The Torian Pearls rb-25

by Джеффри Лорд

  As they saw that collision looming, the leading Vodi tried to rein in. Some couldn't and kept right on going. Most slowed enough to raise their muskets and fire at the Torians. A Vodi musket wasn't accurate under the best conditions. Fired from the back of a nervous horse by an unskilled rider, it was about as accurate as spitting into the wind. The Torian horsemen, though, were a target no one could miss. The ragged volley of musketry emptied saddles and brought down horses at a full gallop. The Torians piled up into a horrible screaming shambles. The royal standard wavered but somehow remained aloft. The Vodi cavalry slung their muskets and rode forward to finish off the Torians in hand-to-hand combat at close range.

  They were so busy closing that they forgot about the approaching Kargoi. In particular, they forgot about Blade. He reminded some of them of his existence by smashing into them at a gallop. The Vodi riders had left off their armor to reduce the strain on their horses. Blade's sword whirled in a deadly circle around him, lopping off unprotected arms and heads like a mowing machine harvesting ripe wheat. A dozen Vodi were down before the rest realized that they were under attack. They tried to reform and surround this lone madman who was carving a path through their ranks. As they did, the Kargoi who'd been galloping on Blade's heels struck, and behind them came more Kargoi lumbering along on drends. Some of the drend riders shot arrows, others carried fifteen-foot pikes that they used like Torian lances.

  Blade saw only snatches of all this. He himself was riding straight for the Torians. Beside the body of a horse so dark blue it was almost black stood a tall woman. She held up a long knife in one hand and was using her sword as a crutch to support an injured leg.

  Two Vodi rode at her, crossing in front of Blade. She slashed at one man's horse; the knife left a red line across its chest and it reared with a scream. Its rider slid backward out of the saddle as his horse bolted. The other attacker was about to bring his axe down when Blade caught up with him from behind. Blood-dripping steel bit into the man's neck; his headless body sagged forward and thudded to the ground. Blade prodded the man's horse clear with the point of his sword and rode up to Queen Kayarna. He let his sword dangle and reached down with both hands to swing her up. A mighty heave and she was perched in front of him. Blade dug in his spurs and turned his horse away, out of the heart of the battle.

  The light Torian horse couldn't carry double as well as a drend, but its strength lasted long enough for Blade and Kayarna to get well out of harm's way. He left the Queen among the Kargoi for the time being, in charge of Paor and two other trusted baudzi. He himself got a fresh horse and rode back into the battle.

  The Kargoi infantry were coming up now, two or three on the back of each drend. They rode in, then dismounted to form the solid lines Blade had taught them, their drends behind them. They would not need many orders, but they might need a little encouragement if they had to stand up under the musketry of the Vodi. Blade was not worried about the enemy's heavy guns-they were far out of range and about as easily moveable as the pyramids of Egypt. All he feared was the muskets.

  Three thousand infantry of each side glared at each other across half a mile of plain, bare except for the bodies of a few men and horses. They glared, and they went on glaring as the minutes lengthened into one hour, then two. Blade noticed a number of the Vodi collapsing where they stood, or stumbling like drunken men out of the ranks toward their camp. They could not stand the broiling sun of the plains as well as the Kargoi or the Torians.

  Now Blade could see that only the Vodi in the front ranks had muskets, and no more than one-third of the men there. He could also see that the walls of Tordas were dark with spectators, waiting for the collision between their enemies and their new allies. Blade hoped the waiting would not go on much longer. He pulled off his helmet and tried to fan himself with it. He was slowly steaming inside his reptile-hide armor, like a potato in its jacket. Besides, there was no way of curing the reptile hide that could keep it from smelling to high heaven in weather this hot.

  The waiting went on for another bout-then suddenly it ended, in a totally unexpected fashion. Drums and trumpets sounded, and the Vodi began to back away. They kept their faces turned toward their enemies and their few remaining horsemen darting about like wasps, but they were unmistakably refusing battle.

