While Kara and Alessa furiously ride to the coast, Felanar is spending one final night before the battle begins. He is uneasy.
The bird flew high overhead, too distant to be seen clearly. The sky was darkening in the twilight, and the dark bird contrasted against it. It moved in lazy circles over the troops on the mountainside as if interested in the activity on the ground but not caring if its own movements were noted. It soared up and down the mountainside until finally it flew off toward the west.
“Yet another one,” muttered Felanar, as he watched the bird disappear in the distance. He clutched his heavy cloak tightly around him and shivered from the cold wind that swept over the mountain. The snow was thicker this high up and his boots were half covered in a drift. The wind caught the top of the drifts and swirled the snow around the camp.
“A curse on them,” said Gram the dwarf, angrily eyeing the now far-off bird. “To evil ends they fly. The enemy knows our plans by these birds.”
“Our enemy knew of our plans from the moment we left Argan,” said Dérevel quietly. “He has his spies everywhere, and need not depend upon his crows alone. He is merely checking our progress and making his own plans.”
The combined armies had spent the day marching around the base of the first of the Black Mountains. Now they were climbing the northern face of Mount Drwg and approaching a summit. The mountain grew steep toward the top, and the recent climb had been difficult. The worst of the climb was done now, and for a while the armies rested. From the top, they would begin their descent along the eastern side of the mountain, and toward the city of Shaabak. It was there that the battle would take place. The decision now was whether or not to press onward through the night or to camp here until sunrise. Arguments had been presented on both sides, and now the captains were awaiting Felanar’s decision.
Felanar had found leading the armies to be difficult for someone with his lack of experience. Hand-to-hand combat he had trained for and had experienced for himself. Giving decisions to others he had merely been trained for, but his experience was lacking. His every instinct still called out for him to look to others, yet no others were there to call upon. His usual counselors – Ravesfel, Llarand, Kara – were missing. It was truly now that he felt their absence.
Gram’s advice was predictable – attack first, and everything else could wait. He wondered how effective the dwarves were in combat, since they seemed to take the attitude that subterfuge was a waste of time and effort. As admirable as their straightforwardness was, it seemed to Felanar that it wouldn’t be that hard to defeat them in battle. All it would take is an opponent who acted with deception and dishonor. Stabbing a dwarf in the back seemed the easiest course if you wanted to defeat him. No, thought Felanar, the dwarves need to be in the front lines, marching straight toward their target. Anything else and they would feel misused. In any case, Felanar knew what Gram would counsel if asked if they should march on through the night.
Dérevel, for the Findára, exercised the same cautious, yet confident, spirit he had seen in all elves. An experienced knight in the elven army, Dérevel was familiar with military strategy. He would be a good match for Vélakk’s trickery, Felanar thought. The Findára would make a good second wave in the plan he had outlined to the captains on the ship.
Narón for the Erenár was the exception for his people. Alone of all the ships, his crew volunteered to join Felanar and fight on land. Their only concession to Erenár thinking was to ask some crew members from one of the other ships to safely sail their own ship out of harm’s way until they could reclaim it. Felanar knew not what to expect of their battle fighting skills, except that he assumed it was formidable. He still vividly remembered his rescue from the saark ship by Narón’s crew, and how devastatingly efficient they were in dispatching their foe. If they were half as effective in open-field fighting, Felanar wanted them nearby.
Finally, thought Felanar, there were the troops of Argan, the bulk of the combined forces. In his discussions with Ravis, Felanar learned that the troops under his command were skilled at mountain combat. Having spent their entire training and practice defending Tranith Argan from invaders, they had clear ideas of the means of taking a city on a mountainside. They, it seemed, were ideal for the main strike force. Let the dwarves and the men fight side by side up the middle, while the elves circled around on the flanks. Felanar made up his mind.
“We shall camp here tonight,” he announced to the gathered captains. “Let us be up before daybreak and ready to attack Shaabak by dawn. Dérevel, set up watches from among your army.”
“Aye, Felanar,” replied Dérevel, nodding his head.
“We will implement the plan we discussed now,” continued Felanar. “Dérevel, I want the Findára to hold back from the main offensive. We expect trickery on the part of the Evil One. We know not what awaits us, and I don’t want to commit our entire force in one open thrust. Let him think that is our plan, but let us hold back troops in readiness for what may befall us. Dérevel, have your elves flank out in the morning, north and south of the main army. Lay back, hidden from view as best you can from the enemy’s spies. Watch to see what his response is to our attack, and then fly down upon the enemy when I give the signal.”
“It shall be done,” said Dérevel.
“Ravis, I want you to lead the main force that attacks the city. I will travel with you, and I will have Narón’s crew alongside me.”
