Читать книгу The Serpentwar Saga: The Complete 4-Book Collection - Raymond E. Feist - Страница 36

Erik blinked.

Acrid smoke filled the air for miles, making it difficult to see any distance. Stinging wind carried the smell of charred wood and other less aromatic victims of the widespread fires.

Nakor rode back to where Erik brought up the rear. ‘Bad. Very bad,’ he commented.

Erik said, ‘I haven’t seen a lot that wasn’t bad in the last week.’

They had been traveling for more than four weeks, heading across the plain toward the host surrounding Maharta. As they approached the site of battle, the area began to teem with all manner of passersby: patrols from the invading host, small companies of mercenaries who had decided to quit the city rather than fight – they tended to give Calis’s company a wide berth, though two had chanced a parley. When it was clear that Calis wasn’t interested in a fight, both companies had agreed to share a camp, and news.

The news was sobering. Lanada had fallen by treachery. No one was certain how, but someone had managed to convince the Priest-King to send his host north, leaving the city under the care of only a small company. The leader of that company had proved to be an agent for the Emerald Queen, and he had opened the gates of the city to a host of Saaur riding in from the southwest. The population had gone to sleep one night after a grand parade. The Priest-King’s war elephants, with their razor-capped tusks and iron spikes ringing their legs, had lumbered out the gate, the howdahs on their backs filled with archers ready to rain death down on the invaders. At their side had marched the Royal Immortals, the Raj of Maharta’s private army of drug-induced maniacs, each man capable of feats of strength and bravery no sane man could achieve. The Immortals had been promised great glory and a better life when reborn if they died in the service of the Raj.

The next morning the city was in the hands of the Saaur and the populace awoke to the sounds of wailing as the invaders turned each household out, herding everyone, to the last man, woman, and child, to the central plaza, to hear the Priest-King. He had been marched out under guard and had informed the citizenry that they were now subject to the rule of the Emerald Queen. He and his cadre of priests were taken back into the palace and never heard from again.

The host of Lanada that had been sent north to face an army already behind them returned under orders from the Priest-King’s General of the Army, who handed over command to General Fadawah, then joined his lord in the palace. Rumors flew through the city, ranging from the Priest-King, his ministers and generals being quickly executed to them being eaten by the Saaur.

One thing was clear, this conquest was coming to a head. With Lanada’s downfall a near certainty, General Fadawah had held back a token force at his position north of the city and sent the entire bulk of the host in a circling move around Lanada and down the far side of the river to Maharta. They had moved out only days after Calis’s company had deserted.

The benefit to the Queen’s army had been a swift strike south with almost no opposition. The detriment had been finding themselves on the wrong side of the river. Now the northern element from Lanada was moving down the main road between the two cities while engineers were throwing temporary bridges across the river some miles north of the mouth.

Erik looked at the blackened landscape; some locals had fired the dry winter grass to avoid being captured by the Saaur, he judged, for the brush fires had been started in several places. Only a cold rain had prevented a major conflagration on the plain.

Erik reflected on the cold weather and realized it was after midsummer back home. By the time they left Maharta, if they left Maharta, it would be nearly a year since he had fled Darkmoor.

One benefit to Calis’s company from the swift mobilization of Fadawah’s host southward was that most of the invading army was in the grip of turmoil and confusion. Moving closer to the front was surprisingly easy.

A day earlier an officer had tried to demand passes from Calis, who had said simply, ‘Nobody gave us anything on paper. We were told to move to the front.’

The officer had been totally baffled and simply waved them past the checkpoint.

Now they were at the crest of a rise overlooking the river valley below, where the Vedra emptied into the Blue Sea. Erik squinted at the scene below.

Maharta was a city of white stone and plaster, bright in the summer sun, now reduced to grey by weeks of falling ash. It spread across two main islands, while several suburbs had arisen on smaller islands in the delta. The main city was surrounded by a high wall on the northwest, north, and northeast, while the remaining sections were flanked by river, harbor, or sea. Several estuaries and inlets provided a variety of anchorages in the deep channel of the river as well as along the coast. Sprinkled across numerous islands were villages, and on the western shore of the river, a large suburb with its own wall.

