44
Rinaldo dragged himself down from Bayard’s back.
The night had felt a thousand nights long.
If he were only a soldier, not a commander, he might stretch out his weary body on the ground outside the corral right now and sleep hard for the next two days.
But he didn’t have that luxury. With or without sleep, Rinaldo had to confront the new day.
And with it, all of the unwelcome decisions he knew he would have to make.
The morning sky dawned a dull dove gray. The rain had died sometime during the night, only to be replaced by heavy, wet flakes of snow.
The snow was accumulating up on the pass right now.
It covered the steep trail Rinaldo and Bayard descended to return to camp.
Not too deep, not yet, but he would be a fool not to see the signs.
He had to get the men down out of th
