is very fond of you. And you of her. It is rumored that you have lain together and were seen thus.»
«A lie,» said Blade. Or was it? He did not know the truth himself. If it had happened he had not confided it to Nob, so could not hear it back. And yet Nob must have guessed, or suspicioned.
Ptol touched his stub with dirty fingers. It must be painful, thought Blade.
«We do not think it a lie,» said Ptol. «But no matterthere is lzmia and she is grandmother to Juna. Yet another string to our bow. Would she see Per grandchild torn apart and fed to dogs? For such it may come to.»
Blade fingered his beard. «You mistake lzmia,» he said. «I think she would do just that. But enough of talk. You have had your chance. Bring him along, guards.»
By this time Blade well knew that he was inside a living volcano. The quakings. and the rumblings, the jets of steam and scalding water, and ever and anon a thunderous explosion, all bore witness to that. It did not take him long to find what he — sought.
When they reached it the pulley and scaffold had been rigged as Blade ordered. The crevice was deep and jagged, irregular, and some hundred feet down was the terrible surge and writhing of molten lava. The heat and stink of it spewed from the crevice. Some of the guards, brawny men wearing the black pearl, looked fearful and tried to hang back. Blade urged them with the flat of his sword.
He pointed to the priest. «Rig him by the heels, and mind you do it securely, and swing him out over the pit. Hurry.»
Ptol cringed back and began to whimper. «No-no-«
Blade bared his strong white teeth at the sniveler. «You are a priest. You should welcome a chance to gaze into hell, if only to avoid it. And you can avoid it, for a time, if you talk. Well?» 0
Ptol began to sob and shook his head. Blade motioned to his men.
The priest was lowered head down into the pit. Blade pointed his sword at the guards manning the tackle. «Drop him and you will follow. And be alert-I do not want him dead. Quite.»
He alone would venture to the edge of the pit. And he alone could bear the sight of the white hot caldron seething and bubbling and sending up its stinking vapors. He did not reckon Ptol to last long, and soon raised a hand. The priest was drawn up. Cold water was douched into 'his face. For a moment Blade feared he had overdone it and bent to listen. The heart was still beating.
When Ptol opened his eyes Blade knew he had won. The priest was finished. He had come back from hell and would not venture again. He nodded and gasped. «I–I will tell you. I will tell everything. Everythingl»
It was no time to show mercy or compassion. Blade put the point of his sword against the priest's throat. «Mind you do. One lie, just one-and I will know-and next time there will be no rope to fetch you up.»
He gave Ptol no chance to recover his nerve or to think of lies. He summoned a council at once of all officers. He invited Izmia, as he knew he must, but she did not appear and he was thankful for it. And he made reacquaintance with Edyrn, whom he now proposed to use as chief liaison with Izmia until he had matters well in hand and could cope with her. If Edyrn, as cool and capable as ever, had suspicions of Blade's loss of memory he avoided mentioning it.
The counsel lasted for hours and Blade gave none of them any respite, least of all Ptol. When he was satisfied, and he had good reason to be, he ordered that the priest's stub be seen to and that he be well treated so long as he behaved. He was to be closely guarded. Then he dismissed them all but Edyrn and Nob, who had not been bidden to the gathering of.his betters, but had come anyway and gained entrance and had been hovering about Blade with the nervous air of a man with something to impart.
While Edyrn gathered a mass of parchment and maps and stuffed them into a carrying bag, Nob sidled close to Blade and caught.his ear.
«She bids you come to her this night, sire, when you have finished your business. She will wait for you in the cavern of music. She bids you come alone.»
Blade cocked an eye at his man. «And where is this cavern of music? And how shall I find it?»
Nob's good eye closed slightly. «My Ina, the Gray girl you know of, sire, will take you there. I have arranged evg.».
Blade smiled and, dismissing him, said, «Have a care that you do not arrange trouble for yourself. And do not waste your time-I have put you in charge of the beggars and mendicants and you know what to do. I expect results-if I do not get them, and I find it is the fault of your lust for women, it will go hard with you.»
«Aye,» said Nob hastily as Edyrn approached with his heavy bag. «Aye, master, I understand. Do,not misdoubt old Nob-always business before pleasure with me, sire.»
Blade smiled. «See to it, then. Your beggars and thieves are all the intelligence I have. I depend on them.»
Edyrn, when Nob had gone, bowed and said, «If you are ready, Sire Blade? I will show you what you wished to see.»
Blade nodded. «I am ready. You say it is a long walk? Good enough, Edyrn. We will talk as we go.»
With his knowledge of events furnished by Nob, Blade found no great difficulty in coping with Edyrn. They left the caverns and walked along a path of crushed lava. They skirted a darkling taro and,Blade glanced back at the looming bulk of the volcano they were leaving behind. There was a lurid flare — for a moment, a movement of flame deep within the bowels of the cone, and Blade was sure he saw the silhouette of a tall woman against the fire, like a puppet seen for a moment before an open furnace door. He stopped and gazed, blinking, wondering if the blow had affected his eyesight as well as his memory. There was nothing there now, nothing but the sullen rumble and belch of volcano.
Edyrn touched his arm. «We must hurry, sire. There is much to do and little time-«
Blade pointed. «I thought I saw-«
«You did, sire. It was Izmia, the Pearl. My grandmother. She goes often to the brink to look and think. For her Weird is an the fire and soon she must meet it.»
Blade did not question. He merely looked at Edyrn and nodded. «You and Juna are brother and sister?»
Edyrn nodded in his turn. «Aye, sire. By another hero who came from nowhere, as you have come, and who vanished into nowhere as you will vanish. Shall we go on, sire?»
They came out onto the plain and walked through fields of fragrant loti. Ahead of them loomed an angular, open work tower supported by three legs. The fields were deserted.
Edyrn said, «All supplies of penthe have been destroyed as you ordered, sire. The Gray People have been put to work on fortifications and fire trenching, such as are able to work after withdrawal.»
Blade cast him a sidelong glance. «How did that go, Edyrn?»
«Badly at first. There was much murdering and rioting, and a deal of insanity. Cybar was destroyed by flames.»
«A pity,» murmured Blade. «It was a beautiful city.»
Edyrn stared at him in surprise. «But you yourself ordered it burnt, sire.»
Nob had not told him that. Damn the rascal. Then Blade withdrew the thought. Nob was only Nob, after all, and it was not his fault that Blade had amnesia. And Nob had saved his life after he had taken the blow on the head in the beach skirmish. But Blade began to wonder what other things he had done, or ordered done, that he could not remember and of which Nob did not know. Edyrn would have to help him there.
The tower was some three-hundred feet tall. Several Gray People manned a winch and basket and Blade and Edyrn were lifted to the top. On the way up Blade said, «How as to horses, lad? We are going to need them badly.»
«There are no horses on Patmos, sire. There never have been. We have never felt need of them.»
Blade remembered what Nob had told him of the charging Samostan cavalry in the Beggar's Square in Thyme-and scowled.