They worked out a guard roster, and as he crawled into the tent behind Ava, and then wrapped her in his arms to sleep, Luc could almost taste the battle to come.
Between him and General Ru, they’d have to come up with a plan to turn the ambush against the Kassian.
It would be almost as satisfying as turning against them on the battlefield two years ago.
He would make sure the name they’d given him was something they’d live to regret, too.
Chapter 31
The Kassian scouts were still in the hills.
As they rode back, two days later, Ava sensed them.
They had to be close, hidden somewhere she couldn’t see, because her new cloak was not as sensitive as her old one.
She needed time to work in the same number of protections, and she had a feeling some of the old cloak’s strength had developed over time.
When they’d left the hills a few days before, someone had followed them all the way to the river and back. Luc had sensed it, too, and had warned everyone to assume that’s what the Kassian would do.
The uneasiness had been a consistent tingle at the back of her neck. In her old cloak, she’d have been able to pinpoint where the spy was.
Now the hills were behind them, though, and they had nothing but open plain between themselves and the columns. The feeling of being watched had eased a few hours ago and she felt light now that the weight of the stare had lifted off her.
“What were you doing this morning?” Catja had been riding beside her for a while and Ava turned to look at her in surprise.
“With the strips of fabric,” Catja clarified.
Ava hadn’t realized anyone had seen her. Luc had kept the others distracted for her, but obviously not Catja.
“Marking locations,” she said. This was one of the things that had taken time from working on her own cloak, or knitting Luc’s tunic. But it was worth it.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Catja asked. “The Kassian might see them.”
Ava hoped they did. Hoped they touched them.
She had thought a lot about them being drawn to look at them.
She really hoped they would be as attracted to those strips as the wine merchant had been to the fabric she had worked to influence him.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter if they do. They mean nothing. Luc thought it would help with the idea that we were going over to scout crossing points. It won’t matter if they find them or not, not if we’re going to surprise them in the hills. And if they do find them, it’ll make them think they were right about our reason for the trip.”
“Oh.” The Venyatux soldier gave a sudden laugh. “That’s actually clever.”
Suddenly, Luc gave a yip up ahead, then turned his horse in an arc, coming up beside her. “The columns are ahead.”
Catja gave a ululation of joy and let her horse go, and as if they suddenly all knew home, and oats, and friends were ahead, the horses broke into a gallop.
The wind whipped her short hair and blew back her cloak, and Ava couldn’t help but join in Catja’s ululation.
She looked across at Luc and laughed, and he laughed back.
The tie at the end of Catja’s long braid came loose, and her hair blew out like the unfurling of a banner as they thundered across the dry, cold ground.
They were a dusty, travel-worn group, and yet they moved well together, the accomplished riders at the front, back and sides which left Ava in the middle.
Ever since she’d been left behind in the hills, Luc had made sure she was always in the heart of the group, and no one had complained or tried to make her feel bad about it.
Like with Kikir, the Skäddar warrior, and his sudden friendliness toward her, she wondered if wearing protection she had created for them made them accept her more.
It disturbed her a little, but there was nothing she could do about it. She wanted them protected, and she hadn’t done anything deliberate to make them like her.
Or maybe it had nothing to do with the workings. Maybe she was just likeable.
She laughed at the thought, and then a cry went up ahead of them and suddenly the scouts were around them, whooping their welcome.
It felt good to be back.
Especially after the cat and mouse games of the last three days.
The general was riding at the front of the column with Raun-Tu and Fervanti, and they slowed as they reached her.
Everyone but Luc, Deni and herself kept going, trotting into the slow moving column. Catja gave her a sympathetic smile and then disappeared with a wave, and Ava heard her call hello to a friend.
It was nearly time for the army to stop for the night, but this couldn’t wait.
Dak and Massi arrived while they settled into the slower pace of the Rising Wave, and Ava thought their greetings to her were warmer than they’d been before.
See, she told herself. Likeable.
“So, let’s have it.” General Ru leaned back in her saddle.
“They’re planning an ambush from the hills.” Luc sent her a wide grin.
“Is that so? You saw them?”
“Even managed to sneak up on their camp and listen for a while.”
The general lifted her brows at that, slid her gaze to Ava and gave a nod. “Hear anything interesting?”
“They thought we were surveying the crossing points for the river, so we let them think that. They were there to map the area for the Herald.”
“We’ll have to work on ways to surprise them.” Massi rubbed her hands together and laughed in a way so similar to the way Luc had done when they’d worked out what the Kassian were up to, Ava blinked.
“I’m sure you’ll come up with something good,” she said, “but the Bartolo River is going to be difficult to cross afterward. It’s really wide and deep.” Ava knew they needed to concentrate on the ambush from the hills first, but she honestly could see no way the carts and wagons of the column would get across. In fact, the whole idea of it was laughable.
“Pontoons,” Dak told her.
She frowned at him.
“Big, flat, wooden platforms which will float the carts over.”
“And the yakkuna?”
“The yakkuna are excellent swimmers. They’ll probably enjoy it.” General Ru shaded her eyes against the last of the evening light.
“You were right that they could wait until we were about to go across and attack us at the crossing point. We’d be incapable of retreat.” Deni pulled out the map and showed the general. “Hard to sneak up on us, though.”
“Varik said they could wait until half of us were across, half still on the other side,” Ava said. “They could hide in the forest, and then some could cross further down, out of sight, and come at us from behind and in front."
“I didn’t think of that.” Dak sounded intrigued. “An attack party on both sides?”
Luc nodded. “It could work, if they have enough people. There would be nowhere for us to go but into the river.”
“We’d hardly be running away, though.” Raun-Tu sounded insulted.
“No, but it’s always good strategy to have a place to retreat to,” General Ru said. “And they’d leave us none if they come at us from both sides.”
“We need to consider moving the crossing point to the town of Bartolo, lower down the river.” Luc tilted his head to Ava. “As Ava pointed out when we got there, the forest on the other side is a lot thicker than is shown on the map. The carts and wagons might not be able to get through. We need a road.”