by Джеффри Лорд
Flames were also booming up behind Blade, with the distinctive color of naphtha fires. He hoped his men weren't wasting the naphtha on minor targets, and also hoped they wouldn't destroy too much. If the camp could be captured with some of its gear intact ….
Blade spurred his horse into a gallop toward the shore. It was there the battle would become completely decisive, there and out among the ships. Danger to their boats and ships-their line of retreat-would break or destroy the Vodi more certainly than anything else.
The horse responded to Blade so eagerly that he reached the shore well ahead of his own men. Suddenly he found himself trotting along the beach, the lathered and sweating horse kicking up sand instead of dust. He was far enough from the rest of the battle to find darkness and silence around him again.
The darkness and silence lasted only a few seconds. Muskets began banging as the sentries on the drawn-up boats let fly at the first target they'd been offered all night. Blade was a target impossible to miss, even for the most inaccurate weapons in the hands of the worst shots. A bullet ripped Blade's shortsword from his belt and another ripped his helmet from his head. A third ploughed along his temple, cleaning off the hair and opening the skin so that he felt blood flowing. Then two more bullets slammed into the horse; it went down and the half-stunned Blade went down with it.
He managed to roll clear of his dying mount and struggled for footing in the sand. The Vodi dropped their empty muskets and ran toward him from all directions. Blade was just ready to defend himself when the first two came at him.
One raised an axe, then reeled back with a hand missing and the axe falling from the other hand. As the second man slashed down at Blade with a sword, several tons of gunpowder went off farther inland. The long rumbling explosion and the searing flash of light paralyzed the man, breaking his attack. Blade kicked him in the knee, slashed his thigh as he fell, and cut off his head as he landed. Then he snatched up the fallen man's sword and met the next attacker with two weapons dancing in his hands.
With the two swords Blade wove a steel curtain around himself for several minutes, killing one attacker after another. He was never sure exactly how long he fought or how many he killed. He knew that in the end there was a litter of dead and dying Vodi on the beach around him, and others stumbling or crawling off in the darkness to die there alone.
He also knew that he saw two boatloads of Vodi rowing in toward him. There were at least twenty men in each boat. They would be too few to help with the battle in the camp, but they would be more than enough to kill him if he didn't run. Since he couldn't see there was anywhere to run to, he decided to stay where he was and take his chances. He waited for the two boats, clearheaded and cool enough to even pick out his first opponent from each one.
Then dark shapes rose from the water alongside each boat, and dark objects soared into the air to land with faint thuds in the boats. Before any of the Vodi could react, spluttering blue lights dropped among them. Then the standing and sitting men were silhouetted against sheets of flame as the naphtha blazed up.
Most of the men died screaming in those flames or dragged down by the weight of their armor and weapons as they leaped overboard. A few were strong swimmers or sailors who wore no armor. Some of them were dragged down as they swam by Hauri with sharp knives, that would slit open human throats as well as green sharks. Two or three made it to shore.
Blade ran to meet them. A sailor swung an oar at him, knocking one sword out of his hand. Blade ran the man through with the other. A soldier got to the fallen weapon before Blade. He advanced on Blade with the sword in one hand and an axe in the other, water dripping from his beard, mail coat, and the horns of his helmet. A lithe dark figure rose from the water behind him, ran lightly through the shallows, and struck at the base of his skull with a long staff. The soldier went forward on his face without a twitch. Blade retrieved his sword from the dead hand and went forward to embrace Loya.
Now a battle was beginning out on the water, spreading along the line of anchored ships. The muzzle flashes of the ships' guns lit up Hauri canoes, darting in and out among their high-sided enemies. Most of the shots went over the low-lying targets, doing no harm. Some hit, the heavy stones breaking canoes apart like bathtub toys in the hands of an angry child. Few of the Hauri died even then, for they took to the water as readily as fish.
