He nestled against those superb breasts. It was comfortable there and he did not want her to see his face.
«What words did I utter?»
His head felt better. Her fingers were stroking the dull pain away. He must have taken a hell of a blow, he thought, for it to knock his memory out of kilter like this. But there was no wound, only the knob, which meant that he must have been wearing armor, a helmet. Assuming that he had been in battle. But who was Edyrn? And who was Nob, his man? Whatever that meant.
«You cried out of a thing called jay and lordell. Many times. I wiped your.tears away and still you spoke of this jay and lordell in fear and, I thought, in anger. But that is all over now-they were but demons in your dreams and now are gone forever. You wake again and all has been done as you bid us do. The Samostan ship escaped, after you had made them pay dear for their audacity, and they will deliver your defiance to Hectoris. And the prisoner, Ptol, is tortured as you ordered and awaits your pleasure.»
It was all Blade could do to keep from exploding in frustration and rage. Goddamn lordell and jay-for who else but Lord L and J had he called to in his sleep-and goddamn the computer. They had done it now. His brain was so altered and twisted, so restructured, that a single blow on the head sent him into deep amnesia.
A fearsome thought came then and he would not face it because he could not bear it-suppose, just suppose, that the blow, the resultant amnesia, so affected his brain structure that the computer could not make contact again! He would be doomed to spend the rest of his life in this Dimension X. Patmos?
It did not bear thinking about. His only remedy was action. Move forward. Keep going. Finish whatever it was that he had set out to do. Whatever it was! Piece it together, bit by bit, and feel his way along until he had his bearings.
«I will attend to Ptol later.» Ptol? Blade fretted. For an instant the name had nearly assumed meaning. Now it was gone. Ptol? Someone who was being tortured on his orders. Blade did not like that, for normally he was not a man who found pleasure in inflicting pain, but if he had ordered it he must had good reason.
He disengaged himself from Izmia and stood up. His legs were weak and he stumbled a bit. Izmia watched him, still seated crosslegged on the floor, her yellow eyes narrowed, teeth showing, her skin gleaming like pale fire.
It cost him, but Blade stood erect and squared his big shoulders. Perhaps the bluff was a foolish one, and did not deceive her, but it was Blade's way.
«I am hungry,» he said brusquely. «A man can nigh starve in three days. And if it has been that long I am very late in all matters and had best get moving. I will be shown quarters, Izmia, and have food and be bathed and shorn and newly clothed. Later I would have Edym and Nob sent to me. Nob first, I think.»
Izmia touched a gong with a baton. «I will send him now. He has been anxious about you and has been hanging about plaguing my maids. You had best warn him that it is forbidden to cohabit with Gray girls.»
Blade nodded, for all the world as though he knew what he was doing, and was led to a smaller cavern by a girl dressed in a gray smock. She kept her eyes downcast and did not speak to him. It seemed to Blade that they went ever downward, along winding passages on which moisture glistened. Once he clapped a hand to a wall and drew it back with an oath. It was hot!
She drew aside an ornate hanging and Blade entered the little cavern. It was well furnished with bolsters and rugs and in a corner was a large tub carved out of black stone. From a bung set into the wall came steaming hot water. A large and roguish-looking character, with a patch over his left eye, looked up from sprinkling salts into the bath. He gave Blade a wide and toothless grin. Most of his front teeth had been broken off at the gum line.
«Aye, master, it is good to see you recovered. That was a hot enough brawl, for a time, and the rascal fetched you a good clout on the sconce afore I put my iron through him.»
He glanced past Blade at the movement of the drape. «Who 'twas brought you here, master? A pretty little Gray thing by name of Ina?»
Might as well get it over with, Blade thought. He studied the big fellow, arms akimbo, scowling. The man wore the leather and metal armor of a foot soldier. On his shoulders were black tabs-the black pearl insignia.
The man was a bit too familiar, Blade thought, and no harm in putting him in his place. He made his voice harsh: «Izmia tells me that it is forbidden`to cohabit with Gray women. You will not do so. And what is that you pour in 'my bath?»
Nob, for so Blade supposed the servant to be, dropped his lantern jaw and stared at Blade. He looked at the salts he was still pouring into the steaming water, then back at Blade. He gulped and appeared to choke on an Adam's apple obscured by whorls of dark stubble. At last he found his tongue.
«It be naught but a potion to make ye smell pretty, sire. What did ye think-a magic to rob ye of manhood?» And Nob again showed his guns in an uncertain grin.
Blade nodded and began to disrobe. «Fair enough, but keep in mind what I said about women.»
Nob rubbed a hand over his scarred face. «Oh, aye, of course, master. 'Twas nothing but a bit of fooling, like. But yon Ina, she did smile on me-and not many does on old Nob-and I thought that-«
«Don't,» said Blade curtly. «Now I will bathe whilst you lay out fresh things. I will talk and you will listen and, when called on, answer me to the point. This is understood?»
Nob was wide-eyed and his jaw still hung askew. He nodded. «Aye, master. But for one thing-what is the word you used to me? This cohabit-what do it mean?»
Blade told him. Nob roared and slapped his leathernclad leg. «Do it now! By Juna's golden tits! I would never have called it that in a million years-but once you have the meaning of it there is no doubt. I mean to say, sire, it is the doing of the thing that is important and not the calling of it. 1-«
«You will shut up,» Blade said calmly. He kicked away a pile of blood- and sweat-stained clothing and stepped into the steaming tub. Ahhhhh-it was goodt
Nob finally got his mouth closed and handed Blade a box of fragrant powder. «For scrubbing, sire. Or so Ina tells me. And plenty of hot water, as you.see. Comes from the volcano, it do, and if a man does not temper it with cold it will scald-«
Blade repressed a smile. Instead,he frowned and said, «You are still talking too much. I said for you to Usten.» He balled his massive fist and showed it to the man. «Or must I convince you with this?»
Nob was arranging clothing and armor on a table. He shook his head as though in sorrow. «You are not yourself, master. I feared as much-for after taking that axe blow on your head, and sleeping all this time, I did not think ye would come so quickly to be well again. I-«
«Silence!» Blade's bellow set the door hanging to waving. He made a sign to the astounded Nob and dropped his voice. «Look to see if there are any listeners.»
Nob snatched a long sword from a rack in a corner and swept the tapestry aside. There was nothing.
«Now listen,» Blade commanded. «And hold your loose tongue.»
He told Nob what had happened to him. The man's eyes grew wide again and his jaw fell farther aslant than before. But when Blade had done talking, and after a moment of frowning and scratching his from, Nob smiled and said, «So there is no great harm done, sire. You are well and 1 remember all that happened. From the day we met in Thyme and-«
«Thyme? Tell me of it. I have no recollection.»
Nob sank to a stool and shook.his head. «None at all, master? Not even of Juna?»
Blade scrubbed beneath an arm. «Who is Juna? Or, should I say, what is Juna?»