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“Draw swords,” MacKi
They trotted up the final ten meters to the top of the rise. The sounds of battle grew louder. Then they could see the low valley beyond.
A thousand barbarians had swarmed over Sumbavu’s column and destroyed it. There were so few survivors that at first MacKi
“Make your charge straight through them,” MacKi
Brett and Vanjynk waved the knights forward. The heavily armored horsemen gathered momentum as they rode down the gentle hill, changed from trot to canter, building speed as they rode toward the enemy.
As soon as the knights were in motion the infantry shield wall began its advance. Drums sounded quickstep, then double time as fuglemen shouted frantic orders to dress ranks and keep in line. The wall moved forward.
The maris saw the wave of horsemen plunging toward them and leaped for their mounts, scattering the loot they had been so anxious to gain, but it was too late. The lances came down, and now that they had been seen, MacKi
The horsemen had broken the enemy when the shieldsmen arrived. Once again the wings of the shield line closed inward, trapping the enemy between ranks, while the knights charged home again, throwing back into the trap any of the barbarians who had attempted to escape, the momentum of their charge crushing all resistance. The plainsmen caught between the lines had no chance. They could impale themselves on the spears of the shield wall, or wait to be trampled by the knights. This time the slaughter was done quickly, for no one attempted to attack the infantry from behind. The plainsmen who escaped were glad of their lives.
They found Sumbavu at the head of the column, a group of swordsmen dead around his body. He clutched a sword with one hand and a crucifix with the other, and his eyes stared at the heavens. There were no more than fifty survivors in his entire command.
MacKi
MacKi
“He wants to talk to you,” Brett said. “It doesn’t happen very often with city people, but they do have ways of ending wars between clans. He’s treating you as the chief of a very powerful clan. The men behind him are family heads.”
“How do I meet him?” MacKi
“Go outside the gate with a group of retainers. I doubt if he’ll trust you not to shoot him if he gets in close range. It’s what always happens when they deal with city people.”
“Can you talk to him? Do you speak their language?”
“You know I do, star man, and you know why. I’ll come with you if you like.”
MacKi
Three figures detached themselves from the group, dismounted, and strode purposefully toward MacKi
“He says he comes to speak,” Brett said. “He says you fight like a great chief. He says never before have the robed fools fought so well.”
“Tell him he has fought well and we admire the courage of his men.”
Brett translated. Before the mari chief could answer, MacKi
“It is customary to exchange more compliments.”
“Give him a few. Tell him how brave his men are, and how well they fought. Then tell him what I said.”
Brett spoke at length, waited for a reply, and said, “He says he is honored to meet a great prince from the south. He says he knew you could not be from the city. He asks how you will catch him.”
“Say that we will come to his home in midwinter. We will burn his food and kill his beasts. But we do not wish to do this, for many of my strong men will die, and many of his brave warriors, and all for nothing.”
“That ought to impress him,” Brett said. He chattered to the plainsman.
This time there was a long pause, then a longer reply from the mari.
Brett listened carefully. “You’ve impressed him,” the singer said. “He’s afraid of that walking wall of yours. He can imagine your troops pounding along in the snow, and it bothers him. They don’t like to fight in the winter, and he doesn’t think you would like it much either. He wants to know why you would go to so much trouble.”
“Say I’m a madman,” MacKi
“It might. They’re familiar with fanatics.”
“Good. Then I’m a fanatic dedicated to saving the Temple.”
Brett spoke again, listened, and said “He’s about ready to believe anything about you. He asks you to speak again. That means he hasn’t any reply.”
“Tell him any way you want to,” MacKi
“He’s not responsible for all of the maris,” Brett said.
“Just his own clan. He can’t promise for the rest.”
“Is this the leader of the biggest group?”
“One of the largest clans, yes.”
“Then he’ll have to figure out how to drive the others out. He ought to be able to do it, but anyway that’s his problem, not mine. Tell him that.”
Brett looked pale for a moment. He seemed about to say something to MacKi
The sinewy chief answered, then another of the attendants shouted. Brett shouted back and their voices rose angrily before the chief spoke again more calmly. Finally Brett turned back to Nathan. “He’ll try. Some of the others have already left. He’ll get the rest to go along. They wanted more time, but I told them you really were a madman, that you’d taken an oath never to end the war if it didn’t end now. They’re still arguing about it, but it’s obvious they’re afraid of your army. I think they’ll go.”