第37节

irlies as the last of our

people come through. I'll try and spoil the aim of these toads over

here." He gripped their hands in the traditional gesture of

farewell.

'Give it everything you've got. This is as far as we go."

The two summoners accepted their imminent death with the calm

resignation that all Mute warriors strove to achieve and hid themselves

in wind-scooped hollows between the spiked tufts of grass.

'And what do we do?" enquired Mack-Truck.

'Do your best to cover us. The longer we can keep going, the more

chance our brothers will have of getting out of this alive." Dark-Star

glanced over his shoulder at the wheel-boat in the lake beyond as it

crossed the mouth of the channel, almost sideways on to their

position.

'See how those yellow runts are trying to cut us off? They're working

hand-in-glove with the D'Troit!" He ground his teeth together. 'Oh,

Talisman! When the guilty are judged, make them pay in blood!'

Breaking away from Rolling-Stone and Mack-Truck, Dark-Star waded into

the water seemingly oblivious of the incoming volleys of crossbow

bolts. He concentrated for a moment as if gathering his inner

strength, then threw his head back and spread his arms out sideways

with the palms facing downwards. A shrill piercing cry burst from his

lips and in the same instant, a small whirlpool formed in the water

directly below each of his outstretched hands.

Flexing his arms, Dark-Star pushed the whirlpools out of reach then, as

they grew in size and increased their speed of rotation, he swept his

arms upwards.

Responding to his unspoken command, the whirlpools became two huge

spinning columns of water that rose into the air - and kept on rising

until they were about a hundred feet high. The noise was deafening

like the buffeting roar of gale-force winds tearing through the

treetops.

By now, Dark-Star's hands were high over his head.

He swept them forwards, the two index fingers aimed across the lagoon

at the warriors massed on the opposing shore. The tall, snaking

columns of water surged forward like unleashed hunting dogs. Behind

them, Dark-Star raised another pair, then another.

Before they had time to grasp what was happening, the C'Natti bowmen on

the point of the spur found their view of the sand-bar obscured by

twelve huge undulating columns of water, each one now twenty to thirty

feet in diameter and bearing down on them with the speed and menace of

an approaching express train.

The wind circling each column whipped their faces and tore at their

clothing then, as the first waterspouts reached the shore, the huge

columns of water collapsed with a thunderclap of sound.

Those immediately below were knocked senseless to the ground, others on

the shoreline were swept into the lagoon. More spouts followed in

their wake, swamping the spur from all sides. To many of the terrified

Mutes it was as if the heavens had opened and the Sky Voices were

venting their wrath upon the C'Natti for challenging the will of

Talisman. Hundreds turned tail and fled inland.

The hardier souls stood their ground but the torrential cascades of

water falling out of the sky and the continuous advance of newly-formed

waterspouts masked their view of the retreating She-Kargo.

Running in their clan groups, spread out across the whole width of the

sand-bar, the forty-five thousand warriors of the She-Kargo faction or

to be more accurate those still up and running- took about ten minutes

to pass the point where Rolling-Stone, Mack-Truck, Dark-Star and the

other two summoners were making their last stand. The D'Troit had been

tearing savagely into the tail end of the column and despite the order

to keep running, many of those in the rear had decided to stand and

fight rather than face the ignominy of being cut down from behind.

As a consequence of these desperate struggles, a slight gap - no more