That was just as well with Blade. He had no objection to marrying Neena. He would, however, rather not make an enemy of King Embor by doing so.
«In fact,» she went on, «I think he may find good reason to be happier with you than with any man of Draad. Any of the warriors or chiefs' sons I might otherwise have chosen would be of one clan or another. The clan of my husband would rejoice. The others would not, and some of them might raise their voices or even their spears against my father. This is not the time for the feuding of the clans of Draad, not when Trawn may march against us at any time.
«Queen Sanaya will be another matter. She will be-«
Neena broke off, looking worried about having perhaps said too much.
Blade placed a finger under her chin and tipped her head up until their eyes met. «Neena, I cannot be all that you will want and need in a husband if you do not tell me what dangers may face me in Draad. You have said enough about Queen Sanaya to make me wonder about her. I have met such women as her before, and they have seldom been my friends.»
«You see clearly, Blade,» said Neena. «You also speak the truth. I shall tell you of her, although it may seem almost too simple. Sanaya knows that if I take a husband, I may soon bear a son to him. Then she will no longer be the only bearer of sons to the royal house of Draad. Her position will be weakened, and if she angers my father as she has done in the past, he may not again hold back from setting her aside.»
«I see.»
«You do not see everything. If Sanaya-fears this, she will be desperate, and when she is desperate, she becomes dangerous. She will be dangerous to both of us, but she will concentrate on you.»
Blade nodded. «I shall be on the alert.»
«You certainly should be. I do not know how far Sanaya may go to defend herself. You should also take care for your own desires. Sanaya is extremely beautiful, and is said to be experienced and skilled as well. I would take it much amiss if you were to bed her.»
Blade nodded again. He was tempted to ask Neena exactly what she would do to him if she «took amiss» something that he did. He decided it might not be wise, and instead changed the subject.
«Do you find the ring beautiful?»
«Yes. There is no such stone in all the forests of Gleor or the earth below them.»
«It is a magical stone from my home land, called a ruby. I have given it to you to signal our betrothal, but I fear I must ask for it back when we reach Draad.»
Neena looked sulky, almost like a small girl. «Why?»
«As I said, it is a magical stone, that can receive spells. A great Kaireen and sorcerer of my people, named Lord Leighton, filled that stone with protective spells. I will be in danger, from Sanaya and many other people, if I do not wear it after we return to Draad.» Blade wondered what Lord Leighton would say to being described as a «sorcerer.» The scientist would probably throw at least a small fit.
Neena sighed and shrugged. «Very well, I shall not leave you without protection. But I shall wear the ruby until we reach Draad, and that will be more than a week.»
They gathered up their clothing, gear, and weapons, and moved out. By the time the sun rose over the forest, they were well on the march toward the east.
That afternoon they hunted. Neena brought down a pair of apelike creatures covered with brown fur, while Blade speared a large snake. Behind a screen of bushes along the bank of a swift-flowing stream, they built a fire of driftwood and twigs and roasted their catch. By the time they were through, there was nothing left of either the apes or the snake but the entrails and bones sucked clean before being tossed aside.
Blade sighed contentedly, wiped his hands and mouth with a bunch of leaves, and leaned back against a tree trunk.
«Our forests can provide well, can they not?» said Neena.
Blade smiled. «They can. Of course, I think the snake should really have been allowed to hang for three days, then been marinated for twenty-four hours in a sauce of red wine, leeks, thyme, and-«That was as far as he got before Neena burst out laughing, then put both hands on his chest and shoved him over backward. Before he could rise she was swarming all over him, and they did not get up for quite a while after that.
It took them nearly a week to reach the nearest of the villages of Draad. The forests spread thickly across the land, but there was plenty of water, game, and fruit, and there was little danger of meeting any hunters or raiders from Trawn. Neena hoped they might meet a hunting party from Draad, but luck was not with them there. Even without that last piece of luck, Blade found the march to Draad as pleasant as a camping trip, at least compared with everything that had gone before it.
They spent two days climbing steadily higher. The forest grew thinner, the swarming insects faded away, the nights were almost chilly, and beyond the treetops Blade caught glimpses of mist-shrouded mountains.
«The Mountains of Hoga,» said Neena. «They are a great barrier to the raiders of Trawn. With the mountain clans, they have done much to keep our land free so far. I fear, though, that what has been enough in the past will not be enough before much longer.»
At a place Neena called the Pass of Mezan, they met the first of the mountain clansmen. Blade could see that they were of the same stock as Neena. All were tall, slim but superbly muscled, with pale brown skins and hair so black that it showed blue tints in the sunlight. Both men and women appeared carrying weapons, which was the way among the mountain clans. It was not the way elsewhere in Draad.
«If things elsewhere in Draad were done as wisely and as well as among the mountain clans, we would be in far less danger,» said Neena bitterly. «They turn out everyone who can fight, they know their land, they spend little time fighting or intriguing among themselves.»
Things beyond the Mountains of Hoga were rather different, or so Blade gathered. King Embor was hardly a king so much as he was referee for the squabbling and feuding of a score of clans, each with their own cluster of lands and villages. The fact that they were outnumbered three or four to one by the warriors of Trawn and their stolofs had so far done nothing to unite all the petty rulers in Draad.
«This has not as yet been fatal,» said Neena. «The mountain people can fight off any small raiding parties from Trawn. The kings of Trawn have only once sent a large army all the way to our borders, and that was centuries ago, before the time of the stolofs. Now, though, if they come, they will come with the stolofs, and for us-«Neena sighed, in her weariness and her fear for her people.
The mountain clans had heard that Neena was missing, and her father much grieved over it. They rejoiced in a rather sober fashion over her return, throwing a feast with masses of roast meat, koba nuts, fish from the mountain streams, and a sour but strong nut beer.
Neena asked the chiefs not to send messengers on to her father. Impishly, she wanted her safe return home to be a surprise.
The clansmen must have ignored her wishes. Two days beyond the Mountains of Hoga, Blade and Neena were approaching the first of the lowland villages. It was there that they met King Embor, with all his court, all his guard of warriors-and all his problems.
Chapter 16
Neena pointed out her father to Blade as soon as the king came in sight. Blade would not have needed her help. It was obvious at once who among the people facing them was King Embor of Draad.
Embor was half a head taller than Blade, but like his daughter he was slim and fine boned. The loss of flesh that comes with age had turned his slimness almost into gauntness, but his movements were sure and fluid and graceful. He carried himself with a dignity that Blade would have called «regal» even if Embor hadn't been a king.