Tiuri, son of Tiuri, lay on his stomach, looking out over the edge of the steep drop where the hidden path ended. Down below he could see the Road of Ambuscade. Piak lay beside him and whispered in his ear, “Do you see that plume of smoke, to the right of the Tarntop? That must be where the last guard post is.”
Further to the west was the pass, where Tehalon had said soldiers were also standing guard. A high rock was blocking their view, so they could not see how they might be able to get past. But, whatever they did, they would have to get down to the road below first. Piak had already worked out the best route.
They heard footsteps approaching along the road below them. The friends pulled back their heads, but then peeped over the edge again, very carefully, to take a look. It was two Red Riders, heavily armed, but on foot. They walked past, slowly, as the road was slippery with melting snow, and headed westwards, disappearing behind the rock. Voices came from that direction. The two friends waited in silence. After a while the men returned… no, it was two different Red Riders, who were going back to the east, towards the Tarntop.
“They’ve changed the watch at the pass!” whispered Tiuri, when they had gone. “That’s good. Now there’s a chance that no one will come by for a while. Let’s go.”
Piak uncoiled the rope and tied the two ends together. He looped it around the rocky outcrop he had chosen. It was so long that even as a loop it hung nearly all the way down to the road. “You first,” he said quietly. Here in the mountains he felt like a guide again, who had to take charge and bring up the rear during a descent.
It took Tiuri a moment to pluck up the courage to go over the edge, but down he went. His friend was better at this kind of undertaking. But he reached the bottom in one piece. He flexed his fingers, which were red and sore from the rough rope, and then held his breath as he watched Piak, who was down and beside him in a split second and then tugged at the rope until he held the knot in his hands. He untied it and pulled. “Good!” he whispered, coiling the rope back up again. “The last part of the hidden path is behind us and we’re on the Road of Ambuscade.” Then he let
Tiuri take over again. “So what do we do now?” Tiuri didn’t know either. They couldn’t see the pass from here and they didn’t know exactly where the guard post was. But there was nothing else they could do except head in that direction – creeping and with cunning, to use Tehalon’s words. The road was wide and climbed gradually. Steep cliffs stood on either side and, to the left, around the corner, were the guards. It would be best, of course, if they could slip past unnoticed.
Piak nudged Tiuri and whispered, “Please, take my sword. I’m not very good with it. I prefer this.” He brandished the stick he’d found along the way.
Tiuri accepted his offer, knowing his friend was right.
Shortly after that, they were peering around the rock that had blocked their view for so long. They could see the road to its highest point – the pass. Some way beneath it was a hut, built of blocks of stone. Smoke curled through a hole in the roof, and the door was open. It was so close that they could see the horn hanging by the door. Someone was moving inside and they quickly stepped back when a Red Rider came out, then waited for a moment before looking again to see that the man was making a fire at the side of the road. He stood up, with his back towards them, and gave a loud cry. The second guard appeared over the pass.
When the two friends plucked up courage to look again, one of the men had disappeared. The other was sitting by the fire, grasping a spear that he’d planted in the ground beside him.
As quietly as possible, they walked back to the spot where they’d climbed down. They didn’t dare to speak until they got there, and still only in whispers.
“We’ll never get past without being seen,” said Tiuri. “We have to follow the road to get over the pass, and it looks as if one of the two is always on guard outside!”
Piak nodded. “You’re right,” he said. “But what about when it gets dark?”
“Do you think that’ll make much difference?”
“I don’t know,” said Piak thoughtfully. “We can only go along the road, and there’s a guard sitting next to a fire that’s lighting up the whole area. He might not see us straightaway, but he’s sure to hear us.”
“So,” said Tiuri, “we’ll just have to let them see us.”
“And how’s that going to work?”
“We’ll have to go as soon as possible. We might as well go right now, if it’s not going to make any difference anyway.”
“But how?”
“We’ll pretend we’re Men in Green. That’s what we look like, after all.”
“But do you think they’ll just let us through?” asked Piak.
“No,” replied Tiuri after pausing to think. “But they won’t see us as enemies, so we’ll be able to get closer.”
“And then?”
“Then it’s two against two. We’ll have to overpower them.”
“Ah!” sighed Piak and then he added, “Well, I’ve got enough rope to tie them up tightly.”
“But we can’t give them any time to raise the alarm,” Tiuri continued. “If we take them out of action, it won’t be discovered until tomorrow, when the next guards come to relieve them. That’s why we have to do it now – then we’ll have more of a lead.”
“Yes…” whispered Piak, his voice trembling slightly. “Just tell me what you want me to do. And I’ll do it!”
