Part 13 (1/2)
Chapter 23.
Rehna tried to peer through the smoke from the burning forest on the north side of the valley. She wanted to see how the battle was going.
For the moment at least it hardly deserved the name of a battle. The only Kaldakans in sight were the handful of dead they'd left behind on the north slopes. Rehna didn't know if they'd been driven off completely or just driven back to another position. Certainly they were now out of range of either the Doimari infantry in the valley or the Fighting Machines on the hills to the south.
For the moment the Fighting Machines were staying where they were. Those were Nungor's orders, Rehna had pa.s.sed them back to the Seekers in the control chairs in Doimar, and so far they seemed to be obeying. Rehna did not like Nungor or trust many of his captains, but she knew that if each part of Doimar's army fought its own battle the Kaldakans might still win.
Some of the Doimari foot soldiers were going north and some south to get around the fire and renew the attack. Others were going nowhere, either too busy licking their wounds or because they hadn't received any orders. Rehna saw Nungor run past several times, more red-faced and sweating harder each time, shouting orders, trying to get the lazy ones moving. She wished him luck. For now her own part in the battle was so easy that she had time to realize she was hungry. That wasn't surprising, since she hadn't eaten all day.
She bent over and started to call down the hatch. Then she heard a sudden swelling uproar from the smoke to the west. Screams, the sound of lasers, and a metallic chorus which sounded like Fighting Machines on the move but couldn't possibly be that.
Then in a moment Rehna knew that the impossible was the truth. A line of Fighting Machines loomed out of the smoke, all marching the same way regardless of the ground underfoot, all swinging blood-stained metal bars in their hands, all with fire-beam tubes glowing like evil eyes in their chests. Behind the first line was a second, behind the second line a third- No! Logic, sanity, and common sense all shouted that in her mind. She ignored the shout, because her eyes told her differently. The Kaldakans had live Fighting Machines, and they were coming down the valley against the men of Doimar like Death itself.
Then the Fighting Machines stopped, and the first row shot their fire-beams. Hundreds of Doimari were already running or lying down, but that didn't save most of them. The fire-beams made a net like a fisherman's in the smoky air, and the Doimari foot soldiers were the fish. Some flew completely into the air, trailing smoke. Others fell, writhing and screaming, their clothes on fire. Still others became puffs of greasy smoke or were torn into b.l.o.o.d.y rags when the fire-beams set off their hand fire-bombs.
Some men lived a bit longer, because the beams didn't catch them or because the smoke and dirt thrown up weakened the beams. Many of these died in the next minute, when the Fighting Machines strode forward, swinging their clubs. Rehna was reminded of farmers beating their fields for blue rats. One blow of the steel clubs the Fighting Machines carried could turn a man into pulp from his head down to his chest.
The Fighting Machines swung clumsily and all together, whether they had a target or not. Rehna saw one smash the arm of the machine next to it with its club. It looked as if a few men or perhaps only one man was controlling all the Fighting Machines at once. That was something she knew was possible but which Doimar had never tried. If there was one man controlling all the Kaldakan machines, she though she knew his name.
Blade of England.
Suddenly she wasn't quite sure she wanted to bear the child of a man who'd slaughtered so many of her fellow Doimari. However, she was sure he wasn't going to win the battle, in spite of the b.l.o.o.d.y start he'd made. When the Fighting Machines of Doimar came down into the valley, each one would have a trained Seeker controlling it. Blade's crude tactics and skills could never meet such an attack.
While she'd been thinking this, the Kaldakans moved a hundred paces forward and used their fire-beams again. This time she felt the heat on her face and clods of earth rattled off the armor of the Carrying Machines. She looked anxiously at the Voice equipment, but it seemed unhurt. They'd still better move back to a safer position.
A breeze seemed to be carrying the smoke away now. To the north Rehna saw Kaldakan foot soldiers appearing on the ridge again. To the south she could now make out eight or ten of Doimar's Fighting Machines. Any moment now they should start down the hill, to pa.s.s through the retreating Doimari foot soldiers and engage the Kaldakans. The battle would be hard and would destroy much Oltec, but it would also prove, even to Nungor, that the Seekers- ”No!” This time Rehna said the word out loud. Then she screamed it at the top of her lungs, as if screaming loud enough could change what she saw. The Fighting Machines weren't coming down the hill. They were turning away into the smoke and walking off the battlefield. No, not walking-they were starting to run. Rehna's fellow Seekers were more concerned with saving their Fighting Machines than saving their fellow Doimari, or even winning the battle.
