The Ruins Of Kaldac

Chapter 6

Blade spent his first few days in Kaldak as something less than a guest but somewhat more than a prisoner. He was confined to a room on the ground floor of the northern tower. The room had heavy wooden bars on the door and a guard armed with a laser rifle at the door, but plenty of light, air, and comfortable furniture. The Kaldakans also fed Blade three large meals a day, along with good strong beer. Once they even brought him a bronze jug of distilled liquor which tasted like cheap gin.

Blade didn't like being confined even as comfortably as this. He was bored, and he wasn't learning anything about Kaldak or getting enough exercise. He also knew that he was still at the Kaldakans' mercy. He did have to admit that if he was going to be a prisoner at all, this was one of the most comfortable prisons he'd ever seen in any Dimension.

On the sixth day Kareena came to him with an escort of guards led by Hota and a message from Peython. «If you give your word of honor not to leave Kaldak, you may go where you will within the city until the Gathering,» she said. Her words came out in short bursts from a tight mouth. Obviously she didn't like having to deliver this message.

«I swear by the Law of England and my own honor as a warrior that I shall not put one foot beyond the streets of Kaldak until the Gathering has rendered its judgment,» said Blade. He hoped he wouldn't also be asked to swear to submit tamely to a sentence of death. He would rather not have to take an oath he had no intention of keeping. He could lie with a straight face if he had to-his years in MI6A guaranteed that. But he still preferred to tell the truth, particularly among people who took oaths much more seriously than the «civilized» nations of Home Dimension.

«Do we know that England has a Law by which anyone can swear?» asked Hota.

Kareena looked at him sharply, half angry and half embarrassed. «We do not. But we can hardly ask Blade to swear by the Law of Kaldak when he is confined for breaking it.»

«Then why take an oath from him at all?»

«Because my father has ordered that we take it,» snapped Kareena. «And I will say nothing more on this to you, Hota.» She turned and stamped out. Hota lingered a moment to glower at Blade, then followed her. Blade frowned and poured himself some beer. At least Peython's order hadn't made him any new enemies. But he'd have to watch his back carefully as he moved around Kaldak. Hota would cheerfully slit his throat for a penny, and might be a formidable opponent even in a straight fight.

It turned out that Blade didn't have to worry about his back. Bairam appointed himself Blade's official escort from the first day of Blade's parole. With the chief's son and heir by his side, Blade could go anywhere he wanted in the city without anyone trying to stop him. Accidents were another matter. Bairam was as impulsive as ever, and sometimes Blade wondered who was keeping whom out of trouble.

In spite of this, Blade quickly learned most of what he wanted to know about Kaldak. Peython ruled about twelve thousand people. Most of them lived in the buildings of the city itself, including the farmers who went out to their fields every morning and returned every night. The rest were herdsmen who lived in distant pastures with their herds and flocks, or fishermen who lived by the Aloga River. The herds and fish gave Kaldak plenty of meat, and the rich soil of its fields produced grain and vegetables. The people of Kaldak were mostly slim-bodied, but it was not for lack of food.

«It is said that our land is richer than that of many cities because we keep the Law better than they do,» said Bairam.

«Do you believe this?» asked Blade.

«Is it possible that it is-not so?»

«Many things are possible, for I have seen them since I left England,» said Blade. «But I have not seen enough of Kaldak to answer that question.» He didn't want to get into a full-scale discussion. For one thing, Kaldak probably had some punishment for questioning the Law's principles. For another thing, the less he said himself, the more freely Bairam would talk.

«I think the Law makes some difference,» said Bairam. «We eat better and we have found more living Oltec. But our women bear no more children than those of cities with a weaker Law.»

That answered one of Blade's questions-why there were so few children. Some lingering aftereffect of the war-radiation, chemicals, a plague-made men or women or both infertile. When you had to do most work by musclepower, a small and slowly-growing population was a very mixed blessing. When you had to do most of your fighting with muscle-powered weapons, it was an outright curse.