Meanwhile, more bags of naphtha flew up onto the decks of ships and into boats, and more blue torches followed them. Flames roared up from a dozen ships, then from twenty more. Blade saw the flames race up tarred rigging, leap into sails, and strip them from the masts in a minute. Explosions began to boom as the flames reached ready-to-use powder on deck, and masts began to topple in showers of sparks and clouds of steam. The ports of ships glowed as the fires spread below decks. Other ships, still intact, began to drift as Hauri swimmers cut their anchor ropes.
Blade shouted and danced in delirious triumph at the spectacle of the Vodi fleet dying before his eyes. Meanwhile explosions thundered and roared behind him as well, as the attackers swarmed into the camp and went to work on the powder magazine. Some of the explosions were violent enough to throw burning timbers and pieces of human bodies all the way to the beach, where they landed around Blade.
Beside him, Loya danced and capered just as wildly.
Gradually their attention settled on one large ship in the center of the enemy fleet. A continuous roll of gunfire there told of a particularly vigorous defense. It was gallant, but in the end it was useless. The Hauri drifted a canoe filled from stern to stern with bags of naphtha against the ship, then set their fires. The ship's stern vanished in a sheet of flame that towered up and seconds later engulfed the mainmast. Sailors with their clothes on fire hurled themselves from the yardarms, falling like meteors into the water. The flames spread forward, the foremast became a torch, powder on deck went off violently enough to toss several guns overboard-then the magazine deep down inside the ship exploded.
The ship's deck rose; its sides blew outward; both masts simply vanished. A sphere of flame sat on the water where the ship had been, its surface dotted with planks and guns and human figures. Then the flames shrank into themselves and vanished while the wreckage and the bodies hissed down into the water or fell with thuds on the beach. In the silence that followed the explosion, Blade put his arm around Loya. They stood there for a moment, deaf and blind to everything except each other, then turned back to the battle.
There wasn't much left of that battle. Perhaps the exploding ship had been the flagship of the whole expedition. In any case, the explosion seemed to take all the fight out of the Vodi. They fled or tried to flee or tried to surrender if they had no hope of fleeing. Blade was able to save a few prisoners, but only a few. The Torians were giving no quarter, and neither the Kargoi nor the Hauri felt much like arguing with them on the point.
Dawn came, and Blade was able to write the epitaph for the Vodi expedition. In the commanders' tents he found papers that made it clear the Vodi had put nearly the whole military and naval strength of their people into the expedition. They had lost nine out of ten of the men, two-thirds of the ships, all their siege guns, equipment, and supplies-in short, they'd met complete disaster.
Blade decided to stop worrying about the Vodi being driven to ally themselves with the Menel. It would be a generation, possibly two, before the Vodi had enough fighting men to be worth anything as allies. If the Menel did accept Vodi support, they'd be saddling themselves with an ally even weaker and more helpless than they were.
Blade met Queen Kayarna as she rode about the battlefield on a horse, her fourth of the night. Unable to walk, she'd ridden the other three right into the battle until they'd been killed under her.
She rode up to Blade, a triumphant grin on her face. The grin faded as she saw Blade's arm around Loya's waist. Whatever she'd been about to say died on lips that tightened into a straight line. She turned her horse and cantered off, her back rigid.
Loya was equally sober-
faced as she watched the queen's receding figure. «She did not like seeing us together, I think.»
«No, she didn't,» said Blade wearily. «I hope she may think otherwise, someday-or at least be silent about it. If she is jealous, though…»
He could not quite find the energy to finish the sentence. He'd thoroughly disposed of all the problems involved in winning the war. Now began the problems involved in keeping the peace.
Chapter 26
For the next few days, it didn't matter whether Queen Kayarna was jealous of Loya or not. Everyone was too busy burying the dead, caring for the wounded, collecting the loot from the Vodi camp, and getting the life of Tordas started up again. Kayarna worked as hard as anyone else. On horseback or in a litter, she made the rounds of her city and her allies' camps day and night, asking about a thousand and one things but never about Loya.
