Blade looked up at the blue sky. It was a fine autumn day, and gave every sign of staying that way. That was good news. Rain or mist might not hide Blade's surprises from the Doimar, and would certainly make it harder for Peython to command Kaldak's army.

The Hovercraft stopped at a barricade of piled rubble, logs, furniture, and steel beams. The men at the barricade pushed away stones at one end, then Kareena steered the Hovercraft through the gap without hitting the wall more than twice. Building and manning the street barricades was one job given to the Kaldakans who refused to fight with all the new Oltec. Another job was carrying food, beer, munfan fodder, medicines, and other Lawful supplies to the army outside Kaldak.

A few die-hards refused to do anything at all. They said Kaldak was now so far outside the Law that it was morally unfit to survive. "We would rather die than befoul ourselves this way!" they cried. "Very well," replied Peython. "You shall have your wish." After the first twenty executions, the rest of the die-hards got the message.

The barricades would probably turn out to be an unnecessary precaution, since the Doimari probably wouldn't get to Kaldak in force until the main Kaldakan army was destroyed. Then the barricades would be useless and the barricade defenders could take to their heels with a clear conscience. Patrols or a few stray waldoes might still slip away from the battlefield and reach the city. Making it hard for these to move freely and giving cover to the men fighting them would save lives. Blade knew this fight was going to be a b.l.o.o.d.y shambles no matter who won, but he wasn't going to throw lives away.

When they drove up to the entrance to the underground command center, Sidas was standing by the door, wearing only boots and a loincloth. He greeted Blade and Kareena, then winked at them and ordered the six soldiers out of the Hovercraft, to give them privacy for their farewell.

I am not in love with Kareena, Blade told himself for the hundredth time. He even believed it for the hundredth time. That didn't make it any easier to see her heading off to the battle while he sat safe in a hole in the ground. When her lips were on his and she was obviously trying not to cry, it was even harder than usual.

"Take care of yourself, Kareena," he said finally. "If you don't, your father surely will."

She snorted. "He'll be too busy fighting the battle to worry about me."

"Don't bet on it," he said, stroking her hair. "Or you may find you're not too old for a spanking."

"Yes, Blade," she said with mock humility. Then she kissed him again and signaled to the infantry guards to come back. Blade climbed out and watched while she started the Hovercraft again.

He kept watching until it was out of sight around the corner, on its way back to where Peython and the army of Kaldak waited for the battle. He knew she would probably be safe, whether she wanted to be or not. She was acting as both chief of staff and chauffeur to her father, and in the normal course of things she'd be nowhere near the front lines. However, the "normal course of things" in any battle could suddenly change, and in this battle more easily than most. Which reminded Blade- "How are our Scouts doing?"

Sidas clenched both fists and punched them together. It was the Kaldakan equivalent of crossing your fingers.

"They haven't failed us yet," he added, with a grin.

"Food." The scouting system was one of Blade's inventions. He suspected it would give the Kaldakans an advantage not because it worked so well, but because it was the only thing of its kind in this whole Dimension. At least it was simple enough so that it might work. Several waldoes not fit for combat had been walked to points overlooking possible battle sites. Then their audio and visual pickups were activated and left on. A man in a control chair could watch the countryside simply by switching from one waldo to another. Human scouts filled in the gaps between the waldoes. If they saw something, they would send a messenger to the nearest waldo and have it pa.s.s the word.

Once word came to the command center, the problem was getting it back to the Kaldakan army. For that the human scouts had smoke signals and messenger birds. Some of the scout waldoes could fire their lasers in a coded pattern. Blade could even make a waldo write messages in the dirt, if everything else failed, as it probably would- Blade realized that Sidas was trying to get his attention. "Word from below, Blade. The Doimari are still coming on, all bunched up together."

"Good." Either Nungor was underestimating his opponents or he had some plan of his own which meant keeping his army ma.s.sed. Blade thought the second was more likely, but either way it played into his hands for now. Once battle was joined things might change, though. They might not change too fast for him, but they would probably change too fast for the improvised Kaldakan army. They were long on courage, but still rather short on training.

