We followed the sunlight until the hard-packed snow had hardened into ice. Halis had grown so weak that I supported her almost exclusively now, though I suspected that my bumping, jostling, and occasional slip on the slick ice made her even more miserable.
I charted our progress by the sun; it was the only thing alive here. Our path took us through a stretch of low, rolling hills that made our trek even more slippery. After a while, I decided to double back and make our way around the hills instead of through them. We had gone no more than half a mile when we heard low voices just around the next bend. The Ulbari.
Halis and I froze in place, barely breathing. We listened again for the voices in the hopes that we had heard nothing but the whisper of the wind. They came again. Halis turned around slowly, so that her gaze met mine.
I will remember her expression all of my days: wide-eyed, tight-lipped, blanched with fear. Her fingers dug into my arms. In a strained, barely audible voice, she whispered, "Don't fight them. Let's just keep running."
"You can barely walk, much less run."
"Then leave me here; let them kill me and save yourself." Her eyes filled with desperation bordering on madness.
I shook free of her grasp. "Stop talking like this. I must perform my duty."
The passion and terror she had displayed moments past drained from her face. Wearily, she said, "Of course. You always do."
And then I was off and running up the side of a small rise. At the top, I crouched and watched our foes. Two of them, talking in low tones and gesturing at the ground. Trying to decide which way to go, I assumed. One of them looked around suddenly, as if he had heard a noise, and I saw the brown flatness of his face and the thick bushy eyebrows beetling over dark eyes. Then he turned back and I knew that he had not seen me. Felt that I was here, perhaps, but then disregarded that notion. Too bad for him.
The surprise on the Ulbaris' faces was almost comical as I flew off the rise and collided with the smaller of the two. We landed hard on the packed ice, my opponent on the bottom. The breath knocked out of him, he nonetheless scrambled away from me, pawing at his furs for the long-handled pike that was the barbarians' favorite weapon.
Battle-madness crested over in me. I felt nothing but the high of the moment, heart hammering and muscles working and the cool, fresh breath tearing in and out of my lungs. Life never felt so clear and bright and precious as when I was in danger of losing it.
I killed quickly. The Ulbari, clumsy in his surprise and panic, fumbled his pike to the ground. I snatched it and stuck him in the neck. Blood splashed across the snow in a perfect, dark red arc.
From behind, the other Ulbari collided with me, breaking ribs with the impact. Pain blinded me, then passed. I had never allowed pain or injury to overpower me in the heat of battle; I simply ignored them and fought on.
Springing to my feet, I pulled my dagger free in one fluid motion. The Ulbari's eyes were wild and sweat beaded his forehead despite the cold. With a low growl, he rushed me. We rolled around on the snow, grasping and grabbing and smashing each other in the face, gut, and loins. From his belt, he produced a jikar, a silver spike that fit around the back of his hand. I countered with my serrated dagger. He tried to use his bigger bulk to trap me and pierce my throat; I stabbed him in the side and slashed his cheek to the bone. As I pulled away, he lunged at me with his jikar, which brushed across my shoulder and caught on the metal rings of my cuirass. That was his undoing.
I struck without mercy. By the time he finally stopped moving and his bowels let loose, blood had soaked both us and the snow and the sky above, it seemed.
I stumbled back to Halis, giddy with my triumph, and half-mad with the cold. The need to get back to civilization and wash the damned blood off my hands drove me. Her eyes opened wide at the sight of me. I laughed crazily, staring down at myself. How often had I spilled blood for these cursed Dela-Elan.
"Are you hurt?" she asked.
I shook my head. Then I realized that my ribs were piercing my insides and a strange red-tinged darkness was creeping up over my eyes. The world began spinning and my knees gave way. I landed hard on the ice.