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?