by Джеффри Лорд
«I do know that-which is why I wish you to drink lightly. I will need you as guide. But I request it, do not command it. Suit yourself.»
Thane drank hugely and grinned. «I always do, so far as I can and keep my head. But I make you a bargain, Blade-if you can wake me in the morning I will go with you. I will not like it, but I will go. But for now you have other troubles.»
Blade gazed about the littered battlefield. «Have I now? I had thought them over for a little time.»
«You will see. For you still do not know much of our Zirnian soldiery, and especially of such riff-raff as we have recruited for this campaign.»
«They have fought well enough,» Blade said. «Far better than I guessed.»
«Aye,» agreed Thane. «And now they will want their reward. And will take it. They have found a thousand casks of Hitt beer and are broaching them by the dozen. I doubt that you have ever tasted Hitt beer, Blade, but let me tell you of it-it steals a man’s senses in no time. And to add to the dish, you have taken women captive. I advised against that, remember, and before this night is out you will admit me right. Even Zirnian soldiers will not couple with a corpse, but your Hitt women are alive. For now at least.»
«We will stop it now,» said Blade. «I will call the provost officer and have him see to it.»
Thane laughed wildly. «You will have to lure him away from his beer, then. I passed him and his marshals on the way here and they were knocking out bungs at a great rate. I would not count on the provost, Blade.»
A shout of drunken laughter came over the battlefield. Thane winked at Blade. «They begin. You might as well join me in wine, Blade, and enjoy it. For you cannot prevent it. I will not try. I have fought long and hard this day and have no mind to be slain by my own men.»
Chapter 11
Thane was right. Before dusk Richard Blade had done what he seldom did-given up, resigned to the fact that here was a situation he could not alter. The orgy of drunken soldiery must run its course. Ogier and he supped alone, preparing the meal themselves-for the servants had run off to join the drinking and raping-and discussed the day past and the day to come. Thane lay drunken in a nearby tent. They could hear him singing and cursing.
Ogier had bathed and donned fresh linen and armor, as had Blade. They ate in silence and drank little. When Ogier had finished, he tossed bones to one of his hounds and stared gloomily at Blade.
«Thane is right, you know. You are a fool to go after Bloodax. The country is treacherous and wild. There are a thousand places to hide. You will never find him unless he wants you to-and if he wants you to it will be because he is in a position of advantage. Give it up, Blade. Today we broke the Hitt power for many years to come. Let us go back now and attend to that black crow Casta. I have had word from my spies-he has moved into the palace city and again consorts with Hirga. I said it all along-we should have been killing priests instead of Hitts.»
Blade shook his head. «Your advice is no doubt good, Ogier, but I cannot follow it. I must go after Bloodax. You will remain here and whip these rebellious dogs back into some form of an army-when the beer is all gone and the women all raped.» Blade sighed. «I would have prevented that.»
A woman ran screaming past the tent, pursued by a dozen howling men. Ogier scowled.
«Not even you can do everything, Blade. The gods themselves are helpless. Do not let it fret you so-the dawn will come and it will end. And think that the Hitts would do the same in Zir, were matters reversed.»
They went to stand outside the tent. A thousand fires glowed like carbuncles in the night. A vast clamor lifted to the black sky. Laughter and screams, curses and threats, song and tears. Nearby a youth lay headless while a dozen soldiers took turns with his young sister. Blade took a step in their direction and Ogier laid a hand on his arm.
«Leave off. They will not be controlled this night and it is death to try. Believe me, Blade. I have seen such nights before.»
A woman passed them, running and pursued by men. She leaped from the cliff out into darkness. The soldiers cursed in disappointment and turned back to quarrel with the men raping the girl. There was dispute and swords were drawn and used.
Blade said nothing. He turned away, his face hard and set, and stalked to the tent of Thane. Ogier came after him.
A flambeau guttered atop a pole. Thane lay snoring on a pile of skins. Spilt wine had dyed his chest hair purple. Beside him crouched a Hitt girl. She wore an animal skin about her middle, nothing more, her hair was wild and her face caked with grime. She stared at them with enormous eyes and reached across the sleeping Thane to pluck his dagger from its sheath.
