Chapter 379: The Wounded Column

They did not stop long after the fight,

there was not the advantage of ground to use even if they had wanted it, the high road ran on in pale open stone, and every minute lingering around the dead was another minute the next hunting party had to come within range. Rhel took the rear with her remaining companion, Istra moved up into the point, Lucian kept Sera near the center, tried to not let the cut on his arm slow them any further.

A while the sounds around them were only the boots, the wind, the coarse breaths coming from people who had not yet stopped bleeding.

It was Sera who broke the silence, "Bren is dead because he walked with us,"

Rhel didn’t spare a look away,

"Bren is dead because a Lord-aligned group decided this ground belonged to them, the burden does not rest only on your belt."

"It still was on our route," Sera wiped at dried blood on her knuckles, did not slow her pace, "and if the hunters had taken me for it, you would all have been paying for that too,"

Lucian kept his eyes on the rise ahead as he answered, "I will not let that happen,"

A short exclamation that almost sounded like a laugh came from Sera, "That is the point, you keep it up as if your power takes care of every facet at once, which it cannot. They proved that on the road we just came. They did not need to thrash you, only find one opening on the side for a line."

Lucian glanced back, Istra was watching but made no move, "She speaks true,"

It was difficult to sit with the truth, it was a cleanly drawn one. He could break lines and tear fields, but not stand on every place at once. Bren had fallen out of his reach, and Sera had almost been so easily taken more than once already.

"Then we change the way we move forward," he said at last, "No spacing ourselves out with open space, none of us drifting if the road forces us. Should it insist we take a wide, then we take the other,"

Sera nodded, "That is all I ask for. That you do not keep with the pretense you are some great bulk of a wall the full column can stand behind,"

It was Toren, Rhel’s other companion, lean in build, who spoke for the first real time in a good while from the rear, "So we should also take the next rise has markings as well. Units of such sort seldom make two passes unless they have a second line waiting ahead and some fall-back positions further up,"

Istra raised a hand, slowed them all and went forward along the edge of the broken road in low fashion, until she was out of sight around a fold in the stone. They waited in a shallow cut where the wind was less likely to find purchase, Lucian took the moment to rebind his arm, Sera watched the ridge, Rhel cleaned her blade. When Istra came back, her face was dark, set.

"The main road over the rise is laid out already," she said, "Fresh marks on both sides, two lines for fall-back, at least one under cover where the road narrows to wait for us should we come on the path as it is,"

Sera closed her eyes for a second, "Of course,"

Lucian looked askance, "Is there any other manner to approach?"

Istra was indicating the west of the rise, where the land broke into cliffs and old switchbacks had made for worse paths, "There. It is harder to approach, more difficult footing and nothing for a charging line to lay on to the sides, if they wish to take us through, they must climb it as well,"

Rhel was studying the cliffs, "it will slow us."

"It will keep them from using their weight the same way," Istra replied,

Lucian looked from the marked rise to the broken side path, the open road was quick, more so but dangerous, the cliffs were slower and just as dangerous but without the clean kill lane the hunters liked it.

"We take the cliffs," he said.

Sera adjusted her cloak, "Good, I would rather fight stone than another nicely laid ambush on the open,"

Toren muttered, "Speak for yourself," but he was already on his feet as Rhel sent the signal for movement. They turned onto the sides as the light began to shift into a heavier white, their path became a mess of loose shale and narrow edges before large folds that fell into broken rock far below, in the worst of it, Lucian went first and tested the holds, others followed. Sera moved careful but without complaint, Istra took the places where the scout’s eye was more needed than brute strength, Rhel and Toren were the back where they paused most often on listen.

Half-way up the first band, Sera slid on loose stone and caught the wall hard enough to keep her from flying. Lucian turned as soon as he felt it,

"I am fine," she said through gritted teeth, "Do not make it a drama,"

"I was not going to,"

"You were about to, that is fine. Help when it is needed, but do not hover like I am made of glass," Lucian took her words but did not say anything else to it until he passed her and continued upward.

Once they cleared the first ledge, all were marked by it, with bits of skin lost to the rock, bruises blooming out, dust clinging to cuts. They could see the main road stretching now to the east, pale and open and Istra could mark to Lucian’s eyes the two places where the ambush was waiting like stains on the ground.

"They are still holding the positions," Istra said as she watched, "they expect us on the road,"

"Then let them hold," Rhel replied, "Every hour they waste on it is an hour we are in their net,"

Lucian stood on the ledge to look back, the words Sera had said earlier had stuck to him. It was power that had gotten them out of Varn Thal, power that had broken the first hunting party, but power that was not enough now, and will be not enough to watch Bren any more. Power had not saved the man and power was not going to save him further. Not unless it was tied to this slow climb up the rock as well.

"We keep it to the hard ground," he said finally, "If they wish to take us, they must climb for it,"

Sera looked over his shoulder, less fierce than before, "That is better,"

Istra was watching the next band of cliffs, "Then we get moving or they will notice the way the road is wasted and start investigating for the sides,"

They climbed again, a wounded column on poor stone, slower than any of them liked, and still just now alive because of it, the air above them opened out onto the upper routes, behind them the marked rise was empty for it for the hunters who had prepared for the wrong paths.

But that was enough, for now.