by Джеффри Лорд
The king swallowed, and for a moment Blade thought he saw tears in the boy's eyes. Then the king said with a tremor in his voice, «Then you do want to help us fight Klerus? You really do?»
If Nefus had grown a second head Blade could hardly have been more surprised. It was a moment before he could speak in a normal tone of voice. «I had heard much to suggest that Your Majesty did not wish to fight the High Councilor Klerus. It is said that-I hope you will not take offense if I speak frankly.»
«I will be angry if you do not speak frankly, Pendarnoth. Say what you want to say.»
«I have heard that you honor Klerus because when your father died he was like a father to you. That you are blind to his faults and to his plans to betray Pendar to the Lanyri. And that you and your sister are at odds over this. She does not like Klerus at all.»
The king's dignity fell apart as he began to laugh, and Harima with him. They laughed until their laughter infected Blade also, and he laughed with them until all three ran out of breath. The laughter drove away the last of his anger and suspicion. He found it impossible to believe that King Nefus could be telling anything but the truth, either about Klerus or about Curana's murder.
Nefus finally wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes and said with a smile, «I am happy to know that you have heard this sort of thing. It proves the act my sister and I have been playing for two years is convincing. Did you hear the story from one of Klerus' enemies?»
Blade nodded and explained, briefly. Nefus smiled. «The act is very convincing when it has even the people who hate Klerus and the Lanyri worrying about me. Well, I ask that you tell Guroth that I and my sister honor him for his loyalty. We will see it properly rewarded some day.»
Blade nodded. «That will make him very happy. But before you can reward him, you must first keep your throne.»
Harima sighed. «Pendarnoth, we have thought much of how that might be done. But Klerus is king in all but name through his power in the Council of Regents. Nothing we have thought of would be accepted by the Council.»
«I believe you, my lady princess. But before you did not have a Pendarnoth, let alone one who was on your side. I believe I see a way that my position can help you. Perhaps it can even bring you victory."'
«Pendarnoth, if you can give us victory over Klerus and the Lanyri, you will deserve a new name. 'Pendarstrin,' Savior of the Pendari.»
«Let us worry about the Lanyri afterwards. You have a good army, and that may well be enough to repel the invasion. I can help you there also. But first, let us deal with Klerus.»
Blade quickly outlined his plan. It was appropriate that the Pendarnoth should have a large guard of his own, wasn't it? Particularly when he was going to be riding to war before long. The priests would certainly agree with this if asked-and they should be asked, secretly of course.
So Nefus should propose to the council that such a guard be organized. If the proposal had the blessing of the priests, not even Klerus would dare oppose it.
And then Nefus would appoint Guroth High Captain of the Pendarnoth's Guard. Guroth had a long list of officers and men he knew to be loyal to the king and Pendar. No doubt the king and Harima had lists of their own? Both nodded at that. These loyal officers and men should be gathered together in the Pendarnoth's Guard. This would create a strong force of absolutely loyal soldiers, and under the authority of the Pendarnoth himself, it would be even stronger, since it was sacrilege to fight against the Pendarnoth.
«And then?» asked Nefus.
Blade paused and took a deep breath. If Nefus balked at the next step, he would have to start all over again. «Then we arrest Klerus, search his papers, and question his servants for the evidence of his treason, and execute him.» For once Blade was not treating the king as an adult. As he spoke, his voice held the tone of an uncle warning a favorite nephew. He hoped it would work, or at least that Nefus would not resent it.
Apparently the boy-king did not. Perhaps he was used to having the High Councilor talk to him that way. In any case he frowned at Blade's words, but not with irritation. He seemed to be puzzling over a new and difficult problem that he had never met before. Then he sighed and spoke.
«I do not want to do such a thing. There is some truth to the stories about Klerus and me. He was good to me when my father died and I became king. That was a terrible time for me.»
«I can imagine, Your Majesty. But Klerus was doing that sort of thing simply to increase his own power and influence.»
