by Джеффри Лорд
If Morina could only be saved by killing the Wizard, then the Wizard would die. Blade's mind was made up on that. Twenty thousand people lived in and around Morina. He was not going to stand by and let them die, on the chance that he might be able to take the Wizard back to England with him.
He would also do his best to leave the Wizard alive.
The Wizard could teach all his skills and powers-or at least believed he could. If he could be brought back to Home Dimension, alive, sane, and ready to teach those who could learn-
It would be worth a good deal, even if not the lives of twenty thousand people. Blade's mind was made up on that, too.
The Wizard seemed to be in no hurry to launch the attack on Morina, so Blade chose not to arrange a special meeting with Serana. He wanted to avoid anything that might possibly arouse suspicion until he and Serana were safely inside the walls of Morina-or at least safely out of reach of the Wolves' swords and the Wizard's mental control.
So Blade visited Serana on schedule and they made love. It was becoming steadily harder for Serana to pretend to be mad while she was with Blade, and steadily harder for Blade to conceal the real affection he felt toward the woman. He knew both of them would be happy to drop the disguise.
They lay together afterward, in the usual wild tangle of sweaty limbs and tousled hair, and Blade told Serana the bad news. He felt her go rigid as a board against him and she was silent for a long time.
Then she said, her voice shaking slightly, «We must flee. At once.»
«I know that. We must also begin the rebellion against the Wizard, whether your friends in Morina are ready or not.»
«They can make themselves ready, once we tell them of what awaits the city if they do nothing.»
«What about your brother?»
«He may not be our friend, even now. It is less likely that he will be our enemy. He is not evil enough to wish all his people slaughtered by the Wolves.»
«You hope.»
«What do you mean by that?»
«I mean that we must be on our guard against even your brother. We must be ready to deal with him as an enemy.»
«Blade, you know I have no great love for my brother. Yet I must also think of the House of Zotair, and what my brother's death might mean for it.»
«Think of Morina, then of your House.»
«Blade, if my brother makes himself our enemy, then my hand will not tremble, any more than yours. Is that enough?»
«Yes.»
Blade's hand drifted across Serana's breast. She shivered, then whispered, «How shall we flee?»
«We shall use one of the sky-bridges.»
«How can we hope to do that? Does the Wizard trust you that much?»
«He has even let me use sky-bridges, as long as a few Wolves go with me. We can deal with them once the Wizard's assistant has activated the sky-bridge. Then we step between the crystals and pass beyond the Wizard's reach.»
Serana let out a shuddering sigh. «Which sky-bridge do we use? Can we go straight to Morina? I would-«
Blade shook his head. «No, we go to Kassaro.» That was a small town ten miles north of Morina. «Before we go, we destroy the castle end of the sky-bridge to Morina. After we reach Kassaro, we destroy the outer end of that skybridge. Then the Wolves will have to ride nearly twenty miles to reach the walls of Morina. They will lose surprise, face ambushes, and in general not have such an easy time of it.»
«Morina cannot hold out against all the Wolves, even then.»
«It won't have to. It only needs to hold out long enough for messages to go to all the other cities and towns in Rentoro. We will tell everyone the Wizard's secrets. Then every man, woman, and child will be seeking the outer ends of the sky-bridges and smashing the crystals. In a few weeks there will not be a sky-bridge left in Rentoro. Then the Wizard might still be able to see us gathering our armies, but he will not be able to send the Wolves against us.»
«Not any faster than normal men can ride normal heudas, at any rate.»
«No. Then the Wolves will be doomed. They will be outnumbered four or five to one, and they are not good enough to meet such odds. Not when the fighting men of Rentoro will have so much to avenge. It will be the end of the Wolves and the end of the Wizard's power in Rentoro.» Blade was finding it hard to keep his voice down to a whisper. Excitement at the prospect of defeating the Wolves and breaking the Wizard's power swept through him.
«I pray that it may be so,» murmured Serana. She was silent for a moment. «We go to Kassaro, you say, not to Peloff?»
