Champion of the Last Battle Read online

  Now, lying in the darkness of the tent, with the warmth of her man’s body beside her and the dear, familiar smell of him all about her, she fleetingly wondered if ever another brahbehrnuh or any other Moon Maiden had ever cherished so strong and valiant, daring and loving a man.

  “Probably not,” she thought. For in the Hold there had been no equality of the two sexes since . . . since the time of the Brahbehrnuh Nohdeva, anyway. Her it had been who had firmly established the new order of things in the Hold by killing or blinding the stronger, more stubborn men and first intimidating, then subjugating the weaker, so that the males of the race became little more than domestic beasts of burden, used periodically to propagate new generations of the Sacred Race.

  “But now the Hold is gone, destroyed utterly, and all who dwelt therein — female and male alike — are dead, snuffed out like so many drowned torches. Only we few Moon Maidens are left of all our race, we and the children so recently sired of these Lowlander men. The Goddess, our Silver Lady, knew what was best for us when She bade us give over our lovers from the days of the Hold and choose as our new lovers and battle companions these fine, strong, brave men of an alien race. it has worked out well for us, as She surely knew it would, and precious few of my sisters would willingly return now to the ways and usages of the Hold.

  “Only poor, crippled Meeree, once my own lover, and the bare handful of women she has gathered about her would try to go back to the old ways. But they are self-deluded; there will now never be another Hold of the Moon Maidens in these mountains or anywhere else. We few remaining can but mourn our dead mothers . . . and our fathers, too. But She has seen to it that our own lives will be cast from a far different mold.”

  Once again, she felt the new life inside her. Fiercely grasping the silver pendant that hung from the worn silver chain about her neck, she silently, fervently prayed.

  “Oh my dear Lady, I have done all that You instructed me to do. I have seen to it that the most of Your Maidens obeyed Your Holy dictates, as well. The new ways were strange, exceeding strange, and for some of my poor sisters they brought pain and misery for a while, but now almost all are living new lives according to the new pattern.

  “As for me, I have come to love this man, Bili, more than ever I have loved any living creature, I have borne him one child and now my body is filling with the growth of two more. I should be more than happy, Lady, save that I cannot escape the dire presentiment that my days of life and Bili are numbered and decreasing in quantity with the passing of each and every Moonrise.

  “Pah-Elmuh was right, I should not risk these precious lives within me by riding out to war and close combat, but I feel that I must be by my Bili every possible moment that I can for as long as still I live. Oh, if only I knew the real truth of what is to be for me . . . ?”

  “My child, My lover, My dear, devoted Rahksahnah.” The never to be forgotten voice seemed to come from everywhere, from all about her and within her at the same time.

  Rahksahnah opened her eyes to find the darkness gone, and gone as well were the tent and the blankets. She now lay nude upon the soft, silver-hued sward which surrounded Her Abode. Where Bili had lain in slumber, the Lady now lay upon one hip and elbow, facing her, sympathy and concern in Her silver-gray eyes. Extending one hand, the Goddess laid a cool palm upon Rahksahnah’s fevered forehead.

  “My own, not even I know all that is to be. The pattern is never so tightly woven that it cannot be slightly, infinitesimally altered. Yes, death hovers close to you, my dear, your presentiment is accurate. But I can discern no immediacy, nor is it a certainty that you will be the one taken when the time is fully ripe. The two children you now carry will be safely delivered of you and will lead long, full lives.”

  “And . . . and my Bili, Lady? He will live to rear our little ones, even though I do not?” queried Rahksahnah hesitantly.

  “Oh, my dear Rahksahnah. I am not omniscient. You ask more than even such as I know . . . for a certainty. The pattern of what is to be, what might be, what must be is fluid. Slight alterations can appear in bare moments, dependent upon so many variables — actions of humans, of other creatures, of the very fabric of your world itself, though most often of the actions and reactions of humans.”

  Rahksahnah sighed deeply. “My . . . my Lady can tell me nothing, then? Nothing of the fate of my dear Bili?”

