Monster Of The Maze Part 8

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 c.o.c.ked an ear to the battle sounds.

"Ogier will be glad to see us, I wager. By now he has probably d.a.m.ned 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 makes.h.i.+ft 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.

The Hitts tried to bring down mount and man by sheer force of numbers. A dozen of them clung to him and his horse, screaming their war cry. Yeeeeeee-ahhhhhhhhhhh.

Blade fought them off, standing in his stirrups and hacking and slas.h.i.+ng and thrusting. He was drenched in Hitt blood. At last he broke free and rode on beyond a line of black tents to a slight rise in the meadow. Here he paused for a moment of breath and viewing. His cavalry was over the line of wagons and the foot soldiers were pressing hard through the center. The edge of the cliff lay but a hundred yards ahead.

Blade summoned another young officer to him. The man arrived gasping and sweating, his sword red with Hitt blood.

"They fight like demons from h.e.l.l," he blurted. "I have sabered me five children this day and I had never thought to do that." Blade, wiping blood and sweat from his eyes, commanded him to take small parties of the horse and seal off the defiles leading down to the beach. He would send foot to reinforce and lend ma.s.s.

"I will press on to the cliff and then turn to right and left. We have split them now and it is but a matter of time. But no Hitt must reach the beach from this meadow and no Hitt must come up here from the beach. We must keep them separate."

The officer nodded in quick understanding. "Aye, Prince. The defiles are narrow and a small party can hold them either way, to front or back."

"Go and do it then."

Thane came up with an arrow through one brawny arm. His armor was dented and b.l.o.o.d.y and his horned helmet slipped askew, but he gave Blade an enormous grin. "Did I not tell you these Hitts could fight? Even when surprised. I am proud of my people."

Blade regarded him with a faint smile. He nodded at the arrow. "They appear to have given you something to remember them by."

Thane glanced down at the arrow as though he had just become aware of it. "This? It is nothing. A gift from some tall warrior. I repaid him in full."

Thane extended his arm. "Break off the head, Blade, so I can pluck it out."

Blade snapped off the arrowhead and Thane grunted saying, "It does hurt a little-a man needs wine for this." He pulled out the shaft and flung it away. Blade handed him a cloth and helped him bind the wound.

Thane pointed to Blade's thigh. "They blooded you also."

"Nothing. Come on. We must get to the cliff edge and give Ogier sight of us. He has borne the real brunt of all this and will be needing encouragement."

The fighting was spotty now, diminis.h.i.+ng as more and more of the Hitts were slain. Some of the hedgehogs still fought back to back, and the cavalry had been called off while machines hurled huge stones into the close-packed Hitts. Infantry advanced slowly on them, ready to move in and finish the job when the hedgehogs broke at last. Blade summoned an officer.

"This is a general order, to all officers. You will take such prisoners as will surrender. Women and children are to be disarmed by force and held prisoner by force-all males will be killed if they do not surrender. See you to it that all officers get this order."

When the man had ridden off, Thane said, "It is useless, you know. Hitt warriors will not surrender, and to hold the women and children only brings trouble. They will not be slaves. They will kill themselves if they cannot escape, and those that remain you will have to feed and care for."

Blade looked at him. "What would you have me do? Ma.s.sacre babes?"

Thane shrugged his great shoulders. "I do not know. It is impossible to deal with Hitts. I know, being one. But look you yonder, Blade, and see what I mean."

A thin and ragged line of Hitts, the survivors, had retreated to the edge of the cliff. They had flung their last spear, shot their last arrow, hurled their last stone. Now, as the horse and foot soldiers of Zir advanced on them, they turned and, screaming a last defy, leaped out into the void.

Thane said, "They have no leather wings. It is a harsh landing on those rocks below."

One Hitt remained. Blade and Thane spurred toward him. He was a slinger and he had one stone left. As they drew near he whirled his sling about his head, screeching the harsh yeeeeee-ahhhhhh, and loosed his missile. It buzzed between them. The Hitt spat and made an obscene gesture, then ran to the edge and leaped far out. They could hear his war cry as he fell-yeeeeeeee-ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

They reined in at the cliff edge and peered down. The narrow beach far below, at no point more than a hundred yards deep and less than a quarter of a mile in length, was an inferno. Blade's first thought was that peering into h.e.l.l must be very like this.

