He was halfway across when he heard shouts behind and knew his pursuers had sighted him. That renewed his determination and he forced himself to move faster.
He was ashore when the men following him reached the ford. He didn’t look back, but dodged into the woods, wishing he still had a bow. He had watched it fall into a rocky crevasse when he was still in the mountains, two weeks before. With a bow he could have stopped those after him.
He ran on.
The light was falling and Subai was disoriented, but he knew he was moving generally toward the west. Suddenly a voice from ahead challenged him. “What do you seek in Elvandar, human?”
Subai halted. “I seek refuge and I bring messages,” he said, leaning over with his hands on his knees as fatigue swept up over him.
“Who are you?”
“I am Captain Subai of the Royal Krondorian Pathfinders, and I bring messages from Owen Greylock, Knight-Marshal of Krondor.”
“Enter, Subai,” said an elf, who seemed to step out of nowhere.
“There are men following me,” said Subai, “agents of the invader, and I fear they will be upon us in minutes.”
The elf shook his head. “None may enter Elvandar unbidden. Already they are being led away from us, and should they finally escape the woods, they will be miles from here. Else they may wander until they starve.”
Subai said, “Thank you for inviting me in.”
The elf smiled and said, “I am called Adelin. I will guide you.”
“Thanks,” replied Subai. “I am almost done.”
The elf reached into his belt pouch; removed a piece of food, and said, “Eat this. It will restore you.”
Subai took the offering, a square piece of what looked to be a thick, hard bread. He bit into it and his mouth filled with flavors: nuts, berries, grains, and honey. He chewed it greedily.
Adelin said, “We still have far to go.” He led the Pathfinder to the west, toward Elvandar.
Erik washed the blood from his face and hands, while outside the tent trumpets blew and horses rode by. Richard, Earl of Makurlic, looked at the map and said, “We’re holding.”
Erik said, “We’re losing.”
The counteroffensive had rolled the Kingdom army back in confusion, until Erik could order up reserves to blunt the assault. Now they were five miles south of the original point of contact, and night was falling. Leland, Richard’s son, entered the tent and said, “We’re routing them.” He was a likable young man, nineteen years old, with a shock of blondish brown hair and wide-set blue eyes.
Erik said, “Hardly. They’re withdrawing to their own lines until morning. They’ll hit us again.”
The young soldier was eager, and Erik had been pleased to discover he kept his wits about him in the midst of battle. He officially was a junior officer attached to a company of soldiers from Deep Tauton, left to bolster the Army of the West when the Army of the East withdrew. But with his father in command of the army, he was acting in an unofficial capacity as Lord Richard’s adjutant and had picked up the responsibility of relaying orders to outlying units.
“What do we do next?” asked Richard.
Erik wiped his face with a towel and came over to look down at the map. “We dig in. Jadow!” he shouted over his shoulder.
A moment later, Jadow Shati appeared and said, “Erik?” Seeing the Earl sitting there, he changed that to “Captain? Hello, m’lord.”
Erik waved him over. “I want three diamonds dug in, here, here, and here,” he said, pointing to three points across the front. Jadow didn’t wait for further explanation, turning and leaving without even bothering to salute.
“Diamonds?” asked Leland.
Richard looked on in curiosity, too. Erik explained, “It’s an old Keshian formation. We build up three breastworks, each with two hundred men inside, but rather than try and build a huge one across the road, which we wouldn’t be able to finish by sunrise, we build three small, diamond-shaped ones across the front. Inside we place pikemen and build up the berm with shields and let them form defensive positions. The enemy’s horsemen can’t overrun them easily, and the tendency will be for men to move around the points of the diamond.”
Richard said, “That funnels their men into these two constricted areas between the center and the sides.”
“Yes,” said Erik. “With luck they get jammed up in those constriction points and our archers here”—he drew a line with his finger across the map behind the diamonds— “can wither any of the enemy who get trapped there. We’ll put a wall of swordsmen with shields in front of them in case the enemy gets past the diamonds in quantity.”
“What about our horse?” asked Leland.
“They hold to each side of the outer diamonds. If we’re lucky they can prevent any flanking, and if the enemy retreats, we can unleash them to harry the enemy.”
“Then what?” asked Richard.