*five days later*
{REN'S POV}
I hop off Chester and pat the sweaty stallion on his flank. "Thanks bud. Ya did good."

As if sensing my nerves, my trusty horse managed to traverse the escape route in record time. Not being able to communicate with everyone sucks. With little else to do, my mind has been free to spiral into imaginary worst case scenarios.

I have no way of knowing what's happening at Tai. For all I know, the West Wall or East Gate has already been breached and Tai has fallen.

I could be the only one left.

I think of my parents and friends, then shudder. I'm sure Hikari-sama won't let that happen. She refused to abandon us! I have to put my faith in everyone to hold down the fort until I make it to the capital. That means I mustn't dally here for long.

Chester needs a rest though. I wipe him down and feed him. We've got a hard ride ahead of us.

"What're ya doin' out here, lad?" Someone says, their voice directly behind me.

I yelp and whirl, faced with a small contingent of Menad soldiers. They snuck up on me. Chester senses my anxiety and paws the ground. He moves closer to me, trained to protect a downed rider.

I have to stay calm. They don't suspect me, or they wouldn't have approached unarmed. None of our enemies expect someone from Clarines to make it out of the wall without being seen, since the mountain range is thought to be impassable.

Mum is from the east. Thanks to her, I know a couple general words in a lot of languages, including Cojacanese. I splutter some gibberish about dolls and mermaids, praying they aren't bilingual.

"Gee, is he one of 'em drafted Cojacan brats? Probably ain' even able ta drink yet." One groans.

Another complains, "I don' know how they expect us ta be workin' tagether when we can' understand half o' what they be orderin'."

I confidently blurt out a string of Cojacan words that don't that make any grammatical sense, pointing left then right and gesticulating wildly.

"Look, lad." The first tries to placate me. "I don' know why ya here, but we was sent ta scout tha mountains. We tryin' ta blindside 'em."

I wear my best confused expression whilst my blood freezes in my veins. I was hoping this encounter could end without bloodshed, but the entrance they're looking for is right behind me. Hikari-sama and the rest will be in danger if I let them pass!

Chester notices me tensing. He whines and paws the ground. My good boy is preparing to fight for me. There are nine soldiers facing us.

I can't sentence my horse to death. Besides, if this search party doesn't come back, they'll take it as a good sign and send another search party.

"Fo' Christopher sake!" One of the soldiers shouts, upon seeing my confused reaction. In very broken Cojacanese, he enunciates, "Us. Mountain. Way through. Attack Taj. Win war."

"Ah!" My face lights up.

I clap and smile brightly, nodding as if I finally understand. Then I point towards the mountains and gesture that they should follow quickly. The soldiers grin at one other.

The leader says, "Balto! Go back ta base an' tell Boss we gotta way through tha mountain!"

I lead them to a spot in the mountain. Pops thought it was a great place to build Taj's mountain escape route so there's even the start of a path. However, now it's known for being unstable. Rock slides occur multiple times a day. It's impossible to safely use.

These soldiers don't know that I'm leading them to a death trap. To them, it looks like a man-made road that leads through the mountain. The style of the support beams is clearly Clarines-made.

"Yeah, lad!"

"Wooo!"

"We gonna crush Taj an' be home fo' dinner!" The soldiers clap each other on the backs and cheer.

I swallow down bile. This is war, and these are my enemies. I can't have second thoughts because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Not one of the soldiers questions where I came from and why I don't follow them down the path I lead them to. They all disappear from sight.

The earth rumbles. I hear screaming and see a cloud of dust... then no more screams.

I tie fur around Chester's hooves to disguise his hoofprints in the mud. "That's enough of a break, bud. What say we get outta here before that Balto fella brings reinforcements, eh?"

I mount my horse and kick my heels into his flank. I still have to be careful now that I've broken through the line of soldiers, as long as I'm in Tai territory.

Luckily, it should be a straight shot to the capital—to Hikari-sama's pops, the king.

*thirty minutes later*
{NO ONE'S POV}
"Lieutenant Chen was right 'ere when he said ta go get ya, sir!" Balto exclaimed to one of the top generals of Menad's military.

"Follow the tracks." The general commanded his troops. They followed the trail left behind by nine humans and a horse.

No one questioned why there was a horse when the search party hadn't been sent out with one.

No one questioned why there were still nine sets of footprints even though Balto had been sent away.

No one even questioned how the search party learned of this mysterious path in the first place.

Balto himself didn't mention any of this himself because he didn't think that the horse and Cojacan boy they met in the woods were worth mentioning.

The lad was unarmed and spoke Cojacanese, so he wasn't a threat in the mind of inexperienced Balto. In fact, Balto thought he was super friendly after seeing how the boy's eyes lit up with the desire to help them find the way to the mountain pass.

The road ended at a man-made path that was very obviously built by Clarines engineers. It led into the mountains, hypothetically into Taj fortress.

The general sent some of his troops to bring back the search party. All they found were half-buried bodies and a second rock slide that wiped out half of the troops who were sent in after them.

Now down nearly 500 men, the Menad general was furious. He demanded that Balto face the consequences of bringing them there and sent the young boy by himself down the path.

The unstable earth shook a third time, pinning Balto's arm underneath a boulder. He screamed in agony, but the general refused to send anyone else in the death trap to help him.

Young Balto was left alone to die to whatever came first: rock slide, predator, or dehydration.

"Sir!" A different soldier ran up. "There's a different trail and it leads to a different path up through the mountains. Should we send troop—"

The general smacked him across the face. "And loose to Clarines' tricks twice? Do you take me for a fool?! We'll crush Taj the old-fashioned way—by force!"

Thus, the escape route was safe from discovery.
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Yay for callbacks to the first book!