They still fought down there, so jammed and close-packed that there was little room to swing a weapon. Ogier's troops had carved a beachhead some hundred yards in length and at no place more than fifty feet deep. Ogier had dug trenches in the loose sand and piled corpses before them as barricades. But beyond this perimeter, at the moment, a hundred individual small battle were in progress. Ogier himself, on horseback, rode back and forth at the water's edge and bellowed commands. Behind him and all up and down the beach were the hulks of burning transports. Other barges were leaving the end of the pontoon as they were loaded and made for the sh.o.r.e. The bridge itself was packed with troops for half its length.

Thane urged his horse closer to the edge and strained to see. He s.h.i.+elded his eyes and peered and swore mightily. "I can see Loth Bloodax! He fights yonder and he fights well, as was to be expected. But what of Galligantus? I do not see him. By the G.o.ds-if someone else slays him and I am cheated . . ."

Blade had called up some of his officers. The battle of the meadow was won, but for mopping up, and now Ogier must be relieved, and speedily.

"Take your foot," he ordered, "and begin pressure on the defiles. Dismount the cavalry and throw them into it. It will go hard, for those pa.s.sages are narrow, but use our advantage of numbers and force it. We must move onto the beach at once and take them from two sides."

There was some grumbling at this, for certain of the officers thought they had finished their day's work, but Blade glared and the muttering ceased. Blade summoned a signaleer, and flags were shown on the cliff. Ogier stared up and lifted his sword in response. Blade thought that the Captain looked weary unto the death.

He moved to where Thane, muttering oaths, still searched in vain for his enemy Galligantus. "He is either slain or fled," Thane grumbled, "and to give him his due, I do not think him coward. Some b.a.s.t.a.r.d has killed him, and if I find out who I will slay him."

Blade had to laugh at the big Hitt. "You are battle-weary," he said. "Your thinking is tangled. Forget it and point me out this Loth Bloodax."

Thane tugged at his yellow beard with blood-stained fingers, then had to laugh at himself. "Yes, you are right. I am a fool. But yonder is Bloodax-see with the ring of Zirnian corpses all about him. I count some twenty at a glance."

Blade stared. At this point the Zirnians had thrust a narrow salient across the beach to within a few yards of the cliff wall. The wedge was beset on all sides by screaming Hitts, but so far it was holding. The battle here was fiercest, hand to hand and b.l.o.o.d.y, but Ogier fed in more troops constantly, and as Zirnians fell they were replaced. Blade understood the tactic and nodded in approval. Ogier sought to drive between the Hitts, to divide them on the beach and strengthen his salient until he could face two ways and begin the last drive.

At the point of the salient, blunting it, was the warrior called Loth Bloodax. He led a party of some twenty Hitts and they were yielding nothing. Blade cupped his eyes to get a better view. The man Bloodax was not as tall as he had guessed he would be, but was broader and of greater girth than any man he had ever seen. He wore metal armor, whereas most Hitts fought in leather, and his helmet bore a single tall spike made of horn. He fought with axe and s.h.i.+eld. The watching Blade felt admiration and at the same time a tightness in his chest. This was a man and a warrior. The huge axe, which Bloodax handled like a toy, glittered and spun in a s.h.i.+ning circle. It darted and bit deep and smashed and pulped and gleamed scarlet as the warrior danced back to safety.

This Loth Bloodax was a cool one. Winded for the moment, he retired into a protective pocket of his warriors and rested, leaning on his axe and regarding the scene. He took off the spiked helmet and wiped his forehead with a forearm, then glanced up at the cliff top, at the Zirnians ranged all up and down it. Blade would have given much to see the man's face and hear his words. Bloodax must know that he was defeated, doomed, yet he fought on as if he were sure of victory.

Thane was puzzled. "I do not understand it. Why does not Ogier bring him down with arrow and spear-fire?"

