Sasha shook her head. "No bypassing-we're trying to trap the Hadryn inside the valley, we can't afford to get trapped ourselves. If I were them I'd put infantry on defensible ridgelines with trees for cover all about the exposed side of Ymoth. We can't ride around that uphill side, it's too rugged. We'll need two thrusts, one to hit the near side from the river, and one to flank around the town and hit the other. That second thrust will have to pass along the riverbank and head back upslope… straight into an uphill ambush. We'll stagger it, a forward force to spring the trap then double-back, the later one to hit them hard."
"The girl knows her cavalry charges!" Akryd said with amusement. "What size the reserve?"
"Make it two hundred," Tyrun replied. "Can't spare any more than that. M'Lady and I'll take the far flank-she can spring the trap, I'll break it. Yuan Akryd, you can lead the near-side assault. Don't stop for anything."
"I shan't!" said Akryd, most cheerfully. "Sounds like a plan. I'll see you both inside!" And with that, he reined off the trail and stopped, waiting for his officers further back in the column to catch up to receive his orders. Sasha found herself somewhat unsettled.
"Aren't we supposed to plan a little more than that?" she asked dubiously. "Before the battle of Baen-Tar, Kessligh planned for nearly a full day."
"This is a cavalry charge," Tyrun replied, with a wry, twisting smile. "When you throw a melon off a cliff, do you plan to see which way it splatters?"
Sasha did not consider herself comforted.
Tyrun dropped back to talk to his officers, and Sasha allowed Jaryd to ride up alongside. "Did you hear that?" she asked. A part of her felt uneasy excluding Jaryd from the initial planning-in name at least, he was the Commander of the Falcon Guard. It was impossible to tell if Jaryd felt neglected. Lately, it had been impossible to tell if Jaryd felt anything.
"Princess Sofy and I shall stay with the reserve," he said grimly. "I shan't be much use in a charge."
"When the reserve is committed to the fight, stay with them," Sasha insisted. "Holding back on your own will only make you a lonely target."
"Sasha?" Sofy called from behind, anxiously. "Sasha, don't hold him back on my account. I'm okay, really… I think I'm getting quite good at riding."
"Damn it, Sofy," Sasha called over her shoulder, "I'm not doing this as a favour! You're far more a princess of Lenayin than I'll ever be, and you're valuable. I'll not risk an important asset of Lenayin if I can help it."
Sofy stared at her, managing to look both crestfallen and angry at the same time.
As the trail wound though the lower foothills, Sasha found herself alone at the head of the column. She shouted for the vanguard to raise a canter where the trail allowed. They rushed along winding trails, flanked by thick undergrowth, the vanguard lowering their banners to avoid catching them upon low branches. A scout joined them, accelerating to ride at Sasha's side, his little dussieh frothing white with sweat as its little legs pumped to keep pace, the wild-bearded woodsman on its back assuring her that there was open space ahead and no sign of ambush.
The column burst onto open fields, green grass wet upon steep, folded hillsides. Fences crossed the grass and small farmhouses perched beside water catchments. Sasha couldn't see any livestock as they thundered along the ridgeline road. That was a bad sign. Ahead, the Yumynis River glinted dully as it swept about in a giant bend. A glance over her shoulder showed an endless stream of mounted soldiers pouring from the treeline. She held the column to a comfortable canter with little fear of tiring the horses on such an easy downward slope.
The treeline continued downhill on the right, where dark shelves of rock thrust through the green grass. Beyond, the Shudyn Ridge towered like an almighty black wall supporting the grey ceiling of sky. A galloping horseman caught her eye, racing parallel to the treeline. A scout-they often flanked forward from a cavalry thrust, searching the hidden folds of land for ambush. And yet, the horseman swung across and headed for them at speed. Several of the vanguard fell back, riding on Sasha's right as a shield, but the approaching rider bore no visible weapons and held a hand aloft in a sign of recognition.
"M'Lady, I don't recognise him," said one of the vanguard, squinting as they rode. "He's not one of our scouts." The man's dussieh came racing up the slope at an angle toward them… and Sasha could see the man's face.
"That's all right!" she replied, with a leap of high spirits. "I do!" She stood in her stirrups and waved him in. "Greetings, Jurellyn! Funny seeing you here!"
"Funny?" yelled the scout as he closed the gap. "It's hysterical! Where the hells've you been, damn fool of a girl?"
Sasha threw back her head and laughed. Jurellyn leaped the stone wall beside the trail and joined her side with a skidding of hooves. The trail was turning northward, dropping into a shallow fold that blocked all view of the river. Upon the opposing slope, Sasha saw a farmhouse in charcoal ruins, the damage far too old to raise smoke.
She extended a hand and Jurellyn grasped it hard. He looked much the same as she'd last seen him upon the road to Halleryn-ragged and weatherbeaten, a shaven jaw his only visible concession to civilisation. His rumpled clothes bore perhaps several more stains than she recalled, but it appeared as if the intervening weeks since Damon had sent him from the Falcon Guard to spy on Lord Usyn's army had caused him little concern. Certainly his horse seemed none the worse for wear, running gamely at Peg's side with barely a sweat to show.
"I've got good news and bad news!" he said to her above the thunder of hooves.
"Bad news first!"
"The Banneryd Holy Swords hold Ymoth, you're looking at nine hundred horse minimum, maybe two thousand infantry!"
"I already guessed that!" Sasha retorted. "What's the good news?"
"Usyn ain't here!" With a gleam in his eyes. "I know the Banneryd got wind of you coming, they've been scrambling about the place all morning setting up defences… but Usyn's still in the valley!"
"I could kiss you!" Sasha yelled back.
"Promises, promises! This road's fine-they'll see you maybe three folds from Ymoth so they won't have much time to prepare! There's open ground from there, you can form up okay-make it fast past the town, there's archers on the walls! And watch the damn bridge! I haven't been able to get across for two days, but there's Hadryn towns not too far east and my men saw riders heading across the bridge at speed this morning!"
Sasha nodded… from those villages would come the same men who ravaged Perys.
"Do the Udalyn still stand?" she asked Jurellyn, as they rose over the depression.
"No way to tell! Usyn's still in there…" Jurellyn shrugged. "I see you brought the kids with you!"
Sasha blinked at him. He'd sent them, she recalled. "If you thought perhaps the king still had a heart, it didn't work!"
Jurellyn shook his head. "Brother Damon's idea! I never had much faith in it!" They cleared the rise and could see the river once more. The lower fields were close, but Ymoth remained hidden behind a ridge. "I'll scout forward, maybe try and cross the bridge when you go! Luck!"
He waved and spurred his wiry horse to a gallop, raising clods of earth in his wake as he raced down the trail, then leaped a wall to ride toward the further treeline.
The formation seemed to take forever to arrive. Men poured down from the last rise of the foothills, officers on horseback yelling and pointing grandly with their swords, directing each group to their position. Sasha simply held Peg to his place behind the vanguard before the bank of a stream that cut through the paddocks into the Yumynis. The ruins of a farmhouse lay nearby, its charred timbers wet with recent rain. The senseless destruction sickened her and awoke her fury. It must have been such a beautiful residence, by a stream near a wide river, nestled amid green pastures and flanked by mountains.