The Ruins Of Kaldac

Chapter 17

For the next few weeks, Blade would have been happier if he'd been triplets. There was too much for any one man to do. Fortunately Blade knew what to do in this sort of situation. He sat down and divided all the work into what absolutely had to be done before he left Doimar, dead or alive, and what it would be merely useful to do. That shrank the work down to what one man could do, as long as the man had the constitution of a horse and the ability to go for weeks on end with three hours' sleep a night. Blade qualified. Otherwise he'd have been dead years ago.

By day Blade practiced with the Hovercraft, not only operating it but also learning to maintain and repair it. He knew this could possibly give the Doimari knowledge they would afterward use against Kaldak. On the other hand, Blade needed the knowledge to be reasonably sure of escaping. The Sky Masters built their machinery to last, but the Hovercraft was still centuries old. It would do him and Kareena no good if it broke down ten miles outside Doimar.

The controls of the Hovercraft were so simple that Blade could operate it without being able to read the instruments. Unlike the waldoes, though, the Hovercraft was nothing for a child to handle. Even Blade needed all his training and reflexes to control it at high speed. He felt as if he was driving a sports car across slick ice, and didn't even try to push the Hovercraft to its limits. It would easily buzz along at eighty miles an hour, and at that speed it would leave everything in this Dimension far behind, including the waldoes.

The Hovercraft was designed on the modular system. When something broke, you simply pulled the whole piece out and shoved in a new one. With five other Hovercraft to cannibalize for parts, Blade had no trouble getting the sixth into nearly perfect condition. He also hoped to immobilize the other five by stealing parts from them. The Hovercraft could easily carry the radios the Seekers needed for their relay system. If none of the Hovercraft left behind ever moved again, it would be much safer for Kaldak.

That was Blade's day. Most of his nights were spent studying the maps of the cities of the land. He secretly made two copies of the map of Kaldak and hid each one in a different place in his suite. Then he set himself to the task of memorizing the locations of all the Oltec storerooms under Kaldak, so that if he had to escape without the maps the information still wouldn't be lost. When he wanted it that way, Blade's memory was nearly photographic.

The nights he didn't spend studying maps were spent making love to slave girls or sometimes free women of Doimar. Rumors of his silver loinguard were spreading, and many women seemed convinced that the penis it protected must be something special. Blade was always willing to do his best to prove the point, as amusing as he found the notion. Very few women seemed to go away unsatisfied.

In fact, it was the kind of satisfaction Blade gave some of them which brought on the crisis.

Another blood-red sunset was tinting Doimar outside Blade's window. Another company of infantry was training in the courtyard three hundred feet below. This time they were practicing hand-grenade throwing. Blade heard sharp explosions as the grenades went off behind walls of piled earth and stone. Sometimes he heard screams as a grenade went off prematurely in someone's hand. If Blade hadn't known already that the armies of Doimar were going to march soon, the training he'd seen these past few days would have convinced him. Nungor and Feragga didn't seem to care if they killed a third of their infantry as long as the other two-thirds were properly trained.

Blade decided to treat himself to a good night's sleep for once. There were no women coming tonight, the Hovercraft was about as ready as it ever would be, and he'd memorized all the information about Kaldak's Oltec anyone was likely to need during the war. He drew a cup of beer from the barrel in the corner of the bedroom, drank it, then started taking off his clothes.

He'd stripped down to the loinguard when he heard the sound of many feet shuffling outside the door. Then he heard a furious knocking, with fists, spear butts, sword hilts, and clubs. It sounded as if the people out there were rioters who wanted to break down the door. He grabbed his sword but didn't worry about his clothes.

Feragga's voice cut through the din outside. «Stop it, you fools! I wouldn't blame him if he killed the first half-dozen if you burst in on him this way!» Blade smiled. He'd been planning to do exactly that if the Doimari had come to arrest him. Apparently they hadn't-or at least Feragga hadn't.

Her voice came again. «Blade, we mean you no harm. But we must have your silver loinguard.»

«My-silver loinguard?» said Blade. He wasn't playing for time; he was honestly confused.

«Yes. Seven of the women you have taken to your bed are with child. Seven! No man in the memory of Kaldak has done so well in his whole life. You have done this in less than a month. We must have your loinguard to study, to know if it holds your secret!»

Blade laughed. «I have said the secret is in me, not in the loinguard. Do you doubt my word, Feragga?»

«I do not doubt that you are telling the truth as far as you know it, Blade. But do you know everything? The Seekers doubt it and would like to study the loinguard itself. Now may they have it peacefully?» She left the implied threat unspoken, but Blade heard the rasp of swords being drawn.

If he gave up the loinguard, there'd be practically no chance of his ever seeing it again. One of Lord Leighton's key experiments would lack its final results, and the scientist would not be happy, to put it mildly. The work of getting a protective garment for Blade-and possibly another traveler-to take into Dimension X would be set back. The Seekers might even learn enough from the loinguard to develop some suspicions about Blade's origins.

