The Dance of Time b-6 Read online

  "True," he grunted. "Still. . why have the reports been so spotty?"

  The general didn't dare give an honest answer. Because most of the garrisons-and telegraph operators-flee before Damodara arrives at their towns and forts.

  Instead, he simply shook his head sagely. "War is very chaotic, Your Majesty. As you know from your own experience. Once the fighting starts, information always becomes spotty."

  Skandagupta grunted again. Then, pointed to the crumpled message. "Give me that."

  One of the slaves attending him hastened to obey. After reopening the message and studying it for a moment, Skandagupta snarled.

  The general and his two subordinates struggled not to sigh with relief. The snarl was familiar. Someone was about to die-but it wouldn't be them.

  "Send a telegraph message to the governor at Mathura. The commander of the garrison is to be executed. The sheer incompetence of the man! If not-who knows? — treachery. Why didn't he march out at once in pursuit of the enemy?"

  As one man, the generals decided to take that as a rhetorical question. To do otherwise would have been mortal folly. Because you ordered all garrisons to stay at their post no matter what, Your Majesty. .

  Would not be a wise thing to say to Skandagupta in a rage.

  "Whichever officer replaces him in command is ordered to lead an expedition out of Mathura-immediately and with the utmost haste-to deal with this new enemy. Whoever it is."

  "How many men from the garrison should he take, Your Majesty?"

  Skandagupta slapped the throne's armrest. "Do I need to decide everything? As many as he thinks necessary-but not fewer than thirty thousand! Do you understand? I want this new threat crushed!

  That would strip the garrison of three-fourths of its soldiers. More than that, really, since the new commander was sure to take all his best troops with him. His best cavalry and foot soldiers, at least. The experienced artillerymen would remain behind, since there would be no way to haul great guns up the roads by the Yamuna without making the phrase immediately and with the utmost haste a meaningless term. But artillerymen alone could not possibly defend a city as large as Mathura.

  None of the generals was about to say that to the emperor, however. As many heads and bodies as there were perched on the palace walls, there were twice as many still-bare stakes waiting. Skandagupta had ordered the walls festooned with the things.

  "Yes, Your Majesty."

  * * *

  Damodara and his army reached the Yamuna forty miles downstream of Mathura. They were met there by a small contingent of Ye-tai deserters from the garrison, who'd decided that the phrase Toramana's Ye-tai were words of wisdom.

  "Yes, Lord-ah, Your Majesty," said the captain in command of the contingent. "Lord Shankara-he's the new garrison commander-led most of the troops out of the city three days ago. They're headed north, after another army that's invading-ah, rebelling-ah, rightfully resisting-"

  Damodara waved the man's fumbling words aside. "Enough, enough. How many did he leave behind?"

  "Not more than eight thousand, Your Majesty."

  One of the other Ye-tai, emboldened by Damodara's relaxed demeanor, added: "Most of them are piss-poor troops, Your Majesty. Except the artillerymen."

  Damodara turned his head and grinned at Rana Sanga. "See? You doubted me! I told you I'd find siege guns-somewhere-and the troops to man them."

  He swiveled his head back, bringing the grin to bear on the Ye-tai. "They'll be cooperative, yes?"

  The Ye-tai captain gave one of his men a meaningful glance. That worthy cleared his throat and announced:

  "My cousin commands one of the batteries. I'll show you the gate it protects."

  "They'll cooperate," growled his captain.

  Damodara now bestowed the grin on Toramana. "I think these men will fit nicely in your personal regiment, don't you?"

  "Oh, yes," agreed Toramana. "But I'm thinking I'll need to form another, before too long."

  Chapter 33

  Mayapur

  Kungas waited until the lead elements of Great Lady Sati's army had crossed the river and her chaundoli was just reaching the opposite bank of the Ganges. He'd had to struggle mightily with himself not to give the order to open fire when there was still a chance to catch Sati herself.

  But that would have been stupid. The river was within reach of the big mortars, but the range was too great for any accuracy. They'd likely have missed Sati's chaundoli altogether-while leaving her close enough to the main body of her army to rejoin it and provide her soldiers with sure and decisive leadership.

