SEVENTEEN. PARTING

The evening was quiet.

Cresting the ridgeline, Dennis stopped and shaded his eyes from the glare of the sun. Gregory was riding up the slope, trailed by the half-dozen scouts who had been walking point.

'It's clear ahead,' Gregory said. 'Another mile we'll cross the river and be into the dwarves' territory. I dare say they already know we are approaching.'

Dennis nodded. Turning, he looked back at the column. Kingdom and Tsurani troops advanced at an easy pace – more than one had a woman from Wolfgar's fort at his side, and children were chattering, dodging back and forth. In the middle of the column was a line of a dozen horses many of them taken from the enemy dragging palanquins which bore the wounded who had been carried out from the battle. No one had been left behind this time.

Asayaga, who had been walking by Alyssa's side, broke away and came forward. As he did so, all eyes followed him and the group slowed, coming to a stop without orders. In the clearing at the top of the ridge the men gradually started to break apart from each other, Kingdom troops to one side, Tsurani to the other.

Asayaga reached the crest and nodded to Gregory.

'I take it the dwarf realm is just ahead.'

Gregory nodded.

'Then you are home safe. I doubt if they would welcome us.'

'No, Asayaga, they wouldn't.'

'Then Hartraft, our truce is at an end. We have reached the lines where our war resumes.'

Dennis nodded, his hand drifting to the hilt of his sword.

Asayaga's did the same.

Tsurani and Kingdom soldiers slowly moved to take up positions behind their respective commanders. The women and children felt something coming and retreated into a small knot in front of the horses.

The two leaders stared at each other. Dennis could sense the expectant hush, and knew that everyone was waiting for what had to come. He thought of his duty, for here were thirty-one surviving Tsurani – enemies who, if he let them go today, he would undoubtedly face again come spring; enemies who might slay other Kingdom soldiers, for they had learned their skills well in the last month and would be the nucleus of a formidable unit.

'What are you thinking, Hartraft?'

'I am thinking that if I let you go now, you could do considerable damage to my side come next spring.'

'Just as much damage as you will do to us, no doubt.'

Dennis looked past Asayaga. Roxanne and Alyssa were standing nearby, watching, both silent. Behind them he could see so much more – his burning keep, Gwenynth dying, Jurgen in his cold grave, and others as well, young Richard and Osami, the look in Asayaga's eyes as he cradled his nephew and then knelt by Tinuva's side.

Tinuva, buried in the woods thirty miles to the north, resting beside his brother… He wondered if somehow the two would find peace together in their afterworld.

Dennis smiled. His hand fell away from the hilt of his sword and he extended it to Asayaga. 'Honoured enemy,' he whispered.

Asayaga, not sure if this was the start of the challenge, or something else, grasped Dennis's hand. 'Honoured enemy,' Asayaga replied, repeating the words in his own tongue.

For a moment no one moved on either side, then Kingdom and Tsurani soldiers approached each other and repeated the gesture. Men who had bled side by side embraced and the phrase 'honoured enemy' was spoken many times.

Dennis looked over at Gregory and nodded.

Dismounting, Gregory raised his bandaged hand and pointed to the southeast. 'Asayaga. A quarter of a mile ahead there's a trail that turns to the east. Stay on it and you'll loop around the flank of the dwarf kingdoms. I will convince them that you will honour a truce. As long as you stay on the trail they shouldn't bother you. Three days' march will eventually bring you west, to where their realm borders territory you might be familiar with, ground fought over by Kingdom troops and your own.'

'Once there -' he shook his head, '- well, you're on your own, but given everything you've learned, you should get through. Most of the Kingdom forces will be wintering in LaMut, Yabon and Ylith, so you'll only have to avoid occasional patrols and stay away from stockades. You should reach your own lines a few days later.'

Asayaga nodded, saying nothing. The whole time Gregory was speaking he had continued to look at Dennis as if not quite believing what was taking place.

'Asayaga,' Dennis said, drawing closer. 'I must insist that what you see as you cross through the Kingdom lines you will not reveal. You won't fight unless attacked, you'll cross through as quickly as possible and take no advantage from this truce.'

'Is that an order, Hartraft?'

Dennis hesitated, then shook his head. With a slight smile, he said, 'A suggestion, from an honourable enemy. I only ask the same as if you were an envoy travelling through enemy lines.'

Asayaga laughed softly. 'Agreed.'

'There is a problem though, Asayaga.'

'And that is?'

'What do we tell our superiors?'

Asayaga nodded and looked back at his men. After a moment, he said, 'We were cut off, we fought, we survived. Nothing more. If word leaked out on either side, all would soon know, and by the gods that would wreak havoc, wouldn't it? My master could never be made to understand.'

Dennis laughed and nodded in agreement.

The sight of the two laughing and the way Gregory pointed out the trail was indication enough of what had been decided and the mood of the men around them instantly relaxed. The two groups milled together, chattering, men searching out comrades on the other side, shaking hands, exchanging small trinkets and gifts.

Smiling, Alyssa and Roxanne approached Dennis and Asayaga, 'I'd have killed both of you if you had started to fight,' Roxanne announced. 'I'm sick to death of fighting.'

Dennis looked over at her, wanting to speak, but was unable to do so. She drew closer. She indicated to Asayaga with a nod that he should speak to her sister.

As Asayaga walked a short distance away with Alyssa, Roxanne asked, 'Do you have anything to say to me, Hartraft?'

Dennis turned away and she followed him, the circle of men around them parting to let them through. When they were a little distance from the others, he said, 'Thank you for saving my life back at the bridge.'

'We saved each other in more ways than one.'

He looked at her and nodded.

'You're going to tell me you aren't ready yet, aren't you?' She sighed.

He nodded woodenly and she looked away.

'Gwenynth still haunts me. The anger, the rage – that burned away out there -' He pointed back to the northern woods. 'Watching Tinuva die, knowing what he was sacrificing…' He stopped for a moment, head lowered. 'I saw it. He had his brother at his mercy, and yet he stopped, unable to strike the final blow. His love spared the one who killed him, and yet he would not have wanted it any different. At that moment it all burned away in me. From that, and from the way Asayaga held his nephew and then rose up to try and save Tinuva – I learned from all that.'

'Is that why you did not pursue Corwin?'

Dennis did not reply for a moment. As the battle-fury ended only then had he remembered that Corwin was with the band they had destroyed. But his body was not found, and he seemed to have been one of the few who escaped. Some of the men cried out to press the pursuit; even Asayaga wanted to, but he had refused. The children and women back at the bridge had been left with only four men to guard them, the men who had managed to cross the river. He had turned away from that hunt without a backward glance, which had startled many.

'He is his own poison. I'll cross paths with him some day.'

'Will you seek that path?'

Dennis smiled. 'Not everything changes in a moment. I will seek it, but I won't live for it.'