The Dance of Time b-6

by Eric Flint

  He looked at Calopodius. "How much longer before the window closes?"

  The blind young officer shrugged. "There's really no way to predict it, General. It may never close at all."

  "Well enough, even if it does. It'll take me half the night anyway to get the men ready to leave. By morning, we'll know."

  * * *

  "Get some sleep, woman," Ousanas said gruffly. "There's nothing you can do here on the docks, anyway. The fleet will be ready to sail at dawn, be sure of it."

  "Ready to row, you should say."

  "Don't remind me!" In the dim lighting thrown off by the lanterns along the docks, Ousanas' dark features were hard to make out. But the scowl on his face was ferocious enough to be quite evident.

  "Your husband! It's his fault. If he was clever enough to manipulate everyone to this ridiculous state of affairs, why didn't he time it properly? Two or three more months and we'd be in monsoon season. Sail all the way, lolling in comfort and drinking wine."

  "He's only mortal," replied Antonina, smiling despite herself. Even though she wouldn't be working an oar, she was not looking forward to the voyage to Bharakuccha any more than Ousanas was. It would be long and slow and. . hot.

  "I hope the Hindus are right," grumbled Ousanas. "For this idiot stunt, Belisarius deserves to come into his next life as a lizard. Perched on a rock in the desert in the middle of garam, so he can fry-instead of us."

  Hands on hips, his gaze swept back and forth across the row of Axumite galleys. Even in the near-darkness, every one of them was a beehive of activity as the Ethiopian sailors and marines made ready for the voyage. What Antonina couldn't see, she could hear.

  "They don't seem to be complaining as much as I expected," she said.

  "That's because of my awesome new title. In the olden days, when I was but the modest keeper of the fly whisks, I'd have had a mutiny on my hands. Be swinging from a gibbet, by now. Disemboweled, too. My entrails dangling just inches above the water, so the Axumite marines could bet on the sharks competing for them."

  Antonina couldn't help but laugh. When he was in the mood, Ousanas did histrionic gloom as well as he did anything else. If he'd been alive in the days of Cassandra, probably no one would remember her at all.

  "Stop exaggerating. They'd only have beaten you to a senseless pulp and placed bets on the alley dogs."

  Ousanas' grin flashed in the night. A moment later, more seriously, he added: "They're not really disgruntled at all, in truth. Yes, the voyage to Bharakuccha at this time of year will be a miserable business. We'll be lucky if we have the sails up more than a few hours every other day. Row, row, row and sweat buckets while we do it. But. ."

  He took a long, slow breath. "But there is Bharakuccha for them, at the end. The same city where Eon left us, and whose harbor they destroyed in their vengeance. This time, with its gates opening wide."

  Antonina felt a pang of grief. She remembered that harbor very well herself. She had been sitting next to Eon when he died, reading to him from the Bible.

  "Best of all, it'll be garrison duty. In one of the world's largest and busiest seaports. Dens of vice and iniquity on every street. No more fighting, dying and bleeding. Let the Hindu heathens fight it out amongst themselves, from now on. For Axum, the war is over-and what remains are the pickings."

  The grin flashed again. "Great pickings, too. There are even more merchant coffers in Bharakuccha than taverns and brothels. Just skimming the tolls-even the light ones we'll maintain-will make Axum rich. Richer still, I should say."

  He basked in that happy thought, for a moment. Then the scowl came back.

  "And will you get some sleep, woman? You'll need to be wide awake and alert tomorrow morning."

  "Whatever for? I'm not pulling an oar." Half-righteously and half-apologetically, she added: "I'm too small. It'd be silly."

  "Who cares about that? I remind you that it will be your responsibility-not mine! — to oversee the transfer of your emperor son and his sahrdaran wife aboard ship. Especially her. God only knows what absurd contrivance the Persians will come up with, for the purpose. But I'm sure it'll involve elephants."

  Antonina didn't quite scamper from the docks. Not quite.

  * * *

  "You're certain?"

  "Yes," replied Jaimal. Udai nodded his agreement.

