Read Online Manly Wade Wellman - Novel 1986 by Cahena (v3.1) - Free Book Online

though to keep
from smiling. It gave her an expression almost coquettish.
    “Not exactly,” he said. “If they retreat into the
pass, they can hold us off. Let our three columns come along. This middle one
faces the pass, the others lie out to either side. As
the enemy comes out, let this middle column retreat.”
    “Retreat?” Bhakrann barked his protest.
    “It’ll fall back but keep formation and spread
into line as it retires. Those Moslems will gallop at us, calling on Allah
almighty.”
    “There is also the Cahena,” breathed Bhakrann,
like a prayer.
    “If we fall back, what then?” the Cahena prompted
Wulf.
    “Out come their first
squadrons, thinking they’ve already won,” said Wulf. “Our other columns strike
from the sides, charge in close order, and, when they’re almost there, throw
javelins. This central force will charge, too, drive in, fight hand to hand.”
    “That sounds good,” said the Cahena, nodding. “When did you think of all this?”
    “While we rode,” said Wulf. “Considered our
possibilities and theirs, and tried to choose the best one. And you asked for
my opinion.”
    “I did, and you gave it.”
    She laughed. It was her first real laugh that Wulf
had heard. It was musical, like a flute.
    “Bhakrann,” she said, “did you hear what Wulf
explained?”
    “Very clearly, Cahena,” replied Bhakrann.
    “Then ride to the left column there. Yaunis leads
it. Tell him and his subchiefs what’s been decided. They’re to approach the
pass, not directly, but within sight and signal of us. When we, here at the
middle, draw them into the open, Yaunis is to charge. Understand?”
    “Very clearly,” said Bhakrann again, and cantered
away.
    “Mallul,” the Cahena called.
    Her son hurried from behind. He listened as the
Cahena told him the orders to carry to the right. “Ketriazar commands there,”
she said. “Say that this is my word, then come back to tell me that he will
obey.”
    Mallul rode away, and Wulf and the Cahena
continued side by side across a grassy level. Scraps of pallid mist showed, and
Wulf had time to remember his dream, perhaps his vision, of the striding
creature with its bull’s head. Bhakrann had said he had seen something actual.
He could still see it, in his imagination.
    “Tell me what you’re thinking of,” the Cahena bade
him, and he told her. She listened seriously.
    “Yes,” she said, “we know that one. He smells
blood before a battle. We call him Khro.”
    “Do you worship him?”
    “Not exactly, but we fear him. Yet you say he
didn’t come near you.” Wulf heard the hoofs of their horses, stirring the
grass. “Now, your plan sounds perfect. If we win, it’ll be your doing.”
    “No plan’s ever perfect,” said Wulf. “They’ll have
the advantage of the rising sun in our faces. We’ll have to make up for that by
a quick, hard blow that will disorganize them.”
    “You think of everything,” she said, not quite
mockingly.
    “Nobody thinks of everything. Any battle plan has
mistakes. The side with the fewest mistakes will win.”
    “That’s true. What’s the worst mistake a commander
can make?”
    “Not having enough men at the right place and time,”
he said.
    “If we could always have that.” She smiled, but only faintly. “Maybe they have more than
we do just now, but if we use your plan? You must have been a good commander,
Wulf.”
    “I never had more than two squadrons at once, but
I’ve always read whatever I could about battles. Julius Caesar, Tacitus, the
reports of Belisarius — whatever came to hand.”
    “You can read and write,” she said, impressed. “I
never learned to do either. When we’ve won this battle, you can talk to my
councillor Djalout. He’s at home on Arwa — he’s too old to come on campaigns.
Sometimes I’ve thought him the wisest of men.”
    “As you’re the wisest of women,
Cahena.”
    “You talk like a courtier. Warrior and courtier,
that’s a combination . Luck rode into our