Williams cursed and spat. "How do we know they ain"t found it already?"
"I"ve got people watching it. And anyway, I figure once they find it they"ll stop these frontal a.s.saults. That"ll tell us they feel they"re on to a better bet."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Nothing. I just wanted you to know, in case you saw us moving and felt you"ve been left here."
"Well, would you believe that?" said Williams, pointing over Cade"s shoulder. He turned to see a small doe rabbit squatting several feet from the talking men. "You surely do have a way with animals, Daniel." The rabbit shook its head and darted away . . .
In the tents of the h.e.l.lborn a young warrior opened his eyes, a look of triumph on his face.
"There is another way in," he told the hawk-faced young officer beside him. "It"s called Sadler"s Trail and it starts in a boxed canyon - it must be one to the south. The entrance is hidden, but it backs on to an area called Sweet.w.a.ter and Cade is trying to get his people there before we find a way behind them."
Tine work, Shadik. I will tell the general."
"It is their first mistake," said Shadik.
"May it also be the last. I shall have the attacks stopped at once."
"No, sir. That"s what Cade is waiting for."
"He has a cunning mind, that one. Very well."
The officer walked down the line of tents until he reached a dwelling of white silk and canvas. Before it were two guards; they saluted him and he ducked under the tent-flap.
Inside, working at a folding desk, was the general Abaal -said to be one of the great- grandsons of Abaddon. Many claimed this distinction, since it could not be proved, but in Abaal"s case he could point to the special favour his family always received from the king.
"I take it, Alik, you have some good news for me?"
"Yes, Lord General."
The bear killed him?"
"No, Lord. The man lied. It seems he departed from the beast at the moment Cade pointed his pistol."
"And what did the Brigand do? Pat it and send it on its way?"
"He fed it with sugar biscuits, Lord General."
"Then your other news had better be good."
"The man has been put to death - but another of my brothers has, I think, redeemed the situation. There is another way in to the valley."
"Where is this place? The other pa.s.s?"
"In a boxed canyon; to the south, I believe. We scouted it last week, but the entrance is said to be hidden; this time we will find it."
"Take three hundred men."
"You are giving me the command? Thank you, Lord General."
"Do not thank me, Alik. If you fail, you will die. How long will it take Cade to get his people back into this Sweet.w.a.ter?"
"A week, ten days, I"m not sure."
"You have six days to get behind him. If you have not breached the pa.s.s in that time, hand over the command to Terbac, and take your life."
"Yes, Lord General. I shall not fail."
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
Gambion arrived two hours after dusk and advised his thirty men to make a cold camp while he scouted the entrance to Sadler"s Trail. He took Ja.n.u.s and Evanson with him, leaving Burgoyne to point out the best camp-sites. Ja.n.u.s appeared to be in his early twenties, blond and lean, while Evanson was maybe ten years older and running to fat. The older man was soft-eyed and Gambion had no faith in him, but the younger had the look of eagles about him: sharp, sure and confident.
"They came about six days ago," young Ja.n.u.s told them, "but they missed the entrance to the pa.s.s. We were all set up and there were only ten of them; we could have stopped them.
It"s unlikely they"ll be back."
"If Cade asked me to come here, then they"ll be back," said Gambion. "Count on it."
"Was it a message from Heaven?" asked Evanson.
"Cade says no, but I"m not sure any more." He told them about the bear that had smashed its way into Cade"s cabin, only to leave with a few biscuits.
"And you saw it happen?" asked Ja.n.u.s.
"As true as I"m standing here," answered Gambion. He wiped a piece of towelling across his shiny bald pate. "d.a.m.n, but it gets hot here."
"The sun reflects off the white rock, especially at dusk. It"ll be mighty cool in a few minutes," said Ja.n.u.s. The men can fix a fire - no one could see it from the pa.s.s." .
"Well, the three of you can go back into Yeager," said Gambion. "You"ll be glad to see your folks, I don"t doubt."
"The other two can go," declared Ja.n.u.s. "I"ll stay here. I know this land."
"Pleased to have you."
"If it"s all right with you, I"ll leave now," said Evanson and Gambion nodded, dismissing the man from his mind.
Ja.n.u.s watched the big man, noting the cat-like movements and the sureness with which he carried himself.
"What are you staring at?" asked Gambion, sensing the other"s hostility.
"I"m looking at a man who drove people from their farms," said Ja.n.u.s evenly. "And I was wondering why G.o.d would choose you."
"Because I was there son," said Gambion, grinning. "You don"t fight the h.e.l.lborn with a plough and this here"s the work of men who know weapons."
"Maybe," said Ja.n.u.s doubtfully.
"You don"t have to like me, boy. Just stand beside me."
"Have no fear on that score," said Ja.n.u.s. "I"ll stand as firm as any man."
"I know that, Ja.n.u.s - I"m a good judge. Show me the killing ground."