Blade understood what Serana meant. «No. If Lorya is still alive and has obeyed my orders, she has long since left Peloff. If she is dead, we cannot help her. If she is alive but still in Peloff, she will have to take her chances.»
«Poor chances they may be, against the Wizard and his Wolves.»
«You think I don't know this?» Blade's whisper held an angry bite. «But Peloff is two weeks' ride from Morina. The Wolves would have many chances to catch us on the journey. If they could not do that, they could still ring Morina so thickly we could never get through to safety. They could also move into the city and have all your friends hanging dead from the walls before we came. It will be war-war to the death-the minute we lift a hand against one of the Wizard's people. Do you see that clearly?»
«Yes.»
«Good. We have a little time to spare, since the Wizard does not seem ready to move against Morina at once. I think we can move the next time I visit you. Now, what I think is our best course is to-«
His voice faded until he was hardly more than moving his lips. Yet Serana understood, and a smile spread across her gaunt face.
After they'd talked, they made love again. Blade took extra care to seem harsh and brutal, and Serana screamed and howled like ten madwomen together.
At least this was the last time they'd have to put on such an act to deceive the Wizard's spies. With good luck, the next time they shared a bed, it would be in Morina. There was no point in thinking about what would happen if their luck was bad.
Chapter 17
Blade came to Serana after dark. They alternately made love and talked, until Blade was sure the Wizard must have gone to bed. He'd been boasting over dinner of how a new girl awaited him tonight, a peasant maid of sixteen. The Wizard took a great deal of pleasure with such new girls-so much pleasure that afterward he slept like a dead man, almost impossible to awaken and likely to fly into a rage at anyone who disturbed him. Tonight the castle servants, the castle guards, even the Wolf leaders would be reluctant to awaken their master for anything much short of the end of the world. That would make things a great deal easier for Blade and Serana.
In spite of this, Serana was so nervous that she spoke in jerky phrases, and Blade felt as if he was making love to a wooden statue. He was as relieved as she when the hourglass showed three hours had passed. If the Wizard wasn't dead to the world by now, he never would be.
«Ready?» he said, kissing her.
«Ready,» she replied, between clenched teeth.
Blade threw back the blankets and started to climb out of bed. As he gave Serana a perfect target, she exploded into action. With a shrill scream, she lashed out with both feet and hands. She caught Blade in the groin, and now it was his turn to scream. With the horrible cry of a man who's just been castrated, he doubled up and toppled backward. As he fell, he managed to swing his head against the carved night table. He went limp and sprawled helpless on the floor, as Serana leaped out of the bed and started kicking at his ribs.
The next move was up to the guards outside the door, if they were watching. Blade's whole plan depended on their doing so, but he didn't think that was much of a gamble. This castle had the air of a place where everyone spied on everyone else. Besides, the guards wouldn't pass up a chance for some free entertainment, watching him and Serana together.
Serana went on kicking and screaming until Blade's ribs began to really hurt. He wondered if the guards would come before she
had to go on to the next stage, clawing at him with her fingernails.
The door crashed open and two guards dashed in. Blade waited just long enough to be sure the hall outside was empty, then jerked one hand as a signal to Serana. She stopped kicking him and ran at the two guards, whimpering, clawing at her body, and tossing her head wildly. She made a frighteningly convincing madwoman, and she convinced the two guards. They came at her, one from each side, well apart, hands reaching out to grab her. They must have orders not to hurt her. As the guards came at her, Serana backed away. They followed her, until they were both within easy striking distance of Blade.
Suddenly Blade's limp body stiffened. Both feet shot out like a cannonball, to smash into the stomach of one guard. The man didn't scream, because he had no breath to scream with. He simply folded double, sat down in midair, then thumped to the floor. The other guard turned, realizing he'd walked into a trap. His mouth was opening to shout when Blade bounced to his feet and chopped the man across the throat. Instead of a shout, only gurgles and gasps came out as the guard choked to death. Blade turned to finish off his first victim, in time to see Serana stab the man to death with his own dagger.
Both guards were down, no alarm was up, and the hall outside lay empty before them. Blade shut the door, locked it from the inside, and stuffed a strip of blanket into the keyhole. Then he and Serana went to work.
