" Hmmm," mused Noratumi, " you are right. Very good." He looked at her with renewed admiration. " This path leads directly to Bron. And in that direction, the camp."
Falling silent, they moved on foot through the forests. After the desert, this was paradise for Inyx. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, taking in full odors rather than the abbreviated dryness she' d found on the sands. Here rose life, lush wetness, exciting breezes, real texture. And with it came the faint sounds of human voices.
Jacy unnecessarily motioned her to silence. On their bellies, they moved forward until they sighted the soldiers' camp.
Inyx had seen its ilk before. What worried her was the large number of mounts still tethered. If each one matched a soldier hidden away somewhere in the camp, there were a full hundred in reserve. To attack the other band would be stark foolishness on Noratumi' s part if Claybore could summon up twice that number to take them from the rear.
Noratumi only smiled, then motioned Inyx away. They moved to the east, past a burbling stream and to a small waterfall.
Only under the cover of the rushing water did Jacy speak.
" Up there. Can you make it up on the rocks? They are slippery."
As agile as a mountain goat, Inyx leaped from rock to rock, found the tiniest of hand- and footholds, and scaled the rock face beside the waterfall with contemptuous ease. Noratumi found the going rougher; he was not only heavier, his boot toes were squared off and slipped on the precarious rock face.
Atop, waiting for Jacy, the woman studied the lake that created the waterfall. It stretched out for acres. But what attracted her attention was the cause of the waterfall. Some small aquatic creatures had built a dam across the river, restricting flow to the merest of trickles. The creatures allowed only enough flow over the top to reduce the pressure on their wood- and- mud structure.
" You begin to understand?" asked Noratumi, finally reaching the top. He stood beside Inyx on the lake shore and pointed to the elaborately constructed dam across the mouth of the lake. " That is our secret weapon."
" But how?"
He didn' t answer. She realized the question had been improperly phrased and that the man' s sense of propriety had been violated. Or perhaps he might have simply wanted to remain mysterious for her benefit. She cursed under her breath, wondering which it was. All the while Jacy worked, he spoke not a single word to her. Only slowly did Inyx come to understand the man' s intent.
He lugged a huge fallen log down to the shoreline. Here, using vines, he lofted the log until it swung freely. He tied another vine to the log, then swam across to secure that end to a far tree. This caused the heavy tree trunk to hang suspended over the creatures' dam. If the vine on either side gave way, Inyx saw the destruction that would occur.
The heavy log would smash downward wrecking the dam; the water pressure would finish the destruction; the tiny stream escaping past the dam would become a torrential outpouring.
And the grey- clads' camp was on the stream- which would be turned into a raging river.
" But:" she began to ask again. She clamped her mouth firmly shut. Asking somehow insulted Noratumi. Let him show her, no matter how galled she got at having to wait.
The man vanished into the forest. Inyx sat on her haunches, idly twisting grasses into pulpy strands, discarding them and starting over. She did not have Lan' s patience. Waiting annoyed her; she preferred immediate action to inactivity. But Jacy Noratumi finally returned. As silently as before, he scaled one tree and began smearing honey stolen from a hive onto the vine.
Inyx had to smile when she saw the dark arrow of a line of ants home in on the tasty treat. They went directly up the tree, across the limb, down the vine and began eating the honey, even before Noratumi had finished.
He dropped to the ground and washed his hands in the lake. Only then did he speak.
" Past experience tells me we have only an hour before the hungry beggars chew through enough of the vine to bring down the log. Let us hurry to the attack! We have a battle to win this day!"
They hastened to rejoin Noratumi' s small band, now stripped of their travel gear and arrayed in full battle dress. The horses nervously shuffled and pawed at the earth, aware of the impending fight.
" How much longer before the dam breaks?" Inyx asked, as she slipped into what had been Margora' s padded armor. She started to ask again when she realized that Jacy was ignoring her; the question of their relative rankings had yet to be resolved. Inyx pushed down her irritation at being left in this social limbo. Noratumi enjoyed her company and even sought it out on their trek back to Bron, but she had the feeling of being treated as a diversion rather than a human at times.
And at other times, he had made her think she was nothing less than a princess. Inyx had been among many peoples with different customs. Learning the ways of Bron required time. When she did figure out what the rules were, Noratumi' s behavior wouldn' t seem as odd. She might not approve of it then, but understanding would be hers.
" To the city!" the man called from the front of the pathetic column. Inyx admired his determination, but to attack with such a small group against fully fifty armed and ready soldiers smacked of insanity. However, it was an insanity she could share. Pulling free her sword, she thrust it upward as if to gut the sky. The sun caught the blued steel and sent shafts of brilliance radiating toward Bron.
Noratumi used this as a signal for the attack. Pell mell they thundered toward the meadow road leading to the front gate of the city. Shouting until she was hoarse, Inyx entered the green meadowand the battle.
Immediately came five riders. Something singled her out from the others. She had no time to decide what this might have been. The five attacked. And she charged.
Between them she raced, her horse straining to the utmost. Her blade flashed first left and then right, leaving behind lacerated wrists and cursing riders. She ducked under a heavy battle axe, leaned forward, and stabbed with her sword at the axe- wielder, and was rewarded by a liquid cry of anguish as her blade penetrated the exposed area under the man' s arm. He snorted blood from his nostrils, a sure sign she had punctured not only skin but lung. The man toppled off his horse, sending the animal racing off in confusion.
" Jacy! Do you need help?" she cried, laughing even as she parried a spear- lunge. Jacy Noratumi turned, stared at her with emotionless amber eyes, and shook his head. It was all the answer she expected. Then Inyx found herself engaged with two riders, one of whom carried red officer' s stripes on a sleeve.
Like Lan Martak, she had never been able to decipher the ranking system used by the grey- clads, but the red stripes indicated more than a simple soldier. A deft twist of her wrist disengaged her blade and sent it snaking into the other man' s throat. She faced the leader of Claybore' s troops.
They hacked and hammered at one another until Inyx' s arm turned to lead. Knowing that she could not fight in this fashion much longer, Inyx changed tactics. Allowing her sword to be knocked aside, she made no effort to return to line. Instead, she rose up in her stirrups and hurled herself onto her opponent. Both tumbled to the ground in a kicking, swearing pile.
The officer rolled free and came to her feet. She tossed back her helm, allowing a flow of medium- length blonde hair to catch the wind. A sneer marked her already- scarred face.
“ So you are the one Claybore seeks," she said, the sibilance of her voice so great she hissed like a snake. " Promotion shall be mine when I deliver you to our leader."
Inyx laughed harshly, reaching to her belt and pulling forth her dagger.
" It' ll take more than words, bitch."