The River of Dancing Gods (42 page)

"No. Ruddygore lies when it's convenient. It's his sort of practical joke on Huspeth, I think. I can see why people get irritated with him..

"So you're still glad you hitched a ride?.

She smiled. "Very glad, Joe. Very glad. And you?.

"I'm beginning to get the hang of this place. I think maybe I'll stay a while. Have you thought of what you're going to do—after today? Assuming we win, of course, and we aren't on the run..

She shrugged. "I don't know. I'd like to go to the realm of faerie for a bit, to complete this and to learn more about what I am and what it all means. That will determine the future, more or less, I guess. But I haven't had my fill of this land.

I'd like to see all of it someday. What about you?.

He shook his head. "I don't know. I think I can hold my own here now. I guess maybe I'd like to travel, too. Just sort of let things take me along, like that river out there. Go with the current and the flow and see where I wind up..

"Still—we made a hell of a good team, didn't we, Joe?.

He grinned. "We sure did. Marge..

Trumpets sounded across a broad area outside and seemed to echo and go on forever. Officers still in the mess grabbed their weapons and ran out, while the cooks started frantically cleaning up the place. Drums began to beat, and there was the sound of massive numbers of horses and men moving into positions.

Joe sighed. "I think I'd like to see this battle..

She nodded. "Me, too..

With that, they got up and walked out into the breaking dawn.

CHAPTER 17 THE BATTLE OF SORROWS GORGE Although magic may play a significant part in any battle, victory must be secured by soldiers supported by sound strategy.

—XIX, 301,2 Page 220 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods "NOW IS THE TIME FOR SWORDS AND SORCERY'.

With that ritualistic exhortation required by the Rules, the commanders of both forces urged their men into battle.

From the heights overlooking the great battlefield, the leaders of the northern countries watched and plotted. Behind them, apart from the rushing messengers and great birds and winged fairy folk bringing reports and taking out orders to the field, Ruddygore stood alone, dressed now in his robes of gold and looking quite imposing. He sat in a large wooden chair that seemed almost like a throne, and his arms rested on the arms of the chair, while his eyes were closed.

Poquah saw Joe and Marge and came over to them. "The Master is right, as usual," he sighed. "I am far too weakened to do more than assist." His suited eyes seemed to bum, though, and they knew he wanted to be out there with the moving armies.

The sight was imposing. Huge masses of men and equipment THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS 252 marched in formations, while the nonhumans and people of faerie formed their own ranks, covering the human foot soldiers.

Ahead, almost a thousand massed cavalry stood, barely holding back their mounts.

"Looks like a Roman epic from the late show," Marge noted.

"Only this is for real..

"I don't understand why they waited for dawn," Joe said to Poquah. "This looks all too set for a guy with a reputation like his..

"Crossing the River of Sorrows is no mean feat," the Imir told him. "Our own forces harassed but could not prevent it.

We didn't have the time to get sufficient armies south. By the time our troops were gathered, most of his were across, and so it was better to take up defensive positions and wait. The Baron has a real problem, you see—he's in Sorrows Gorge, his entire force with its back to the River of Sorrows and the Dancing Gods. If he loses, he could lose a lot of his main force. But if he wins, he can break through the mountains there and have a clear plain for hundreds of miles and an unimpeded run to Terindell..

Joe shook his head wonderingly. "I'd have used all that to cross the Dancing Gods. From the map, it's much easier going on the other side..

"True—but he would telegraph his move weeks in advance and he would be in essentially the same position at the Sad Page 221 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods Virgin. That is why the Valley of Decision has always been the place would-be conquerors have come, and why none have yet breached it..

Marge gazed out nervously at the assembling forces. "How good a chance does he have to win?.

"About even, with the Master here," Poquah told her. "But if he punches through here, there is nothing much to stop him..

The defenders had dug trenches and built effective-looking earthworks, and Joe didn't envy anybody having to come against them. There were also large catapults and other less familiar machinery of war, but no permanent fortifications in the area.

The sky was suddenly alight with hundreds of fireballs, rushing in toward them, landing, and bursting, spilling their fiery death in a random manner. Poquah watched them come in. "It has begun," he said softly.

The defenders took cover and generally weathered the storm of fireballs, the catapult equivalent of heavy artillery. It w: ; 253 JACK L. CHALKER merely a softening-up measure, for all its spectacle. While the fireballs did little damage, they made certain that the main field was clear for the attacker.

Now, across the field, perhaps ten miles from the command post, a huge thing like a black snake moved across the length of the battlefield. It took a little thinking to realize that what they were seeing was a line of men almost a mile long and perhaps ten or fifteen deep. It was not merely impressive—it was downright awesome.

From defensive earthworks, a similar line began to march out from the defenders' side. It was not quite so deep or so wide, but they didn't have to march over a mile or more of open ground. These were the elfin hacrist, master bowmen, and they took their positions and stood their ground, waiting for the approaching line to get within range. Behind them formed cavalry, so many horsemen it was impossible to count them from the command post. They formed into companysized detachments and waited, about a hundred yards behind the hacrist.

When the two forces were within range of each other, the bowmen let loose with a tremendous hail of arrows that nearly blackened the sky. They concentrated on the center of the attacking line, which suddenly seemed to turn into a solid wall as the soldiers held their shields horizontal, forming something of a roof. The closer they were and the better the discipline, the more absolute that roof would be.

Soon there were holes in that roof, as such a concentration of arrows and bolts as none there had ever seen struck with great force. Without exception, the men who fell were left, with those behind falling in and taking their place in the relentless advance.

