Black Spice (Book 3) (15 page)

“The
Hariji line was longer,” he told Caleem.  “They’ve wrapped around our flank.  They
will roll up our entire line if we don’t stop them.”

Caleem
stepped back and looked.  Witaan was right.  “Assemble your Manutu spearmen and
go stop them.”

Witaan
shook his head.  “They are already fighting alongside your men.”

Caleem
seized him by his tunic and pulled him close, so that they stood face to face. 
“I need two hundred men who can fight hand to hand, and I need them right now. 
Find them!”

Witaan
trotted along the line, tapping blowgun men who were searching for gaps to
shoot through.  They all carried some kind of hatchet or hand axe.

“With
me,” he said to them.  “Come with me.”

Caleem
went with him, building a ragtag force as they advanced toward the melee on the
left flank.  The Tialuccans had pulled back to avoid attack from the rear, but
as the Hariji pressed their advantage the battle lines disintegrated into a
formless brawl.  The Tialuccans were on the verge of being overwhelmed.  The
Manutu drew their axes.

“Have at them!” Caleem shouted.  He
threw himself into the churning mass of spearpoints, stabbing with his short
spear like it was a sword.  He thrust and turned and blocked and stabbed, enveloped
in the chaos.

Kyric
stood with Aiyan and Naran at the edge of town, where they could see King
Tonah’s flags and most of the battlefield.

“Is
it time?” Naran asked.

“He’s
committed his reserve to stopping our seaborne maneuver,” Aiyan said, “and the
enemy troops on their right are pushing into the woods, looking for the elusive
warriors there.”

“Who
is
there?” Kyric said.

“Actually,”
Aiyan said, kicking at a loose stone, “it’s Birjen and all of their dogs.  He
promised he could use them to create the illusion of a thousand spearmen.”

Naran
bounced a little on his toes.  “Yes.  He has the power to remake shadows.”

“How
will that help?” Kyric said.

“He
can beckon the shadows to stand upright.”

Aiyan
turned to Naran.  “Does your group of master herdsmen know what to do?  In the
end, it will be up to them.”

“I
have explained it.  Their hearts are strong.”

Aiyan
took a long look at the battlefield.  “Soth Garo has taken all of our bait. 
Except for his bodyguard, no one stands within a quarter mile of him.  Yes, it
is time.”

Naran
called for someone to join them at the front.  A man soon appeared leading a
handful of dogs.  Aiyan looked at them but said nothing.

“We
had to bring
some
dogs,” Naran said, “or else there would be no point.”

He
gave an ear-splitting whistle and the Bantuan warriors started forward at a
quick trot.  He took his place at the front of the column along with the master
of dogs.  Aiyan and Kyric joined him there.

“Our
plan,” Aiyan said to Kyric, “and every move in this battle, has been designed
to leave Soth Garo isolated on the field and to get me next to him.  The final
maneuver will be a little tricky, but if it works we will have him.”  He smiled
in a deadly way.  “No man is an army.”

Naran
kept the pace steady, and when the road swung inland toward the river crossing,
he led them straight south, aiming at the far right of the battle line.  When the
Hariji advanced to the river, Tiahnu Rock had curved sharply back to the shore,
no longer pressing against their left flank.  And now Kyric saw that it left a
gap of about a hundred paces between the Hariji and the rock.  Naran whistled
again and the formation began to change.

The
Bantuan shifted from a column to the square formation they had practiced the
day before, only the square was tilted.  It wasn’t a square; it was a diamond,
and Naran was at the point.  Then the formation adjusted, the end lengthening,
and Kyric saw it.  It had become an arrowhead.  Naran raised his spear and they
all started running.

The
Hariji spearmen on the flank quickly moved left to close the opening.  Their captain
tried to stretch the line, but there was some confusion, and a gap opened
between his company and the next one down.  It wasn’t a big hole, no more than
fifty paces wide.

Aiyan
pointed it out to Naran.  “That’s it.  That’s where we hit them.”

