Domes of Fire Part 24

'I was sort of looking for an exact answer, Danae.'

'I'm not very good with numbers, father. I know the difference between a few and a lot, and that's all that's really important, isn't it?'

'It's a bit imprecise, wouldn't you say?'

'Is precision all that important to you, Sparhawk?'

'You can't begin to think logically without precision, Danae.'

'Don't think logically then. Try being intuitive for a change. You might even find that you like it.'

'How long, Danae?' he insisted.

'Three weeks,' she shrugged.

'That's a little better.'

'Well-more or less.'

The edge of the steppes was marked by a dense forest of pale-trunked birches, and Tik.u.me and his tribesmen turned back there. Since it was late in the day, the royal escort made camp on the edge of the forest so that they might follow the shaded road leading off through the trees in the full light of day. After they had settled down and the cooking fires were going, Sparhawk took Kring and they went looking for Engessa.

'We have a peculiar situation here, gentlemen,' he told them as they walked together near the edge of the forest.

'How so, Sparhawk-Knight?' Engessa asked.

'We've got three different kinds of warrior in this group, and I'd imagine there are three different approaches to engagement. We should probably discuss the differences so that we won't be working at cross-purposes if trouble arises. The standard approach of the Church Knights is based on our equipment. We wear armour, and we ride large horses. Whenever there's trouble, we usually just smash the centre of an opposing army.'

'We prefer to peel an enemy like an apple,' Kring said. 'We ride around his force very fast and slice off bits and pieces as we go.'

'We fight on foot,' Engessa supplied. 'We're trained to be self-sufficient, so we just rush the enemy and engage him hand-to-hand.'

'Does that work very well?' Kring asked him.

'It always has,' Engessa shrugged.

'If we happen to run into any kind of trouble, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for us all to dash right in,' Sparhawk mused. 'We'd be stumbling all over each other. See what you think of this. If a force of any significant size tries to attack us, Kring and his men circle around behind them, I form up the knights and charge the centre and Atan Engessa spreads his force out along a broad front. The enemy will sort of fold in behind the knights after we bash a hole in their centre. They always do for some reason. Kring's attacks along the rear and the flanks will add to their confusion. They'll be disorganised and most of them will be cut off from their leaders in one way or another. That would be a good time for Engessa to attack. The best soldiers in the world don't function too well when n.o.body's close enough to give orders.'

'It's a workable tactic,' Engessa conceded. 'It's a bit surprising to find that other people in the world know how to plan battles too.'

'The story of man has been pretty much the story of one long battle, Atan Engessa,' Sparhawk told him. 'We're all experienced at it, so we devise tactics that take advantage of our strengths. Do we want to do it the way I suggested?'

Kring and Engessa looked at each other. 'Almost any plan will work,' Kring shrugged, 'as long as we all know what we're doing.'

'How will we know when you're ready for us to attack?' Engessa asked Sparhawk.

'My friend Ulath has a horn,' Sparhawk replied. 'When he blows it once, my knights will charge. When he blows it twice, Kring's men will start peeling off the rear elements. When we've got the enemy's full attention, I'll have Ulath blow three times. That's when you'll want to charge.'

Engessa's eyes were alight. 'It's the sort of strategy that doesn't leave very many survivors among the enemy, Sparhawk-Knight,' he said.

'That was sort of the idea, Engessa-Atan.'

The birch forest lay on a long, gradual slope rising from the steppes of central Astel to the rugged foothills on the Atan border. The road was broad and well-maintained, though it tended to wander a great deal. Engessa's unmounted Atans ranged out about a mile on each side of the road, and for the first three days they reported no sightings of men, although they did encounter large herds of deer. Summer had not yet dried the lingering dampness from the forest floor, and the air in the sun-dappled shade was cool and moist, still smelling of new growth and renewal. Since the trees obstructed their vision, they rode cautiously. They set up their nighttime encampments while the sun was still above the horizon, and erected certain rudimentary fortifications to prevent surprises after dark.

On the morning of their fourth day in the forest, Sparhawk rose early and walked through the first steel-grey light of dawn to the line where the horses were picketed. He found Khalad there. Kurik's eldest son had snubbed Faran's head up close to a birch tree and was carefully inspecting the big roan's hooves.

'I was just going to do that,' Sparhawk said quietly. 'He seemed to be favouring his left forehoof yesterday.'

'Stone bruise,' Khalad said shortly. 'You know, Sparhawk, you might want to give some thought to putting him out to pasture when we get back home. He's not a colt any more, you know.'