  The silvery being before her also sighed. “So far as I can discern, love. Bili of Morguhn will come unharmed from this impending battle, as too will you, though many and many another now living will leave its husk upon that bloody field of battle. There will swiftly follow other dangers and another great, crashing battle which it appears that you both are destined to weather safely. Then, however, when it would seem that all danger he past and gone, will come suddenly and from an unexpected quarter the most deadly danger. It is possible that Bili of Morguhn will be there and then torn from his husk.”

  Rahksahnah’s hard, callused hand grasped tightly at the cool, soft hand of the Lady, her hilt-toughened fingers sinking into that silvery flesh, heedlessly. “No, dear my Lady, no! It must not be! Far better me than him. Take me, if such must be, but . . . but, please, I implore you, let my Bili live on . . . with our children, Without him, Lady, I know that I would be of no use to them or to anyone else, anyway.”

  The Silver Lady sighed once more, sadly. “That which I can do, I will do, my child, But think you well upon the matter; when that time comes, you will still have a choice, although there exists always the possibility that both will leave the fleshly husk or neither. As I have told you, nothing so far in advance is ever Certain.

  “But now, my love, I must leave you. For it is almost moonset, for you, and almost moonrise for others, of whom you know not in far-distant places. But we two shall meet like this once more. Possibly.”

  Gathering Rahksahnah’s lean, hard young body in Her embrace, the Lady’s silvery lips pressed upon the girl’s dark-red ones and, when she again became aware of the scratchy blankets against her bare flesh, that lingering tingling, kiss of the Moon Goddess, the Silver Lady of the Maidens, was still a palpable sensation there in the darkness of the tent she shared with her man, Bili of Morguhn.

  * * *

  It was almost the third hour after dawn, with the sun well up in the azure sky and beginning to radiate meaningful amounts of heat in promise of a hot, dry day. Only then did King Mahrtuhn of New Kuhmbuhluhn feel himself sufficiently arrayed and prepared and fortified to pace out of his pavilion and put foot to stirrup to swing astride his light-bay stallion. But his fighters had been ready for long hours, and within a few minutes after he had settled in his ornate saddle, he was leading his battle out of the camp and toward the ford at a fast walk.

  Prince Mahrtuhn, the monarch’s grandson and chosen heir, followed close upon the track of the first battle with his own, second battle. And his was followed by that of his hulking uncle, Prince Byruhn, of whose third battle Bili of Morguhn’s condotta was a part.

  Trailing a distance behind this third battle marched a few hundred infantrymen, their column led by the beplumed and partially armored royal footguards, armed with poleaxes and partizans. The marchers were only about half of the foot, the rest remaining as camp guards.

  They would all have remained in camp had not Byruhn set his foot firmly down on the matter, “Father, you have had your way in every facet of this ill-starred enterprise, ere this; the only certain and painless way to break up that pike hedge enough for heavy horse to assault it successfully is to use archers and dartmen and slingers from a distance beyond the reach of those overlong pikes, yet you have left every missileman in the kingdom squatting useless behind the walls of New Kuhmbuhluhnburk.

  “Win or lose, live or die,” growled the king, “we mean to do so in honor, and there is no honor in allowing valiant foemen to be slain by peasants at such distance as they have no slightest chance to defend themselves, The Skohshuns’ herald attests that they fight honorably, without missiles or s
uch lowborn louts as use them, and the King of New Kuhmbuhluhn cannot do less.”

  The tightness of the prince’s voice, then, had told the tale of a temper rising fast but under tight rein. “It is too bad that I did not get the chance to beard that herald, Father, for I am of the opinion that a fine point could be raised in regard to the actual honor of using pikeshafts of such a length that men of normal armament cannot possibly get within a range to use their weapons. But that is neither the one nor the other, just now.

  “What is pertinent here and now is that unsupported cavalry is at peril in this sort of undertaking — I know that all too well. If my royal sire will recall, I was so rash as to attack these same Skohshuns last autumn with only my van and my heavy horse, not waiting for the arrival of the rest of my army . . . and we all know the calamitous result of that, my folly.

  “Even if our three battles are successful in hacking into and dispersing those pikes, we cannot consolidate a victory without infantry of our own. And should we suffer such a defeat as last year, then that same infantry will be needed to give us some cover during our withdrawal.

