The tide of victory

matter.' He pointed to the galleys getting ready to leave the docks. 'They won't be caught by surprise. That Malwa ship will never make it into the harbor.'

Antonina studied the galleys. Each one held upward of two hundred and fifty men, between the rowers and the marines. Like any war galley setting into battle, each ship was crammed with as many men as could possibly fit into it. And, except for the ram bracing at the bow, each galley was built like a cockleshell. With war galleys, almost everything was sacrificed for speed.

Then, her gaze moved further down the docks and came to rest on the Theodora Victrix. That ship, a small sailing vessel built primarily to use its fire cannon, used only a small crew. And it was very sturdily built, with a well-designed rocket shield over the bow. The principal 'maneuver' of the Theodora Victrix in battle was simply to sail directly at the enemy, shrugging off missiles, until it got close enough to bathe them in a gout of hellfire.

The Victrix was also ready to cast off. Even though harbor defense was none of its normal duties, the officers and sailors of the ship had also responded to the emergency. Antonina could see Eusebius standing on the dock next to the ship, staring out to sea. The dock area was very well lit, even at night, and Antonina could recognize him easily.

'No,' she said decisively. 'We'll keep the galleys back, as a last defense, and use the Victrix.'

She was already starting to hurry toward the Victrix, issuing orders as she went to the various naval officers on the docks. Fortunately, the commander of the harbor patrol came up to her at that moment, and she was able to delegate the task of holding back the galleys to him.

'And what about the cannons?' he asked. He pointed at the darkness which was all that could be seen of the gulf beyond the immediate harbor area. 'I've had them holding their fire, because there's nothing to see and I was afraid they'd hit our own galleys.'

Antonina glanced up at the fortifications above the harbor area. The snouts of a dozen huge cannons glimmered in the lantern-light.

'Keep them loaded and ready,' she commanded. 'When the time comes for them to start firing, I'll send up a signal rocket. Green flare.'

'What'll they shoot at?' asked the commander.

Antonina grinned. 'They won't have any trouble spotting the target. Trust me.'

The commander nodded and left. Antonina's brief exchange with him had enabled Ousanas and the other Axumites to catch up with her. 'Are you mad?' demanded Ousanas. 'Why use the Victrix? The galleys can handle the matter. Quite easily, I can assure you.' One of the other Ethiopians grunted his agreement.

Stubbornly, Antonina shook her head. 'I don't doubt it, Ousanas. And then what?'

Seeing the look of incomprehension on his face, she sighed with exasperation. 'Think, Ousanas.' She jerked her head toward the still-unseen Malwa ship. 'That ship-this is your own theory, man! — is packed with explosives. Enough to rupture the whole harbor. It's got to be crewed by Mahaveda. Fanatic priests. No one else could be trusted for such a suicidal mission.'

Ousanas jerked a little, startled into a sudden understanding of her point. 'Once the Mahaveda see they've no chance of reaching the harbor-'

'They'll wait until the galleys are surrounding them and blow the ship,' Antonina finished, grimly. Again, she started hurrying toward the Victrix. 'I doubt if even one of those galleys would stay afloat. Two thousand men-more than that! — would be spilled into the sea at least a mile from shore. Half of them would be dead before they hit the water. Of the rest, we'd lose half in the darkness before they could be rescued.'

'At least half,' muttered Ousanas, keeping pace with her. Sourly: 'Why is it that Roman sailors refuse to learn how to swim? No Axumite soldier is allowed aboard a ship until he can prove-'

His comparison of the relative merits of Roman and Ethiopian sailors was broken off by Eusebius' shout of recognition.

'We're heading out!' Antonina shouted back. Under her breath: 'Or whatever the proper damned nautical expression is.'

'Don't sneer at proper nautical terms, woman,' chuckled Ousanas. 'They're all that's going to make this crazy scheme of yours work. Or hadn't you noticed that we'll be sailing before the wind?'

Guiltily, Antonina realized that she hadn't given any thought at all to the matter. She must have made a little start of surprise herself, because Ousanas immediately laughed.

'I thought not!'

They were almost at the Victrix. By now, Antonina was starting to pant with the exertion of their race from the palace. But she managed to gasp out: 'Will we be able to do it?'

Ousanas grimaced. 'The wind's right. And the current will be with us. So we'll be able to sail down on them quickly, while they're struggling to row up into the harbor. But once the contact's made-'

They were at the Victrix now. Antonina answered Eusebius' babbled questions by simply grabbing him and marching him ahead of her across the gangplank. By the time she and Ousanas were aboard, Eusebius was clear on his duties and was beginning to issue the needed commands.

Antonina hurried forward and entered the enclosed section of the bow. Inside the heavy and well-built rocket shield, the light cast by the lanterns on the docks and the few on the ship was blocked completely. She groped her way to the vision slits and stared into the distance. Everything in the gulf was pitch-black now. Belatedly, she realized she hadn't given any thought at all to the most basic problem: how will we spot the enemy?

Fortunately, Ousanas had thought about it. She heard him entering the shield a few seconds later. 'I just checked with Eusebius, Antonina. The Victrix carries twenty rockets equipped with flares, for night operations. In addition to the usual signal rockets. We should be able to spot the Malwa ship once we get out of the harbor.'

The Victrix was getting underway. Antonina could feel the motion of the ship, as well as hear the sounds of the sailors hurrying about their tasks. Eusebius' shrill voice periodically rose above everything else.

Some part of her was saddened to recognize John of Rhodes' training in the confidence with which Eusebius issued his commands. Antonina remembered the first time she met Eusebius, years before, at her estate in Daras. John had employed him to assist in the work of designing the new gunpowder weapons. For all his brilliance as an artificer, young Eusebius had been as shy and socially awkward a man as she had ever met in her life.

No longer. Eusebius would never have more than a portion of John's casual ease of command, true, but he had come very far from where he started. That was only one of the many legacies which John of Rhodes had left behind him, and Antonina took a moment again to grieve his loss.

Only a moment, however. There was a battle to be fought and won.

She turned away from the view-slit and began groping in the darkness. 'Help me find the igniters, Ousanas, so we can light the lanterns. They should be in a cabinet around here somewh-never mind.'

She'd found the cabinet, and quickly pried it open. Feeling her way, she found one of the ignition devices she was seeking. A few seconds later, the first of the lanterns located inside the shelter was lit, and she was finally able to see something.

The first thing she saw was Koutina, squeezed into the shelter alongside Matthew and Leo.

'What are you doing here?' she demanded.

Koutina smiled shyly, and held up the valise. 'You didn't take your gun. Only the cleaver. So I thought I should bring it along. Just in case.'

Antonina sighed, half with exasperation and half with affection. 'You shouldn't be here at all. But it's too late to do anything about it now. So leave the valise here and get below decks.' She looked to Matthew. 'See to it, please.'

Koutina started to squawk some kind of protest, but Matthew had her ushered out of the shelter before she could finish the first sentence.

The next thing Antonina saw, in the lantern-light, was Ousanas' big grin.

'And what are you doing here?' he demanded. 'You've got no more business here than she does.'