Hugh Cook - The wizards and the warriors

Those in the first three ranks were armed with long pikes; in the rear rank were bowmen and also lightly armed skirmishers who, armed with weapons such as cudgels and sickles, would have their best opportunities if – and Hearst hoped it would be when – the enemy broke and ran.

On top of the burial mound itself was an honour guard of three hundred swordsmen and axemen; all these warriors were heavily armoured and carried shields. Hearst himself wore no armour and went bareheaded under the sun.

Toward evening, some horsemen from Androlmarphos scouted out Hearst's defences, riding just out of bowshot.

'That's good,' said Hearst, i want Alish to attack quickly. He'll feel more confident if his reconnaissance patrols can bring him a thorough account of the disposition of our forces.' "What if he doesn't attack?' said Farfalla.

'He wants a quick victory,' said Hearst. 'He needs success to keep together his army of pirates and fortune seekers. Besides, Alish knows many of his men will be terrified by the thought that I might use the death-stone. If he waits, he gives such people the chance to betray his army to me. All things considered, he should attack at dawn.'

'Yes,' said Watashi. 'Particularly when he's got thirty or forty thousand men to bring against us. What did his last embassy threaten us with? Rice Empire mercenaries, armoured cavalry from Galgasoon, Sung bowmen, slingshot heroes from Breenmower, a legion of Collosnon deserters, skirmishers from Provincial Endergen-eer – half the vultures in creation must be under his command.'

'We'll have more men by morning,' said Hearst. 'Ohio's taking care of that.'

'It's late in the day to be moving any more men into position,' said Watashi. 'When are they coming?'

'Some time,' said Hearst, who, tired of listening to unwanted advice, had made his battle-plan without reference to Watashi.

'Go out now and give the evening orders,' said Hearst, i want listening posts set up forward of our lines, and patrols to go out even further to the west. I don't want to take any chance of our being caught by a night attack.' iil see that gets done,' said Watashi.

'There's also an order every officer is to give the men at dawn,' said Hearst. 'Not before, mind, in case we lose a patrol or a few sentries to a raiding party from Androlmarphos. I don't want Alish to get advance warning of what I'm going to do.'

'The order will be given at dawn,' said Watashi. 'What is it?'

'When blue smoke rises from the burial mound, fall back on the pyramid,' said Hearst. 'When red smoke rises, attack. Blue to retreat, red to attack.'

'Ten thousand men falling back on the pyramid!' said Watashi, outraged. 'We'd crush each other to death. There's not nearly enough room.'

'The effect of that order will be to have the army move south when I want,' said Hearst. 'They can all see the pyramid wherever they are, so that will give them the direction to move in.'

'What's the purpose of these orders?' said Watashi. 'To baffle the moon and confuse the sun,' said Hearst.

T hope you know what you're doing,' said Watashi. 'He knows,' said Farfalla.

'Does he?' said Watashi. T know more about tactics than your – '

'He's good,' said Farfalla. 'Good at everything he does.'

'But no cavalry! The greatest strength of our army, just thrown away! Unless there's horses hidden in one of those magic bottles.'

'There aren't,' said Hearst.

Experiments had shown that only fifty men or ten horses could be taken into one of the bottles as a group; furthermore, horses could not negotiate the stairwells inside the bottle, and a dozen at most could fit inside the bottleneck.

'What have you got in the bottle then?'

'Provisions to supply our army for a month or more,' said Hearst, 'In case we have to lay siege to Androlmarphos.'

'So we've no cavalry.'

'Oh, we could always ride each other to war, at a pinch,' said Hearst easily. 'This is no joke!'

'So what do you want me to do about it?'

'There's nothing we can do now,' said Watashi. it would be a nightmare trying to bring a large force of cavalry across that river under cover of darkness. Your friend Alish will know that. Somebody will tell him if he doesn't realise it himself i had thought of that,' said Hearst, it will encourage him to attack at dawn, before we have another day in which to bolster our force here.'

'You sound enthusiastic,' said Watashi.

'Of course,' said Hearst, i now know of a certainty when my enemy will be launching his attack. That's a substantial advantage in a battle like that. Now: the orders.'

Watashi recited Hearst's orders, word perfect, then went to distribute them.

And Hearst was left standing on the mound, gazing to the west where the blood-red sun was sinking. The sunset made the plains a field of blood; the distant battlements of Androlmarphos were black against the blood-red sun, and the waters of the Central Ocean were a sea of fire.

In the darkness, Hearst and Farfalla sat together on the burial mound outside the marquee. Hearst named the stars, and told Farfalla long stories about their loves and hatreds, their politics and alliances, and the roles they had played in the battle of the sun and the moon.

Through the quiet night came the undertones of the voices of many men sitting talking round camp fires. Some had grumbled at the loads of firewood Hearst had ordered brought to their positions: it had meant a lot of hard work for everyone. But they would be glad of that wood now: glad of their small fires and the talk that went on around the fire.

Hearst had issued orders forbidding anyone to burn bamboo, for he did not want explosions keeping people awake. However, he knew that for some, there would be little sleep – and, for a few, none. Meanwhile, there would be long, lazy conversations, ranging over everything under the heavens; far better to sit talking by fireside than to lie alone in the dark, wrapped in a blanket against the cold, trying to sleep but only occasionally managing a few moments of dreamtime, which inevitably end in nightmare.

For a moment, looking out at the campfires, Hearst wished he was once more an ordinary fighting man, without the responsibilities of command.

"What's that star?' said Farfalla. 'Which one?'

'The green one to the south of the Centipede.'

'That is Elamazure. She is a very tall lady, very beautiful, but terrible to behold, for she is one of the great judges. A jade sword rides at her side. Above all else, she judges battle: the shades of incompetent commanders have reason to fear her.'

'Why?'

'She does not judge the rights or wrongs of the wars of the world, but she passes judgment on their conduct. To her, incompetence in battle is the greatest sin, for it extends the agony, so that a conflict that could be settled with a single battle ends up lasting five years or fifty.'

'What are you afraid of?'

'I do not say that I fear anything, but… well, it is a heavy responsibility.'

Falling silent, Hearst heard a creaking begin in the night: that was an irrigation pump. It would drudge away till dawn, at his orders. Then he heard voices, then a sentry approached: 'Commander Hearst?'

'Here.'

'My lord, the cavalry commander presents himself 'Good,' said Hearst.

The sentry led him through the darkness to the cavalry commander, a big man smelling of horses and sweat.

'How is it going?' said Hearst. 'Like silk,' said the commander. 'As smooth as a dream.'

'I hope you have better dreams than me,' said Hearst, it's going very well. We should all be here long before dawn.'

'Have your officers received their orders?' 'Everything has been done as you wanted it to be done,' said the cavalry commander.

'Good,' said Hearst. 'Good.'

Under Ohio's command, ships had been anchored next to each other and planks laid across their decks to form a bridge across the river. Under cover of darkness, cavalry was being brought dry-shod to Hearst's army. By morning, he would have two thousand horses at his disposal.