by Джеффри Лорд
«You're safe, thank the Spirit of Union. Nugun was afraid-«
«Nugun? He reached the Purple River?»
«Of course. Would we be here if he hadn't?» snapped one of the men. «Now for the Spirit's sake and your own life, come on with us and stop talking! We've come with thirty men into a land where Rilgon can call out a thousand! Come on!»
Blade moved. The two Blenar might not be telling the whole truth, but at least they seemed willing enough to get him out of Rilgon's hands. For the moment he would be content with that.
As the three men burst out of the hut, two of Rilgon's Blenar warriors came dashing up, swords drawn. There was a brief and deadly flurry of clanging weapons. One of the Blenar ran off screaming, left wrist a bloody stump. The other folded in the middle and toppled, to lie face down beside the bodies of two dead Senar. Blade bent down to snatch up the dead man's weapons.
As he did so, a furious yelling and screaming burst out to his right. Blade looked that way and saw a mass of Senar storming forward, with a dozen Purple River Blenar slowly giving way before them. The Senar struck desperately with their clubs and thrust with their spears, but even when the blows went home, the Blenar did not go down. Blade realized that the Purple River men were wearing heavily padded, boiled-leather jackets and thighpieces, which could easily turn aside a Senar spear point.
One of Blade's rescuers jerked his arm. «Come on. We'll have to cut down along by the river and head north.» Blade nodded; then a thought struck him.
«We can save the girl, then.»
«What girl?»
«There's a city girl tied up for punishment down at the river end of the village. She'll be flogged to death tomorrow.»
«Oh, damn!» said one of the Blenar. «We can't take the time, Blade. She-«
«She'll die tomorrow if we don't rescue her. I've already gotten one woman killed since I came to Brega. I'll be damned if I let another die when I could save her.» He headed down the path at a trot. After a moment the two Blenar shrugged wearily and followed him.
The three men ran down the path to the clearing. Behind them the sounds of battle suggested that the Blenar were slowly retreating before the attacks of the villagers. As they passed huts, Blade noticed Blenar standing outside some of them, swords drawn; Senar-some of them women-lay dead or dying on the trampled and blood-spattered grass. As the three men passed, the Blenar on guard fell in behind them, one by one.
They reached the clearing just as a dozen of Rilgon's warriors burst into it from the opposite side. One of them ran straight at the bound girl, sword raised to run her through and put her forever beyond rescue.
Blade bent, one arm dipping to snatch up the spear of a fallen Senar. Then the arm straightened with a snap, and the spear flashed across the clearing and into the warrior's back. He threw his arms up; sword flying into the air, and toppled. Blade followed the spear across the clearing, cut down another warrior who ran at him, and reached the girl. Quick slashes with his own sword, and the ropes fell away.
As they did, the girl collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling up in her head. For a moment Blade thought she was dead; then he saw a faint motion of her breast. Thrusting his sword into his belt and dropping his shield, he got the helpless girl up on his back.
When he raised his head, he saw that Rilgon's warriors had either fled or gone down. Most of those who had gone down lay still on the tramped-down earth of the path, but some were still writhing and moaning. Blade and two of the Purple River Blenar moved among them, putting them out of their pain.
They had just finished doing this when the Purple River rear guard came up. Behind them Blade could see a much reduced group of Senar, several of them wounded, all of them hanging back at a safe distance. Without a word, the Blenar leader pointed at the woods along the river. The rescue force formed a double line and turned off the path.
They moved north along the bank of the river for nearly two hours, not stopping or slowing below a fast jog. For all his iron endurance, Blade found himself hard put to match the pace with the extra burden of the girl on his back.
The two hours passed without incident, however. Perhaps they had outrun warning of their presence. Or perhaps the local Senar took one look at the force of grim-faced, armored Blenar pounding along the riverbank and thought better of tackling them. There were twenty-four left out of the thirty that had come into the village. Behind them lay nearly forty of Rilgon's men, both Blenar and Senar.
