There was more, however. One by one the empty gourds were picked up and filled with the mixture from the pot, then handed back into the canoes. As the gourds were filled, the fumes slowly died away and Blade no longer had to fight to keep his stomach under control. Finally the nearly empty pot was overturned, dousing the coals of the fire with the sludge in the bottom, then loaded aboard the priests' canoe.
«Now the Shield of Life is ready,» said Swebon. That didn't tell Blade much. It sounded more like a medicine than a weapon, but that was about as much as he could guess. He didn't really care, just as long as he didn't have to swallow anything which gave off the fumes he'd just smelled.
It was nearly dark, so Blade expected they'd stay in the marsh, camping on the dry ground or even sleeping in the canoes. Instead they returned to the river, then headed downstream again almost as fast as in daylight.
Blade leaned forward and tapped Swebon on the shoulder. «I should not question the judgement of Fak'si chiefs, but this night journey makes me wonder. What about the Horned Ones?»
Swebon's teeth were a white flash in the darkness. «Tuk had an idea. If we went down the river to the nearest Yal village in the darkness, we would not be seen before we struck. So we are going to do as Tuk said.
«We left all the grashta-«Blade assumed he meant the uglyfish «- in the marsh. Their blood flows into the water and it will draw all the Horned Ones of this river. They will be too busy fighting over the fish to attack us.»
Blade mentally crossed his fingers, then laughed. «Why didn't you tell me this before, Swebon? Then I could have made jaw-bracers for each canoe, just in case.»
«Tuk only spoke as we made the Shield of Life,» said Swebon. He seemed slightly embarrassed. «He knows more of this river and of the Horned Ones than I do. There might not be peace with him if I did not follow him in this, for he is proud.»
Blade shrugged. It could have been much worse, and certainly no people and no Dimension had a monopoly on proud old generals who got brainstorms. He relaxed, and gradually he began to enjoy himself.
Now it was completely dark, but sometimes luminous patches glowed as paddles and prows broke the oily surface of the water. There was no wind, but they were too far from either bank for most insects. The water dripped from the paddles and gurgled at the prows, the paddlers murmured to themselves, and night birds called from the distant banks.
It was hard to tell that a hundred and fifty men were moving swiftly down the river within a few hundred yards of Blade. He knew it, though, and knew that he belonged among these men. When everything that civilization put into him was stripped away, what remained was an adventurer and a warrior. That was the true Richard Blade, but that was also a man who had no safe or easy place in the Home Dimension of the twentieth century. Luck and the genius of Lord Leighton sent him to Dimension X, where he was usually far more at home than most men could ever have been.
Chapter 8
At dawn the Fak'si raiders were already within striking distance of their target. The gamble of the night journey had paid off. One canoe rammed a floating log and sprang an unstoppable leak, but its men scrambled safely into other canoes. A second canoe got lost in a side channel and for a while Swebon thought it might have fallen victim to the Horned Ones. But as the two chiefs were choosing men for the two attack parties, the missing canoe paddled up. So the chiefs had all their men for the attack on the Yal village.
It was actually four villages lying so close together that an attack on one had to be an attack on all. Among them the four villages had more than twice as many warriors as the raiders, so the two chiefs came up with an ingenious plan. Half the attackers would approach the villages in canoes, attacking them in succession. The other half would slip across country and take position in the Forest behind the first village.
As the attack from the river struck the first village, its women and children would run into the Forest and the warriors of the other villages would dash to its rescue. The attackers waiting in the Forest would catch the fleeing women and children and ambush the warriors coming to the rescue. The men in the Forest would also give warning if the Treemen came.
«Sometimes the Treemen come when they see us fighting,» said Swebon. «They think to steal our women while we are too busy to protect them. But they have to be very quick. Otherwise we call the Truce of the Treemen and stop fighting each other to fight them.»
That was what Blade might have expected from a people whose wars were hardly more than a rather bloody sport. On the other hand, the plan for the attack on the Yal villages was not at all what he'd expected. It was subtle, sophisticated, and implied a great deal of thinking by the chiefs and good discipline by the warriors. It might be «every man for himself» when the fighting actually started, but until then they seemed to follow orders as well as many Home Dimension troops.
So the Forest People might know a great deal about war, in spite of their primitive weapons. With better equipment, they might be able to hold their own against the Sons of Hapanu, or even drive them into the sea. But if the People had better weapons, would they be able to resist the temptation to use them on each other?
That was a difficult question, and it would have to wait. Swebon was counting off the warriors of his party, the ones to go overland. He signaled to Blade to join him. Blade picked up his weapons and walked over to stand by the chief. A few more men joined the circle around Swebon, then he raised his hand in farewell to Tuk and led his men into the green darkness of the Forest.
The Yal village lay quiet in the early morning sunlight, but it was not asleep. Its people were hard at work, but none of the work made much noise. Smoke rose straight from cooking fires and forges. Bare-breasted women and naked children pulled weeds from a field of yellow-leaved plants. Two men with armfuls of grass thatched a hut. Somewhere in the village somebody was pounding something, and every so often a child laughed or cried out: There was nothing else for Blade to hear, as he lay beside Swebon under a concealing bush.
The sun rose higher, sweat poured off Blade, and insects came to whine and nip. Swebon lay like a statue carved from blue granite and there was no sign of the river attack party. Blade tried to tell himself that if they'd been detected, the village would hardly be so still. A root under him began to painfully gouge his ribs-then suddenly the village was no longer quiet.
Three men in a canoe came paddling furiously up the river, one of them waving a bloody arm. A fourth man was slumped in the bottom of the canoe, a spear in his thigh. As they turned toward the bank, the paddlers began shouting.
«Raiders, raiders! The Fak'si are coming! Raiders-!»
That was all Blade heard from the men before the uproar in the village drowned them out. War cries and women's screams rose, followed by the thud of drums and the crash and clang of people beating on cooking pots and anvils. Someone tossed a handful of leaves into a fire, and instantly the smoke rising from it turned a repulsive green. Then four armed men appeared, herding women and children ahead of them into the field. Blade looked at Swebon, but the chief shook his head. A moment later the first canoe of the river party appeared around the bend. Tuk was standing up in the bow, waving his war club.
If there'd been confusion before in the village, now there was chaos. Or at least it looked like chaos, until Blade saw that everyone seemed to know where they were going. Many warriors were hurrying down to the riverbank, some standing in the open shouting defiance, some concealing themselves behind huts or trees. Other warriors were escorting more women and children inland. A steady stream of them was passing no more than fifty feet from Blade and Swebon. Some of the women were carrying pots, sacks, and baskets. Craftsmen were picking up their tools and handing them to women to carry to safety. The younger ones then armed themselves and joined the warriors, while the older ones went inland with the women.