  Blade stared, unable to believe his own eyes until the Vodi had covered half a mile. Then he took off his helmet again and drank deeply from his water bottle. As he rode off, the cheering started, both from the Kargoi and from the Torians on the wall.

  Blade hoped the cheers wouldn't die when both Kargoi and Torians learned the fighting wasn't over yet.

  He found Queen Kayarna in a tent set up for her next to Paor's. The guards around her tent were all Torians, but that didn't worry Blade. The two new allies were obviously getting along well-drinking from each other's water bottles, comparing weapons, exchanging stories or boasts of their deeds in battle.

  Paor greeted Blade as he rode up, his face one huge grin and his body poised as if he was ready to dance for joy.

  «Blade, Blade, they have turned away from us. We have their measure now. Ah, such a victory, their riders dead and their footmen proved cowards.»

  Blade shook his head. «I wish I could think that, but I can't and I won't. Remember our first meeting, when you turned away from a fight that did not seem necessary or wise. You were no coward then, and I do not think the Vodi are cowards now. Their captains merely do not think it wise to fight us here and now, when we are ready and they do not know the best way of meeting us. If they are given time, they will fight, and they will fight wisely and well.»

  Paor's grin did not fade. «But we shall not give them time, shall we, Blade? No, the time they need is something they shall not have!»

  «Probably,» said Blade. «I will know more after I have spoken to Queen Kayarna.»

  The Queen of Tor was in her tent, lying back on a pile of cushions. She wore a skirt slit up the left side to make room for the bandage on her leg, and was bare to the waist. Blade's eyes wandered to the fine, ripe breasts, with a little rivulet of sweat trickling down between them on to her stomach.

  The queen's eyes just as openly ran up and down Blade's body. Blade had never felt quite so strongly that he was being mentally stripped naked and inspected. He did his best to ignore it. Gradually he succeeded, and gradually the bedroom look left Kayarna's eyes. Instead of the lusting woman, Blade faced the formidable warrior queen.

  He began briskly. «Our peoples have fought and shed each other's blood. But they have not shed so much that they cannot unite to shed the blood of the Vodi. After that-«

  «Let us first talk of the 'before that,'» said Kayarna. «I make no promises until the victory is ours, and I will not ask you to make any either.»

  «Very well.» Blade drew from his belt pouch a long piece of parchment, on which he'd sketched in charcoal a rough map and a list of the forces involved in his battle plan. Kayarna examined it, frowning.

  «I see you have two plans here, one with only the Kargoi and the Hauri, the other with all three peoples together.»

  «That is true,» said Blade. «I trust the Torian to fight beside us against the Vodi. But I could not be sure that you and I would be able to sit down and speak of this battle before the time came to fight it. So I was not sure that the Torians would be fighting beside us from the very first moment.»

  «Against the Vodi, we will fight from the first moment to the last,» said Kayarna earnestly. «This I swear, and may the ghosts of my fathers haunt me and the Vodi use me for a camp whore if I am forsworn.»

  Blade took both of her hands in his and squeezed them in a comradely fashion. She squeezed back, and although her eyes did not change, her gesture held an unmistakable sensuousness.

  Why not? thought Blade. When the right time comes, it will be a fine symbol of the bond that unites our peoples. But Loya must not be hurt by it. I must see to that, if I have to push Kayarna off the wall of her own palace some dark night!


  He returned to his map and plans, explaining each detail, each attack and maneuver. Kayarna asked few questions, but the few she asked showed that she understood clearly what he was saying.

  «I see that you do not show the Hauri on this paper, although you say they will fight beside us,» Kayarna said. «Where are they?»

  «The Hauri are in a place unknown to all except themselves and me. Above all, it is unknown to the Vodi. I would rather that place remain so unknown until the moment comes when the Vodi will learn for themselves where the Hauri are.»

  Kayarna's face hardened momentarily. «You do not trust my silence or the loyalty of those around me?»

  «I do. But you and they will be leading your warriors in this battle. If the Vodi should take you or one of your captains alive, are you sure the secret would not get out? Speak from your wisdom now, not from your pride.»