  "Open fire!"

  The whole ridge above Mayapur erupted with mortar fire.

  This way, the Malwa army would be almost as effectively decapitated as if they'd killed the bitch herself. She'd be stranded on the opposite bank of the river with her own bodyguard and the advance contingents, while the bulk of her army would be caught on this side.

  As Kungas had commanded, the mortar shells began landing, most of them in the river itself. The Ganges was too deep to be forded here, this early in garam, except by using guideropes. The soldiers in mid-crossing were moving very slowly and painstakingly. They had not even the minimal protection of being able to evade the incoming shells. They were caught as helplessly as penned sheep.

  Explosions churned the river. A river which, within seconds, was streaked with red blood.

  Kungas waited until the mortars had fired two more volleys.

  "The near bank, now! Big mortars only!"

  He didn't have that much ammunition. Even to the near bank, the range was chancy for the small mortars. He wanted to save their ammunition for the charge that would soon be coming.

  Clumps of the soldiers packed on the near bank waiting their turn to ford the river were hurled aside by exploding mortar rounds. The casualties as such were fairly light. But, as Kungas had expected, the soldiers were already showing signs of panic. Being caught in the open as they were, by an attack that came as a complete surprise, was unnerving.

  He held his breath. This was the critical moment. If that Malwa army had the sort of officers trained by such generals as Belisarius, Damodara, or Rao-or Kungas himself-he was in real trouble. They'd organize an immediate counterattack, leading columns of men up the ridge. Kungas was confident that he'd be able to fend off such a counterattack long enough to make a successful retreat. But he'd suffer heavy casualties, and this whole risky gamble would have been for nothing.

  After a few seconds, he let out the breath. Thereafter, he continued to breathe slowly and deeply, but the tension was gone.

  The Malwa officers, instead, were reacting as he had gambled they would. Surely, yes; decisively, yes-but also defensively. They were simply trying to squelch the panic and force the men back into their ranks and lines.

  Which, they did. Which, of course, simply made them better targets.

  "Idiots," hissed the king's second-in-command, standing next to him atop the ridge.

  Kungas shook his head. "Not fair, Vima. Simply officers who've spent too much time in much too close proximity to a superhuman monster. Too many years of rigidity, too many years of expecting perfect orders from above."

  The next few minutes were just slaughter. Even the very first rounds had struck accurately, most of them. Kushans were hill-fighters and had adopted the new mortars with something approaching religious fervor. Where other men might see in a Cohorn mortar nothing but an ugly assemblage of angular metal, Kushans lavished the same loving care on the things that other warrior nations lavished on their horses and swords.

  Finally, Kungas saw what he was expecting. Several horsemen were driving their mounts recklessly back across the river. Couriers, of course, bringing orders from the Great Lady.

  "Well, it was nice while it lasted," chuckled Vima harshly. "How long do you want to hold the ridge?"

  "We'll hold it as long as we can keep killing ten of them to one of us. After that-which will be once they get too close for mortars-we'll make
our retreat. Nothing glamorous, you understand?"

  Vima smiled. "Please, Your Majesty. Do I look like a Persian sahrdaran?"

  * * *

  "The battery is secure, Emperor," said Toramana.

  "I think your Ye-tais should do the honors, then."

  Toramana nodded. "Wise, I think. Rajputs pouring through the gate into Mathura would probably make the soldiers of the battery nervous."

  After he was gone, Rana Sanga said sourly: "What has the world come to? That men would prefer to surrender to Ye-tai than Rajputs?"

  Damodara just smiled.

  * * *

  Within two hours, Mathura was his-and the great siege guns with it.

  Only one battery and two barracks of regular troops put up any resistance, once the garrison saw that Damodara's army had gained entry into the city through treachery.

  All the soldiers in those two barracks were massacred.

  The Ye-tai contingent that served as a security unit for the recalcitrant battery were also massacred. Toramana led the massacre personally, using nothing but Ye-tai troops.

