Shardik (33 page)

‘Wedge it then!’ answered Kelderek over his shoulder. ‘Ta-Kominion’s here -‘

‘Too steep, I tell you, lad! It’s too steep!’

Running down the hill,
Kelderek
glimpsed beyond the trees
a
rising slope of open, stony ground, over which Ortelgans were streaming back towards him. From further away, steady as
a
drumbeat, came the concerted shouts of the enemy. He had not gone half a bow-shot before he saw his man. Ta-Kominion was lying on his back in the road. The downhill flow of rain, with its flotsam of twigs and leaves, was dammed against his body as though beneath
a
log. Beside him, chafing his hands, crouched a tall,
grey-haired man - Kavass the fle
tcher. Suddenly Ta-Kominion screamed some incoherent words and tore at his own arm.
Kelderek
ran up and knelt over him, his gorge rising at the smell of gangrene and putrefaction.

‘Zelda!
‘ cried Ta-Kominion. His white face was horribly convulsed, its shape that of the s
kull beneath and only more ghastl
y for the life that flickered in the eyes. He stared up at Kelderek, but said nothing more.

‘My lord,’ said Kelderek, ‘what you required has been done. Lord Shardik is here.’

Ta-Kominion uttered
a
sound like that of
a
mother beside
a
fretful child, like that of the rain in the trees. For an instant
Kelderek
thought
that
he was whispering him to silence.

‘Sh!Sh-sh-ardik!’

‘Shardik has come, my lord.’

Suddenly a snarling roar, louder even than the surrounding din of
battle
, filled the tunnel-like roadway under the trees. There followed a clanging and clattering of iron, sharp cracks of snapped wood, panic cries and a noise of dragging and scraping.
Baltis
‘ voice shouted, ‘Let go, you fools!’ Then again broke out
the
snarling, full of savagery and ferocious rage.
Kelderek
leapt to his feet. The cage had broken loose and was rushing down the hill, swaying and jumping as the crude wheels ploughed ruts in the mud and struck against protruding stones. The roof had split apart and the bars were hanging outwards, some trailing along the ground, others lashing sideways like a giant’s flails. Shardik was standing upright, surrounded by long, white splinters of wood. Blood was running down one shoulder and he foamed at the mouth, beating the iron bars around him as
Baltis
‘ hammers had never beaten them. The point of a sharp, splintered stake had pierced his neck and as it swayed up and down, levering itself in the wound, he roared with pain and anger. Red-eyed, frothing and bloody, his head smashing through the flimsy lower branches of the trees overhanging
the
track, he rode down upon the battle like some beast-god of apocalypse. Just in time Kelderek threw himself against the bank. Spongy and sodden, it gave way beneath his weight and he sank backwards into
the
mud. The cage thundered past him, grinding over
the
very spot where he had been kneeling, and the three near-side wheels, each as thick as a man’s arm, passed across Ta-Kominion’s body, crushing a bloody channel
through
clothing, flesh and bone. Still further it went, driving
through
the Ortelgan fugitives like a demon’s chariot until, striking head-on against a tree-trunk, it tilted forward and smashed to pieces. For a few moments Shardik, thrown upon his back, thrashed and struggled for a footing. Then he stood up and, with the point of the stake still embedded in his neck, burst through th
e trees and on to the battle
field.

23
The Battle of the Foothills

Gel-Ethlin
looked right and left through the falling dusk and rain. His line remained unbroken. For well over an hour the Beklan troops had simply stood their ground, repulsing the fierce but piecemeal attacks of
the
Ortelgans. At the first onslaught, delivered unhesitatingly and with fanatical courage by no more than two or three hundred men, he had concluded with relief that he was not opposed by a large force. Then, as more and still more of the Ortelg
ans emerged from the woods, jostl
ing and pushing their way into a rough-and-ready battle-line that spread to right and left until it was as long as his own, he saw that the youth from Gelt had spoken no more than the truth. This was nothing less than an entire tribe in arms, and altogether too numerous for his liking. Soon one attack after another was breaking upon his line, until the slope was covered with dead and crawling, cursing wounded. After some anxious time, however, it became clear that the enemy, who had come upon him as unexpectedly as he had intended, possessed no effective central command and were merely attacking under individual leaders, group by group as each baron might decide. He realized that although he was probably outnumbered by something like three to two, this would not in itself bring about his defeat as long as the enemy lacked all real co-ordination and discipline. He need do no more than defend and wait. All things considered, these remained
the
best tactics. His army was at half strength and that the weaker half; the poor condition of the men, after several days’ marching in the heat, had been aggravated by their pummelling in the dust and wind that morning; and the slope below was becoming more muddy and slippery at every moment. As long as the Ortelgans continued to make sporadic attacks here and there along the line, it was an easy matter for the
Bekla
n companies not engaged on either side to turn inwards and help to break them up. By nightfall - soon, now - his troops might well have had enough, but what it would be best to do
then
would depend on the state each side was in. His most prudent course might be to return to th
e plain. It was unlikely that th
ese irregulars would be able to follow them or that they would even be able, now that the rains had broken, to keep the field. Their food supplies were probably sc
anty, whereas he had rations
- of a sort - for two days and, unlike the enemy, would have the opportunity to commandeer more if he retreated into friendly country.

Stand firm until darkness, thought Gel-Ethlin, that’s the style. Why risk breaking ranks to attack? And then come away, leaving the rain to finish the job. As he watched the enemy, among the trees below, re-forming for a fresh attack under the command of a dark, bearded baron with a gold torque on one arm, he thought the idea over and could see nothing wrong
with
it: a
nd if he could not, presumably h
is superiors in Bekla would not. He ought not to risk his half-army, cither by attacking unnecessarily or by keeping it out in these hills in the rains. His part should be that of a sound, steady commander; nothing flashy.

