The sentries recovered and shouted, chopping at the raiders-but their blows fell short as they pulled back, frightened by the wild men from the darkness.
Then a huge explosion blasted the night. The shock wave bowled men over, raider and soldier alike. "Cover your heads!" Gar shouted, but the raiders had run far enough; the rain of iron fragments fell short of them. Soldiers cried out in pain and shock, but before they could recover, the raiders were up and running again.
Gar led them off into the darkness, circling around to the beach again. All pretense at stealth gone, they struck down any soldier who rose to bar their way, then finally leaped back aboard their boats and shoved off-but only two boats out of three.
A hundred yards out to sea, Gar called a rest. The men leaned on their oars, gasping for breath and staring back at the fire on sh.o.r.e, amazed.
"So much for the cannon," Gar said. He looked down at the unconscious form at his feet. "Now for the gunner."
Gianni was sitting on a dock post, watching dawn over the sea, when Gar came up and joined him. "You fought well this night, Gianni."
"Thank you," Gianni said, gratified at the praise. "What of the gunner? Did he answer your questions?"
"Yes, and without the slightest hesitation," Gar said. "It"s almost as though he thinks his answers will frighten us as badly as his gun did."
Gianni frowned. "Did they?"
"Not a bit; they"re just as I thought they would be. He"s a young knight who"s very progressive. He does admit that they have only one such gun, and only he knew how to aim it, being the only gentleman who was willing to learn his gunnery from the dour and dowdy foreign traders-the Lurgans, of course. They not only taught him to shoot, but also taught his armorers how to make a cannon that could fire so accurately-but it took their smiths three months to make it, and two were killed testing earlier models,. so I don"t think we need to worry about the lords making more."
"Not considering how quickly we destroyed it," Gianni agreed, "though I doubt we could do it again."
"You may doubt it, but the lords don"t. Still, our raid may discourage them from making more. If they do, though, they"ll guard them better."
Gianni glanced at him out of the corners of his eyes. "And you"ll be thinking up better ways to overcome their guards?"
Gar answered with the ghost of a smile. "Of course."
Gianni relaxed, letting himself feel confident again. He turned to see another ship come sailing in, and was delighted not to hear a cannon boom. "So it seems we won"t starve, after all."
"No," Gar agreed, "we won"t starve-but the lords may."
L.
They didn"t, of course--each lord was supplied by the crops and livestock his soldiers stole from the peasants nearby, most of whom were safe in Pirogia. But they had to ranger farther and farther afield each day, and the idle soldiers who stayed in camp began to quarrel among themselves. The prince set them to making ships, but his shipwrights knew only the crafting of riverboats, and the new vessels were scarcely launched before Pirogia"s caravels swooped down to scuttle them, or to bear them away with all their troops. Still the prince forced his soldiers to build, but more and more, they saw the uselessness of their work, and grumbled more and more loudly. Soon they were being flogged daily, and the grumbling lessened-but became all the more bitter for it.
In fact, morale in the besiegers" camp was lessening so nicely, and any attempt at invading seemed so far away, that the defenders began to relax. In vain did Gar warn them that the old moon was dying, that the dark of the moon would soon be upon them, and that they must be extraordinarily vigilant when the nights were so dark-in vain, because the sentries knew that if they could not see to spy out the enemy, neither could invaders see to attack. So, though they tried to stay alert, that little edge was gone, the edge that makes a man start at shadows and hear menace in every night bird"s call-but that also makes him look more closely at every extra pool of darkness in the night. They relaxed just a little, until the night that the cry went up from the walls, and the alarm sounded.
Gar and Gianni bolted from their beds-it was a lieutenant"s watch-and shouted for lights as they caught up swords and bucklers and ran for the docks. Black-clad men were pouring in from the sea; even the heads of their spears and halberds were painted black, even their faces. By the time Gianni and his men reached them, they were streaming into the plaza, and there was no sign of the Pirogian sentries.