"Who's in the chair now?" asked Blade.

"Bairam."

"How is he?"

Sidas shrugged eloquently. He was not going to say anything out loud against his chief's son, but, on the other hand, he wasn't going to hide important truths from Blade. So Bairam was still too excitable for safety. That at least was no surprise. "Let's go down. I'd better take over. We may have to get the waldoes moving fast."

The Carrying Machine was moving so slowly that Rehna climbed out of the top hatch and sat with her legs dangling down inside. She still moved carefully. She could not be sure yet, but she thought she might be carrying Blade's child. If that was so, she hoped that the coming battle would be the last against Kaldak as well as the first. She wanted to be among the Seekers who proved in battle the value of their work. She also wanted to bear that child, even if it came from the seed of a man who'd betrayed Doimar. A man's seed did not bind his child.

An explosion behind her made her turn around. Smoke rose from the crest of the hill at the mouth of the valley. They must have blown up the Fighting Machine the Kaldakans abandoned there. It always hurt her to see Oltec destroyed, particularly the Fighting Machines, which were the masterpieces of the Tower Builders. However, the Kaldakans had ruined the machine so completely there was nothing else to do with it. They couldn't have got much use out of it, either.

Rehna looked ahead again. The valley was broad enough so that Doimar's army was advancing in three columns. The one on the right moved along the valley floor, closest to the steep, wooded hills on the north side. In the middle moved the Fighting Machines, with the Carrying Machine in the middle of them. Most of the hundred Fighting Machines which started from Doimar were still marching as if they could go on to the end of the Land. Rehna hoped they would, even if she wasn't there to see them. The left-hand column followed the crest of the gra.s.sy ridge on the south side of the valley.

The Carrying Machine swung to the right so violently that Rehna nearly lost her balance. As it swung back, it narrowly missed one of the Fighting Machines. Through the open hatch Rehna heard curses. The less experienced of the two drivers was at the controls. He was only good enough for level ground, and the valley floor seemed to be getting rougher the farther they went.

Rehna leaned down through the hatch and shouted, "Get clear of the Fighting Machines and stop. Sutro, you'd better take over."

"Ah, Rehna, he's half-asleep. He can't-"

"Yes, I can. Sorry about this, but Rehna's right. I'd better get us through the valley."

The second driver cursed again, but obeyed. The machine settled to the ground, and silence fell so suddenly that it was almost frightening. It was only when the Carrying Machine stopped that you realized how noisy it was.

Then the silence was broken by another explosion. Rehna looked back, saw the smoke there was long gone, heard still another explosion, and realized it came from ahead. When she looked toward the north side of the valley, she saw the little puffs of smoke from hand-thrown fire bombs. Here and there through the smoke fire-beams flickered green, going both uphill and down.

"Sutro, quick! Get us to the hill over there!" She waved frantically to the south. "The Kaldakans are attacking. We have to be where we can carry the Voice. Hurry!"

Then she slid down inside the cabin and pulled the hatch shut behind her. Her mouth was dry, and her stomach was so twisted that she was afraid of vomiting. She couldn't do that, not today, when the Seekers were about to prove beyond any doubt that they held the future of Doimar and its Empire in their hands-or rather, the hands of the Fighting Machines marching around her.

Chapter 22.

Nungor and Feragga ran up to the Carrying Machine. As usual Nungor had to take two steps to her one to keep up with her. He'd long since stopped worrying about the kind of spectacle he made doing that. He would not let Feragga go alone into this battle if he could help it.

With a boost from Feragga, Nungor scrambled up on the roof of the machine. Wires snagged his feet and he hoped none of them were carrying the Voice. A living wire doing that could kill.

"Get your Fighting Machines back up here!" he shouted down into the hatch. "The enemy is in the trees, if they're anywhere, and the machines can't go in there."

"They could go up the valley, then get around behind-" began Rehna.

"They won't go out of our sight!" snapped Nungor. "And neither will you. You people stay right here and carry the Voice to the Fighting Machines until I tell you to stop." He caught himself short of adding the ridiculous threat, "Or I'll have your Carrying Machine destroyed." That might lose the battle and it would certainly mean open war between the Seekers and the foot soldiers.

