A Whisper of Night

22.2 || ASTNORDEN 💫

"Advance slowly. Lord Steridge's cavalry first."

Astna's men waited before Laerk Pass, as motionless as the mountains around them. From the corner of her eye, Astna glimpsed Lord Daemon lead his force of five-thousand men towards the pass. Although she had sent several scouts through the ranges, she couldn't shrug off her feelings of unease - too many military campaigns had been lost between two mountain ranges. Still, Laerk Pass was the only path into Norrayn, unless she wanted to spend another month journeying north to the Hydra Heads and turning back south to Paezdek, the capital.

Lord Steridge headed downhill. Hoofbeats rumbled softly, like the snore of a giant. Metals and bells jingled every so often.

One-thousand men, she thought. One-thousand good men and horses...still, she had to convince Lady Aeslyn - or whoever was in charge of the Pass - that she was sending the full force of her army across. Lord Steridge had taken the role of bait nonchalantly, although she'd seen the fear flickering through his eyes when she'd proposed the Pass. Unless Lady Aeslyn had spies amongst them - and Astna had taken great precautions to prevent eavesdropping - she would never anticipate their arrival through the Pass. Still, she wouldn't put it past the Mountain Viper to guard the mountains.

Lord Steridge was almost into the Pass. Astna strained her eyes against the black mass of the mountains, struggling to find anything unusual, anything suspicious, under the murky moonlight. The full moon was long past; soon, she would have no moonlight at all.

The men were now in the Pass, the horses giving the occasional whinny.

And then there was a shout.

Something shot down from the sky - a shooting star, Astna thought wildly - but all of a sudden there was pandemonium, panic.

"No," she said, holding up a hand, as the men around her surged forwards. The fire kept raining down, like a bizzare meteor shower. "No - don't do anything." She knew her knuckles were white around her reins; her heart was pounding in her chest. This can't be possible - no....

The Pass was afire, but she could barely see anything. The screams were horrible, though, screams she tried to block out as a lump rose in her throat....

"Astna! Astna?"

She spun around.

Ellac had pulled up behind her, his face white. "They've stopped," he said. "They've stopped sending down the fire - look - "

She bit her lip. Indeed, there had only been a few arrows...

"They could be waiting," Lady West cautioned, echoing Astna's own thoughts. "Waiting for the rest of us."

"No," Ellac said. There was a strange certainty in his voice, a strangled sort of confidence. "They're baiting us. They want us to make it past the Pass."

"But why?"

"Lady Aeslyn is like you, your Majesty," he said. "Apologies. But it is true. She would not want to vanquish a foe in the mountains. It'd be a dishonorable death."

"And how are you so certain of Lady Aeslyn's thoughts?" she said sharply.

"Because she is like you," he said. "All the history books - all the accounts - even Priest Fyron - they've said the same."

She bit her lip. The fire had been contained - the remnants of Lord Steridge's cavalry were struggling through the Pass.

"Reverse psychology," she murmured. "She could be using reverse psychology...Ellac, lead your men through the Pass."