The Torian Pearls

Now Blade found himself free of enemies for long enough to look about him. The mounted Vodi were either down, scattering wildly, or being driven into small clusters. Around each cluster swarmed Kargoi, both mounted and on foot, slashing with their swords and thrusting with their pikes. The Vodi were obviously not horsemen by inclination; their cavalry was entirely improvised. It was fighting no worse than usual for such an improvised force, but no better either.

So on Blade's left the way was open to the gates of Tordas. In the center the Vodi were assembling the rest of their cavalry. Some of these carried muskets, but there were no more than a few hundred of them altogether. They didn't worry Blade.

What did worry him was the mass of men he saw assembling behind the Vodi cavalry. The Vodi were gathering their infantry, two or three thousand at least. It would not be long before they advanced, and most of the Kargoi pikemen weren't up yet. Even when they came, would they stand up against the muskets of the Vodi? Dust and distance made it impossible to tell if the Vodi infantry were carrying muskets, and if so, how many. A primitive army's first encounter with gunpowder was always a chancy business, no matter how much they'd been told about it beforehand. The Kargoi….

Blade suddenly realized that a new cloud of dust was spreading around one of the gates of Tordas. For a moment he thought one of the gate towers or a section of wall had collapsed. Then he saw horsemen streaming out of the gate under the umbrella of dust. They were all riding in a hell-for-leather style rare even among the Torians. A white standard streamed out from a lance held by one of the leading riders.

Blade pulled his mount's head around and cantered toward the approaching Torians. He'd just started when someone among the Vodi also noticed the Torian riders. The enemy cavalry lurched into motion. A few fell off, many grabbed saddles to keep themselves on, but the whole mass went staggering toward the Torians. Blade saw the leading Vodi raising muskets.

Suddenly Blade recognized the white standard floating above the Torian horsemen. It was the royal standard of Tor. One of those charging riders must be Queen Kayarna herself! Blade couldn't understand why she'd ridden out like this, but she had. By doing so she'd given the Vodi a chance at complete victory in one easy stroke, before Tor's new allies could make a bit of difference!

Blade shouted to all the Kargoi within earshot to follow him and spurred on his own horse. It leaped forward, with Blade waving his sword and cursing Kayarna's badly timed courage. Some of the Kargoi followed Blade because they heard him, others because they saw him moving out and wanted to be part of whatever the High Baudz was about to do. Now there were three ragged masses of mounted men all moving across the plain as fast as their mounts would go, heading straight for the common collision point.

As they saw that collision looming, the leading Vodi tried to rein in. Some couldn't and kept right on going. Most slowed enough to raise their muskets and fire at the Torians. A Vodi musket wasn't accurate under the best conditions. Fired from the back of a nervous horse by an unskilled rider, it was about as accurate as spitting into the wind. The Torian horsemen, though, were a target no one could miss. The ragged volley of musketry emptied saddles and brought down horses at a full gallop. The Torians piled up into a horrible screaming shambles. The royal standard wavered but somehow remained aloft. The Vodi cavalry slung their muskets and rode forward to finish off the Torians in hand-to-hand combat at close range.

They were so busy closing that they forgot about the approaching Kargoi. In particular, they forgot about Blade. He reminded some of them of his existence by smashing into them at a gallop. The Vodi riders had left off their armor to reduce the strain on their horses. Blade's sword whirled in a deadly circle around him, lopping off unprotected arms and heads like a mowing machine harvesting ripe wheat. A dozen Vodi were down before the rest realized that they were under attack. They tried to reform and surround this lone madman who was carving a path through their ranks. As they did, the Kargoi who'd been galloping on Blade's heels struck, and behind them came more Kargoi lumbering along on drends. Some of the drend riders shot arrows, others carried fifteen-foot pikes that they used like Torian lances.

Blade saw only snatches of all this. He himself was riding straight for the Torians. Beside the body of a horse so dark blue it was almost black stood a tall woman. She held up a long knife in one hand and was using her sword as a crutch to support an injured leg.

Two Vodi rode at her, crossing in front of Blade. She slashed at one man's horse; the knife left a red line across its chest and it reared with a scream. Its rider slid backward out of the saddle as his horse bolted. The other attacker was about to bring his axe down when Blade caught up with him from behind. Blood-dripping steel bit into the man's neck; his headless body sagged forward and thudded to the ground. Blade prodded the man's horse clear with the point of his sword and rode up to Queen Kayarna. He let his sword dangle and reached down with both hands to swing her up. A mighty heave and she was perched in front of him. Blade dug in his spurs and turned his horse away, out of the heart of the battle.

The light Torian horse couldn't carry double as well as a drend, but its strength lasted long enough for Blade and Kayarna to get well out of harm's way. He left the Queen among the Kargoi for the time being, in charge of Paor and two other trusted baudzi. He himself got a fresh horse and rode back into the battle.

The Kargoi infantry were coming up now, two or three on the back of each drend. They rode in, then dismounted to form the solid lines Blade had taught them, their drends behind them. They would not need many orders, but they might need a little encouragement if they had to stand up under the musketry of the Vodi. Blade was not worried about the enemy's heavy guns-they were far out of range and about as easily moveable as the pyramids of Egypt. All he feared was the muskets.

Three thousand infantry of each side glared at each other across half a mile of plain, bare except for the bodies of a few men and horses. They glared, and they went on glaring as the minutes lengthened into one hour, then two. Blade noticed a number of the Vodi collapsing where they stood, or stumbling like drunken men out of the ranks toward their camp. They could not stand the broiling sun of the plains as well as the Kargoi or the Torians.

Now Blade could see that only the Vodi in the front ranks had muskets, and no more than one-third of the men there. He could also see that the walls of Tordas were dark with spectators, waiting for the collision between their enemies and their new allies. Blade hoped the waiting would not go on much longer. He pulled off his helmet and tried to fan himself with it. He was slowly steaming inside his reptile-hide armor, like a potato in its jacket. Besides, there was no way of curing the reptile hide that could keep it from smelling to high heaven in weather this hot.

The waiting went on for another bout-then suddenly it ended, in a totally unexpected fashion. Drums and trumpets sounded, and the Vodi began to back away. They kept their faces turned toward their enemies and their few remaining horsemen darting about like wasps, but they were unmistakably refusing battle.

Blade stared, unable to believe his own eyes until the Vodi had covered half a mile. Then he took off his helmet again and drank deeply from his water bottle. As he rode off, the cheering started, both from the Kargoi and from the Torians on the wall.

Blade hoped the cheers wouldn't die when both Kargoi and Torians learned the fighting wasn't over yet.