them a bit but we better pull out.' He glanced at the sky. 'Snow's lessening. It'll clear tomorrow. We'd better be somewhere else when it does.'
They turned away from the trail and as they did so Gregory patted Richard on the shoulder.
'We might make a scout out of you, yet, lad.'
Then the Natalese set off at speed, disappearing into the night.
Richard was left struggling to keep up.
Chapter 5
FIVE
Accommodation
The snow stopped.
Asayaga chanced a look over the wall. The mist was blowing clear; it was possible to see across the narrow clearing as the light of the middle moon illuminated the ice-covered forest. He could feel the temperature dropping as a cold wind lashed in from the northwest.
Good and bad, he thought. We'll be drier but the ground will be icy, making footing difficult. He had never seen 'frozen water' before coming to Midkemia, as his homeworld was a hot world compared to this one, but he had become as close to an expert on cold weather warfare as any Tsurani could after nine winters in the field; he didn't like it, but he understood it.
'Force Commander.'
He looked down. It was Tasemu. He had ordered the Strike Leader to stay in the barracks hall to keep watch, not trusting Sugama to maintain order.
Asayaga nodded, motioning for him to climb the ladder and join him on the wall.
Tasemu crouched down beside him.
'Force Commander, what are you going to do?'
Asayaga chuckled and sat down by the Strike Leader's side.
Do? At the moment he had no answer to that one. A dreaded enemy blocked the way back to their lines, and unbelievably he was sharing a meal and spending the night with nearly sixty Kingdom troops.
'May I venture to say that my Force Commander is not sure of the future path?' Tasemu announced, sounding quite formal but in so doing offering Asayaga a chance to ask for an opinion.
They'd been together since the start of this war and rank notwithstanding, he knew Tasemu to be a friend, and not just a loyal retainer. If they ever got back home they'd assume the old roles, but out here it was different.
'Speak your mind, Tasemu. What future do you see?' Asayaga asked, taking up his Strike Leader's offer of advice.
Tasemu sat back against the stockade wall and looked up. The low scudding clouds parted for a brief instant, revealing the stars. Tasemu rubbed the patch over his empty eye-socket, a habit of his when he was thinking hard.
'The black-skinned one, the Natalese, he is a deadly foe, as is their captain,' he replied finally. 'I have caught glimpses of them in battle several times. Only glimpses, but I know we have faced them before and lost. Killing those two would be a great coup, worthy in fact of the sacrifice of this entire unit. Later it would save the lives of many of our comrades.'
Asayaga snorted derisively. 'I never knew you to be worried about the skin of others, especially of the Clan Shonshoni. This does not sound like your thoughts. It is what Sugama is saying, not an old veteran like you.'
Tasemu smiled. 'It is what he is whispering at this very moment,' Tasemu acknowledged, nodding back towards the barracks, 'and more than one is listening in there.'
'And you? What do you think, Strike Leader Tasemu?'
Tasemu hesitated, then said, 'He's right you know.'
'If we were back at camp: and he was out here alone, I'd gladly shout such advice to him,' Asayaga replied heatedly. 'I'd shout for him to kill as many Kingdom warriors as he wants and die a glorious and honourable death himself in the process.'
'But we are not in camp, we are here, stuck with these barbarians and those damned Dark Brothers waiting to kill us all.' He used the Kingdom words, rather than the Tsurani 'Forest Demons' as if doing so made them less fearful and more mortal. 'First we figure out how to survive, then we think about killing soldiers of the Kingdom. If we can combine those goals, so much the better. If not . . .'
He fell silent and like Tasemu leaned back, looking up at the stars, wondering, as so many soldiers of the Tsurani did, which one might be home. Or if they could even see the yellow-green star that was home to Kelewan.
'So, you are not planning then to kill the Kingdom soldiers, or try for their leaders?' Tasemu pressed.
'When it's worth it,' Asayaga replied sharply. 'When it's worth it to my family I will do