“The commander.”
“Right. Excuse me a moment.” He kicked the coliye into a gallop toward the commander. The man had several soldiers with him. Yhkon rode ride into their midst and started fighting. It was useless. The commander simply rode off while his men kept Yhkon busy. He tried to turn his coliye about to give chase, but they cut the animal down from underneath him. He barely managed to dive from the collapsing beast onto one of the other coliyes he’d just rendered riderless, and send it hurtling away. The knights were hot in pursuit. There was no way he could catch the—
“Yhkon! Speed it up!” Larak bellowed from somewhere close by.
Yhkon slammed his fist against his thigh. This was not working well. He saw Tarol in the wagon trying to free their friends instead of fighting, and directed his coliye back toward them. “Tarol! A little help?”
Tarol got back onto his celith and was ready when Yhkon brought the remaining five soldiers to him. Together they finished them easily.
Grrake was eyeing the rest of the battle uneasily. “Plan C?”
“Plan C...” Yhkon raked a hand through his hair and frantically scanned the valley. Couldn’t get the key…couldn’t break the chains…couldn’t get them free…his eyes landed on where Eclipse and their other two stolen celiths were tied to another wagon that carted supplies. It just might work. “Tarol, stay here!” he yelled over his shoulder as he galloped forward again.
Meeting no resistance, he swiftly reached the celiths and jumped to the ground. Forcing the chaos and din of the skirmish out of his mind, he concentrated solely on untying the knots that held the animals to the wagon. When they were free, he got onto Eclipse, holding the reins of the other two, and went back the way he’d come.
Tarol was again, in vain, trying to get the Wardens and teenagers free. He glanced up with a frown. “How do you intend to get them on the celiths when they’re chained to a wagon?”
“I don’t. Shut up and help me.” He dismounted Eclipse and led Lenjeya and Gustor’s mount to the front of the wagon, where he began unhooking the two coliyes that pulled it.
“Ohhh,” Tarol said with a grin, and leaped forward to assist.
“YHKON!” Larak roared.
Yhkon glanced up from his task of harnessing the two celiths to the wagon. A handful of knights were galloping their way. “Tarol, go throw them off!”
Tarol scrambled back to his celith and rode off.
Yhkon, meanwhile, cursed his clumsy fingers and tried to tune out the sound of oncoming hoofbeats. No doubt Tarol was unable to keep all of the Kaydorians distracted and away from them. Come on come on come on come on come on…
“Could you speed it up there, Yhkon...” Gustor’s voice was tight.
“Working on it!” He yanked the final strap through its buckle. The harnesses weren’t quite attached correctly, but they’d do. “Tarol!” he shouted as he moved back to Eclipse. Not before two knights on coliyes barreled toward them. He lunged out of the way, feeling a current of air as the hooves traveled only inches away from him. The confounded armor was slowing him down. By the time he was on his feet, one of the knights was coming toward him and the other was about to kill Grrake.
Not if Yhkon had anything to say about it.
He pounced, landing on the coliye’s shoulder and neck and clinging there like a bur. With the hand that didn’t clutch the animal, he snatched the pommel of the sword that was about to murder his friend just as it went into the downward stroke. It was his one arm against the knight’s two. For a split second, they were stuck there, neither giving or taking ground. Yhkon wrapped his other arm all the way around the coliye’s neck and used it to swing his legs up and into the soldier, who lost balance and fell.
He didn’t have even a moment to recover between losing his grip and realizing the other knight was driving his coliye forward to trample him. The beast slammed into him like a battering ram, sending him sprawling. Impact, pain, spinning, spinning…thud. Instinct took over as his mind seemed to retreat from the situation. The second he regained control of his body he hurled the sword he held at the grounded knight that was climbing into the wagon. With the blade protruding from his back, the man toppled off instead.
The other soldier was bringing his coliye back around. Out of breath and chest aching, Yhkon crouched, paralyzed, trapped in the moment as he observed the oncoming danger. No weapon. No way he could get up and out of the way fast enough. Coliye getting closer.
And then a celith appeared. It ran straight toward the other. The knight pulled his mount into a rear at the last moment, while Tarol took the opportunity to dispatch him with one blow.
“Yhkon! We have to retreat!” Larak’s voice reached Yhkon despite the throbbing in his ears. In his everywhere, actually.
“Yhkon! Come on!” Tarol’s strained voice.
His senses came rushing back. Go! He flung himself up and into the wagon. “Tarol, get Eclipse. The rest of you,” he crawled over their legs and the rest of the wagon’s contents until he sat in the driver’s seat, “hold on.” He slapped the reins over the hindquarters of the two celiths and whistled three sharp notes. They bolted forward like their tails were on fire. “Larak, retreat! Everyone, retreat!”
Thunder filled the valley as the hooves of eight celiths and almost two hundred coliyes raced over the ground. Blood still pulsed in Yhkon’s ears and he could hear his heart beating wildly to add to the tumult. He flicked the reins over the celiths’ rumps again before looking over his shoulder to search the mass of riders. There was Ahjul. Larak. Haeric. Resh. And Tarol rode beside the wagon, while Grrake, Gustor, Ki, and Kae, were all inside it. That was everyone. Now just to get out of here.
The valley narrowed as two forested hills created a bottleneck. The wagon, jostling along so bumpily that its passengers were bounced right out of their seats every few seconds and that Yhkon feared the wheels would fly off any second, reached the gap just behind Tarol and Haeric. The other Wardens closed in quickly, and they all galloped through the passage together. The Kaydorians weren’t far behind, yet they were fading fast. The coliyes simply couldn’t keep up with celiths, even those that were tied to a wagon. And the bottleneck forced them to slow, if only a little.
“This way!” Larak called, swerving his celith to the right. They all followed him. While Yhkon was only so familiar with this portion of land and its rugged terrain, Larak had grown up in southern Zentyre. Perhaps he had a trick or two up his sleeve.
Sure enough, he led them into a canyon created by two towering rock cliffs on the sides of mountains. Since going into a canyon was usually a risk, Yhkon knew Larak had some particular reason for doing so. That reason gradually became clear—the gorge narrowed the farther in they went. The Kaydorian lance had no choice except to group up in a line that was three-wide. The process of going from a madly rushing mob to an organized succession slowed them down considerably, while the Wardens kept going at the same pace. They came out the other side of the ravine while their pursuers were still trying to cram into it.
Larak directed them into another, wider canyon. They galloped along for awhile, until, just as the ravine was angling right, he abruptly veered to the left where Yhkon had not even realized a left was possible. He jerked on the reins to go after him, discovering a small outlet that had been impossible to see until they were already past it. The miniature gully was just big enough for them to travel through, and twisted and turned sharply, so that they had to slow to a canter. But he soon realized why Larak had taken it—the Kaydorians had raced right past the turn.