The tide of victory

And it was not her business, anyway. She forced her eyes away from Eusebius and looked at Ousanas. 'Continue,' she said. She spoke the word so forcefully that she was reminded, again, of her own tension.

'Not much else to say, Antonina. Axum has slowly been extending its rule to the south anyway, over the past two centuries. But heretofore the process was basically unplanned and uncoordinated. Most of our attention was focused on the Red Sea and southern Arabia. We will retain those, of course. But we will seek no further expansion in that direction. The Arab farmers and townsmen and merchants of Yemen and the Hijaz are content enough with our rule. But if we press further, we would simply embroil ourselves in endless conflicts with the bedouin of the interior-not to mention the certainty of an eventual clash with Persia. No point to any of it!'

He broke off. Another rocket volley. Both rockets, this time, struck the shield. And both were deflected just as easily and harmlessly.

'So after the war with Malwa,' Ousanas resumed, 'we will concentrate on the African interior-and do it properly. We will start by sending an expedition, led by myself, to incorporate the land between the great lakes which is my own homeland. That is the first step-along with seizing and settling the east African coast. At least as far south as the Pangani river. We will also seize the island of Zanzibar and build a fortress there. And we will found a new city on the coast, which will be destined to become a great seaport.'

He smiled whimsically. 'There are definite advantages, you understand, to Aide's knowledge of the future. Eon has even decreed that we will give that city the name it would have had, centuries from now. Mombasa.'

He paused for a moment, his eyes becoming slightly unfocused. 'The thing is, Eon and I are also thinking far into the future. We will not live to see it, of course-neither us nor our great-grandchildren-but we think our plans will eventually produce a very different Africa than the one which existed in the old future. In that future, Axum became isolated very soon by the Moslem conquests. And so, instead of being the conduit into Africa for that Mediterranean civilization of which we are becoming a part, Ethiopia retreated into the highlands. And there it remained, century after century, still more or less intact-but playing no further role in the history of the world or even Africa.'

He cocked his head, gauging the sounds of the next Malwa volley. They were very close now, and both rockets missed entirely. Clearly enough, the priests manning the rocket troughs were getting rattled.

Eusebius and one of the sailors were now wrestling with the fire cannon's barrel, swiveling it to starboard. Unlike the rigid, single-piece construction of a normal cannon, the flamethrower was designed in such a way that the barrel could be positioned in any one of five locations, covering an arc of ninety degrees, without moving the main body of the device. One of the other sailors was removing the shield covering the rearmost firing slit on the starboard side. Eusebius, following Antonina's earlier terse instructions, intended to sail the Victrix right down the length of the Malwa galley, bathing it in hellfire as it passed. Hopefully, by the time the ship exploded, the Victrix would have sailed past far enough to avoid any catastrophic damage. Unless-

Again, Ousanas seemed to read Antonina's thoughts. 'Let's hope one of those damned priests doesn't decide to blow the ship while we're alongside,' he muttered. Then, a bit more brightly: 'But probably not, since we're only one ship-and they'll have no way of knowing you are aboard.'

'Or you,' she retorted. 'You are Axum's aqabe tsentsen. A Mahaveda might decide that was a satisfactory prize to take to hell with him.'

Ousanas chuckled. 'In the dark of night? Just another heathen black savage, that's all.' He took Antonina's hand in his own and squeezed it. Then, gently, turned her wrist over and opened his palm. Her small hand, dusky- Egyptian though it was, was pale across the breadth of his own hand, black with African color.

'It means little to us, in our day,' he mused, staring down at the contrast. 'But a day will come-would have, at least-when that will not be so. A day when milk-white north Europeans, barbarians no longer but in some ways even more barbarous, will enslave Africans and claim that the difference in race is justification enough. A claim which they will be able to make because, for over a millennium, Africa remained isolated from world civilization.'

He shook his head, smiling slightly. 'Isolation is a bad thing, for a people as much as a person. So Eon and I, as best we can, will see to it that it never happens. Ethiopia's new destiny is to mother a different Africa. And I-'

His smile spread into a grin. 'I am destined, I fear, to marry some half-savage creature who is even now squatting by the edge of one of the great lakes. But whose father can claim to be the 'great chief' of the land.' He sighed. 'Hopefully, I will be able to convince the creature to learn how to read. Or, at least, not to use my books for kindling.'

'Get ready!' shrilled Eusebius. One of the sailors began frenziedly working the lever which filled the fire cannon's chamber. From beyond the shield, Antonina could hear the indistinct shrieks of Mahaveda priests shouting their own orders. She thought-she hoped-to detect confusion in those sounds.

But, for the moment, she blocked all of that from her mind. She would give that moment to the man named Ousanas, for whom, over the years, she had come to feel a great loving friendship.

'You will do well,' she whispered. 'And I have no doubt the girl will find you just as magnificent as I do.'

He grinned, gave her hand a last little squeeze, and rose to his feet. Then, reaching over and grasping the great spear which he had left propped securely against the wall of the shield, he turned toward the entrance facing aft.

'First, we must survive this battle. And I suspect the Malwa priests will be pouring over the side onto our decks.' His lip curled. 'Screaming refugees, pretending to be fierce boarders.'

Antonina said nothing. She just basked, for a few seconds, in her enjoyment at watching Ousanas move. Antonina had always had a purely sensuous side, which reveled in the sight of handsome and athletic men. And, in the case of her husband, who was one himself, the feel of such a male body.

But no man, in her life, had ever displayed such pure masculine grace and power as Ousanas. Watching him move reminded her of nothing so much as the Greek legends of Achilles and Ajax. So, for those few seconds, Antonina was able to forget all her tension in the simple pleasure of admiration.

'Now!' shrilled Eusebius. The sailor pumping the lever ceased; another turned a valve; Eusebius himself-this was the most dangerous task-ignited the deathspew gouting from the barrel.

'Just as I said,' Antonina murmured to herself, 'they're so handy to have around when the crude stuff starts happening.'

Chapter 17

The interior of the bow shield, despite its small apertures, was suddenly filled with the reflected light of the fire cannon's effects. Antonina realized, even before she heard Eusebius' shout of triumph, that the very first blast must have struck the target perfectly.

'Like painting with fire!' shrieked Eusebius gleefully. 'Look at it burn!'

Before his last words were even spoken, the sound of screams came through the shield, piercing Antonina's ears.

Mahaveda priests who had been positioned at the bow, she realized. Suddenly turned into so many human torches.

For all the horror in the thought, Antonina felt not even a twinge of remorse. Truth be told, with a few exceptions such as Bishop Anthony Cassian-Patriarch Anthony, he was now-Antonina had never been fond of any kind of priest, even Christian ones. She had been denounced by such too many times, in her reprobate youth.

Mahaveda priests had all the vices of any clerics, and none of their virtues. Their cult was a bastard and barbaric offshoot of Hinduism, more savage than that of any pagan tribe, and with the added evil which the sophistication of civilized India provided.

Burn in hell, then. As far as Antonina was concerned, the Mahaveda priests were finding their just reward.

During the few seconds which had elapsed, Eusebius and his cannon crew had been working feverishly. The cannon's fire-chamber was refilled; the sailor pumping the lever ceased abruptly; the valve was reopened by his mate. In those few seconds, Antonina realized, the Victrix must have carried alongside the Circe's beam.