It was wide enough for a dozen beings to walk abreast in the bottom, but it was narrow enough for their purpose. All they needed was to keep the army from getting behind them... force the enemy to fight them a few at a time (line up as opposed to bunch up, as Raezyr put it) rather than all at once and they could negate the enemy's numerical superiority.
They stood for a few minutes, watching the army come. They were still a good hour's march away. Suddenly Trychon thought of something. "Hey Raez... how much water do you have left?"
The big man hefted his water socket. Then the realization of what his brother was trying to say settled in. "Tzao gao. If we had water, we could hold them off indefinitely," Raezyr said. "Well, let's head over the pass and see what's there."
They both picked up and began moving as quickly as the terrain would allow. They knew they had to be getting close to Vathka Rados' village. If they could reach that, hopefully they could explain to Rados about the misunderstanding get things cleared up. Barring that, they'd still be able to get their gear, and Trychon's data pad with it, which would allow them to remotely call down their ship from orbit.
As they emerged on the other other side of the pass, they stopped and stared down into the valley below. There, a few klicks away between Rados' village and their own position at the entrance to the pass, was a second army marching their way. One even larger than the one they had left behind.
"Taikong suoyo shingchiouh doh saijin wu de pee-goo," exclaimed Trychon.
"You can say that again," Raezyr agreed, his heart sinking.
"Taikong suoyo shingchiouh doh saijin wu de pee-goo," repeated the elder Sith.
"Normally, I'd laugh... but for some reason, I'm not in the mood." Raezyr turned and began limping back into the pass.
"Where are you going?" his brother asked.
"I'm going to find a good spot to make a glorious last stand," he said with a weak grin.
Trychon fell into step beside his half-brother. "Alright then... if this is it, we'll make sure they tell the story of our demise for generations to come." He began looking up at the tops of the steep hills on either side of the pass. "Which hill do you think is taller? We can probably wreak more havoc from up there."
"Good idea," replied the younger Sith. "Plus they'll know we're making our last stand and just daring them to come get us. It'll make for a much better story."
Grinning, and somehow in a much better mood, they began climbing the steep, rocky slope of the taller of the two hills.
They were halfway to the top when they looked into the pass below. They could see both entrances from their vantage point. Both armies had entered the pass and in moments would find their prey missing and turn their eyes up-slope.
"Watch this, Raez," Trychon said. He stretched out his hand and a large rock dislodged from it's half-buried home in the side of the huge hill and began to tumble end-over-end down toward the larger of the two armies below. The Sith watched as the Meisosian warriors suddenly stared up in horror and scrambled to get away. Unfortunately for them there wasn't much room in the narrow pass and dozens of warriors went down either crushed to death or severely injured.
A roar rose up from the now-combined force below. Not one of fear, but of anger. A roar that called for justice. A roar that called for blood. It called for the blood of the Wahnri Rahz.
"So it begins," Trychon noted.
"So the end begins," Raezyr corrected.
They stood for a moment on the side of the hill and watched the army below begin its ascent and let the solemness of their situation wash over them. "Might as well get the rest of the way to the top," Raezyr commented as they both began climbing again.
Occasionally they paused to dislodge large rocks and send them tumbling into the aliens behind them. It would slow their pursuit, but soon they would spread out to all sides of the hill, lessening the damage the rock slides would cause, and once at the top the brothers would eventually run out of large rocks to hurl down.
They climbed quickly and steadily, until Trychon climbed up over a small ledge. "Hey, Raez... there's a cave here." He scrambled up and peered into the depths. "It's fairly wide and goes back quite a ways."
Raezyr climbed up and looked into the cave for himself. Then grinned at his elder brother. "This is even better than the pass. We can fight side by side in here, and even spell each other." He wandered back into the cave a little way and looked around. "It smells damp back here. We might even be able to scrape together a little water if we go farther back."
He turned around and looked at his brother. Trychon grinned from ear to ear. "And you thought it was the end. We may just make it out of this yet."
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