The Ruins Of Kaldac

Chapter 23

Rehna tried to peer through the smoke from the burning forest on the north side of the valley. She wanted to see how the battle was going.

For the moment at least it hardly deserved the name of a battle. The only Kaldakans in sight were the handful of dead they'd left behind on the north slopes. Rehna didn't know if they'd been driven off completely or just driven back to another position. Certainly they were now out of range of either the Doimari infantry in the valley or the Fighting Machines on the hills to the south.

For the moment the Fighting Machines were staying where they were. Those were Nungor's orders, Rehna had passed them back to the Seekers in the control chairs in Doimar, and so far they seemed to be obeying. Rehna did not like Nungor or trust many of his captains, but she knew that if each part of Doimar's army fought its own battle the Kaldakans might still win.

Some of the Doimari foot soldiers were going north and some south to get around the fire and renew the attack. Others were going nowhere, either too busy licking their wounds or because they hadn't received any orders. Rehna saw Nungor run past several times, more red-faced and sweating harder each time, shouting orders, trying to get the lazy ones moving. She wished him luck. For now her own part in the battle was so easy that she had time to realize she was hungry. That wasn't surprising, since she hadn't eaten all day.

She bent over and started to call down the hatch. Then she heard a sudden swelling uproar from the smoke to the west. Screams, the sound of lasers, and a metallic chorus which sounded like Fighting Machines on the move but couldn't possibly be that.

Then in a moment Rehna knew that the impossible was the truth. A line of Fighting Machines loomed out of the smoke, all marching the same way regardless of the ground underfoot, all swinging blood-stained metal bars in their hands, all with fire-beam tubes glowing like evil eyes in their chests. Behind the first line was a second, behind the second line a third-

No! Logic, sanity, and common sense all shouted that in her mind. She ignored the shout, because her eyes told her differently. The Kaldakans had live Fighting Machines, and they were coming down the valley against the men of Doimar like Death itself.

Then the Fighting Machines stopped, and the first row shot their fire-beams. Hundreds of Doimari were already running or lying down, but that didn't save most of them. The fire-beams made a net like a fisherman's in the smoky air, and the Doimari foot soldiers were the fish. Some flew completely into the air, trailing smoke. Others fell, writhing and screaming, their clothes on fire. Still others became puffs of greasy smoke or were torn into bloody rags when the fire-beams set off their hand fire-bombs.

Some men lived a bit longer, because the beams didn't catch them or because the smoke and dirt thrown up weakened the beams. Many of these died in the next minute, when the Fighting Machines strode forward, swinging their clubs. Rehna was reminded of farmers beating their fields for blue rats. One blow of the steel clubs the Fighting Machines carried could turn a man into pulp from his head down to his chest.

The Fighting Machines swung clumsily and all together, whether they had a target or not. Rehna saw one smash the arm of the machine next to it with its club. It looked as if a few men or perhaps only one man was controlling all the Fighting Machines at once. That was something she knew was possible but which Doimar had never tried. If there was one man controlling all the Kaldakan machines, she though she knew his name.

Blade of England.

Suddenly she wasn't quite sure she wanted to bear the child of a man who'd slaughtered so many of her fellow Doimari. However, she was sure he wasn't going to win the battle, in spite of the bloody start he'd made. When the Fighting Machines of Doimar came down into the valley, each one would have a trained Seeker controlling it. Blade's crude tactics and skills could never meet such an attack.

While she'd been thinking this, the Kaldakans moved a hundred paces forward and used their fire-beams again. This time she felt the heat on her face and clods of earth rattled off the armor of the Carrying Machines. She looked anxiously at the Voice equipment, but it seemed unhurt. They'd still better move back to a safer position.

A breeze seemed to be carrying the smoke away now. To the north Rehna saw Kaldakan foot soldiers appearing on the ridge again. To the south she could now make out eight or ten of Doimar's Fighting Machines. Any moment now they should start down the hill, to pass through the retreating Doimari foot soldiers and engage the Kaldakans. The battle would be hard and would destroy much Oltec, but it would also prove, even to Nungor, that the Seekers-

«No!» This time Rehna said the word out loud. Then she screamed it at the top of her lungs, as if screaming loud enough could change what she saw. The Fighting Machines weren't coming down the hill. They were turning away into the smoke and walking off the battlefield. No, not walking-they were starting to run. Rehna's fellow Seekers were more concerned with saving their Fighting Machines than saving their fellow Doimari, or even winning the battle.