  Sanga's lieutenant traced a line on the map. "We can follow the rivers, most of the way, east of the Aravalli mountains. Basically, it's the same route we took years ago, when we tried to catch up with Belisarius by sea. That time, it took us almost three weeks. But we had tired horses, after that long chase, where this time we'll be starting with fresh ones. And. . well. ."

  Sanga smiled thinly. "Yes, I know. Last time, I wasn't really driving the matter, since I knew it was hopeless anyway."

  He straightened up from the map. "Well enough. Be out of the city as soon as possible. Try to make it in two weeks. But don't be foolish!" He held up an admonishing finger. "Better to use half the day-most of it, if need be-to make sure you've got the best horses in Bharakuccha. You'll make up the difference within five days."

  The admonition was simply a symptom of Sanga's tension, so Jaimal and Udai took it in good enough spirits. On its face, of course, it was insulting. Teach a Rajput about horses!

  * * *

  The final message was also brief.

  EMERALD READY IN TIME FOR TRANSACTION

  "I'm off, then," said Belisarius. "At first light."

  Chapter 25

  Kausambi

  Lady Damodara came into the chamber that served Dhruva and Lata as something in the way of a modest salon. There was no expression on her face, but her features seemed taut.

  "Valentinian? I'm not certain-neither is Rajiv-but. ."

  Even after all these months, Dhruva could still be surprised at how quickly Valentinian moved when he wanted to. Before she quite knew what was happening, he'd plopped the baby he'd been playing with into her lap and was at the side of the one window in the room.

  His finger moved the curtain. Just slightly, and very briefly, as if a breeze had fluttered it.

  "It's starting," he said, turning away from the window.

  Lady Damodara was startled. "But you only glanced-"

  Then, seeing the look on Valentinian's face, she smiled wryly. "Yes, I know. Stupid to question an expert."

  Valentinian waved at Dhruva and Lata, who was perched on another settee. "Out, now. Into the tunnel. Lata, you make sure all the other maids and servants on this floor are moving. Don't let them dilly-dally to pack anything, either. They're supposed to be packed already."

  Anastasius came into the room, scowling. "If you can tear yourself away from-oh. You know, I take it?"

  Valentinian scowled right back at him. "Why is it that philosophy never seems to help you with anything useful? Of course, I know. What's the majordomo up to?"

  "He's getting everyone out of the kitchens. Rajiv and Khandik are rousting the rest of the servants on the floor above."

  Valentinian nodded, and turned to Lady Damodara. "It will help if you and Lady Sanga take charge of the evacuation. Anastasius and I and the Ye-tai-and Rajiv-need to concentrate on the delaying action."

  The tautness came back to Lady Damodara's face. "Rajiv, too?"

  "Especially Rajiv," said Valentinian. He gave her what he probably thought was a reassuring look. Even in the tension of the moment, Dhruva had to fight down a laugh. On his face, it didn't look reassuring so much as simply sanguine.

  "We need him, Lady," added Anastasius. "Rajiv's more coolheaded than the Ye-tai. We've been training him to handle the charges."

  "Oh." The tautness faded. "You won't have him in the front?"

  Valentinian started to say something that Dhruva was pretty sure would come out as a snarl, but Anastasius hastily interrupted.

  "That'd be silly, wouldn't it? What I mean is, those tunnels aren't wide enough for more than two men at the front, and what with me and Valentinian-" He waved a huge h
and at his glowering comrade. "No room for Rajiv there, anyway."

  "We're wasting time," snarled Valentinian. "The boy goes with us, Lady Damodara. No way I want some damn Ye-tai deciding when to blow the charges."

  * * *

  By the time Dhruva and Lata got all the servants and maids chivvied into the cellars, some order had been brought to the initial chaos.

  Quite a bit, actually. Between them, the wives of Damodara and Rana Sanga practically oozed authority, and the majordomo was always there to handle the little details. Most of the cooks and servants and maids were now being guided into the tunnel by the Bihari miners.

  That, too, had been planned long before. One miner for every four servants. True, they were now short the two murdered miners-and shorter still, in terms of the Ye-tai mercenaries who were supposed to oversee the whole operation. Still, there was no trouble. Khandik and one of the other two remaining mercenaries were staying in the cellars to help with the evacuation. The third one was upstairs with the two Roman cataphracts and Rajiv.

