?gedei scrambled as fast as he could on his hands and knees. He threw himself around the edge of the bushes, clawing at the dirt and dragging his legs quickly to reach shelter. There were two men already hiding behind the screen of bushes, and as ?gedei crawled behind them, one of them cried out and fell on his ass. A long-shafted arrow stuck out of his gut, and he whimpered pitifully as he tried to gather his courage to touch it.
A pair of Darkhat riders passed behind his position, guiding their horses with their legs as they fired their bows. ?gedei didn’t dare peek out to see what they were shooting at; he was relieved they were fighting back. Someone was shouting his name, but he couldn’t make out who it was with all the chaotic noise from the men and the horses.
“It hurts. I can’t feel my legs.” The wounded man tugged at his sleeve. “My Khan,” he moaned. “Help me.” There was a lot of blood, and as the wounded man struggled to sit up, ?gedei spotted more blood on the ground beneath him. The arrow had gone completely through the man’s body.
The other man tried to shush the wounded one, and his entreaties were cut short. The leaves of the bushes shivered, and the man jerked to the side, toppling into ?gedei. He writhed and wailed, and ?gedei took one look and shoved him away in horror.
The arrow had passed through the man’s face, from one side to the other. He couldn’t open his mouth very far, and his cries quickly became a choking gurgle as his mouth and throat filled up with blood.
The bushes offered no shelter against the long arrows. ?gedei might as well be standing in the middle of an open field.
They crouched behind the crucified bear, able to see the devastation wreaked by the long arrows below and still scan for the location from which the mysterious archer was shooting. Trying to track the arrows, Gansukh watched as the assassin—with deadly accuracy—slew three men. The Khagan was nearly hit several times before he managed to scramble into shelter, and each time, Gansukh felt his heart leap into his mouth.
“There,” Alchiq said, pointing to a clutch of boulders on the southern hillside.
Gansukh squinted at the rocks, trying to ascertain the distance. “That’s too far—” he started. His argument was cut short as he saw movement behind the rocks. A man stood, his bowstring drawn back to his ear. He loosed his arrow and vanished again. Gansukh tried to make sense of what he had seen: the bow had been nearly as tall as the man.
The arrow arced across the valley, seeming to gain speed as it plummeted toward the ground. It flashed through the branches of the bushes sheltering the Khagan and two other men, and Gansukh winced as he saw the arrow spear one of the men in the gut.
“We have to get closer,” Alchiq snapped. “Otherwise we are all dead.” He darted out from behind the bear, scrambling across the rocky terrain with the agility of a mountain goat.
Gansukh followed, and the pair leap-frogged each other along the rounded scope of the hill. Cover was sparse, and Gansukh felt widely exposed each time he paused behind the trunk of an isolated tree. Most of them grew at an angle on the slope, and if he stood upright, his lower body was exposed; if he crouched, his head stuck out.
Finally, they reached a range that seemed possible for their smaller bows, and Alchiq let loose the first arrow as Gansukh scrambled past him to a flat-topped boulder that seemed like a good shooting position. Alchiq’s arrow skipped off the top of the largest of the three rocks they thought concealed the archers.
Gansukh peeked over the top of his rock, and he saw two heads briefly pop up. One of the pair was on the far side of the trio of boulders. That one had the shorter bow, not much larger than his and Alchiq’s, and he shifted his aim toward their positions. The first arrow overshot Gansukh’s position, ricocheting off a rock behind him with a brittle snap.
Gansukh stood, pulling his bowstring back and loosing his arrow in a smooth motion. He returned to his crouch, his eyes level with the top of the rock. His arrow vanished into the dark cleft between two of the rocks. Ducking down, he slid a handful of arrows out his quiver and balanced them on a nearby rock. Close at hand, easy to grab; he could stand, shoot, crouch, and ready another arrow without taking his attention off his target. Glancing back at Alchiq, he exhaled heavily, blowing out his cheeks.
As soon as he saw Alchiq stand and shoot an arrow, he did the same. He hesitated a split second, watching the flight of both arrows, trying to discern some meaning to the spatter of shadows behind the rocks. As he heard Alchiq move behind him, he shot three more arrows in quick succession.