Thane laughed and pointed down at the beach. «There he is and I wish you joy of him. Now with your permission, I will leave you and go searching for Galligantus. You have no further need of me?»
«None,» said Blade stiffly. «Go. I hope you find your Galligantus. Perhaps it will improve your humor.»
Thane reined away and put his mount to gallop. Blade remained at the cliff edge. Far below him, Bloodax leaped into the fray again and his axe was drinking Zirnian blood. Blade pondered. Was he in the wrong? Perhaps. But he wanted the man alive, to woo and win him to friendship if possible, to use him to rule the Hitts and guide Blade to the choicest diamonds.
He watched the fighting on the beach. Ogier was now beginning to win. The defiles had been stoppered and there was no place for the Hitts to retreat to. Blade had smashed the reserves and when a Hitt warrior fell he could not be replaced. The piles of Hitt dead were rising minute by minute. Ogier kept flinging more troops ashore, using sheer numbers and mass to overwhelm his enemy. The Zirnian beachhead widened bit by bit as the Hitts were forced, literally, to the cliff wall.
Blade remained where he was, easing himself in the saddle and binding his slight wound with a cloth. A steady stream of officers brought reports, and some remained to keep him company.
«No male Hitt lives,» said one officer, «but for some old men who did not have time to kill themselves before we took them.»
Blade looked at the meadow behind him. Smashed wagons and burning tents and thousands upon thousands of corpses. In one corner of the meadow were captives, most of them women, with some children, guarded by horsemen and foot. They were keening, wailing for their dead and for their future, and the sound came harsh to Blade's ears. He looked away and tried to shut out the sound.
«Our losses?»
«More than a thousand, sire. Another half thousand so badly hurt as to be useless. Shall I order them killed? They will be a burden on us.»
Blade eyed the officer who had spoken. «You will order them cared for,» he said curtly. «I will inspect later and say who is to have a mercy death and who is to live.»
He turned back to the cliff. He sought for some sight of Loth Bloodax and could not find him. Uneasiness stirred in Blade. Where was the Hitt chief? He swung from his saddle and stalked to the cliff edge flinging himself on his belly to peer over.
«Mind the edge,» one officer warned. «It is loose soil there.»
Blade ignored him. He sought anxiously in the melee below for a sign of the spiked helmet and the flashing axe. It was gone, they were gone, Loth Bloodax was gone. Blade swore and knew that he had been somehow outsmarted. But how?
Ogier had driven his salient through to the cliff wall now and had widened it. He poured battalion after battalion into the aisle dividing the Hitts. It was nearly over.
The remaining Hitts on the beach died one by one. They were encircled and cut off and taken from all sides. They grouped in twenties and thirties, and the last man died atop the pile of his companions. Ogier spurred up and down the beach, bellowing orders and lending a hand now and then in the fighting. Blade smiled faintly. A fine warrior, Ogier, and a shrewd Captain. Of all the heritage left him by the Izmir, he prized Ogier the most; Thane, but for the drink, would have ranked equal, but there was excuse for Thane. He had a sorrow that did not plague Ogier.
Blade began to look among the corpses for that of Loth Bloodax. He thought it wasted effort, yet he still sought without success. But maybe the Hitt chieftain was buried under other bodies, perhaps his corpse would still be found. Blade did not really believe it. He knew that he had been somehow diddled, though he could not guess at the how and why of it.
At last Ogier sent up blue smoke. Victory. It was all over on the beach. In a few minutes a courier came from Ogier and sought out Blade among his officers. The courier was evidently just off the last transport, for his armor was new and unsullied by blood, his face clean and his mount fresh. Blade's veterans loured at the man and muttered. The courier reddened in the face, but ignored them and rode to Blade and saluted.
«The Captain Ogier sends greetings, Prince, and says that the beach is taken. Our losses, at first count, are some eight thousand dead and as many hurt. The Captain says-«
Blade waved an impatient hand. «What of Loth Bloodax? And a warrior called Galligantus? What of them?»
«I come to that, Prince. Of the man Galligantus nothing is known, but Loth Bloodax has escaped us. He has fled.»
Blade stared. «How is this possible? He grew wings, mayhap, or borrowed a pair from one of his dead leather-men? What do you tell me, man? That Bloodax flew over the cliff, or the sea?»
An officer broke in. «This one lies, Prince. It is impossible. I last saw Bloodax backed against the cliff wall with a score of Zirnians after him. He had half a dozen men about him, no more.»
Blade bade him be silent. He waited. The courier knew a dramatic moment when it came. He took his time in speaking.
«Loth Bloodax escaped into the cliff, my Prince. He must have planned it all along and so fought in that direction. There is an opening into the cliff, cleverly concealed and invisible, unless you come within six feet of it. It leads into a tunnel, a tunnel so narrow and dark and winding that the Captain Ogier will not send men in there to search. This he bids me explain to you, and to say that he is sorry, and that he had done all he can for the moment. Have you a return message, Prince?»
Blade thought for a moment before answering. He must get after Bloodax at once. And yet he could not ask his men to do more than they had done this day. It would have to wait until morning.
«Say that the Captain Ogier had done well and that I thank him. He will dine with me tonight in my tent. If there is blame for the escape of Bloodax it is mine, not his, for no man could have done better. Say all this and also bid him extend my thanks to his officers and men. I am proud of them. Go.»
Thane came back. He was gloomy. He had a wine sack flung across his saddle and his mouth and beard were purple.
«I have heard the news,» he said before Blade could speak, «and I confess that I am not surprised. These cliffs are honeycombed with caves and tunnels. I should have thought of it, but I did not. I am sorry.»
«So am I.» Blade looked at the wine sack. «You are beginning?»
«Aye, I am. You have objection?»
«None. You have earned your drink.»
«I have,» Thane agreed, «and I have double cause for it this day. Galligantus has escaped me. His body is not to be found, though I have it that he fought here today. I am thinking that he went ahead into that tunnel, as advance guard for Bloodax. So they have diddled us both, Blade.»
Blade smiled. «If you keep some of your wits, Thane, and your head permits in the morning, we may come up with your Galligantus yet. For with the sun I go in search of Bloodax. It should not be hard-he can have few men and nothing of supply. I will get him.»
Thane tilted the wine sack and drank deep. «Or he will get you. I do not like it, Blade. This coast is one thing, the mountains are another. I should know. I once lived in them.»
«I do know that-which is why I wish you to drink lightly. I will need you as guide. But I request it, do not command it. Suit yourself.»
Thane drank hugely and grinned. «I always do, so far as I can and keep my head. But I make you a bargain, Blade-if you can wake me in the morning I will go with you. I will not like it, but I will go. But for now you have other troubles.»
Blade gazed about the littered battlefield. «Have I now? I had thought them over for a little time.»
«You will see. For you still do not know much of our Zirnian soldiery, and especially of such riff-raff as we have recruited for this campaign.»