Wizard Of Rentoro

Chapter 15

Although the Wizard gave Blade free run of the women of the castle, nothing came of it for a while except a certain amount of pleasure. Even that was limited, at least from Blade's point of view. The Wizard's women were so desperate in their eagerness to please that the mere possibility of angering Blade made them shiver with fright and even burst into tears. Or was it the Wizard's displeasure they feared, for not doing their best for their master's sworn friend and comrade? All the women showed the signs of years of obedience to the Wizard's whims and temper. A few of them showed fresh bruises from the Wizard's more violent moments. After a while, none of them could really please Blade.

In spite of the odds against him, he tried asking some of the women questions about the Wizard's affairs. A few of them answered, but none of them told him anything new and important. Others seemed so frightened at his questions that he abandoned the effort before the women were driven to telling the Wizard.

Blade did learn one thing from the women. The Wizard hadn't aged visibly during the time that any of the women had been serving in the castle. Still, that was no more than ten years, and a man who kept himself in good shape and dyed his hair and beard might very well not change. Blade was no nearer finding out if the Wizard was immortal, mad, or simply shared his ancestors' memories.

In any case, it really did not matter that much. Even if the present Wizard of Rentoro was not the same man as the one who'd traveled across the Dimensions, he was certainly a telepath and the master of the view-balls and skybridges. He could also teach many of his skills to other men. This was more than enough to make bringing him back to Home Dimension a monumental victory for Project Dimension X and for Britain. Blade saw no need to change any of his plans.

One evening over dinner he casually remarked that he found some of the women of the castle «a boring lot.»

«I see that you've beaten obedience into them,» Blade continued, «but you also seem to have beaten the spirit out of them.»

The Wizard shrugged. «The wise ones, I didn't have to beat. They knew or could guess what I wanted from the first. But others-yes, I did have to use the stick a trifle. A few I even had to throw to the Wolves for a night or two. That cured them.» A satisfied smile spread across the Wizard's face. «I take it you'd prefer someone with-more life, shall we say?»

«You might say that,» said Blade.

«I think that can be arranged,» said the Wizard. «There's one lady I have here I was never able to cure. Even throwing her to the Wolves just made her go astray in her wits. I've given up on her, but if you want to try?»

«I'll think about it,» said Blade. «Why do you keep her around, if she's so hard to tame?» The Wizard seldom kept the useless or the disobedient around his castle or in his service at all.

«I wouldn't, except that she's a high noble of Morina. Sister to the ruling duke, in fact, and highly thought of by the people. Her brother was more than happy to send her to me, but the Morinans weren't happy to see her go. I've got to keep her around until she dies a natural death, otherwise the city will be in an uproar. I'd have to send in the Wolves and make such a shambles I'd get no taxes out of the place for two years.

«By all means try her, if you're interested. If you get her down it might improve her disposition. Don't kill her, but otherwise-«The Wizard waved a casual hand.

Blade wished he could hit the Wizard over the head and lock him in a closet until the time came to return to Home Dimension. Enduring the man's whims for the sake of their «friendship» was becoming something of a strain. Now he was being invited-indeed, practically ordered-to rape a madwoman. He should have kept his mouth shut about the castle's women!

«Very well,» Blade said. «I'll see about paying her a visit tomorrow.»

«Good. I'll leave the necessary orders with the guards. And now-more wine?»

The Morinan lady's room was high up in one of the towers, where she could get a reasonable amount of sunlight and fresh air. This had nothing to do with kindness-the Wizard would have done as much for a prize sow that he had to keep in good health.

Two of the house guards were on duty outside the room when Blade arrived. One of them unlocked the iron-bound door and held it slightly ajar.

«Now, 'member, lord-any trouble, gi' us a shout-we be in straight.»

«Don't worry,» said Blade. «I'm sure I'm big enough to handle her.» The guards caught his double meaning and were still laughing as he slipped into the room.

It was circular, twenty feet across, eight feet high, and whitewashed so heavily Blade felt as if he'd stepped inside a wedding cake. It was a moment before he noticed the low bed on the far side of the room, under the barred window. It was another moment before he noticed the woman in the stained white robe, lying face down on the bed.

As Blade stepped toward the bed, the woman rolled over in a swirl of silk and pale legs, then raised her head to look at Blade. Her eyes were enormous, staring wildly without understanding, and with huge dark circles under them. Her blonde hair was a tangled mess, dark and stiff with grime. She laughed, a low bubbling sound deep in her throat that made Blade's flesh crawl and nearly made him turn around and leave the room much faster than he'd come in. She raised a thin hand to point at him, a shaking hand with black circles under untrimmed fingernails. She laughed again, and then she swung her legs off the bed, sprang to her feet, and came toward Blade.