  Reluctantly, Kayarna nodded. «I know what the Vodi have done to some of my people. Indeed, I might not remain silent, nor the captains either. Very well, the Hauri will do what they choose, when they choose. What about the smoke tubes, the-the goons-the Vodi carry?»

  «They are dangerous,» said Blade. «Less so at night, however, when the Vodi cannot see well to aim them. Also, I doubt if they have too much more of the powder that makes the smoke in the guns. If they had more, I think they would have fought us today instead of running away. They are trying to save their powder, to defend their camp and to use in the big guns that fire at the walls of Tordas.

  «In any case, it does not really matter. However much powder they have now, by tomorrow morning they will have a great deal less. Then it will be a battle of courage against courage, and that battle the Torians and their allies cannot lose.»

  «It will be tonight?»

  «Yes. The Vodi should not be given time to prepare any new tricks.»

  «Tonight, then,» said Kayarna, with a smile. She might have been speaking of a rendezvous as lovers, rather than of a deadly battle as comrades in arms.

  Chapter 25

  Blade was staring ahead into the silent darkness when both the silence and the darkness were suddenly broken. The faint thud of Vodi alarm drums and the slightly louder thud of muskets drifted faintly up the breeze. The earthworks around the siege camp were suddenly crowned with a ring of flickering torches. From where Blade sat on his horse, they looked no brighter than fireflies.

  The Torians were going in now, abandoning their horses to hurl themselves against the earthworks on foot. They might not break through and many of them would die whether they did or not. Blade was sure they would push the attack in spite of this. They had too many dead to avenge, and Queen Kayarna would be leading them. She might have to lead from a litter to spare her twisted leg, but lead she would!

  Blade lifted a wet finger to test the breeze. Good. It seemed to be holding. It would carry sound from the enemy camp toward where his own attack was assembling in the darkness. It would also carry the canoes of the Hauri straight down onto the enemy fleet. They would still have to run the gauntlet of cannon fire, but they would be low, fast-moving targets coming at the gunners out of pitch darkness. The weather had contrived an overcast, totally moonless night for this battle, and Blade was grateful. There would be just enough light for his people to see each other's white armbands, not enough to give the Vodi a dangerous amount of warning.

  More sparkles of torchlight and musket fire, closer now. That meant the Kargoi were launching their attack, with all the pikemen marching straight up to the Vodi. If the Vodi somehow managed to come out to meet them, there would be a pitched battle in the open. If not, the Kargoi would drop their pikes, draw their swords, and go into the camp after the enemy.

  A distant murmur of voices joined the drums and guns. This must be the faintest hint of an appalling din of screams, yells, war cries, shouts of fear and agony as the battle exploded far away along the shore.

  It was time to move in. The Vodi would be awake and alert now, looking in all directions, and there was no point in giving them the slightest chance to brace themselves for his attack. Blade picked up the horn slung from his saddle, put it to his lips, and blew as long as he had breath in his lungs.

  Before he'd stopped blowing, a weird and hideous uproar answered him from behind. War cries of Kargoi and Torians, the neighing of horses, the bellowing of angry drends, and then a swelling thunder of hooves. Blade spurred his horse inland; away from the beach, as the thunder became deafening. He was barely out of the way when the vanguard of a thousand furious stampeding wagon drends pounded past, toward the camp of the Vodi.

  Behind the drends, around them, even among them rode Torians and Kargoi on horses and riding drends. They shouted at the stampeding animals, they blew horns and beat drums in their ears, they even prodded them in the rumps with swords and lances. The wagon drends moved faster and faster, angry and frightened at the same time.

  The noise of the stampede became deafening; the Vodi in their camp would certainly be hearing it by now. That wouldn't make much difference when the drends reached the camp. They were an unstoppable battering ram of living flesh, like the sea reptiles controlled by the Menel.

  A moment's thought about the Menel passed through Blade's mind. What would happen if tonight's defeat drove the desperate and reeling Vodi to ally themselves with the Menel? That was a risk, but one that had to be accepted. The Vodi were a menace already at hand, while the Menel were one lurking in the background. The Vodi had to go first.

