She glanced at Jimut, who was astride his own horse. Today he was serving as an archer. He had two quivers full of crossbow bolts attached to his saddle before his shins and a crossbow across his lap.
Beyond him Evvy saw the gathered mages. They were a mixed lot. Most were shamans, used to working in groups among their tribes and in the performance of great magics, like calling statues out of cliffs. Today they wore cloth jackets embroidered with symbols and pictures of powerful animals. Their necks, wrists, and ears dripped gold, jade, and ivory jewelry that was useful to their work. They carried small gongs, bells, drums, and a variety of rattles. Riverdancer was with them, as was her translator. Evvy didn’t think Riverdancer needed the other woman when she worked with the shamans. Perhaps she kept the translator close in case she had to join the healers later.
Tired of waiting, Evvy nudged her horse up to the nearby hilltop. General Sayrugo’s troops were spread across the open ground below. Evvy recognized the general’s battle flags at the head of the army, together with the vivid colors worn by the eastern shamans who used their magic to protect Sayrugo and her soldiers.
“Evvy,” Briar called. “Back here.”
As she rejoined her friends, Souda and Parahan rode through the ranks of mages and turned to face them.
“Riverdancer’s group of mages, follow us,” Parahan shouted. “We’re right behind the general. The rest of you mages, your leaders will tell you where to join the order of march with the troops you will defend. They will give you orders in battle. May the gods give us victory this day!”
As those around them cheered, the twins rode down the slope, along with their flag bearers, their personal guard, and their messengers. Riverdancer followed them with a group of western shamans. Rosethorn told Evvy, Briar, and Jimut, “You come with me. We’re to stay close to Souda.”
“Why aren’t we with the other mages?” Briar asked.
Rosethorn looked at him with a crooked smile. “Because General Sayrugo doesn’t know what to do with us. We’ll have to figure out how to fight, ask permission to do it if we can, and then do it.”
Evvy and Briar looked at each other. Evvy wasn’t sure — was this the way mages normally fought wars?
Briar answered that question when he asked, “Sayrugo is joking, right?”
“No,” Rosethorn said, and sighed. “Souda and Parahan say to just do what we think is useful and try not to let the Yanjingyi mages kill us.”
“Well, that’s better, anyway,” Briar muttered.
They took their places behind Souda and her personal guard. Almost as soon as they had done so, the trumpeters who rode with the general sounded a loud, bellowing horn salute. The army set forth at a walk, which gradually sped up to a trot. Evvy glanced back and saw long, snake-like columns of riders falling into place on the road, four in a row with officers on both sides and scouts spreading out over the uneven ground. The foot soldiers weren’t even in view yet. They were guarding the healers and supplies in the rear.
She turned to look forward again, scanning the horizon. There was a hill to come, and more on either side. Was the emperor behind those? She tried to swallow, but her mouth and throat were paper dry with fear. Then she thought of Mystery, shy gray-and-orange Mystery, who loved to run in open grass like this, and Evvy’s heart turned into a knot of hate. Mystery had never harmed Weishu or any of his people, but they had murdered her. They had murdered all of Evvy’s cats. Behind their armies, they had left Kanzan alone knew how many dead animals who had never harmed them at all. The hate flooded through her veins. Yes, she was scared, scared so bad it made her quiver. But she was burning with rage, too.
Someone had fixed a flask to her saddle. When she unhooked it and sniffed the contents, she discovered it was filled with tea. She took a small sip, just enough to wet her mouth. She would need the rest of the tea later.
Nobody talked. It was hard to do at a trot, and they were too nervous when they stopped to give the horses a rest. Even Briar spoke very little, mostly to check that Evvy and Rosethorn were all right.
Since they had stopped, Evvy eased into the ground and discovered it was full of quartzite stones. Perfect! she thought. Quartzite was regular in its makeup, filled with quartz crystals that would move her power along. She spilled threads of it into the rocks and let it race ahead of the army, feeling for strange magic.
“Evumeimei?” she dimly heard Luvo ask. “Briar, why has she sent her magic ahead of us?”
“She’s scouting,” she heard Briar say. “The rocks ahead will tell her things, like plants tell Rosethorn and me.”
Something flooded over her stones on the far side of the hill ahead, something dark and nasty.
“Rosethorn!” she made her body shout. “Briar! Magic coming!”
Over the hill ahead rose a giant tiger. It was bigger than three elephants standing one on top of the other, with red flames for eyes and claws. With it appeared a more fantastic creature of identical size, a winged lion with a horn on its forehead. The lion had a mane made of gold flames and claws like black sickles. Tiger and lion opened their mouths and roared loud enough to flatten the standing grass between them and the army. Flames spurted where they stepped.
Some horses panicked and reared; others sidled and backed. Souda and Parahan were able to hold their mounts steady. Rosethorn’s horse did not even move. Jimut gripped the reins on Briar’s horse while another soldier held Evvy’s.
“They don’t smell them!” Briar called to Parahan. “The horses behind us, they’re calm — they can’t see them, hear them, can’t smell them! Cover your horses’ eyes!”