Nakor peered at the distant city. ‘Things move close to a finish.’

‘How can you tell?’ asked Erik.

Nakor shrugged. ‘See the garrison on this side?’

Erik shook his head. ‘No. There’s too much smoke.’

Nakor pointed. ‘Look, there, at the river and sea, where they join in the delta. There were many bridges there – you can see blackened foundations where they were burned – and some villages on the smaller islands, but there, on this shore, there’s a good-sized town, with its own wall.’

Erik squinted against the smoke and fading sunlight and saw a spot of light grey against the darker water. Studying it, he thought it might be a walled town, but he couldn’t be certain. ‘I think I see it.’

‘That is the western precinct of Maharta. It is still holding.’

Erik said, ‘Your eyes must be as sharp as the Captain’s.’

‘Maybe, but I think it’s that I know what to look for.’

‘What are we going to do?’ asked Erik.

‘I don’t know,’ said Nakor. ‘I think Calis knows, but then, maybe he doesn’t. I do know that we need to be over there.’ He pointed at the far side of the river.

Erik looked at the massive host marshaled along the riverbank and said, ‘That seems to be everyone’s problem, Nakor.’

‘What?’

‘Being over there.’ Erik pointed northward and said. ‘They say there are bridges being built ten miles north of here. If so, why is everyone marshaled down here near the coast? They can’t be thinking of swimming across, can they?’

‘Difficult swim,’ Nakor admitted. ‘Doubt that’s what they’re going to do. But I expect they have a plan.’

‘A plan,’ Erik said, shaking his head dubiously as he remembered what Greylock had told him about battle plans and the realities of war. He sighed. ‘All we have to do is go through this army, cross the river, and get the defenders to open the gate for us.’

‘There’s always a way,’ said the little man with a grin.

Erik again shook his head in uncertainty as the order to move down into the waiting host was given, and suddenly he felt very much like a mouse invading a cat’s lair.

If the outlying fringes of the host were confused, the heart of the army was strictly under control. Calis noticed several heavily manned checkpoints and veered away from them, and twice had to improvise explanations for provost officers riding patrol. He claimed to be confused about which campsite he needed to locate, and said he was among those who were going to be first across.

Both times the officers assumed that no one would be lying to be the first across the river, so in both cases they merely waved Calis along. But as they skirted around the central position of the army, they got some sense of how things lay.

A large hill was central to the host, with the Queen’s pavilion atop it. Around that tent were the officers’ tents and rank upon rank of Saaur guard, with Pantathian combat troops arrayed behind them. Then came a series of tents used by Pantathian priests. The air was so thick with their magic it reeked, claimed Nakor. Then the bulk of the army radiated outward like spokes of a wheel.

De Loungville said, ‘It’s a pity there’s not another army lurking about in the grass nearby. These lads are so bound to conquer there’s nothing remotely defensive about this place.’

Erik knew little of warcraft, but after months of working hard to create defensible encampments, even he could see this: there were major flaws in the disposition of this army. ‘They must be planning on launching the attack soon,’ he observed.

‘Why do you say that?’ asked Calis.

‘Greylock, what’s that word you told me, for supply?’

‘Logistics.’

‘That’s the one. The logistics are all wrong. Look at where they’ve got their horses. Each company has them picketed nearby, but there’s no easy way to get water to them from the river. This is going to be a mess in a day or two.’

Calis nodded, but said nothing, as he looked around.

De Loungville said, ‘You’re right. This host can’t stay here another week without a major blowup. Either men are going to get sick, start fighting, or run out of food and have to eat their horses. They can’t stay here much longer.’

Calis said, ‘There,’ as he pointed.

Erik looked to see a narrow peninsula of sandy ground, near the river’s edge, sheltered by tall grasses. They rode down a long incline, through some rocky gullies carved out by rain, and down to a sandy stretch, then back up a small rise, and at last reached the indicated area.

Erik jumped from his horse and knelt near the water’s edge. He cupped some in his hand and found it brackish and salty. ‘They can’t drink this.’

‘I know,’ said Calis. ‘Form a team and haul water down from upriver to give the horses something to drink.’ Looking around as the sun began to set, he said, ‘We’re not staying here very long.’

