The race was on.

The soldiers were athletic and strong, but Ladet was young and had a head start. He sprinted across the camp, leaving the tents behind knowing that it would be impossible to hide from all five soldiers. There was only one other place Ladet could think of and he ran for it.

There it was, perfectly in view. Ladet drew out the distance between the soldiers and himself, letting his long legs take up more ground. He had always been a good runner.

He lunged for the branch that was hanging down at his head level, his hands landed with a good grip and he kicked his legs up and over. There would only be a few seconds before the soldiers reached him. When he was upright again, he swung his leg over and then, pushed himself up onto the next branch until he was climbing higher and higher into the tree.

The soldiers arrived and immediately started heckling from under the branches. One tried to pull himself up onto the branch Ladet had used, but he was unable to get a good grip. After another attempt, he started to hoist himself up, and Ladet let another arrow fly. It landed in the soldier's eye. Dead, the soldier fell to the ground flat on his back.

The remaining soldiers cursed, and one even lifted a rock and threw it in Ladet's direction. He dodged it, but it didn't stop the soldier from searching for another rock to throw.

"How many arrows you left boy?" one soldier yelled, laughing. "Can't be many."

"About ten," yelled Ladet. "Who wants one in their eye as well."

"You little brat!" another soldier spat. He picked up a large rock and aimed it towards Ladet and as he did, Ladet started to aim an arrow towards him.

"The devils in the underworlds! It's not worth it," the man cursed, dropping his rock in disgust.

The other men started to agree.

"We'll be waiting for you over by the tents, boy," one soldier said. "You'll get hungry soon enough, or cold enough."

Ladet watched the soldiers leave and started to worry. The men were right. He wasn't hungry right now. He had not long broken his fast, but he was already feeling cold. He had been washing dishes so he hadn't put on his thick coat.

Now he was in a tree in the freezing weather. At least his hands had held up well despite their swollen state. It was good to know he could still control his bow with swollen fingers. He looked out to the pass and wondered how long it would be before Jale and Brelen returned and restored order to the camp. Then he could come down.

A half hour passed, and Ladet remained in the tree, his legs drawn close to his body as he sat in the fork of two branches. Jale had not returned and neither had anyone who had traveled up to the entrance of the pass. That couldn't be good. He had no idea what could have kept them so long.

He looked towards the soldiers and found that they had moved even further away, obviously bored. Instead, they were now continuing their search of the tents to ensure that no one remained hiding. Ladet tried to prevent his eyes from falling to the pile of dead bodies they had started to gather together.

After a little while longer, he started to doze off, the cold setting in, his body shivering and nose running. He jolted awake, afraid he would fall. A small stone suddenly hit him in the back which was then followed by another. Strange since he was sitting facing the camp to ensure none of the soldiers snuck up on him again.

He looked down, and his hopes lifted. There below him with a finger over his mouth to indicate for him to remain quiet, was a mountain clansman.

Ladet quickly looked back at the camp and spying that no one was paying him any more attention, he started to climb down. By now, his fingers and feet were numb. His body half slipped and half climbed down the tree until the last branch where the large mountain clansman held out his arms and caught Ladet as he fell.

Without a single word, the clansman turned and carried Ladet into the forest.

>>

Delba's horse walked at an amble. The morning was beautiful, sunny, crisp and somewhere over to the left, she could hear a bird calling seemingly unafraid of the winter air.

She was not in a rush because she knew that Prince Rathner was always busy in the morning, and she would only end up sitting idly in his tent with nothing to do but wait for him. Delba would get there in time to surprise him. It had been a while since she had ventured up to the camp, and she was looking forward to seeing the Prince.

She rounded a corner on the trail and pulled on her horse's reigns. Her horse stopped. Her hand shot into the pocket of her thick cloak, her fingers curling around the handle of a knife.

Before her, standing in the middle of the path, was a mountain clansman and a young boy. The mountain clansman beckoned for her to approach. She cast a quick glance around the surrounding forest and didn't spy anything untoward. Although, she was more than aware that the mountain clansmen were more than adapt at hiding.

Her knees squeezed gently on the sides of her horse, and with one hand on the reigns and the other on her knife, she approached. The mountain clansmen had never shown her any hostility in the past, but past experiences told her that one could never be too careful.

When she got closer, she recognized the boy. Delba didn't know his name. He spent much time with Brelen, and she had therefore deemed him to be either a relative or a new apprentice to whatever duty Brelen carried out for Jale. She stopped her horse two meters away and immediately sensed the urgency.