«No,» Rehna said again, and burst into tears. «No!» she shouted, pounding her fists on the armor of the Carrying Machine until she tore open skin and flesh. She went on pounding, as blood made the armor slick under her. «Cowards! Cowards! Cow-«

Fire-bombs exploded all around her, and something like the metal fist of a Fighting Machine struck her. She flew through the air and landed hard enough to knock the breath out of herself. More explosions crashed out as the Carrying Machine started moving off. The Voice equipment was now leaning drunkenly to one side. She hoped it still lived.

Rehna knew what was happening. The fire-bomb throwers were shooting at the Kaldakan Fighting Machines, but they didn't know the exact range. They were landing their bombs short, right among the Doimari! «No,» she whimpered.

Then more explosions, and a rain of metal pieces, human bodies, and broken weapons fell all around her. She tasted blood in her throat, gagged on it, and also felt a pain deep in her belly. Was she losing the child?

A single fire-beam stabbed through the smoke overhead, from a Kaldakan machine controlled by someone as good as any Seeker. With horrible precision it sought out the Carrying Machine with the Voice equipment. The Voice equipment sagged and started to melt, someone on fire from head to foot jumped out, then the fire-boxes inside gave up all their energy at once. The explosion roiled Rehna over on her side, so she didn't see the red-hot wreckage of the Seekers' proudest achievement. She did see a Kaldakan Machine bring down one foot within inches of her face, the other on top of a Doimari soldier who was mercifully already dead. She didn't see any more clearly, because the pain suddenly struck her all over so that she curled up into a little ball and started whimpering.

«Mother, mother,» she said, as the Kaldakan Fighting Machines marched past her.

By the time Kareena brought the Hovercraft and her father down into the valley, the slaughter was over. There were no living Doimari in the valley, or at least no living Doimari it wouldn't be a mercy to kill. The Kaldakan infantry spread out and began to finish the victory the waldoes began.

To Kareena, there was an even worse sight than the Doimari bodies. Over half the Kaldakan waldoes stood or sprawled useless, their power exhausted, joints frozen or broken, weapons burnt out, killed by lucky grenade or rifle shots from desperate Doimari at short range. Kareena felt sick at the sight of so much ruined Oltec, and even Peython was confused.

«Did Blade destroy the waldoes deliberately, I wonder?»

«He would not do that, Father.»

«I still wonder. Perhaps he wanted to destroy them, so we would not grow weak or evil from the strength of our Oltec as Doimar did.»

Kareena had no reply to that, and concentrated on steering the Hovercraft through the scattered Kaldakan soldiers. Then she saw something familiar about the body lying on its side fifty paces ahead. A moment later she recognized the bloody face. It was Rehna, the Seeker woman who'd shared Blade's bed the night of the escape from Kaldak.

Kareena stopped the Hovercraft and leaped out before her father could question her. She knelt by Rehna and looked down into the pain-glazed eyes.

«Mother…»

«The Lords of the Law be merciful, Rehna.» She drew her knife and thrust quickly, surely home between Rehna's ribs. When the woman slumped in peaceful death, Kareena pulled the hood of her robe over her face, then stood up and started cleaning the knife.

As she finished, a waldo loomed out of the smoke. She jumped and nearly screamed out loud. The waldo bent at the knees and started tracing a message in the dirt with the tip of a twisted, blood-spattered club.

KAREENA. GIVE NEW POWER CELLS TO THIS WALDO. I MUST GO AFTER DOIMARI WALDOES. TRUST SIDAS. THANKS FOR MERCY TO REHNA. BLADE.

Then the waldo sat down, and the hatch on its back which covered the power cells sprang open. Kareena stared for a moment, then turned and promptly collided with her father.

«Look where you're going, Kareena.»

«I'm sorry, Father. I–I'm not as calm as I ought to be.»