Page 222 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods From behind the bowmen, the catapults of the defenders went off in perfect series. Some were firebombs, but most contained as much as a quarter of a ton of junk, rock, and scrap metal that would tear into or crush flesh.

The catapults took their toll on the advancing marchers, whose roof was certainly caving in at a number of key spots— spots on which the bowmen now concentrated.

Joe frowned. "They're not going to get here that way," he noted.

Poquah nodded. "Yes. They have something up their sleeves, THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS 254 In his great chair, Ruddygore, too, was thinking the same thing. A frontal attack was useless unless supported by a flank; if this kept up very long, the edges of the force would be the only attackers and could be disposed of long before they could close the vise. He rose up into the air, his astral shape taking in the entire battle scene, but he could see nothing—and he determined that the great mass of the Baron's troops was, in fact, committed. They looked to be about the numbers and types of beings he'd seen in his earlier reconnaissance. Something was definitely wrong here... But what.

On a hunch, he swung over his own forces, jubilant in their easy victory, and beyond, in back of them, to the ox bows near the River of Dancing Gods. He saw almost immediately that his hunch was correct. Four thousand infantry together with flying cosirs—perhaps several hundred, in nine flying companies, all wearing the colors of Marquewood—approached.

They were row less than two miles from the rear camp of the defenders. They flew traditional Marquewood colors, but the cosirs gave them away.

Abruptly, Ruddygore's physical body stood up from his chair and he screamed, "We are attacked from the rear by men in our colors!.

Two of the generals turned and frowned. "How?" one asked.

"They must have been carried in small groups up the river and stayed dispersed until last night," the sorcerer told them.

"They wear the colors of Marquewood, but who of Marquewood would be supported by nine companies of cosirsT' As suddenly as that, the Baron's true strategy was revealed, along with the fact that there were far more of the enemy than believed. The fight was no longer one-sided, but at least even.

Even if the new enemy were exposed, a large percentage of the defenders would have to shift to open field fighting in their rear, weakening the frontal assault. Now, instead of the defenders having the Baron with his back to Sorrows Gorge, they were caught in a vise themselves with no place to run to.

Either the Baron or some other sorcerer with the rear force must have sensed Ruddy gore's astral presence; from behind, even as orders were being issued for a defense of the rear Page 223 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods positions, committing the reserves to that fight, the cosirs came silently out of the sky directly at the command post and reserves.

255 JACK L. CHALKER The creatures were as large as men, with folds of skin between arms and legs, yet they were also feathered and taloned and had tails that were vertical, acting almost like aircraft rudders. Their orange and blue coloring made them things of lethal beauty, and their faces, a curious blend of bird and elf, were triumphant as they swooped down in well-disciplined columns. The early ones carried cauldrons of some thin, foulsmelling liquid which they poured on the ground, the tents, and whatever forces they could reach. The latter ones carried only torches, and it was clear why, without thinking much about it.

The reserve bowmen took a good toll of cosirs as they swooped in; perhaps one in three was struck, and more than half of the whose were knocked right out of the air, but that was not enough.

Joe drew his great sword and swung around, ready to help the reserves. Then, at that moment, he saw that Ruddygore had chosen to ignore all this and was sitting calmly back down in his chair, eyes closed once again.

The archers started aiming specifically at the cosirs with torches, preferring to smell like oil rather than boil in it, but many of the torchbearers made it through and dropped their loads. Suddenly the entire command post and reserve center were on fire, and men and fairy folk screamed and scattered, writhing in pain.

Joe ran past the flaming holocaust to the rear, where he could see that the approaching enemy force was moving with astonishing speed for infantry toward their positions. Officers tried to regroup their troops and set up some sort of defensive line in all the confusion.

Marge looked at Ruddygore, then at Poquah, with alarm.

"How can he just sit there like that? They'll get him for sure!.

"No, he is well protected," the Imir assured her, "although I can not for the life of me understand what he is doing right now..

At that moment Ruddygore came out of it once again, rose, and looked around in anger. "No!" he shouted to the generals.

"Continue concentrating on the frontal assault! Frontal attack! Forget the rear guard! Press them back against the river!.

One general, a very noble-looking man with experience in his eyes, frowned. "But we must defend the rear!.

256 JACK L. CHALKER THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS Page 224 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods 257 "No! / will defend the rear! Trust in me as you have trusted no one since weaned from your mother's milk, but do as I say, Prince! Do what I say or we are lost!.

With most of the fires out or burning tents beyond redemption, Joe saw officers rounding up men and pulling them back toward the original attack. He frowned, but followed, determined to see this out no matter what. Still, he spotted Marge and Poquah and ran to them, confused. "If they're all fighting forward, who's gonna take out the thousands that are about a quarter mile back?.

Marge looked at him, then past him, and broke into a big grin. "That's who!.

Joe turned and saw, coming in low over the flats, the dragon Vercertorix.

The dragon had practiced on smaller numbers back in High Pothique, but now it faced a formidable array and it did not seem too worried by the greater number, even announcing its presence with a monstrous roar. It was obvious from the start that Algongua or someone else was telling the dragon what to do—or, at least, making suggestions—because Vercertorix approached the columns with careful precision, carving zigzag paths of flaming breath through the ranks, forcing the breakup of the columns and general disorganization.

After doing as much initial damage as possible, the dragon then concentrated on keeping the main force back. The object wasn't so much to fry all four thousand—that would have been next to impossible—but to keep them scattered and falling back toward the relative protection of the silt mounds around the ox-bow lake. Heartened by the sight of the great dragon routing their enemies, what was left of the reserves and support troops on the command post hill began cheering, which let those below, who were fighting the main battle, know that something good was happening at their backs and taking the pressure off.