Blade and Ogier exchanged glances. Blade nodded. «I take your meaning, Thane. The story is somewhat familiar.»
«Ah? Mayhap, but not to me. Anyway I did not give up my Trosa. Whenever Galligantus was away, I was in her bed. Somehow it was sweeter so.»
Ogier laughed harshly. «And you were caught?»
Thane nodded and reached for the wine again. There were tears in his eyes now and he spilled wine as he drank.
«Aye, I was caught. Among the Hitts the punishment for adultery is to be torn apart by horses. I was made to watch the death of my Trosa. She was put naked into a public place and beaten to death with clubs.»
There was a pause. Thane swilled wine. «That night I escaped and swam over the narrow water …. As far as I know, Galligantus still lives. Promise me his head, Blade, and I will build your pontoons for you. And anything else that needs building.»
«You have it,» said Blade. «If we can come by it. But why Galligantus and not this Loth Bloodax? You say that Bloodax is the ruler of the Hitts-surely his word was the last?»
«No.» Thane shook his head, then lowered it to the table, cushioned on his thick arms. «No. Bloodax left it up to Galligantus. His was the last word. He could have spared her. He did not. He struck the first blow.»
Thane began to weep. Ogier signed to Blade and they left the hut. «We had best hurry,» said Ogier. «It will be dark before we get back to the palace. You will, of course, move into the Izmir's palace now?»
Blade had not thought of it, but he nodded assent. He had no real power in Zir yet, but a display of the trappings would do no harm. He drew away and rode alone, thinking hard. Events were rushing on and he must meet them and be ready. And tonight, when the palace was quiet, he must use the crystal, must get in touch with the computer. Diamonds. Mountains of diamonds.
Chapter 9
The Izmir was entombed and Richard Blade was married. He kept away from the first ceremony and, though it was permitted in Zirnian law to marry by proxy, attended the second. He moved into the Izmir's palace and spent his wedding night there. It was not a great success. Blade sensed that he did not content Hirga, though she said nothing, and within a week they agreed to separate chambers. Blade came to understand the arrangement and, apart from a wound to his vanity, was not displeasured. Hirga was his wife and always willing to couple with him, but her first and chief duty was to provide liaison with Casta.
The High Priest remained in his cavern and made no visit to the palace-city that Blade knew of. He sent no word other than that Blade get on with the invasion of the Hitts.
Blade sent for Valli on several occasions and bedded her and listened to her reports. He learned little of value. Rumors and rumors of rumors. The black priests were making themselves scarce in the palace-city but were converging on the Plain of Pyramids in great numbers. Work continued at a great pace on the Izmir's monument and it was to be finished in a few weeks. The black priests, coming from all over Zir, were set to work alongside the slaves. Blade pondered all this and made no great sense of it other than the obvious-Casta was grouping his man-power, collecting his forces against the time he might need them.
Blade had his own manpower troubles. The Zirnian army was in a sad state. Morale was poor, the pay low and the common soldiers lazy and inefficient. Blade began to change all that. He organized a general staff and appointed Ogier as chief. Thane was made head of logistics and engineering and began to build a pontoon over the narrow water. To do this, Blade had to introduce labor conscription. This, Valli told him during one of her visits, was the cause of much discontent among the ordinary people of Zir.
All in all, Blade made good progress and was content. There was one incident, though, that occurred on the night before he was to ride to the coast with Thane and Ogier. It disturbed and upset him because he could not understand it and he feared things he could not understand, especially in his present ambiance where he thought of himself as superior-with the possible exception of Casta-and it was maddening to know that certain matters were beyond his ken.
He chanced to visit Hirga's chambers unannounced-she lived in another part of the palace and had her own retinue-and he found her half asleep and with the rosy and contented look of a woman satiated. She made no effort to rise but greeted him courteously enough, though with a certain soft-voiced scorn. She had trouble keeping her eyes open and there was languor and fulfillment in the sprawl of her lovely body on the huge bed. Blade, who cared nothing for her, was nonetheless rankled. And did not at first notice the odor.
Blade stood at the foot of her bed, hand on sword, and surveyed his Princess wife, «You do not miss me, Hirga? You have taken a lover.»
Her mouth was puffy and her lip salve smeared. She still breathed hard. She could hardly open her eves as she answered. «Why do you say that, Blade? How can you know such a thing?»
«By the look of you, woman. I am neither a child nor a fool. You have just been filled, stuffed, and not long ago. It must have been greatly to your liking, by the look of you.»
Hirga gave him an enigmatic smile and wiggled a finger. «I do not admit it. Or deny it. It is a pity that you cannot do so for me.»
Blade glared, knowing he was a fool, but there is a time when the child in every man will surface.
«Would you care to tell me who it is? I promise I will take no revenge, for I do not care that much, but if it is one of my Captains I should know. For it bespeaks lack of loyalty to me- I will retire him and you shall have him as a companion.»
The truth being, he told himself, that he longed to see this man who was a better cocksman than himself.
Hirga opened her eyes wider and laughed at him. «Do not concern yourself, Blade. It is none of your Captains, none in this palace or in the city, and none of your affair.»
Blade began to anger. She sought to make a fool of him. «How can that be?» he snapped. «I came by the single corridor that leads to these chambers and I met no one. The place swarms with guards. You die swooning, a woman who has just left off making love, and yet you tell me the man is not near! Mind yourself, Hirga. I know that we play games, you and I and Casta, for mutual benefit, but do not push me too far. I care not a damn whom you bed with, you slut, but I will have you preserve the amenities and be secret about it. I have a task to accomplish in Zir and if I am laughed at it will be the harder done.»
«I am secret about it,» said Hirga. Her smile mocked him. «I am very secret about it, Blade. You may believe me in this-nobody sees my lover come and go.» And suddenly she buried her face in the pillow and went off into wild laughter.
Blade was puzzled, baffled, and it made him the angrier. It was then he noticed the odor, the foul smell he had noted in the cubicle in the cavern. It was fainter now, barely evident, but it was there. He frowned and wrinkled his nose.
Remembering, he stalked about the bed and the room and searched the floor. He found three of the silvery scales and picked them up and sniffed. The smell. He flung them away from him and looked at Hirga, She had turned and was watching him through fingers spread over her face. Still laughing at him.
Blade was beaten and knew it. There was a mystery here he could not guess at, and she would never tell. He flung the insult as he left.