And yet - he paused. When they got back to Bekla, Santil-ke-
Erketlis
, that brilliant opportun
ist, would probably smile under
standingly, sympathize with him for having been obliged to come away without destroying the enemy, and then point out how that destruction could and should have been effected. ‘You a commander-in-chief, Gel-Ethlin?’ Santil-ke-
Erketlis
had once said, good-humouredly enough, while they were returning together from a drinking-party. ‘Man, you’re like an old woman with the housekeeping money. “Oh, I wonder whether I might have beaten him down another meld - or perhaps if I’d gone to that other man round the corner - ?” A fine army strikes Li
ke the great cats, my lad -swiftl
y and once. It’s like the wheelwright’s work - there comes a moment when you have to say, “Now, hit it.” A general who can’t see that moment and seize it doesn’t deserve victory.’ Santil-ke-
Erketlis
, victor of a score of engagements, who had virtually dictated his own terms at the conclusion of the Slave Wars, could afford to be generous and warm-hearted. ‘And how does one seize the moment?’ Gel-Ethlin had asked rather tipsily, as they each seized something else and stood against the wall. ‘By never stopping to think of all the things that can go wrong,’ Santil-kc-
Erketlis
had replied.

Another attack came up the slope, this time straight towards his centre. The Tonildan contingent, a second-rate lot if ever there was one, were breaking ranks with a kind of nervous anticipation and advancing uncertainly downhill to meet it. Gel-Ethlin ran
forward, shouting, ‘Stand fast! Stand fast, the Tonilda!
‘ At least no one could say that he had a thin word of command. His voice cut through the din like a hammer splitting a flint. The Tonilda fell back and re-formed line, the rain pouring off their shoulders. A few moments later the Ortelgan attack came rushing across the last few yards and struck like
a
ram against
a
wall. Weapons rang and men swayed back and forth, panting and gasping like swimmers struggling in rough water. There was a scream and a man stumbled out of the line clutching his stomach, pitched forward into the mud and lay jerking; resembling, in his unheeded plight, a broken fish cast up and dying on the
shore. ‘Stand fast, the Tonilda!
‘ shouted
Gel-Ethlin
again. A red-headed, raw-boned Ortelgan fellow burst through a gap in
the
line and ran a few steps uncertainly, looking about him and waving his sword. An officer thrust at him, missed his body as he moved unexpectedly and wounded him in the forearm. The man spun round, yelling, and ran back through the gap.

Behind
the
line Gel-Ethlin, followed by his pennant-bearer, trumpeter and servant, ran to his left until he was beyond the point of attack. Then, pushing through the front rank of the Deelguy mercenaries, he turned and looked back at the fighting on his right The din obliterated every noise else - the rain, his own movements, the voices of those about him and all sounds from the wood below. The Ortelgans, who had evid
ently
now learned - or found a leader with enough sense - to protect the flanks of their assault, had broken
through
the Tonildan line in a wedge about sixty yards broad. They were fighting, as they had all the evening, with a kind of besotted ferocity, prodigal of life. The trampled, muddy ground which they had won was littered with bodies. His own losses, too, were mounting fast -
that
was only too plain to be seen. He could recognize some of the men lying-on the ground, among them the son of one of Kapparah’s tenants, a decent lad who last winter had acted as his go-between to the girl in Ikat. The attack had become a dangerous one, which would have to be halted and thrown back quickly before
the
enemy could reinforce it. He turned and made towards
the
nearest commander in the line - Kreet-Liss, that cryptic and reticent soldier, captain
of the Deelguy mercenaries. Kre
et-Liss, though anything but a coward, was always liable to turn awkward, an ally suddenly afflicted with difficulty in understanding plain
Bekla
n whenever orders did not suit him. He listened as
Gel-Ethlin
, whom
the
noise obliged to shout almost into his ear, told him to withdraw his men, bring them across into the centre and counter-attack the
Ortelga
ns.

‘Yoss, yoss,’ he shouted back finally. ‘Bad owver ther, better trost oss, thot’s it, eh?’ The three or four black-ringleted young barons standing about him grinned at each other, slapped some of
the
rain out of their gaudy, bedraggled finery and went to ge
t their men together. As the Dee
lguy fell back Gel-Ethlin found himself unable, in the failing light, to attract the attention of Shaltnekan, the commander adjacent to their left, whom he wanted to close up and fill the gap. He sent his servant across with the order and as he did so thought suddenly, ‘Santil-k
e-
Erketlis
would have sent the De
elguy out in front of the line, to attack the Ortelgans’ rear and cut
them
off.’ Yes, but suppose they had proved not strong enough for the job and the Ortelgans had simply cut them to pieces and got out? No, it would have been too much of a risk.

Young Shaltnekan and his men were approaching now, their heads bent against the rain driving into
their
faces. Gel-Ethlin went to meet
them
, flailing his arms across his chest, for he was wet through to the skin.

‘Can’t we break ranks and attack them, sir?’ asked Shaltnekan, before his commander could speak. ‘My lads
are
sick of standing on
the
defensive against that bunch of flea-bitten savages. One good push and they’ll break up.’

‘Certainly not,’ answered Gel-Ethlin. ‘How do you know what reserves they may have down in those woods? Our men were tired when
they
got here and once we break ranks they could be fan-game for anything. We’ve
nothing
to do but stand fast. We’re blocking the only way down to
the
plain and once
they
realize they can’t shift us they’ll go to pieces.’

‘Just as you say, sir,’ answered Shaltnekan, ‘but it goes against the grain to stand still, when we might be driving
the
bastards over the hills like goats.’

‘Where’s the bear?’ shouted one of the men. It was evid
ently
a newly-invented catch-phrase, for fifty voices took it up. “E isn’t here!’