Page 12 of The Sorcerer's Alpha

“The canyon is open,” the wizard said, his hand pressed to the valley wall. “The guards have held.”

“Then we ride that way,” Keerti said, and just then Chandran came riding up fast and shouted, “We go, we go!”

The plan was to send the horses first, to break through the Skopoy’s front line and follow with foot soldiers. The heavy cavalry had mainly been camped toward the northern end of the canyon, and few were gathered now; Marut presumed most had died or were still engaged with the Skopoy. That meant the scouts would go in first, even though they were unarmored and unequipped for close combat.

“Stay behind,” Keerti said to Marut. “Bring your team out last. Let some infantry go ahead of you. Wait for the Skopoy troops to be engaged.” A sharp, rising wail to the north caught his attention for a moment. He directed his fierce gaze back to Marut and said, “Get him away. However you have to.”

“Ride well,” Marut said, knowing that Keerti was riding to his death, knowing that Keerti knew it. Keerti pressed his fist to his shoulder in a salute and wheeled his horse away.

“We were all sent here to die,” Agasti said in a low voice, watching the other scouts ride off at a canter.

“No,” Marut said. “We were sent here to protect the wizard.” He turned to regard the man, who was clinging to his horse’s reins in the manner of someone uncertain he would otherwise retain his seat. “Can you offer us any aid?”

“Half the Skopoy waiting for us are now off chasing a mirage through the hills,” the wizard said. “But when we ride out, I’ll have to concentrate on the riding part.”

“That’s already more than I hoped for,” Marut said, hearing Nilay and Ganak exchanging pleased murmurs. He was impressed with the man’s quick thinking and composure throughout what was by any standard a terrifying ordeal. Watching him clutch at his reins, clearly frightened but determinedly rising to the occasion, Marut felt a resolve take shape within him, strong as steel. He was going to return this man to Banuri by any means necessary.

He held his team back as Keerti and the scouts gathered with the remaining cavalry and the foot soldiers who had caught loose horses. The sounds of fighting and shouting drew ever closer from the north, and Bunny stamped his feet restlessly, reacting to the noises or Marut’s own signals of impatience or both. Just as Marut was about to press forward, too concerned about the oncoming Skopoy to wait any longer, he saw the cavalryman on the white horse turn and plunge down the canyon, followed by the rest.

“Sun Above protect them,” Jyoti murmured.

“And all the rest of us,” Agasti said.

Marut waited for his moment. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ganak draw Nilay’s hand to his mouth and press a kiss there. The horses vanished down the canyon, followed by soldiers on foot, running off into the darkness. A quick glance behind him showed a heaving wave of horses and men in the distance: the Skopoy fighting whichever of the Chedoy troops still resisted them. Huge, humped shapes writhed at the forefront. Marut turned his eyes away and said, “Stay behind me and follow my lead. Don’t stop or look back. We’ll go now.”

The horses went at a slow trot, following the running soldiers. Bunny pulled continually, wanting to gallop, and Marut couldn’t say he didn’t share the inclination; the noises from behind him stabbed a cold spike of fear through his bowels, and his instincts screamed at him to get away as fast as he could.

The canyon walls rose to either side, and everyone slowed, men and horses alike, as their eyes adjusted to the darkness. Marut could hear shouting from ahead of him, now. He kept his knees clamped to Bunny’s sides and hunched low over his neck. His blood pounded fast through his veins, and his eyes strained ahead of him, searching for the shapes of bodies, the shapes of other horses, for an empty space of darkness that would be their way out.

He was grateful he had gone exploring when they first arrived because he recognized the way the canyon curved to the left before it opened out into the meadow. He tugged on the reins, slowing Bunny just enough to give himself a critical extra second to take stock. He saw horses rearing, men fighting, and there, to the right: a horseman slashing his sword through the infantry line, making the opening Marut had prayed for. He kicked Bunny to a gallop, finally giving him the permission he wanted to run as fast as he could, and heard the pounding of hooves behind him as the others followed.

A line of horses at full gallop was more than an already broken defense could withstand. Skopoy soldiers fell to either side as Marut barreled through. He felt hands grasp at his stirrups, the slice of a blade across his calf, and then he was past them and Bunny was racing through the night, into the barren hills, lit by starlight. The shouts and screams behind him died away as Bunny crossed the meadow and entered another canyon. Ahead of him lay trackless wilderness. Marut clutched the reins and let Bunny run.

* * *

He gaveBunny his head until a glance behind him showed that Rhododendron was slowing, then pulled Bunny to a walk. They had run far enough; they needed a direction and a plan, and the horses needed water. He turned to the others and pointed two fingers to a narrow cleft in a nearby hillside, just large enough for all of their horses and sheltered to keep their voices from echoing.

The horses all looked well aside from Rhododendron, who was less accustomed to hard riding, and even she picked up her head and looked around alertly after drinking from the wizard’s waterskin. Marut crouched to examine the cut on his leg, which was shallow and had already clotted. The others had similarly minor injuries. They were dirty and weary but alive.

The wizard sat on the ground with both hands pressed to the dirt. Marut left him to it. He said, keeping his voice quiet, barely above a whisper, “I want to go east and straight to the capital. Beas is closer, but I don’t trust that it’s safe.”

“Those Skopoy creatures routed an entire battalion,” Ganak said. “Nowhere is safe.”

“That’s despair talking,” the wizard said, looking up from his spot on the ground. “The war’s not over. Don’t think there’s nothing that can be done.”

They all regarded him. Marut could see in the others’ faces that the man’s words had an impact, and he felt it in himself, too: a small, rising bubble of—not hope, but determination, perhaps; a willingness to consider the possibility that all wasn’t lost.

“We’ll keep going until the horses need to rest, then sleep for a few hours, if all is quiet,” Marut decided.

“Is all quiet, my lord?” Agasti asked, raising his eyebrows at the wizard.

“I can’t say. These rocks don’t know me well. They’re slow to speak.” The wizard rose to his feet and dusted off his hands. “I’ll ask again when we stop next.”

“Move out,” Marut said, instead of getting into this business of rocks speaking.

He held the horses to a walk at first, to give them more rest, then moved to a trot, which they could maintain for hours. The sky was overcast, but even so the bright moons behind the clouds gave enough light to see by, one full and one nearly so. Marut trusted Bunny to find his footing over the uneven ground, moving ever eastward through the hills and canyons. The night was silent. They stopped for water, and again, as dawn stained the sky. Marut shared a packet of dried meat with Jyoti and saw in her gaze the same burgeoning thought he was harboring: that they had, somehow, managed to get away.

The wizard seated himself at Rhododendron’s feet, eyes closed and hands flat on the earth. Just as Marut was about to call to move out, he said, “We’re pursued.”