They had served their city well by crying out before they died. Gianni shouted, "Revenge! Revenge for our sentries!" and threw himself into the middle of the advancing mob, sword slashing and thrusting. Finally the attackers shouted in alarm and anger; pole-arms swept down, but Gianni was too close for any blade to strike him, leaping in and out, shouting in rage, thrusting with his sword as Gar had taught him. Behind him, his men blared their battle cry and struck the invaders, alternating between stabbing and striking with the b.u.t.ts of their spears, quarterstaff style-again, as Gar had taught them. Men screamed and died on both sides, but still the attackers came on.
There seemed no end to them; the black-clad men kept coming and coming, and Gianni"s arms grew heavy with thrusting and parrying. But there was no end to the Pirogian soldiers, either, and they were fighting for their homes and their loved ones, not just for pay or fear of an officer.
Light flared with a m.u.f.fled explosion; the fighters froze for a moment, all eyes turned to the sourceand saw flames billowing high into the night.
"The caravel!" Gianni screamed. "Anselmo"s Kestrel, that was tied up at harbor!
They have burned our food, they would starve us! Have at them! Hurl them into their own fire!"
His men answered with a shout of rage and surged forward. Gianni sailed before them, borne on their tide, thrusting and slashing with renewed vigor, pressing the attackers back, back, out of the plaza and onto the docks, then back even farther, off the wood and into the water.
The lords" soldiers cried out in fear and turned to flee into the harbor. Gianni froze, scarcely able to believe his eyes. The invaders were standing out there on the water, helping those who swam to climb to their feet! More amazing still, they seemed to be going without moving their legs, drifting away ...
Drifting! Now Gianni knew what to look for-and sure enough, the light of the burning ship showed him the balks of timber beneath the soldiers" feet. They had come on rafts, simple rafts but huge ones, painted black. They had hidden against the darkness of the water itself, and guided themselves by the city"s blotting out of the stars until they could see the lights of the watch fires!
"Archers!" Gianni shouted. "Stand ready! If they seek to come back, let fly!"
But the archers didn"t wait-they sent flight after flight against the men on the rafts, who fell to the wood with shouts of fear or cries of pain. Some knelt on each raft and began to paddle furiously. Slowly, the c.u.mbersome craft moved away from the docks.
Gar came panting up, blood running from cuts on his cheeks and brow and staining the fabric of sleeves and tights. "Where have you been?" Gianni snapped, then saw the man"s wounds and was instantly sorry. "Your pardon . . ."
"Given," Gar panted, "and gladly. It was not only here that they came ash.o.r.e, but at every dock and water stair all around the island. I suspected it the instant I heard the alarm and ordered troops to every such site. Then I led my marines from one outbreak of clamor to another. We have run long, Gianni, but we have pushed the lords" men back into the sea."
"It was well done," Gianni said, eyes wide. "You are wounded, Gar!"
"Nothing but cuts," the giant told him, "and you have a few yourself."
"Do I really?" Gianni touched his cheek and was amazed to see the hand come away bloodied.
Gar looked him up and down quickly. "Again, nothing of any danger, but we shall have to see the physician to be sure. I fear many of our men came off much worse-and many more of the enemy."
"Yes . . ." Gianni"s gaze strayed to a black-clothed heap near them. "The poor slaves ... How did they ever think of a ruse so simple, yet so subtle?"
"They didn"t," Gar said, lips pressed thin. "This is not the sort of thing that would occur to a Taliponese n.o.bleman raised on tales of chivalry and battle glamour.
Test that man"s tunic, Gianni. Try to tear it."
Puzzled, Gianni knelt by the corpse and yanked at the fabric. It gave not at all.
"Silk?" he asked, amazed. "For thousands of warriors?"
"Not silk." Gar handed down his dagger. "Cut it." Gianni tried. He tried hard, even sawed at it. Finally, he looked up at Gar in amazement. "What is this stuff?"
"The mark of the Lurgan traders," Gar told him, "and if you tested that black face paint he wears, you would find it to be no simple lampblack and tallow, but something far more exotic. The Lurgans told the lords how to plan this raid, Gianni, and gave them the materials to make it work."
Gianni stared up, appalled. "Are they war advisers now?"