Blade made a sign to Ogier and spoke softly, smiling. «No need for that. We will not harm you. Who are you and how come you to this tent? Does the Captain Thane know you are here?»
Ogier said, «The Captain Thane knows nothing at the moment.»
Without taking his eyes off the girl, Blade told him to be quiet. The girl stared and stared, the dagger held at half length from her breasts, whether for herself or Blade he could not guess. Thane snored on.
Blade was very gentle. «Speak girl. No harm will come to you. I am the Prince Blade and you have my word on it.»
Her eyes sparked blue in the torchlight and her knuckles whitened on the dagger’s hilt, then suddenly she relaxed and nearly smiled. Her voice was low and pleasant and very young-Blade guessed her at not past thirteen.
«Thane spoke of you,» she said. «He says you are as near a god as mortal can be. But now that I have seen you I do not believe-you do not look like a god to me.»
Ogier made a sound that was suspiciously like a chuckle. Blade ignored him. He smiled at the girl.
«We will discuss my godhood another time. How came you here?»
Slim shoulders shrugged and tight young breasts bobbled. «I am a Hitt. Soldiers were after me and I was caught, but the Captain Thane leaped on them and slew three. Then he brought me here. When I snatched for his dagger to kill myself he stopped me and told me that he was also a Hitt. I did not believe at first, but he spoke of many things that only a Hitt would know and at last I believed him. I promised that I would stay and not kill myself. Then he drank much wine and is as you see him.»
Ogier pushed forward. «Did he bed you, girl?»
She stared at Ogier and the corners of her mouth pulled down. «He tried. I willed it. But wine robbed him of his manhood. So now I wait and I am starving-you will give me food?» Blade bade Ogier go fetch the remains of their own supper. The Captain left, grumbling at being made an errand boy. The girl gave Blade a tentative smile. «Before Thane slept he promised that he would ask leave of you that I stay with him, to be his woman? You will permit this?»
«Do you wish it?»
Again the shrug, and her small breasts danced. «I wish it. Thane is a Hitt, even though he fights for Zir, and I would rather live than die.»
«How are you called?»
«My name is Sariah.»
Blade nodded. «Very well, Sariah. Thane has you and you have Thane, if that is the way you both wish it. But you had better think of this-when he is sober in the morning, for I will see that he is, he may have a change of mind.»
The girl nodded. «I know. We will see.»
Ogier came back with food and the girl fell on it like an animal. Blade and Ogier watched with some amusement and no little awe as her white teeth ripped at a great haunch of meat.
Ogier found a camp chair and slumped into it. «I am glad I am not at her mercy. She would eat a leg off me before I could think.»
Blade regarded the snoring Thane. «We will have to remain here and share the guard,» he told Ogier. «Thane is in no condition to protect himself or the girl. We had best take no chances.»
They listened to the howling of human wolves on the battlefield and Ogier agreed. «Yes, so be it. I will take first watch.»
«Take this with you and empty it.» He flung the wine sack at Ogier. «We must have him on his feet in the morning.»
> Ogier grunted. «Nigh as great a task as winning this battle today. You have never seen Thane on a real drunk.»
«Nor will I this time. I need him. Wake me in two hours, Ogier.»
He had hardly closed his eyes before Ogier shook him awake. Thane was still snoring and the girl Sariah slept close to him. Ogier dropped on the pallet of skins and was instantly asleep. Blade drew his sword and left the tent.
It was dark and wind came cold off the channel. Stars glittered like the diamonds Blade hoped to find. He walked around and around the tent to warm himself and stay awake. There was no moon and he could not see the battlefield and thought it just as well. Ever and anon there came a cry or moan from the dark. Otherwise it was quiet but for a few fires and some drunken song. The worst was over.
At that moment he felt the tingle in his brain. The crystal was alive and receiving impulses from the computer. Blade walked and walked, concentrating, feeling the electronic field spread and usurp his cortex. The impulses were stronger than ever before.