Together they strolled down the narrow slope which led to the cleft in the cliffs, opening on to the rich plain that flared from the mountains into the canyon. Once beyond the cleft, Gambion glanced back and the entrance had all but disappeared.
The mountains are young," said Ja.n.u.s, "probably volcanic in origin and the cleft was made by lava flow."
"But a few men could hold it for quite some time," responded Gambion.
"Depends on how anxious the enemy were to take it."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, if they charge they can ride through the gap in a couple of seconds. Sure we could catch them in a murderous cross-fire, but once they"re through they can spread out and circle us."
"Then we don"t let them get through," stated Gambion.
"Easy to say."
"Son, we don"t have no choice. Daniel needs ten days to get all the people back into Sweet.w.a.ter. He says ten days to me, and I promised it. Ten days is what he"ll get."
Then you better hope they don"t find us," said Ja.n.u.s.
"Whatever it is, it will be the way G.o.d planned it."
"Yes? Well, I don"t believe in G.o.d."
"After all you"ve seen?" asked Gambion, amazed.
"What have I seen? A band of Brigands and a lot of death. If you don"t mind, Gambion, I"ll put my faith in this here rifle and G.o.d can keep the h.e.l.l out of my way."
The young man strode back to the camp-site and ordered Burgoyne to watch the pa.s.s.
Burgbyne refused, saying he was going back to Yeager, and Ja.n.u.s turned to Gambion.
"Any of your men who can be counted on not to fall asleep?"
"Peck!" called Gambion. Take the first watch, I"ll relieve you in four hours."
"Why me?"
"Because I told you to, you son of a b.i.t.c.h."
"Nice Line in discipline you have," said Ja.n.u.s, sitting down and wrapping his blankets around him.
"Move yourself, Peck!"
"I"m going."
"And don"t go to sleep. Daniel is relying on us."
"I hear you."
"I mean it, Peck."
"Have a little faith, Ephram."
Gambion lay back in his own blankets for about two hours, but he could not sleep. Finally he got up and moved off towards the pa.s.s, where he found Peck curled up and fast asleep between two boulders. He grabbed the man by his shirt collar and hoisted him upright; then he hit him in the mouth, smashing two front teeth. Three more blows and Peck was unconscious, his face b.l.o.o.d.y and swollen. Gambion took away his rifle and pistol and sat until dawn watching the plain.
Ja.n.u.s joined him there as the sun was rising. He stopped to look down at the unmoving Peck.
"Heavy sleeper?" he asked.
"Shut it, Ja.n.u.s. I"m not in the mood."
"Calm down, big man. Go and get some rest. I"ll take it for a few hours."
"I"m all right, I don"t need much sleep."
"Do it anyway. If they come, there"ll not be much time for rest during your "necessary" ten days."
Gambion had to admit that Ja.n.u.s was right and that he was beginning to feel bone-weary.
He pa.s.sed Peck"s rifle and pistol to Ja.n.u.s and hoisted the unconscious Peck to his shoulder, walking off without a word.
Ja.n.u.s remained where he was, watching a distant herd of antelope grazing on the plain. It was so peaceful here, he thought, so hard to imagine a war with blazing guns and sudden death. He had been working on his father"s farm when the h.e.l.lborn had struck and his father had gone down almost at once, his head blown away. His mother had followed as she ran from the house. Then Ja.n.u.s had picked up his father"s gun - a single-shot musket - and downed the first rider. The man flew from the saddle. Ja.n.u.s had dropped the rifle and, as the horse swept past, grabbed the pommel and vaulted on to its back, galloping away across the fields with bullets shrieking past him. The horse had been hit twice, but by the time it died under him he was into the woods and away.
Alone now, he could not even consider the future. He had wanted to many Susan McGraven, but she and all her family were dead, so he was told, killed by the same raiders who had struck his farm. Everything he knew was gone, everyone he had loved was dead.
He was nineteen years old, though he looked older, and he saw no future except to kill or be killed by the h.e.l.lborn. He had no faith in Daniel Cade and his visions. What little he knew of the Bible and its teachings negated any belief in Cade. Would G.o.d use a man like him, a killer and a thief? He doubted it. But then he doubted G.o.d. So what do you know, Ja.n.u.s, he asked himself?
Two hours later, a sullen young man relieved him and Ja.n.u.s moved off the ridge and down to the camp-site. On his way he pa.s.sed a dozen men digging a broad trench across the trail and piling the earth in front of it. He saw Gambion directing operations and approached him.
"What"s the idea?"
"If they get through the pa.s.s they"ll be riding hard. This line ought to separate the men from the boys."
True, but there"s nowhere to run to. If you don"t stop them here, you"ll be cut to pieces."
"I wasn"t sent here to run, Ja.n.u.s," said Gambion, turning back to the trench.
"Why are you doing this?"