'Neither am I, when you get right down to it. Sleeping on the ground's not nearly as much fun as it used to be.'

'You're just getting soft.'

'Thanks. Is this weather going to hold?'

'As nearly as I can tell, yes.' Khalad lowered Faran's hoof to the ground and took hold of the snubbing rope. 'No biting,' he cautioned the horse. 'If you bite me, I'll kick you in the ribs.' Faran's long face took on an injured expression. 'He's an evil-tempered brute,' Khalad noted, 'but he's far and away the smartest horse I've ever come across. You should put him to stud. It might be interesting to train intelligent colts for a change. Most horses aren't really very bright.'

'I thought horses were among the cleverest of animals.'

'That's a myth, Sparhawk. If you want a smart animal, get yourself a pig. I've never yet been able to build a pen that a pig couldn't think his way out of.'

'They're built a little close to the ground for riding. Let's go see how breakfast's coming.'

'Who's cooking this morning?'

'Kalten, I think. Ulath would know.'

'Kalten? Maybe I'll stay here and eat with the horses.'

'I'm not sure that a bucketful of raw oats would taste all that good.'

'I'd put it up against Kalten's cooking any day, my Lord.'

They rode out shortly after the sun rose, and proceeded through the cool, sun-speckled forest. The birds seemed to be everywhere, and they sang enthusiastically. Sparhawk smiled as he remembered how Sephrenia had once punctured his illusion that birdsong was an expression of a love for music. 'Actually they're warning other birds to stay away, dear one,' she had said. 'They're claiming possession of nesting-sites. It sounds very pretty, but all they're really saying is, 'My tree. My tree. My tree.'

Mirtai came back along the road late that morning running with an effortless stride. 'Sparhawk,' she said quietly when she reached the carriage, 'Atan Engessa's scouts report that there are people up ahead.'

'How many?' he asked, his tone suddenly all business.

'We can't be certain. The scouts didn't want to be seen. There are soldiers of some kind out there, and they seem to be waiting for us.'

'Berit,' Sparhawk said to the young knight, 'why don't you ride on ahead and ask Kalten and the others to join us? Don't run. Try to make it look casual.'

'Right.' Berit rode forward at a trot.

'Mirtai,' the big knight said, trying to keep his voice calm, 'is there any kind of defensible position nearby?'

'I was just coming to that,' she replied. 'There's a kind of hill about a quarter of a mile ahead. It sort of juts up from the floor of the forest boulders mostly. They're covered over with moss.'

'Could we get the carriage up there?' She shook her head. 'You get to walk then, my Queen,' he said to his wife.

'We don't know that they're hostile, Sparhawk,' Ehlana objected.

'That's true,' he conceded, 'but we don't know that they aren't either, and that's far more important.' Kalten and the others came back along the column with Kring and Engessa. 'Are they doing anything at all, Atan Engessa?' Sparhawk asked.

'Just watching, Sparhawk-Knight. There are more of them than we thought at first-a thousand at least probably a lot more.'

'It's going to be tricky with all these trees,' Kalten pointed out.

'I know,' Sparhawk grunted. 'Khalad, how close is it to noon?'

'About another hour, my Lord,' Khalad replied from the carriage driver's seat.

'Close enough then. There's a hill just up ahead. We'll ride on to it and make some show of stopping for our midday meal. Our friends here in the carriage will sort of stroll up to the top. The rest of us will spread out around the base of the hill. We'll build fires and rattle pots and pans together. Ehlana, be silly. I want you and the Baroness to do a lot of laughing up there on that hilltop. Stragen, take some men and erect a pavilion of some kind up there. Try to make it look festive. Move some rocks out of your way and sort of pile them up around the hilltop.

'A siege again, Sparhawk?' Ulath said disapprovingly.

'Have you got a better idea?'

'Not really, but you know how I feel about sieges.'

'n.o.body said you had to like it, Ulath,' Tynian told him.

'Spread the word,' Sparhawk told them, 'and let's try to make it all look very casual.'

They were tense as they proceeded along the road at a leisurely-appearing pace. When they rounded a bend and Sparhawk saw the hill, he immediately approved of its strategic potential. It was one of those rock-piles that inexplicably rear up out of forests the world over. It was a conical heap of rounded boulders perhaps forty feet high, green with moss and totally devoid of trees or brush. It stood about two hundred yards to the left of the road.