Blade forced himself to stand and meet the woman's eyes as she came at him. As he got a better look at her, he realized that she was beautiful, or at least would have been, except for the look in her eyes and her unhealthy thinness. Pale, freckled skin was stretched too tightly over fine bones, and what should have been the generous curves of breast, hip, and thigh were shrunken and flattened. She looked as if she hadn't eaten regularly for months or years.

Then her hands clawed at Blade's shoulders until her fingernails sank through his silk shirt into his flesh. He gripped her arms, trying to control her, but she broke free and stepped back just out of his reach. Her hands made another quick dart, this time to grip her robe at the level of her knees. Before Blade could move or speak, she jerked the robe over her head and flung it away from her so violently that it flew clear across the room.

Certainly the beauty was there, as if asleep under that pale skin showing too many bones. The breasts rose in a proud challenge, the hips and thighs curved gracefully even now, the long legs held both power and elegance. She tossed her head, and Blade wished her hair was clean, loose, and flowing, so he could see it swirl about her high cheekbones and the long, graceful throat. Then she was coming toward him again. There was still a madness in her eyes, but it was a madness of desire, and Blade no longer feared that his own manhood would collapse at the woman's touch.

She went down on her knees before him, her bands tore the seams of his hose, and her lips descended on his bared flesh. They worked upon him until desire was almost pain, and his hands were clutched in her hair, gripping her as if releasing her would release his own hold on life. She stood, and her hands clawed his shirt from his chest and shoulders. Then she gripped both his hands and dragged him toward the bed.

Blade still wore his hose as they lay down on the bed, and he wore them as he thrust deep into the woman. After that it did not matter, for he wouldn't have noticed or cared if he'd been wearing a full suit of plate armor, as long as the woman was there and he was in her.

Blade couldn't have imagined a joining like this before, and he could never describe it afterward. There were no words to do justice to the mixture of pleasure, amazement, and doubt. All he knew was that his joining-he would never call it a lovemaking-was at the same time one of the most exciting and one of the most terrible experiences of his life. He was aware of the woman's body and the incredible joy it was giving him and taking from him. He was just as aware of the ruined mind within that body, and what this joining might do to it or for it.

At last the peak came for both of them, and with terrible violence. Blade found the strength to lie beside the woman and the will to keep his arms protectively about her. He would not simply jump up and leave her lying here, whatever she might do next. He wasn't going to come here again, either. That might offend the Wizard, but his mind was made up. He would look for some excuse that would satisfy the Wizard, but if he couldn't find one, then-

As Blade's thoughts turned to making up a tale for the Wizard, he became aware that the woman was shifting her position, so that her lips were against his left ear. Then those lips were moving, and in another moment he could make out words, in a whisper so faint they would have been lost a foot away.

«Thank you,» the woman was saying. «I could not hope that you would do as well, when I had to keep up my playacting. It is good acting, for it has confused the Wizard himself. I feared it might also confuse you. Now-let us talk, and swiftly. There is much to say, and not much time for saying it.»

«You-«said Blade, then broke off as he realized why the woman was whispering so close to his ear. The room doubtless had eves-droppers listening for whatever was said within it.

«Yes,» she said. «They listen to know if I am truly mad, and they must hear nothing to make them doubt. That would be danger for me, perhaps even for you. Lie where you are and listen. They say you are the Wizard's trusted friend and ally, who has penetrated all his secrets as no man has ever done before. I am Serana Zotair of Morina, who would free my people from the Wizard, and I am as sane as you are. Perhaps saner, if you are truly a friend of the Wizard.»

Blade listened, curious, fascinated, excited, and hardly suspicious or surprised at all. Why should she lie? As for being surprised, Blade was past that now in this mad Dimension, he would not have been particularly surprised if she'd told him she was the Empress of Japan!

She was alone here in the castle, she said, and she had few supporters of her plans even in her native Morina. There were many who hated the Wizard, but few willing to risk the fate he dealt out to his enemies.

She had not planned to become the Wizard's prisoner. That would have been the act of a madwoman. Then her brother conceived of showing his loyalty to the Wizard and getting rid of her by sending her to the castle. She could not ignore the opportunity this offered for digging out the Wizard's secrets.

Blade would know, she said, what she'd endured during the past two years. The Wizard would have told him of the beatings, the brutality from the Wolves, the confinement. Then there was the endless strain of seeming to be mad, a grim battle that at times had almost driven her into real madness. She'd endured it all, and for nothing. The Wolves had knowledge of the Wizard's secrets, but never spoke of them in her presence. The household guards and servants spoke freely, but they knew nothing.

