The Riders were no more than an irritant, an insignificant itch and barely worth scratching. To reach Marka, they must first avoid the Eldovan armies – all much larger than the Riders' pathetic show of force – and then persuade the Markans they had no hostile intent. Difficult, without sylph scouts.
With what was about to happen, Marka would be in no position to send an army to Turivkan.
But, the fact that a gwerin had been here forced him to make contingency plans.
He strode to the door.
"Delnor!"
The messenger hurried up. "Your Majesty?"
"Bring me Kanad."
Delnor bowed and hurried away.
Dervra waited until a tap at the door heralded Kanad.
"Come!"
Kanad entered the room. The man's blue-gray eyes were concerned. Once an administrator for Hingast, he had been involved in last year's disastrous siege. Now, he worked for Dervra.
"I want you to arrange a census," said Dervra.
"Of course, sir." Kanad dry-washed his hands, a sure sign of nerves.
"When I succeeded here, two of the old Prefect's sons were smuggled to freedom. They will now be sixteen and fourteen years of age."
Kanad blinked.
"Every boy found of that age – without exception – is to be killed."
Kanad had a talent for arranging massacres and was even better at concealing large numbers of killings. Now he was no longer a hindrance, but an asset.
"It shall be as you command, Majesty." A faint smile played on his lips.
"Good." Dervra dismissed Kanad, his orders already buried under other priorities.
The time had come to try and destroy Marka again.
***
Sandev could not hide her satisfaction.
The poisoned guard was still suffering from extreme drowsiness. She suspected what had been used to put him under and knew less than a whole leaf would usually suffice. But somebody wanted to guarantee Jaegar had no chance of waking up at the wrong moment.
Much to Sandev's surprise, Mirrin dragged her into his questioning.
"Why do you need me?" she asked. "I'm not sorry he's gone."
"Were you involved?" Mirrin's dark eyes were searching.
"Wish I was." Sandev laughed. "I can imagine Nicolfer's reaction when she returns. Looking forward to it, in fact."
Mirrin gave her a neutral look. "She'll make everybody else's life a misery," he said. "Did you know Haema's gone too?"
Jaegar opened his eyes. "Haema," he managed to say, "brought me the alovak." He lapsed into unconsciousness again.
"Sounds like she was involved." Sandev smiled again. "That'll please Nicolfer even more."
Mirrin held up the broken lock. It hung from the cage door that now swung open. "How did she manage to get the key?"
Jurabim hurried up. "Must have been picked, sir," he said. "I've still got the only key."
"Unlikely to be your quartermaster creeping around during the middle of the night," said Sandev, reasonably. "When did you last see the middle of the night, Jurabim?"
The quartermaster gave her a tolerant look. "More recently than you might believe," he replied, "but not last night."
"The lock was picked then," said Mirrin. "Interesting skills you teach these scouts."
Sandev shrugged. "Who knows what skills a sylph might learn in a lifetime? Looks to me as though your hope of prize money has run off with the sylphs."
Mirrin turned away. "Somersen! Organize men to search for tracks. They can't have got far."
"A sylph scout can cover a surprising amount of ground when he must," Sandev pointed out.
"They've got Haema with them," countered Mirrin. "She'll slow them down."
Sandev looked unconvinced, but she shrugged anyway.
"General, sir."
Mirrin turned. "What is it, Taved?"
"The scouts have a report, sir."
"Excellent. Tell me as we walk." Mirrin looked at Sandev. "Nicolfer should return this morning," he told her. "Expect trouble."
Sandev smiled and inclined her head.
***
General Mirrin looked around at his officers before the morning meeting. They stood in the center of the living space of his tent. All around, he heard preparations as the other tents were struck and animals readied for their move. He was resigned to having lost Belaika, but the sylph scout did not rank highly in his list of priorities. Though Sandev had a point; any prize money from the sylph's ransom would have been welcome.
He glanced at Yeoman Taved and away again.
"Gentlemen," said Mirrin, "our scouts have discovered the location of the Markans following us."
Several officers grinned.
