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and James.
“You’re with me,” he said, turning and walking
toward a small door off to one side.
    The brothers
found their father waiting in the room already, and in a moment
Greylock entered, closing the door behind. “I just wanted to
let you two know,” said Owen, addressing the brothers, “that
you’re going to be given the dirtiest, most thankless job we’ve
got.”
    Dash smiled.
“Smashing!”
    Jimmy threw his
brother a dark look, and said, “What is it?”
    “Jimmy,
you’re in charge of our special advance unit.”
    “Special
advance unit?” asked Jimmy.
    Arutha nodded.
“Him,” he said, pointing to Dash.
    Dash rolled his
eyes heavenward but said nothing. He had long ago accustomed himself
to being under his older brother’s direction whenever they were
working together.
    Arutha said,
“Owen said he needed a couple of sneaky bastards to operate
behind enemy lines.” He smiled at his sons. “I told him
your parentage wasn’t in doubt, but that you were sneaky enough
for the job.”
    “When do
we leave?” said Jimmy.
    “Now,”
said Erik. “There are a pair of horses waiting for you by the
postern gate, with supplies for a week.”
    James said, “A
week? That means you’ll want us inside of Krondor when your
scouts reach the walls?”
    Owen nodded. “Or
close by. Leave those uniforms here and dress like a couple of free
swords. If you get caught, tell them you’re Valemen looking to
enlist.”
    Dash grinned,
but his tone was mocking. “Oh, joy. We’re playing at
spies again.”
    Jimmy again
looked at his brother as if he were crazy, and said, “You do
find the oddest things entertaining.”
    Arutha looked at
his two sons and said, “We just got confirming intelligence
that Duko has come south.”
    “That’s
the stick in the anthill, isn’t it?” said Dash.
    Arutha nodded.
“Indeed. If Duko gets established in Krondor before we do, he
threatens Port Vykor. Cut off Vykor and we have no communications
with the fleet; cut off the fleet, and we have no chance to resupply
from the Sunset Islands and the Far Coast.”
    Owen said, “It
might be a feint, with Sarth being his real objective. But there’s
a report that a second force moves south along the road from Hawk’s
Hallow under the command of Nordan, Fadawah’s second.”
    “That’s
a lot of soldiers slogging through the ice and mud,” said
Jimmy.
    Arutha said,
“Krondor’s harbor is useless; Fadawah knows this. We
don’t know if he knows of Vykor’s harbor down in Shandon
Bay, but if he does, then this isn’t a feint.”
    Jimmy glanced at
his brother, then said to his father, “So you want us to find
out which?”
    “If
possible,” said Arutha. “If he’s just trying to
slow down our march, so he can reinforce Sarth, we have to know.”
    Dash looked
around the room, then asked, “Anything else?”
    Arutha said,
“Stay alive?”
    Jimmy smiled.
“We always plan on that, Father.”
    Arutha came and
embraced his sons, Dash first, then Jimmy.
    Dash said, “Come
on, we have some riding to do this night.”
    Jimmy resumed
looking dubious as they left the room.

Two - Wilderness
    Dash signaled.
    Jimmy took out
his sword and ducked behind the boulder. Dash left his own position
on the south side of the King’s Highway and dropped into a
ditch that ran parallel to the road for several hundred feet.
    The brothers had
been riding for two days. The thaw had begun and there was actually
some warmth in the sunlight when it came out from behind the
seemingly constant cloud cover. But the temperature didn’t fall
below freezing anymore, and the rain helped melt the snow. As Dash
lay in the cold mud he wished for the ice again. The ooze slowed
travel and he didn’t seem able to get dry, even when staying
close to a fire at night.
    They had heard
voices in the woods ahead a few minutes ago, had dismounted, tied
their horses, and advanced on foot. As the sound of approaching feet
grew louder, Dash chanced a glance over the edge of