«How can you know that, Pendarnoth?» said Nefus sharply.
Blade realized that in his eagerness to persuade the king he had said a little too much.
«I am sorry, Your Majesty. You are right. I do not know what Klerus was like years ago. But I know what he is like now. And so do you.»
«I do. And I know that we must do what you suggest. Now I must return to my own chambers before I am discovered here. How did you get into my sister's chambers, Pendarnoth?» Blade explained his dealings with the guards and saw Nefus frown. «I shall send some of my own eunuchs to take away the guards you attacked. Even if somebody has discovered the bodies, if they are gone by the time Klerus arrives, he will not be able to prove anything. He will only be suspicious, and he is suspicious already. But you will not have to hit my sister's guards on the head again. There is a secret passage that leads directly to her chambers. She will show you how to use it.» Nefus raised his hands in reverence to Blade, and Blade in turn bowed. Then the king rose on tiptoe to kiss his sister on the cheek, turned, and vanished through a curtained doorway. His small slippered feet made so little noise on the carpeted floor that he seemed to have been spirited away.
Blade turned to Princess Harima, and saw that she was shaking all over, as if she were chilled. «My lady princess, are you all right?»
«Oh yes,» she said with a laugh. «It's just-just that I'm so happy. Can you imagine what it was like for so long, alone, helpless, waiting for Klerus to strike, knowing that he would strike when he was ready. We were so lonely.»
«I can imagine it,» said Blade, but he was not really listening to her words. There seemed to be almost an edge of hysteria in Harima's voice, even though she was obviously trying to control it. Then before he could move, she stepped forward and threw her arms around him. Her lips came up to meet his, wet, clinging, and desperate, while her tongue slipped into his mouth and writhed there. A man blind, deaf, and dumb could have sensed the urgency pulsing in Harima's body. And Blade was none of these, but a healthy vigorous man with strong appetites and few inhibitions.
He felt his own body responding to hers as she pressed against him, and his own breath speeding up. His hands went to the back of her neck and stroked the fine hair there. A little moan came from her.
Then suddenly she twisted out of his grasp and backed off two steps. She stood facing him, her body still quivering, but her eyes cast down and her face pale. «Pendarnoth, I–I… I am virgin. I… you…» Tears sparkled in the corners of her dark eyes as she closed them.
Blade understood. She was a virgin and although she wanted him badly, she was frightened as well as passionate-in fact, frightened of being passionate. He would have to be very gentle with her-or reject her entirely. No, that second course might easily sour the relationship between them, a relationship Blade wanted to build and if possible build on.
He stepped forward until he could reach out and cup Harima's small firmly pointed chin in his right hand. At the same time he was unknotting the silken cords at the throat of her robe. As the cords came undone, Harima quickly hunched her shoulders and crossed her hands across her breasts to keep the robe from slipping down from her body.
Blade now knelt before Harima, running his hands gently up and down her spine. She shivered again, but the fear and strain were fading from her eyes. As his hands played over her buttocks, firm tight curves under the thin silk of the robe, he heard her moan again. She bent down until her cheek was resting on top of his head. Then she slowly drew his head agai
nst her breasts.
He felt them under the robe, small gracefully curved cones, not full but flawlessly proportioned. He could even guess that the nipples were large-and he could be certain that they were rising and hardening as she felt him against her.
Gently he reached for her hands and pulled her arms away from her body. As she straightened up, the robe fell from her shoulders and slid to the floor. She made no effort to cover herself now, but stood with her arms outstretched and her eyes fixed on his face. She seemed to be waiting for a judgment of her body to show in his eyes.
The dim light of the room softened any angularities in Harima's naked body. Slender neck, rounded shoulders, breasts as Blade had felt them, with large dark nipples standing up in hard little cones. A slender waist with the belly curving gracefully down toward the blue-black mat of hair between the graceful thighs. A slim body, spare of flesh, but beautiful on its own terms. Blade no longer had any doubts of that-or of his own increasing, response to the sight of it.