"There are about a hundred men, no more than two days behind. As we expected the group to be larger, it's little wonder we didn't find it earlier. This small army shadows us to report our movements if we threaten Marka." He managed a small smile. "They may as well report now, as that is precisely our intention."
A small laugh rippled around the group. In many cases, he and these men had fought alongside each other for years. He could rely on those present now. He'd transferred unreliable people away from his command, or else war itself had weeded them out. Sadly war's weeding was blind and cold graves held many good men alongside the bad and useless.
"Captain Jediyah, you will await our shadows. When we leave, you and five hundred men will stay behind. I'll also leave you a couple of scouts. That should prove sufficient to deal with a mere hundred. I recommend you prepare this area to make it look deserted. I doubt if you'll locate any sylph scouts, but avoid them if you can.
"Take care to conceal the men until it is too late. These sylph scouts are excellent and I'm sure they'll realize something is up. You might not have the element of surprise, which is why you have superior numbers to deal with these men."
"Prisoners, sir?" asked Jediyah.
"Sadly, we cannot afford them sending a message to Marka to betray our presence. Use your initiative, Captain Jediyah."
"And our missing sylphs?"
"If you catch them, bring them back. But that's not important." Mirrin smiled. "No need for unnecessary bloodshed."
The named captain inclined his head. "As you command, sir."
"The rest of us," continued Mirrin, "will continue eastwards as if nothing has happened. We will merge the groups and fall on Marka from the west. Another force under Janost and Hanan will move south. And our allies will move from the east, with a narrow corridor to allow our defeated enemies to flee." Mirrin's smile grew cold. "We shall round those up at our leisure and the false claimants' time will be at an end."
No cheer went around the tent. These men fought for their own reasons, but he knew of none with much love for Hingast or his claim. Not being Markan, they had no particular interest in seeing the Markan Empire rise from the ashes.
Mirrin nodded. "Gentlemen, everybody knows what you must do. Strength and victory!"
"Strength and victory."
The officers filed out of the tent.
***
Mirrin's army had halted for the midday meal when Nicolfer finally returned. She waved everybody away and took Mirrin to one side.
"I bring warning, General Mirrin." She explained about the Shadow Riders and why they were dangerous.
"The scouts will tell us if they come near," Mirrin told her. "They know the work."
"Good." Nicolfer gave a small frown. "What is wrong, General?"
He took a deep breath. "Belaika has escaped. Worse, he took Haema with him."
Mirrin braced himself for the explosion.
***
Sandev felt even happier now Nicolfer had returned and causing no end of trouble.
She had heard loud screeching not long after her captor had entered Mirrin's tent and guessed the general had told her about Belaika.
The Eldovan commander was white-faced with rage when Sandev showed up, so she guessed a few insults had been aired.
"You!" snarled Nicolfer, pointing at Sandev. "Why did you let him go?"
"I had nothing to do with it. Been nowhere near him since his capture."
Nicolfer swung back to Mirrin. "And you? No idea that it would happen, either?"
"Of course not." Anger tightened Mirrin's voice. "The only other person involved is Haema."
Nicolfer threw back her head and laughed. "Ridiculous. The scout has abducted her."
"But why?" asked Sandev. "Her running away with him makes more sense. If she'd been abducted, the sentries would have heard something."
"Haema does not know how to pick locks," retorted Nicolfer.
"How do you know what skills she has other than writing musical notation?" demanded Sandev. "You never showed much interest in her."
"The scout must have done it," said Nicolfer.
"If he knew how," sighed Sandev, "don't you think he would have been gone the moment his leg got better?"
"Mark my words, he had help."
Sandev fell silent. She would not tell Nicolfer what sort of help.
Nicolfer spotted Shashi. "What about you? Colluding with your owner against me. I expect you poisoned the alovak."
Shashi drew herself fully upright and her earpoints stood erect in anger. "If that had been me, all the sentries and guards would have been asleep."
Sandev smiled to herself. Mirrin's sylph displayed sterner stuff than usual.
At this moment, Somersen returned.
