Perkar had already dismounted and was rushing toward her, but Tsem beat him to it, plucking her from the back of the mare. She was mumbling something to the half Giant, as if trying to explain to him the most important thing in the world. Tsem only looked puzzled.
Two strangers came behind Hezhi, a man and a woman. Both were striking, beautiful even, and both—as far as he could discern, from his limited experience—were dressed in the fashion of Nhol: colorful kilts and blouses. The man wore a cloth wrapped upon his head, though it was so disheveled that it hung nearly off one side. When that man saw Karak, he quickly dismounted and knelt.
“Get up, you fool,” Karak—still, of course, in the guise of Sheldu—commanded.
Looking a bit confused, the man straightened and waved up the woman who had also begun to bow.
A man and woman from Nhol who recognized and bowed before Karak. What did that mean?
He was tempted not to care, and it seemed he had little time for it anyway.
“Mang, blocking the valley. I'm sure some will come up for us.”
“Single file,” Karak said. “They can be slaughtered easily.”
“Until the rest of them work up the more charitable slope behind us,” Ngangata shouted as he rode over. “They can be here before the sun has moved another span.”
“This is the quickest way,” Karak insisted.
“Only if we get there. How many Mang? A few hundred? Thirty-five of us, Sheldu. We must go over the spine and ride to our destination through another valley.”
“Ridiculous.”
“Ngangata knows these lands, Sheldu,” Perkar interrupted.
“As do I!” Karak roared, his eyes flashing dangerously yellow.
“Yes,” Perkar hissed meaningfully, striding close. “But Ngangata knows these lands from horsebackl”
“Oh.” Karak blinked. “Oh.”
Perkar turned to see Ngangata smirking at the exchange. He was certain the half man knew by now who their “guide” was.
“Over the spine,” Perkar grunted. He turned to Karak. “Unless you are ready to be more than guide.”
The Crow God slowly shook his Human-seeming head. “Not yet Not until we are too close for him to stop us.”
“Then Ngangata and I lead; the place you describe can be reached other ways than the one we are going. If the way is longer, then we must go now rather than argue. Leave a few of your men here with plenty of arrows to stop the Mang from coming up that trail. Tell them to give us a good head start and then leave, before they can be surrounded.”
Karak pursed his lips, annoyance plain on his face, but then he nodded brusquely and shouted the orders, moving off to choose his men.
“Well,” Ngangata appraised, “I wondered if you had left us again.”
“Soon enough, friend,” Perkar told him. “But not just yet.”
A moment later they were back on the move, their mounts scrambling across the trackless ridge. Mang war whoops seemed to be everywhere, and Perkar watched the tightness gather in Brother Horse's face. Difficult as it was, moving in and amongst trees, Perkar maneuvered close enough to the old man to hold a shouted conversation.
“You've done more than anyone can expect of you,” Perkar shouted. “I urge you to leave us now. No one should have to fight his own people.”
“I know what I am about,” Brother Horse snapped back at him, though he was plainly agitated. “Save your concern. I will not turn on you; I have cast my lot. If I am fortunate, I will not have to slay any of my kinsmen. But what goes on here is more important than any claims on blood.”
“I never thought to hear a Mang say that,” Perkar admitted.
Brother Horse set his face in a deep scowl. “If you search for an enemy among us,” the old man growled, “best to start in your own heart.”
“What do you mean by that?” Perkar shouted.
Brother Horse lifted one hand in a gesture of dismissal. “I don't know,” he answered. “But the last few leagues have brought me uneasiness about you.”
Perkar urged his mount ahead, angry and confused. How dare the old fool question him, when it was Mang who rode for the Changeling—the enemy of them all.
Ngangata was pacing close behind; their horses broke from run to canter and back as the leaves slapped at them. Perkar was vividly reminded of the last time he had ridden these ridges, fleeing the Huntress. Then, of course, they had been fighting to escape Balat and its mysteries; now they strove to reach its heart.
“Our pursuit is gaining more quickly than I thought they could,” Ngangata yelled over to him. “I think they split even before we saw them.”
“How many, can you tell?”
“Many. Hundreds, coming from possibly three directions.”
“How far do we have to go?”
“Too far, from Karak's description.”
Perkar smiled savagely. “How long have you known who our friend 'Sheldu' really is?”
Ngangata laughed coarsely. “Almost since you have. I read it on your face. And you've gone fey again.” He stabbed his finger at Perkar. “You aren't thinking of riding back against them?”
Perkar shook his head. “No. I mean, I did think about it, but what would be the point? Most would just go around me. If there were a narrow pass to hold, or if I could reach their head—Moss, or that—thing …” He turned fiercely in his saddle. ”I will warn you of this, my friend. If I see an opportunity to slay the creature from Nhol, I will take it. Do you understand that?”
“No,” Ngangata replied frankly, “but I can accept it.”
“Good.”
Perkar spent the next hundred heartbeats fighting his way to the front of the column. Hezhi still looked dazed, but Tsem's horse could not bear even her tiny additional weight, and so she rode up behind Yuu'han. In fact, the Giant's massive charger quivered so that Perkar feared it would collapse any moment. Then what would Tsem do? Of course, soon all of the horses would be useless enough to any of them; even T'esh was near exhausted. And Sharp Tiger, pacing placidly and stubbornly behind him, would be no help to anyone.
The howls behind him were drawing nearer.
Even Karak seemed concerned, glancing nervously around.
“You could stop them,” Perkar pointed out.
“That isn't my place,” the Raven answered testily. “We are too close to our goal now. I can almost taste our victory. If I reveal my power, if I uncloak myself here, now, Balati might notice all of this going on. Who knows what he would then do? I don't.”
“If we are all slain—” Perkar began.
But Karak interrupted. “You and the rest could purchase some time for me and Hezhi,” he said. “She is the crucial one. Only she matters.”