  “The king had gnawed for a few moments on his lower lip, his blue-green eyes locked unwaveringly with the identical blue-green eyes of his huge, burly son. At last, however, he had shrugged and said, “Oh, all right, Byruhn, take the damned foot if you feel you must. Take my footguards and up to half of the levy. But, mind you, you are directly responsible for them, in march or battle, And see that they stay well behind — scant good it would do us to ride down a passel of our own foot and so lose impetus in a charge.

  “I am certain that our infantry would be equally regretful of any such happenstance, royal Father,” Byruhn replied dryly. “I shall certainly see to it that the foot in no way hinder maneuverings of the mounted battles.”

  “And see to it that your southron horsemen carry only one axe apiece into the fray,” the king went on peevishly. “if a warrior chooses to throw his axe or his lance at a foeman, we see no harm to the practice — we’ve even done the like ourselves from time to time over the years. But when said warriors customarily bear a whole assortment of spare axes for the sole purpose of throwing them, then they become no better than a pack of honorless, peasant missilemen. We’ll have no such low-bred louts forking horse behind our banners!”

  * * *

  As soon as the column was moving and in proper order, Prince Byruhn had summoned Bili up to ride with him. Have you an experienced officer of foot, or two, in your condotta, Cousin Bili?”

  Bili nodded. “Lieutenant of Freefighters Frehd Brakit, your grace. He was an infantry officer for some years. Then there’s a Freefighter sergeant, one Ahskuh Behrdyn, who also soldiered with a light infantry condotta in the Middle Kingdoms, as I recall.”

  The prince nodded his big head. “Good. When we all halt while the first battle negotiates the ford, they are to take over command of the royal footguards and the rest, back there. I’ll personally give them special orders at that time.

  “I like none of this affair, young cousin, as well you know. I’m an old wolf and I can smell death and defeat in the very air. Do your own . . . ahhh . . . special senses tell you aught of what lies ahead?”

  Bili knew that Byruhn referred to the prairiecat, Whitetip, for of all the royal host, only the prince and Bili’s own folk were cognizant that the king’s order that no scouts be placed ahead of the advance had been flouted in this regard.

  Kneeing his stallion closer and lowering his voice, the young thoheeks replied, “There are a scattering of Skohshuns along the crest of that ridge yonder, your grace, but not enough to be dangerous to us; they keep sending back runners to the Skohshun camp, so apparently they are just what they seem to be — a screen to observe our advance, then fall back before us.

  “They are the closest Skohshuns to us; there are none anywhere between the near side of yon ridge and this river. The main force of the Skohshuns is even now drawing up its formation across the vale through which runs the continuation of this road we now ride. Although they seem to have precious few horsemen, I doubt they could be easily flanked, not with their wings running up steep, brush-grown hills on either side. A feeder stream to this river bisects their line, with about two thirds of them to the west of it and the remaining third or so to the east of it.”

  “Ah, so?” remarked Prince Byruhn, one side of his single reddish eyebrow rising sharply. “How deep is this stream, and what is the bottom like downstream of the pike line?”

  “I’d advise that your grace forget that line of attack,” answered Bili. “These Skohshuns seem to be most astute at warfare. They’ve felled trees and constructed an abattis to block any approach up the streambed. Moreover, their lines of formation seem to run directly through the stream in as deep ranks as those on dry land.”

  “Well, at least that much is a point to remember,” the prince remarked a bit grumpily. “Those bastards belike have near-frozen feet already, if that stream runs as cold as do most hereabouts, and I doubt me they’d have gone to the trouble to throw out any abattises behind them. So, if we somehow manage to flank them or to hack through to their rear, those unlucky swine knee-deep in cold water will be slow to turn on numbed feet and therefore the logical ones to attack from the rear.

  “Now, young cousin, you had best ride back to your force and notify those two Freefighters of their imminent takeover of command of the foot.”

  Bili smiled. “No need, your grace. Even while we two were in converse here did I mindspeak Frehd Brakit on the matter. By now, he has certainly notified Sergeant Behrdyn.”

