by Джеффри Лорд
«Blade, no harm was done to me. I forgive you. And no harm will be done to you tonight. Now-will you hear me tell you why this is so?»
Blade settled himself more comfortably, and Cheeky hopped up on his lap. «We will.»
Chapter 8
The Wise One's explanation was simple, compared to what Blade expected. In a nutshell, the Wise One suspected that Blade had the potential of high-grade telepathic powers, such as most of the Uchendi had. Very few of the Rutari had such powers, usually only the Wise One and a few others of each generation. This was true no matter how much kerush they took.
«More than a few of our people have died, seeking to become as the Uchendi through too much kerush,» Ellspa added. «Even a Wise One has been known to go too far.» The Wise One gave her acolyte a sour look and continued her story.
«Apart from their greater mind powers, the Uchendi are less than we are in all things pleasing to the gods. That is why we took the Idol from them. It cannot have been the wish of the gods that such weaklings find favor in the eyes of the Idol Makers, who were surely the chosen of the gods.»
Another bloody tantalizing hint about the Idol Makers! Blade gritted his teeth against the temptation to ask about them. One broken taboo an evening was enough.
«Because the Uchendi are unworthy,» the Wise One went on, «we must wage war against them until they are no more. Then the Idol will be forever safely in the place where the gods wished it to be. When the Idol Makers return, they will come straight to the Rutari and bless us.»
Blade gritted his teeth harder. Aloud, he said, «And you think that my powers of mind are something I can teach you, so all the Rutari will be as strong as the Uchendi?»
«Yes. You are the first man who is neither Rutari nor Uchendi to give any hint of such powers. If you have them, and can teach them…» The Wise One's lips were trembling. Obviously she felt the whole fate of her people was at stake in Blade's cooperation.
And if she feels that strongly about it, one slip and you're dead, Blade's training told him.
Yes, but consider how much I might learn, he replied. If nothing else, they have the kerush.
Which might destroy your mind.
True, but you've got to run a few risks in order to learn anything. And there's no danger to the Dimension X secret here. These people are centuries from having computers.
What about inter-Dimensional travel by telepathy?
What about it? I've resisted the telepathy of the Wizard of Rentoro, who could do it. If these people aren't at least as strong as he was, they're no danger to me, even with the kerush. Even if they do wind up traveling to Home Dimension, what harm can they do when they get there? The Kaldakans had lasers. These people don't even have bows!
I guess you're right. Go ahead, then.
«No honor the Rutari can give will be held back,» the Wise One was saying. «The storytellers will give your name to the children of the children of our children, and tell how grateful we were to you.» Ellspa licked her lips.
Blade wasn't a complete stranger to «recreational» drugs. He'd been involved in a couple of experiments to test the usefulness of LSD in his work. Also, while doing undercover work, he'd smoked his way through enough marijuana to know that he much preferred good Scotch.
However, he'd never tried mixing telepathy and drugs before, and would have preferred his first time to be under safer conditions. Since nobody gave a damn about his preferences, there was nothing to do but swallow the kerush seed and hope for the best.
Ellspa emptied a small sack of kerush seeds on to the floor in front of Blade and divided them into three equal piles. «These are the raw seeds,» she said. «Chew them slowly.»
It would have been easier to do this if the seeds hadn't tasted like oven-roasted peanuts dipped in roofing compound. Blade still obeyed, cautious about an overdose. By the time he'd swallowed the remains of the fifth seed, the first was beginning to take effect.
Blade felt as if he were sitting in thin air, several inches off the ground. His hands and feet were also separated from his wrists and ankles-he could see that clearly. Just as clearly, he could still feel them and control them. He could even pick up a sixth seed, chew, and swallow.
Then the Wise One raised her hand to warn Blade to stop, and she and Ellspa began taking their kerush. They took nine seeds apiece, faster than Blade. With one part of his mind he expected to see the two women float up off the floor like balloons. With another part, he realized that they were able to take a larger dose, or perhaps even needed it, with their greater tolerance built up over the years.
