«Yes, you are the best fighters now,» one of them said to Blade. «And more will think that when they hear how the Blues and Greens fight in the city. The others will come here, and if they do not come here, they will tell what they see and hear.»
In other words, thought Blade, they would be willing to act as scouts for us. They would give the Purple River army an enormous advantage. Blade doubted if Rilgon and his Blenar knew any more about scouting than they did about nuclear physics. And the women of the city-well, they seemed to be good enough fighters individually. But had they ever fought a regular battle or campaign? Of course there was the factional civil war that Idrana had just started. No doubt it would give many of the fighting women of the city experience in large-scale combat. But would it leave any reasonable number of them alive, to profit by that experience and use it against Rilgon? Blade wondered.
He went directly to Himgar and broached the notion of using the farm women as scouts. The War Councilor was dubious.
«That could mean word of our presence getting to the city,» he said. «If our scouts betray us-«
«You seem to trust the women in camp,» Blade interrupted.
«Yes, but they are under our eyes all the time. These — they would be beyond our control.»
«So what?» said Blade, annoyed. «The women of the city certainly aren't going to be able to attack us before Rilgon's army arrives. And we're going to have to deal with the women as equals sooner or later, whether we trust them or not.»
Himgar's eyebrows went up. «Has Truja converted you to her views? Do you think we should help the women of the city defeat Rilgon and then negotiate with them?»
Blade had to be silent for only a few seconds before he found his answer. «Yes. The farm women have come to us in the belief that we would do this. And so have most of the women from the city. I think both would leave us at once if we simply broke camp and headed north. They would try to fight Rilgon by themselves, they would lose, and they would die. And then so would the city and everything that we might make of it. But if we stay and fight-«
«How can we?» said Himgar, half-despairing.
Blade did not attempt to conceal the scorn in his voice. «You call yourself a War Councilor, and you ask that question? Truja has pointed the way. We attack them from the rear. With the farm women scouting for us, we will have no problems finding that rear.»
«But-«
«Himgar, if you do not agree to fight Rilgon, I will join Truja. We will lead the farm women and the city women away, and you and the rest of the Purple River people can all go to the devil!» He caught his breath. «You know that I have even less reason to love the women of the city than you do. But I can see that they are worth saving, in spite of that. You cannot, and you are not wise.»
Himgar was silent for a much longer time than Blade had been. Finally he said quietly, «I have heard of how Truja gave you leadership of the scouts. Would you like to become War Councilor of our people in my place? If we are going to do what you suggest, perhaps you should lead.»
«No, Himgar, I am only a warrior from a distant land, and most of your people do not know me well enough to trust me. But I will stand at your right hand and give you all the advice you need.»
«In other words, you will run the battle?»
«Yes,» said Blade.
Himgar shrugged. «So be it. I trust you enough so that I trust your plan, for all that you can do to carry it out. But there are others who may have something to say.»
«I know. Rilgon. And the women of the city.»
Blade wasted no time in setting up his network of scouts. Even though Melyna was among the Purple River army's fighting women, he had little time or attention to spare for her. And there would have been little privacy for them even if he had found the time. The Purple River army and all its assorted allies overflowed the War House and spread out into the forest around it.
It helped matters that Rilgon's army sat down for nearly a week at a point three days' march west of the camp. The Senar and even the Blenar indulged in an orgy of gluttony, rape, pillage, and destruction.
«Rilgon either has no control over his army or doesn't care,» said Blade when he heard that news. «Half of them won't want to move on again. Those that do will have only half their minds on fighting.» And in fact Rilgon's army was distinctly smaller when it moved on at the end of the week.
It was moving along a course that would take it well south of the camp. That was good news for Blade. There were now just over three thousand men and women in the camp. He did not want to try moving such a large and mixed group across country with an enemy-in fact two enemies-nearby.
Rilgon's army lumbered past to the south and settled down again, a day's march farther on toward the city. In the camp, tension mounted by the hour. The sound of weapons being sharpened rose loud enough to be heard miles away. But all the farm women in the area had either fled or joined the camp. There was no one to hear. Only the scouts moved back and forth across the countryside, bringing and sending word.
It was on the fourth day that they brought the long-awaited word. The army of the city-Blues and Greens together-was marching out. Tomorrow it would be up to Rilgon's army. And the day after that it would fight.
So Blade and Himgar and Truja gave their orders also. And their army too marched out, gathering up the scouts as it went. It moved forward-into the rear of the enemy.
Chapter 18
Once more Blade was perched on a branch of a tall tree. But this time he was not ten feet up, but nearly a hundred. If he fell off now, he would not have a soft landing. But it was an excellent place from which to observe Rilgon's army assembling for battle.
It was an act of pure charity to call what Rilgon was assembling out there on the plain to the east an army. The only part of it that had ever heard of military formation was the two-thousand odd Blenar in the center. The rest of the «army» consisted of Senar, arranged in a series of lumpy masses rather like beads on a string, with a thousand or so in each «bead.»
The complete force stretched nearly two miles from north to south and numbered somewhere around fifteen thousand of both races. That was a full one-third less than Rilgon had originally led out. Of the missing third (mostly Senar), some had died at the hands of farmers. Some had lost heart and started back for home. And some had grown too fond of sloth and debauchery to want to keep up with the army.
But fifteen thousand men, armed and even slightly trained, was still a good-sized force. To meet it Blade and Himgar had no more than three thousand. On the other side of Rilgon's line, Idrana was leading up a slightly smaller force from the city. Perhaps she was filled with distrust for most of the fighting women of the city, or perhaps with contempt for the enemy.
Neither the women of the city nor their enemies knew about the Purple River army as yet. Rilgon had chosen to draw up his army with a thick stand of woods a mile to their rear. No doubt he thought it would help stiffen the Senar to know that in a pinch retreat into the forest that was their home was always possible. Perhaps he was right.
But certainly the forest that was intended to stiffen the Senar was also perfect for hiding the Purple River army. Within a hundred yards of the base of the tree where Blade was perched lay almost three thousand men and women. None moved, none spoke; the preparation of weapons had been completed last night. They were waiting for two things-Idrana's army to engage Rilgon's, and Blade's signal for them to charge out of the forest and take Rilgon in the rear.