Now Blade had come. He could make it all worthwhile, if he chose to help her. She could neither promise nor threaten anything if he didn't help her. She could only pray that what he knew of the Wizard would tell him what he should do.

Perhaps she was foolish, trusting Blade, the Wizard's intimate friend. Certainly he was the best opportunity she'd ever had. Long before she had another one as good, she would have lost her sanity, if not her life. So what choice did she have?

At this point Blade shifted position, so that his lips were against Serana's ear. In a whisper as soft as hers, he said, «What makes you think I would not help you?» and squeezed her hand.

There was a very long silence, during which Blade held on to Serana's hand and she was obviously trying hard not to burst into tears. Then she rolled over, nuzzled at his cheek, and put her lips back against his ear.

There was not much more to tell and after a few more minutes Blade rose, pulled on his clothes, and left the room. He got rid of his escorts as fast as possible, not wanting to hear any more of their coarse jokes. He also wanted to be alone to think through his plans in the light of this new situation.

Fortunately, he couldn't see that many changes would be needed. He would be visiting Serana again, probably several times, but that wouldn't bother the Wizard. During those visits, he could tell the woman everything he'd learned-enough to let Morina lead a successful rebellion against the Wizard.

Such a rebellion might not be necessary, of course. If the Wizard returned to Home Dimension with Blade, his rule over Rentoro would come to an end naturally. His trained assistants and the Wolves might do their best for a few years, but they would go down sooner or later, whether Morina rebelled or not.

Yet he had to guard against failure. The techniques for getting other people back from Dimension X were uncertain, unreliable, hardly more than guesswork. There was a good chance Blade would end up back in London while the Wizard stayed in Rentoro. That would not only cost Home Dimension the Wizard's secrets, but leave Rentoro under his tyranny. Blade was determined to at least prevent the second, if he could not accomplish the first.

So Serana Zotair had to learn all the Wizard's secrets, carry them safely to Morina, and reveal them. Blade could tell her everything she needed to know, but getting her out of the castle was another problem.

«I think I see a way,» he told her, on his third visit. «The Wizard thinks I am a learned man. I will say that I believe you will not be cured of your madness unless you are returned to Morina. I will say that you may even die, if you are not sent home for at least a few months. The Wizard does not want to have your death on his hands.»

«No, and neither does Duke Efrim, my brother. He will keep me closely confined, though.»

«Will you be able to send messages to your friends?»

«Yes. But will they do anything? They have not done so, in all the years there has been talk of a new rebellion. Some call themselves leaders in that rebellion, but they have done little enough leading.»

«They may have done nothing because it seemed they would be throwing their lives away in vain. With all the Wizard's secrets in their hands, the odds will be much better.»

«I hope they will see this as clearly as you do. Will you be coming with me to Morina?»

«The Wizard does sometimes let me leave the castle, but not without an escort of Wolves. You would be safer going alone. Go on pretending to be mad, but eat a little more and get some strength back. You may need it, after you reach Morina.» Then there were no further words, only quick breathing and writhing flesh. They had to make love as if Serana was still mad. Blade was sorry they would never be able to do it with the tenderness and affection they both now felt and wanted.

There were dangers in the plan. He could not go with Serana, and only partly for the reason he gave. He had to stay in the castle, close to the Wizard, or throw away any chance of taking the man home with him. Serana would have to play a lone game in Morina, but that should be almost easy for her after what she'd done these past two years in the Wizard's castle.

Blade would also have to make sure the Wizard didn't try to read Serana's thoughts before letting her go. He obviously hadn't done so before, otherwise he would have known that she wasn't mad. Suppose he did so now? There would be hell to pay, for he would be almost certain to learn not only that Serana was quite sane but that Blade had told her all his secrets. Blade suspected the best thing to do in that case would be kill the Wizard and then try to get clear with Serana in the resulting uproar and confusion. It would be a very poor «best.»

Blade mentally kept his fingers crossed, and as the days turned into weeks, he began to think his plan might work. Serana stayed as wild-eyed and incoherent as before, but slowly she put on flesh. The Wizard listened politely to Blade's proposal, seemed to suspect nothing, and said he would give his answer in a week or two. Blade could only hope he would make up his mind before the computer reached out to haul one or both of them back to Home Dimension. If the Wizard did decide to let Serana go, and did not probe her mind, everything should be simple.

Then all at once nothing was simple, because of the Wizard's latest idea.