Dennis sprinted forward.
'Asayaga!'
The Tsurani did not hear him.
He was too far off to close in time. Still holding his blade with both hands he lofted it behind his head and threw. The sword tumbled end over end, slamming into the moredhel even as he braced himself to run his spear through Asayaga's back.
The sword struck so hard that the moredhel leapt backwards as if yanked from behind, his only sound the breath knocked from his lungs. Asayaga, killing his own opponent a second later, turned and saw Dennis standing weaponless, the moredhel between them, kicking and thrashing, Dennis's sword stuck in his side.
Men charged past, eyes wide with lust and battle-fury. The moredhel, caught so completely by surprise, had given way in panic and were running to where the goblins and human cavalry waited over the distant rise. Few made it, many falling with arrows in their backs, or were cut down as they fled. The humans and goblins on the far side of the hill came swarming up, drawn by the loud outcry at the end of the battle between Tinuva and Bovai. After hours of bored waiting many had built fires; a few were even asleep, fewer still on the crest of the hill were in armour or even had weapons.
Within seconds they, too, were breaking in panic as a squad of Kingdom and Tsurani troops, led by Tasemu, hit their flank. The watchers on the hill broke, running back down to the camp, screaming in terror that they were being attacked by hundreds.
The moredhel's advantage and the edge gained by having calvary vanished in an instant. Horsemen died before they could saddle their mounts, and in the first onslaught, so many moredhel, men, and goblins were killed that within minutes Dennis's and Asayaga's command held the edge. One more minute, and the goblins broke in panic.
More than one goblin turned on the moredhel commanders who tried to rally them, and soon men, goblins and moredhel were slaying each other in a mad frenzy as all tried to escape.
The ground was littered with the dead and dying. Tasemu marched forward, a squad of Kingdom soldiers forming a ring of archers around him. A ragged line of Tsurani crested the hill, slaying everyone in their path as they advanced, and more Kingdom soldiers fell in around their disciplined line, loosing bolt after bolt into the milling, terrified mob.
Behind Dennis, who stood in a daze, Gregory held his friend and wept.
Asayaga joined Dennis, and the two of them slowly approached the fallen elf.
Tinuva looked up at them and smiled. 'Foolish, you should have gone over the bridge,' he whispered.
'We would not leave you here,' Asayaga said.
'Bovai?'
'I killed him,' Dennis replied, voice trembling.
Tinuva sighed. 'Bury him beside me: we were brothers once.'
Dennis nodded.
Tinuva sighed. His eyes flickered and then he looked back at Dennis and Asayaga. 'Fate has made you enemies, now let honour turn that fate.'
As he started to slip away he began to chant softly. Dennis recognized the words as eledhel, but did not know their meaning.
Gregory, sobbing, spoke the words with him and at last Tinuva's voice fell silent, his spirit slipping away to the distant shore of the Blessed Isle.
Dennis reached down and gently touched Tinuva's forehead. 'Go in peace my friend,' he whispered.
Asayaga did the same, touching Tinuva's blood and anointing his forehead with it.
The two looked at each other in the grim silence, then together went to finish the fight.
SEVENTEEN. PARTING
The evening was quiet.
Cresting the ridgeline, Dennis stopped and shaded his eyes from the glare of the sun. Gregory was riding up the slope, trailed by the half-dozen scouts who had been walking point.
'It's clear ahead,' Gregory said. 'Another mile we'll cross the river and be into the dwarves' territory. I dare say they already know we are approaching.'
Dennis nodded. Turning, he looked back at the column. Kingdom and Tsurani troops advanced at an easy pace more than one had a woman from Wolfgar's fort at his side, and children were chattering, dodging back and forth. In the middle of the column was a line of a dozen horses many of them taken from the enemy dragging palanquins which bore the wounded who had been carried out from the battle. No one had been left behind this time.
Asayaga, who had been walking by Alyssa's side, broke away and came forward. As he did so, all eyes followed him and the group slowed, coming to a stop without orders. In the clearing at the top of the ridge the men gradually started to break apart from each other, Kingdom troops to one side, Tsurani to the other.
Asayaga reached the crest and nodded to Gregory.
'I take it the dwarf realm is just ahead.'
Gregory nodded.
'Then you are home safe. I doubt if they would welcome us.'
'No, Asayaga, they wouldn't.'
'Then Hartraft, our truce is at an end. We have reached the lines where our war resumes.'
Dennis nodded, his hand drifting to the hilt of his sword.
Asayaga's did the same.
Tsurani and Kingdom soldiers slowly moved to take up positions behind their respective commanders. The women and children felt something coming and retreated into a small knot in front of the horses.