  There was another risk to run tonight. All four of the people who knew the secret of the Menel were in the forefront of the attack-Blade here, Paor with the Kargoi pikemen, Fudan and Loya with the Hauri coming in from the sea. Their people demanded leadership from in front, and any or all of them might die because of this. If they all died, who would be left to plan against the Menel?

  Sometimes there were advantages to a general's being able to sit out a battle safe in a bunker far behind the lines!

  Behind the drends rode more Torians and more Kargoi, a thousand of them, all armed with every weapon they could carry. On the flanks of the drends bounced bulging sacks of naphtha. When those sacks started going into the Vodi campfires…!

  Blade rode back and forth along the landward flank of the stampeding drends. Sometimes he had to ride in and hold back the mounted attackers. In their eagerness some of them would gladly have ridden into the stampede or even ahead of it, willing to risk being trampled for the sake of more quickly getting at the enemy. Blade drove them back with shouts and curses and a waving sword. Tonight's battle would be confused enough, without hotheads making it worse!

  Dust boiled up from under the hooves of drends and horses, making the dark night darker. It was beginning to be like riding through an old-fashioned London fog. Blade was edging his own horse out of the dust cloud when the palisade around the Vodi camp appeared ahead. The Vodi had built it well enough to stand against men or horses. They hadn't built it well enough to stand against a stampede of maddened drends. The sentries at the palisade held lighted torches, and by the light of those torches Blade saw everything that happened.

  The drends went over the shallow ditch made to stop charging horsemen, went over it as if it wasn't there. Some of them went down and others piled up on top of them and around them, but the wild bawling and bellowing simply made the ones left on their feet move faster. They came up to the palisade at a speed Blade wouldn't have believed drends could reach. Somehow they sensed what lay in their path; they lowered their heads and charged on. Two hundred sets of horns struck the palisade almost in the same moment.

  Blade heard an explosion of cracking and splintering wood and all the torches along a wide stretch of palisade went out. As the torches died, a hideous chorus of screams rose, lasting for the few seconds it took the drends to trample the palisade flat. Caught first under the logs and then under the hooves of the drends, most of the Vodi sentries were simply crushed into jelly after those few seconds of screaming. The drends were slowed bu
t not stopped. They plunged on, straight among the tents.

  Now the riders were following the drends as fast as their mounts would move. Blade could have yelled his lungs out or killed half of them without slowing them down at all. The riders scented the blood of their enemies, and like a pack of wolves they wanted to make their kill while their chances were best. The horses and the riding drends poured forward, catching up with the stampede, finding gaps in it, dashing out ahead of it into the camp of the Vodi.

  Now it was by the light of enemy campfires that Blade saw what happened. Most of the Vodi were awake and armed by now, so few of them died in tents trampled flat by the drends. A good many died on their feet. Blade saw one of the Vodi swing his axe at a drend, smashing in its skull, then die pinned, writhing and screaming in agony as the beast fell squarely on him. Others tried to flee, tripped and were trampled, fell into campfires and were burned alive.

  Those who survived the stampede had to face the mounted Kargoi and Torians moments later. At that point most of the Vodi lost whatever courage they had left, turned, and tried to run. Many of them didn't get very far before Torians rode them down, thrusting lances neatly into the backs of their necks or other vulnerable points. Blade saw one musketeer turn to fire, bringing down a Torian and his horse. Another Torian charged him, striking him a glancing blow with the lance. The Vodi stumbled to one side, fell into a fire-and the powder flask on his belt exploded. Even the battle-trained Torian horses shied away from what was left after the explosion died.

  Other explosions now sounded farther down in the camp. Blade saw long tongues of flame spurting up and out. Either the Vodi had somehow managed to turn their siege guns on some of the attackers or some of the attackers were getting through to the powder magazines. Paor had a dozen men of his personal guard specially assigned to burn or blow up anything that looked like gunpowder. Blade hoped some of the men would survive their assignment, but doubted it. They'd been too enthusiastic about the damage the explosions might do to the enemy to worry much about being caught themselves.