"Not a sign, sir, not in any direction."
"Another incompetent," snarled Nicolfer. "Haema would slow them down; she is no hardy sylph scout."
Sandev shook her head. Sylphs weren't hardy because they were scouts, but because they were sylphs. Which meant even Haema was much tougher than she looked.
Somersen turned his back on Nicolfer, which made him stupid as well as brave.
"There is no sign of them, sir." He stalked away.
"What was in the alovak?" asked Nicolfer.
"A leaf of some sort," replied Mirrin. "Jaegar has not fully recovered yet."
Nicolfer now turned her attention to the six ownerless sylphs, reducing three of them to tears with the savagery of her interrogation. She demanded to know which of them had put the leaf into the alovak.
"It must have been Haema," said Jaegar. "She brought me the alovak."
Sandev smiled as she realized that Nicolfer causing so much dissension might lead to mutiny. She had not seen her enemy look so out of countenance for centuries.
Sandev intended to enjoy the moment to the full.
Nicolfer turned to Sandev. "Get me alovak," she commanded.
"With or without the leaf?" asked Sandev.
Nicolfer glared.
***
Now Nicolfer's attention had switched elsewhere, Shashi crept to her owner's side while ignoring his horse.
"Enya, you should not allow her to treat us so." She turned her face up and put a hand on her owner's knee.
Mirrin leaned down and stroked Shashi's hair; oddly, it soothed his temper. "We have little choice," he answered. "For the moment."
Shashi turned her head so an earpoint caught between his fingers. "Be careful, enya," she begged. "I do not want to join the other orphans."
***
Haema was still in the hollow when she woke. She blinked and wondered how long she had been asleep. The sun had climbed high, so she guessed it must be about noon. She smiled to herself while remembering the previous night. Now she felt refreshed.
She sat up.
"Thought you might sleep all day," said Belaika.
She looked around to see no sign of Samel or Velisar.
"Why are we still here?" she asked.
"Waiting for Dekran-ya to bring the army to us. He commanded me to wait here for him; the scouts will tell me when he stops for the night."
"Where are the others?"
"Scouting." Belaika smiled. "A sylph must earn his keep."
"I am glad you are here."
Belaika shrugged. "At least you are rested."
"Are you in touch with the others?"
The smile widened. "Of course. Pingers are flying about all the time. Here, this should take the edge off your hunger and there is a stream that way."
Haema nodded her thanks for the handful of foragings. She thought about leaving to begin her long journey home and immediately reconsidered. One more day could do no harm.
***
Lance Captain Dekran looked from Belaika to Haema and his dark blue eyes grew thoughtful. Only the tent canvas afforded any privacy. Banner Sergeant Yochan was in the tent with them.
His attention returned to Belaika. "Glad to see you back," he said, eventually. "I've been reduced to using humans as scouts again."
Belaika smiled. "No wonder things are going wrong."
"At least you managed to escape before we rescued you. I might have lost half of my men in the attempt."
"Velisar did most of it," said Belaika.
"Yes. He and Yochan planned it between them."
Belaika's earpoints twitched in Yochan's direction. "Mutydo, donenya."
"You're welcome." The Banner Sergeant smiled.
Dekran pointed to Haema. "You brought a passenger?"
"She helped me escape. They used her to write down our whistles, so Nicolfer could question me about them."
"Did you answer her questions?"
"He answered no questions," interrupted Haema. "I wrote everything wrong so code breakers could not work on them. He refused to help."
Dekran nodded. So that was the way the land lay. He must keep an eye on the pair of them. "Good. Did they make life a little uncomfortable for you, Belaika?"
The sylph shuddered. "They tried humiliation, they tried thirst and they tried threats. She threatened Eleka and my daughters!"
"I'm sure they are safe." Dekran smiled, he hoped reassuringly. "Nicolfer is Gifted. Are you sure you told her nothing?"
"I swear it," Belaika insisted, earpoints slanted forwards.
"You didn't just sit back and enjoy yourself. What did you learn about them?" Dekran and Yochan leaned forward.