The Kaldakans despised those cities with a weak Law and the wretched Tribes with no Law at all, who lived by hunting and gathering in the forests. But they could not ignore them. The warriors of Kaldak were always meeting the warriors of Doimar and its allies in savage fights over new finds of Oltec in the ruined cities. Over the years these fights took their toll of Kaldak's best men. Even more warriors died in fights with the Tribes when they raided Kaldak's fields or herds or burned the fishermen's huts.

Other cities had strong Laws and were more or less friendly. Kaldak traded with some of them, and there was a whole street of merchants supported by this trade. They sold leather, metal, furs, bone implements, drinking cups, weapons, fire jewels-

«Fire jewels?» asked Blade. He hadn't heard the term before.

«You've seen my father's necklace, haven't you?» said Bairam. «That is made of fire jewels.»

Blade remembered Peython's necklace of small metal blocks strung on a leather thong. «Why are they called fire jewels?»

«Because they hold fire within them, they cannot be cut or worked like other kinds of jewels or metal things of the Oltec. If you cut into them, they burst with much bright blue light or melt with a sound like meat frying. If a man holds them too long, he feels as though he is being struck by lightning. Men have died from holding burning fire jewels. Do you know why this is so?»

«I do not,» said Blade, which was only partly the truth. «But I would very much like to look closely at some fire jewels.» That was a considerable understatement.

«Well, there is a merchant of fire jewels named Saorm, and indeed I was going to visit his house tomorrow,» said Bairam. He hesitated. «I was not going to ask you to come with me-you see, I have a rather special reason for going there-«

«Is it his wife or his daughter?»

«You are very clever, Blade. Yes, it is his daughter Geyrna.»

«And-you do not think her father approves?»

«I do not know. I think he would not keep away the chief's son, but Geyrna is only fifteen.» He shrugged. «We keep swearing to ourselves that next time we will tell him, but somehow we always forget.» He smiled. «Geyrna is very pretty. She has red hair, which is not common in the Land.»

«I see.» By now Blade understood enough about Kaldak to understand the sexual customs here. The Kaldakans didn't worry about nudity because they didn't worry about sexual fidelity. Any man could ask any woman for sex, and an adult woman could ask any man. A married woman needed only her husband's consent to have sex with another man, and an unmarried girl under seventeen needed only her father's permission. This leniency regarding sexual activity was the only way the Kaldakans had to make sure that all the fertile men and fertile women sooner or later got together and produced enough children to keep up the population of the city. If a woman bore a child to someone not her husband, it was still her husband's heir, but the actual father could also claim the honor of «Protector.» That way all of Kaldak's precious children had at least one father, and many of them had two.

Having sex with a young girl without her father's permission was not precisely a violation of the Law itself, but it was definitely frowned on. Saorm probably would not object to the chief's son becoming the father of his grandchild, but other people would certainly talk. Blade was quite sure Peython was quite tired of his son's doing things to make people talk. He was also sure that the chief would be happy if he kept Bairam out of Geyrna's bed, for he had not yet met her nor had a chance to approve of her.

If Blade tried to keep the young man away from Geyrna, however, Bairam wouldn't take him to the fire jewels. He suspected they were far more important to the future of Kaldak and the whole Dimension than one girl's virtue or what people would say. He also suspected that to obtain the fire jewels he would have to break the Law again. Blade recalled the old saying, «They can only hang you once,» and refused to worry.

«I'll come with you to Saorm's house,» said Blade. «After that I'll turn my back, if you'll do the same.»

«Thank you, Blade. I swear to do as you wish.»

They went to Saorm's house late in the morning, in the hope of finding the man out doing his shopping. He was a widower, and his daughter kept house for him.

They were lucky. The house was empty except for Geyrna and the slave who did the heavy work. The girl looked much older than fifteen, and she was not only beautiful but clearly delighted to see Bairam. In fact, she looked ready to tear his clothes off right in front of Blade. Bairam led her off to the back of the shop, the slave went out to draw water from the well, and Blade was left alone with the fire jewels.