Peython looked around at the valley of death now appearing out of the thinning smoke. «No. None of us can be.»

While the Kaldakans repaired his chosen waldo, Blade climbed out of the control chair and relaxed as much as he could. The last stage of the battle would be as demanding as running a marathon, and it would be almost entirely his job.

The Seekers' panicking and withdrawing the waldoes had cost Doimar the battle and probably opened an irreparable breach between the infantry and the Seekers. It would also save the waldoes to fight another day if no one chased and destroyed as many of them as possible. That was a job for a single waldo with plenty of power, controlled by the best waldo operator in Kaldak, which meant Blade. He'd smashed the Doimari infantry by using the massed waldoes like a battering ram. Now he was going to finish the day by using a single waldo like a rapier.

Blade drank some water and listened to the conversation among the technicians. He heard someone mutter, «Why did Kareena give that Seeker bitch a good death?» He was about to turn on the man himself when he heard Bairam's reply.

«Because she deserved one,» he said coldly. «She fought and died as a brave warrior, though she fought with Oltec as her weapons. Do not say anything against her in my hearing, or Kareena's.»

«Yes, Bairam.»

Blade grinned, Bairam was still an odd mixture of man and boy, and it was almost impossible to tell from one hour to the next which one ruled him. If Peython lived long enough, though, Blade knew a man would succeed him as chief of Kaldak. Geyrna would help, too, although it would be a while before she had much thought for anything except her grief over her father's death. There was another man who'd died like a warrior even though he was not one, and indeed had even less duty on the battlefield than Rehna.

Then it was time for Blade to man the control chair again. The technician and Bairam strapped him in, then turned to Sidas while Blade tested his waldo. If anything went wrong with Blade's chair, Sidas would take over with his until Blade could make a quick shift.

Everything in the waldo worked, including the laser. Blade discarded the old, battered club and picked up a new one. Then he took a deep breath and put the waldo into movement, on the trail of the last of Doimar's army.

When the Fighting Machines marched away, the foot soldiers of Doimar-Nungor's pride-fled in panic like munfans from great-hawks. For an hour or more Nungor tried to rally them, appealing to their courage, their honor, even their hatred of the Seekers. They were deaf to anything except their fear of Blade's raging Fighting Machines, and after a while they started cursing their War Captain. A little while longer, and some of them were firing shots at him. Nungor gave up trying to rally his army and started thinking of saving Feragga. He told himself that he wanted to save her because with her alive the war could still be won even after the lost battle. He knew some might doubt this, but he did not really care what they thought if he could only get Feragga away from this butchery.

Now he and Feragga were trotting over the hills a good two hours' march east of the battlefield. The air around them was clean, and only a few human stragglers were visible. A dozen or so Fighting Machines were also in sight, some walking steadily, others lurching or sometimes falling down. Some of the Seekers were skilled enough to keep their Fighting Machines moving even after the Voice Machine was dead. But what use was that sort of skill, if they had no courage, no loyalty to their comrades? Apparently the Seekers never asked themselves that question. Well, they would pay for that and everything else they'd done wrong today, even if Feragga cast him out of his office and her bed for it!

Then far off to the west Nungor heard the ugly sound of a heavy fire-beam in action. It came a second time, then the prolonged hissing of a Fighting Machine exploding. Feragga looked at him.

«Are those damned Seekers fighting among themselves now?» she asked, in a voice which hinted she was for once ready to believe almost anything about the Seekers.

«Probably a machine breaking down,» said Nungor. «Or maybe some Kaldakans are catching up with-«He stopped as they both saw the same thing in the same moment. A Fighting Machine of Kaldak, striding over the hills like a giant walking among dwarfs. In one hand it swung a metal club like a boy walking through a field and knocking the heads off thistles with a stick. Its head swiveled, the firebeam stabbed out of its chest, and the arm of one of Doimar's machines flew into the air. The crippled machine turned to face its enemy, and took the second fire-beam squarely in its chest. It fell over backward, and a third beam tore through its lightly protected crotch so that everything inside it vanished in blue flame and billowing smoke.

«Blade!» said Feragga and Nungor together. Feragga continued to stare at the approaching machine, while Nungor ran toward the nearest Doimari machine. He shouted as he ran.