The two leaders stared at each other. Dennis could sense the expectant hush, and knew that everyone was waiting for what had to come. He thought of his duty, for here were thirty-one surviving Tsurani enemies who, if he let them go today, he would undoubtedly face again come spring; enemies who might slay other Kingdom soldiers, for they had learned their skills well in the last month and would be the nucleus of a formidable unit.
'What are you thinking, Hartraft?'
'I am thinking that if I let you go now, you could do considerable damage to my side come next spring.'
'Just as much damage as you will do to us, no doubt.'
Dennis looked past Asayaga. Roxanne and Alyssa were standing nearby, watching, both silent. Behind them he could see so much more his burning keep, Gwenynth dying, Jurgen in his cold grave, and others as well, young Richard and Osami, the look in Asayaga's eyes as he cradled his nephew and then knelt by Tinuva's side.
Tinuva, buried in the woods thirty miles to the north, resting beside his brother He wondered if somehow the two would find peace together in their afterworld.
Dennis smiled. His hand fell away from the hilt of his sword and he extended it to Asayaga. 'Honoured enemy,' he whispered.
Asayaga, not sure if this was the start of the challenge, or something else, grasped Dennis's hand. 'Honoured enemy,' Asayaga replied, repeating the words in his own tongue.
For a moment no one moved on either side, then Kingdom and Tsurani soldiers approached each other and repeated the gesture. Men who had bled side by side embraced and the phrase 'honoured enemy' was spoken many times.
Dennis looked over at Gregory and nodded.
Dismounting, Gregory raised his bandaged hand and pointed to the southeast. 'Asayaga. A quarter of a mile ahead there's a trail that turns to the east. Stay on it and you'll loop around the flank of the dwarf kingdoms. I will convince them that you will honour a truce. As long as you stay on the trail they shouldn't bother you. Three days' march will eventually bring you west, to where their realm borders territory you might be familiar with, ground fought over by Kingdom troops and your own.'
'Once there -' he shook his head, '- well, you're on your own, but given everything you've learned, you should get through. Most of the Kingdom forces will be wintering in LaMut, Yabon and Ylith, so you'll only have to avoid occasional patrols and stay away from stockades. You should reach your own lines a few days later.'
Asayaga nodded, saying nothing. The whole time Gregory was speaking he had continued to look at Dennis as if not quite believing what was taking place.
'Asayaga,' Dennis said, drawing closer. 'I must insist that what you see as you cross through the Kingdom lines you will not reveal. You won't fight unless attacked, you'll cross through as quickly as possible and take no advantage from this truce.'
'Asayaga,' Dennis said, drawing closer. 'I must insist that what you see as you cross through the Kingdom lines you will not reveal. You won't fight unless attacked, you'll cross through as quickly as possible and take no advantage from this truce.'
'Is that an order, Hartraft?'
Dennis hesitated, then shook his head. With a slight smile, he said, 'A suggestion, from an honourable enemy. I only ask the same as if you were an envoy travelling through enemy lines.'
Asayaga laughed softly. 'Agreed.'
'There is a problem though, Asayaga.'
'And that is?'
'What do we tell our superiors?'
Asayaga nodded and looked back at his men. After a moment, he said, 'We were cut off, we fought, we survived. Nothing more. If word leaked out on either side, all would soon know, and by the gods that would wreak havoc, wouldn't it? My master could never be made to understand.'
Dennis laughed and nodded in agreement.
The sight of the two laughing and the way Gregory pointed out the trail was indication enough of what had been decided and the mood of the men around them instantly relaxed. The two groups milled together, chattering, men searching out comrades on the other side, shaking hands, exchanging small trinkets and gifts.
Smiling, Alyssa and Roxanne approached Dennis and Asayaga, 'I'd have killed both of you if you had started to fight,' Roxanne announced. 'I'm sick to death of fighting.'
Dennis looked over at her, wanting to speak, but was unable to do so. She drew closer. She indicated to Asayaga with a nod that he should speak to her sister.
As Asayaga walked a short distance away with Alyssa, Roxanne asked, 'Do you have anything to say to me, Hartraft?'
Dennis turned away and she followed him, the circle of men around them parting to let them through. When they were a little distance from the others, he said, 'Thank you for saving my life back at the bridge.'
'We saved each other in more ways than one.'
He looked at her and nodded.
'You're going to tell me you aren't ready yet, aren't you?' She sighed.
He nodded woodenly and she looked away.
'Gwenynth still haunts me. The anger, the rage that burned away out there -' He pointed back to the northern woods. 'Watching Tinuva die, knowing what he was sacrificing' He stopped for a moment, head lowered. 'I saw it. He had his brother at his mercy, and yet he stopped, unable to strike the final blow. His love spared the one who killed him, and yet he would not have wanted it any different. At that moment it all burned away in me. From that, and from the way Asayaga held his nephew and then rose up to try and save Tinuva I learned from all that.'