  Things were even orderly enough for Lata to do a quick count.

  "We're missing one of the maids, I think. That one-I can't remember her name-who helps with the washing."

  Dhruva scanned the faces, trying to place her. The two sisters hadn't had much contact with the servants on the upper floors, as a rule. But because Lady Damodara insisted that all clothes washing had to be done indoors, they did encounter the ones who came to the laundry.

  "I don't know her name either, but I know you who mean. The one. . Well. She's pretty stupid, from what I could tell."

  They saw the majordomo walking quickly toward Lady Damodara and Sanga's wife, who were standing in the center of the big cellar watching over everything. From the frown on his face, Dhruva was pretty sure he'd just finished his own head count and had come to the same conclusion.

  A moment later, he and the two ladies were talking. All of them were now frowning. The two sisters couldn't hear the words, but the subject was fairly obvious.

  "I better help," Lata said. "Will you be all right with the baby?"

  "Yes. I'll wait till the last. Be careful."

  Lata hurried over. Sanga's wife spotted her coming almost instantly. A faint look of relief came to her face.

  As Lata neared, Lady Sanga interrupted the majordomo. "Yes, fine." She pointed at Lata. "We can send her upstairs to find out what happened to the girl."

  Lady Damodara looked at Lata and gave her a quick nod. An instant later, she was scampering up the stairs.

  * * *

  Even before she got to the main floor, Lata could hear the dull booming. The Malwa soldiery must be trying to batter down the main entrance door. Over the months, as discreetly as possible, Lady Damodara had had iron bars placed over all the windows on the palace's ground floor. To stymie thieves, she'd claimed, the one time a Malwa city official had investigated. He'd probably thought the explanation was silly, since that wealthy part of Kausambi with its frequent military patrols was hardly a place that any sensible thief would ply his trade. But he hadn't pursued the matter.

  Now, that official would probably lose his head for negligence. Or be impaled on a stake, if the secret police decided that more than negligence was involved. The only way into the palace for troops trying to storm it quickly was through the main entrance. And that wasn't going to be quick, even with battering rams, as heavy and well-braced and barred as it now was.

  Lata reached the landing and scampered toward the sound of the booming. The cataphracts would be there, of course.

  So, indeed, they were. Along with Rajiv and the third Ye-tai mercenary, they were standing in a small alcove at the far end of the great entry vestibule. The same alcove that Lata entered, since it was the one that led to the basement floor and the cellars below.

  "One of the maids is-"

  Anastasius waved her down, without turning his head. "We know, Lata. She's over there."

  Lata looked past him. Sure enough, the missing maid was cowering against a far wall of the vestibule.

  "Come here, girl!" Rajiv shouted. "There's still time!"

  There was plenty of time, in fact. The main door shook again, booming fiercely as whatever battering ram the soldiery had smashed into it. But, beyond loosening one of the hinges, the blow seemed to have no impact. The door would stand for at least another minute or two. More than enough time for the maid to saunter across to the alcove and the safety beyond, much less run.

  But it didn't matter. The girl was obviously too petrified to think at all, even if she weren't dim-witted to begin with. She'd been overlooked in the initial evacuation, and now. .

  "Step aside, Rajiv," Valentinian said harshly.

  Lata could see the shoulders of the young Rajput prince tighten. He didn't move from his position at the front of the alcove.

  "Obey me, boy."

  Rajiv took a shuddering little breath; then, moved aside and flattened himself against the wall.

  Valentinian already had an arrow notched. The bow came up quickly, easily; the draw, likewise. Lata wasn't astonished, even though Valentinian had once let her draw that bow when she'd expressed curiosity.

  Try to draw it, rather. She might as well have tried to lift an ox.

  She never really saw the arrow's flight. Just stared, as the poor stupid maid was pinned to the far wall like a butterfly. Only a foot or so of the arrow protruded from her chest. The arrowhead had passed right through her and sunk into the thick wood of the wall.

  Valentinian had no expression on his face at all. Another arrow was already out of the quiver and notched.

