"What saith he?" asked Bobir.
Reith translated. Bobir shook his head. "Iyá! So thinks he, belike. Pray, tell him that Sir Padras and I have seized all the ayas, for we shall need every animal to face the invaders. Moreover, all able-bodied male Terrans in situ are conscripted into the army of Mikardand, and any attempt to flee will be punished by instant execution.
"The Terran women may do as they like. I can, howsomever, promise that if they set out on foot, and the Qaathians win the battle, these females will be caught on the road by the nomads, raped, and slain."
Again Reith translated. Stavrakos went pale, while Fodor chewed his mustache. Sir Padras came in. "The guards are now posted over the ayas and around the camp, Sir Bobir."
Stavrakos pleaded. "Look, I'm not able-bodied. I'm an old man. I'm overweight, and I've never ridden an aya or handled a sword in my life."
"Then you shall learn," said Bobir complacently when this had been translated. "Sir Fergus, assemble all the male Terrans at those wooden towers Master Fodor hath built. Padras and I shall compel them to learn to fight. You've had experience with riding and swording; so have Masters Fodor, Strachan, Fallon, and that actor fellow, Master Fairwedder. The four of you shall be drill instructors. No argument, Master Stav—whatever your name is! To dispute a lawful order of a Knight of Qarar is grounds for execution."
When Reith, going through the Terran tents, told the Cosmic crew what impended, he was met with shrieks of fear, anger, and outrage. There were cries of "I'm leaving this place in spite of their guards!"
"It's not fair!"
"I'll sue 'em!"
"Actor's Equity will hear about this!"
"It's all your fault, Fergus Reith!"
"Wait till I get hold of my agent!"
"I'll appeal to the Terran consul!"
"Won't do you any good," said Reith. "Tony Fallon's been drafted, too. He's to be one of your drill instructors."
"Huh!" exclaimed Cassie Norris. "Not a man with balls in the whole friggin' lot! If you can find a breastplate with bulges to fit mine, I'll get out there with a sword and show you!"
"Thanks, Cassie," smiled Reith. "You're the best man of the lot. The rest of you, follow me!"
Roqir, hanging low in the sky, saw actors, cameramen, and other members of the shooting crew learning, with grunts and groans, to mount an aya, guide the animal with reins and heels, and tie the beast up properly. Alicia acted as a translator; Reith, as a general trouble shooter.
After a brief dinner break, the conscripts were divided into five squads and assigned to the drill instructors to learn sword-play. Issuing the silver-painted wooden swords intended for the battle scene, Reith lined up the five assigned to him. Fodor was put in charge of Stavrakos, and Reith observed that the director took sadistic pleasure in beating his boss black and blue in the guise of teaching him saber-fencing technique.
Reith told his pupils, "First we'll learn the normal guard position for fighting without a shield. Place your feet in line with your opponent, right foot forward ..."
When he had reduced his charges to exhaustion, Reith sent them to bed. Ordway, passing Reith on the way to his tent, muttered: "By God, Sir Fergus, the Lady G. will jolly well have to do without me tonight. I'm so whacked, I couldn't make love to Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, and the Queen of Sheba rolled into one!"
The groans of the shooting crew the evening before were nothing compared to the chorus of outcries and complaints that rose the next morning. "Oh, God, Fergus, I can't move! Between those damned animals and that fencing footwork ..."
"I'm so stiff that if I bend, I'll break in two."
"Damn it, why can't they give us noncombatant jobs, like stretcher bearing? We're no warriors!"
"You'll loosen up with exercise," said Reith implacably. "Come on!"
Although the Terran recruits needed moons of practice to make them passable riders and swordsmen, Bobir and Padras decided that, for lack of time, they would be put through mounted drills. On the field chosen for the cinematic battle, two dozen Terrans tried to maneuver in formation. They succeeded only in caroming into one another, causing their ayas to run away with them, and otherwise earning their instructors' curses.
During a rest period, Reith noticed a little knot of women and cameramen around Attila Fodor. When he walked over to investigate, Fodor exulted: "Didn't I say we'd have this battle on film?"
"What are you doing?" asked Reith.
"Teaching the girls to use the cameras. When the Qaathians come, the women will go up the towers with the cameras and shoot the action."
Reith said: "If the Qaathians win, your girls will be trapped up there. The nomads will either climb up after them or burn down the towers."
"Sure; but what else can they do? If they run away on foot, the nomads will catch them, with the same results. So on the chance that we win, we might as well get something out of it. I'll change the script to fit later."
Reith looked around. "Where's Gashigi?"
"Oh, she took off in her carriage last night. Said duty called her back to Mishé. The colonels let her and her driver go, but they kept her bodyguards for soldiers. Most of the camp followers sneaked away, too."
"I thought the colonels had posted guards on the perimeter?"
Fodor smiled and spread his hands. "Imagine you're one of these soldiers, Fergus, and during the night your woman comes up and whispers: 'Let me through, love, so I'm not killed if the nomads break through! If we live, I'll meet you back home.' Are you going to turn her back?"
"Hm," Reith pondered. "Who's got Gashigi's room at the inn?"
"I have it, natural, with my two girls."
"Then your tent's empty. Any reason why—uh—"
Fodor dealt Reith one of his bone-breaking back-slaps. "Go ahead, move in with her! You two are so near married, it don't make no difference."
Reith had his squad lined up and stretching their leg tendons by practicing the lunge, when a Gozashtando soldier galloped up, flung himself off his aya, and demanded to see Colonel Bobir.
"Over there!" Reith pointed. The soldier ran, leading his mount.
Reith told his men to stand at ease and followed the soldier, whom he found talking earnestly with both colonels.
"Ah, Sir Fergus!" said Bobir. "This trooper is one of the scouts we sent to watch the approaches. The foe come not by the Qe'ba road but swing wide about the southern end of the range. Now they hasten along the farther bank of the Khoruz, approaching yonder ford."
"How near?" asked Reith.
"With's own eyes, Trooper Arum hath seen, not the veritable Qaathians, but only the vast cloud of dust they raise. Belike, we have an hour ere they arrive."
"What's your plan?"
"Why, to meet them in mid-stream and smite them sore!"
"Look, Sir Bobir, they'll outnumber us at least two to one. Shouldn't we let part of their force cross unopposed and then charge them? That way, we shall have the advantage of numbers at the point of contact."
Padras asked: "How shall we hide our intentions from the oncomers?"
"If we form here, below the towers, they won't see us while crossing because of the swell of the ground. Then someone in the towers can signal when the first thousand or so have crossed, and we can charge down on them. They're light-armed, with little or no armor, and their beasts are small."
"A clever plan for a civilian Ertsu" said Bobir. "But we are old, experienced warriors, and natives of this world to boot. Think not that I mean aught of unpraise, Sir Fergus; but 'tis our responsibility—"