Unicorns' Opal

The large group of Dark Riders had turned around for a reason and, if Alex's guess was correct, he would find those men guarding this pass.

Alex threw several coils of rope across his shoulder and made his way towards a narrow gully below him. He had ordered Kaz to set down near one of the peaks so there would be less chance of an accident, which meant the Dark Riders guarding the pass would be well below him. He would still have to get much closer to the actual pass to verify his suspicions.

Alex found a trail after descending a fairly easy slope and turned towards the pass. The night air was cool and the stars twinkled brightly above. The moon was in its last hour, which meant Alex would have to hurry to use its light in order to see the Dark Riders. Alex loped along as quickly as he could yet still remain silent. Several times during the journey the gully he was using ended and Alex had to seek another path towards the pass.

Finally, the Ranger arrived on a cliff that overlooked the pass. Two hundred feet below lay the northern road through the West Mountains. In a wide area of the pass, just east of the summit, was a campfire with several men sitting nearby. Not far from the fire, several dozen men lay sleeping, confirming Alex's suspicions. Alex searched for the sentries he knew would exist and found four of them, two on each side of the road, but only on the western approach. Alex frowned at the sloppy, haphazard approach to security. The Dark Riders were totally exposed to an eastern attack. If he still commanded the Targa Rangers, his men would simply climb over the mountains and attack from the East, wiping out the enemy force before the sentries knew what was happening.

Alex paused before leaving to look again at the men around the campfire. He subconsciously reached into a pouch and extracted the scope the elves had given him so long ago. Focusing on the men around the fire, Alex inhaled sharply. There were four Black Devils talking down there, when he thought there would be only one. He collapsed the scope and returned it to its pouch. Alex sat there thinking. Sarac must have known about the Children well before the clearing of the sky to have reacted so swiftly. There could be no further doubt about the Southern Pass being filled with Sarac's men.

Alex rose and started the series of climbs necessary to get him back to Kaz. All the while his mind raced to figure out how Sarac could have known. The reports General Fernandez had shown him in Kantor would not have been enough evidence for Sarac to commit troops to this desolate area. If they had been discovered in Kantor, the troops would not be blocking the passes, but marching through them.

A sudden chill ran up Alex's spine. If Sarac had known about the Children being in the fairy village before the clearing of the sky, then the forces he was expecting from Kalamaar and Kantor would be much closer than he had originally thought. The real threat to the Children could be coming from the south or the west and the men in the passes are meant just to contain them until the others arrive.

Alex hopped onto Kaz's back and told the unicorn to fly past the Children's campsite to the west. The moon was gone from the sky and the land sped by in darkness below him. Alex detected the scent of smoke several miles west of the Children's campsite and he had Kaz circle the area while he peered down into the darkness.