"Apparently so," Gar said darkly. "We knew they recognized Pirogia as a threat, didn"t we?"
And yourself, Gianni thought, staring up at the grim, craggy face-but he most definitely didn"t say it.
From that time on, the sentries stayed alert again, staring twice at every shadow- but needlessly, as it turned out. There were no more night raids, for Pirogian caravels patrolled the channel between the city and the mainland. The grumbling in the lords" camp grew ever worse, and morale ever lower, according to the reports from the spies there. The Pirogians welcomed each new caravel that brought them food, and toasted its sailors with the wine from its casks. Gar, of course, grew more and more tense, more and more hollow-eyed, stalking the battlements muttering to himself. Finally, Gianni asked him why, and Gar answered, "Things are going too well."
Very well, indeed, for the people of Pirogia. Even better, courier boats brought word from other cities, and caravels took arms to them-but they were all port cities, and none lacked for food. They were having more difficulty defending their walls, since only Pirogia had a natural moat to protect it-but none of the inland lords had so very big an army by himself, and all his allies were sitting and fuming outside the walls of their own merchant towns, or with the prince at Pirogia. Gar sent cannons and crossbows and advice, and watched the stew boiling in the prince"s camp with a grin.
They also seemed to lack knowledge of sanitation, these inland soldiers who had never lived in groups of more than a hundred with no less than a mile between villages. It wasn"t long before the offsh.o.r.e wind bore their stench to Pirogia, and the soldiers the Pirogians captured in their endless sinking of new vessels told tales of dysentery and cholera stalking the camp.
"They"re weakening nicely," Gar told Gianni, "but the n.o.blemen only have to learn better siege tactics, and I"m sure they won"t lack for advisers."
Gianni thought of the fake Gypsies and the dour Lurgan traders, and nodded. "Do they really know so much of war?"
"No," Gar admitted, "but they have no shortage of books to tell them of it."
Gianni stared-he certainly hadn"t thought there would be much room for books in the caravans-but he didn"t doubt Gar.
The Wizard appeared in Gianni"s dream that night, and told you, You do well, you and your giant barbarian. You hold the lords at bay, here and all around the coastline-but that is not enough.
What then? Gianni asked, amazed.
You must give them reason to leave, and more importantly, an honorable reason to leave-of a sort. Gianni frowned.What sort of reason could there be, for giving up ignominiously and going home? A diversion, said the Wizard, and explained.
Gar thought it was a capital idea when Gianni repeated the explanation to him.
"Wonderful!" he cried, slapping his knee. "How do you think of these things, Gianni?"
"I really haven"t the faintest idea." For his part, Gianni was just glad it had been Gar"s knee and not his own.
That night, when the docks were dark and deserted except for the sentries Gar kept posted, a hundred marines with fifteen gunners, ten horses, and five cannon boarded two long, lean, dark-colored shipscaptured galleys outfitted with proper sails. Off they went into the night, and as far as Pirogia was concerned, they ceased to exist for a week. Gar and Gianni were both with them, leaving the captain of the guard in command with Vincenzio as his second. The scholar had shown an amazing talent for commanding men; Gianni thought it came from his years of cajoling and maneuvering people into giving him money and helping him go from town to town, saving to return to the university.
By dusk, they were well past the prince"s lines, and far enough to the north that a single night"s march should take them to Tumanola, the Raginaldis" city. The galleys rowed into a little bay as far as they could and anch.o.r.ed; then longboats began the tedious process of ferrying men and equipment ash.o.r.e. When they were all gathered, the galley weighed anchor but rowed only as far away as the shadows of the high bluffs that warded the little port. The marines hoisted their packs and began to march, the gunners right behind them with their horses.
It was a long march, and all the men gazed down with relief when they came to the top of the slope that led down to Tumanola. Gar wouldn"t let them rest, though, until they had all moved silently into the positions he a.s.signed them, and camouflaged themselves. Then he posted sentries and let his marines collapse gratefully behind their blinds. Gianni collapsed, too, and took what sleep he could, until Gar waked him to take the second watch. Gianni spent the next four hours moving as silently as he could from sentry post to sentry post, but always found his men awake, if not terribly alert. He glowed with pride, and was quite unsure that he would be able to keep the vigil as well as they, with so little sleep- but he did.
