Nocturnal Maneuvers

Aedric and Snoe attempt to sneak past the enemy camp.

46.

Nocturnal Maneuvers

 

 

They rode as quickly as the horses could go at a sustained speed, but also cautiously, lest they stumble upon the rear guard of the army and be captured.   The fog lifted stubbornly slow, but after several hours it was mostly gone, along with the rain, leaving a cool, cloudy day for them to travel through.

 

They found several more places on the road with horse dung and debris, indicating another rest stop area for the army.  Around high noon they came into what had certainly been a nightly camp for the day before.   Remains of meals and litter filled the soggy fields on either side of the road.   The feet of thousands of men and horses had trampled and mashed the grass into a mucky stew of thick mud.   They rested here only briefly, before resuming their journey.

 

Steadily the land rose in elevation and grew rockier as they headed toward the gorge pass in the mountains.   Afternoon was waning when they could discern, in the distance, an outcropping of peaks pointing southward from the east-west course of the range.

“The gorge.” Snoe explained as they stopped their horses.

“We’ll ride about halfway there, then rest until nightfall.  I imagine you are right -it would be a logical place for them to camp for the night.   Perhaps they are battling the garrison at Forge Gate.   In fact, if they are, this could aid us greatly.”

“How?”

“If they are occupied with the garrison, perhaps we could sneak past them - though I doubt we could get across the bridge without them knowing it.   If we could get a message to the garrison, perhaps they would agree to set the bridge aflame.”

“I doubt that, Sir Aedric.   The way that it was explained to me, the Dwarves would only do that if they knew without any doubt that their kingdom was in peril without any chance of victory against their foes.”

“If Redburr takes Northmarch and becomes the Emperor’s puppet and they embrace that false religion that proclaims hatred to all demi-humans, then that may indeed be deadly peril for their kingdom.   If we get the chance, I will explain this to them.   Knowing how stubborn Dwarves are, I don’t think I’ll convince them.”

“If you don’t, and we somehow burn that bridge down, we’ll probably be marked for death by all the Dwarves in Forgestone.”

“It seems rather desperate either way.   We’ll just have to trust Yesh to deliver us.”

Snoe nodded with a sigh but said nothing else and a few moments later they resumed their journey.

 

 

***

 

It was nearly twilight when they stopped.   The gorge by then was only several miles away, and Aedric feared a ring of sentries if they dared go any nearer.   Finding a slight open space in the rocks on one side of the road, they went through an opening in the rock wall barrier that paralleled the Dwarven road and dismounted to rest.

“We’ll stay here until the middle of the night.   Your vision is much more acute at that time and even I can see better at night then the humans can, so it will be an advantage.”

“What about our horses?   They’ll hear us coming if we ride.”  Snoe asked him as he began grooming his horse.

 

“We’ll have to chance it.   We’ll wrap cloth around their hooves - it is an old cavalry trick- and get as close as we can by horseback.  I’d rather leave us a means for quick escape rather then leave them here where they could be found and seized.”

 

They stayed quiet and rested as best as they could as the darkness deepened.   After a few hours, a trio of horses raced up the road toward the pass and they heard the challenge of some hidden sentries, a short distance up the road.  

“Stop!   Indentify yourselves!”  

“We are messengers from Earl Redburr to his son, Sir Leos Redburr.”
The voices were very faint, but in the still night air, the two Elves with their sensitive Elven hearing, could just barely discern the conversation.

 

“Then give the password!”  The sentry huffily demanded.

“Nullus Deus nisi unus.” One of the riders said carefully.

“Good.   You may pass.   Sir Redburr is examining the damage at the Dwarven gatehouse; you will find him there, or with his cavalry across the gorge.   Take care where you ride, for our troops camp all about the road.”

“Yes, we shall.”  

Without any further words, the trio could be heard galloping off.

Snoe looked over at Aedric who had a deep thinking look in his eyes.

“Do you have an idea?”   She asked after a few moments.

“Yes, I do.   Go ahead and take the cloths off the horseshoes.”

“But aren’t we going to sneak in on horseback?”

“No, we’re going to ride right down the middle.”

“Did you understand the password?”

“It’s human; part of their regal language that they use for spells, proclamations and prayers.”

“What is the password?”

“’Nullus Deus nisi unus’; it means in the common tongue, ‘No god but one.’.   It is a Nunmontuite phrase, which they state to slander Yeshites.”

“So they are using a Nunmontuite phrase as a password; then that looks like it confirms that they are followers of Nunmontu!”

