The noose was tightening around Gerhaa, as it had been tightening for ten days. Everyone in the city felt as if the noose was around his own neck. Tempers were getting shorter as the last desperate battle seemed to be coming closer. It was almost impossible to get the men on the barricades to take prisoners now. Blade hadn't heard what was happening in the enemy's camp since four days ago.
Another stone flew from the anchored fleet and crashed into the city. Blade winced. In the first few days after the fleet's arrival, their siege engines knocked down many of the towers on the city's riverside wall and drove the defenders off the rest. The catapults no longer kept the Protector's ships at a distance. Even in the fading light Blade could recognize the four ships where wooden siege towers were rising on the decks. When those towers were finished and the ships filled with soldiers, they would be towed close under the cliffs. Then Gerhaa would be attacked from two directions at once.
What then? Blade was far from certain that the rebels could hold against a double attack. Even if they did hold, the battle would be savage and bloody. It might not leave enough people alive on either side to give anyone an advantage. That would be a victory of sorts, at least for the Forest People. But what about the people of Gerhaa, who deserved better after all they'd endured from the Protector and now from their struggle to overthrow him.
Crash, crunch, thud! Three more stones in rapid succession. This time Blade didn't have to imagine the clouds of dust rising. Something large must have collapsed. At least the rubble would make good barricades, and the besiegers hadn't used firepots yet. They probably wouldn't, either. The Protector's wealth and that of most of his supporters was still inside Gerhaa. The last thing he'd want to do was risk burning it.
Behind Blade someone coughed, to get his attention. He turned and saw Kuka. The man was red-eyed and even thinner than usual. One arm was crudely bandaged, and Blade knew that arm would become infected if Kuka wouldn't take time to have a doctor look at it. If there could only be the Shield of Life in Gerhaa. But there wasn't, so Kuka might very well lose his arm.
Then Blade noticed the man standing beside Kuka, and stared. It was one of the men he'd sent upriver with Meera. In fact, he had Meera's silver arm ring tied to his belt. He wore a crude shirt and trousers of soaking-wet rawhide, and all his exposed skin was caked and stinking with some sort of grease. Somehow Blade had the feeling the man's appearance meant good news. He smiled.
«Welcome back, my friend. What does Swebon say?»
Blade and Kuka both listened intently as the man described the army Swebon was bringing down the Great River and his plans for using it. As Blade expected, the plans were sound. Swebon did not have very much to learn about war in general or even about the use of the new bows. No doubt the men he'd sent ashore to make a diversion behind the Protector were the reason troops were going ashore from the ships.
When the man was finished, Blade asked him a question. «How did you get here, and what are you wearing?»
«I swam.»
«You swam in the Great River?» Blade couldn't hide his surprise.
«Yes. The idea came from a priest of the Kabi. He said that only the Horned Ones in the Great River touch dead meat, and they do not come out by day. So if I swam by day and smelled like a dead thing, I would be safe.»
That explained the skins and the smelly grease-no doubt hides and fat from well-decayed carcasses. «Is Swebon going to use this priest's trick with other men?»
«He did not tell me, and I did not ask.»
«Swebon is wise,» said Blade.
«Not as wise as you are, Blade,» said the man.
Blade shook his head. «That is for the Forest Spirit to decide, not us.» He turned to Kuka. «I think we'd better start getting ready to help Swebon when he comes.» He listed the things they'd need, including three hundred picked fighters with the best weapons and armor to climb down the cliffs and join in the attack on the ships. Blade would lead that force himself.
«Blade, you cannot risk-«began Kuka.
Blade shook his head. «I won't ask someone else to risk himself in this. Besides, the men of the city have a good leader in you.»
«Me?» Kuka seemed stunned.
«Yes, you. And that's why if you don't have the doctors look at that arm, I'll knock you down and drag you to them myself. You will be needed.»
Kuka laughed. «All right, Blade, I'll go, I'll go.»
The last of the light faded. Kuka went off to see the doctors and several messengers went off with Blade's orders. Blade ate stale bread and cheese with the mold scraped off, then settled down to spend the night up on the palace tower.
At the second hour of the night, a messenger returned. He reported that men were leaving the Protector's camp. Some appeared to be marching back toward the river. Others were marching inland.
At the third hour, another messenger came. The rope ladders for going down the cliff to the river were all ready. So were the new barricades built behind the old ones on the landward side of the city. Many women were asking to help man these barricades, or at least stand in the windows and throw stones and roof tiles down on the Protector's men.
Blade gave his permission. Fighting from behind solid barricades, fifty men could hold off five hundred, but a second line of defense never hurt. Even a handful of the Protector's men loose in the rebel rear could do a great deal of damage.
Shortly before the fifth hour, Blade saw movement among the ships in the harbor. One by one, about a dozen crept out from the eastern end of the harbor into the open river. There they stopped, apparently anchoring again. In the darkness Blade didn't know what ships they were. He did recall vaguely that most of the ships flying the Emperor's banner were at the southern end of the harbor, but he couldn't be sure. He decided he was getting too tired to think clearly. He'd have to get some sleep, or he'd be no good when and if things did start to happen.
When Kuka returned, he found Blade sound asleep on the floor of the balcony, wrapped up in his cloak and snoring like a small thunderstorm.
Swebon saw a hint of dawn in the darkness as he looked downriver. He could also begin to see the looming mass of the Stone Village and the ships near it. He didn't think the men on the ships could yet see him or all the canoes behind him. A faint mist lay over the river, and Swebon himself couldn't see most of the canoes when he looked astern.
He knew they were all there. No man would violate the oath he'd sworn, even if he could resist the idea of helping to bring down the Stone Village and the Sons of Hapanu. The courage of the warriors following him had survived even the knowledge that there would not be much of the Shield of Life. Only the worst wounds would have it at once. The others must wait until the People went upriver again. Perhaps Blade or the fighters of the Games had some knowledge that could help the wounded.
There were not as many men in the canoes now as when they started the journey. The Great River was still a dangerous place for the Forest People, even if they no longer needed to fear the Horned Ones so much. Too many warriors and weapons now lay at the bottom of the Great River.
Now the mist was beginning to lift. Soon the men on the enemy ships would be able to see the canoes. It was time to launch the attack. Swebon motioned to the man behind him to pass up the great horn. He raised it to his lips, took a deep breath, then blew. Behind him other horns replied, and so did the beat of drums. Paddles plunged into the water with splashes, and suddenly there was foam at the bow of the canoe.
Swebon blew the horn three more times, then sat down and picked up his own paddle.
Someone was shaking Blade. He grunted, sat up by sheer reflex, then came fully awake to see Kuka squatting beside him. The man's wounded arm showed a brand-new bandage.