  After they surrendered, the surviving artillerymen were lined up. One out of every ten, chosen at random, was decapitated. Damodara thought that would be enough to ensure the obedience of the rest, and he didn't want to waste experienced gunners.

  He'd need them, at Kausambi. Soon, now.

  * * *

  Valentinian straightened up and rubbed his back. "Enough," he growled. "I've stared at this sketch till I'm half-blind."

  "It's a good sketch!" protested Rajiv.

  "I didn't say it wasn't. And I don't doubt that you and Tarun measured off every pace personally. I just said I've stared at it enough. By now, I've got it memorized."

  "Me, too," grunted Anastasius, also straightening up on his stool.

  The huge cataphract turned to the assassin squatting on the stable floor next to him. "You?"

  Ajatasutra waved his hand. "What does it matter? I won't be one of the poor fellows sweating and bleeding in this desperate endeavor."

  Easily, gracefully, he came to his feet. "I'm just a messenger boy, remember?"

  The two Roman soldiers looked at each other. Anastasius seemed reasonably philosophical about the matter. Valentinian didn't.

  But Valentinian wasn't inclined to argue the point, any more than Anastasius. They'd miss the assassin's skills-miss them mightily-when the time came. But long hours of discussion and argument had led all of them to the same conclusion:

  Nothing would matter, if Sanga wasn't there at the right time. That meant someone had to get word to him, across a north Indian plain that was turning into a giant, sprawling, chaotic, confused battlefield.

  A simple courier's job-but one that would require the skills of an assassin.

  "You don't have to gloat about it!" snapped Valentinian.

  Ajatasutra just smiled.

  * * *

  "You don't have to gloat!" complained Photius.

  Tahmina gave him that half-serene, half-pitying look that was the single habit of his wife's that the eleven-year-old emperor of Rome positively hated. Especially because she always did it looking down at him. Even while they were sitting.

  "Stop whining," she said. "It's not my fault if you make elephants nervous. They seem to like me."

  Gingerly, Photius leaned out over the edge of the howdah and gazed at the Bharakucchan street passing below.

  Very, very far below.

  "It's not natural," he insisted.

  Tahmina just smiled.

  * * *

  "Tempting, isn't it?" said Maloji.

  From their position on the very crest of the Vindhyas, Rao and Maloji gazed out over the landscape of northern India, fading below them into the distance. Visibility was excellent, since they were still some weeks from the monsoon season.

  Rao glanced at Maloji, then at the hill fortress his Maratha soldiers were building some dozens of yards away.

  "I won't deny it. We'd still be fools to accept that temptation."

  He looked back to the north, pointing with his chin. "For the first few hundred miles, everything would go well. By now, between them, Damodara and Belisarius will have turned half the Ganges plain into a whirlpool of war. Easy pickings for us, on the edges. But then?"

  He shook his head. "There are too many north Indians. And regardless of who wins this civil war, soon enough there will be another empire solidly in place. Then what?"

  "Yes, I know. But at least we'd get some of our own back, after all the killing and plundering the bastards did in the Deccan. For that matter, they've still got a huge garrison in Amaravati."

  "Not for long, they won't. Shakuntala got the word a few days ago. All of our south Indian allies have agreed to join us in our expedition to Amaravati, once we've finished this line of hill forts. The Cholas and Keralans even look to be sending large armies. Within two months-perhaps three-that garrison will be gone. One way or the other. So will all the others, in the smaller towns and cities. They'll march their bodies out of the Deccan, or we'll scatter their ashes across it."

  " 'Allies,' " Maloji muttered.

  In truth, the other realms of south India had played no role at all in the actual fighting, up till now. As important as the alliance was for the Andhran empire for diplomatic reasons, most of Shakuntala's subjects-especially the Marathas-were contemptuous of the other Deccan powers.

  "Patience, Maloji, patience. They were disunited, and the Malwa terrified them for decades. Now that we've shown they can be beaten, even if Damodara's rebellion fails and Skandagupta keeps the throne the rest of the Deccan will cleave to us. They'll have no choice, anyway. But with our foreign allies-all the aid we can expect through Bharakuccha, if we need it-they'll even be sanguine about it."