Lord Leighton had been working hard. Certain changes had been made. The computer read Blade’s brain well and the encephalographic coding was near perfect; there were lacunae, but they could be filled in or guessed at. Blade’s situation was known and understood and approved. Continue progress toward diamonds.
Teleportation was now a crash program. There had been some successes and some failures, but they were pushing on. When the chances of success were improved, Blade would be instructed. Meantime push on for the diamonds. The crystal went dead.
Blade rubbed his temples, there always being some small pain, and glanced at the sky. Dawn was not far off. When it lightened enough he sought out some sleeping men and kicked them awake and sent them with tubs to the beach. Cold sea water would awaken Thane. Hot broth and walking, perhaps even a swordpoint, would keep him awake.
Chapter 12
Blade was a royal prisoner and treated as such. For near a month he had been a captive of the Hitts, and he still did not know their intentions toward him. He knew his own intentions-escape as soon as possible. If possible. And it might be. He glanced at the pile of sewn-together skins in a corner of his hut and smiled. Just possible-if his crude balloon worked and the Hitts did not kill him first.
Thane was dead. Poor Thane. He had been right all along, as had Ogier. Ogier had taken the army and retreated across the narrow water after laying waste to as much of the coastal area as time permitted. He had destroyed both pontoons.
Blade left the hut and wandered across the stone plateau to the edge of the escarpment. In effect, the hut was a penthouse and he marooned in it. They kept him prisoner atop a tower of sandstone five hundred feet high and falling sheer on every side. There were higher cliffs around and he was watched from them. Now and then a leatherman glided across the plateau, checked on him and dropped to a lower peak. It was a most efficient prison.
He went to a jumble of rocks near the precipice and seated himself on a boulder. The air was clear and cold and he could see for miles. He gazed south and held up a wetted finger to test the air. And smiled a little. The wind was to the south again today and that made eighteen days out of twenty-five that it had been so. He had been counting them.
Before him rolled line after line of jagged peaks, stone fangs with snow in their jaws overlooking dark and twisting valleys. Nearby, below him and spreading all around the plateau were the caves and houses of the Hitts, carven from the soft sandstone. Thousands of chambers and apartments dug out of the living rock and reached by a complicated system of wooden ladders. Scattered throughout the valleys were bee-hive huts carved from the same soft rock.
There came a faint hissing overhead. Blade glanced up in time to see a leatherman glide over, the hostile blue eyes staring down at him. Odd, he thought, that they can make gliders and put men into them, and yet do not conceive of a balloon. For they did not, else they would not have permitted him the skins and the needles and sinew and rawhide. They did not guess at what he was up to-or did they? Were the Hitts playing games with him?
As he gazed at the far horizon the thoughts came unbidden. Blade groaned softly and knotted his forehead in anguish. He tried not to think it, but the haunting would not be denied. The thoughts came when they would and it was always painful. He had been a fool and he was paying for it. But poor Thane had paid for it too, and therein lay the greater suffering.
They had found the tunnel leading from the beach, and Thane, suffering direly from wine, had tried a last time to beg off the venture, to dissuade Blade.
«There are other and safer ways to come at Bloodax and the diamonds,» he said. They stood in a vast cavern into which the first tunnel had led them. The party was of Blade and Thane, the girl Sariah and twenty men found sober enough to understand and obey. They all carried torches.
Thane waved his torch toward a dozen dark passages leading from the cavern. «How are we to know which one Bloodax used? Or where he lies now? It is my guess that he will not linger, but will escape into his mountains and form a new army. But that is only a guess. He and his warriors may be lying in wait for us around any bend. This is too chancy, Blade.»
Blade was stubborn, perhaps wrong. He knew it and yet would not be deterred. If he did not take Loth Bloodax speedily he would not take him at all. If he waged an orthodox campaign he would soon be ensnared in the treacherous terrain, in the valleys and mountains, and might never come up with the Hitt chief, might never reach the treasure he sought. Thane was right. It was chancy. But Blade deemed it the only way.