"We shall obey, Nungor," Rehna replied coldly. "But let Feragga give us the same order."

After Nungor explained the situation, Feragga did so. "This is not the time or place for the Fighting Machines," she said. "They can hardly see the enemy, let alone strike him. When we know where the rest of the Kaldakans are, then perhaps we can send the Fighting Machines to attack on their own."

"Do you swear this, Feragga?"

"No, I don't and I won't. The battle has just started. Now forget your Seekers' pride and obey, curse you!"

"Yes, Feragga." Rehna sounded sullen.

When Feragga climbed down she found Nungor checking his equipment. "I'm going down there and lead the attack. This is the first battle against Kaldak, and I'm not going to let anyone else do the work."

"Including me?"

"Feragga, I didn't mean-"

"Probably you didn't. Anyway, one of us had better stay with the Fighting Machines and keep watch on the Seekers. I'll do that better than you, and you won't be worrying about me."

"Feragga, I-"

She bent over and kissed him. "Go with your fortune, Nungor."

As Nungor ran down the hill, he noticed that much of the work of preparing the attack was already done. The riflemen were already spreading out, giving the enemy a harder target. In the bottom of the valley, the fire-bomb throwers were in place. They would do more to chase the Kaldakans out of the trees than all those d.a.m.ned Fighting Machines! A fire-beam could not jump over the top of a tree and kill a man behind it!

Kareena's leg was hurting as she made her way forward through the trees. Fortunately it wasn't hurting so bad that she had to use her rifle as a cane. She wanted to use the rifle to kill a few more Doimari before her father discovered that she was missing.

From the noise coming through the trees, it would be a while before anyone noticed anything not directly in front of their noses. There were more explosions from the-what did Blade call them?-'mortars'?-then rifle fire. The Doimari must be trying to kill as many Kaldakans as they could with the mortars before sending their foot soldiers up the hill again. That made sense. Without the mortars the thousand Kaldakans hiding in the trees could probably stay there all day, killing twice their own number of Doimari.

A mortar bomb exploded in the trees overhead, showering splinters of wood and hot metal around Kareena. Two more explosions left someone in the distance screaming in agony. Kareena set her jaw against the sound. However many Kaldakans died here today, it would be fewer than would have died without Blade and his knowledge.

Off to the left a whole company of somebody's soldiers seemed to be firing lasers. She listened but didn't hear the heavier sound of the lasers from the Doimari waldoes. She did hear an ugly crackling of flames and smelled wood smoke.

Wham, bam, crash! It seemed that the sky was falling on the forest and the forest was falling on her. She dove to the ground behind a fallen trunk as branches and hot metal rained down on her again. Something jabbed the back of her good leg like a wasp with a red-hot stinger. She ignored it when she discovered that she was sharing the trunk with someone else, someone she recognized.

"Saorm!"

"Kareena! What are you doing here?"

"I might ask the same question."

"I asked-" Mortar sh.e.l.ls interrupted them, and the smell of smoke grew stronger. They heard someone screaming for help to be moved before the fire got to her.

"I asked first," Saorm finished.

"The Hovercraft ran out of power cells of the right size. I came up to see how the fighting was going."

"Your machine should be moving again fairly soon. I came up with supplies. We brought fire-I mean, power cells, of every size." He rose and cupped a hand to one ear. "I'm going to pull that woman clear of the fire, then go back."

"Saorm, don't-!" The howl of falling mortar bombs interrupted her. She buried her head in her arms and screamed as explosions crashed all around them. She didn't feel anything herself this time, but she heard someone close by cry out.

When she raised her head again, she saw who it was. Saorm lay slumped over the fallen trunk, blood spurting from the stump of one leg. Kareena pulled off her scarf and started binding it around the stump. Saorm shook his head and opened his mouth. Little bubbles of blood came out, and also hoa.r.s.e words.

"Don't-bother. Hit in the belly-you tie it up, I die slow. Just-make sure-Geyrna gets what's hers."

