«And,» went on Stramod wearily, «if we wait to find out for certain what has happened to the Union elsewhere, it may be too late for us. None of the messages sent out received any replies, which leads me to think the worst. Here we have the most important part of the Union, at least for the moment, and it must be saved.»
Nilando nodded; Blade kept his peace. He knew he and Nilando would come more into their own when they had reached the Treduk lands. Meanwhile, he was prepared to leave the leadership to Stramod, who had all the selfconfidence and gambler's temperament the situation demanded. But Leyndt had her own objections.
«Whatever we must do cannot be done with men and women so exhausted they can barely walk, let alone fight. They need rest. Trying to fight or march before they are rested will kill them all just as surely as waiting until the Conciliators track us down.»
«I thought you had injections-«
«They will not create energy where none exists. When the time comes to take the base, well and good. But now they must restore themselves by natural means. That is my professional opinion as a doctor, as well as a leader of the Union. And I speak for the good of the Union.»
Stramod's face clouded, but he nodded in recognition of both her facts and her position. Then he shrugged. «Very well. We will not stay in one place tomorrow, however, if I have to carry all the people on my back. Do you think they can march as far as the end of this valley?» He sketched out a route with a gesture across the unfolded map on his lap.
«I suppose so.»
«Good. From there on to the base-«his hand moved to the northern end of a large lake «-is mostly open country. We will do well to cross as much of it as possible at night. And we will have to contact our people at the base and make plans for penetrating it and boarding the fliers. But that, I agree, can wait a day or two.» He stretched, lifting his unnaturally long arms above his head until it seemed that they would brush against the branches high above, then yawned. «Perhaps we should all plan on getting some sleep now.» He lay down on the bare ground and was asleep before the others could rise to their feet.
Nilando strode off to inspect the sentries, while Leyndt and Blade moved a little apart, as far from the others as the limits of the campsite permitted, and sat down close together. Leyndt was grimy, her auburn hair snarled like a thornbush, her eyes red with fatigue, and when she sat down it was as though her legs had collapsed under her. But the long-fingered hands she held out to Blade, the hands whose fingers gently caressed and pressed his own aching muscles and changed the dressings on his thigh, were as strong and steady as they had ever been. And those redrimmed eyes did not look away from him as she spoke.
«You had something to tell me just before the attack struck, didn't you? I could tell that it was there, and that it was something desperately important. Were you planning to tell me you thought that aliens might be aiding the Ice Master?»
Blade could not have said anything for a moment, even if there had been any need to speak. Then he recovered himself enough to grin at the two-minds-with-a-single thought coincidence.
«I was. When did you begin to support it?»
«As long as two years ago. I don't know all the facts, and perhaps I don't interpret the ones I do know well enough. But from what I know and from what I conclude from that, I feel very much that you are right. The Ice Master himself has masters-or at least allies.»
«Did you say anything about this to anybody else?»
«Only Stramod. He knows the Ice Master well, of course, and would have perhaps been able to learn more to throw light on the idea. And he is a man with the courage to face such a fact, if he believes in it. The others, most of them, would despair and drift away. And of course the Treduki-«
She did not need to finish that. Blade could see how the Treduki, except for tough-minded specimens like Nilando and Rena, might be reduced to panic by the notion that some of their enemies were not even human. But their fears were a matter for later.
«What did Stramod say?»
«He laughed. Said I was underestimating the Ice Master, who could with only a little help do all that has been done.»
«Including the glaciers?»
«He did not mention those.»
Blade nodded. «So perhaps he is afraid to admit it after all?»
«Possibly. Or perhaps he thinks as I do. To let people come to believe in aliens might destroy the Union.»
Blade's temper flared. «The aliens will destroy a damned lot more than the Union if they exist and if they go on the way we think they have! Even if we find a way to fight the Ice Dragons, if aliens are helping the Ice Master they will give him something else to use against the Treduki to rake in slaves and sow terror. They are the real enemy, not the Conciliators, not even the Ice Master!»
«If they exist.»
Blade got his temper under control and looked grimly at her. His voice was deadly serious when he asked:
«Do you, deep inside, doubt they exist?»
«No.»
He reached out and stroked her cheek. «Thank God for small favors. Now all we need is a way of convincing the others. And then a way to destroy the aliens.» He chuckled, less grimly. «That's like saying that all we need is to find a way of turning all these trees-«he gestured upward and around «-into roast meat.»
She laughed, and he was glad to hear her do so. Then she sobered again and asked, «How are we ever going to get the facts we need?»
Blade shook his head. «That I don't know at this point. But we both have to start thinking about ways.»
Leyndt reached for the fastening of her tunic. «That is another thing we can put off for a day or two.» She shrugged the tunic up over her head, and her bare shoulders and breasts gleamed faintly in the light that crept through the trees from the campfires. Blade reached out almost by instinct and cupped the breasts, feeling the nipples stiffen.
Leyndt gave a little moan. «Yes. Yes. We may not have much time left. We have to live all we can in that time. Live.» The last word was a gasp, one that died as their lips met.
Chapter 10
Except for Blade, Stramod, Nilando, Leyndt, and the men on guard, the whole camp slept well and undisturbed through the night. It was chilly in the small hours of the morning, but the returning sun swiftly warmed the air and roused the sleeping camp to movement.
Whether the Conciliators had abandoned the search for the refugees from the resort, or whether they were simply waiting like a cat at a mousehole for their quarry to make its own way out into easier terrain, was not clear. But there was no sign of pursuit on the ground all during the day's march, and only twice did fliers whistle overhead, both times so high that Blade found it hard to believe they could be searching for anything in a forest certain to be only a green blur from their height and speed.
Blade and Nilando led a scouting party from the camp that night, on to where the forest cover of the valley gave way to more open terrain, much of it farmland. Neither returned optimistic about getting sixty people, few of them with much training or experience, across two days' march worth of such territory, let alone penetrating the base after the march. Even Stramod had to admit that it would be risky.
«But what else can we do? We have still received no reliable Union messages. What can that mean except that the Union has collapsed under a massive assault by the Conciliators? Every day's delay by us gives them more time to track down the other groups and release forces for pursuing us. As it is, we may find the land between us and the base at least comparatively unpatrolled by anything our own weapons cannot defeat. If we wait too long, however, we could find entire legions barring our path.»