”No,” Rehna said again, and burst into tears. ”No!” she shouted, pounding her fists on the armor of the Carrying Machine until she tore open skin and flesh. She went on pounding, as blood made the armor slick under her. ”Cowards! Cowards! Cow-”
Fire-bombs exploded all around her, and something like the metal fist of a Fighting Machine struck her. She flew through the air and landed hard enough to knock the breath out of herself. More explosions crashed out as the Carrying Machine started moving off. The Voice equipment was now leaning drunkenly to one side. She hoped it still lived.
Rehna knew what was happening. The fire-bomb throwers were shooting at the Kaldakan Fighting Machines, but they didn't know the exact range. They were landing their bombs short, right among the Doimari! ”No,” she whimpered.
Then more explosions, and a rain of metal pieces, human bodies, and broken weapons fell all around her. She tasted blood in her throat, gagged on it, and also felt a pain deep in her belly. Was she losing the child?
A single fire-beam stabbed through the smoke overhead, from a Kaldakan machine controlled by someone as good as any Seeker. With horrible precision it sought out the Carrying Machine with the Voice equipment. The Voice equipment sagged and started to melt, someone on fire from head to foot jumped out, then the fire-boxes inside gave up all their energy at once. The explosion roiled Rehna over on her side, so she didn't see the red-hot wreckage of the Seekers' proudest achievement. She did see a Kaldakan Machine bring down one foot within inches of her face, the other on top of a Doimari soldier who was mercifully already dead. She didn't see any more clearly, because the pain suddenly struck her all over so that she curled up into a little ball and started whimpering.
”Mother, mother,” she said, as the Kaldakan Fighting Machines marched past her.
By the time Kareena brought the Hovercraft and her father down into the valley, the slaughter was over. There were no living Doimari in the valley, or at least no living Doimari it wouldn't be a mercy to kill. The Kaldakan infantry spread out and began to finish the victory the waldoes began.
To Kareena, there was an even worse sight than the Doimari bodies. Over half the Kaldakan waldoes stood or sprawled useless, their power exhausted, joints frozen or broken, weapons burnt out, killed by lucky grenade or rifle shots from desperate Doimari at short range. Kareena felt sick at the sight of so much ruined Oltec, and even Peython was confused.
”Did Blade destroy the waldoes deliberately, I wonder?”
”He would not do that, Father.”
”I still wonder. Perhaps he wanted to destroy them, so we would not grow weak or evil from the strength of our Oltec as Doimar did.”
Kareena had no reply to that, and concentrated on steering the Hovercraft through the scattered Kaldakan soldiers. Then she saw something familiar about the body lying on its side fifty paces ahead. A moment later she recognized the b.l.o.o.d.y face. It was Rehna, the Seeker woman who'd shared Blade's bed the night of the escape from Kaldak.
Kareena stopped the Hovercraft and leaped out before her father could question her. She knelt by Rehna and looked down into the pain-glazed eyes.
”Mother...”
”The Lords of the Law be merciful, Rehna.” She drew her knife and thrust quickly, surely home between Rehna's ribs. When the woman slumped in peaceful death, Kareena pulled the hood of her robe over her face, then stood up and started cleaning the knife.
As she finished, a waldo loomed out of the smoke. She jumped and nearly screamed out loud. The waldo bent at the knees and started tracing a message in the dirt with the tip of a twisted, blood-spattered club.
KAREENA. GIVE NEW POWER CELLS TO THIS WALDO. I MUST GO AFTER DOIMARI WALDOES. TRUST SIDAS. THANKS FOR MERCY TO REHNA. BLADE.
Then the waldo sat down, and the hatch on its back which covered the power cells sprang open. Kareena stared for a moment, then turned and promptly collided with her father.
”Look where you're going, Kareena.”
”I'm sorry, Father. I-I'm not as calm as I ought to be.”
Peython looked around at the valley of death now appearing out of the thinning smoke. ”No. None of us can be.”
While the Kaldakans repaired his chosen waldo, Blade climbed out of the control chair and relaxed as much as he could. The last stage of the battle would be as demanding as running a marathon, and it would be almost entirely his job.
The Seekers' panicking and withdrawing the waldoes had cost Doimar the battle and probably opened an irreparable breach between the infantry and the Seekers. It would also save the waldoes to fight another day if no one chased and destroyed as many of them as possible. That was a job for a single waldo with plenty of power, controlled by the best waldo operator in Kaldak, which meant Blade. He'd smashed the Doimari infantry by using the ma.s.sed waldoes like a battering ram. Now he was going to finish the day by using a single waldo like a rapier.
Blade drank some water and listened to the conversation among the technicians. He heard someone mutter, ”Why did Kareena give that Seeker b.i.t.c.h a good death?” He was about to turn on the man himself when he heard Bairam's reply.
”Because she deserved one,” he said coldly. ”She fought and died as a brave warrior, though she fought with Oltec as her weapons. Do not say anything against her in my hearing, or Kareena's.”
”Yes, Bairam.”