Jack Whyte The Singing Sword

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I shook my head in mock dismay and thrust the metal into the coals, the feel
of the iron tongs welcome and right in my hand.
"I'm serious, Publius," he said, looking straight at me, his eyes crinkling
against the smoke from the fire.
"That's what it is. I had an idea and I wanted to test it."
I pushed the metal, burying it deeper in the coals. "Well? Tell me about it.
Where did it come from?"
"What, the idea? From my head, of course. Where else would it come from?"
"No, Equus, I meant... oh, never mind. What is this idea of yours?"
"Just come over here and look. I made some drawings."
"Drawings?" I laughed. "You've been spending too much time with Andros, Equus.
One of these days, I'm going to come in here and find you praying on your
knees!"
"Hah!" He let out a scornful, roaring guffaw. "Don't you believe it, Publius
Varrus! Not unless there's a woman spread on the floor in front of me. Look at
this."
Moving to a broad-topped workbench, he seized a large pile of parchments, all
of varying sizes, and spread them out in front of him. When he found the one
he was looking for, he tapped it with his knuckles and I stepped forward to
look. It was a large piece of parchment with drawings of spearheads, javelins,
axes and swords. I examined all of them, wondering what was expected of me. I
saw nothing that struck me as strange or new.
"Well?" I said, "I'm looking. What do you want me to see?"
"Nothing, yet. There's nothing there to see. But let me talk." He paused for a
few seconds. "You wanted a weapon that a man could use from horseback. Well,
I've been working on it, but I swear by the balls of
Bacchus that I'm starting to doubt if it can be done." I waited, saying
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nothing, and he continued, nodding towards the drawings. "Every weapon there
is for men on foot. Of them all, the sword's the best. Good for both attack
and defence. You can stop another man's swing with it and still kill him
easily." Another pause, then, "A spear's limited. Lunge with it, or throw it,
and it's used up. You'd better have a sword for back-up. An axe is even worse.
Swing one of those properly and you leave yourself wide open to a sword or a
spear. And once you swing, you'd better hit the man you're aiming at, because
if he's worth his salt, one swing is all you'll get."
It occurred to me as he was talking that I had never heard Equus say so much
at one time on any subject, and he was far from finished. Now, as he talked,
his eyes became even more animated than before and his hands moved
continuously from one drawing to another, emphasizing his words and directing
my thoughts. I listened, fascinated, as he went on.
"Now, when we put our man up on a horse and pack the horses close together the
way you want to, we're really mired in shit. An axe is as useless as tits on a
boar in a situation like that, because all you're
going to do with it if you swing it is hit the man beside you or kill your own
horse. A sword's useless, too
it's too damn short. Even if you've got room to swing it, you still couldn't
reach a man on the ground if he was kneeling or lying down. So that leaves us
with a spear. But spears are only pointed. They're for stabbing. They can't
cut. And the pilum is made so that the shaft will bend. It's great for
throwing into an enemy's shield, to hamper him, but it's useless to us.
"So." He slapped his hand down onto the drawings, covering them with his great
paw. "I've been thinking of a new kind of spear. A short, heavy shaft, about
three feet long, for weight, and a long, flat blade like a sword, but twice as
long double-edged and sharper than a whore's tongue." He drew it swiftly
with a few strokes as he spoke, and I watched it take shape under his
charcoal. "A weapon like that might give a mounted man an advantage," he
continued. "It could reach down between the horses, with the shaft gripped
under the armpit, and it would be manoeuvrable enough to allow some cutting,
as well as thrust."
I was impressed. "Hmmm!" I said, as I thought it through. "Equus, you could be
right. But it would be usable on the one side only."
"What do you mean?" He was frowning now, not understanding me, but then he [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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