Quickly he stripped off his own clothes and stood naked before Harima. Her eyes inevitably fixed on his massive organ, and he could see her shiver again as she saw its size. «You-you are-huge, Pendarnoth. Are you-?»
«I am not like ten ordinary men,» said Blade with a laugh. «I am a man and do what a man does. But I know enough of what I am doing.» He motioned toward the rug. «Lie down, Harima. And do not be afraid. There is nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all.» He spoke soothingly, caressingly, speaking to both the woman and the child in Harima.
She flowed gracefully down onto the rug and he lay down beside her and pulled her to him. He did nothing at first but let his hands play over her body, touching lightly here, pressing harder there. He spent a long time on her breasts and a long time stroking and fingering her pubic area, until he felt her body beginning to move of its own will. He heard her moaning and hard breathing, saw her eyes close, then quickly lifted himself up and let himself down into her.
She was indeed a virgin, and she gave a rasping scream as he penetrated. He did not go in deeply at first, for he had promised to be gentle. He waited until he felt her legs come up of their own accord to lock around his body before thrusting with his full great strength. Even then he paced himself, holding back to the limits of his endurance until he reached those limits, and in a series of fierce pulses poured himself into her.
He had not brought her to climax this time, but this did not bother him. That was not always possible with a virgin. But there was a smile on her face as she lay back on the cushions and used her robe to wipe the sweat from her body. It was a smile of triumphant discovery. So Blade was not at all surprised when within a few minutes she reached out again. Her hands closed around his organ, now limp and exhausted but not for long. Her fingers were gentle, delicate, and surprisingly skilled. Soon he was fully aroused again.
This time she welcomed him into her with joy and passion. It was an easy matter to bring her to climax, not merely once but three successive times. Her cries as her body writhed in its spasms were so loud that Blade wondered if they might be overheard. But no one came in. They were left undisturbed, to lie half-exhausted beside each other until desire came a third time. It was not until nearly two hours later that Harima showed Blade the door to the secret passage. Then she gave him directions, kissed him full on the lips, and like King Nefus vanished with ghostly silence.
Blade had no very clear recollection of making his way through the dark tunnels away from Harima's chambers, and then through the corridors back to his own suite. But he had a very clear memory of waking in the morning light and seeing Guroth standing over him. The captain was obviously waiting to speak, and on his face was a look so bleak that Blade was awake in an instant.
«What is it, Guroth?»
«Word has come from the border, oh Pendarnoth. It arrived during the night, while you were with the Princess Harima.»
«Yes?»
«The Lanyri army is on the march. It crossed the border six days ago.»
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Three weeks later Blade sat on his horse and watched Rojag horsemen milling about on the outskirts of a burning Pendari town. His horse was not the Golden Steed, for that beast was too sacred in the eyes of the Pendari to be risked in battle. Instead he rode a tall, dark gray stallion from the royal stables, the personal gift of King Nefus. It was larger than the average Pendari horse, and so quite equal to Blade's two hundred pounds. The Golden Steed was back in the palace stables in Pendar, no doubt gorging itself in luxury.
Blade almost wished he could be there also. He had been furiously busy during those past weeks, working night and day training the soldiers of the Pendarnoth's Guard. That was no easy job, for Blade had to polish up his own skills at mounted archery at the same time. All that kept the job from being completely impossible was Guroth's constant and loyal aid. The new High Captain of the Pendarnoth's Guard was as able an instructor as he had been a combat soldier. He was able to teach Blade at the same time he was teaching the guard. And he had won the confidence of the soldiers to such an extent that Blade had no hesitation about leaving them in Guroth's hands when he himself rode off to war. Only a small force of guardsmen rode with him, for it was not part of the plan for him to do any heavy fighting now.