After about two hours the raiders paused for a short breather in a particularly dense and deserted patch of forest. Blade sat down with a thud and let the girl slide to the ground. She was still unconscious, but breathing regularly, and circulation was obviously returning to her hands and feet. By morning she might be able to walk.
Blade would have liked to ask a few questions about who his rescuers were, where they were taking him, and why. But before he could get up enough breath to say a word, the leader called everybody to his feet. Two of the warriors picked up the girl between them, to relieve Blade. Then the whole party set out again, this time veering sharply to the northwest, away from the river.
They marched, with only one more stop, until well after dawn. By then they were deep into the forest, and there had been no sign of pursuit since they left the first village. But the leader was still careful to hide the camp in thick undergrowth and brush away his raiders' tracks for many yards back. Only then did he unsling his own shield and weapons and pull off his helmet.
Blade was prepared to respect the leader for this. However, that did not mean he was willing to keep from asking any of the pointed questions he had in mind. Blade got the girl awake and gave her some water. Her name was Melyna, and she had been taken prisoner in the ambush of a hunting party. She had tried to adapt to Senar captivity as best she could, horrifying as it was, in the hope of somehow being able to escape. But there had been no chance. Finally she simply didn't care any more whether she lived or died. Hence the rebellion and the death sentence from which Blade had rescued her.
When he had finished listening to Melyna, Blade rose and went over to where the leader was sitting on the grass, rubbing his sword with oil from a small copper vial. He looked up as Blade approached.
«Greetings, Blade. You have come to satisfy your curiosity on various matters, have you not?»
Blade nodded emphatically. «Such as who you are, where you are from, where you are taking me, and why.»
The leader chuckled. «Indeed the first is easy. My name is Himgar. I am War Councilor to the people living in the forests around the Purple River. I am in fact to my people what Rilgon is to his. Who and what are you?»
Blade gave his usual story. Himgar listened, nodding with interest at various points. «We had gathered from what Nugun told us that you were a mighty warrior from a distant land. He-«
«How is he?»
«Nugun? He was wounded in the shoulder in the attack by the river and fell into the water. He wanted to rejoin you and die beside you. But then he realized that you might be captured, and he should go to the Purple River and tell the people there about you. In spite of his wound, he made the journey.
«He is not only unusually intelligent for one of the Senar, but incredibly loyal. The fact that you had won such loyalty from one of the Senar was one of the things that decided us to send a rescue party. After that, it was simply a matter of marching and fighting. As you can see, none of Rilgon's fighters, Senar or Blenar, can stand against us.» The last was not said boastfully, merely as a fact of life.
Blade nodded. «Then why have you not moved against Rilgon and destroyed him?»
Himgar shook his head wearily. «All of the Councilors would give up their souls to the Spirit of Union gladly if we could do that. But we are less than five thousand all together, and barely one out of four of these is a trained and armored warrior. Rilgon could mass ten times that many within a few days, and they would drag us down the way wolves drag down a stag. The Purple River would be defenseless, our l
ands would be overrun, and the last hope of Brega would perish with us.»
«How are you the last hope of Brega?» Blade neither could nor would keep a slight note of skepticism out of his voice. He did not want to seem too willing to join anybody, even someone as apparently brave and honest as Himgar.
«We who worship the Spirit of Union dream of a world where men and women live together in peace, neither despising and abusing the other, both working to build and not to destroy.»
«A dream indeed,» said Blade. «You wish to rebuild your land as it was before the disaster.»
Himgar shot him a sharp look. «You are familiar with our history, then-or at least our legends?»
Blade nodded and explained how he had talked with Wyala and Nugun.
«You seem to understand the dream, then,» said Himgar. «Is it perhaps because in your homeland men and women live like that?»
«To some degree, yes,» said Blade.
«Then perhaps you will understand why Rilgon must be defeated?»