“Well, let’s just say it hints at that.”

“So your plan is to try to see if we can pose as messengers and use the password to ride through?”

“Yes, but we’ll have to look as human as possible.   I want you to wrap something around your face so they can’t see your pale skin, and keep your eyes mostly closed and your head downcast when we ride up to them.   Your eyes glow in the dark and that would probably give us away.”

“Yeah, I guess it would.” She seemed suddenly almost ashamed, or perhaps his words had embarrassed her.

“They’re against Elves and all demi-humans.” He explained, to make up for the remark, “They don’t recognize great beauty when they see it.”

 

She just shyly looked up at him, blushing a bit, though he could tell by her expression that she thought he had just said that to make her feel better, without actually meaning it.  

“And speaking of your wonderful glowing eyes, I have one more task that only you can do.” 

“What?”

“I want you to get on top of this rock -crouch down, though, as I don’t want any of the sentries down the road to see you.   Then see how far you can see up the road and anything your eyes can make out, so we’ll know what we are riding into.”

“Alright.” She stood up and very nimbly scaled one of the large boulders that had concealed them and the horses for the last several hours.   Laying flat against the rock, she strained her neck and spent several minutes looking around without a word to him.   

 

Finally she slid back down, landing on her feet gently.

 

“Well?” He asked anxious to learn what he could from her survey.

“The sentry was right - there are men camped along the Dwarven road all the distance that I could see.   They’ve left the right side of the road clear - I guess for messengers.   I saw a lot of campfires.”

“That means there are more than I’d feared.   What else did you see?”

“I couldn’t make out the area around the Gorge bridge or the gorge itself, but I could see the campfires, so it looks like a good part of the army is camped out in the large open area that the Dwarves had set up as a rest stop for caravans before they crossed the Gorge bridge or entered the Dwarven kingdom.”

 

“Could you see Forge Gate?”

“No, only people carrying torches going back and forth on the Forge Gate Bridge.   I think I also saw some more campfires on the other side of the Gorge Bridge, but they were very faint.”

“It’s probably Redburr’s cavalry.   I imagine that they crossed over the Gorge Bridge and camped on the other side to guard it from anyone coming from the other direction.”

 

“There is a fairly large open area on the west side of the Gorge Bridge so convoys and caravans can rest or redistribute the stuff in their wagons before crossing the bridge.   It would make a good camping spot for horsemen.”

 

Aedric nodded, “It would seem that Redburr’s men are led by his son Leos, but that inept dandy has apparently greater tactical skill then I imagined.  It appears they took Forge Gate this afternoon.   This might actually help us, for the soldiers will probably be weary, tending to their wounded and perhaps drunk from victory revelry.   With Yesh’s help, we may be able to move about them without being noticed, as long as we are extremely cautious and seem to them to just be messengers from the Earl.”

 

“When should we try this?”   The girl asked somewhat nervously.

“Well, let’s disguise ourselves now.   If another messenger comes down the road, we’ll follow them, a few minutes later, and explain if they ask, that we are with them, but were delayed.   Hopefully this will work, if we also give them the password.”

 

They both busied themselves disguising their Elven features, pulling the hoods of their cloaks over their ears and crafting makeshift headbands to keep the hood from slipping down at a most inappropriate moment. 

Snoe wrapped cloth around her face until she looked like a desert vagabond, but in the dark, with her head lowered, she would pass for a light framed human.

 

So her disguise wouldn’t stand out so much, he too wrapped his face in cloth as if he was a bandit trying to conceal his identity.

“If anything goes afoul, avoid getting captured, as they probably won’t take a pair of Elves as prisoners once they learn our race."

"Ride over anyone that tries to stop you if we’re discovered, and make escape and survival your main goal.”

She nodded and did so again when he asked her if she was ready.

 

To their good fortune, another group of three messengers rode down the road as they were completing their disguise.  

 

Again they heard the faint challenge and the same password given and soon after, the three continued on down the road.   Aedric had them wait until the hooves could no longer be heard on the cobblestone of the highway, then he motioned for her to follow him.  

 

Minutes later they were back on their horses and he led them out onto the Highway.

“We want to look like we’ve just ridden a long way, so follow my lead, and remember, keep a low profile.”

“Alright.” She replied, her voice muffled under her disguise.

“Good, then let’s go.”

With a deep breath, he brought Rwalaer into a trot, and Snoe matched his pace with her steed as they hurried down into the enemy’s camp.