It was a relief for Blade to discover that the logical, rational side of his mind was still working. It was not quite so much of a relief to discover that he was getting an uncomfortably solid erection.
By the time the two women had finished their seeds, both were swaying gently, as if in time to inaudible music. Their eyes were wide, their breathing quick, and their mouths hanging open. Blade noted in an oddly detached manner that Ellspa's dark nipples were also erect.
Now Cheeky scurried between Blade and the women, then hopped onto Blade's lap. In Blade's present condition that was the wrong place for Cheeky. Blade winced, and Cheeky leaped up onto his master's shoulder.
(«You want female?»)
«What?» Blade's surprise made him speak out loud. He was hearing a voice in his mind, whether male or female he didn't know, and he had no idea who was «speaking. «
(«Use the spirit speech.») This time it was not a question but a command. It also had a very different «tone of voice»-call it a flavor-from that of the original question. Blade took several deep breaths to improve his concentration. He considered and rejected the idea of using mental pictures, as he did with Cheeky. Then as soon as he could be sure of not using lips, tongue, or vocal cords, he formed the words in his mind.
(«I have the spirit speech, if this is it. And I do want the females.») Actually he didn't really want the Wise One, but it would hardly be tactful to say so.
(«Yes. Old female not like it that way.»)
(«Cheeky!?») Blade's astonishment at realizing it was the feather-monkey speaking almost caused him to leap up and hug the animal.
(«It's me.»)
(«You took the kerush?»)
(«Yes. One seed.»)
(«We have better-telepathy-now?»)
(«Yes. You think-louder-now.»)
(«Much-louder.») It was the other mental voice, the one with the different «flavor.» Blade looked at the two women. It had to be one of them, but which? And had the Wise One heard him «thinking» that he didn't want her?
(«I am not offended, Blade. You are a young man, and Ellspa is a young woman. I cannot make you other than the gods have already done.»)
Blade was losing awareness of his body entirely now, as the kerush-induced telepathic links with Cheeky and the Wise One absorbed his whole mind. He was still conscious of Cheeky's paws placed on his temples, and a mental message with Cheeky's flavor to it.
(«I am to you like Moyla is to old female.»)
(«First Friend?»)
(«That my name?»)
(«Yes.»)
(«Then-I First Friend. Females not hear us now. You tell them I-First Friend.»)
(«Females-not good people. Should not know you are my First Friend, that we use spirit speech. That is a secret.»)
(«No secret! I First Friend. If females know I First Friend, they let me go to Moyla. You want females. I want Moyla. Moyla want me.»)
Blade couldn't help wondering if that one kerush seed had also increased Cheeky's intelligence. Perhaps it was because they were communicating in words instead of images. Or was it that the increase of his own telepathic powers now let him hear thoughts that Cheeky had always had?
(«You ask good question.») Cheeky had obviously «heard» the question in Blade's mind. («Now, you tell females I First Friend, I give answer to your question. No tell, no answer.»)
(«You blasted little fea
ther-covered blackmailer!»)
Blade got the impression of wordless laughter, and the sense of a will as stubborn as his own.
(«Blade, we cannot hear your spirit speech or that of the Cheeky. Is it there?») A new mental flavor, which probably meant Ellspa. («Is this how you keep your oath?»)
Blade wished there was a mental door he could slam-hard-in the face of both Cheeky and those two witches. Apart from the women not being able to listen in while he and Cheeky were in telepathic contact, the situation was getting distinctly hairy.
Cheeky's intelligence seemed to have whole new dimensions. The first thing the little bugger was doing was using it to blackmail his master into revealing important secrets. If Blade conceded this point-that is, to tell the Wise One he and Cheeky were like her and Moyla-and let Cheeky have his roll in the hay with Moyla, what next?
And if he didn't, also what next?