"Better than they were last year. They have learned and adapted. Sylphs point towards any whistle and they send horsemen out to run the scout down."
"We noticed," said Yochan. "Scouts now move once they've whistled. Not only Eldovans adapt."
"Thought you might have changed the rules," grinned Belaika. "They plan to meet up with other groups of Eldovans and fall on Marka from the east."
Dekran nodded.
"And there is someone who looks like Hingast. He visited the camp. I know who it is."
"Really." Dekran raised an eyebrow.
"Someone visited the camp. Looked like Hingast, talked like Hingast, was not Hingast."
A fleeting smile from the Lance Captain. "Not again, Belaika?"
"Exactly." The sylph remembered a lesson from his training. "There is no such thing as coincidence, only intentions. It is Ranallic."
Yochan interrupted. "The point is that the Eldovans believe it is Hingast. Last year's victory now looks less important."
"All victories look less important as time passes," said Dekran. "If it is Ranallic – all right, Belaika, no ifs, it is Ranallic – then the Eldovans now have a military tactician running their army, instead of a butcher."
"Sandev is a prisoner too," added Belaika.
"We know."
"She did not escape with us; I do not know what she plans."
"She might be helping them." Dekran shook his head.
Haema laughed. "If anything, she works against Nicolfer."
"Sandev is Sandev." Dekran smiled at Haema. "She will look after herself, either way."
"When can I return to duties, donenya?"
Dekran regarded Belaika for a long moment. "Immediately. But you will stay with me for the foreseeable future. Until we can be certain that injured leg is better."
"It is better."
"Put your
stubbornness aside, Belaika. You've been injured and I'll not risk you until certain you're fully fit again. You stay with me for now."
"Se bata." Belaika's expression suggested he had more to say, but he held his tongue.
Dekran turned to Haema. "As you are here, you can stay with us."
"I hoped to return to Eldova, General."
"Captain, girl. Just a captain, not a general." Dekran's face hardened. "You stay with us until I'm sure it's safe to release you. Nicolfer will want you back, so you're sealed to us for now."
"So I am a prisoner," sulked Haema.
"Hardly. A guest, until it is safe for you to leave." Dekran's expression firmed. "Nicolfer might want to get you back, or she might want to kill you. Any more arguments?"
"None, General," she muttered.
"Captain."
Yochan laughed.
"It will be dark soon," continued Dekran. "Belaika, you and Haema should get something to eat. Then see the yeoman for somewhere to sleep."
Belaika touched his heart. "Se bata."
Dekran and Yochan watched the two sylphs leave.
"Good to see him back, sir," said Yochan.
"Certainly good to have another experienced scout," agreed Dekran. "And there will be no awkward explanations now we've got him. Thank Ranva for Velisar."
Yochan nodded.
"Fortunate for us that Nicolfer has no imagination," continued Dekran. "Think what might happen if she had tried to turn Belaika instead of interrogating him."
"I don't think it works that way with sylphs, sir. Once they are bonded, that is it."
"I hope so, Sergeant. I really do hope so."
***
Belaika walked alongside Dekran's horse. Haema rode on one of the supply wagons, safe.
He was unused to marching within the column itself, his task being to relay all messages from the field. A far cry from before his capture, when he spent almost all his time away from the army, being the only experienced scout.
Velisar had allegedly replaced him in the field, but Belaika had heard no messages from him all day. He would whistle in when he had something to say and not before.
Fhionnen, the furthest scout ahead, had just reported passing Mirrin's deserted encampment. Relayed through Samel and Mezhen, it was received without errors. The city scouts had improved, probably through necessity. Or Velisar's impatience.
As rear scout, Kadhen kept silence, except for position pingers. Velisar could be anywhere, although he should be somewhere near Kadhen. Ever since losing his owner, Velisar had always pleased himself. At least, he gave that impression.
A whistle from Samel told him to keep an eye open for early rosehips. He didn't bother to pass it on. Sylphs liked the hips, but humans found them too bitter for their taste at this time of year.