Camp was quickly made and Erik saw to it that the eighteen remaining men from Nahoot’s company were always under surveillance. They were not certain exactly what had happened to Dawar and the other man, but they knew it had been fatal and it was clear they didn’t wish to meet a similar fate. De Loungville had remarked there might be another agent among them, but if there was, Erik was forced to concede he was far more clever at disguising his nature, for not one of those men tried anything suspicious. Still, Erik billeted them closest to the river, with his own men and the horses on one side of them and the river on the other.

Roo came and found Erik as he was checking to see the horses were fit. ‘Captain wants you over there.’ He pointed to where Calis stood with de Loungville, Nakor, Greylock, and Hatonis.

Reaching the mound on which they stood, Erik heard Nakor saying, ‘… three times. I think there is something strange here.’

Calis said. ‘That’s a well-defended position –’

‘No,’ interrupted Nakor. ‘Look closely. The walls are good, yes, but there is no way to bring in reinforcements, yet the man said they were facing fresh soldiers every time they assaulted the walls. Three times in one day.’

De Loungville said, ‘Camp gossip.’

‘Maybe,’ said Nakor. ‘Maybe not. If true, then there is a way from that place’ – he pointed toward the small western precinct of the city on this side of the river – ‘to over there.’ He then pointed to the distant lights of Maharta. ‘It might be why they tried so hard to take it last week. If not for a way in, why not leave it and let them starve?’

De Loungville scratched his chin. ‘Maybe they don’t want trouble at their back.’

‘Bah!’ said Nakor. ‘Does this army look like it’s worried about trouble? This army is trouble. Trouble soon if they don’t get across that river. Soon there’ll be no food. Bad …’ He turned to Erik. ‘What was that word?’

‘Logistics.’

‘Bad logistics. Baggage train all strung out from here up to Lanada. Men pissing into the river upstream, and soon men downriver get belly flux and bad runs. Horse dung everywhere up to your knees. Men don’t get food, men fight. It’s simple. They take this precinct’ – he made a diving motion – ‘and take tunnel under river, then up into city.’

‘There was that tunnel under the Serpent River before,’ conceded Calis.

Hatonis said, ‘But there’s lots of bedrock under the City of the Serpent River. Our clans dug those tunnels over a period of two hundred years because of the storms of summer, the monsoons. You can’t safely cross the bridges when the seas are high and the wind is that strong.’

‘They get big storms here in Maharta?’ asked Nakor.

‘Yes,’ admitted the clansman. ‘But I don’t know what the ground around here is like.’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Nakor. ‘A good builder, he’ll find a way.’

‘Certainly a dwarf would know a way,’ said Greylock.

Calis showed a small flash of irritation. ‘Whatever. We take a risk of getting killed no matter what we do. That’s not the point. It’s wasteful getting killed to get into a city that has no way out, and we don’t know there is a way out of the Western Precinct. We know that across the river is Maharta, and we don’t know if there’s a tunnel on this side.’

‘What if I go and find one?’ said Nakor.

Calis shook his head. ‘I don’t have any idea how you plan on getting in there, but the answer is no. I want every man ready to move out at midnight.

‘Word’s been passed there’s some sort of celebration on tonight. The Pantathians and Saaur are making some sort of battle magic, then tomorrow the northern elements are supposed to hit the city.’

Nakor scratched his head. ‘There are some men building bridges north of the main camp, but they are not finished. Why this? And what tricks do the serpent men have to get this army across that river? They’ve been conjuring something all day long.’

‘I don’t know,’ answered Calis, ‘but I plan on every man being on the other side when the sun’s up.’ He turned to Erik. ‘That’s your job. Those men from Nahoot’s company.’

Suddenly Erik’s stomach tightened. He knew what Calis was about to say. ‘Yes?’

‘Put them around the horses and give them this to drink.’ He handed Erik a large wineskin that sloshed. ‘Nakor’s dosed it so they’ll be unconscious for a while.’

Erik felt himself grin as he took the skin. ‘For a minute’

‘If Nakor hadn’t given me this drug, I would have told you to kill them,’ Calis finished. ‘Now see to it.’