Yet they could hardly deduce the whole Dimension X secret from one piece of strange alloy. Nothing short of the Dimension X secret itself was worth the trouble Blade would face if he didn't give up the loinguard. The Doimari were obviously prepared to take it by force. They might not want to kill the goose who laid the golden eggs-or in this case, the gander with the golden loins. But accidents could happen, and in any case Kareena might be horribly punished for his stubbornness. At best, he would probably be put under guard like a stud stallion, and his chances of escaping would practically disappear.

«All right,» he said loudly enough to be heard by everyone outside. «I give up my badge of a warrior of England for the good of Doimar. But it is unseemly for a warrior of England to be without his badge, so I must ask you to return it to me in five days' time.» Blade didn't know if they would agree to this condition, but he had nothing to lose by asking and everything to gain. He'd be able to make his getaway as he had planned and still return to Home Dimension with the silver loinguard.

There was no sound out in the hallway for a few seconds, then Blade heard Feragga's voice. «All right, Blade, we agree to return it to you in five days' time. Now let's have it.»

«There's just one more thing,» Blade said. «Let me get some clothes on. Then I will let you in.» He was damned if he'd face the crowd out there in his bare skin. His private parts were not going to be on public display for the Doimari.

Feragga and Nungor led the crowd into the room. Blade handed the loinguard to Feragga, who handed it to Rehna, the Seeker woman who'd trained Blade in using the waldoes. She looked so unhappy that Blade drew Feragga aside and asked why.

«Rehna has not conceived from your seed,» said Feragga. She sighed. «Yet she has had you in her, and she may have another chance. Consider my situation. Now I cannot bed you at all, for I am certainly past bearing children if I ever could. Your seed is abundant, to be sure, but you do not have enough to waste on dried-up old husks like me.» There was real pain in her voice.

Blade kissed her gently, ignoring Nungor's frown. «Do not call yourself harsh names, Feragga. There will be a time when duty is done and pleasure is our right. Meanwhile, you are the mother of all Doimar. You have twenty thousand children, and that is more than I will ever sire.»

Blade was glad to see Feragga smile, because his praise was almost sincere. Like too many rulers he'd met, Feragga was cruel, ruthless, and ambitious for power and conquest. Unlike some, she was not mad. Confronted with a Kaldak armed, able to defend itself, she might see reason and make peace. Then the work of Doimar's Seekers would in the long run benefit everyone in the Land.

However, she was still going to have to be defeated first.

Blade quickly discovered that in fact he was going to be kept in a gilded stall as Doimar's prize stud stallion, even though he'd given up the loinguard peacefully. He would have every luxury Doimar could supply and a different woman each night. He would also have very little privacy and therefore not much chance of escaping.

«You look worried, Blade,» said Feragga, when she'd finished explaining how he'd be treated. «Does any of this go against the Law of England? I would not have suspected you were the sort of Law-bound fool to think of such things.»

«I am not,» said Blade firmly. «You should know that by now. It is entirely Lawful for a warrior of England to give his seed to women of other lands, and even leave his children in them. But if I am to do this as you wish, I must have two things.»

«If they are in Doimar, you may have them,» said Nungor.

«Good. One is five days to go through certain rites. It is the custom of England for a man to perform them before he goes to his bride. They are said to increase his powers both to please women and to give them children.» Five days should be enough to finish his work with the Hovercraft and stock it with food, water, weapons, and spare power cells for the escape-not to mention getting the loinguard back.

«We are glad to honor the customs of England,» said Feragga. «What is the second thing?»

«I would like to have Kareena, daughter of Peython, here as my slave, to begin her Initiation and-«

«You don't mean to put your seed into her?» said Nungor sharply. «She is not worthy to bear children who will be the strength of Doimar.»

Apparently Nungor's suspicions weren't being lulled by the fact that Feragga was no longer planning to take Blade to bed. The man was simply suspicious by nature.

Feragga glared at Nungor and opened her mouth, but Blade spoke first. «Nungor, your tongue runs ahead of your wits. I have said nothing about giving seed to Kareena. I wish her to do some useful work as part of her Initiation, by keeping these rooms clean, waiting on the women I take to bed, and so on. If she has her strength back, it is time we put that strength to use. Like my seed, it should not be wasted.»

He let an edge creep into his voice. «And if I did wish to put my seed into Kareena, Peython's daughter, I would do so. You could not stop me. I would not call her unworthy to bear sons for any city. She is Peython's daughter, and although he fears the Law too much I have not heard that he is weak, foolish, or a coward. Neither is his daughter.» Blade caught his breath, realizing that he might have put himself and Kareena in danger but not caring too much. He'd be damned if he was going to kiss Nungor's arse forever!

