The forward cavalry scout obeyed orders exactly. Blade found them waiting in trees at the foot of a long slope. They were dismounted and quiet, the troopers tending their mounts and breakfasting on dried meat. From beyond the ridge came the battle sound, louder now and fiercer. Blade dismounted and went cautiously to the edge of the trees, peering at the sky for any sign of leathermen. The young Captain of horse, walking beside him, laughed and said, «We have seen none of the flying warriors. No life at all on this back ridge. I think that the Captain Ogier engages them so closely that they have no time to look elsewhere.»
Blade studied the slope. The gradient was easy and the land smooth and grassy, pocked only here and there by trees and bushes. A line of bare rock lay along the ridge, but he saw no hazard in this. Beyond the ridge the terrain did not drop, insofar as he could see, but continued level.
«I sent a man on his belly to the ridge,» said the young officer. «He was not seen. The meadow is there, straight to the cliff edge over the beach. And the Hitts' main reserve.»
Blade had given no orders for this, but he let it pass. The scout had not been seen or they would be facing Hitts now.
«What of numbers? Did your man count?»
The Captain shrugged. «He guessed. He did not linger, as you may suppose. He guesses near ten thousand, and they are not much concerned with battle. They loaf and gamble and, unless my man is a liar, a couple made love in the bushes not fifty yards from him.»
Blade smiled briefly. «No leather-men?»
«None. I doubt that any live. They are a special breed and the Hitts have but few.»
Again Blade studied the slope. It was a mile long and half a mile to the ridge. It was almost too easy, too good to be true.
«No stragglers,» he muttered. «No camp-followers, no deserters or skulkers. I do not understand it.»
The young cavalry Captain waxed a little bold. «That is because you do not understand Hitts, Prince. They die so gladly that it is hard to understand. Your Hitt deems it a privilege to die for his rulers and will even fight for the honor of doing so. They are a strange people, my Prince.»
«Yes,» Blade agreed. «I could wish that I had an army of them to fight them. But yonder comes the second cavalry-post a man to them and tell them to take up position on the right flank. You will move to the left and I will take the center.»
In a few minutes Marko came galloping up, his horse all steaming and lathered. «The Captain Thane is but minutes behind, sir. He will move into line soon. He begs leave to let his men catch their wind-they have been running most of the way.»
Blade looked at the sun. «Ten minutes, no more. When you have delivered that, see to it that signal fires are laid and ready for lighting. You will go to supply for the red powder.»
Now that the moment was nearly upon him, Blade found himself nervous with impatience. He dismounted and paced up and down within the sheltering line of trees. He sent for his officers and when they came and saw his mood they were silent and sat or stood in groups, whispering among themselves.
Thane came at last, sweating heavily, his yellow hair drenched beneath the bronze helmet. He grinned at Blade and clapped him on the shoulder.
«I near ran the guts out of the foot, but they are here. Give them time for breath and they will fight well.» He nodded toward the ridge and cocked an ear to the battle sounds.
«Ogier will be glad to see us, I wager. By now he has probably damned us thrice over and I do not blame him-he could fight on that beach all day and never take it.»
Blade summoned his officers around him and drew his plan on the soft black soil. «I will lead the attack in the center with the third group of horse. The first and second will each take a flank. We will keep the battle line and will top the ridge at the same time. The center will lag then for a few seconds in order to let the flanking horse curve forward and in, so that our line of battle will look like a crescent moon. I want no Hitts slipping away beyond our perimeter. A single platoon of lancers will keep to the rear, remaining out of the action, to hunt down such stragglers as do get through. Now-is all clear?»
«Aye. Let us begin.» His Captains spoke as one voice.
Blade looked at his aide, Marko. «Are the signal fires ready, lad?»
«Ready, sire. They await but the torch and the powder.»
«Touch them off»
A dozen fires blazed up, spewing a thick red smoke as the powder was cast into them. Blade, mounted and at the head of his cavalry group, watched as the first smoke drifted above the trees. A little higher and Ogier would see it and know that the attack from the rear was beginning. He would then press the battle with all his might, throwing in his last reserves to pin Bloodax to the beach. Ogier was the anvil, Blade the hammer-and betwixt them the Hitts.
Blade rose in his stirrups and waved his sword. He pointed it toward the ridge half a mile distant. He bellowed the charge and heard it echoed and repeated up and down the line.
Blade's mount, unleashed at last, with nostrils flaring and armor glinting, screamed and pawed the air. Blade brought it to tight rein and spurred and they were off. He was twenty yards in front of his men.
The sound of iron-shod hooves mounted in a crescendo of thunder. The earth trembled. Just before they topped the ridge Blade looked back over his shoulder and saw the line of foot soldiers, a mile wide and three deep, running and shouting. From somewhere he heard Thane's brazen voice flung to the skies and reverberating-Yeeeeeeahhhhh.
They were over the ridge. Horseshoes struck sparks from the barren rock and some mounts skittered and went down. When they had crossed the rock Blade held up a hand to slow the charge and let the flanks move forward in the enveloping movement. He began to count off the seconds.
Before him, on a great meadow that sloped to the cliff edge, was vast confusion. Women screamed and children ran to the Hitt warriors milled as they sought to come about and form a backward-facing battle line. They had had less than two minutes' warning. Now they poured cursing from black tents and from under flat-topped wagons where they had been sleeping, and they tried to fight back. Some began to tip over the wagons to form a makeshift fortress.
Blade finished his count and glanced to left and right. The flanking cavalry had moved ahead and were curving in to make a trap. They were already heavily engaged. The Hitts were forming little groups, back to back, and using their long spears to make a bristly defense. As Blade watched he saw horses gutted on those spears and the cavalry fall back for a moment.
He put his mount into gallop and at the same time beckoned a subaltern to him. The officer, his face gleaming with battle fervor, rode knee to knee with Blade and craned to hear the shouted orders.
«Back to the foot,» Blade bellowed, «and bid them pull in their wings and converge on the center: We must smash straight through to the cliff edge and so divide them, then turn right and left to finish them off. When you have done this, seek the officer Thane and bid him to me.»
The officer, looking disappointed, fell back out of the charge.
Then they were into it. A line of the flat-topped wagons, hastily tipped and manned, loomed ahead. Spears and arrows hissed at Blade's contingent. A ragged line of slingers formed behind the wagons and smooth rocks, twice the size of eggs, began to come. Horses and riders began to fall.
Three Hitts, fair-skinned men clad in skins and leather armor, leaped at Blade. One dragged at the bridle, trying to wrestle the horse down, while the remaining two attacked from either side with daggers and sword. Blade took a slash across his thigh before he maced one and sabered the other. The man at the bridle went down before his mount's flaying hooves. Blade urged the beast forward, took the wagon barrier in a great leap, and was in a swarm of Hitts. A woman, bearing no weapon, leaped at him with a scream of defiance. Blade laid the flat of his sword across her head. Even in such battle frenzy he could not bring himself to saber a woman.