Erik turned away, again chilled and, for a reason he couldn’t put any name to, feeling shame.

The camp rang with alien sounds, music from distant lands, screams of joy and pain, and laughter, swearing, and, most of all, drums.

Saaur warriors pounded on large wooden drums stretched with hide. The sound echoed across the river like thunder, and rang in the ears like the blood’s own pulse. Bloody rites had concluded and now warriors readied themselves for the morning’s battle.

Horns blared and bells rang, and on and on pounded the drums.

Hatonis and his men stood near the horses, and Erik quickly saw that all eighteen of Nahoot’s men were unconscious. He knew that had any avoided the drug’s effect he was to kill them.

Erik returned to Calis and reported, ‘All eighteen are truly asleep.’

Praji said, ‘If they can sleep through that racket, they are indeed senseless men.’

Calis stuck out his hand. ‘Good-bye, old friends.’

First Praji, then Vaja, then Hatonis took it and shook. They and the eight remaining men from their companies would make their way up the river, trying to position themselves to get across the river over one of the northern bridges while the main band attacked. In the confusion of battle they were going to try to slip away and head east, making for the City of the Serpent River. Whatever occurred in the coming days, eventually the City of the Serpent River would have to face the Emerald Queen’s might. Hatonis would ready the clans; once they had been nomads, like their cousins the Jeshandi, and if need be, they would roam the hills near the city again, striking at the host, then fleeing into the high forests. For Hatonis knew that this struggle would be settled far from his native city and more than mere strength of arms was needed.

The night was dark, as swift clouds from the ocean blew in to the shore, keeping the moons’ light masked. Only those of especially good vision might notice someone moving along the river’s edge from any distance away.

Nakor sniffed the air. ‘Rain coming, I think. Tomorrow, almost certainly.’

Calis motioned and Erik turned and signaled the first company into the water. The plan was simple: swim across the swift-running but shallow delta to one of the tiny islands near the city wall and look for a way to climb the southern breakwater and slip along atop it into the greater harbor. They would still strike for the southernmost quarter of the harbor, the shipbuilders’ estuary. That small firth fed off the main river and joined with the larger harbor, to form a natural launch point for ships. Calis had complete intelligence from agents who had been on this continent for years, but he knew little about the harbor beyond that. It had never occurred to anyone else that the Emerald Queen might need a navy until Roo brought it up.

After the burning of the shipbuilding facilities, the plan was still simple: steal a boat and sail up the coast to the City of the Serpent River. Erik thought, not for the first time, that simple didn’t mean easy.

The water was chilly, but Erik quickly got used to it. The men had wrapped their swords, shields, and armor for quiet, and some of the men had abandoned their heavier arms so as to be able to swim better.

The path taken brought them perilously close to both a picket of the Emerald Queen’s host and lookouts in the suburb fortification. Torches on the walls showed clearly that the ruckus from the Queen’s camp had alerted the garrison that something was up. Erik hoped they were all watching the lights on the top of the hill and not the rocky shore below their walls.

Every man in the company was a competent swimmer. Those that hadn’t had the knack had been trained at the camp outside of Krondor. But when they reached the distant spot that marked their first meeting point, a small sandy island in the mouth of the river, three men were missing. A quick head count showed thirty-two men on that island, exposed to view save for some tall grass and one lone tree. Calis signaled back into the water and Erik waited until everyone else was in before taking one look around for the three missing men, then he followed after the others.

The channel deepened and the current got stronger as they neared the city, and the water tasted saltier. A cough, sputter, and splash nearby were followed by a choking sound, and Erik knew someone else was in trouble. He swam toward the sound of splashing in the darkness, but as he reached the spot only silence met him. He glanced around in the gloom, then listened, and finally started swimming toward the distant shore.

Suddenly he skinned his knee and found he was clambering across an underwater islet. Then he was suddenly sucked downward and pulled back into a deeper, swifter current, and struggling to keep his head above water.

His armor weighed him down and Erik had to will himself to keep his head above water. He had trained for hours to swim with his sword and shield on his back, but nothing in training had prepared him for this nightmare of laboring through a wet inky darkness.