Talen rode to its base, dismounted, scampered up to the top and looked around. 'It's perfect, my Queen,' he shouted back down. 'You can see for miles up here. It's just what you were looking for.'

'That's a nice touch,' Bevier noted, 'a.s.suming that our friends out there speak Elenic, of course.'

Stragen came forward from the line of pack-horses carrying a lute. 'A little finishing touch, my Queen,' he smiled to Ehlana.

'Do you play, Milord?' she asked him.

'Any gentleman plays, your Majesty.'

'Sparhawk doesn't.'

'We're still working on a definition of Sparhawk, Queen Ehlana,' Stragen replied lightly. 'We're not altogether certain that 'gentleman' really fits him-no offence intended of course, old boy,' he hastily a.s.sured the black-armoured Pandion.

'A suggestion, Sparhawk?' Tynian said.

'Go ahead.'

'We don't know anything about those people out there, but they don't know anything about us either or at the most, very, very little.'

'That's probably true.'

'Just because they're watching doesn't mean they're planning an immediate attack-if they're even planning to attack at all. If they are, they could just sit and wait until we're back on the road again.'

'All right.'

'But we're travelling with some giddy n.o.blewomen-begging your Majesty's pardon-and n.o.blewomen don't really need reasons for the things they do.'

Your popularity isn't growing in certain quarters, Sir Tynian,' Ehlana said ominously.

'I'm crushed, but couldn't your Majesty decide-on a whim that you absolutely adore this place and that you're bored with riding in a cariage? Under those circ.u.mstances, wouldn't it be natural for you to order a halt for the day?'

'It's not bad, Sparhawk,' Kalten said. 'While we're all lunching, we can sort of un.o.btrusively fortify that hill a little better. Then, after a few hours, when it's obvious that we aren't going any further today, we can set up the usual evening camp-field fortifications and the like. We're not on any specific timetable, so a half a day lost isn't going to put us behind any sort of schedule. The queen's safety's a lot more important than speed right now, wouldn't you say?'

'You know how I'm going to answer that, Kalten.'

'I was sure I could count on you.'

'It's good, Sparhawk-Knight,' Engessa approved. 'Give my scouts one whole night to work with, and we'll not only know how many are out there, but their names as well.'

'Break a wheel,' Ulath added.

'What was that, Sir Knight?' Amba.s.sador Oscagne asked, looking perplexed.

'That would give us another excuse for stopping,' the Thalesian replied. 'If the carriage broke down, we'd have to stop.'

'Can you fix a wheel, Sir Ulath?'

'No, but we can rig some kind of a skid to get us by until we can find a blacksmith.'

'Wouldn't a skid make the cariage jolt and b.u.mp around a great deal?' Patriarch Emban asked with a pained look.

'Probably,' Ulath shrugged.

'I'm almost certain we can find some other reason to stop, Sir Knight. Have you any idea of how uncomfortable that would be?'

'I didn't really give it much thought, your Grace,' Ulath replied blandly. 'But then, I won't be riding in the carriage, so it wouldn't bother me in the slightest.'

Chapter 15.

The addition of a dozen female Atans added to the subterfuge of a courtly gathering on the hilltop, although it was difficult to persuade the Atan girls that their faces would not break if they smiled or that the G.o.ds had issued no commandment against laughing. Berit and a number of other youthful knights entertained the ladies, while casually clearing inconvenient-and not a few convenient-bushel-basket sized rocks from the kind of natural amphitheatre at the top of the hill. The back-side of the pile of boulders was more precipitous than the front, and the rim of the hilltop on that side formed a very defensible wall.

The young knights piled up the rock to form a crude kind of breastwork around the other three sides. It was all very casual, but within an hour some fairly substantial fortifications had been erected. There were many cooking-fires around the base of the hill, and their smoke laid a kind of blue haze out among the white tree trunks. There was a great deal of clankingand rattling and shouting back and forth as the oddly a.s.sorted force made some show of preparing a meal.

The Atans gathered up large piles of firewood chopped in ten-foot lengths, and all of the cooks stated a preference for wood chips for their fires rather than trunks. It was therefore necessary to chop at the ends of the birch logs, and there were soon neat piles of ten-foot stakes surrounding the hill, ready for use either as firewood or as poles s.p.a.ced out at regular intervals that could be erected in a few minutes. The knights and the Peloi tethered their horses nearby and lounged around the foot of the hill while the Atans were evenly dispersed a bit further out under the trees.