The hair rose on her arms, and the fear of knives in the night was replaced by something more. She wished Rhillian would hurry. A bell rang. Then rang again. It came from the temple to Sasha's rear, and very loudly. Distant voices shouted. Ahead of her shadows began to move. Steel flashed, and one fell.
Yells and shouts from ahead of her now, as men spun to confront the threat. Another fell, then another, with a scream, and no clash of defensive steel. Sasha ran.
Men scattered in the night, searching for the ghost that killed them. Sasha came upon one with his back turned, killed him, then nearly collided with a running second, ducking away as he swung at her in panic. She stumbled on low bushes, unseen in the dark, and saw another man coming at her from the side…but that man staggered as a flying knife skewered his ribs.
Another ran past blindly, then one following him was suddenly separated from his head as though the dark itself had come alive and killed him. Sasha stared about wildly, dropping to one knee to make a smaller profile, hearing now yells and fighting from within the buildings. Aisha had awoken people, or someone had. They would make for the stables, and get the horses.
She heard more shouts, from over by the river. And now she could hear hooves. Many hooves, a large group of horses, moving fast. The sound came from the bridge. Now she realised why the thought of the bridge had made her anxious. Any force of horses coming down that road would be on them in no time. And if these men were just an advance party to check and see if the target were in fact present…
“Rhillian!” she yelled, and took off running for the road, ducking between trees and bushes, and hoping she wouldn't trip on something.
She ran between the property wall and the temple building, tangled trees giving way to vegetable patches and a paved path, then emerged onto the dirt road. She accelerated to a full sprint, heading across the building's front for the stables, as new light flooded from windows. Racing footsteps behind told her she was being followed, and she looked, but it was Rhillian, gaining on longer legs. Further behind them, hooves were now thundering.
Sasha rounded the corner into the stable yards, and found two men already ahorse, wheeling circles to keep six Kazeri at bay. She raced into them without pausing, faked a swing at one to buy a rider time, then dropped to slide long in the dirt and take another's leg in passing. Another Kazeri was wrestling with a horse's reins, the horse's head between himself and the rider, as one more circled to take the rider's flank…. Sasha rushed that man, fake-stepped and cut him through the middle. The first Kazeri abandoned the horse's reins and retreated, only to be slashed from behind by the second rider. Another Kazeri fell to Rhillian's fast-arriving blade, and the remaining two fled.
“Big force of horses coming down on us!” Sasha told the riders-Kiel and Arendelle, she now registered.
“We'll distract them,” said Kiel, and kicked his horse's sides to gallop onto the road. Arendelle nocked an arrow to his bowstring as Sasha and Rhillian raced into the stables. Some cavalrymen were there, saddling fast, but Sasha knew there was no time for it.
“Get as many as you can and ride along the river!” she shouted, untethering her own horse and leaping astride bareback. “There's too many coming, you have to run!”
“If we're separated head for Ilduur!” Rhillian added, leaping astride her own horse.
“Rhillian, you stay and escort,” Sasha retorted, grasping a handful of mane. “You're no rider bareback!”
She galloped off, tearing into the street, having no confidence that Rhillian would listen. Townsfolk were on the road now, with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Sasha galloped, sword in hand, and realised that she herself was not the equal of good cavalrymen in combat, however superior her horsemanship. Bareback, she was useless.
Ahead, dimly lit by torchlight, she could see Kiel's and Arendelle's horses on the road. Both men were firing arrow after arrow into oncoming cavalry, felling several as those behind swerved. The serrin turned their horses and retreated, twisting in their saddles to fire backward as only serrin knew how, felling more pursuers. Kazeri cavalry dodged, and several collided, finding such accuracy in the dark disconcerting.
Sasha saw a chance and tore past the serrin, cutting across the road and onto a grassy verge, Kazeri startling in astonishment as she galloped by. She did not bother to swing at them, but headed for the first side road, turned with a yank of her animal's mane, and galloped on. Looking over her shoulder, she found at least five chasing her. But here away from the main road there were few sources of light, only a dull outline of winding road between squat houses.
She took the next turn, determined to get back to the temple. She nearly hit a tree, her horse startling in fear and trying to slow, head tossing and disliking running at this speed in the dark even more than she did. Sasha kicked desperately as the hooves behind came closer still.
Suddenly there were village folk with lanterns ahead at the intersection of two roads. In that spill of light, a horse stood silhouetted, and astride it, a serrin aimed his bow directly at her. It was Kiel. For a brief moment, she recalled the deck of the ship in Petrodor Harbour, Kiel's bow drawn, his arrow aimed for her heart, only missing because Errollyn took the arrow himself. Now he fired, and once more the arrow streaked straight for her, with terrifying precision. Sasha ducked, but the arrow was aimed two hands from her ear, and buzzed like an angry wasp.
Behind her, a Kazeri toppled from the saddle. Kiel drew again and dropped a second. Sasha pulled her horse to a halt, as behind her the remaining Kazeri also halted, confronted with the terror of serrin archery for perhaps the first time in their lives. Kiel drew a third time, and they fled. Kiel placed that arrow between the last man's shoulder blades with a satisfying thud.
“Follow me,” said Kiel, and wheeled his horse. Sasha followed. He galloped between small houses and little groups of frightened, running townsfolk, many with weapons. Toward the main road, Sasha saw large fires beginning to burn, and heard the sounds of fighting. It was big. Staying in town was not an option, and leaving would likely serve the villagers best also, assuming the Kazeri were after their guests and not the village itself.
Kiel led them clattering down a side lane, then through an open paddock gate, past a farmhouse and barking dogs. Soon they reached the tree line and the foot of the hills. There they paused, briefly, and stared back toward the town. Still the bell clanged, and fires burned high into the night. Sasha could hear no more intense fighting, only the occasional yell, and the endless barking of dogs. Whether that was because all the townsfolk were dead, or the Kazeri had abandoned town in pursuit of their main quarry, she did not know. Neither possibility appealed.
“Probably fortunate they attack at night,” said Kiel. “Horse tracks are easy to follow by day, but not for humans at night. Now we can make ground and not be followed.”
Sasha wondered if their friends would be so fortunate. It depended on whether Rhillian, Aisha, and Arendelle were still with them, to guide them in the dark.
“Arendelle was well when you separated from him?” Sasha asked.
“Yes. He went to help the others. I came to help you.”
“Why?”
Sasha's eyes were good enough now that she could see Kiel's dry smile.
“We are practical,” he said, with irony. “You fight well.”
“You too.”
“Friendship,” said Kiel, even more drily. “How nice.”
“Rhillian will have crossed the river at the next bridge,” said Sasha, ignoring his tone. “That way the Kazeri cannot trap her against the river. But it now puts the river between us and her.”
“We know where she's going,” said Kiel. “Let's get there before her. We cannot ambush that Kazeri force, it's too big, but we can make certain Rhillian will not be ambushed by another one. If that is just the vanguard for the Kazeri Army…”