«She has summoned you to the palace, Blade. That means she is impatient to have you in her bed. Women say things in bed they do not say elsewhere.»
«Not all women.»
«Most women. And I suspect that very few could resist you.»
Blade ignored the flattery. «A queen might. Tressana isn't the sort to babble just because she's been served well.»
Sikkurad laughed. «Probably not. But I think you have been summoned for more than keeping her happy in bed. Curim is not going to be captain of the Men's Guard much longer. He is brave and a good fighter, but his foul temper has made him enemies even among his own men. You might find yourself the new captain of the Men's Guard.»
«And then?»
There was no mistaking the desperate sincerity in Sikkurad's voice. «Learn what she plans for the Elstani, Blade. Learn whether she will accept them as free men, or wants them all made slaves. We do not know. We must learn, before the army marches into the forest.»
Suddenly Blade began to understand what was making Sikkurad desperate. «If she wants to make slaves of the Elstani, that means killing their leaders. And their leaders are the Masters.»
Sikkurad almost giggled with relief. «Then you understand? You are with us? You are not deceiving me? If you are…» He apparently couldn't think of any punishment awful enough for Blade if he was lying.
Blade shook his head. «I am on the side of the Keepers. If Tressana wants to slaughter the Masters of Elstan, she ought to be stopped. Too much knowledge which both peoples can use would die with them.»
Particularly now that the Keepers have just rediscovered the scientific method. With the two peoples and everything they know united….
It would save this Dimension generations, possibly centuries, on the way back to being a modern civilization. Blade knew he'd do anything he could to help things along. He also suspected that he'd be risking a knife in the back from people who didn't understand what he was trying to do.
Chapter 10
This was all Blade learned from Sikkurad. The Keeper obviously had more to say, but was too afraid of making his household suspicious by staying in the library with Blade long enough to say it. At times the Keeper seemed one of the bravest men Blade had ever met. At other times he seemed ready to start at his own shadow. Blade wondered which would get him first, Queen Tressana or an ulcer.
Blade had learned enough, fortunately. He now knew what he had to listen for and most of what he had to guard against. Sikkurad might have told him a little more about Queen Tressana herself, but would it have been reliable information? For all his intelligence, the Keeper obviously had trouble accepting women who ruled or rode into battle. Jollya would probably be able to tell him more about Tressana, but when would he be able to talk to her? When he did, could he avoid getting Jollya dangerously involved in the Keepers' plotting? Even if Tressana didn't become suspicious, what about Curim? He might be willing to attack Jollya as a way of attacking Blade.
Blade considered all this while he took his bath, then put it firmly out of his mind. If there were any answers, he'd find them more easily after a good dinner and a night's sleep. This might be the last dinner in quite a while he could eat without having to worry about poison in his food, and the last night he could go to sleep without barring his door against assassins.
Dinner was so good that Blade couldn't entirely avoid stray thoughts of «the condemned man's last meal.» He ate soup, roast lamb, and honey cakes, washing everything down with plenty of good red wine. He finished the meal with a cup of herb-scented tea, then went back to his room.
He'd just finished locking the door and was sitting down on a footstool to pull off his boots when he heard a low growl from outside the shuttered window. Before he could move, the shutters flew open as if they'd been hit by a cannon ball. With a snarl one of the hunting cats sprang down into the room.
The wine at dinner hadn't slowed Blade's reflexes. He drew his knife with one hand and snatched a heavy candlestick off the table with the other. He wasn't sure whether this would stop an attack or provoke one, but he wasn't going to face one of the cats bare-handed!
The cat saw Blade's readiness and crouched, tail lashing ominously and wide green eyes glowing. Blade saw that the cat wore a leather collar with Sikkurad's house badge on it in silver thread, and also another badge he didn't recognize. The cat snarled again and Blade braced himself to meet its spring.
Then a voice came from behind the curtains around the great bed. It sounded sleepy and angry at the same time.
«Hoyo, no! Didn't I tell you about this man?»
It was Jollya's voice. Before Blade could wonder what she was doing here or what she was talking about, the curtains flew open. Jollya leaped out at him as gracefully as her pet.
She was barefoot and bareheaded, with her hair unbound and flowing down over her shoulders. Otherwise she wore her full riding leathers, with a knife so long that it was practically a short sword in her tooled and studded belt. She looked so formidable that Blade found himself measuring the distance between himself and his sword.
Then the cat flowed out of his crouch, padded over to Jollya, and rubbed against her ankle. She bent down and scratched him behind the ears. He started purring, sounding like a badly tuned outboard motor. His eyes closed to slits, and his tail stood up as straight as a flagpole.
Blade put the candlestick back on the table, belted on his sword, then turned back to Jollya.
«Why are you here?»
«To see you.»
«About what?» His voice was deceptively mild. He was in no mood for either mysteries or practical jokes.
She swallowed. «I had to see you. You are going away tomorrow, to-to Tressana.»
«How did you know that?» Blade said sharply.
«My father told me.» Blade breathed more easily. Jollya went on. She was nervous, and her words tumbled over each other the same way her father's did. «I came home this afternoon. He met me, told me about you then. I had to see you. I waited until everyone was at dinner, then climbed up the vines. No one saw me. Hoyo followed me. I hope no one saw him.»
«That doesn't tell me why you came in the first place.» There was always the obvious explanation for an attractive woman coming to a man's room and hiding by his bed. However, when the woman was fully clothed and carrying a large knife, the obvious explanation might not be the true one.
«I-«She swallowed again. «I needed to speak to you about-Tressana.» Blade said nothing. He merely looked at her until she looked away. He thought he saw tears in the corner of each eye. It seemed that the obvious explanation for her being here really was the true one. It was hard to mistake the look in her eyes and the way she held her body. Any other questions Blade might want to ask the girl could wait.
Blade put down his sword and knife, then stepped forward. Jollya stood motionless as he approached, as he reached her, and as he took her in his arms. Then she stiffened so violently that for a moment Blade wondered if he'd made a mistake. A moment after that her hands were running up and down his back with clumsy enthusiasm, and her face was tilting up to meet his. She didn't have to tilt far, even though she was barefoot and he was wearing boots.
Blade quickly stopped noticing details like that. Jollya was still clumsy, but her enthusiasm grew like a fire in dry grass. She gripped his shoulders, the small of his back, his buttocks-anywhere she could get a firm hold to pull herself against him. Her lips roamed everywhere they could reach, from the corners of his eyes over to his ears, then down to his lips and his throat.