  Prince Bymhn sighed. “It’s right often I’ve wished that I were a mindspeaker, for yon’s a damned convenient talent in war. Usually, of course, I have my Kleesahks to use their own mindspeak and communicate with others of their ilk; but what with my father leaving all of them in New Kuhmbuhluhnburk, for fear that their outré talents might give us an edge over the Skohshuns . . .” He sighed again and shook his head sadly. “If I could bring myself to truly believe such things, I’d swear that that thrice-damned Skohshun herald ensorceled my father and my nephew. Honor or no honor, it simply defies all reason to deliberately forgo the use of one’s natural assets in battle, for battles are chancy enough exercises even when one is armed with every asset or weapon one can muster.”

  King Mahrtuhn was the first man across the narrow ford, which, though fast-currented, was shallow enough to provide quick, easy passage even to the trailing infantry. Once over, however, the monarch halted and waited until his battle was all on the north side of the river and once more in colunm behind him before pushing on toward the ridgeline. But he and they deliberately retarded their rate of march until Prince Mahrtuhn and the second battle were all across and advancing behind them. Then the king set his mount at the base of the ascent to the ridge crest.

  As the column began the progress toward that crest, a single line of unmounted men were seen — black shapes against the blue sky — to arise from the places where they had been kneeling or crouching and, after a last, unhurried look at the oncoming horsemen, retire from view.

  Whitetip, the prairiecat, beamed to Bili, “Those twolegs who spent the night up here on this ridge have all left it and are trotting back toward where the men with the tong spears wait in the vale.”

  “You have done well, cat brother,” Bili beamed back. Wait where you are until you can see me and Prince Byruhn nearby. Come you then to our folk and someone will buckle you into your armor and put on your fang spurs. We soon must fight.”

  Chapter III

  The road widened a bit at the crest of the ridge, and it was there that the king, his grandson and his son, along with their principal lieutenants, sat their restive mounts staring down at the valley-spanning formation of the Skohshuns, their foemen. Of them all, only Prince Byruhn and a couple of his nobles had ever seen a formed-up Skohshun pike line, but as this one was almost twice the size of the one against which they had so vainly flung themselves last autumn
, even they were impressed, mightily impressed.

  The big men stood a bit over a yard apart it seemed, in lines that stretched unbroken from half up the slope of one of the flanking hillocks to half up the slope of the other. And there were a hellacious lot of them. Bili’s quick, battlewise eye told him of at least a hundred pikemen in each line and as many as ten of those lines, one behind the other in ordered ranks.

  The overlong pikes were all grounded and stood up from the lines like a narrow forest of branchless saplings, with the nearnooning sun a-sparkle on the honed, polished, foot-long points that capped the eighteen-foot hafts. Also reflecting the bright sunlight were the scale breastplates and simple steel caps of the Skohshuns and the gold and silver and brass animal figures that capped the staffs of the line of standards at the rear of the formation, while the standards themselves rippled slightly in the breeze that blew fitfully down the vale from the north.

  Shrunken with the distance, a few mounted men — nobles and officers, probably — could be seen riding up and down the forefront, ceaselessly dressing the formation, assisted in this by men on foot bearing shorter polearms and wearing more armor than the common pikemen.

  From their elevation, the New Kuhmbuhluhners could see that although the front ranks were straight and unbroken — like lines carved accurately in soft wood by a sharp knife in a sure hand — the formation was more jagged in the rear. More depth existed at the road and in level areas which might prove a good location for a full-scale charge of the New Kuhmbuhluhn horsemen, while the lines were reduced in depth in other places — such as behind the abattis in the streambed and on the brushy, steep slopes of the flanking hillocks.

  The pickets who had quitted the ridgeline upon the approach of the first battle welt to be seen between the foot of the ridge and the formation, formed in a precise column and running easily toward the slope of the western hillock. Even as the king and his party watched, a Skohshun horseman spurred from a point at the foot of that hillock leading a riderless horse. As the other pickets continued on afoot, their leader paused long enough to swing up into the empty saddle, then followed the first rider upslope and into the hilltop camp.