The marvelous deep voice slid down a note. «True. You are no corpseburner. Who are you then, and what do you want with me? And how came you into this house? My guards—»
Blade held up the blood-gummed sword. «Your guards, the two before the house, are dead. This sword and this blood prove that. I killed them easily and with a purpose— to convince you, Nizra, that I am what I will presently tell you I am. And to show you that I will kill you also, as quickly and as easily as I killed your guards, if you do not cooperate with me absolutely and without question. From this moment on, Nizra, I will order and you will obey. You understand?»
Blade took a step toward the bed and raised the sword a bit. He watched the spidery hands lying on the coverlet. Near the bedpost was a bell pull. The long fingers twitched once or twice, but the hand made no move toward the pull.
«I understand,» said Nizra. «What do you want of me?»
There was no fear in the deep voice. The black eyes — for the first time Blade noted that they had no lashes — stared back at Blade. He knew then that he had very nearly met his match. For now he had the upper hand, by brute force, but one mistake could change that. For a moment Blade actually felt disappointment and a sense of pique — this Wise One, this Nizra, was either not afraid at all or he was a master of hiding fear. What he was displaying was curiosity. Plain and simple curiosity. Blade could not help wondering whether he, if awakened in the dead of night under similar circumstances, would have been able to summon such aplomb.
The man in the bed seemed to understand all this. He folded his skinny fingers across his chest and repeated, «What is it you want of me?»
Blade thrust his sword into the scabbard with a ring of iron. He kicked the single chair toward the bed and sat down. He crossed his own brawny arms and matched the dark eyes stare for stare. Blade knew that the time for violence, or the threat of it, was for the moment past. Now was a time for guile and cunning and the matching of wits. For self-interest. For compromise. He had won the first round, but the wedge was barely in the door.
Blade leaned toward the bed. «You will listen. You will not ask questions or interrupt. I will explain as best I can, but I tell you now that you will not understand. Or you will understand very little. It is in the nature of things.»
He paused. Nizra nodded slightly and kept silent.
«I am not a Jedd,» said Blade. «As you must know. I am not even of your world. Of your universe. I cannot even be properly called a stranger, because that would signify some slight connection with your world. I do not even claim that. I come from out in time and space, from a place you never dreamed of, or ever will, and it would be useless for you to speculate on that—»
The little opaque eyes moved and glittered. Nizra was already speculating. Blade could almost hear the huge brain, beneath its bony carapace, clicking and whirring as the gears meshed and raced. It occurred to him that this Wise One was not so much a man as a thinking machine. It would be his bad luck, he thought sourly, to encounter a genius in Jedd. To make matters more difficult.
But he continued: «I am not a god nor a devil, if you understand those words. I have been sent to your world on a mission, to do certain work, and when I have completed that work I will leave and return to my own world. I would like to complete my work in peace and without more killing. I would like to be a friend and not an enemy. If you will understand this, Nizra, and believe it and work with me and not against me I can finish my task and be gone that much sooner. Now speak — of all that I have said, how much have you understood?»
The massive head lolled on its delicate stalk of spine. The eyes narrowed at Blade. A hand came slowly up to stroke the shining bald dome.
«I understand your words. They are plain enough. If there is a concealed meaning in them I will in time understand that also. If you speak truth or not I do not yet know — but I will know. At this moment I only accept. I do not believe or disbelieve. Let us leave it that way then. I have no wish to be your enemy unless it is to my gain to be so. It may be that you do speak truth, and I would be a fool indeed not to accept that and learn from you. I am not a fool. And I am not afraid of you. Not now. If you were going to kill me you would have done it at once.»
Blade raised the bloody sword. «There is still time.»
The little mouth smiled. «No. Not now. Because it is plain that you have come to make a bargain of some sort. So get to it. We will leave all explanation and questions for later. What do you want of me? And how are you called?»
«My name is Richard Blade. It will mean nothing to you.»
Nizra blinked. «A man must be called something. Richard Blade? Two names? We in Jedd have but one. Did you come alone into our world?»
Blade kept his face impassive. «I came alone. I will leave alone.» Ooma must be protected at all costs. He would not have her questioned, probably under torture. Nor the aunts, for that matter. Not even the fat drunkard, Mok, must be placed in danger. They had nothing to do with all this.
Nizra said once more, «What do you want of me, Richard Blade? It will be dawn soon with people astir and if we are to be friends and work together there are preparations and explanations to make ready. So what do you expect of me — and what do you offer me in return?»
Blade answered a question with a question. «How long will the old Empress, the Jeddock, stay alive?»
Nizra blinked three times. The scant brows over the lashless eyes raised in slight surprise, but he only said, «I am called the Wise One by the Jedds, and it is true that I am wise in many things, but I cannot answer that question.»
«Guess, then. An estimate.»
The tiny mouth pursed, then: «A minute — an hour — a day — a month or a year. That is my guess.»
Blade glared, but gave it up. He tried another tack. «Is she senile? What is her mental condition?»
Nizra smiled faintly and interlaced his long, white fingers. «Her mind is filled with mists of the past. She is in a stupor and understands very little of what is said to her. But one thing — if the music halts but for an instant she knows it and complains.»
Blade nodded and was silent for a moment, thinking hard. Nizra took advantage of the silence. «How got you past the Api, Blade? I speak of the main post at the valley entrance. I know how you killed Porrex and got past the frontier station, for I received signals, but then you vanished and now here you are. How did you avoid the main body of the Api?»
No mention of the girl. Just as well. Blade said, «I came around, over the mountains.»
For the first time, Nizra showed clear disbelief. «That is impossible, Blade. No one can cross those mountains. Nobody ever has in all the history of Jedd.»
«I did,» Blade said curtly. «I am here, am I not? Threatening your life and giving you orders. But enough of that— Would you say that the old Empress, in her dying state, is highly susceptible to suggestion?»
The great head lolled and the little mouth twitched in understanding. «Yes,» Nizra answered. «I would say that she is. At least I hope so. I have been suggesting many things to her these past few days and she has seemed amenable.» Dryly he added, «She signs any document I put before her.»
Blade gave him a knowing grin. «That will be many documents, I wager. All designed to perpetuate and consolidate your power when she is dead, Nizra? All designed to give you control over the Child Princess, Mitgu?»