The mountains have misled them. Two split passes blockaded with snow have turned them north, turning them away from the Terran Army at first and then funnelling them into a parallel course. At best, they're still ahead of the enemy and at worst, they're trapped behind enemy lines without a way forward or back.
It's at the last light of morning when they realise how badly they've erred. Kyu is warming her hands over the embers of a tiny fire and chewing her fingernails as a substitute for breakfast when Cohen appears like a shadow opposite her. The Hyena is rail-thin and blends almost seamlessly with the grey darkness of the dawn. Kyu studies him for a few minutes in companionable silence and is dully appalled to find that he looks more like leather stretched over bones than a person. Always lean, Cohen now looks like a walking skeleton, the hollows and jutting bones lit eerily by the weak firelight.
"Looking forward to breakfast?" she quips drily.
"Snow's never tasted better." His voice creaks like hers, dry and worn to shreds. His elegant accent sounds flat now and she realises that she can't remember how his laugh sounds like.
The camp wakes slowly around them, devoid of the usual idle banter. The second last equiv was slaughtered about a week and a half ago and this is the second day without food. Wong Fei's monster is reserved for carrying Heron and it's still easier to starve than carry him on a litter. Kyu sits with Cohen for as long as possible, alternating between chewing her fingers and nibbling on her tongue. The Hyena is the only other early riser among her advisers and their morning routine has developed into a comforting ritual. They sit in silence until the camp has fully roused, he douses the fire and she does the headcount.
No-one missing, no-one lying unresponsive. Kyu makes a quick circle of the camp just to make sure and when she passes Eti, her second in command gives her a foul glare. He takes his duty seriously and there's not a person here that he isn't monitoring, herself included. Kyu nods and moves on before he can speak. Further on, Sharrim is already struggling to haul Heron into the saddle and she moves to help before either of them fall. The black burn on William's side still oozes when he moves and she makes a note to speak to Doyle about cauterising the injury again.
The Dreyers are leaning on each other, sibling hostility flattened by hunger and exhaustion. They ignore Kyu as she passes and she can't muster the energy required to greet them. She walks on, nodding to Roux and Singh, reciprocating a salute from Issuelt. The boy manages a weak smile and offers her what looks like a brown rock, rimed and crusted with snow.
"Found this last night sir." He deposits the lump in her hands and steps back. "It's not much sorry but it's all I have left."
Kyu scrapes at the iron-hard thing with a fingernail. Under the dirt and ice crystals, she gradually uncovers some sort of wrinkled tuber, roots frozen into a tangled mass along the bottom surface. It has a blackened patch and the ragged edges of bitemarks.
"Is this even edible?"
"Mostly sir." Issuelt grimaces. "I put it in the fire and tried chewing on it for a while. Got a good mouthful or two before the bitter flavour set in."
She twists her mouth into what hopefully passes as an approving smile. It feels more like a rictus grimace but the boy's face lightens at the expression. "Good job. Take this to Hua, make sure she eats it." Kyu deposits the tuber back into Issuelt's hands and watches him trudge away. At least someone will eat something today, even if it's the only person that will literally eat anything, regardless of where it came from.
She wanders through camp until she finds herself back where Cohen's standing beside the snow-covered ashes of the pathetic fire. Kyu swipes a handful of the black-stained snow and chews the grit slowly as she waits. The char gives the slush some taste at least. Beside her, the Hyena does the same.
They're closer to breaking point than they've ever been before and she is already bracing herself for the inevitable. They're close, so damn close to the end now, but every hour in the mountains in killing them faster now than ever. If the nav is correct, there's only a few more kilometres to go before the last ford and Serafina Sound. They've crossed the Starshine twice and there's only one more bridge to go before they reach safe ground.
Kyu finishes her last handful of snow and hauls herself upright. There's almost nothing left to pack but weapons and the 56th marches on within the hour. Pale dawn gives grudging way into bright sky and they walk on, heedless of the cherry blossom sky above. The snow crunches down under their feet with every step, forcing a constant rotation to keep the front marchers from becoming exhausted. On shift, Kyu sinks to her knees in the fresh drifts. She orders Breger to the front permanently, keeping both Issuelt and Wong Fei at the rear of the column.
They exit the steep sided canyon just as the sun ascends into the sky and paints the snow ahead of them into shadowed, jagged black. At first, she doesn't understand why the snow ahead is lower than what she just ploughed through. The trail is lightly churned into hollows and dips, flattened into a wide path and imprinted with the treads of boots.
"Oh hells." Kyu figures it out at the same time as Breger and stops in her tracks.
The big man is slightly more vocal and his voice carries significantly further. "We've fucked up haven't we? Fucked up bad."