Into the fire

"They've stopped alongside the shield wall," said Nix, as Tipperton and Li

Tipperton peered 'round the crag and down toward the enemy. As Nix had said, the foe stood on the broad flats along the rim of the rift, the shield wall stretching away eastward. Sheer and high was this barrier and some ten miles long, a perpendicular stone rampart spa

"Have you seen any ships on the sea?" asked Li

"Nay," replied the Dara, "though they could be anchored beyond our sight at the base of the cliffs."

Li

"But if there are ships, then why are these forces waiting?" asked Nix. "Why aren't they climbing down the cliffs to board the craft?"

Ere any could answer-"Hist," said Arylin, "I ween they draw into formation."

"Be ready to cut and run," warned Nix, "for if indeed they are forming up, they may send sentries into these hills."

"Oh my," said Tipperton.

"What?" asked Li

"They are facing back the way they came," replied Tipperton. "As if-"

"As if expecting someone," said Arylin.

"The High King," said Tipperton. "That's who they expect. I knew they were making no attempt to escape.

"A last stand?" asked Nix. "Are they making a last stand?"

Nix and Li

"But if they are expecting ships…" Li

"We will soon know," said Tipperton, looking toward the ocean and seeking to see Vail and Flandrena but finding them not.

"Oh my, so this is H?l's Crucible," said Ry

Even as she said it, word came from the fore. They would spend the night encamped on the flats between the hills and the rift, and turn toward the enemy on the morrow, for scouts had seen their fires nigh the shield wall, no more than ten miles hence.

As Ry

"Not the last battle?" asked Dinly.

Beau looked up from spreading his bedroll. "No, Dinly. You see, these are but the Hyrinians and Chabbains and Rovers and the Fists of Rakka; Modru and the Foul Folk are yet on the loose. And it is Modru and his master Gy-phon who drive all. Nay, until we can deal with them, the war will not be ended."

Glumly Dinly nodded, while Farly pulled biscuits of crue from his saddlebags to pass around. In spite of the fact that none had any appetite, they each took one.

"There are no ships directly below," said Vail, sitting down beside Tipperton and taking a wafer of mian from Arylin, "but sails approach from the southwest."

"Fjordlander sails," said Flandrena.

"Fjordlanders?" blurted Tipperton. "Have they thrown in with the foe?"

Vail shook her head. "I think not, Tipperton. Instead I ween King Blaine, acting on word borne by Farly and Dinly, has sent the Fjordlanders to stop any seaward escape by the enemy below."

"Ah," said Nix, taking another bite of mian. "Makes sense." "How far down to the ocean?" asked Li

"Sixteen, seventeen fathoms, and sheer," replied Flan-drena. "If enemy ships do come, 'tis not an easy climb up nor down."

"Thou canst bear such word back to King Blaine as well," said Arylin, looking from Tipperton to Li

Vail raised an eyebrow.

"That the foe stands with their backs to a cliff with no ships waiting below," said Arylin, "but is instead arrayed to meet the host."

"I made a sketch of their deployment," said Tipperton, "though I still think that I should remain here while Li

Arylin shook her head. "Nay, for 'tis better that ye all three be with thy kind when the conflict comes. Vail, Flan-drena and I will wait till the last to join with ours."

As Tipperton reluctantly agreed, Vail said, " 'Tis but some three or four leagues back to where Farly and Dinly parted to bear word back to the King, hence ye should await the host there if they have not already come."

Tipperton nodded and then stood and said to Nix and Li

Each of the Elves embraced the trio and kissed them, and then watched as down the hill and toward their ponies the Warrows went.

With a gentle kiss, Tipperton awakened his dammia. Together they quietly took up her blanket and slipped in among the nearby crags, even as Li

"There are no ships for the enemy," said Bekki, riding alongside Tipperton in the early-morning light. "And they fear to march through H?l's Crucible. As you say, it seems they have readied themselves to make a last stand. Even so, it matters not, for we will soon make short shrift of them."

"I deem thou canst not be certain of that, Lord Bekki," said Loric, "for did we not hear the Fists of Rakka fought formidably at the Dragonboat bridge? And I can say the Battle at Gunarring Gap was bloody indeed. Nay, I ween they will give good account of themselves, much to our regret."

"Pah!" snorted Bekki, but said no more.

"Tell us again, Tipperton," said Phais, "just how they are arrayed and the lay of the land nigh."

"In long rows, Phais: the Fists of Rakka out front; the Askars of Chabba next; then the mounted files of Hyrinians and Kistanians after them. Many of the Chabbains are armed with bows, but most wield short spears. The Fists of Rakka wield scimitars and axes and they bear small round shields, though some of the Fists are armed with crossbows. The Lakh of Hyree also bear small round shields but their swords are long and curved-like the sabers the Jordians wield-tulwars I think they are named. They also have bows at hand, strangely curved. The Rovers wield cutlasses and crossbows and spears."

Phais nodded, then said, "And the land?"

"They stand on the level ground between the brim of H?l's Crucible to their right and the hills on their left, with their backs to the hundred-foot drop unto the Avagon Sea below."

"What lies in front?" asked Beau.

"A long flat like this," said Tipperton, gesturing at the broad expanse lying between the sheer fall into the rift to their left and the craggy hills in the near distance to their right and stretching out fore and aft of the moving host.

"They have their backs to the sun," growled Bekki.

"What sun?" asked Ry

"Should it come out," replied Bekki.

"And it is nought but a sheer fall to the foe's right?" asked Phais.

Tipperton shook his head. "Several hundred yards in front of the enemy's ranks, there seems to be a broad, broad slope down into H?l's Crucible, the pitch itself mayhap a full mile wide. How gentle or steep, I ca

"I say we drive them off the cliffs behind to fall into the sea," said Bekki.

"Or off the sheer drop to their right," added Nix.

"Or run them down the slope and into the foul air of H?l's Crucible itself," said Li