«We will push on, he said. «We will split into small, separate parties and scout carefully in these tunnels. Use the line we brought from the ships to guide us back to this place. There must be no fighting, no engagement, if the enemy is sighted. He who does so will return here at once and warn the others. When we have found Bloodax, if he is here, I will determine a plan to take him.»
Thane groaned. «I wish I had wine. I would not mind this foolishness so much if I had wine.»
The girl Sariah spoke then. «I have been through this place once when I was small and played with my brother on the beach. There is one tunnel that goes for miles and comes into a valley that in turn leads into the mountains.»
«That would be it,» Blade said. «I’ll wager it. Which tunnel, Sariah?»
She pointed it out and they entered. A hundred yards into the tunnel they found a Hitt dead of wounds. Thane moved the body with his foot. «They came this way, right enough. But what of it-we have but twenty men and they not at their best. Nor am I. That leaves you and a girl.» He glowered at Sariah. «And I am not sure I would trust her.»
The girl stared at them and shrugged. «I cannot force trust on you. I care not.»
Blade studied her and could read nothing in her eyes or on her face. Thane was probably in the right of it, but it was a chance that must be taken.
«I have told the truth,» Sariah said. «This tunnel leads into a valley, and that valley leads into the mountains and to the place of the Hitt kings. I saw it as a child and I have never forgotten. Do as you will.»
« You are no more than a child now,» growled Thane, «and since you have gotten your belly full and are safe from rape you are a snotty child!» He raised his hand.
«Forego that,» ordered Blade. «We will push on. Sariah will go first, as far as possible ahead of us and still in sight.» He gave a command to a bowman. «Keep her well in view. If she seeks to escape, to run, kill her.»
Sariah smiled.
It was very cold on the plateau. Blade’s fingers and lips were numb and blue. He went back to his hut and huddled by the fire.
He was still not positive that Sariah had led them into the trap. There was no proof and how could she have known that Loth Bloodax and his men were lying in wait?
They had pushed on for half an hour before entering another cavern. The floor was littered and jumbled with stone pillars and there were ledges all about the cavern. Sariah, carrying a torch, advanced beyond the cent
er and pointed to another tunnel leading away. «This one.»
The Hitts struck them. They came yelling from the ledges and behind the pillars and in the semigloom and confusion it was soon over. Blade and Thane fought back to back and slew a dozen Hitts before rope nets were tossed over them and they went down. They were trussed up and lashed to poles and carried off. The Hitts cut off the heads of Blade’s men and stuck them on lances. There was no sign of Sariah.
Blade went now to his fire and poked it up. He added more wood. The Hitts fed him well and kept him well supplied with wood and all other things for which he asked. That Bloodax had plans for him Blade did not doubt, though what those plans were he could not begin to guess. In the meantime he was treated well and his wishes indulged. He regarded the pile of skins he was fashioning into a balloon and the rawhide tube that would conduct the smoke into it. Blade smiled. It was simple enough. The Hitts could not dream of a balloon any more than an ordinary person in Home Dimension could dream of Dimension X. They might puzzle at Blade’s demands and think him a bit mad, but they would never guess at what he was making. Until the moment came to use it. That would be risky. He had not forgotten the leathermen. They would be after him.
He sat cross-legged and began to sew, and thoughts of Thane came back. The big man had been recognized and condemned immediately to die as a traitor, as a Hitt who had deserted to the Zirnians. Blade, held in isolation in a bee-hive hut, had been told nothing but that Thane was to die a traitor’s death. And that he must watch it.
Blade put away his needle. He had tears in his eyes and he was not ashamed of them. His fault. All his fault. Thane had been a drunk and a hard man to handle, but he had been loyal. At engineering he had been a genius by Zirnian standards. But most of all he had been Blade’s friend.
Blade had watched. They took him to the place of execution in a valley. Loth Bloodax was there and the man called Galligantus, though Blade was not permitted near them. He near forgot Bloodax, for he so longed to be at the throat of Galligantus, a lean and sinewy man with a mean, pinched face and eyes like dull diamonds. Galligantus who was victor in the end.