Gar woke them all at dawn. They breakfasted as they had supped--on clear water, cold journey bread, and jerky. Then, as the sun warmed the earth, Gar gave the signal for the bombardment to begin.
Cannon boomed to the east and west of the city, slamming boulders into the walls. Alarms rattled inside the city, and the home guard came running to the ramparts. They couldn"t know that the booming from east and west came from cannon with no ammunition to throw, that now belched only blank charges; they could only a.s.sume the gunners were very poor shots.
But the three cannon before the central gate had boulders and iron b.a.l.l.s and fired at five-minute intervals, each shot striking the city gates.
How could they hold? It was amazing they lasted the hour. But when they began to crack worse and worse with each shot, the home guard gathered around, crossbows and pikes at the ready-so as the final shots crashed through the wood, splintering the huge panels, they didn"t hear the shouts of alarm from the few sentries left along the wall as scaling ladders slammed into place and grapnels bit into the top of the wall. Those sentries ran to push the ladders away, shouting for all they were worth, but they were too few, and the marines swarming up the wall to their grapnels were far greater in number than those on the ladders. In five minutes, Gar"s marines held the ramparts, and Gar himself was leading the a.s.sault on the gate from the west while Gianni led from the east. The defenders finally heard them coming, in lulls between purposeless cannon fire; they turned just in time for bolts and spears to bring them down. A few of them did manage to shoot a bolt or hurl a spear, and a few marines died, but the rest of it was slaughter until the soldiers threw up their arms, shouting for mercy.
"Hold!" Gar shouted, and his men froze in midstride. "Sergeants, send men to secure the prisoners!" he snapped. "Soldiers of Tumanola! You have fought well, but you have been outflanked! Lay down your arms and mercy will be yours!"
Warily, the soldiers laid down their pikes and crossbows, and marines stepped up to lash their arms behind them. Then, with the soldiers lined up against the wall and sitting, bound with a score of marines to guard them, the rest advanced on the castle.
"It looks formidable indeed." Gianni shuddered, remembering.
"It looks so, yes," Gar agreed, "but we know better, don"t we, Gianni? After all, we"ve been insideand there can"t be more than a few score soldiers left to guard it, since most of them are with the prince at Pirogia."
Gianni looked up in surprise, but when he saw Gar"s grin, he began to smile, too.
The only difficult part of the siege of the castle was bringing the cannon up the slope into firing position opposite the drawbridge. The defenders started a hail of bolts even before the gunners and their horses came in range-which gave the marines a convenient supply of ammunition as they moved up the slope ahead of the cannon, keeping up such a continuous fire that the defenders could scarcely lift their heads above the wall. The drawbridge fell as cannonb.a.l.l.s broke its chains, and struck the sh.o.r.e with a boom almost equaling that of the artillery.
Then the gunners sent buckets of nails over the parapets to keep the defenders down while Gar led his marines charging across the bridge, ramming spears through the arrow slits in the gatehouse and firing in staggered ranks, the back row finishing reloading and running to the front as the first rank retired.
The continuous fire kept most of the defenders prudently down; the few bold ones died with bolts in their chests. A few marines died, too, but their mates came up behind the defenders and grappled hand to hand, knocking them out. Then, in parties of a dozen, they went through the castle from top to bottom, until they were satisfied that it was completely secure.
"A whole city and its castle taken with only a hundred men!" Gianni was dizzy at the thought.
"Yes, but there were only three hundred defending it," Gar reminded him. "We did lose twenty-three men, too." At the thought, his face turned somber.
"My husband shall be revenged upon you!" the princess raged. "You lowborn upstarts shall learn the meaning of royal wrath! You shall be hanged, but cut down before you are dead, then have your entrails drawn forth before your still- living eyes! The end shall come only when your bodies are cut in four pieces and hung up as warnings throughout the city!"