«No, I do not.» Blade actually suspected he did, but he wasn't going to give Himgar an easy victory by admitting that right away.
«Rilgon seeks to march on the city of Brega with his followers, thousands of Blenar and tens of thousands of Senar. He would destroy the city and all its works, take all its land, enslave all its women, and divide them among his followers.»
«I know,» said Blade. «He also thought I was worth a visit. He came down the river on his barge to see me and offered me many women and much power if I would serve him.»
Himgar's nerves were not quite proof against that bold announcement. He swallowed. «You talked with him?»
«Yes. And I pretended to accept his offer. I wasn't going to give him an excuse to kill me on the spot. Do you take me for a fool, Himgar?» Blade put more anger in his voice than he really felt.
«No, Blade,» said Himgar. «I do not. But I hope you can at least see why Rilgon must be stopped.»
«I can see why, Himgar. But I do not see that I need to take much of a hand in doing it. If he tries to march that rabble of his down to the city, the women will simply have better hunting without having to go into the forests to get it.»
Himgar sighed. «I wish by all that I believe that this were true. But Rilgon's army will not fall on a united city.»
Blade's eyebrows went up. So there was something to Rilgon's talk about a fatal weakness among the city's women. «Explain, please.»
As quickly as possible, Himgar did so. There was a struggle going on in the city to choose the new Mistress of Fertility, who had charge of the House of Fertility and everything in it. Obviously, it was a vitally important post, and the two factions struggling for it spent all their time watching each other and none watching the forest that bordered the male-ruled lands. Even the routine patrols of the farmlands around the city had been abandoned. A few hunting parties still went out, but that was all. Even within the city itself, the fighting women of one faction would not submit to the orders of commanders from the other.
«So Rilgon's army will march across the lands of the city and up to its walls with small danger of being seen. It will fall on a city unwarned, unprepared, and divided almost beyond defending itself. And the city will fall, and much of our hope for Brega with it.»
«How is that?» said Blade. «I did not think you had so much love for the women of the city and their ways. I certainly do not.»
«I know,» said Himgar wearily. «But I ask you to believe me. Even in the Purple River lands, we have almost none of the knowledge from before the disaster. And Rilgon's people have even less.
«But in Brega they have much of it, at least in medicine and other arts of that kind. We have some hundreds of sympathizers in the city, who have been passing that knowledge on to us bit by bit. It has been slow, but we have been making things better for ourselves here by the Purple River. All of those who have worked for us, risked their lives for us, will die if the city falls.
«And even if there were no such women in the city, we still would not want it to fall. For the knowledge of old arts is still there as long as the city stands. If the city dies, so does the knowledge. And it will stay dead for the Spirit knows how many thousands of years, until time brings it back to our descendants, or men and women alike perish and leave the land to the animals and the insects.»
Himgar's voice had risen to a passionate crescendo as he made his prophecies. Blade could not doubt the man's sincerity. But Himgar didn't seem to have any specific plan to prevent the disaster. Blade did not think much of causes without plans.
«What are you planning to do?» he asked bluntly.
Himgar was ready with an answer. «We are going to lead the people of the Purple River lands down to the city. The women who have worked for us there will come out to join us. Then we shall all march north, over the mountains where they come down to the ocean. We have sent explorers into the lands there, and they are good lands. We and the women will go there and a new people will take root and grow.»
«I see.» Blade was telling the truth when he said that. He was not sure that he believed in Himgar's dreams, though. At best, it was a desperate solution-but perhaps Himgar saw the problem as desperate too. It was not really his place to judge. Certainly working for Himgar would be better than serving Rilgon. Meanwhile-
«What exactly do you want me to do?»
«We must send a small party of scouts to the city, to warn the women to be ready to march out and join us. That party will be better off if they can fight without arms as well as with them. Nugun said that you are marvelously skilled in fighting only with your hands and feet. Can you teach the other scouts to do the same?»
