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They were dripping. By the look in their eyes, they were half-stunned and
more.
But none of them seemed in any mood to surrender. They wore swords on their
belts.
Drawing them, they rushed at the Videssian sailors and one of them came
straight for Maniakes.
He was so startled, he almost left his own sword in its scabbard till too
late. He yanked it out just in time to turn aside a fierce cut at his head.
The Kubrati then chose a low line, slashing at his shins. He parried again,
and hopped back. The fellow might not have been an outrageously good
swordsman, but enough grim energy for at least three men filled him.
One sailor was down and screaming. Others, though, fought the Kubrati with
swords and bows and clubs. Once the first surprise at being boarded began to
fade, they realized how greatly they outnumbered their assailants. The fight
on deck did not last long after that.
Somebody clubbed the Kubrati who was fighting Maniakes. The fellow groaned and
staggered. Maniakes' sword ripped his belly open. The Avtokrator twisted his
wrist to make sure it was a killing stroke. The Kubratoi did not scream or
clutch at himself; the blow to the side of his head must have dazed him and
given him an easy death.
He had been almost the last of his people still upright. Maniakes pulled his
sword free, grabbed the Kubrati by the heels, and said, "Let's throw this
carrion overboard,"
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to the sailor with the bludgeon. The Kubrati's body splashed into the Sailors'
Sea.
Thrax pointed. "Ahh, the filthy bastards, they did manage to burn one," he
shouted. In spite of wet timbers, flames were spreading on one of the
transports.
Videssian soldiers and sailors leapt into the water. Like the Kubratoi from
sunken and capsized monoxyla they grabbed for anything they could reach to
keep themselves afloat a little longer. "Shall we pick them up or pursue the
foe, your Majesty?"
Thrax asked. The monoxyla still unsunk had clearly had enough of the unequal
fight with the Videssian dromons. Under sail and paddle, they were heading off
to the east as fast as they could go.
Maniakes hesitated not even a heartbeat. "We make pickup," he said. "Then we
head on to the imperial city. To the ice with the Kubratoi; let 'em go."
"Aye, your Majesty," Thrax said. He bawled the needed orders, then turned back
to the Avtokrator with a puzzled look on his face.
"You usually want to finish the foe when you find the chance."
"Yes, usually." Maniakes fought hard to hold in his exasperation. Thrax
sometimes had trouble seeing past the end of his nose.
"Now, though, the most important thing we can do is get back to Videssos the
city and make sure it doesn't fall. Those single-trunk boats were sailing
straight away from it. We're not going to waste time going after them."
"Ah," Thrax said. "When you put it that way, it does make sense, doesn't it?"
To give him his due, he handled the rescue of the men who had abandoned the
burning transport about as well as anyone could have done. A good many
soldiers were lost, drowned before any rescuers could reach them, but a good
many were
pulled from the sea, too. It could have been worse. How many times had
Maniakes thought that after some new misfortune?
Bagdasares' magic had shown no further trouble facing the Videssian fleet
after the storm and the attack by those other ships. Maybe that meant they
would reach
Videssos the city with ease once they'd surmounted that attack in the case of
the
Renewal, literally, as it rode over the Kubratoi monoxyla. Then again, maybe
it meant
Bagdasares had metaphorically had his elbow joggled before the sorcery showed
everything it could. One way or the other, Maniakes expected he would learn
soon.
Close by the imperial city, no single-log boats dared show themselves by day.
The fleet based in the capital made sure of that. But, from the
Renewal, Maniakes saw the nomads' encampments outside the double wall of the
capital. That ate at him, as did knowing Makuraner engineers were teaching the
Kubratoi the art of building siege engines. From now on, no Videssian city
would be safe.
From the walls, Videssian defenders cheered when they saw the imperial
standard flying from the
Renewal.
Maniakes did not flatter himself that all those cheers were for him. He had
taken to Makuran the best soldiers the Empire of Videssos had.
Getting those soldiers back made Videssos the city likelier to hold. Had he
been a defender hopefully awaiting them, he would have cheered their return,
too.
"We'll land as many ships as we can in the little harbor for the palace
quarter," he told Thrax. "That will include the
Renewal."
"Aye, your Majesty," the drungarios said, nodding in obedience. "You'll want
to send the rest around to the Neorhesian harbor in the north?"
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"That's right," Maniakes agreed.
"When we tie up at that little harbor, you'll be able to get a good look at [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]