The Dance of Time

full speed up the river. 'If the engine breaks down. .'

He eyed the engine house warily. The damn gadget was more reliable than it had been when the former emperor after whom the ironclad had been named designed it, but it was still very far from being what anyone in his right mind would call 'dependable.'

Not for the first time, Menander contemplated ruefully the odd twists of fate that had wound up putting him in charge of the Roman army's brown-water naval forces, instead of becoming a simple cataphract liked he'd planned to be.

When he said as much to his second-in-command, the newly promoted former Puckle gunner, Leo Constantes laughed.

'Today? Be glad you're not a cataphract-or you'd be taking part in the crazy charge Sittas is leading.'

Menander winced. 'Point.'

* * *

Sittas himself was downright gleeful. He'd been frustrated for months, ever since the battle on the north lines of the Iron Triangle had settled down into a siege. There was really no place for heavy cavalry in such a fight, except to stay in reserve in the unlikely event of a Malwa breakthrough. Now, finally-!

He was tempted to step up the pace, but managed to resist with no huge difficulty. Sittas was too experienced a horseman not to know that if he arrived with blown horses at the Malwa fortifications that had driven back the Persians a few days before, he might as well not have come at all.

Besides, they were nearing the Persian lines. Sittas didn't like Persians, and never had. No Roman he knew did except Belisarius-who was hopelessly eccentric-and those who had married Persian women, who at least had a reasonable excuse. Not even Sittas would deny that Persian women were attractive.

The men, on the other hand-pah!

'Look smart, lads!' he bellowed over his shoulder. 'A fancy trot, now! Let's rub salt into their wounds!'

* * *

The Persian sahrdaran and vurzurgan glared at the Roman cavalrymen the whole way through their camp. The dehgans who fell in behind Sittas' cavalry, on the other hand, seemed more philosophical about the matter. Or perhaps they were simply more sanguine. This time it would be Romans leading the charge against those damn Malwa guns. It remained to be seen how cocky they'd still be in a few hours.

* * *

'All right,' Maurice said to his top officers, gathered in the command bunker. 'Remember: make the sallies as threatening as you can, without suffering heavy casualties. We've got no more chance of storming the Malwa lines facing us here than they have of storming the Iron Triangle. All we've got to do is pin them, so Samudra can't pull out troops to reinforce his right flank. Any questions?'

'What if they make a sally?' one of the officers asked. 'If they break through anywhere, we don't have Sittas and his thousands of cavalrymen to drive them back.'

Maurice shrugged. 'We'll scramble, that's all.'

* * *

When the Justinian came in sight of the Malwa fortifications on the west bank, Menander let out a whoop of exultation. The Punjabi peasants who'd managed to escape the labor gangs and desert to the Romans had told them that the Malwa hadn't positioned any guns on the river side of the fortifications. What they hadn't said-or hadn't been asked-was that they'd also never bothered to put up walls sheltering the guns from the river, either. Why bother, when they had the ironclads?

The gun ramps and platforms were completely exposed. The thousands of Malwa gunners and riflemen manning the lines would have no shelter at all from the Justinian.

'Load case shot!' he bellowed.

As his gun crews went about the labor, his eyes scanned the east bank of the river. There were some Malwa fortifications there also, but nothing substantial. What was more important was that he couldn't see any sign of big guns. A few small pieces, here and there, but the Victrix could handle those well enough. The fireship wasn't an ironclad, but her thick wooden walls should be able to handle anything the Malwa had on the spot. And by the time they could bring up heavy artillery, the Victrix would have done her job and gotten back downriver and out of range.

And quite a job it would be, too. Menander contemplated the mass of barges tied up to the wharves. There were only two crossing the river. The rest. .

'You're kindling, boys,' he gloated. 'I'd recommend you get ashore quickly.'

He turned to the signalman. 'Tell the Victrix to come up.'

A few seconds later, the signal flags having done their work, he saw heavy steam pouring out of the Victrix's funnel. She'd be here very shortly.

But he had his own work to do. By now, the Justinian was just coming abreast of the first fortress. There was something almost comical about the way the Malwa soldiers were frantically trying to move the big guns facing landward and get them turned around.

It was a pointless effort, of course. But what else were they to do, except gape in consternation? The handguns and small artillery they had would just bounce off the Roman ironclad.

They wouldn't bounce off Menander, on the other hand. Constantes and the signalman had already retreated into the pilot's armored turret. Hurriedly, Menander followed them.

Once inside, he leaned over the speaking tube.

'Let 'em have it, boys.'

* * *

Sittas waited until the Justinian had steamed completely past the fortifications, shelling them as it went.

'Now!' he bellowed, and sent his horse into the charge. Six thousand Roman cataphracts came after him-and after them, over twice that number of Persian dehgans.

* * *

'Back again,' Menander commanded. The Justinian had finished its turn. That was always a slow and delicate business, in the relatively narrow confines of the river. He'd had to be more careful than usual, too, since he didn't have good charts of this stretch of the Indus.

But the work was done, and the enemy was about to get savaged again. They were still as defenseless as ever. More so, actually, since he could see they were starting to panic.

And well they might. By now, close to twenty thousand heavy cavalrymen would be thundering at them. If they'd still had their big guns intact, they could have sneered at that charge, as they'd done a few days earlier.

Now. .

None of the guns had been dismounted, true enough, since Menander hadn't used anything heavier than case shot. Nor would he again, since the plan was to capture the guns intact. But he'd inflicted heavy casualties on the crews and ammunition carriers, and even managed to blow up one of the smaller ammunition dumps that had been overly exposed. They'd be in no shape to resist the kind of charge Sittas would press, all the more so since they'd have to do so with Menander firing on them again from their rear.

The barges across the river were making a nice conflagration, too. And-wonder of wonders-the wind was blowing the smoke away from the river. Menander had worried that if the smoke blew the other way he might find himself blinded.

'It's a miracle, lads,' he said cheerfully to the other men in the turret. 'The one and only time in my life I've seen a military operation work exactly according to plan.'

The engine coughed. The Justinian lurched.

Coughed again. Coughed again.

Silence. The Justinian glided gently downriver with the current, its engine dead.

'Idiot!' Menander hissed at himself. 'You had to go and say it!'

Sighing, he studied the riverbank for a moment. 'Can you keep her steady in midriver?'

'Yes, sir,' replied the pilot.

'All right, then.' He leaned over the speaking tube again. 'Relax, boys. All that happens until the engineers get