Given a dark night, a little luck, speed, and secrecy, it was a sound plan. The only problem was finding someone to stand at the end of the alley and throw the rope down!
Blade set out to find that someone, and took blood-chilling risks in his search. If there'd been anybody recording Blade's questions over the next few weeks, he would have been dead several times over. Fortunately, in this Dimension the age of electronic eavesdropping and scientific secret police was centuries away. So Blade survived, but he didn't succeed until one night when he found Ho-Marn in charge of the guardhouse.
The captain didn't speak as he gave Blade the Slave Pass, but he squeezed Blade's hand in a peculiar manner as he handed it over. As soon as Blade was out of sight of the guardhouse, he stopped and examined the pass. It looked like the usual sheet of leather, but on close examination Blade saw it was two pieces pasted together. Blade pried them apart and by the light of a street torch read the paper that fell out:
Blade,
You will soon go to the House of Chorma. The lady there likes women in her bed as well as men. When she asks where to find women, tell her that there are many fine women for her at the Twelve Serpents in the Street of the Happy Houses. Do as you think best after you have brought the lady to the house.
Blade wasn't surprised at the message. In fact, he was no longer surprised at anything Ho-Marn did. He was beginning to suspect that Ho-Marn was playing a deep game of his own, and didn't like not knowing what that game might be.
Blade was still surprised when he reached the House of the Twelve Serpents, asked for a woman of his own while Lady Chorma amused herself, and found himself facing Meera.
Like the other girls of the Happy Houses, Meera was naked except for wisps of silk around her neck and waist, a silver arm ring, and makeup applied with more enthusiasm than good taste. In spite of this, she seemed to have developed a certain dignity, and wore her nudity-with the same grace she might have shown with the most elaborate gown. The wound in her leg had healed, leaving only a faint scar.
She wasn't particularly happy in the House of the Twelve Serpents, but she was sane, alert, and determined. «It could be much worse,» she told Blade. «This is not one of the Houses where for a price a man can hurt a girl until she's dead or crippled for life. The mistress of the house is of the Forest People, and her steward and lover is a freedman with Forest People blood in him. They try to make it as easy as possible for new girls from the Forest.»
«Did Ho-Marn-the soldier who captured us-have anything to do with your coming here?»
Meera frowned. «He could have. I saw him in the crowd when I was sold, talking to the steward. He has also been here a few times since, though he has never taken me.» So Ho-Marn might have kept his promise to see that Meera went to a good house.
Meera smiled. «Blade, if we are going to talk of such matters-it is better if you do with me what men come here for.» She pointed to the walls and then to her ears. Blade understood-there might be eavesdroppers. He stood up, held out his arms, and drew Meera to him.
Very quickly he discovered that her months in a Happy House hadn't destroyed Meera's ability to respond to him. He also discovered that in spite of all the other women he'd had in Gerhaa she was still something special. It was a long time before they remembered or cared that they had more serious things to talk about. Then they talked with Meera lying in Blade's arms, their heads so close together that any eavesdropper would have needed a microphone to make out what they were saying.
Meera quickly understood what Blade was planning and what he needed. She wasn't completely sure she could provide it, but she was willing to try.
«The first man I must talk to is the steward. He had a tavern of his own when the Protector came. There was a fight and some of the Pets were hurt. The Protector took the tavern and wanted to send the steward to the galleys. He would have gone, if our mistress had not brought him here. He does not love the Protector.»
«Can he be trusted to keep his mouth shut?»
«If it will help bring down the Protector, yes.»
«The job will need more than one man, you know. Does he have friends who can be trusted?»
«He does. But-what happens after the Protector falls? We of the Forest can go home, but what of those with homes in Gerhaa?»
«I want to see Gerhaa free, a home for all who fought the Protector. So do my friends among the fighters of the Games.»
«Can they be trusted?»
«Some of them can. As for the rest-well, I will see that anyone who helps bring down the Protector ends his days in freedom, or die. I wish I could promise more, but I can't.»
«That should be enough for many, I think. They do not want to lie in the sun and drink honey the rest of their days, only to live without fear of the Protector.»
«I'll trust anyone who wants that, if they'll trust me.»
After this Blade and Meera made love again. Then Lady Chorma called for Blade to escort her home, so that was all Blade was able to do on his first visit.
By the time he came to the Twelve Serpents a second time, Meera had done her work and the steward was starting his. He and Blade talked, and the steward promised to try finding at least six reliable men.
The third time, the steward had five of the men and Blade met two of them. «They are none of them strong fighting men,» the steward said. «The swords must be in the hands of your fighters of the Games. For all else, you can trust me and mine.» He sighed and shook his head. «I think of what we hope to do, and sometimes I think I dream.»
«It won't be a dream much longer,» said Blade, mentally crossing his fingers as he spoke. They were now very nearly committed past all hope of survival if someone did turn traitor. He and Meera and all their allies would die horribly, the guardhouse watch would be reinforced, and possibly no fighter of the Games would ever be allowed out of the barracks again. Even worse, the Protector's power would be safe for many years to come, and his attack on the Forest People would continue. Then the Forest People might be doomed, unless Swebon could develop the laminated bows by himself. The gladiators' escape and the capture of Gerhaa would have to take place within a month or two at most.
Then on the fourth visit to Meera, Blade learned they would have to move even sooner than that.
Chapter 20
«Ho-Marn actually came to me,» said Meera. «He told me-«she looked away «-the same way you and I talked.» She laughed. «For a man that old, he has much strength, and he was very kind.»
«Yes,» said Blade. «I think he is our friend, although I wish I knew why. But what did he say?»
Ho-Marn brought warning that a fleet was coming to Gerhaa from Mashom-Gad. There were rumors that it was being sent by the Protector's friends among the nobles and merchants of the mother city. It was known for certain that the fleet had more than forty ships, and it carried three thousand armed men for the Protector's Guard.
With more than six thousand men at his command, the Protector would be nearly impossible to overthrow. Even if the Guardsmen weren't particularly good fighters, there would simply be too many of them. The fighters of the Games would only escape to a quicker death than they'd find on the Island of Death. Anyone who helped them would die horribly without even a chance to strike back.