"My orders," Blade said quietly. "Given to Ogier in secret. I want Bloodax alive if possible. I want him subdued and friendly, or as much so as possible, to govern his people when we have gone. And I want his aid in finding my diamonds. And I see that you do not approve, Thane?"

Thane regarded his chief with a disgust he made no attempt to hide. "You have proven yourself a warrior and a great general this day, Blade, but what you tell me now proves you still a fool. I talk and talk and you do not listen-you refuse to understand Hitts. If children die before yielding, do you think Bloodax will surrender? Pah-you had best send command to have him killed at long range, before Ogier loses another two-score men."

"Mind your tongue," Blade snapped. "I command as I will. You may be right and I wrong, but it is worth a chance. These Hitts must be ruled after they are defeated, and for that no one is better than their natural leader."

Thane laughed and pointed down at the beach. "There he is and I wish you joy of him. Now with your permission, I will leave you and go searching for Galligantus. You have no further need of me?"

"None," said Blade stiffly. "Go. I hope you find your Galligantus. Perhaps it will improve your humor."

Thane reined away and put his mount to gallop. Blade remained at the cliff edge. Far below him, Bloodax leaped into the fray again and his axe was drinking Zirnian blood. Blade pondered. Was he in the wrong? Perhaps. But he wanted the man alive, to woo and win him to friends.h.i.+p if possible, to use him to rule the Hitts and guide Blade to the choicest diamonds.

He watched the fighting on the beach. Ogier was now beginning to win. The defiles had been stoppered and there was no place for the Hitts to retreat to. Blade had smashed the reserves and when a Hitt warrior fell he could not be replaced. The piles of Hitt dead were rising minute by minute. Ogier kept flinging more troops ash.o.r.e, using sheer numbers and ma.s.s to overwhelm his enemy. The Zirnian beachhead widened bit by bit as the Hitts were forced, literally, to the cliff wall.

Blade remained where he was, easing himself in the saddle and binding his slight wound with a cloth. A steady stream of officers brought reports, and some remained to keep him company.

"No male Hitt lives," said one officer, "but for some old men who did not have time to kill themselves before we took them."

Blade looked at the meadow behind him. Smashed wagons and burning tents and thousands upon thousands of corpses. In one corner of the meadow were captives, most of them women, with some children, guarded by hors.e.m.e.n and foot. They were keening, wailing for their dead and for their future, and the sound came harsh to Blade's ears. He looked away and tried to shut out the sound.

"Our losses?"

"More than a thousand, sire. Another half thousand so badly hurt as to be useless. Shall I order them killed? They will be a burden on us."

Blade eyed the officer who had spoken. "You will order them cared for," he said curtly. "I will inspect later and say who is to have a mercy death and who is to live."

He turned back to the cliff. He sought for some sight of Loth Bloodax and could not find him. Uneasiness stirred in Blade. Where was the Hitt chief? He swung from his saddle and stalked to the cliff edge flinging himself on his belly to peer over.

"Mind the edge," one officer warned. "It is loose soil there."

Blade ignored him. He sought anxiously in the melee below for a sign of the spiked helmet and the flas.h.i.+ng axe. It was gone, they were gone, Loth Bloodax was gone. Blade swore and knew that he had been somehow outsmarted. But how?

Ogier had driven his salient through to the cliff wall now and had widened it. He poured battalion after battalion into the aisle dividing the Hitts. It was nearly over.

The remaining Hitts on the beach died one by one. They were encircled and cut off and taken from all sides. They grouped in twenties and thirties, and the last man died atop the pile of his companions. Ogier spurred up and down the beach, bellowing orders and lending a hand now and then in the fighting. Blade smiled faintly. A fine warrior, Ogier, and a shrewd Captain. Of all the heritage left him by the Izmir, he prized Ogier the most; Thane, but for the drink, would have ranked equal, but there was excuse for Thane. He had a sorrow that did not plague Ogier.

Blade began to look among the corpses for that of Loth Bloodax. He thought it wasted effort, yet he still sought without success. But maybe the Hitt chieftain was buried under other bodies, perhaps his corpse would still be found. Blade did not really believe it. He knew that he had been somehow diddled, though he could not guess at the how and why of it.