Another nasty question. A lot depended on Cheeky's cooperation, starting with the research into telepathy, which might salvage the whole Dimension X Project, possibly ending with Blade's physical survival here. But if Cheeky spent the rest of this trip sulking and was uncooperative…
Besides, Blade liked the little fellow. He didn't want to hurt or offend him. He let that thought flow through his mind and into Cheeky's as strongly as he could. Then he added:
(«All right. I'll tell them that you're my First Friend, and you and Moyla can get your rocks off together. But if you ever threaten me this way again, it will be the end of us. You'll be turned over to Lord Leighton for experimental work, like the kind you had in Kaldak.»)
A moment of stark terror, which told Blade that the threat had registered. Then a slightly contrite, («Sorry. Will do like you want.»)
(«Good, Cheeky. Now take your hands off my head. «)
The telepathic link with Cheeky faded. The one with the women grew stronger until it seemed that they were three bodies sharing a single mind.
(«Cheeky is my First Friend. He also desires Moyla. «)
(«I am not surprised to learn this. Moyla has thought so for some time. Also, she has desired the-Cheeky. «)
So Cheeky wasn't going to be turned down. Blade supposed this ought to make him feel better.
(«Of course. Do you not wish the Cheeky to be happy, since you are apparently quite fond of him?»)
(«I am fond of him, and I do wish him to be happy. I also wish you would not speak so freely about every thought I have. I do not intend all of them for you. I hope this is no breaking of my oath.»)
Ellspa rested a hand on the Wise One's shoulder. Silence followed as the two women consulted privately. Then:
(«We admit you would not be breaking your oath, to have thoughts of your own. But under kerush, it is not the custom of the Rutari.»)
(«The customs of the English are not those of the Rutari. Do you wish me to be as one of the Rutari while I am among you?»)
(«That is a question with no easy answer. Certainly not an answer we will find tonight.») The Wise One made a hand signal, and a stone fell out of the wall. It revealed a black hole and Moyla's face peering out. She saw Cheeky and stuck her head out farther, hissing softly.
Cheeky crossed the hut in three bounds, yeeeping in delight. Moyla reached down to help him, but he swarmed up the wall to the hole without any aid. He disappeared inside, and Blade rather hoped the kerush didn't make him sensitive to all of Cheeky's thoughts. After all, the little fellow did deserve privacy for his lovemaking!
Now Blade became aware that the Wise One had also vanished. Blade looked around the hut, but there was no sign of her. She must have gone as silently as a puff of smoke, and now here he was alone with Ellspa-and he suddenly noticed that she'd taken off her skirt. She sat cross-legged in front of him, naked except for her headband.
Well, why not? Certainly his erection hadn't vanished. Quite the contrary. Blade felt as if he was good for at least half a dozen women, and here was only Ellspa, bare and smiling and probably more than ready…
It took no thought for Blade to reach out and stroke her cheek. She raised a hand and curled long fingers around his wrist. Her smile widened, and she shifted slightly to give him a better view of her breasts. Blade thought he'd never seen such breasts-small but perfect cones, with nipples his hands positively ached to touch, and his lips too. He moved closer, ran both hands down Ellspa's shoulders to cup her breasts-
Across the left breast he felt a raised ridge-scar tissue? Blade looked at the breast under his hand. To his eyes the skin was smooth and flawless. To his hand, though, Ellspa's left breast felt as if there was a long scar across it, running on up to the shoulder.
A long scar, like the one on the Wise One's breast. Somehow the Wise One had made herself appear to be Ellspa, Blade thought.
The eyes of the woman facing him widened. She had «heard» what Blade was thinking, and she started to get to her feet, angry that her ruse had been discovered. But Blade's hands, with a grip like iron, clamped down on her ankles and held them, then jerked her toward him. Herbs, gourds, and everything else scattered as Blade pulled the woman feet-first into his lap. Then his arms went around her, squeezing her so tightly that all the breath wssssshed out of her.
She fought in spite of this, clawing at Blade's back and trying to bite his ear. But her struggles only stimulated him more, and meanwhile he held her with one arm and ran the other hand up and down her back. It was a very fine back, straight and smooth, and there was no deception in her nakedness. She was as bare as a baby.