  "It was quick, Rajiv," said Anastasius quietly. "In the heart. We can't leave anyone behind who might talk, you know that. And we need you now on the detonator."

  Tight-faced, Rajiv nodded and came toward Lata. Looking down, Lata saw an odd-looking contraption on the floor not more than three feet away from her. It was a small wooden box with a wire leading from it into the wall of the alcove, and a knobbed handle sticking up from the middle. A plunger of some kind, she thought.

  Rajiv didn't look at Valentinian as he passed him. He seemed surprised to see Lata. And, from the look on his face, a bit frightened.

  "You have to go below!" He glanced back, as if to look at Valentinian. "Quickly."

  "I just came up to see what happened to her. We took a count and. ."

  Turning his head slightly, Valentinian said over his shoulder: "Get below, Lata. Now."

  * * *

  Once she was back in the cellar, she just shook her head in response to the question in Lady Damodara's raised eyebrows.

  The lady seemed to understand. She nodded and looked away.

  "What happened?" Dhruva hissed.

  "Never mind. She's dead." Lata half-pushed her sister toward the tunnel. "We're almost the last ones. Let's get in there. We're just in the way, now."

  There were two Bihari miners left, still standing by the entrance. One of them came to escort them.

  "This way, ladies. You'll have to stoop a little. Do you need help with the baby?"

  "Don't be silly," Dhruva replied.

  * * *

  The upper hinge gave first. Once the integrity of the door was breached, three more blows from the battering ram were enough to knock it completely aside.

  By the time those blows were finished, Valentinian had already fired four arrows through the widening gap. Each one of them killed a Malwa soldier in the huge mass of soldiery Rajiv could see on the street beyond.

  Anastasius fired only once. His arrow, even more powerfully shot, took a Malwa in the shoulder. Hitting the armor there, it spun him into the mob.

  The Ye-tai mercenary fired also. Twice, Rajiv thought, but he wasn't paying him any attention. He was settling his nerves from the killing of the maid by coldly gauging the archery skill of the two cataphracts against his father's.

  Anastasius was more powerful, but much slower; Valentinian, faster than his father-and as accurate-but not as powe
rful.

  So, a Rajput prince concluded, his father remained the greatest archer in the world. In India, at least.

  That was some satisfaction. Rajput notions concerning the responsibility of a lord to his retainers were just as stiff as all their notions. Even if, technically, the maid was simply a servant and not one of Rajiv's anyway, her casual murder had raised his hackles.

  Don't be silly, part of his mind said to him. Your father would have done the same.

  Rajiv shook his head. Not so quickly! he protested. Not so-so-

  The voice came again. Uncaringly? Probably true. And so what? She'd have been just as dead. Don't ever think otherwise. To you, he's a father and a great warrior. To his enemies, he's never been anything but a cold and deadly killer.

  And you are his son-and do you intend to flinch when the time comes to push that plunger? Most of the men you'll destroy when you do so are peasants, and some of them none too intelligent. Does a stupid maid have a right to live, and they, not?

  The door finally came off the hinges altogether and smashed-what was left of it-onto the tiles of the huge vestibule. Malwa soldiers came pouring in.

  Valentinian fired three more times, faster than Rajiv could really follow. Anastasius, once; the Ye-tai, once. Four Malwa soldiers fell dead. One-the Ye-tai's target-was merely wounded.

  Valentinian stepped back quickly into the shelter of the alcove. Anastasius and the Ye-tai followed, an instant later.

  "Now," commanded Valentinian.

  Rajiv's hand struck down the plunger.

  The charges carefully implanted in the walls of the vestibule turned the whole room into an abattoir. In the months they'd had to prepare, the majordomo had even been able to secretly buy good drop shot on the black market. So it was real bullets that the mines sent flying into the room, not haphazard pieces of metal.

  Rajiv supposed that some of the soldiers in the room must have survived. One or two, perhaps not even injured.

  But not many. In a split second, he'd killed more men than most seasoned warriors would kill in a lifetime.

  * * *

  Somewhere on the stairs leading to the cellars, Rajiv uttered his one and only protest.