from the burning mine at Berok and climbed the Rednaw pass that led through the southernmost mountains of the P’tan range. Their journey was hampered only by the slowest of the freed slaves, who were finding it hard to maintain the pace set by the soldiers and their healthier counterparts at the head of the column. Onall had proven to be a fine leader and an inspired choice by Princess Zephany. He had displayed courage and discipline when leading the mine raid, as well as an ability to act on his own initiative. He’d maintained a sharp lookout for enemy soldiers throughout the journey, but once again he was pleasantly surprised to see none and they marched through the night with few stops to rest. By morning, they were through the pass and within sight of Soreen, though it was further away in the distance than it had at first appeared to be from their lofty position on the mountainside. Onall allowed his group the luxury of an extended rest, realising that they had only a short distance to their destination compared to the other groups, and confident of arriving well before evening.
Verastus didn’t have such an easy journey. In the raid at Dingarth mine his men had freed over twelve hundred slaves, almost all of whom had wanted to join the Rebellion, including some slaves who were badly beaten and injured. Verastus had placed the worst of the wounded on his soldier’s horses. They were doubled up in most cases, but still their progress had been slow. He was helped though by the shorter and less arduous route he took through the JH’Terin hills, which drastically reduced the time taken for the journey and enabled him to be within sight of Soreen by daybreak.
They had just sighted the village in the distance when the lead elements of the group spotted a patrol of six Nadjan horsesoldiers, riding to the fortress at Heron Getracht from the walled city of Tregustliat. Luckily, Verastus’ soldiers spotted the patrol first and warned him before the enemy knew they were there.
He immediately ordered all of his soldiers to lie down and remain out of sight. The warriors in the lead column pulled the slaves off their horses and lay their mounts skilfully on the ground. They threw themselves across their horses’ necks to prevent them from standing up and gently stroked their heads to keep them quiet. Verastus silently ordered ten of his men to make ready. When the enemy patrol was at its closest point, they all rose swiftly up on their horses and galloped away antly ntercept them, Verastus having decided that their probable heading would put them on a collision course with Jake and his group.
A vicious and ferocious fight ensued. The Nadjan horsesoldiers were excellent warriors and riders, they were all eventually caught and killed, but Verastus lost three of his men in the fight as well as two injured.
* * *
Jake and Zephany had the furthest to travel. They were both expecting tough journeys, particularly Zephany who now had a seriously depleted force given the casualties sustained on the raid at Periknar and who knew that she had to cross the Ilan River at some point to reach the village. They’d both expected to run into enemy patrols, but again both had been delighted to find that the countryside was surprisingly devoid of enemy activity and their journeys so far had been largely incident free. Zephany had another stroke of good fortune when one of her soldiers, who’d been sent ahead to scout for a suitable place to cross the River Ilan, reported that he’d found a narrow ford which was more or less in the direction of their march. Her force of thirteen hundred had been able to wade and swim across the river with the aid of ropes tied to trees and the delay to their journey had been minimal as a consequence, although the freezing waters had caused them concern and the constant movement of the forced march was now proving the only way to keep warm.
By mid morning on the 16th, Jake and his huge group of two thousand five hundred weary souls had reached the Rednaw Pass. They were setting a good pace and he hoped that with luck they would reach Soreen by nightfall. Zephany was just short of the JH’terin hills. Her depleted, cold and tired force was struggling to maintain the pace she wanted to set. Some of them were falling