Now the Wise One abandoned her efforts to present herself as Ellspa and started trying to wither Blade's erection. She imagined them surrounded by howling cold winds, foul-smelling bogs, fires, monstrous beasts with jaws dripping slime and tentacles glowing obscenely.
Unfortunately she wasn't able to break Blade's grip. And as long as Blade was holding in his lap a woman like the Wise One, the only way she could have got rid of his erection was by castrating him. Just to make sure she wouldn't get that idea, Blade started projecting the thought of the two of them locked together, the Wise One's slim legs clamped around his back, her lips flowing wet and hot against him ….
The anger went out of the Wise One in a single moment. In the next moment all the gruesome images faded away. Her mouth was nuzzling the side of Blade's neck, with her tongue licking his skin, while her hands went under Blade's loinguard and practically tore it aside. Blade raised the Wise One's head and kissed her hard, so that her lips opened and her tongue crept out to meet his. Then, with only the gentlest pressure of his hands on her shoulders, she lay back on the furs and let him into her.
The pleasure at finally being there was almost explosive. Blade didn't know how much was real and how much was the Wise One's telepathic projections. He tried to fill her with the image of her body writhing and twisting in climax. If she didn't get there before what was left of his control vanished…
Then there was no mind at all, only two bodies locked together, arms and legs taking on a life of their own, lips joining madly, then roaming up and down bare skin. Blade lost track of the number of times the Wise One shrieked and he groaned, because now it really didn't matter.
After a while he realized that the fire was burning low, that the hut positively stank of sweat, and that the Wise One was kneeling in front of him. Sweat was dripping off her breasts-her breasts, no doubt about it, he could see the scar. The deception was over.
Not the lovemaking, though. The Wise One bent over Blade and worked on him with her mouth until he was ready again. Then she sat back on her haunches to make way for Ellspa to step up to Blade.
The real Ellspa? Blade waited until Ellspa had lowered herself into place, then quickly ran his hands up from groin to shoulder, fingers probing the fine skin for scars. They closed over the lovely breasts with their stiff nipples, and found no scars.
The real Ellspa. Blade pulled Ellspa down toward him and put his lips where his hands had been. Ellspa rammed her pelvis down against Blade's
neck and clutched his shoulders so hard her nails broke the skin. Then she cried out, a long sobbing moan that lasted until Blade closed his lips with hers.
A good start, Blade thought. Then Ellspa was moving on him again, and Blade matched her movements with his, because a good start was only half of it. The night wasn't over yet…
Chapter 9
Blade never found out what kind of recommendation the Wise One and Ellspa gave his telepathy, but they must have spread glowing reports of his virility. In the next few days, it seemed that half the unattached women of the Rutari asked him for sex, and a fair number of the attached ones as well.
Blade tried to be a gentleman. He accepted as many of the propositions as he thought would be safe, mostly from the unmarried women. He'd proved himself in the kerush-magor, in bed, in the hunt, and in the pit against the Great Hunter, but not in war. Until he'd done that, at least some of the husbands would feel they couldn't honorably ignore his bedding their wives.
However, the problem of his having no reputation as a warrior looked like it was about to be solved. The air of the village was thick with rumors that the Rutari would soon march against the Uchendi. It would not be all-out war, but it would be the biggest raid in years against the ancient foe, with many prisoners for cleansing or other rites. There would also be all the chances Blade could ever want to distinguish himself as a warrior.
He might also find out more about the Uchendi. Everyone seemed to know two things: that their telepathic powers were better than the Rutari's, and that they were unworthy of keeping the mysterious Idol. If anybody knew anything else, they weren't talking. Piecing snatches of conversation together, Blade understood that the Uchendi lived in the plains farther down the River of Life, and depended more on agriculture than hunting. He also got the impression that they had better lizard-horses than the Rutari, but didn't tame or use the Great Hunters.
In a few more days, Blade saw men repairing harnesses and sandals, filling provision bags, sharpening spears and knives, and exercising lizard-horses and Great Hunters. The Wise One and Ellspa were busily supervising a large gang of workers of both sexes, cleaning the prison caves and laying in supplies of kerush and everything else needed for cleansings.