Naran
gave a sharp trilling whistle and the arrowhead veered toward the gap.  Just
when Kyric thought he couldn’t run any faster, Naran kicked into a sprint.  The
Tialuccan spearmen made way as the formation approached the river.  It was more
of a teardrop shape now, but that proved good enough.  Kyric, and those around
him at the point, splashed through the stream and through the gap untouched, the
Bantuans in the center of the formation following close on their heels.

The
dog warriors on the lower sides of the arrowhead crashed headlong into the
Hariji, wrapping around to form perpendicular lines — a pair of dams that would
hold the gap open while the rest of the formation passed through.

They
were behind the lines now, running free.  Several hundred Bantuan spearmen had
made it through, and they quickly caught up with Kyric and those at the point. 
Nothing lay between them and Soth Garo.

Except
for the cannon.

It
fired, and dozens of men went down.  Other men tripped over them, or ran into
each other, and the entire company staggered to a halt.

“No!”
Aiyan said.  “We have to keep moving.”

Soth
Garo had led his death guards down to the cannon’s position, and now they
formed a firing line to either side of the gun.

Aiyan whirled on Naran.  “If we do not
charge them now, we will all die here.”

Hastilla
formed the Silasese into a battle line, spears in front and archers in the
second rank.  Lerica slipped her pistol back into her sash, slapping herself on
the head for leaving her powder horn behind, but the enemy stopped outside of
bowshot and just stood there.  They had blocked Hastilla’s force from joining
the battle, and apparently that was their only order.

Hastilla’s
troops all looked at one another.  “They’re Silasese,” she said.  “They’re our
cousins from Whale Home.”

Some
of Hastilla’s company were survivors of Solstice Day.  A younger man lowered
his spear.  He was one who had refused Soth Garo’s blood and had been put back
with the hostages.  “My father is over there,” he said.  “I can see him.”

“That
must be why they do not attack,” Hastilla said.  “Their hearts are stronger
than his blood.”

“Do
not fool yourself,” Lerica said viciously.  “They are only following his
orders.  They would happily kill us all if he commanded it.”

Across
the inlet, a thousand Bantuans came down the road from Tiah, charging at the
Hariji left.  Then the giant rock blocked her view, and Lerica couldn’t see
what was happening there, but it wasn’t long before a smaller mob of Bantuans
came into view.  They headed straight for Soth Garo and his guard of only three
dozen men.  She held her breath.  This could be over in a few minutes.  Then
the cannon fired, breaking up the charge.

The
troops facing Hastilla’s company stirred, shifting restlessly in their ranks. 
A few of them broke away, then the whole unit turned and began marching.  They
had seen the threat to Soth Garo, and now they returned to reinforce his
position.  That would ruin the plan.

Lerica
turned to Hastilla, the shadow cat leaping to its feet.  “We can’t let them get
into the fight.  We have to charge them before they get away.”

Hastilla
looked up and down the line of warriors.  They all looked back at her.

“They’re
our own people.  Some of them are members of my family,” she said.

Lerica
drew her sabre.  “
No
.  They are of
his
family.  If you want to
see them restored to you, we must win this battle.  Or else we’ll all end up as
slaves. 
You must stop them now or all is lost
.”

Hastilla
took a deep breath.  She spoke to them in their own tongue.  Lerica didn’t know
what she said, but their faces went from fallen to hard once again.  Then she let
loose a shrill cry.  The drummers took up a fast, surging beat, and they all
charged.

Lerica
growled and charged with them.  She still had control of her intellect, but the
shadow cat had taken her beyond the use of words.  She tried to call out,
faster,
faster
, but she only made the sound of someone caught in blood lust.

They
were gaining.  A handful of arrows landed among the enemy, and some of them
turned to see Hastilla’s troops coming at them.  That was a good idea, Lerica
thought.  Most of the formation ground to a stop and turned, reforming to face
the assault.  Lerica bit the blade of her sabre, snarling as she ran.  She was
only a few dozen strides from them.  Enemy bowmen nocked their arrows and drew
back.  She quickly glanced over her shoulder.