His chest burned and his arms felt leaden and he had to force himself to move forward. Lift one arm and throw it forward, and kick, lift the other and kick. He moved forward, with no idea how far he had come and how far he had left to go.

Then he heard a change in the sound before him and realized it was water lapping against rocks. More, he heard men quietly coughing, cursing, and blowing water from their noses. He lashed out with his last vestige of strength and hit a rock face first.

Red light exploded behind Erik’s eyes, then collapsed into a ball that receded away from him in a tunnel of inky blackness.

Erik choked, spewed water from his mouth and nose, then vomited. He turned over and struck his head against a large rock. Roo’s voice sounded in his ear. ‘Don’t! You’ll knock your wits out of your silly head again. Lie still!’

Erik hurt. His body felt like one large cramp and he had never felt so foul in his life. ‘You drank a lot of ocean,’ said Biggo, nearby. ‘If I hadn’t been standing on the rock you swam into, I don’t know if we’d have found you to pull you out.’

‘Thanks,’ said Erik weakly. His ears rang, and his face ached, and his nose hurt, and generally he wasn’t certain he was glad to be alive.

Calis came and said, ‘Can you move?’

Erik stood, wobbly, and said, ‘Of course.’ As much as he might like to sit for a while, he knew that the alternative to moving was being left behind.

Erik looked around. Then his eyes narrowed and he counted. Thirteen men stood on the rocks. Looking at faces, he turned to Biggo and said, ‘Luis?’

‘Out there,’ said Biggo, with an inclination of his head toward the river.

‘Sweet gods,’ said Erik. Thirty-two men had gone into the river, and only thirteen had made it across.

Sho Pi was nearby and he said, ‘Perhaps some of them are washed up at different places on the shore.’

Erik nodded. But he knew it was more likely they were swept out to sea or drowned in the river.

Erik saw they were out on the tip of the southern harbor breakwater, a long finger of rocks built up to prevent tidal flow interfering with shipping in the harbor. Calis motioned and each man fell into line. They moved carefully along the heavy rocks piled high to form the breakwater. In the darkness the footing was dangerous. After about a half hour of moving slowly, they reached a flat road formed across the top of the stones. Nakor whispered, ‘They must pack dirt on it so they can bring more rocks out in wagons if they need to repair the breakwater after a storm.’

Calis nodded and motioned for silence. He pointed to a tiny light in the distance. There was a small building located a few hundred yards ahead, where the stone breakwater turned into a proper jetty. It was certain to be defended.

Glancing toward the harbor mouth, Erik felt his stomach contract. ‘Captain!’ he whispered.

‘I’ve seen,’ came the answer.

Erik looked back and saw the others had followed his gaze and were now looking at the harbor. Three ships had been sunk in the harbor mouth, to ensure no raiders from the invading fleet could enter the harbor; and, nestled like chicks against a mother hen, a flotilla of ships hugged the docks. But none of them looked to be of shallow enough draft to get past the hulks blocking the harbor.

The pair of guards in the watch building were vigilantly watching across the river, so they were taken without knowing that Calis had slipped up behind. Using only his hands. Calis quickly disabled both men and lowered them to the floor of the hut.

Motioning for the men to gather around. Calis said, ‘The orders are simple.

‘We wait until the sounds of battle in the morning. The Emerald Queen may try to slip some small boats around the jetty, so there may be a few defenders heading this way, but most of the city’s army will be on the northern walls, protecting the landward side of the city. Then we move straight up this jetty, head off left toward the shipbuilders’ estuary, and fire everything in sight. If anyone tries to stop you, kill him.

‘Then we head back to the main docks, steal a boat of as shallow draft as we can find, and try to get out of this mess. If you can’t get back to the harbor, try to get out of the city on the northeastern side, and make overland to the City of the Serpent River.’ He glanced from face to face. ‘It’s every man for himself, lads. No one is to linger for a comrade. If no one gets back to Krondor, then this has all been for naught. If most of us are going to die, let’s make it worth something.’

Grim nods of agreement were the only reply he received. The men took what shelter they could around the small hut and waited.

Erik shivered. He dozed, but the throbbing in his head made sleep impossible. He couldn’t believe how tired he felt. And the throbbing in his nose drained him like no pain he had known before.

