He slapped his hands together. The sharp sound echoed in the room, snapping his officers alert.
'Let's get to the rest, then.' He turned to Vasudeva. 'Where does it stand with the ships?'
Vasudeva stroked his topknot. The pleasure he so obviously took in the act almost made Belisarius laugh. 'The last word I got from Cyril-maybe half an hour ago-was that all of the cargo ships had been seized. Except one, which managed to pull free from the docks before the Greeks could get to it. Most of the galleys, of course, escaped also.'
The Kushan shrugged. 'No way to stop them, before they reached the screen of galleys in the outer harbor. Not without firing rockets or flame arrows. So Cyril let it be. He says we've got more ships than we need, anyway, and he didn't want to risk an explosion or a drifting fireship.'
'God, no!' exclaimed Bouzes. The young officer shuddered slightly. Charax was a city made of stone and brick. It would not burn easily, if at all. But it was also, for all practical purposes, a gigantic powderkeg. The port had been the arsenal for Malwa's intended conquest of Persia.
'The Greeks hadn't searched the ships yet,' continued Vasudeva. 'Although I imagine by now they've probably-' He broke off, hearing footsteps. Then, waving his hand: 'But let's let him tell us.'
Cyril was marching through the door. As soon as he entered, his eyes fell on the pile of corpses in the corner.
'Got off too easy, the swine,' he muttered. Turning to Belisarius, he said: 'We've started the search. Everything looks good. Lucky for us, none of the priests were stationed aboard any of the craft.'
That had always been Belisarius' deepest fear. Some of the huge ships moored at the dock had been loaded with gunpowder. A fanatic priest aboard one of them, if certain of capture, would have ignited its cargo. The explosion might well have destroyed the harbor, along with the Roman escape route.
'Nobody else?' he asked.
Cyril smiled. 'The only ones aboard were sailors. After we stormed a few of the ships, the rest negotiated surrender. Once we were sure all of them were on the docks, and the ships were secured-'
His smile was as grim as Maurice's eyes. 'We gave them new terms of surrender. They weren't happy about it, but-' He shrugged. 'Their protests were short-lived.'
Another laugh swept the room. Even Belisarius joined in. There would be no mercy for Malwa from anyone, that night. A dog, barking in Hindi, would have been slaughtered.
Belisarius turned to Bouzes. Without being prompted, the young Thracian officer moved back to the window and began pointing to the walls beyond. The gesture was a bit futile. It was still long before sunrise. The darkness was unbroken except by slowly moving Roman squads, holding torches aloft in their search for Malwa hideaways.
'All of the siege guns have been seized and manned. I talked to Felix just twenty minutes ago.' He gave Cyril a half-apologetic glance over his shoulder. 'Unlike the Greeks, who have plenty of seamen, Gregory doesn't have anyone who's fired guns that size. So he kept maybe two dozen Malwa gunners alive. Felix says they're babbling everything they know, faster than we can ask.'
'Good,' grunted his brother. 'By tomorrow morning, we can fire a few test rounds. Using them for the shot.'
Again, savage humor filled the room. And, again, Belisarius joined in.
Even Aide: Why not? The British did, during the Indian Mutiny. Unlike them, we've even got a decent excuse.
The bloodthirsty aura of that thought did not surprise Belisarius. He only wondered, for a moment, at the vastness of the universe. Which could produce, over the eons, such miracles as a crystal intelligence learning human wrath.
His eyes came back to Vasudeva. From experience with the Kushan since he entered the service of Rome, Belisarius had learned to use him as his executive officer in matters of logistics. Vasudeva was as proficient a lieutenant, in that complex work, as Maurice was on the battlefield.
Vasudeva tugged his goatee. 'Everything's still a mess, of course. Will be, till at least tomorrow night. But I'm not worried about it.'
He spread his arms, hands wide open, as if he were embracing a beloved but obese friend. 'There were fifteen thousand men garrisoned here, permanently. Between their stores, and the huge stockpiles for the main army, the Malwa have bequeathed a treasure upon us. We don't really have to organize much of anything. Just grab what we need, load up the ships, and get ready to leave when the time comes. Won't take more than three days.'
'The Malwa army should be back here by then,' opined Cyril. 'Their first elements, anyway. Enough to invest the city.'
Maurice made a fist, and inspected his knuckles. 'That'll be too late. Way too late. By the day after tomorrow, we'll be able to hold Charax against them. For three weeks, at the very least. A month and a half wouldn't surprise me. Although I don't want to think about our casualties, by then.'
And now, all eyes were on Belisarius.
He smiled. Widely, not crookedly. All rage and fury vanished, as he remembered that other-much deeper-side of life.
'She'll come,' he said. 'She'll come.'
Chapter 33
The Tigris
In the event, Lord Damodara lost Sanga's services for only nine days. On the morning of the tenth, the Rajput king strode into Damodara's pavilion and slammed the truth onto his commander's table.
Damodara stared at the object resting before him. At his side, he sensed Narses' start of surprise. A moment later, the eunuch hissed.
The 'truth' was a helmet. A great, heavy, ungainly contraption of segmented steel plates. A Goth helmet, Damodara vaguely realized.
'We found a small mountain of the things,' said Sanga, 'along with all the other gear those mercenaries were wearing.'
Damodara looked up. 'Where?'
Sanga glowered at the helmet. 'Do you remember that small valley we passed through, where the Persians had been mining?' He snorted. 'I remember noticing how fresh the mine tailings were. I was impressed, at the time, by the courage and determination of the Persian miners-to have kept working till the last minute, with a war raging about their heads.'
'The tunnel!' explained Narses. 'There was a tunnel there. A mine adit.'
Sanga shook his head. 'That is no mine, Narses. They disguised the first few dozen yards to make it look like one, but it is really an entrance to a qanat.' He pointed at the helmet. 'We found those about fifty yards in. Piled in a heap, as I said. It took us an hour to move the stuff aside, and go beyond. Thereafter-'
He pulled up a chair and sat down heavily. 'From that point on, the trail is as clear as the one we have been following. Belisarius' entire army-I am as certain of it as I am of my own name-took that route. Hidden from sight underground, they marched to the south. They probably emerged, miles away, in another valley. Their Persian allies would have had fresh horses waiting for them.'
He slapped the map with his hand. '
Damodara's eyes were wide open. His next words were almost choked out.
'Are you telling me that-' He waved his hand, weakly, as if to encompass all of time and space. 'Everything we've done, for months-all the maneuvers and the fighting-even the battle at the pass-was a
