well…maybe a bit. But I'm over that now.' She looked up at Evanlyn and they smiled at each other. There was a new warmth in their smiles and Alyss realised that this was a friendship that would last for her lifetime.
'Are you really going to marry Horace?' she asked, intrigued. Evanlyn nodded.
'I'll be needing a bridesmaid,' she said. 'A tall one. That way, I'll look more petite and feminine.'
Halt clapped his hand on the shoulder of the exhausted scout.
'Thanks, my friend,' he said. 'Now go and get some food, then rest. You've served your Emperor well.'
'Hai, Halto-san!' the travel-stained young Kikori replied. He had spent a nerve-racking four days avoiding Arisaka's army to bring his report to Ran-Koshi. He bowed to the command group, then again, more deeply, to the Emperor. Then he turned and left. Halt waited until he was gone.
'I think that seals it,' he said. 'We'll have to force Arisaka's hand before his reinforcements get here.'
'Now we know why he's waited,' Horace said thoughtfully. The valley leading to Ran-Koshi had been clear for several days, the last of the snow having melted away. Each day they had expected Arisaka to attack and each day he had failed to do so. Now the reason for his delay was obvious. General Yamada, an unexpected ally, was marching to his aid with a force of three hundred Senshi.
According to the report they had just received, the extra troops could arrive within a matter of days.
Shigeru shook his head sadly. 'I had hoped that Yamada would at least remain neutral. I never thought he would believe the lies that Arisaka has been spreading about me.'
Through the winter, Atsu's network of spies had brought in reports of an extensive disinformation campaign generated by Arisaka and his allies to win over the uncommitted clans. According to these reports, Shigeru had abandoned the throne and fled the country. Arisaka was claiming to have trapped a rebel force that was using Shigeru's name and an impostor who resembled the Emperor, in an attempt to seize the throne.
'The bigger the lie, the easier it is to sell,' Halt said sympathetically. 'People tend to believe that a preposterous story must be true – precisely because it
is so unlikely.'
'But surely, once Yamada and his men see Shigeru, they'll know the story's false?' Will said.
Halt shook his head. 'How many of Yamada's men would know you by sight?' he asked the Emperor.
Shigeru pursed his lips. 'Very few. Even Yamada would need to see me at close quarters to recognise me.'
'And by the time he had the chance to do so, you'd be dead. You can be sure Arisaka would see to that,' Halt replied. 'But, if we can break Arisaka's force before Yamada arrives, you'd have the chance to prove you are the Emperor.'
'Arisaka has at least five hundred men,' Will pointed out. 'They'll outnumber us by more than two to one.'
'They'll outnumber us four to one if we wait for Yamada to arrive,' Halt pointed out. 'And this way, we can choose our own battleground.' He turned to where Jito, the former headman of Riverside Village, was standing – a few paces away from the others. Jito was still a little in awe of being so close to the Emperor but he'd earned his place in these councils. Halt had put him in charge of logistics and organising defences. 'Jito, are the hedgehogs ready?'
Jito nodded in confirmation. 'Yes, Halto-san. We have fifty of them. I've had them taken down Mikeru's Pass and they're ready to be assembled and placed in position.'
Those Kikori who weren't training as fighters had been busy during the previous months, constructing defensive measures and equipment. The hedgehogs, portable obstructions designed by Halt that could be assembled quickly on the battlefield, were one example of their work.
'Then deploy them tonight where we decided – between the rocks and the drop-off on our left flank.'
'Yes, Halto-san. It will take four to five hours to assemble them and place them in position.'
'We need them in place by first light. Set your own timetable but make sure they're in place when we need them.'
'Yes, Halto-san.' Jito bowed to the Emperor and turned to leave the tent.
Horace stepped forward to study the map Halt had prepared. 'You plan to engage Arisaka on the same ground where we fought the first battle.'
Halt nodded in confirmation. 'Our right flank will be secured by the bluff. The rocks were good enough on the left flank when we weren't outnumbered, but we'll need more this time. The hedgehogs will extend the protection to this shallow cliff. That way, both flanks are secure.'
Selethen rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked at the chart. 'Relatively secure,' he corrected. 'They'll still get through the hedgehogs, given time,' he said and Halt glanced up at him.
'True. So I'll put Mikeru's dart-throwers on the left flank. They can stay hidden among the rocks, then hit the Senshi while they're forcing their way through the defences. The reserve goju can take care of any that make it through. And Moka's men can take a hand if they're needed.'
Moka, head of Shigeru's Senshi bodyguard, frowned as the foreigners discussed these dispositions.
'Halto-san,' he asked, 'why don't we simply advance down the valley below the palisade? We could choose a spot where the valley walls protect both our flanks.'
'If we do that,' Halt explained, 'there's no incentive for Arisaka to attack. He'll know we could simply retreat back up the valley to the palisade. If we go out onto the plain here, he'll see we have no real line of retreat.'
'Other than Mikeru's Pass,' Will put in and Halt glanced at him.
'True. But Arisaka doesn't know about that. He'll see this as his chance to defeat us once and for all.'
'If the worst comes to the worst, we'd never make it back up that pass in a hurry. It's too narrow. Our men would be jammed up at the entrance,' Horace said.
'It's a risk,' Halt said. 'But I think we have to roll the dice and take it.'
The Emperor wore a worried expression on his face. He looked at Horace, then back to Halt.
