Assassins of Alamut (Talon Book 1) by James Boschert

Author:James Boschert
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Publisher: Penmore Press LLC
Published: 2015-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

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Ahmad and Arash, after some urgent discussion, decided that the best place for the fugitives to head for would be the Chula Pass. The fugitives had few other alternatives that would allow them to get free of the Shah Rud valley.

The party of horsemen left within the hour, walking their horses out of the gates upon which was placed the bloody head of the former captain of the guard on a spike, overlooking the path down the mountain. They moved with great caution down the treacherous slopes near the castle. Despite Ahmad’s impatience they could not risk losing an animal in this dangerous area. They mounted farther down the slope and pushed down the mountain to the river.

Ahmad had to lead the way over the rushing water. It was high and came right up the shoulders of the horses. They lost a man here, but they didn’t even stop for him as he was swept downstream, screaming for help. No one dared to delay Ahmad; that would be courting instant death.

They had a choice of going down the valley or back up it to the pass for Ghazvin. It did not take Ahmad long to decide to take the west road. He was confident that the three fugitives would try to get to Ghazvin, and then take the highway up to Tabriz when the weather eased off. Going down the valley would be easier for sure, but it would be a very long way to go round.

He, too, knew that it was a race against the weather, and that unless he could beat them to the pass they would escape. The metal-gray sky lowered over them and threatened heavy snow, and the wind brought stinging ice particles to hamper them and tear at their clothing.

Ahmad and his men flogged their horses unmercifully along the rutted road. They gave them no rest and this cost them, as the horses could not gallop the whole distance. One horse foundered after twenty miles. It just fell over and tossed its rider into the snow. They left him there with his fallen mount and raced on.

After several hours of punishing riding, even Ahmad had to come to terms with the fact that the horses could not keep up this pace. Unlike the three fugitives before him, he had not paced his horses to the distance, so he angrily gave the command to stop at about the halfway point to Chula Pass. Stamping about impatiently all the time the small party was stopped, he rewarded himself with imagining what he would do to them when they were his prisoners. The men were quiet in fear of drawing attention to themselves—with their leader in such a temper; it was not wise to do so.

There was almost no sound from the surrounding country, most of which was hidden under a blanket of snow, all life seemingly gone from its frozen waste. The men huddled into their furs, blowing on their hands through ice-layered mustaches, wishing they were near to a good fire instead of being out here in this frozen hell.

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