"Perhaps, Highness," Gar said with grave courtesy, "but until your royal husband comes, you shall keep to your apartments with all your ladies. Guards, escort them!" Still, it was he himself who stalked behind the princess, and one look at the determination in his eyes left her no doubt that he would pick her up and carry her bodily if he had to. She shuddered and turned away, lifting her chin and marching proudly to her chambers.
With her shut in and well guarded, and all the castle"s servants and defenders locked in the dungeons, Gianni finally asked, "How long before the prince learns his castle is taken?"
"He knows already." Gar nodded toward the highest tower. "Remember the stone egg? I"m sure the princess used it before she came down to rebuke us. In fact, let"s go and listen."
Puzzled, Gianni followed Gar up to the high tower. Sure enough, they found the egg already talking to itself, the heavily accented Lurgan voice alternating with the prince"s. "Leave at least a partial force to keep the Pirogians in," the Lurgan voice pleaded.
"Why?" snapped the prince in his cultured (but infuriated) tone. "They come and go as they please in their confounded caravels! Take Pirogia yourselves, if you need it! I and all my allies go to take back my ancestral city and house!"
Gianni cheered, and so did the marines who heard with him. The cheering ran down the stairs and through the garrison, but Gar only stood watching the stone with glowing eyes.
He was up in that room now and then for the next few days, as they waited for the prince and his men. The marine couriers moved more quickly on the converted galleys, and the army of Pirogia moved just as quickly in more of the same ships.
They came marching through the gates of Tumanola a full day before the prince and his troops came in sight. They drew up their lines that night, and thousands of campfires blossomed outside the city walls. Gar walked the parapets, rea.s.suring his men; Gianni took his message to the rest of the defenders. "Be warned. Tomorrow, huge metal fish may drop from the skies and fire lightning bolts. Don"t be frightened, for a golden wheel will strike them out of the air."
He didn"t believe a word of either promise himself, but he did ask Gar about it later. "Where could these metal fish come from, and how could they fly?"
"By magic," Gar said, with a brittle smile, and Gianni could only sigh for patience.
"As to where, they shall come from the Lurgan Company-and the golden wheel will be Herkimer."
Gianni frowned. "You mean from this wizard Herkimer, don"t you?"
"No," Gar said, and wouldn"t explain it any further.
The barrage began at dawn, but most of the shot fell short-the prince"s cannon were nowhere nearly as good as those of Pirogia, whose foundries had worked according to Gar"s advice. Gar"s gunners managed to shoot down their opponents methodically, one by one, and the prince, in exasperation, ordered his army to charge.
It was suicidal even at a hundred yards, for Gar"s gunners had all the buckets in the city now, and all the nails. The prince"s men died as they ran-but between cannon shots, the remnant came closer and closer. They faltered, though, as they realized they were being driven to certain death-and it was then that the metal fish came swooping from the skies.
"Away from the guns!" Gar shouted, and his gunners leaped back and kept running, just before lightning stabbed down from the bloated, gray metal fish shapes. Two guns disappeared in a gout of flame and a thunderclap. The Pirogian soldiers moaned with fear and scrambled to duck down behind crenels or shields- but on the plain below, the prince"s army gave a shout of triumph and charged forward.
Then the huge golden wheel came plunging after the fish.
CHAPTER 15.
Teams of light stabbed down from the golden ship, striking one end of each of the metal fish. They plummeted, spinning crazily. Only a hundred feet above the earth, flame roared from the bottom of each fish, slowing its plunge-but only slowing; one struck the earth outside the city walls and one inside. The prince"s soldiers shouted with fear as they saw it coming and ran, any way as long as it was away from the bulbous, plunging gray shape. The fish struck, and was still.
Later, Gianni learned that the other fish had struck squarely in the courtyard of Castle Raginaldi, breaking its back and splitting its skin. Gar had barked commands, and a dozen marines came running to ring the object with spears-if they had any fear, they didn"t show it. When four people in dark gray came staggering from its bowels, the marines clapped them into irons and hurried them into a tower room, where they mounted guard over the prisoners until their commander was ready to deal with them.