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skill that impressed everyone who watched him and impressed even more those
who fought against him.
"I hope your land is so far away that its warriors will never march against
us," Degar said one day, after watching Blade in action. "If they ever did,
they would be an enemy far harder to beat than even the
Riders of Death of Karan. Or are most of your people's warriors less skilled
than you?"
Blade shook his head. "Some are less skilled, that is true. But there are just
as many still stronger and faster and more skilled than I am. Not bigger,
though-I do not come from a race of giants." That last admission seemed to
make Degar feel a little better.
So the days passed, as Blade practiced and trained from dawn to dark,
gradually gathering followers.
As darkness crept over the plateau and the western sky turned red, he would
make his way to his house and the hot meal and warm welcome Tera would always
have waiting for him. Before long, he was envied not only for his skill with
weapons, but for his skill in properly taming the proud and strong-spirited
Tera. Both of them found the praise heaped on Blade for this amusing, but they
carefully kept it a private joke.
As the days passed, night was slower in coming, the wind lost some of its
chill, and the fields and plains beyond began to show spots of color. By now
Blade could be sure that he would have command of more than fifty warriors of
Scador when the time came to march against the Karani. He would have no
trouble taking Tera with him, although he was still far from certain what he
should do with her. He knew that he did not want to leave her, but he was
still not sure if it would be the right thing to take her with him among the
Karani.
Nearly the six weeks Degar had predicted passed before the word to march came
down from the High
Chiefs. All normal life in Ukush came to a stop, as everyone turned to getting
the warriors of the town ready to depart. Dried meat and bread and beer,
weapons and newly polished and greased armor, spare boots, stirrups and
harnesses and bags of fodder for the leaders' horses-they piled up hour by
hour. Two out of every three warriors were chosen by lot to march out. Those
who stayed behind were to guard
Ukush, and if necessary train the young boys whose fathers did not return.
The two hundred warriors of Ukush gathered just outside the wall one morning,
with the eastern sky just turning pink and the night's chill still in the air.
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Degar led one-third of the two hundred, Blade another third, a man Blade knew
only as Jarud led the remaining third. Degar and Jarud each brought a woman of
their own, making things simpler for Blade. It might have looked odd for him
to be the only leader to take his "home comforts" with him.
Besides the leaders' women, there were a score more for the service of the
warriors. Most of these were Karani or Nessiri prisoners or women of Scador
enslaved for one or another sort of misbehavior.
There were also a score of older men and younger boys to feed the horses,
build the fires, clean armor and weapons, and do the rest of the dirty work.
Altogether, nearly two hundred and fifty of Ukush's people marched out across
the plateau when Degar's trumpeter blew the signal.
Looking back over his shoulder, Blade could see Tera tramping along with a
long, free stride in her proper place behind his horse. Behind her the column
of the men he led trailed away across the hard bare earth and short grass
toward Ukush. The walls of the town were lined with those left behind,
cheering, shouting, beating on drums, and waving everything they could wave.
Blade found that he was not quite as happy about leaving Ukush behind as he
had expected to be. The way of life and customs there were not his. But the
Scadori had welcomed him, a stranger, and given him as much of a home as they
could.
Gradually Ukush on its hill sank into the plateau, and within an hour it was
gone, vanished below the horizon. The warriors marched steadily forward behind
their leaders, the women and servants following them. Occasionally someone
would sing one of Scador's harsh, bellowing war songs. Otherwise there was no
sound but the hooves of the horses and the feet of the marchers on the hard
ground, and above them all the endless whisper and moan of the wind.
Chapter 6
The march across the plateau went on for several days. One by one, other
columns of the warriors of
Scador marched up over the horizon and joined the men of Ukush. By the tenth
day, over three thousand warriors and five hundred camp followers were
marching steadily on in a single great column.
By now Blade knew they were marching north. The nights were almost as chilly
as they had been in
Ukush before spring came. Blade found Tera snuggling closer to him at night,
and seldom took off his clothes even to air them out. Washing was out of the
question. The occasional pond or spring provided just enough water to fill the
water bags and drinking bottles.
On the thirteenth day Blade saw snow-covered summits lifting over the horizon
to the north and northwest. About noon on that day the whole column swung off
toward the northwest. A dozen of the more experienced warriors mounted up on
leaders' horses and rode off ahead of the column as scouts.
They were approaching the northern end of the plateau, and the pass that led
the Scadori through the mountains and down into the lowlands. The Karani had
never fortified or garrisoned that pass in all the centuries the Scadori had
been fighting them. But none of the leaders wanted to take any chances. The
Scadori had learned much from the wars. It was possible that the Karani had
done the same. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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