第33节

the wake of his departure, the air turned cold and damp. A mist began

to form. At first, it lay only ankle deep above the ground but within

two hours it rose, blotting out the night sky. Sixty minutes later,

when the D'Troit, C'Natti and San'Louis rose to make their final

surreptitious preparations, the huge encampment, the trading post, and

a five mile stretch of the adjacent shoreline was wrapped in a clammy

pale grey blanket.

Every year, the clan delegations made their way down to the shore in

the pre-dawn twilight to await the moment when the wheel-boats appeared

on the horizon, silhouetted against the incandescent disc of the rising

sun. To the impressionable unsdentific mind of the average Mute the

wheel-boats appeared to issue from the sun itself; an impression that

the Iron Masters had been at pains to reinforce. This year, the

normally well-ordered migration from the lines to the trading post was

marked by scenes of unparalleled confusion. The mist was so thick, the

D'Troit and their allies were obliged to set up a line of warriors

standing at arm's length from each other to find their way to the

trading post and the beach below.

When they arrived to take up their alloted positions, they were

surprised to discover that the She-Kargo, M'Waukee and San' Paul had

already staked their claim to the north-western end of the shoreline

and were spread.

out across the entire width of the lower sand-bar from lake to

lagoon.

With visibility reduced to three or four yards, the disposition of the

entire She-Kargo faction could only be guessed at. Any further

reconnaissance was barred by several, densely-packed lines of

warriors.

This pre-emptive move on the part of the She-Kargo left the leaders of

the D'Troit-C'Natti-San'Louis war council in some disarray. By denying

access to the part of the lower sandbar they now occupied, the

She-Kargo faction had neatly blocked any outflanking manoeuvre by their

opponents. Any attempt to force a way through would have immediately

led to a pitched battle in swirling mist, which at times was so thick

you could barely see beyond the end of your knife arm. The present

poor visibility was not the only limiting factor: by prior agreement,

the attack on the She-Kargo was not supposed to take place before the

Iron Masters arrived on the scene.

In the circumstances, the D'Troit and their allies had no choice but to

position themselves along the remaining section of the beach, between

their rivals and the tall, ornately carved trading post. And wait.

The original plan had called for the She-Kargo faction to be sandwiched

in between the C'Natti and D'Troit.

A twin pincer movement on the landward side - easily achieved by their

numerically superior forces - would have left the She-Kargo and

M'Waukee surrounded with their backs against the sea and with no

possibility of escape. At the same moment, a secondary action was to

have been launched by the San'Louis against the camping grounds

occupied by the She-Kargo, M'Waukee and San'Paul. With the majority of

the delegations crowded onto the shore to await the arrival of the Iron

Masters, the lines would only be thinly defended.

But this part of the plan had also misfired. As the D'Troit war

council hastily rejigged their general plan of attack a breathless

messenger despatched by the San'Louis arrived from the lines. In the

mist-shrouded pre-dawn twilight the cooking fires of the She-Kargo

faction had been seen burning with shadowy figures seated or sleeping

beside them. At the boundary between the M'Waukee lines and the

San'Louis and the C'Natti and San'Paul, everything had seemed perfectly

normal. It was only some time after the last of the warriors slipped

away to join their companions on the sand-bar that the ruse was

uncovered.

The lines occupied by the She-Kargo faction were empty. The seated

figures were made of hooded cloaks hung on a framework of sticks, the

sleepers were rolled straw mats stuffed with grass. Everything of

value, all the trade goods and chattels brought by the She-Kargo,

M'Waukee and San'Paul delegations had been quietly carried away by

baggage-handlers during the night. But they had not vanished without

trace.