"I swear it, Saorm."

"Good. Wanted to see-her children, but-what a man wants and what-the Law gives-aren't always the same."

He couldn't speak after that, but Kareena held his hand until his eyes closed. By then the smoke was so thick Kareena was half-choking, and in the murk she could make out Kaldakan soldiers coming toward her. Some were half-naked, their clothes burned off, others limping or with one arm dangling useless. Some who were crippled or blinded were being led or carried along. They were all bringing out their weapons, and those who weren't in too much pain to talk called out greetings to Kareena.

She wanted to weep, partly from the smoke but more from pride in the way Kaldak's people were standing up to the battle. The soldiers of Blade's own England couldn't have done better, she thought.

It was time to join the retreating soldiers. There was nothing more she could do here, and she might be needed at the controls of the Hovercraft. The battle was getting to the point where her father might need to change his orders suddenly, and that could mean moving.

One more thing to do, though-make sure Saorm's body wasn't left for the flames. She called four unwounded men over, they lifted it, then followed her out of the smoke toward the waiting army of Kaldak.

Through the eyes of the last of the scout waldoes, Blade saw the Kaldakan advance guard streaming out of the burning forest. Good. They were retreating fast, but they weren't routed, even though that forest fire was something he hadn't expected. Anyway, it would be a problem for Peython and Kareena. Now it was time for the waldoes to march.

Blade signaled to one of the Kaldakans he had selected to control the main console. The man was handling it well, switching frequencies from the scout waldoes to the combat ones. Then Blade looked to the left and to the right, to make sure Bairam and Sidas were in their chairs and that everyone else was out of the way as they were supposed to be. Then he signaled again to the man controlling the console. That would be the last movement he'd be able to make for quite a while without a couple of dozen waldoes imitating it.

The controller switched on the three chairs, and Blade stood up. So did Bairam and Sidas. Forty miles away, so did ninety combat waldoes, thirty responding to each chair. Blade flexed all his limbs, cut in the vision and sound circuits, and saw waldoes all around him doing the same thing. It was grotesque, like ninety gigantic metal puppets all doing gymnastics in unison.

Blade and his comrades bent down and gripped wooden rods. Ninety waldoes also bent down and picked up metal bars four feet long and three inches thick. They had no grenades, but they would still be well-equipped for close combat.

Blade saw one of the waldoes fall over, heard Bairam curse, and sighed. Peython's son was so excited that Blade would have rather had someone else in the third chair, but there wasn't anyone else.

"All right," said Blade. His voice came out distorted by the helmet and the controls in his mouth. "Waldoes-forward march!"

And they marched. Eighty-nine waldoes tramped forward, crushing down the bushes which had screened them, and stumbling down the low slope behind. They weren't in good order to begin with and it got worse as they moved, because they were moving at three different paces. They all did move, and by the time they reached level ground they were moving fast.

Thirty miles an hour, Blade calculated, was the waldoes' top speed. They were five miles from the valley. Ten minutes' marching. That should give the Doimari plenty of time to put their heads into the trap, without giving them time to spring one on the Kaldakans.

"Waldoes-right face!" shouted Blade. He felt more like a drill sergeant than a commanding officer. "And test your clubs."

Eighty-nine right arms swung eighty-nine metal bars. The arm jammed on one of Sidas's waldoes, smoking and sizzling. Sidas had the wisdom not to make the waldo drop its club. Otherwise all his waldoes would have dropped theirs and had to pick them up again. Bairam's waldoes swung their clubs more wildly than the other men's. Blade heard clangs and crashes as clubs struck other waldoes and hoped Bairam's enthusiasm wasn't doing any damage.

"Forward-march!" again, and the waldoes started off. They jammed together for a nerve-wracking minute at the narrowest part of the path between the hills. Blade froze his waldoes in place and let the other two men sort theirs out. Then the waldoes set off. The ground shook under their feet as nearly three hundred tons of metal accelerated. Dust rose in a fog, and the clanking and squealing of long-unused joints and cables was as loud as the sounds of a battle.