'Halto-san, you're saying that in order to make Arisaka attack us, we have to place ourselves in this dangerous, exposed position?'
Halt met his gaze levelly. 'That's right, your excellency. There are always risks in battle. It's a dangerous business. The trick is to take the right ones.'
'How do you know which are the right ones?' Shigeru asked.
Halt glanced at his two younger companions. They grinned and answered in chorus, 'You wait and see if you win.'
Shigeru nodded. 'I suppose I should have known that.'
Halt smiled grimly at Will and Horace. They knew, as well as he did, that they were taking a huge chance. But the only way to win battles, when you were seriously outnumbered, was to take chances.
'Have your gojus ready to move out two hours before dawn,' he ordered. 'We'll jump off from the palisade gate and march down the main valley. It'll be safer and quicker than moving down Mikeru's Pass. And besides, we need to keep that clear for Jito's people.'
After the others had left, Halt stayed behind with Shigeru. The Emperor sat, waiting expectantly. He knew Halt wanted to talk to him and he had a shrewd idea what he wanted to talk about.
'Your highness,' Halt began, 'there is one alternative we haven't discussed…'
He paused, searching for the right way to broach the subject. But Shigeru was ahead of him.
'Halto-san, you're going to suggest that I might make my escape from here alone, correct?'
Halt was taken aback that the Emperor had read his thoughts so easily. But he recovered quickly.
'Yes, sir, I am. It needn't be a permanent thing. But I have to admit, the odds are against us here. It might be better if you made your way to the coast. Our ship is waiting at an island only a few days away. They could take you on board and -'
'And turn Arisaka's lie into the truth,' Shigeru said.
Halt shrugged uncomfortably. 'Not exactly. You'd be free to return once things were more settled here. You could even raise some of the southern clans against Arisaka.'
'And the Kikori?' Shigeru asked. 'What would happen to them if I were to abandon them?'
Halt made a dismissive gesture. 'You're using emotive terms here. You're not abandoning them…'
Shigeru snorted derisively. 'I'm leaving them on the eve of a battle they're fighting in my name,' he said. 'A battle that even you say is a risky one, with no guarantee of success. Wouldn't that count as abandoning them?'
'But they'd understand. They're fighting for you.' Halt had to keep trying, although he could see he would never convince the Emperor.
'Which is all the more reason for me to stay,' Shigeru told him. Then, after a pause, he continued, 'Tell me, Halto-san, if I were to escape, would you and your friends come with me?'
Halt hesitated. Then he replied, knowing that Shigeru deserved to hear the truth.
'No, your excellency, we wouldn't. We've trained these men to fight. It's up to us to stay here and lead them when they do.'
'Exactly. And I've asked these men to fight in my name. It's up to me to believe in them when they do. So, like you, I have to stay and take my chances.'
There was silence between them for some time. Then, with a barely perceptible lift of his shoulders, Halt capitulated.
'Well, I suppose we'd just better make sure we win,' he said.
Shigeru smiled. 'Which is precisely why I need to be here.'
The four gojus slipped through the palisade gate two hours before dawn. With each group of fifty formed up in three files, they set out down the pass.
Discipline was excellent, Halt noted approvingly. Aside from a few muted commands to march, there was no sound other than the jingling of their equipment and the rhythmic tramp of their boots on the rocky ground of the valley below Ran-Koshi. For the time being, at least, the walls of the valley should mask those sounds from the sentries at Arisaka's camp.
When they reached the mouth of the valley, the leading goju – the Bears – wheeled left in response to a hand signal from their leader and doubled round the bluff to their appointed position on the flat plain. The Bears, formed now into two ranks, would cover the left of the Emperor's battle line, with the obstructions assembled by Jito's worke
rs protecting their left flank. Selethen's Hawks came behind them, taking position on the right.
The final two gojus – the Sharks and the Wolves – took position behind the others, in a slightly staggered formation that covered the gap between the two leading gojus.
Moka, with fifty of Shigeru's Senshi warriors, formed a mobile reserve behind the gojus, ready to react to any breach.
The battle line formed with a minimum of noise and confusion. Each man knew exactly where he was supposed to be and went to his place without hesitation. They were all in place before the first grey fingers of light started to streak the sky in the east. Will, Horace and Selethen moved among the Kikori, telling them quietly to rest and relax, saving their strength for the coming battle. The men sat in their ranks, laying their heavy shields aside. Some of the women, organised by Jito, moved among them with water, pickled rice and smoked fish.
Other members of Jito's work party were putting the finishing touches to the hedgehogs. Horace strolled over to inspect the devices at closer quarters. You had to hand it to Halt for ingenuity, he thought. First the false wall at the palisade during the first attack, now these.
Each hedgehog was constructed of six sharpened poles, two metres in length. The poles passed through a central rope yoke, with six closely spaced loops to hold them in place. The sharpened poles were thus formed into a shape that resembled three large X's bound together. They were light and easy to assemble. But once in place, they were difficult to push aside, as the wide-spread feet tended to dig into the ground. In addition, each set of four was linked together by stout poles and chains, making them even more difficult to displace. As a final touch, the array of hedgehogs was draped with rope, looped around the arms and trailing loosely between the individual units. The ropes were festooned with sharp iron hooks, Horace knew. They were small, so not easily seen. But they would snag an attacker's clothes or equipment and slow him down while he struggled to free himself.
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