Blade knew, however, that the days of hard work would end sooner or later. Then Kayarna might have time, for jealousy. Before that time came, he wanted Loya safely out of Kayarna's reach.
As he put the situation to Loya and Fudan:
«I do not ask this freely, or with any pleasure. I would far rather have Loya with me for-for all the rest of my time in the world. But Queen Kayarna has a keen eye, and I am afraid a jealous heart. I do not think she will risk insulting the Kargoi by taking any steps against me because of my love for you.» He stroked Loya's cheek. «But you might be in great danger. We simply cannot trust Kayarna, at least not now.»
«So you would like it better if I went away, to the east perhaps?» said Loya.
Blade nodded. «There is a saying in England-'Out of sight, out of mind!' If you go off to the homeland of the Hauri for a few months or perhaps a year, Kayarna may forget about you during that time.»
«That might be wise in any case,» said Loya. She hesitated, then said quickly, «Blade, I think I will bear your child.»
Blade stepped around the table and embraced her. «Then you will go?»
«Yes, and not be angry with you for making me go, either,» she said with a shaky smile. «But I–I hope this will not be a parting forever. Will it be, Blade?»
«I-no, let's just say that I will do everything I can to make sure that it is not forever.»
«Yes,» said Fudan. «But will your best be good enough? If it is not, the Hauri will stand shamed by Queen Kayarna and by her lust for you, and much evil may come of this.»
«Fudan, I will not promise to do what may be impossible. Let me put it this way. At the moment Kayarrna is jealous. It would not be wise to trust her.
«But she is also a queen who has ruled wisely and well and fought bravely for her city and for her people against the Vodi. She will not want to throw away any portion of her victory or of the new alliance. When her desire for me has passed, I will tell her that Loya is highly honored among the Hauri. I will tell her that the Hauri will consider Loya shamed if the Torians do not do her honor. Therefore, if Kayarna wishes the Hauri to be friendly to Tor, she will see that Loya is honored in her city.»
«Yes, but will Kayarna's desire for you ever pass?» said Loya. More quietly she added, «I doubt if mine ever will.»
Blade laughed. «Oh, I think Kayarna will tire of me before long. She is a woman who has had many lovers because she needs them. One man will not rule her bed for long.»
«I hope not,» said Loya.
It was still some time before the Queen of Tor came for Richard Blade. Conscientious to the last, she refused to permit the palace to be repaired until the walls of the city were patched up and the grain warehouses restocked. Only then did she permit workmen to patch the holes in the palace's roof and walls, repair the furnaces under the baths, and sweep up the litter of smashed statuary, plaster dust, and broken tiles from all the floors. After that came Blade's summons to the palace and to the queen's bed. By that time Blade knew Loya was safely in the lands of the Hauri, where Kayarna could never find her even if she wanted to.
As far as Blade could tell, the queen couldn't have cared less. Her great desire was to have as much of Blade's company as the work they still both had to do allowed. He was with her in bed, in the baths, at meals in her private chambers, on long rides into the countryside beyond the devastated area around Tordas.
Blade began to wonder if her desire for him would fade. He began to hear her speak of Tor needing a king, and the more he heard of the idea the more uncertain he felt about it. Becoming king of Tor could make it much harder for him to assure Loya the honor she deserved or even the safety she needed. Kayarna would be more jealous of the other women of her crowned royal consort than of the other women of a mere lover.
On the other hand, if the king of Tor was the former High Baudz of the Kargoi, the alliance between the two peoples could hardly be firmer. Once again Blade was painfully aware of clashing responsibilities. At least Loya was still alive and sane, and he knew he would risk throne, sanity, and life to keep her that way. She might never have the honor that her qualities and her love for him had earned her, but she would not die.