They were all rectangular blocks of metal, three times as long as they were wide, with a small ring on one end. They came in a number of sizes, the smallest about three inches long and the largest nearly a foot. Blade studied them carefully. They might be what he suspected, but he'd need a piece of Oltec to prove it. He started looking.

Fortunately most prosperous houses in Kaldak had a piece of dead Oltec somewhere, as a kind of household totem. In a few minutes Blade found the merchant's piece, a pistol-shaped object with a hollow metal tube sticking out of the muzzle. Blade couldn't tell if it was a weapon or a tool but knew there should be a place for the «fire jewels» somewhere in it, if he was right. There was definitely a switch on the top.

He started poking and prying at the «pistol.» At last he felt something give. With his thumbnail he pried open a corroded metal cover on the handle, exposing a rectangular slot the exact size and shape of the smallest fire jewels. Blade snatched one off the table, held his breath, and tried to insert it into the slot.

It slipped easily into place.

Now Blade pointed the muzzle at the ceiling, then thumbed the switch forward. For a moment many years of dirt and corrosion resisted. Then the switch snapped forward.

With a shrill whine, the metal tube started to turn.

Blade let out a war-whoop of triumph and danced around the room, waving the tool until he collided with the table, which promptly fell over with a crash. Blade ignored the pain in his shins. He'd never had the sensation of holding in his hands the whole future of a Dimension before. He felt almost drunk with delight.

As he'd suspected, the fire jewels were miniature power storage cells, far beyond anything in Home Dimension technology. Inserted into «dead» Oltec, they could make it «live» again. The Kaldakans and the other cities of the Land would have more tools and weapons than they'd ever dreamed of. Then if they could find a way to recharge the power cells…

Yes, but how many of the fire jewels were there, and how many still held power? Blade realized that he didn't know, and the realization sobered him. So did the appearance of Bairam and Geyrna, drawn by the uproar he'd made. Both were stark naked, but they looked so contented that Blade knew he hadn't interrupted their lovemaking too soon. The girl smiled and shook her head so that her long dark red hair fell down over her bare shoulders. Then she saw what Blade was holding, and her smiled faded.

«England-man Blade, that is-«Blade flipped the switch and the tool's whine filled the room. «That is-it was dead. Bairam! It was dead! Now it lives! But-«She didn't have the words for what she wanted to say. Bairam put an arm around her and comforted her, although his own face was twisting and his mouth hanging open.

«Bairam!» said Blade sharply. «Where is there a dead Oltec weapon I can have?»

«You can't have-the Law-«Bairam now seemed to be nearly as confused as Geyrna.

«I must see if I can make other dead Oltec live,» said Blade as patiently as he could. «It is most important to make the weapons live again-«

«Yes,» said Bairam, understanding dawning on his face. «If you make Oltec live again, then the Law must be changed. What you did to the great-hawk will be no breaking of the Law, not if there is more than enough live Oltec to go around. And you-«

«Will not have a death sentence hanging over my head,» finished Blade, grinning at the boy. Whatever faults Bairam might have, he certainly wasn't stupid. «Now where is an Oltec weapon?»

«In my rooms in my father's house,» said the boy. «I have two of them. One is not only dead but hurt. The other maybe you could make-live again.» He said the words as if he still couldn't quite believe them, then turned to the girl. «Geyrna, I must-«

At this moment Saorm the merchant walked in. He took one step into his shop, then stopped. Bairam bolted out the door, not bothering to put on his clothes. Geyrna knelt, murmuring «Oh, the Law protect us, the Law protect us.» Blade lifted the tool and turned it on. As he saw his household totem of dead Oltec coming to life, the man's eyes bulged until Blade thought they would fall out of his head. Blade scooped up a handful of the fire jewels, turned off the tool, and put it down by the fallen table. Then he followed Bairam out the door before Saorm could recover from his confusion.