Hadith, crouched beside him, swore as he peeked over the dune. “Char to ashes!”
“What?” asked Yaw.
“They have their Enervator near the center of the battleground. She’s standing on top of the tallest dune with four Indlovu. The rest of the scale is hidden.”
“Then we send men to take her out?” asked Yaw.
“Yes,” drawled Hadith. “That’s exactly what they hope we’ll do.”
“Well,” said Themba, “we remove her or she blasts half of us out of the game when the fighting starts.”
Tau ground a handful of the dune’s sand through his fingers. “They murdered Oyibo in a skirmish.”
Themba shot Tau a look. “What?”
“This is no game.”
Hadith nodded. “We remember Oyibo, Tau. But, for now, we need to know where the rest of Scale Osinachi are, before we do anything.”
“No, we don’t,” Tau told Hadith. “Give me a team. We’ll crawl around, get behind the Enervator, and attack. If we hit hard enough, she’ll have to waste her enervation on the six of us.”
“Weren’t you listening?” Themba said. “There’s four Indlovu with her. She won’t need to hit you with anything. The Indlovu will do the hitting.”
Tau glared at Themba. “You think they’ll stop me?”
“You think no one can?” Themba countered.
Hadith eyed Tau, clicking his tongue. “Right. Do it. Take Uduak, Yaw, Muvato, Duma, and Themba.”
Themba started. “Why me?”
“Because I want to see you fight four Indlovu.”
“Not interested in dying today,” Themba said, but he moved closer to Tau, along with the other men Hadith had assigned to the team.
Hadith outlined the plan. “We hold until Tau’s team launches the attack. If we stay hidden the Indlovu will do the same. When they see Tau’s six men against four of theirs, they’ll think the fight over before it begins. They won’t reinforce and risk revealing their positions.” Hadith spoke faster, becoming excited. “Tau, for this to work, we need the Enervator to hit your team. We can’t attack until her powers are spent.”
Tau nodded to Hadith. He wanted the scale to feel confident. He wanted his words to be bold. “Be ready. It’ll happen fast,” he said as he began crawling toward the battlefield’s center.
“Always does,” Tau heard Themba grumble.
It took a quarter span, crawling to the battleground’s center, but they’d done it and Tau’s team was next to the dune on which the Enervator stood. Tau pointed, indicating they should go farther, the men nodded, and the six slunk to the opposite side of the man-made knoll.
The plan was to attack from the rear, from the side closer to the Indlovu’s starting point. The Indlovu wouldn’t expect an attack from that angle, and the surprise might gain them a few steps. Those few steps could mean the difference between getting to the Enervator and getting blasted.
Tau signaled his men to be ready. They’d round the last bend and charge the dune, engaging the Indlovu and beating them, forcing the Enervator to hit them with her powers or surrender. Whatever she chose to do, it would keep her out of the skirmish for its most critical phase. Hadith and the rest of the scale would attack and it would be fighters versus fighters, no gifts. It was as even as a group of Lessers could make combat against Nobles. A simple plan, a good plan, and it burned to ash.
Tau crawled forward into three Indlovu, also on their stomachs, who looked as surprised as he was. They must have had a similar plan, initiate a small attack and force the other side’s hand. Given how little progress they’d made in their crawl, they’d come up with the plan long after Hadith.
The Indlovu closest to Tau leapt to his feet. “Blood will show!” he yelled, pulling his sword free of its scabbard.
Tau did the same, thinking it strange Nobles had their own war cry and that, even when the Omehi fought as one military, the Nobles still sought to make themselves more.
Blood will show. The words tumbled in Tau’s mind as he spun his dual practice blades. The words were a promise to the enemy. More, he thought, it was a reminder to Lessers that Nobles were different, that the purity of their blood would reveal itself through their deeds as well as their caste.
Blood will show? Blood, Tau wanted to say, will flow deep and heavy like a flooding river, but there was no time. His swords had crossed with the Indlovu’s.
The Noble was taller and much thicker than Tau, which put him in line with a small demon. He, with his shining helm, ornate practice sword, and sand-spattered shield, attacked hard, meaning to sweep Tau aside like a blade of grass in a breeze. Tau slipped past the man’s crescent swing and brought both his swords against the Indlovu’s helm. It sounded like a thunderclap and the Noble stiffened and fell.
Tau engaged the next citadel warrior before the first had hit the sand. The second was cautious. As Tau came within range, he raised his shield. Tau swung with both blades, his double strike clanging on the circle of beaten metal. The Indlovu stabbed out below his shield, aiming to ram his dulled blade into Tau’s gut. Expecting it, Tau turned the bronze away with his weak-side sword while swinging with the other, hard enough to break the Noble’s leg. The citadel fighter dropped with a yell and Tau launched himself at the third man, who turned and ran.
Tau gave chase.
“No!” shouted Uduak.
Blood will show. The words banged around in Tau’s head as he ran down the Indlovu. Blood will show. Like dried sticks, he would break their pride on the blade of his sword, he would… Tau skidded to a halt. Including the running man, who had stopped running, eight Indlovu faced Tau. They had come around the dune, and by the time he’d seen them, it was too late.
Tau shot a look up the sandy hill. The Enervator and her four were gone. He looked behind. Uduak, Yaw, Themba, and Muvato were fighting three Indlovu.
Tau counted. Two down, three behind, eight in front. It meant five Indlovu, and the Enervator, were unaccounted for. They would go for Hadith. It had been Tau’s job to stop her. He’d failed and she’d be free to unleash her gift on the rest of his scale.
Tau lowered his swords and heard laughter. It was the Indlovu who had run from him.
“We’ve heard of you, Common,” he said. “We heard you played swords with Kellan Okar. How did that go?” He laughed again. “Probably better than this will.”
The eight men closed in, the laughing Indlovu smirking, and from the looks on their Noble faces, Tau knew the Goddess’s mercy would mean nothing. Their war cry tossed around in his head, “Blood will show.” The words held more than one meaning. Tau raised his swords, bared his teeth, and told the eight Indlovu the truth. “I have come for you, and I bring Isihogo with me.”
He charged. The laughing man was closest. He was also the most prepared. Tau closed the distance between them, the laugher swung, and Tau darted outside the arc of his blade, crossing his swords in an X and leaping on the Indlovu behind the laugher.
The collision knocked the second man back, and Tau’s blades fell on either side of his neck, beneath the protection of his helm and above his leather armor. Tau sliced as hard as he could, the dulled edges of his swords drawing cuts just above the man’s collarbones. The Indlovu’s neck spurted blood and he screamed, dropping his weapons and grabbing for his throat.