Blight was falling over Tordas. From the window of the chamber in the north tower of the palace, Blade could look out over the city and the water beyond. The fires of the sunset colors were almost faded. Closer at hand, smaller lights burned on both the sea and the land. Torches burned where Hauri fishermen dragged their nets; more torches burned where masons worked late to repair some damaged building.
The rebuilding of Tordas would be an effort by all three of the peoples who'd fought the Vodi. The Torians were doing most of the work, but the Hauri were catching tons of fish to feed the city, while many Kargoi worked as tanners, carpenters, and butchers. The rebuilt city would be something that all three peoples could claim as their own.
In the last few days Blade had taught warriors of all three how to use the captured Vodi muskets and cannon. He'd also written down the formula for making gunpowder. Tomorrow he was supposed to go out into the countryside, to watch the testing of the first batch of Torian-made gunpowder. It would probably be a while before the Torians produced anything that would go bang rather than fizzzzzz, but they were well on the way. Long before anyone else human or nonhuman came against them, all three peoples would have gunpowder weapons and tactics for using them.
He would not wait until then to tell Kayarna about the Menel, though. He would send a message tomorrow to Paor, who was keeping the Menel diary in a locked box in his wagon in the Kargoi camp outside the city. Fudan and Loya were keeping the other Menel souvenirs in the little seaside but by the cove.
Blade wondered how Loya was. In the two months since he'd seen her, her pregnancy would have advanced considerably. Would it be a son or a daughter? It didn't matter much to Blade, and it probably didn't matter much to the Hauri. They were too sensible to treat the child as much more than a symbol, and a girl would do as well for that as a boy. But Loya would probably want a son, to raise as a warrior, a fisherman, a sailor, and an explorer. For her sake he could hope the child would be a boy.
He also hoped he would be able to bring Loya out of the forest again before the child was born. Kayarna hadn't said a word about her rival since Blade moved into the palace-but then, Blade hadn't said a word about Loya either. Perhaps it was time to find some way of subtly raising the question?
Before Blade could think further on this point, he heard a familiar set of swift, light footsteps behind him. He was about to turn around when Kayarna's voice spoke.
«No, Blade. Stand where you are. Do not turn around. I have something for you.»
Her tone was light, almost joking, but a wise man obeyed Kayarna Deda of Tor even when she spoke jokingly. Blade did as he was told, conscious of her warm soft breathing behind him and also of the open window in front of him. It was a long way to the ground, and Kayarna had a rough taste in practical jokes.
He heard the sound of rippling cloth, then something heavy settled down on his head, with cool metal pressing against his forehead and temples. A hand fell lightly on his s
houlder.
«Turn around, Blade, and look in the mirror.»
Blade turned around. He saw Kayarna standing beside him in a long red skirt and jeweled sandals, her hair piled high and caught up with a gold circlet, the nipples of her bare breasts lightly rouged. Then he saw himself in the bronze mirror that hung on the wall.
On his head rose a conical crown a foot high, the frame white gold but with the gold almost completely invisible under layer after layer of black pearls. There were hundreds of them, perhaps more than a thousand, all perfect, all carefully graded and carefully placed. The large ones at the base of the crown were the size of grapes, the ones at the very top were hardly larger than grains of sand. Blade moved his head slightly, and the light played across the black surface of pearls.
It was like wearing a crown of luminous darkness.
«You are already the king of my lovers,» said Kayarna with a smile, running her hand down Blade's arm. «By the Pearl Crown you are King-By-Marriage in all of Tor, not just in my bed. You will have the place beside me as long as you live. That place needs filling, and there is no one else so worthy. Nor will there be.»
«You flatter me,» said Blade. «I can hardly refuse. Yet what becomes of the Kargoi now?»
«You yourself have said that the man Paor is worthy to be High Baudz. Indeed he seems wise and brave. So let him be chosen to rule the Kargoi, and they will have no further need of you.»
It struck Blade that he might have just been given the perfect opportunity to raise the question of the Hauri and of Loyas safety and position. Before he could say a word, Kayarna smiled again.