Blade had no very clear recollection of making his way through the dark tunnels away from Harima's chambers, and then through the corridors back to his own suite. But he had a very clear memory of waking in the morning light and seeing Guroth standing over him. The captain was obviously waiting to speak, and on his face was a look so bleak that Blade was awake in an instant.

«What is it, Guroth?»

«Word has come from the border, oh Pendarnoth. It arrived during the night, while you were with the Princess Harima.»

«Yes?»

«The Lanyri army is on the march. It crossed the border six days ago.»

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Three weeks later Blade sat on his horse and watched Rojag horsemen milling about on the outskirts of a burning Pendari town. His horse was not the Golden Steed, for that beast was too sacred in the eyes of the Pendari to be risked in battle. Instead he rode a tall, dark gray stallion from the royal stables, the personal gift of King Nefus. It was larger than the average Pendari horse, and so quite equal to Blade's two hundred pounds. The Golden Steed was back in the palace stables in Pendar, no doubt gorging itself in luxury.

Blade almost wished he could be there also. He had been furiously busy during those past weeks, working night and day training the soldiers of the Pendarnoth's Guard. That was no easy job, for Blade had to polish up his own skills at mounted archery at the same time. All that kept the job from being completely impossible was Guroth's constant and loyal aid. The new High Captain of the Pendarnoth's Guard was as able an instructor as he had been a combat soldier. He was able to teach Blade at the same time he was teaching the guard. And he had won the confidence of the soldiers to such an extent that Blade had no hesitation about leaving them in Guroth's hands when he himself rode off to war. Only a small force of guardsmen rode with him, for it was not part of the plan for him to do any heavy fighting now.

It was as well that Guroth had proved so loyal and so able. Klerus was pushing his plots ahead as fast as he dared, now that his Lanyri allies were actually on the march. The Pendari armies were being ordered to fall back before the invaders. One general who had given battle on his own initiative, and actually wiped out a small Lanyri force, had been assassinated. That had produced much grumbling among the soldiers. But the more outspoken grumblers had met the same fate as the aggressive general. After that there was silence in the ranks of the army, although the western horizon was marred each day by the smoke from burning Pendari farms and villages.

And Klerus was recruiting his own guard. Since Blade had the blessing of the priests as well as the support of the king for the formation of his own guard, Klerus had chosen not to oppose it openly. Instead he was secretly assembling a force of his own. It was already so large that any attempt to arrest Klerus would mean a pitched battle. Before too much longer Klerus would have enough men around him and under his orders to stage an outright military takeover, if he couldn't manage things any other way. So much of the Pendari army was now out in the field watching the advancing Lanyri that it would be easy to seize the palace and even Vilesh.

Fortunately, Guroth and most of the Pendarnoth's Guard were back in Vilesh. They would do all that could be done there to fight Klerus. Blade could stop worrying about that and concentrate on learning about the Lanyri.

He had not seen enough of the tough Lanyri infantry to really know if they were as good as he had been told they were. But he had seen far too many Rojag horsemen scouting and marauding ahead of the Lanyri. Apparently the Rojags had turned out every man they could put on a horse. No doubt they hoped that their alliance with the Lanyri would bring them Pendari land and slaves when the Lanyri had won. Some of them even now had bows, no doubt captured from the Pendari, although they could not yet use them well from horseback. But they did provide the Lanyri with a scouting force that could move just as fast as the Pendari. Not to mention the looting, burning, and massacring they accomplished wherever they went. Blade had seen a Pendari village after the Rojags got through with it, and he still felt a little sick at the memory.

The smoke from the village was rising now in three distinct columns. As Blade watched, one of the columns turned a dirty blue. Something in a shop, no doubt, making the smoke come out that color. Some of the Rojags seemed to be dismounting, no doubt to loot and rape more effectively.

Blade scanned the bare brown hills beyond the village's green fringe for any further signs of the enemy. He could see nothing, but that didn't mean there was nothing there. The Rojags were past masters at using cover, and the Lanyri were no less clever.

Blade heard a hail from behind him and turned. The officer commanding the fifty-man troop of horsemen riding with Blade was coming toward him. The officer bowed his head as he rode up and said, «Hail, Pendarnoth. I think we can attack those Rojag creatures and perhaps save the village. There are fifty of my men here and twenty of your own guard. I do not think there are more than half that many Rojags.»

Looking toward the village again, Blade was inclined to agree. He could not count the cloaked, armed figures very accurately, but certainly he could not see more than about twenty-five. He wasn't supposed to get involved in heavy fighting, but this could hardly be called heavy fighting. And a victory here might save at least one Pendari village from ending up as a heap of smoking rubble, its maimed and tortured people sprawled hideously in the streets.

He nodded. «Very well. We shall attack. You will give the orders. I will lead my guard only.» Blade did not yet feel he understood the finer points of Pendari tactics well enough to take command from an officer who had been learning them for nearly twenty years.

The officer rode back to his men and Blade heard his voice rise in shouted orders. He turned to his guard and told them of the plan. He was rewarded by savage grins. These were among the toughest soldiers in the whole army of Pendar, spoiling for the fight he had been denying them for nearly a week. They would follow him into anything, even if he were not the Pendarnoth. Then he turned his horse's head toward the village and waited for the horn blast that would signal the charge.

It came, harsh, raucous, floating across the fields to the ears of the Rojags. Blade saw some of the moving figures stop dead and rammed his spurs into the horse's flanks. It leaped and scrambled up the slope out of the gully. Behind Blade came the guardsmen, and off to his left dust rose in a cloud as the other horsemen came up the slope. Their bows were already in position, and Blade saw the sunlight glint on arrowheads as they began shooting. He did not bother with his own bow, for he had no hope of hitting anything with a horsebow arrow at this range.

Now all seventy of the Pendari horsemen were out on the level ground and picking up speed. The hoof beats thundered in Blade's ears, and the clouds of dust about him made him cough. Through the yellow swirl he could see the Rojags scattering to their horses. Some of them were already mounted, spurring their horses toward the far side of the village. But others already lay still or writhing in the streets, arrows in their bodies.

Blade urged his horse to the left, toward the center of the advancing Pendari line. The fringe of an attack was no place for the Pendarnoth. He saw the houses of the village closed. Had the inhabitants managed to barricade themselves inside their houses? A Rojag arrow arched across his field of vision, ill-aimed but close enough so that he heard its whistle. Time to try a few shots with his own bow-the range was getting down.