Both guards were stripped naked and dumped into the bed. Blade arranged them so that they looked naturally asleep. Then he pulled the blankets over them and shoved pillows under their heads. Through the keyhole, no one who wasn't already suspicious would be likely to see anything unusual.
Then Serana pulled on one of the guards' outfits, from the skin out to the helmet and sword. Blade pulled on his own clothes and stuck the remaining sword and dagger in his belt. Once again, there would be no harm in having extra weapons ready to hand.
Serana smiled as she tightened the straps of her helmet. In the helmet and baggy clothing, no one could tell that she was a woman. Her nervousness seemed to be completely gone. She doubled one hand into a fist and punched Blade lightly on one shoulder.
«All right, my mad love. Let's be on our way.»
The hall outside was still empty. Blade pulled the strip of blanket out of the keyhole, locked the door behind them, and they moved out at a brisk trot. They didn't have to worry about arousing suspicion by hurrying. Blade normally moved about the castle at a pace that had his guards puffing to keep up with him. Tonight he was actually moving slower than usual, to avoid tiring Serana.
They passed through one hall after another, down one staircase after another, past one guard post after another. They met guards, servants, girls on their way to or from someone's bed, a cross section of the miniature city that was the Wizard's castle. No one paid any attention to them, except to give Blade a respectful greeting. No one knew exactly who or what he was, other than the Wizard's trusted friend and comrade, but for most of the people in the castle that was enough.
In all the years the castle had been standing, no one had ever seriously menaced it from within. There'd been servants' brawls, of course, and an occasional girl who objected to someone's rough lovemaking. That was all. No one had ever stalked through the balls of the castle, ready, willing, and able to kill anyone who crossed his path. No one would be expecting it, and people are slow to recognize what they do not expect. By the time anyone in the castle realized what was going on, Blade expected to be mounted and riding out of Kassaro.
The door from the citadel to the Wolves' barracks was guarded by a single Wolf. It needed no more. At any time of the day or night there were at least two thousand Wolves beyond the door, and who would want to get in or out unless they absolutely had to?
The Wolf raised a mail-gloved hand in salute as he saw Blade approaching. It was a slow and casual salute, almost defiant. The Wolves knew that Blade was a man who'd killed Wolves. They obeyed him out of loyalty to their master the Wizard, but they did not love any man who'd slain their comrades and still walked the earth alive and free.
«Greetings,» said Blade. «It is my wish and the Wizard's that I have an escort for a journey. It is short, so two Wolves will be enough.»
«Shall I send to the stables as well?» asked the Wolf. That implied the question «Do you go by sky-bridge?» without mentioning the secret in the presence of one of the house guards.
Blade shook his head. The Wolf frowned. Blade could almost read the thoughts passing through his mind.
This sounds queer. But this man is the Wizard's trusted friend. I could call the Wizard, but he'll be sleeping. He won't like being bothered. And if I argue, Lord Blade may call the Wizard himself, and then I will be in trouble. What the devil! Two Wolves will keep him out of mischief, if he's got any in mind. The Wolf turned to pull the bell cord.
The two Wolves came out within a couple of minutes. They threw Serana a sour look, but that meant nothing.
The Wolves openly despised the house guards as soft, half-trained, and untrustworthy. The house guards considered the Wolves bloodthirsty maniacs. Loyalty to the Wizard and the Wolves' superiority as fighters kept the peace between them.
Now the little procession of four tramped down another succession of halls and stairways, to the wing of the castle that held the Great Hall with the view-balls and sky-bridges. The entrance had two doors, separated by a small room with benches along one wall. Here the house guards and other people not admitted to the Great Hall were allowed to wait. The outer door was guarded by Wolves. The inner door was guarded by fear of the Wizard's magic and of the punishments inflicted on those who broke important rules. They not only died, they died slowly, at the hands of the Wizard's executioners, the Wolves, and sometimes even the Wizard himself-or so the tales ran.
