Dan's inquiries prompted Gudgar, the ex-hunter, to come forward. He said he could make a light, round, one-man craft out of animal skins, and Dan selected a working party to follow his instructions. The result of their efforts was a fleet of six small, circular boats the like of which neither Dan nor Chaldez had ever seen before.
The first attempted crossing was a mess, with would-be commandos revolving helplessly in mid-stream or being tipped unceremoniously into the icy water. One boat was lost, but no one was drowned, and Chaldez ordered that the exercise be perfected. Eventually a commando unit was forged which could identify a suitable crossing place, and get to the opposite bank without having to swim.
When the attacks began, no one matched the cunning and skill of Azrat, the scar-faced guide, but more important to his reputation than these attributes was the belief that he was blessed by the gods with good luck. A group of five hard men attached themselves to him, and this unit was soon famous. After wiping out a Murak escort and destroying the grain wagon, they took to killing and quartering the oxen, bringing the pieces back to camp like a troop of butchers. Their return became associated in the men's minds with a meat dinner, and they were treated like heroes.
As Chaldez had predicted, the Muraks brought more men into the valley to counter his activities, but their apparent lack of horses was such an immense handicap that his raiding parties were only marginally inconvenienced. Being mounted, and having the use of bows and arrows gave them an overwhelming advantage; no doubt the swords, daggers and fearsome battle-axes of the Murak foot soldiers were devastating in close combat, but in the hit-and-run warfare offered by Chaldez they were practically useless. An archer could stalk and pick off a lone Murak soldier with almost no risk to himself, and even if he were seen and followed, once he had regained his horse he needed only to stay on its back to escape.
As the Imperial Horse moved southwards through the forests of Sair it developed the techniques it would later use against the convoys coming out of Kroya, and for a time Chaldez considered this to be justification enough for the raids against the grain run. Azrat's activities, however, began to make him uneasy: he and his unit were sometimes absent for several days at a time, and Chaldez noted that on his return he reported exclusively to Dan. Dan, in turn, became increasingly conspiratorial.
Chaldez confronted him. "What's Azrat up to?" he asked.
Instead of answering the question, Dan said that the Muraks should be kept guessing and that there ought to be ten or 15 units involved in wide-ranging operations against them and their Sarish collaborators.
"Answerable only to you?" It was a tweak which only hinted at Chaldez's rising anger.
Dan lost his temper. "You're somewhere else!" he said. "Assassination, arson, banditry - what do you want to know about such things? You think war is played to a set of rules by men of honour. In the Empire, against the Karandi, it may have been. But not here. Not now. Your trouble is you want clean hands. Azrat knows that."
"You don't mind if your hands are dirty?" Chaldez was incredulous.
"We can't all be fastidious. Leave this to me, Chaldez. For the good of your own conscience don't get involved."
"And what about your conscience?"
"Me? I can't afford a conscience. I'm just a nobody, fighting for a place in the sun. I do whatever I have to."
Chaldez was silent. Dan had never before been so explicit with him.
"I'll deal with Azrat," Dan said. His tone was softer. "It's better that way."

Chaldez felt the ground slipping beneath his feet, but he could still fight back. "This isn't Azrat's private war and he would do well to remember it. These domains are mine, by rights - if this is anyone's war it's mine, and I have no intention of allowing the Imperial Horse to degenerate into numerous semi-autonomous bands of brigands, led by people like Azrat and just roaming the countryside doing what they want. We don't know what his background is, but it's not an honest one, I know that much. We must remain a disciplined, unified force because don't forget this: when our job here is done we'll be fighting a conventional war as a military unit."
Dan nodded in apparent agreement. "That's true," he said. "I'll bare it in mind."
Chaldez directed at him a meaningful look and said "I hope so."
The next day a considerable Murak force was reported by the lookouts to be approaching the encampment. The terrain was not suitable for an ambush and Chaldez ordered the camp to be cleared. Nothing was left, but the site could not be disguised, and as Dan remarked, its size would give the Murak's a good idea of how large a force they were hunting.
Chaldez said "Perhaps they won't find it."
Dan gave him a look of mock astonishment. "Is that what you're depending on? They aren't fools; they'll find it, and then they'll know all they need to. Far better if we'd been split up . . . "
Chaldez was growing weary of Dan's constant nagging. "No no," he said sharply. "We stay together. My plan is that we shall be invisible. The Muraks won't know where we are. We're self-sufficient in provisions so we won't need to show ourselves until we reach the Kroyan supply columns. There'll be no more raids 'til I say so."
Somewhat grudgingly Dan gave way.

* * * *