CHAPTER NINE

The tiny glimpse of daylight in my vision woke me up, along with Lore's stirring in my grasp. She twisted slightly so she could face me. The blood chiseled on her face was now dry as she studied me with her dark brown eyes. There was a deep sense of relief within me, to see her survive the injury and the night.

Soft breath misted in front of my face, "Fish. Where are we?"

"Far behind enemy lines. Friendly assets unknown." I replied, feeling my lips crack as I spoke.

With one of her hands, she brushed aside my hair, touching at the deep gashes on my cheek. "You're hurt badly." A small quirk cracked her smile. "Do you mind relaxing your arms a bit?"

My arms were locked around Lore and cramped in the night to their position, but I willed my arms to release each other. Pain scored through my arms and my back. Circulation returned to my extremities with an agonizing surge.

She seized my arm, her cool hands smoothing over the dried blood crusted on my skin. "They're burning. You're fighting off infection."

"And I'll win. We need to find better shelter and a plan. Wait. Quiet." I heard footsteps on the periphery of my hearing, soft practiced steps approaching our position.

Lore froze, her eyes narrowed as she too heard the sound. She shifted, poising on the balls of her feet. We were both badly injured and now unarmed, but we would not go down easily.

A shadow flitted over the entrance of the cave, and a Seanchan soldier was there, a longbow in hand, aimed directly at Lore. He was experienced, at a range enough where I couldn't reach him before he shot. We were at his mercy. I tensed my muscles. Sabres do not allow ourselves to be prisoners.

Then the Seanchan's eyes suddenly widened as he exclaimed, "Waru?"

His crossbow dipped for a second. It was all I needed. I lunged from my crouching position in an explosion of speed. The shriek of my cramped muscles and ravaged skin were muffled in the embrace of the Oneness. I was on him, tackling him to the ground. The arrow fired, shooting harmlessly up into the air.

He grappled for the scimitar at his belt, and I drove my hand cracking hard into the side of his neck with a crack. He fell dead to the grass.

Detecting no motion around us, I quickly set about dissembling his armor and removing his supply pack and weapons.

"He knew you." I said, as I opened his pouch, sniffing at the rations within. They were some sort of bread with a hint of exotic spices.

"He was a trailblazer for my Seanchan company. He has--had some intimate aspirations." Lore said mutely, "We should get moving. He'll be tracking for a hunting party, who will probably arrive soon. We won't be as lucky next time."

I glanced up at her, searching her face. "You're right." I tossed the fallen longbow up to her, which she caught with her off hand.

With the Seanchan completely stripped of everything useful, I towed him into the cave and stowed him inside out of sight. I yanked off my shattered vambraces, feeling the splintered steel tearing fresh wounds into my skin, and tossed them in afterwards. Lore removed her devastated breastplate and armlets as well, hiding them inside.

Slinging the backpack and the rest of the Seanchan's equipment over my shoulder, I directed us into the woods away from the night's hiding place. I did not bother to obscure the signs of a struggle, but the hidden body should delay any pursuers long enough.

"How was he?" I asked suddenly.

Lore cocked her head slightly, "Classified, and you don't have the clearance, Blue. What's our plan?"

"We're going to find our way to the closest main road, set up base camp. Attempt to make contact with any other Sabres or other friendlies left behind. We will do our duty, of course. The Seanchan must be stopped." I suddenly raised a hand, ducking down behind a thick brush, lowering myself to the ground quietly.

There was a soft crunching of steps on leaves and branches. Through the breaks in the foliage, I tracked the motions with my eyes. About ten horse-mounted Seanchan moved across the forest two hundred paces before us. They peered intently around the surroundings, eyes moving across our hiding place without stopping. They continued their trek through the forest, heading in the direction from where we had come.

I stayed lying there, listening to the faint horses' steps fading away, giving it a good fifteen minutes before I stood back up.

"So?" Lore asked.

"Come, you recognize this place as well as I." I gazed at the stands of trees all around us, their canopies intertwining high above us in a staccato of filtered light and green leaves. Memories slowly leaked back. We had been trained in this forest once. One of the largest and extensive exercises in the Lighthammer project.

As we crossed the forest floor, I could almost retrace the footsteps that I had once taken here. It was the Gauntlet, as the Command had called it. We had a day and a night to cross the forest towards a target. And for our obstacle, they had brought in the illustrious Fifth Brigade, the greatest mounted bowmen that the Order could boast. A half legion of sharp-eyed shooters hidden within the trees and brushes as well as in fast mounted patrols made the Gauntlet what it was. Yes, they were explicitly ordered to shoot to disable. But, fatal accidents could still happen, and being disabled by a crossbow was no enjoyable process.

I was the second Sabre to cross the Gauntlet, after Con. Lore was the last of seven, but not by much, right at the heel of Stim. But in that twenty-four hours, we had indeed become intimately familiar with the workings of the forest.

I knew intuitively where to go. We crossed a large clearing populated by tall grasses. Here, once before, I had been ambushed by three Brigadiers crouched upon separate trees. Brief motion had betrayed the first bowman, allowing me time to duck from an arrow that grazed my calf. I could still remember the stream of arrows slicing through the high grass as I tumbled from cover to cover.

Now, Lore and I passed by a flowing river, perhaps a tributary of the one where I had washed myself last night. At this spot, I could remember being caught in the open by a patrol of three Brigadiers. Tearing down on me on their black stallions splashing across the river, one of their arrows managed to tear through my left shoulder, a superficial injury. I eluded them in the thickest copses I could find, where I had removed the arrow and dressed the wound before hiking the last three leagues to the target.

I led the way unerringly towards a hilly outcropping that overlooked the major road section from the town of Jermamel into northern Amadicia. In the training exercise, it served as a boundary, after all, we wouldn't have wanted the layman to see what the Fortress was cooking up.

Now lumbering down the road were a long line of green-and-red armored soldiers, spearpoints bristling and banners wafting in the wind. Several of the lizard riders rode at the side of the infantry, their riders occasionally yanking hard at the reigns to keep the mounts in line. Several mounted women were interspersed among the long line, usually separated but guarded.

"Channelers." Lore whispered, pointing out at each pair in turn.

As the long train of soldiers passed on, behind them came the wagons and camp followers. In drab clothes, they were the cooks, the liveries, and the smiths, along with their families. But among the wagons were the heavily laden supplies that a hungry war machine required for sustenance. But, so close to the main party of soldiers, it would be chancy to try for those.

But I knew that those wagons did not possess enough supplies to keep the war machine lubricated for longer than a few days. There would be more supply caravans heading up to the main front, not as well guarded, and a prime supply for two well-trained Sabres behind enemy lines.

"You have a plan, I see." Lore said.

"I do." I watched the wagons pass by in their long trains intently. Options clicked in my head, and probabilities and risk weighed themselves. I did not have Map's keen ability, but I could see what the obvious choices were. "This will be our first target. Let us set up base camp."

We melted into the forest, as the unending soldiers of the Seanchan's wrath march relentlessly up the road towards the north.