“Aye, my lord,” said Ravis. “Our troops will be ready, and will do Argan proud.”
“I’ve no doubt of this,” said Felanar.
“Of us, what is to be done?” asked Gram impatiently.
“Of you, Gram,” said Felanar, “you are to join the army of Argan, and form the front lines. I have no doubt you wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Gram bowed low in acknowledgment. “No doubt have you, and right you are. Now you will see the skill of my people when axe is put to neck.”
“I have only one favor to ask,” said Felanar, looking at the dwarf.
Gram waited.
“I wish to have your son, Dolen, by my side. He and I agreed to fight alongside each other, and I wish to keep my promise.”
Gram looked at Dolen, who was standing behind him, and asked if this was so. When Dolen said it was, Gram bowed again.
“Honor great you do us,” Gram said solemnly. “May the exploits of my son bring honor to him and to us.”
“I am sure he will bring you great honor, leader of the dwarves,” said Felanar, bowing back. “Now let us all set up camp for the night, and get early rest. We will need it come morning.”
The troops found what shelter they could under the crevices of rock that lined the pathway they traveled. They were on a plateau where the terrain tapered off near the top. The eastern side of Mount Drwg was not as steep as the western. It was possible for the armies to camp in proximity to each other, and not scattered all the way down the mountain as they would if they were scaling from the west. It was cold, however, and the very plateau that provided the open space also meant little shelter could be found.
Each army found its own way to cope with the snow and cold. The Argan troops huddled under blankets taken from their packs. The dwarves merely drew their cloaks around themselves and willed the cold away. As for the elves, the Findára seemed not to notice the cold. Some chose to stay up and walked around in quiet conversation. Others chose to sleep wherever a spot could be found on the ground. In no case, however, did any of them seem to grant any concession to the cold. Felanar, as he walked among the troops, never found an elf that shivered or complained about the temperature. In fact, he thought to himself, I don’t even see their breath on the air, unlike the men and dwarves. Only the Erenár seemed uneasy about sleeping on the ground, so different from their ship. It was to this group that Felanar walked.
“Narón,” whispered Felanar as he approached the Erenár lying on the ground, “do you wish to sleep?”
Narón raised himself on his elbows and looked at the inquiring king. He saw indecision on the king’s face. Felanar’s lips were pressed tightly together, and his eyes were worried.
“Nay, my friend,” said Narón, “I need not dream tonight. My rest is sufficient for the day to come.”
Felanar crouched low to speak with the elf.
“You elves seem to deal with the cold well. I see the breath of every man and dwarf, but with you it may as well be summer.”
“Aye, it does not bother us as it does men.”
“How is this possible?” asked Felanar.
“Have not thy Findáran friends explained our past to thee?” asked Narón. “With nature we exist, as friend to the world and all that is in it, save evil itself. We understand the animals, and know the thoughts of the plants. The mountains are to us but as fences to surround our gardens. So it is with the cold. We tolerate it for we understand it. It means no evil, but like all things only exists.”
“I do not understand fully,” said Felanar thoughtfully, “but perhaps I do not need to understand. I’m just grateful to have your company. Can you think of anything I may have overlooked, Narón? You are experienced in leading men, and in combat. I am not.”
“Yet thee seem a wise leader,” replied the elf. “Thy plan is sound, barring only that our enemy’s plan is yet unknown. Once evil is revealed, new plans can be made. Till then, what thou hast done is sufficient. Rest and sleep knowing thou hast done all that can be done.”
Felanar nodded and thanked the elf for his counsel as he stood up and walked away.
Felanar kept walking around the camps until he came to the dwarves. He watched them sleeping soundly, though making quite a stir with their snoring. How nice it must be, he thought, to live life in such a simple way. Time to fight? Then fight we will. Time for sleep? Slumber soon will follow. He made a mental note to learn more about the dwarves when he had time. He would have to make a trip to the Tranith cities of Khrea and learn of the culture of the people of that land.
He now turned back to his own camp and found a place where he could lay out his blankets. He stretched out his tired limbs and closed his eyes. Soon he was asleep.
He had barely closed his eyes, he thought, when he was awakened by Dérevel.
“Felanar, it is the hour you specified. The dawn is yet far to the east, even on this mountain.”
Felanar sat up feeling groggy. He thanked Dérevel and asked him to notify the troops that it was time to break camp. As he did so, he noticed in the distance, down the slope, that most of the elves were already lined up and ready to go. Dérevel left and woke Ravis and Gram. Soon the entire army was preparing their packs and eating a quick meal. Now they would resume their march over the summit and down the southern slope to the west, and to the city of Shaabak.