Feragga gave one of her robust laughs. «Blade, you have said what I was going to say better than I could have said it myself. Certainly you can have Kareena to serve you. When you have taken all the women of Doimar who will share your bed, you can even put your seed into her if you have any left. Indeed, a child of Peython's daughter will not be unworthy of Doimar. When do you want Kareena brought here?»

«Oh, in a day or two will be soon enough,» said Blade with elaborate casualness. «I would like to teach her some of her duties before I start entertaining the ladies of Doimar every night.»

«It shall be done,» said Nungor, his face and voice both expressionless.

The last of the guards rolled off Kareena and rejoined his fellows standing around her. He didn't bother looking at her, let alone try to help her to her feet. She lay on the filthy straw until she felt she could stand up easily. She would not let these swine see her struggling to her feet, let alone ask one of them for help.

Gradually what strength she had left returned to her limbs. She was able to sit, then stand up. No one made a move to offer her any clothing, but she would have been surprised if they had. She'd been naked most of the time since they carried her out of the room where Blade stood, calmly betraying Kaldak to that bitch Feragga!

Blade! The mere thought of his name nauseated her. She would have vomited if there'd been anything in her stomach. She hated him more than any of the Doimari guards who'd made her their plaything for the past weeks. They were hardly more than animals. Blade knew what he was doing.

A sharp pain in her leg made her bite her ragged lips and lean against the wall of the cell for a moment. She could stand and even walk slowly, but not much more. The leg would probably never be completely right again. Once the thought of spending the rest of her life walking with a limp would have been agony. That time now seemed long ago, in the life of a person other than the Kareena who now stood naked in a filthy cellar in Doimar.

More guards were coming now, bringing one of those metal chairs they used to carry her. She started walking over to it herself. She would not give them any excuse to manhandle her, not when the bruises from the last beating hadn't healed yet, and she would certainly be getting fresh ones when she got to wherever they were taking her. That had been the rule-a beating every time she was moved. At least they hadn't used the iron-tipped Initiation whip. She'd seen what that did and knew it might have broken her.

The guards lifted the chair and trotted down the hall, then turned right and stopped before a tall metal door. To Kareena's surprise it slid open, revealing one of the elevators. Where was she going, that they were taking her there by elevator? As far as she knew, the elevators only worked in Feragga's tower and one or two others in all of Doimar.

The elevator lurched upward, creaking and hissing, for quite a while. When the door opened again Kareena saw the guards outside wore Feragga's house badge. She was in the bitch-chief's tower. Then she saw something which drove all thoughts of Feragga out of her mind.

Blade was standing behind the guards, arms crossed on his massive chest. He looked as she'd expected him to look-clean, well-fed, self-satisfied, and as arrogant as if he ruled here instead of Feragga. Then he started giving orders, as if he took it for granted that he'd be obeyed.

«Bring hot water and soap and give Kareena a bath. Clean her wounds, rub her with oil, and give her a meal with some meat in it.»

«And the chain, Blade?» asked the chief of the guards carrying the chair.

«To be sure, the chain. But make it a long one, and wrap the leg iron in cloth. She'll have a lot of work to do, so I want her to be able to move about the rooms.»

«As you command, Blade.»

In front of Blade, Kareena was suddenly self-conscious about her nakedness for the first time since reaching Doimar. She wanted to cover her face or her breasts with her hands. Instead she forced herself to raise her head and stare hard at him. For a moment he stared back, then he looked sharply away.

She knew that he hadn't looked away because he was ashamed: clearly he felt nothing for her. He'd only ordered the bath and the meal because he didn't want a filthy, starved scarecrow of a slave in his comfortable rooms. Angrily she told her stomach to stop rumbling at the thought of meat, the first she would be tasting since she reached Doimar.

Perhaps Blade felt guilty over betraying Kaldak. He certainly should, by the Lords of the Law! But that wouldn't save him, either. If she was on a long chain, she would have a chance to explore his rooms when he wasn't around. There should be something she could hide, then use as a weapon at the right time.

The time would surely come. He'd want to bed her, if only to humiliate her. He'd be lost in rut then, and she would still be clear and cool in her mind and body. She'd be able to pick her moment, then strike to avenge her own honor and that of her city.

Perhaps she could kill that piece of dung Blade outright.

If she could do that, she wouldn't care what they did to her afterward. She could certainly take his eyes or his manhood or perhaps both. After that she might have the chance to end her own life.

She'd thought sometimes of doing that in the prison. She'd even had opportunities. Now she knew that nothing would make her turn against herself before she tried to strike at Blade. Now she knew she might not die dishonored and degraded but in a way worthy of Peython's daughter and a warrior of Kaldak. She could almost feel grateful to Blade, that his death or mutilation would give her back her own honor.