It was as well that Guroth had proved so loyal and so able. Klerus was pushing his plots ahead as fast as he dared, now that his Lanyri allies were actually on the march. The Pendari armies were being ordered to fall back before the invaders. One general who had given battle on his own initiative, and actually wiped out a small Lanyri force, had been assassinated. That had produced much grumbling among the soldiers. But the more outspoken grumblers had met the same fate as the aggressive general. After that there was silence in the ranks of the army, although the western horizon was marred each day by the smoke from burning Pendari farms and villages.
And Klerus was recruiting his own guard. Since Blade had the blessing of the priests as well as the support of the king for the formation of his own guard, Klerus had chosen not to oppose it openly. Instead he was secretly assembling a force of his own. It was already so large that any attempt to arrest Klerus would mean a pitched battle. Before too much longer Klerus would have enough men around him and under his orders to stage an outright military takeover, if he couldn't manage things any other way. So much of the Pendari army was now out in the field watching the advancing Lanyri that it would be easy to seize the palace and even Vilesh.
Fortunately, Guroth and most of the Pendarnoth's Guard were back in Vilesh. They would do all that could be done there to fight Klerus. Blade could stop worrying about that and concentrate on learning about the Lanyri.
He had not seen enough of the tough Lanyri infantry to really know if they were as good as he had been told they were. But he had seen far too many Rojag horsemen scouting and marauding ahead of the Lanyri. Apparently the Rojags had turned out every man they could put on a horse. No doubt they hoped that their alliance with the Lanyri would bring them Pendari land and slaves when the Lanyri had won. Some of them even now had bows, no doubt captured from the Pendari, although they could not yet use them well from horseback. But they did provide the Lanyri with a scouting force that could move just as fast as the Pendari. Not to mention the looting, burning, and massacring they accomplished wherever they went. Blade had seen a Pendari village after the Rojags got through with it, and he still felt a little sick at the memory.
The smoke from the village was rising now in three distinct columns. As Blade watched, one of the columns turned a dirty blue. Something in a shop, no doubt, making the smoke come out that color. Some of the Rojags seemed to be dismounting, no doubt to loot and rape more effectively.
Blade scanned the bare brown hills beyond the village's green fringe for any further signs of the enemy. He could see nothing, but that didn't mean there was nothing there. The Rojags were past masters at using cover, and the Lanyri were no less clever.
Blade heard a hail from behind him
and turned. The officer commanding the fifty-man troop of horsemen riding with Blade was coming toward him. The officer bowed his head as he rode up and said, «Hail, Pendarnoth. I think we can attack those Rojag creatures and perhaps save the village. There are fifty of my men here and twenty of your own guard. I do not think there are more than half that many Rojags.»
Looking toward the village again, Blade was inclined to agree. He could not count the cloaked, armed figures very accurately, but certainly he could not see more than about twenty-five. He wasn't supposed to get involved in heavy fighting, but this could hardly be called heavy fighting. And a victory here might save at least one Pendari village from ending up as a heap of smoking rubble, its maimed and tortured people sprawled hideously in the streets.
He nodded. «Very well. We shall attack. You will give the orders. I will lead my guard only.» Blade did not yet feel he understood the finer points of Pendari tactics well enough to take command from an officer who had been learning them for nearly twenty years.
The officer rode back to his men and Blade heard his voice rise in shouted orders. He turned to his guard and told them of the plan. He was rewarded by savage grins. These were among the toughest soldiers in the whole army of Pendar, spoiling for the fight he had been denying them for nearly a week. They would follow him into anything, even if he were not the Pendarnoth. Then he turned his horse's head toward the village and waited for the horn blast that would signal the charge.
It came, harsh, raucous, floating across the fields to the ears of the Rojags. Blade saw some of the moving figures stop dead and rammed his spurs into the horse's flanks. It leaped and scrambled up the slope out of the gully. Behind Blade came the guardsmen, and off to his left dust rose in a cloud as the other horsemen came up the slope. Their bows were already in position, and Blade saw the sunlight glint on arrowheads as they began shooting. He did not bother with his own bow, for he had no hope of hitting anything with a horsebow arrow at this range.