Once again they walked up the Road of Ambuscade, not skulking along the rocks this time, but casually striding up the middle of it.
The guard rose to his feet when he saw them coming; he stood in the middle of the road and held up his spear to bar the way. The friends walked onwards, outwardly calm but their hearts were beating faster.
The guard barked something at them.
Tiuri and Piak stopped, bowed their heads in greeting and said, “Giaruda.”
Tiuri cast a glance at the hut; the other guard was standing in the doorway. Then he looked again at the soldier facing him. He had a hostile expression, with small, beady eyes that stared suspiciously at Tiuri. He spoke again, asking something in the language of Eviellan. The meaning of the question was clear enough: “What do you want?”
Tiuri pointed from east to the west and indicated with sign language that he and Piak wanted to cross the pass.
But, just as Tiuri had feared, the guard shook his head and made it very clear that the answer was no.
Tiuri repeated his gestures. But the guard kept on shaking his head and giving them threatening glares.
Tiuri placed one hand on his chest. “I come from the Tarnburg,” he said slowly, pointing in that direction. “The Black Knight with the Red Shield… Eviellan…”
Piak helped him. “Tehalon,” he said.
“Tehalon,” nodded Tiuri, pointing at the pass again.
He had been keeping a close eye on the hut, which was just as well, as the other guard had become curious and came over to see what was happening.
Now the two Red Riders were standing together, grim and forbidding, but also rather puzzled. Tiuri repeated his gestures and made sounds whose meaning he didn’t know himself. He ended with, “Let us through!”
Those were the last words he would say, just as he and Piak had agreed. When the guards began to answer, he gave the signal: “Now,” and they both attacked at the same moment.
Their plan went better than expected. The guards’ initial suspicions did indeed seem to have been eased. It took them a second to recover from the surprise and try to defend themselves, but by then they had both been relieved of their weapons. Tiuri wrestled on the ground with his opponent, who was knocked out when he hit his head on a rock. He stood up in time to see Piak hit the other one with his stick and trip him up.
“Your rope, quickly!” panted Tiuri. Then he gasped. Another Red Rider had appeared from the hut. There was a third guard!
Tiuri drew his sword and ran towards him, slipping on the icy surface. The guard took out his sword and reached for the horn beside the door.
“Duck!” Piak cried from behind him, and a stone went whizzing past his ear. It hit the guard, who recovered only to find Tiuri standing before him.
Tiuri immediately went on the attack, determined not to lose this fight; it had to be done quickly and quietly. He was met with fierce opposition but the fight was soon over – incredibly soon, with a grim, but inevitable, conclusion. Without thinking, Tiuri seized his moment and thrust – a powerful, deep strike… The man swayed, his face turned pale, he grimaced… and then fell.
Tiuri took a step back. For a moment the world stood still.
But a stifled cry from Piak made him spin around. One of the other guards had come round and grabbed his spear, and he was approaching Piak, on the attack. Tiuri leapt at him and let his sword descend on the man’s head. He, too, collapsed and moved no more.
The two friends looked at each other for a moment, and then Tiuri followed Piak’s gaze to the bloody sword in his hand. Suddenly he felt sick. But he pulled himself together and bent over the fallen man.
“We have to tie them up,” he heard Piak say. His voice was trembling and seemed to come from a long way off.
“Just the one who’s lying there, on the road,” replied Tiuri. “This one’s dead, too.” His own voice sounded strange, as if someone else were speaking. Maybe I should kill the last one as well, he thought, as he walked over to him.
But as he looked down at the defenceless man, he knew he couldn’t do it – in a fair fight, yes, but not now. “Bind him tightly,” he ordered Piak, “and put something in his mouth, so he can’t shout for help when he comes round.” He knelt down and helped his friend. “We’ll put him in the hut,” he said. “Along with the others…”
Quickly and without speaking, they did what had to be done. Then they stood on the road again and looked around. There was no sign of danger. Tiuri wiped the sword as clean as he could with some snow.
“It’s your sword,” he said. “Do you want it back?”
“No,” replied Piak. “You can keep it for now.”
They started walking up to the pass.
I’ve killed a man, thought Tiuri. Two men. Could he ever forget? Stabbing and pulling back his sword? The blood gushing from the wound?
What else could you have done? he thought to himself. You knew when you were given a sword that this would happen one day.
As he walked faster, he wondered what Piak was thinking now. He’d hardly said anything. Would he regard him later with horror in his eyes?
When they had reached the top, Piak broke the silence. “The pass!” he said. Tiuri looked at him and saw only companionship on his face.
“Yes, we’ve made it,” he said quietly. “And now we have to head down.”