At last Ogier sent up blue smoke. Victory. It was all over on the beach. In a few minutes a courier came from Ogier and sought out Blade among his officers. The courier was evidently just off the last transport, for his armor was new and unsullied by blood, his face clean and his mount fresh. Blade's veterans loured at the man and muttered. The courier reddened in the face, but ignored them and rode to Blade and saluted.

"The Captain Ogier sends greetings, Prince, and says that the beach is taken. Our losses, at first count, are some eight thousand dead and as many hurt. The Captain says-"

Blade waved an impatient hand. "What of Loth Bloodax? And a warrior called Galligantus? What of them?"

"I come to that, Prince. Of the man Galligantus nothing is known, but Loth Bloodax has escaped us. He has fled."

Blade stared. "How is this possible? He grew wings, mayhap, or borrowed a pair from one of his dead leather-men? What do you tell me, man? That Bloodax flew over the cliff, or the sea?"

An officer broke in. "This one lies, Prince. It is impossible. I last saw Bloodax backed against the cliff wall with a score of Zirnians after him. He had half a dozen men about him, no more."

Blade bade him be silent. He waited. The courier knew a dramatic moment when it came. He took his time in speaking.

"Loth Bloodax escaped into the cliff, my Prince. He must have planned it all along and so fought in that direction. There is an opening into the cliff, cleverly concealed and invisible, unless you come within six feet of it. It leads into a tunnel, a tunnel so narrow and dark and winding that the Captain Ogier will not send men in there to search. This he bids me explain to you, and to say that he is sorry, and that he had done all he can for the moment. Have you a return message, Prince?"

Blade thought for a moment before answering. He must get after Bloodax at once. And yet he could not ask his men to do more than they had done this day. It would have to wait until morning.

"Say that the Captain Ogier had done well and that I thank him. He will dine with me tonight in my tent. If there is blame for the escape of Bloodax it is mine, not his, for no man could have done better. Say all this and also bid him extend my thanks to his officers and men. I am proud of them. Go."

Thane came back. He was gloomy. He had a wine sack flung across his saddle and his mouth and beard were purple.

"I have heard the news," he said before Blade could speak, "and I confess that I am not surprised. These cliffs are honeycombed with caves and tunnels. I should have thought of it, but I did not. I am sorry."

"So am I." Blade looked at the wine sack. "You are beginning?"

"Aye, I am. You have objection?"

"None. You have earned your drink."

"I have," Thane agreed, "and I have double cause for it this day. Galligantus has escaped me. His body is not to be found, though I have it that he fought here today. I am thinking that he went ahead into that tunnel, as advance guard for Bloodax. So they have diddled us both, Blade."

Blade smiled. "If you keep some of your wits, Thane, and your head permits in the morning, we may come up with your Galligantus yet. For with the sun I go in search of Bloodax. It should not be hard-he can have few men and nothing of supply. I will get him."

Thane tilted the wine sack and drank deep. "Or he will get you. I do not like it, Blade. This coast is one thing, the mountains are another. I should know. I once lived in them."

"I do know that-which is why I wish you to drink lightly. I will need you as guide. But I request it, do not command it. Suit yourself."

Thane drank hugely and grinned. "I always do, so far as I can and keep my head. But I make you a bargain, Blade-if you can wake me in the morning I will go with you. I will not like it, but I will go. But for now you have other troubles."

Blade gazed about the littered battlefield. "Have I now? I had thought them over for a little time."

"You will see. For you still do not know much of our Zirnian soldiery, and especially of such riff-raff as we have recruited for this campaign."

"They have fought well enough," Blade said. "Far better than I guessed."

"Aye," agreed Thane. "And now they will want their reward. And will take it. They have found a thousand casks of Hitt beer and are broaching them by the dozen. I doubt that you have ever tasted Hitt beer, Blade, but let me tell you of it-it steals a man's senses in no time. And to add to the dish, you have taken women captive. I advised against that, remember, and before this night is out you will admit me right. Even Zirnian soldiers will not couple with a corpse, but your Hitt women are alive. For now at least."