So he sprinted through the darkness along the shore to where he'd left the raft. He slashed the line with his sword and leaped aboard. The raft dove several inches deep under the impact, then bobbed to the surface. Blade put down the beamer, snatched up the paddle, and began paddling as if a dozen of the sea reptiles were already hard on his trail.
It seemed forever before the little island began receding in the darkness. At last Blade felt free to turn and look toward the shore. The fires there were blazing higher, and smaller dots of light moving back and forth along the shore told Blade of lit torches. He wondered what wild guesses the watchers were making about what they saw and heard, and paddled on. Slowly the island faded behind him, and so did the noise of the battle the Menel were fighting against the sea beasts.
A little while longer, and Blade could begin to make out individual figures moving along the shore, in and out of the pools of light thrown by the fires. In another few minutes he'd be in water shallow enough to slow the attack of the great reptiles, and…
The sea behind him rose into two glistening mounds, and a too familiar roaring hiss rolled across the water.
As the fanged heads broke the surface and rose dripping and terrible, Blade was already lifting the beamer. The two beasts surged forward, Blade's hand came down on the trigger plate, and the crimson beam vanished into the mouth of the one on the left. The whole top of the skull came off, with bits of bone and teeth, hide, flesh, and brain tissue raining down. Blade shifted his aim as the second beast came at him, ignoring the fate of the first one. Again his hand came down on the trigger plate, and this time nothing happened.
Blade struck the trigger plate a second time, a third. Broken or exhausted, the beamer was certainly useless for the moment. Blade shifted it to his left hand and drew his longsword with his right. He still had a chance, if the beast would stay on the surface and not have the sense to dive and come up under the raft.
It came on. Its head reared high above Blade, they scraping and clashing of long teeth added to the hisses and roars. Then the head dipped toward him.
Blade saw the yard-wide mouth descending on him and thrust upward with the useless beamer, ramming it between the filth-caked teeth. At the same time he struck with his sword, putting every bit of his strength into the slash. Even the beast's rugged hide could not stand up under such a blow. Hide and flesh gaped open to the bone all across the beast's nose. It jerked its head back with a convulsive whipping of the long neck, roaring deafeningly. Blade thrust his sword into its scabbard and plunged over the side of the raft.
He dove deep, striking out toward the shore. Hopefully the wounded beast would be distracted by the beamer, then by the raft. By that time he would be safely on land. It was a faint hope, but all he had. He thrust himself furiously through the black depths until a burning in his lungs warned him that his breath was about to run out. He lunged toward the surface and thrust his head up for a gulp of air.
The beast floated now with its head high in the air, twisting about wildly. Between the teeth Blade saw the beamer shining. Good. He'd gained a few seconds head start, at least. He took a deep breath, then got ready to dive again.
As Blade's head was about to dip under, the beast's jaws clamped down hard on the beamer. Somehow that triggered the release of all the weapon's stored energy in a single explosive second. Gold and crimson flame flared where the reptile's head had been, and its last hissing roar was lost in the thunderous crash of the explosion. Bits of charred flesh and bone sprayed down into the water like the blast of a shotgun, kicking up the water all around Blade.
For another moment the mangled stump of the beast's neck waved high in the air, as its body obeyed the last few signals from the now shattered brain. Then it dropped limply into the water, throwing up a wave that washed over Blade's head. By the time he could see again the beast had sunk out of sight, and nothing was left from the battle except a few stray planks of the raft.
So much for using the beamer to convince anybody of anything! At least he was alive, instead of making a meal for one of the reptiles, and now he wouldn't have to worry about how to conceal the beamer until the right time came to reveal it.
On shore the people seemed to be dashing about like ants from a broken hill. It was time to get ashore and try to give them some sort of plausible explanation of what had been going on.
Blade turned and began to swim.
Chapter 16
The moment Blade stepped out of the water, all the warriors crowded around him. They pounded him on the back, wrung his hand, shouted questions and cries of joy at his return. Paor finally broke up the mob, shouting orders and prodding a few laggards with the butt of his spear, and Blade was able to sit down and drink some water.
That gave him enough time to think up an explanation of what he'd been doing and what had happened. The island had a volcanic vent on it, he said, and some of the escaping gas had ignited. The noise attracted some of the sea beasts, but they'd become interested in fighting each other. So he'd been able to escape, although only by the skin of his teeth!
Everyone on shore had seen the lights and heard the sounds of Blade's battle and seen the two beasts that chased his raft. With the darkness and their own fear and ignorance, the Kargoi hadn't seen enough to make them doubt Blade's tale. All they wanted to do now was pack up and get back to the main camp.
That was fine with Blade. He'd learned what he came to learn-and much more. It would take many more than fifty men to butcher all the dead reptiles for their useful parts before they rotted hopelessly. He also wanted to get away before any wreckage drifted ashore from the island. The Kargoi might wonder about his tale if a dead Menel or a piece of the submarine was washed up on the shore practically at their feet.
In half an hour everyone was mounted up, and in an hour they were well on their march through the darkness toward the main camp.
They reached it just before dawn. Blade learned at once that the camp and its warriors had been nearly as busy last night as he had.
During the night the camp had to stand off a united attack by bat-birds from the sky and reptiles from the sea. Without the spears, the battle would have been grim and bloody, and the camp might have been overrun. As it was, another two hundred warriors, as many women and children, and twice as many drends were dead or dying. The attackers had been wiped out nearly to the last bird and beast, but how many more such victories could the Kargoi afford?
Obviously the Menel Blade had fought weren't the only ones in the area last night. It must have taken a good many of them to organize, launch, and control such a large attack. At least they'd lost many of their animals, and thanks to Blade's work they might have some trouble implanting more-for a while, at least.
Time. That was what Blade knew he had to fight to gain-as much of it as he could. He couldn't be sure what the Kargoi would do with the time he gave them. They might do nothing at all; even if they did anything it still might not be enough to save them. With their advanced technology the Menel would not be limited to indirect attacks with controlled animals. Any day they could take the field themselves, launching a direct and completely unstoppable attack.
The prospects were grim, but there was no point in spending any time worrying about them. Blade could have easily used a twenty-nine hour day coping with the problems at hand.
The problems added up rapidly. Adroon, the High Baudz, lay in his wagon, immobilized by a badly-broken leg. In spite of the severe pain, he was as clear-headed as ever, but his presence would be missed on future battlefields.