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nikvove when he reached his battle line. This is going to be a big one, Dray!
Aye. Would to Zair it was not necessary.
In the voller waited his pilot, his trumpeter and his standard bearer, all old friends to whom I spoke a
few words. Then Seg Segutorio took off, flying forward into battle. Would I ever clap eyes on my blade
comrade again? That kind of thought always occurs to me, always tortures me, and is always a stupid
nonsense. When Zair crooks his finger, then up you go, my friend, and nothing will detain you on
Kregen...
It was time for me to perform what later generations would call the Public Relations Stunt. Mind you, I
do not denigrate the value of thus showing myself, as the commander, and the flags. Mounted on as large
a nikvove as we could find, a superb charger called Balassmane, and clad in a brilliant golden armor,
emblazoned with scarlet, I rode along the forward face of the army. The blazing Mask of Recognition
glittered in the light of the Suns or Scorpio. Scarlet feathers fluttered. I lifted the drexer high in salute.
Following me trotted Cleitar the Standard bearing the flag with the yellow cross on the scarlet field, Old
Superb. With him rode Ortyg the Tresh proudly lifting the new red and yellow flag of Vallia. Volodu the
Lungs rode to hand and his silver trumpet, much dented, gleamed like a leaping salmon. At my back and
on the side nearest the enemy rode Korero the Shield. It would take a very great deal to shift him from
that devoted position. Others of my Sword Watch trotted in that imperial cavalcade, glittering with light,
colorful with uniforms, proud, eager, nerved to the occasion, men you have met in this my narrative, men
I am proud to call comrades.
As we passed down the lines the roar of approbation swelled and the men in the ranks lifted their
weapons, a swirling forest of blades, and cheered. The answering shouts from our foes drifted in, thin and
attenuated. But, then, all our bellowing would reach them as a mere whisper beside their own war chants.
By Aduim s Belly! said Dorgo the Clis.
I never thought to see a day like this, said Targon the Tapster.
Nor me, said Naghan ti Lodkwara.
Their words were lost and blown away in the swelling cheers from the army.
By the time that morale-boosting and flag identification exercise was over and we had returned to our
positions, the first clashes had taken place. The archers had been sent forward by Zankov to prepare our
mass. He must, then, have a great deal of control over the unruly clansmen. But Seg would have none of
that and he would not sit on his hands when there was shooting in the wind. His advance guard cavalry
swept out, screeching, long lines of glittering figures bounding over the moorland. They tumbled the
enemy archers over and Seg s mounted Bowmen roared forward. He had so few Bowmen of Loh to
hand that he reserved them for the special occasion, thepoint d appui. But the compound reflex bows of
our men spat. The range to the enormous mass of clansmen was far too far; but the confused fighting
between the two ranked armies slowly sorted itself out, and then the recalls were blown and our men,
triumphant, rode back.
Of course, the discomfiture of that ploy of Zankov s would merely make the grim Chuktars of the
clansmen say in their savage way that he should not have bothered with all this fancy strategy and tactics.
Let the clansmen charge. That would be the end of it.
Our position on that little ridge must have worried Zankov. I had not formed any great opinion of his
qualities as a military captain; but something must have alarmed him at the sight of those massed ranks
and files of men, silent and motionless in their crimson and bronze. Perhaps he had heard of the fate of
the radvakkas against the Phalanx.
Looking about, I ll admit I missed the warm and eager presence of Barty Vessler. Nath Nazabhan
cantered over and instantly wanted me to order the advance. I looked at him and he said: Well, majister,
by Vox!
Once Filbarrka has been at work for a space, then you may advance, Nath. But you will not move until
you have my personal word. Is that clear?
It is clear and it makes sense, as we planned. But it is damned hard standing still with a pike in your fist
at a time like this.
Agreed. You saw their bowmen?
He ducked his head, eager, alive, vehement. I did. I may have spoken harsh words against the Kov of
Falinur in the past, when I did not know him. No one could have cleared our front as well as he has just
done.
That, I may say, pleased me enormously.
The clansmen with the failure of their missile men were not as foolish as the knights at Crecy. There was
no Comte d Alençon in their ranks to bay out: Kill me this rabble! Kill! Kill! and go spurring down on
his mercenary allies. They waited calmly for the outcome of this first encounter and when it went against
them they waited for the ground to clear. Again, that made sense, for even a vove in the midst of a charge
may stumble over a wounded man or a wounded and terrified zorca or totrix. So we watched them and
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