Most of Bairam's waldoes rapidly pulled ahead, then some began to drop back, joints smoking. The boy was pushing them too fast. When Blade saw two of them literally trip over their own feet and fall, he'd had enough.

"Bairam! Get out of that chair and stand back. You'll wreck half your waldoes before the battle starts, the way you're going!"

Bairam looked both rebellious and ready to burst into tears. Then the controller moved quickly in obedience to Blade's hand signal, cutting off the power to Bairam's chair, after switching its frequency to Blade's. Without blinking or missing a step, Blade took over Bairam's waldoes. Bairam muttered a few comments on the s.e.x habits of Blade's parents, then stamped off to join the spectators.

Halfway to the battlefield now. The smoke from the burning forest was beginning to spread across the landscape. Blade could now hear the sounds of the battle ahead over the din of the waldoes themselves. It was impossible to tell who was doing what to whom, but no mortars were firing. That probably meant the Doimari were doing what he wanted them to do-move across the valley after the Kaldakan advance guard. They'd also have to go around the forest, but that wouldn't spoil Blade's plans.

Then Sidas's chair suddenly began giving off smoke and sparks. The controller seemed to leap halfway across the room to cut its power, then drag Sidas clear. He was rubbing scorched spots on his arms and legs but otherwise seemed unhurt as he ran toward the next activated chair. Reluctantly Blade froze all the waldoes in position. He didn't want to take the risk of controlling all of them single-handed, not when battle was so close.

As Sidas ran, Bairam s.n.a.t.c.hed up a bucket of water and emptied it over his comrade. It was just as well for Bairam that Blade could do nothing but curse at this helpful gesture. Throwing water around near a shorted-out chair could have knocked out the whole command center and lost the battle in a second! But there was no time to explain electricity, and probably not much point in explaining it to Bairam at all. At this moment Blade would have promised his right arm to bring the waldoes a mile closer to the battlefield.

Then Sidas was in his new chair and controlling his waldoes again. A few had fallen when Blade stopped them, but only one stayed down. Eighty-six left now, and only minutes to the battlefield. The smoke was getting so thick that Blade wondered if it would interfere with lasers. It was certainly getting thick enough to interfere with his vision.

The last bend into the valley was the sharpest, and getting all the waldoes around it was the hardest job yet. They had to slow down almost to a walk, to make sure that a dozen waldoes didn't go down on rough patches of ground. For a minute the waldoes would have been a magnificent mortar target, and Blade found his palms sweating. The smoke he'd feared now came to his rescue. It swirled back and forth across the valley, completely blocking the view of the Doimari.

The Kaldakan waldoes were almost ready to move again when the first Doimari infantry drifted out of the smoke. They were only a straggling line of scouts, but that was enough for Blade.

"Sidas! Your lasers!" he shouted, and bit down on the firing b.u.t.ton for his own weapons. In his excitement he'd forgotten to turn all of his waldoes directly toward the Doimari, and most of the beams shot wide. That did no harm. The Doimari were too frozen with surprise and fear to react in time. On the second volley, more than fifty laser beams struck the scouts. Blade saw a few smoking bodies fly into the air, but most simply vanished as if they'd been vaporized. Probably some of them were. The rest must have been buried under the ma.s.s of smoking earth thrown into the air. From behind the smoke came the screams of men on the edge of the destruction, not too badly burned to cry out.

The smoke wasn't going to affect the lasers as much as Blade feared. Very well, then let the butchery start. He'd known all along there'd be a gory spectacle but in the first excitement of seeing the enemy at hand he'd forgotten it. Now he remembered, his hands and mouth were dry, and he had to swallow before he could give his next order to Sidas.

"All right, Sidas. Face yours forward, and fire on my command."

"Yes, Blade."

He sounded subdued. Blade hoped he was. He distrusted bloodl.u.s.t in other people almost as much as he distrusted it in himself.

Blade bit down on the firing b.u.t.ton, saw the laser beams lance the smoke ahead, and heard the screams.

"Fire!" More of the same, then: "Waldoes of Kaldak, charge!"