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reinforcements gave pause to the tribesmen. They halted, breathing deeply, the
sides of their horses heaving.
A long low growling rose from them and in a spontaneous burst of hatred, they
charged; horses shoulder to shoulder, a thousand across and behind packed deep
with their brethren urging them on, trying to find their way into the front
ranks, scream-ing and crying for blood.
The time came for the chariots to be used and the reinsmen lined their war
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wagons up, the chains con-necting each to the other in pairs. They looked to
their leader. Casca drew his short sword and with a sweep pointed it to the
battle. Three hundred chari-ots surged forth, slowly at first and then gaining
speed they crashed into the living wall of tribesmen, the chains tearing the
feet out from un-der the tribesmen s horses. By the hundreds, the animals fell
to the sandy valley floor with broken legs, spilling their riders to the
ground, where they were trampled under the hooves of their brothers or crushed
under the wheels of the chariots. Over half of the three hundred chariots were
swamped under the deluge of screaming tribesmen, but not before they had
thrown the army of barbarians into a con-fused milling mass.
The orderly ranks of the imperial cavalry and in-fantry poured down on the
confused tribesmen, slic-ing and striking, they performed great slaughter.
Disciplined and efficient, they went about their sol-diers work.
The barbarians were beaten. The chariots had done their job. Now it was up to
them to finish off as many as they could. From the corner of his eye, Casca
saw the King slice the head off a Hsuing-nu chieftain and race into the battle
followed by his personal household guard. He plunged into the milling knot of
tribesmen, showing a total lack of concern for his own safety.
Oh, shit. That little bastard s going to get him-self in trouble, thought
Casca. Turning over com-mand of the remaining chariots to Sung Ti, he
per-mitted him to join the battle, whipping Glam s shaggy carcass, fighting
his way to the spot where the king had disappeared into the whirling mass of
men, beasts and dust. Striking left and right, Casca laid about him whacking
the hand off a tribesman who grabbed his reins and broke the neck of anoth-er
with a well placed kick in the face. The king was down.
His horse had its legs cut out from under it and lay screaming like a woman in
that shrill man-ner only horses dying have. The surviving guards placed
themselves in a circle around their imperial master ready to die rather than
leave him; had their master died, they would live in disgrace and shame
forever.
Driving his sword through the eye of a wild-faced barbarian, Casca broke
through to the king. Glam rose on his hind legs and struck out with his sharp
hooves, crushing the brain case of a wiry tribesman like an eggshell. The
king s guard commander grabbed the imperial person and ignoring his lord s
protests, threw him to Casca, who laid him across his saddle, holding him like
a sack of grain.
The commander cried out for Casca to save the king and Casca saw him go down
as the last of the guard was overwhelmed and a tribesman severed the
commander s spinal cord with a well-placed axe blow that broke him in two at
the back.
Whirling Glam around, Casca fought his way back, ignoring Tzin s threats to
have him made into an eunuch if he didn t let him down immediately. Slapping
the youngster on the ass, Casca screamed above the din, Keep still, my Lord,
or you won t be able to give that command.
When they reached the rear of the battle, Casca deposited the young king
unceremoniously at the feet of his generals. On the battlefield, the tribesmen
began to waver, their confidence broken. Instead of the easy victory they had
anticipated, they found an avenging army of disciplined, well trained troops
and those damned chariots, that knocked the horses off their feet.
The bugles blared once more and the reserves were sent in. The influx of fresh
troops was too much and the Hsuing-nu broke, fleeing in panic, back the way
they had come, trampling any too slow to get out of their way under their
hooves. They ran while the soldiers of the empire pursued and cut down all
stragglers and wounded where they were found. No prisoners were taken as the
Hsuing-nu made poor slaves and only a few were ever kept at any one time,
mainly for stable duties.
Longi was found pinned under his horse and spat in the face of the young Tzin
warrior who slit his throat.
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If the forces of Kushan had been present, the Hsuing-nu would have been
eliminated once and for all, but as it was, thirty thousand made their way
back into the marshes and swamps. They would come again; someday they would
ride out on the steppes again and wage war on the Chin, but for now, the young
king had his victory.
In the battle, Casca had admired the technique of Sung Ti and his flashing
blade, the use he made of long sweeping slashing strokes that changed in
mid-air from a strike to the head, to a sideswipe that laid a barbarian s gut
open. His stance and posture as he performed his martial ritual reminded Casca
of Shiu
Lao Tze, who had taught him the way of the open hand fighting so long ago.
Yes, there was a definite resemblance. Sung Ti had created a new style,
probably too difficult to teach the ordinary soldier, but who knows thought
Casca, one day it might catch on.
Nineteen
LI TSAO
After Casca s rescue of his royal person, the Em-peror Tzin insisted he leave
his mountain domain and take personal command of the Imperial Guard. At
Casca s suggestion, Sung Ti took his place as lord of Chung Wei. As a parting
gesture, he also made a gift of Mei Cho to his comrade in arms. He had not
failed to notice the looks that went between them and how she lowered her eyes
as a flush would creep up to her face, when Sung Ti came around. The rude
manner in which Mei Cho often treated Sung convinced Casca she had the hots
for this dashing young warrior. Casca was never one to stand in the way of
love and besides, he reasoned, she was a nice girl and deserved a chance at a
nor-mal life something he would certainly never be able to give any woman.
Sung had been overcome at his friend s gener-osity and once Mei Cho s new
position was made clear to her, he quickly put her in her place with a few
sharp commands that had her crawling on her belly before him, completely
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