The mountain clansmen, one she had not seen before, scurried the young boy towards her. He was wrapped in a large mountain clansman jacket, far too big for the small boy's frame, and she worried at whether he had been injured in an accident.

"Take boy," the mountain clansman said in broken Keglan. "Take back to town, hide."

Delba's gaze immediately fell in the direction of the two camps hidden through the trees. "What's happened?" she asked worriedly.

"No time," he said.

Surprising Delba with his speed, he picked up Ladet and passed him up to Delba allowing Ladet time to place his leg over the horse without kicking Delba in the process.

"He tired and cold. He sit on front, no fall off," he said. Delba adjusted herself on the back of her horse, an easy task as she didn't ride with a Keglan saddle. She preferred the desert blankets instead, finding they allowed her to continue to feel the movement of the horse beneath her.

Exhausted, Ladet leaned heavily into her. "Hold onto the horse's mane," she told him.

"Will it be safe for me to come back?" she asked the mountain clansman.

The clansman shook his head. "No, no come back. Sick people arrive. Men fighting at pass and at camp."

Delba's cast another worried look towards the camps. When she looked back to the path, the clansman had already disappeared.

Delba looked down. "What's your name?" she asked. When Ladet answered, she motioned to the horse. "If I go to a canter, can you hold on."

Ladet nodded and she noted that despite the cloak, he was shivering. Hopefully her body heat would quickly provide him with the heat he needed.

She turned her horse to go in the direction she had just come, and spurred it into a canter.

"Travelers from the Brandeen Kingdom came across the pass, did they?" she asked as her horse moved at a steady pace.

"Yes," Ladet answered. "It was a large group. I heard Trent tell Jale that there was at least one hundred men."

Delba swore and then apologized. She was happy when she heard Ladet let out a little laugh.

"I work with soldiers. They swear all the time."

"What happened?"

Ladet was quiet and then spoke, "I don't know. They took a large number of soldiers to the pass. They have been up there for a long time. While they were there, some of the Keglar soldiers started attacking other Keglans." Ladet stifled a sob, and Delba rubbed his arm.

"There's no need to fear," she said kindly. "You're safe now. I'm guessing the clansman helped you then?"

"Yes, I climbed a tree to hide, and he helped me escape."

Delba frowned. She didn't want to ask any more questions. It was obvious the boy was traumatized. Why, on all the lands, would the Keglans start fighting each other? Was it a simple little fight between a few soldiers, bored and looking for something to do, and Ladet was unfortunate enough to witness it? That sounded as a likely scenario. There had been no previous signs of unrest.

It was concerning regarding the number of people on the pass and the amount of time both the Keglans and the Talbecans had been up at the entrance.

"Listen," Delba started again. "I'm going to drop you off at one of the bathhouses that Jale and Prince Rathner frequented before they stopped traveling to the town. I know the owners, and I know that they will be more than happy to take you in until Prince Rather and Jale return."

"Brelen," Ladet said. "Brelen's my cousin. I want to see him."

She patted his arm again. "I'm sure you will be able to see him in no time at all."

>>

It was over.

Finally, it was over.

Jale sat on the ground with his sword still in his hand but too tired to stand. He was covered in blood and dirt that had been upturned from under the snow. The breakaway faction, the traitors of Jale's camp and Uleron's regiment, had been defeated. Only a small group of soldiers who had originally switched sides remained, now having surrendered.

When Jale's energy returned, it would take everything in his self-control to not execute them on the spot. Beside him sat Brelen and several other soldiers who had remained faithful, and had defended Prince Rathner and the Talbecans. They all looked as exhausted as he was.

Prince Rathner quietly approached. Jale swallowed hard against the uncertainty but now, not ever, was he going to relinquish control of himself or his men.

"I am going to go back to my camp and check on the people who stayed behind," Jale said when Prince Rathner stopped one meter from the Keglans. "I don't even know what has taken place there."

Prince Rathner nodded. "I agree. We'll go back to our separate camps to determine the situation. I would like to meet again in an hour."

Jale nodded, and after a pause, he said, "Thank you, for trusting me."

Before Prince Rathner could respond, although Jale wasn't even sure if he was going to, he saw Menelt and his second in command walked out of the forest. They approached Jale and Prince Rathner.

"We have regained control of your camps," Menelt said. "The fighting was not contained to just this area."

"The camps?" Jale said shakily. "What happened in the camps?"

"There has been much death," Menelt informed Jale. "At both camps. We rounded up the traitors so you can do with them as you wish."

Jale turned to the nearest horse, mounted and started to gallop towards his camp.