«Seeker! Seeker! You damned coward, bring that piece of iron over here and pick up Feragga! Pick up your lady and run her to safety! Pick her up, or, by the Lords, I'll burn every Seeker alive when I get home!» As he said this he realized that his chances of ever getting home were rapidly vanishing, but as long as Feragga's remained good-

Nungor was about to give up hope, when the Fighting Machine turned toward him, then tramped past and bent over Feragga. She shouted in surprise and fear as the metal hands picked her up, then shouted again as she saw Nungor turning back toward Blade's machine.

«Nungor, damn you! You can't-«

«Yes, I can, my lady and my love. Your safety is Doimar's future. My life will not be much loss if it ends here.» He shouted for the Seeker to hear. «Now get that scrapheap moving, and get your lady out of here!»

Dirt flew as the Fighting Machine's feet dug in. Then it was on its way, walking, trotting, finally running, with Feragga clinging desperately to its head and straddling one shoulder. She still looked back as long as she could.

After the machine started running, Nungor didn't pay it any more attention. He lay down behind a fallen Fighting Machine, and put three fire-bombs and a fresh fire-box ready to hand. Then he aimed his rifle at the towering figure of Blade's Fighting Machine and waited for it to come into range.

Blade's waldo was moving at a walk because Blade himself needed to catch his breath. He'd come nearly ten miles, most of it at a run, and on the way destroyed eighteen Doimari waldoes. Only four had given him any sort of a fight. Destroying the rest was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Then in the distance he caught sight of a waldo running off with a human figure perched on one shoulder. He increased the magnification of the visual scanners and recognized Feragga. Suddenly he found he had the strength to run again. He wasn't going to be able to catch most of the waldoes, but if he could catch Feragga and kill or capture her-Well, she was all that held the balance between the Seekers and the infantry. Take her out of the picture and there'd be civil war in Doimar. Kaldak would have a complete victory without losing another soldier or firing another laser blast.

Blade was starting to run when the laser hit the waldo in the head. It didn't wipe out the visual scanners, but it dazzled him so that it was a moment before he could see clearly again. When he could, he saw Nungor crouched behind a fallen waldo, his rifle aimed for another shot.

Blade started turning the waldo's own laser toward Nungor at the same moment the War Captain fired again. This time one scanner died, and Blade felt a sharp pain in his head. That was odd-damage to the waldo didn't register as pain in the operator. The controls had automatic cutouts-

The pain in his head grew sharper, and suddenly Blade knew what was happening. The computer was calling him back to Home Dimension-now, of all times!

«Damn!» Then he shouted, «Sidas-get ready to take over. I'm going to be sick.»

Sidas nodded, the technicians switched on his chair, and all its wiring promptly went up in a cloud of smoke. Sidas screamed and through pain-blurred eyes Blade saw the technicians beating out little fires all around him. They pulled him out of the chair, though, and from the way he was swearing he didn't seem to be seriously hurt.

«Bairam-get into a chair and take over. Now, for the Lord's sake and Kaldak's future. Move, you stupid little-!»

Those were Blade's last words in Kaldak's Dimension. He knew he shouldn't have called Bairam «stupid,» tried to apologize, but found the pain in his head freezing his jaws. Bairam dashed past and leaped into the first chair he reached, shouting to the technicians, «Quick! Blade's after Nungor and Feragga! If we can kill them-«

Then Blade couldn't hear any better than he could talk. He fought desperately to hold onto sensation in this Dimension as long as he could, but the battle was as hopeless as ever. He felt as if his head was being wrenched apart, then the command center vanished and in the next moment the computer room in the Project complex took its place. He'd made the transition between the Dimensions almost between one breath and the next.

Then Blade realized he was still in the control chair, not in the KALI capsule, and it was teetering drunkenly. He tried to straighten up, but his transition-slowed reflexes weren't fast enough. The chair went over with a clanging crash which echoed around the room. Blade felt new pains all over, the sharpest one in his jaw. He saw J's face bending over him, twisted with alarm. Then he stopped seeing faces or feeling pain as a comfortable, soothing blackness took him.