Serana settled herself on the bench, doing her best to seem perfectly calm under the eyes of four Wolves. Blade wished he didn't have to leave her out there, with a job to do that would need a cool head, good timing, and some strength. The cool head and the timing she had, but Blade wondered about the strength.
Unfortunately, they had no choice, because there was no way to get a Wolf outfit for Serana. Disguised as a house guard, she had to wait outside the Great Hall. Doing anything else would give the alarm at once. If the alarm went up before the assistant on duty activated the sky-gate to Kassaro, Blade and Serana could hope for nothing better than a quick death. Here in the Great Hall, so close to the Wolf barracks, they wouldn't even be able to get out and strike down the Wizard before they died. It would be a bloody and futile ending.
One of the Wolves opened the inner door and the other led Blade through. The door shut behind them, and they were in the Great Hall. It stretched two hundred feet from the door to the huge stained-glass window at the far end, lit by flickering lanterns on iron brackets and thick candles in chandeliers. On one side ran the shelves holding the crystals for the skybridges in their chests, on the other side the shelves holding the view-balls. A carved plaque under each ball or chest showed where it was tuned to reach.
Between the shelves were curtained alcoves with shelves for books and scrolls. These were the private studies of the Wizard's assistants. One of them was sitting at his desk as Blade entered. He saw Blade, rose, and came toward him.
«What is your pleasure, Lord Blade?» the assistant asked, bowing politely. The Wizard's assistants wore medieval-style academic gowns with hoods. This one had his hood thrown back, revealing an apple-cheeked face under close-cropped brown hair. Blade recognized the assistant as one of the youngest, pleasant and unfailingly polite. It was almost a pity that the young man had to die. On the other hand, his death at Blade's hands would be cleaner than the one awaiting him from his master, if Blade escaped.
«I wish to go to Kassaro with these two Wolves,» said Blade.
«Kassaro? Yes, my lord. Do you wish me to activate its view-ball and see what the weather may be?»
Blade shook his head. «We won't be out in it that long. You can s
pare yourself the trouble.»
«Yes, my lord.» The assistant turned away and went to the shelf where an iron chest sat above a plaque reading KASSARO. He took the chest down, set it on the floor, pulled two steel locking pins, and opened the lid. The two fist-size square-cut crystals lying on their bed of red velvet seemed to double the light in the hall.
It was just his imagination, Blade told himself. The crystals didn't really glow, not until they'd become active. Yet it was still hard for him to be completely calm and clearheaded in the presence of the crystals. What they represented was simply too awesome to grasp easily, even though he'd been trying now for months. It was a feeling Blade didn't have very often, and didn't like when he had it. He still remained powerless to resist it when he saw the crystals.
The assistant was now placing the crystals in the center of the hall, on a green rug with a pattern of silver rays. If Blade and the Wolves had been riding out on heudas, the assistant would have taken the crystals down to a large room near the stables. As it was, they could simply walk across the skybridge from the hall.
As the assistant began the slow, regular breathing that would put him into the activation trance, Blade estimated distances and times. The two Wolves were standing close together, between Blade and the door. Both wore back-plates and breast-plates and helmets and carried slung crossbows. One had a sword, the other had an oversized mace, and both carried daggers.
It wasn't going to be easy to put them out of action fast enough, but it wouldn't be impossible. As long as the assistant didn't have time to deactivate the crystals and break the skybridge-
The young man began the slow chanting of the arcane syllables that accompanied the mental effort involved in activating the crystals. A hand rested lightly on each one.
Slowly the crystals began to glow, then to vibrate slightly. A faint humming began, rapidly growing louder.
The Wolves' attention was now totally on the crystals and the man sitting behind them. Even the Wizard's Wolves never quite got used to seeing the Wizard's «magic» at work. It was a pity they couldn't be struck down now, when they'd be completely off their guard. Blade knew he had to wait, until the assistant rose to his feet, clear of his trance, and pronounced the sky-bridge opened. Then it would be good for at least half an hour. Nothing that happened to the assistant could affect it, unless he had the chance to deactivate it. He wouldn't need much of a chance, either. A single minute would be enough. Blade had to have both Wolves down within that minute, or-