Andòrax, the return of the nahysmi Vol.1 - The mark of the prophecy

20 - INSUBORDINATION

In a short time, the territory became mountainous. They left the area between the Land of the Hills and the Tibor Mountains, and rode deep into the rocky slopes. Fields and curving hills gave way to rocks; vegetation became less rich and more sparse, made of arid shrubs and undifferentiated, anonymous evergreen plants. The noise of hoofs hitting the stones became a sharp, stinging sound. Somewhere, the earth was friable, easy to slide down, turned unstable by the continuous rain that made the red earth a mass of slippery mud. They proceeded slowly, carefully guiding the horses to avoid them losing their balance, or the ground slipping from under their legs, with horse and rider at risk of falling. The landscape was monotonous and indifferent. They were going up, winding with effort along the slopes of the Tibor Mountains, sometimes on foot, leading the animals by the reins if passages were hard and unsafe.

Nobody complained about the brisk pace. They rode in silence, each one summoning his resilience and willpower. It was not an easy path the one that, hour after hour, took shape in front of them; so much so that even Jess cast jokes and cheerfulness aside in favor of wise concentration. Nosilia and the sohlohst were alert, soon imitated by Deneb's warriors who watched the territory with growing anxiety: spikes, caves, indentations that could hide an ambush at every step. If was well known that groups of marauders and thieves used to wander in the mountains, sheltered from the law, planning to raid a town, or fly at the imprudent travelers who dared to push so far in such savage lands, to rob and kill them. They had to keep ears and eyes wide open.

There on the mountains sunset came sooner. At the beginning they dared to travel a couple of hours after the sunset, but prudence slowly won out and forced them to camp as soon as it was dark. The camp fire was a problem. It could be a rash decision to light it and so reveal their presence to whoever was in the vicinity, when all they wanted above all was to go unobserved and avoid stirring up trouble. However, the harsh temperature and their rain-soaked clothes urged them to take the risk to warm up and dry out.

The general established strict sentries; at first, he firmly refused to include the four strangers, plainly declaring his total distrust. Things became heated and Derya nearly came to blows with the stoic general: at the end of a long, tiring argument they succeeded in making Liam think clearly and he finally agreed that the sentry be made up of a sohlohst and a soldier.

"What a wise decision! This way, two people won't rest and we will all be worn out soon!" Derya commented loudly in the face of such blind dullness, not trying to hide his disapproval.

Stenn made some efforts to calm him down, but the warrior refused to listen to him and pushed him angrily away. He sat on the ground leaning against a tree and coldly declared he would carry out the first sentry duty together with Wernen.

They did not argue further after that night. It was settled that two people stood as sentry; every five hours, one took over for the remaining part of the night, so that everybody could rest a little. Élian proposed himself for sentry duty. The sohlohst did not talk much; they barely spoke with the warriors and simply exchanged a few words in their own tongue. The general persisted in not using the Trade Tongue, so Armin and Wernen had to keep on translating his words.

The relationship between the various elements of the group was difficult. A mutual distrust existed between the two sides. It was probably this unbreakable division, as well as the continuous threat of conflict, that made them careless and vulnerable to the point of being caught unaware like beginners.

§

That night they were camped under a ridge of rock, sheltered from the air. At last, the rain had ceased. The embers of the fire they had lit had almost died; the charred stumps of the still white-hot branches and a thin line of thick smoke rising in the air were all that was left. Everybody was deeply asleep, wrapped in the blankets they had brought along. They had tied the horses to some trees. Jess and Wernen were on duty, but the sohlohst was the only one still awake, because the young man's head had sunk to his chest a couple of hours before, since he had fallen asleep. The sohlohst left him resting, judging that one sentry was more than enough. He had to admit with a hint of irritation that Derya's comment to General Liam was right: the general had made a mistake in forbidding the sentry watch to be made up of one man alone.