  "Bharakuccha," Maloji muttered.

  Rao laughed. "Oh, leave off! As great an empire as Andhra has now become, we can well afford to give up one city. Two cities, if you count the Axumite presence in Chowpatty. What do we care? There are other ports we can expand, if we desire it. And having the Ethiopians with their own interests in the Indian trade, we'll automatically have their support also, in the event the Malwa start the war up again."

  "They're not that big."

  "No-which is exactly why we agreed to let them have Bharakuccha. They're no threat to us. But they probably have the most powerful navy in the Erythrean Sea, today. That means the Malwa won't be able to prevent the Romans from sending us all the material support we need."

  Judging from the expression on his face, Maloji was still not entirely mollified. "But would they?"

  "As long as Belisarius is alive, yes," replied Rao serenely. "And he's still a young man."

  "A young man leading an army into the middle of the Gangetic plain. Who's to say he's even still alive?"

  Rao just smiled.

  * * *

  Belisarius himself was scowling.

  "As bad as Persians!" He matched the old Rajput kings glare for glare. "You've heard the reports. Sati will have at least thirty thousand infantry, half of them armed with muskets and the rest with pikes. We have no more chance of breaking them with cavalry charges that we do riding our horses across the ocean."

  As indignant as they were, the kings were quite familiar with warfare. The two brothers Dasal and Jaisal looked away, still glaring, but no longer at Belisarius. One of the other kings, Chachu, was the only one who tried to keep the argument going.

  "You have rockets," he pointed out.

  Belisarius shrugged. "I've got eight rocket chariots with no more than a dozen rockets each. That's enough to harass the Malwa. It's not the sort of artillery force that would enable me to smash infantry squares."

  Chachu fell silent, his angry eyes sweeping across the landscape. It was quite visible, since the command tent they were standing under was no more than an open pavilion. Just enough to shelter them from the hot sun. They were out of sight of the Yamuna, by now, marching north toward the Ganges. Well into garam seaso
n, the flat plain was parched and sere.

  "It is dishonorable," he muttered.

  Belisarius felt his jaws tighten. There was much to admire about Rajputs. There was also much to despise. He thought it was quite typical that Rajput kings would be solely concerned with their honor-when what bothered Belisarius was the destruction he'd soon be visiting upon innocent peasants.

  "We. . have. . no. . choice," he said, rasping out the words. "The tactical triangle is simple."

  He held up his thumb. "Cavalry cannot break infantry armed with guns, so long as they remain in tight formations and keep discipline. You can be sure and certain that an army led by Malwa's overlord will do so."

  His forefinger came up alongside the thumb. "Artillery can smash infantry squares-but we have no artillery worth talking about."

  Another finger. "On the other side, Sati has only enough cavalry to give her a scouting screen. Not enough-not nearly enough-to drive us off."

  He lowered his hand. "So, we keep the pressure on them-from a bit of a distance-and force them to remain in formation. That means they move slowly, and cannot forage. And there's nothing to forage anyway, because we will burn the land bare around them. Once their supplies run out, they're finished."

  In a slightly more conciliatory tone, he added: "If you were mounted archers in the manner of the Persians, I might try the same tactics that defeated the Roman general Crassus at Carrhae. But-we must be honest here-you are not."

  Chachu's head came back around. "Rajput archers are as good-!"

  "Oh, be quiet!" snapped Dasal. The oldest of the Rajput kings shifted his glare from the landscape to his fellow king. "I have seen Persian dehgans in combat. You haven't. What the Roman general is talking about is not their individual skill as bowmen-although that's much greater than ours also, except for a few like Sanga. Those damn Persians grow up with bows. He's talking about their tactics."

  Dasal took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "We do not fight in that manner, it is true. Rajputs are a nation of lancers and swordsmen."

  Belisarius nodded. "And there's no way to train an army in such tactics quickly. My own bucellarii have been trained to fight that way, but there are only five hundred of them. Not enough. Not nearly enough."