Blade hesitated. He was not going to promise miracles, even to keep Himgar happy. But he probably wouldn't need to perform any. If unarmed combat was a comparatively unknown skill in Brega, even a few weeks' training should be of great benefit to the scouts. It would certainly be enough to give any of the women of the city a nasty surprise.
«How much time will I have?» Blade asked.
«Not more than one moon-span. By the time the next moon-span is half gone, the scouts must be on the march for the city.»
Blade considered this. About a month to train the scouts. About six weeks before they marched out.
«I shall give you my best,» he said.
Himgar could not keep back a sigh of relief.
Chapter 11
Two days' hard marching, and the raiders with Blade and Melyna reached the Purple River settlements. Melyna kept on her feet with the rest during those two days; her white, sweating face told of the courage it cost her. Once more Blade had to acknowledge the courage and determination of the women of the city. Disunited they might be, but Rilgon was going to have a fight on his hands that might well bleed his own people white. Blade hoped so.
On the morning of the third day they reached the main settlement. Looking down into the river through the tall ferns along its bank, Blade could see how it had gotten its name, for as far as the eye could see, the river bottom was a mass of dark purple gravel, tinting the clear water running over it.
Blade's contemplation of the river was broken by a sudden, explosive roar that could not have come from any normal human throat. He spun around, snatching his sword clear. Then he dropped the sword and held up his arms as he saw Nugun come dashing out of a hut toward him.
The Senar's right shoulder was heavily bandaged. But his rush nearly sent Blade flying back into the river, and his embrace nearly cracked Blade's ribs. He jumped up and down several times before he could finally speak.
«Blade here, Blade here, Blade here,» he kept saying. The Senar was nearly incoherent with happiness. Blade himself could not help grinning broadly. He gave the hairy man a clap on the shoulder that would have flattened a normal human.
«Thank you, Nugun,» said Blade, when the Senar had calmed down. «I owe you a lot for that trip. And Melyna owes you her life.»
Nugun's eyes took in the girl,
and his face fell. «Nugun sorry Blade not have Wyala now. Nugun sorry not save Blade's woman.»
Blade shrugged. «Yes, it is sad. But she was dead before you could have done anything to save her. Do not feel badly about it. You will have plenty of chances to avenge her.»
«Yes.» Nugun's head bobbed enthusiastically. «Nugun kill many Hairless Ones, bad Senar, send them after Wyala.» He took another look at Melyna. «Blade have new woman now?»
Blade also looked at the girl. Melyna was looking about her curiously, although she was obviously almost ready to pass out on her feet from exhaustion. But the sight of civilized men and civilized women living and working together was too strange for her.
Blade shook his head. «She is not my woman, at least not now. And I do not think right now she even wants a man. She was a prisoner of the bad Senar for two years.»
Blade was wrong about Melyna, as he discovered later that night. Himgar led him to a hut in the heart of the settlement and told him to relax and wait.
«For what?» said Blade. He looked dubiously around him at the hut. It was cleaner than the one where he had been a prisoner. It also had a bed, table, chairs, a small charcoal brazier, and other luxuries. But Blade wondered if he hadn't exchanged one captivity for another.
The War Councilor looked genuinely horrorstricken when Blade mentioned the possibility and shook his head sharply. «No, no, not at all, Blade. It is just that-well, I am only one of several Councilors to our people. And they must all agree to my plan for you before you can go to work. Until that time you would be wise to stay here, within this hut. Our people have small love for strangers. Were you to wander about at night, the Spirit alone knows what might happen to you. And believe me, I do indeed want your aid in the saving of our people.»
Blade could not doubt the man's sincerity. But he was no more willing than before to be tamed. «Very well,» he said coolly. «I shall wait while you try to convince the other Councilors that I can be trusted. But if you cannot, do not expect me to sit around in this hut forever. I will go out into the forest and live there, and be damned to you and Rilgon and the city and everybody else in Brega!» The flare of anger in that last sentence was genuine; Blade did not like this kind of game-playing.