Guardians of the coral throne by Jeffrey Lord

Author:Jeffrey Lord
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Pulp Adventure
ISBN: 9780523008813
Publisher: PINNACLE BOOKS
Published: 1976-08-14T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The grand military parade lost a good deal of its grandeur before it got very far from the walls of Karanopolis. The Emperor exchanged his horse for a carriage draped in purple and silver. The dust rose in clouds from unpaved roads churned up by thousands of hooves and booted feet and iron-tired cart wheels. It clogged throats, stung eyes, and dulled the polish on armor, weapons, and leather. Blade emptied his water bottle twice, trying to clear his throat, then gave up trying.

That night Blade lay in his tent, Tera curled close against him, her hair flowing across his chest, one arm around her. Outside in the darkness he heard the sound of women and servants quarreling, drunken laughter, the squealing of stolen pigs and the clucking of stolen chickens. Apparently the Guardians thought they were doing a favor to every farmer whose stock they looted and every merchant whose daughters they raped.

"I'm not sure those bastards know what side they're on," said Blade sourly. "And I'm sure I wish I didn't have them on mine."

"They can fight," said Tera gently. "After all, if they couldn't, would either of us be here now?" There was no trace of bitterness in her voice, but it was still rare for her to make any reference to their capture.

"You are right, of course," said Blade, laughing. "But indeed I almost wish that they would forget how to fight, this time. That way few people will die, Jores VII will still get the glory of having led his troops into battle, and nobody will be much worse off for all the sound and fury."

"You almost make me believe you think that," said Tera.

"I wish I really could," said Blade. "But there is no way that I can be happy when I think of how badly the Guardians may fight. If they fight badly enough, we may both die." It would be the final disgrace for his luck to run out in this blasted Dimension!

But there was Tera in "this blasted Dimension." Blade drew her close against him, and felt not only desire but warm affection rise within him as her lips nuzzled at his throat.

The army took more than a month to march from Karanopolis to the Pass of Scador. Galleys and barges on the river brought supplies as far upstream as they could go. All the ships and boats of Karan put together could not have carried the army itself.

Sergeant Zogades left Blade in no doubt about what he thought of the strategy of the coming campaign.

"If we'd set out three months ago with an army a third this big, we'd have done more good." He made a sweeping gesture with one scarred, hairy arm that took in the whole army, Guardians, infantry, camp followers and all. "This whole lot is going to get up through the pass about the time the weather starts turning cold. We'll lose horses and men from the weather even if we don't see a single enemy.

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