Ty, bemused and slightly angry, shook her head and beckoned the pack forward. They stepped forward with her and she took a stick from her pocket. "This is the palace itself," she told the boys, drawing the shapes in the dirt. "These are the gates," she continued, drawing five gates around the palace, one north, one to the east and to the west, and two southward. She placed an X on the spot that they were, then looked up.
"Our best bet is the two South Gates. We're too many to be able to simply walk through North Gate and expect no one to stop us." At this, she looked back down to her map and made a large K at the eastern South Gate.
"Kehel, I'll need you and your children at this gate when I give the signal. You're going to be pulling these gates open, so if you need to borrow Otian, send word."
She looked up. "How big a favor does Stefan owe you?" she asked.
Kehel pondered. "I'm not sure," he sighed. "What do you need?"
Ty counted a bit on her fingers, then said, "I need nine of the fastest horses—or ponies, if there's not enough horses to keep quiet. They need to be able to ride for a long while."
Kehel's mouth had dropped open, but he set his jaw and nodded. "I'll ask Stefan," he said. "If not, I'll try Onua's ponies. They've just gotten new ones this week and I don't think they've been counted since they joined up with the others."
"How fast are the horses on the caravans?" she asked him.
Kehel shook his head. "Ty, caravans go slowly. If we're to ride quickly, the caravans won't keep up."
Ty groaned. "Oh, this is no good. How many caravans?"
"For five hundred children?" Kehel's face screwed up in thought. "If we're twenty per caravan? That makes twenty five caravans plus provisions."
Ty shook her head. "Impossible. We'll never make it."
"Well, what do you propose then?" Kehel asked her rather snappishly. There was a long pause as Ty thought. Then she snapped her fingers, muttered to herself, and looked at Leej.
"Do all your kids have shoes?" she asked.
"You surely don't think making them walk is going to make us go any faster?" Terry asked, bewildered. Mel nudged him in the ribs.
"Shut up, Stallion, the Tehea's got a plan!" he told the other boy. Then to Ty, "My lot have shoes, Tehea, though they're not in good shape. But if you're going to make them pace, we're going to have a bit of a problem where Otian's lot fit in. Most their age can barely walk."
"They're few enough. We can take them two per horse with us, they're enough not to burden them," Otian cut in. "besides, we split them by skill, remember? I've got a hundred now, not seventeen. We'd need the caravans anyway."
Ty straightened suddenly, a smile on her lips. She looked over the crowd, caught sight of the caravans, then grinned and doubled over with the boys. "I've got it," she told them. "Kehel, how many caravans have you?"
"Twenty-four," he reported. "Like I said, the twenty and provisions."
"We need fourteen," she said. Then her mouth moved slightly to the right as she though, and back to its smile. "Forget I said that. We need fifteen, plus the nine horses. Can you arrange it?"
Kehel nodded. She made the sign to be back ASAP and he left running. She turned to the remaining four. "Right-o boys, this is what we're going to do…"
It was simple enough as far as huge escapades went. The caravan party was split in two. Seven went east while the other seven went north. They would meet up north of Corus the next day at sundown so Ty could direct them on how to reach her friends.
There was an eventual problem on the divisions, however. Ty wanted to go with Terry and Leej, because she needed the runners and every team should have fighters. But, unfortunately for Ty, the pack decided to overrule her, because she was having too much trouble breathing (and therefore would find it hard to run on a horse instead of gallop) to be able to handle the enormous load that would be. So they saddled Leej with Mel and Otian while she went with Kehel and Terry. Ty complained but eventually gave in, glowering at them all. Then they split up to set plans to actions.
Ty prepared cloths soaked in something-or-other and passed them to Galatry and her siblings, who crept up on the guards one by one to make them sleep. It was subtle enough they'd all think they'd fallen asleep on duty. Then Kehel's lot opened the two southern gates (they had to call Otian up eventually, because they were simply too heavy to lift without him).
Mel, Terry and their respective groups kept watch over as the groups of caravans spun off into the night. When they finally retreated outside, a select group stayed with Kehel and Otian to close the gates once more. Ty, on the wall, carried child after child onto the other side, broken ribs and all, until Terry carried her out upside-down into a prepared soft saddle for her to sit on.
Then they rode off into the night. The younger bunch went slowly, along the safer route to the west, while Ty set a fast pace on the horses to the ridges to the east. Galatry rode faster ahead of the group, picking out trails, while her siblings guarded the rear with Terry. Kehel, the best among them on a horse, watched the flanks.
As so they met the daybreak, three miles from Corus itself, so also they met with a small catastrophe.
"Need air…" muttered Ty, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she rode, all blood draining from her face as she slipped from the saddle.