‘It’s broken,’ said Roo.

‘What?’ said Erik, turning and discovering his friend could be seen in the predawn gloom.

‘Your nose. It’s a mess. Want me to reset it?’

Erik knew he should say no, but he simply nodded. Roo had been through enough street fights to know what he was doing. Roo put his hands on either side of Erik’s nose and, with a swift move, pushed the pieces into place.

The pain shot through Erik’s head like hot iron spikes. His eyes watered and he thought he would faint; then suddenly the pain drained away. The throbbing that had bothered him all night lessened, and he felt as if his face might not fall off after all.

‘Thanks,’ he said, wiping away tears.

A loud roar precluded any reply. It was as if the skies parted and a thousand dragons vented their rage. There came a hollow rush of sound like creation’s largest waterfall echoing through a gorge, and a wind sprang up from the far shore.

‘Oh, my!’ said Nakor. ‘This is some trick!’

Across the river a giant light of brilliant white, edged in pale green, sprang up and arched across the river, slowly spreading and fanning out as it climbed into the sky. Men and Saaur riders moved tentatively upon it, then kicked their balky mounts forward. The horses moved slowly, following the rising bridge of light.

Nakor said, ‘Now we know why they massed near the mouth of the river across from Maharta – why no bridges. They’re using the priests’ spells to get the army across.’

Calis said, ‘We leave now!’

He rose and moved down the jetty. They reached the main dock area without incident, ignored by those on the dock, who were transfixed by the sight of the rising bridge in the sky across the river. Erik forced himself to pay attention to his leader, and pushed more than one man after Calis.

They ran through a series of narrow streets, along a thin neck of land, between bodies of water. Erik had no sense of where he was, but he thought he might find his way back the way they had come.

Then they were moving left, down a major boulevard. A company of horsemen dashed past, dressed in white tunics and trousers, with red turbans and black vests. Another man similarly dressed reined in next to Calis a moment later and shouted, ‘Where are you going?’

‘We have our orders!’ Calis shouted back. ‘The estuary is at risk!’

The man seemed confused by the answer, but the incredible sight of a bridge of light rising across the river unnerved him enough that he accepted Calis’s story and rode on.

They reached another street, which crossed the top of the one they were on, and Erik halted. Ahead was a dry dock. It loomed high into the sky, and upon it was the keel of a great ship pulled up for hull scraping. The wooden frame stretched back for what Erik judged a full four hundred feet, and the rear of the ship protruded out beyond that. He looked beyond it and saw the estuary, a mighty lake adjacent to the main harbor. The estuary was ringed by construction yards like this, forming a nearly perfect three-quarter circle around it. Either end was more than a quarter mile off.

De Loungville said, ‘Take some men and go that way.’ He pointed off to the right. ‘Go to the far end, and start burning everything in sight as you come back. Try to get back to the harbor. But remember, it’s every man for himself!’ At the last, he reached out and put his hand on Erik’s arm and squeezed briefly, then he was off running to the left.

Erik said, ‘You three,’ indicating Roo, Sho Pi, and Nakor, the men nearest him, ‘come with me.’

As he ran, his head thundered, and he tried to ignore the pain. His knees were wobbly, but his heart pounded and his nerves were taut, and after a few moments he felt his head clear a bit.

Riders came speeding past, heading back the way Erik’s men had come. He barely got out of the way of one man, who seemed willing to ride him down rather than control his horse. The expression on the guard’s face told Erik this was no movement of soldiers under orders, but men put to flight by terror.

Glancing skyward, Erik couldn’t blame the men. The bridge now reached a quarter of the way across the river, and upon it stood thousands of Saaur, their battle cries carrying across the distance like a thunder peal without end.

Erik rounded a bend and saw two shipyards beyond where he stood. To Sho Pi, the nearest man, he said, ‘Get down there and fire everything. Nakor, help him.’

Erik grabbed Roo and moved to the hut before another gigantic cradle of wood. This one was empty. The door to the building was barred. He quickly made his way around it and found a single window. Looking in, he saw no signs of habitation. Using his shield, Erik smashed the window, and said, ‘Now put your size to good use.’ He boosted his small friend through the window.