Lerica had forgotten how fast she could
run.  Hastilla and the others had fallen a hundred paces behind her.  She was
alone.

Naran
signaled the handler to turn the dogs loose.  He raised his head and shouted a
single word in his native tongue, running toward the enemy with the dogs at his
side and Aiyan close behind.  The dog warriors of the Bantuan howled and followed
him.

Soth
Garo’s guard raised their muskets, firing a volley, and another dozen men fell,
but this time the Bantuans didn’t hesitate.  They ran straight at them.

“They’re
saving the last shot until we get close,” Aiyan said.  “A double load of cans
in the gun, no doubt.  That will take out half of us at once.”

“How
will they be able to fight after that?” Kyric said between breaths.  “What can
we do?”

Aiyan didn’t look at him.  “There’s
nothing for it now.”

Lerica
scrambled to a stop only twenty steps from the enemy line.  They simply looked
at her, amazed by the lone woman charging them with a sabre.  She needed to buy
half a minute.  Suddenly she found her voice.

“I
challenge your mightiest warrior to single combat,” she announced loudly.  “If
you have any honor at all.”

A
few murmurs passed among the enemy along with some movement.  The ranks parted
and a large man with a spear came forward.  He had a bull neck and arms bulging
with muscles.  She waited for him.

He
attacked swiftly, in a straightforward manner, using his shield to cover his
torso.  She jumped back and barely avoided being skewered.

One
of the archers called out, “Fight him or we will shoot you with arrows.”

He
tried the same move and she parried easily, feinting low with her riposte,
drawing his shield down, and attacking high with a quick cut.  She took a slice
out of his scalp.  It didn’t crack his skull, but still it stunned him hard,
and he stood there wavering, using his spear as a crutch.

Lerica felt the ground tremble behind
her.  Arrows began to fly in both directions.  She hid behind the big warrior,
holding him up as he leaned towards her, eyes open but no light in them, his
weight pushing her slowly to the ground.  Hastilla’s charge rushed past her,
knocking her over, and she was like an island in a flooded river.

The
dog warriors covered the ground quickly.  At a range of a hundred yards the
death guards still withheld their fire.  Kyric didn’t have enough wind to
speak.  He wondered if he wasn’t too tired to fight.

A
huge shadow moved across the battlefield.  A short shriek, and a giant bird —
the same Gavdi that had saved King Tonah — swooped among Soth Garo’s guard,
knocking them down with its massive wings.  It slowed and circled back, landing
on the cannon and ripping it from its carriage with dragon-like talons.  Soth
Garo swung at it with his greatsword, cutting it on one wing.  It thrust at him
with its beak, but he leapt away with a slash at its eye that barely missed. 
One of the guardsmen fired his musket into the creature at point blank range,
but it didn’t seem to notice.

The
Gavdi bird shook its head, then picked up the cannon with its claws and flew
away.  Soth Garo’s guard, the ones still on their feet, tried to re-form their
line, but the dog warriors were already upon them.

A
few of them managed to fire as the first wave crashed into them, the Bantuans leaning
into their shields, knocking the death guards back or bashing them to the
ground.  A few veteran Baskillians were able to sidestep the charge, drawing
swords and pistols, downing several Bantuans in a flurry of gunshots and
slashes.

Kyric
had fallen a few steps behind when he drew his sword, and now when he saw the
death guards with pistols in their hands he drew his wheel-lock as well.  He
lost sight of Aiyan.  As he approached the line, one of the Baskillians slipped
through, backstabbing a couple of men as he went.  He and Kyric saw each other
at the same time.  They both raised their pistols and fired as one.  The
Baskillian spun and went down.  Kyric cried out as a bullet tore into his upper
thigh.  He didn’t fall, but he suddenly couldn’t put much weight on his leg. 
His whole body shook.