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.»