The four people met in King Embor's most private chamber, locked away in the innermost part of the great sprawling house. The room was dark except for a pair of flickering candles. The air was close and heavy with the scents of wood, resin, wax, and dry rot.
Blade began with a plain, unadorned statement.
«I have been looking for a way to destroy the stolofs of the army of Trawn. I think I have found that way. Now I need your help to be sure.»
That certainly got their attention. All three of them stared at him as if he had just turned into a stolof himself. Then King Embor cleared his throat and nodded.
«Go on, Prince Blade. Tell us more.»
Blade did so. He ran over all that he'd guessed and all that he'd learned for certain, about stolofs, sleeping water, threebos, distillation, and everything else that was part of his plan. He had a number of drawings, made with charcoal on bleached parchment. One showed the distillation apparatus. Another showed how four men could attack and slay a stolof. Two would have swords or spears, two would have containers of the distilled sleeping water. King Embor and Neena were particularly interested in that second drawing.
Blade ran through his entire presentation without getting any questions from the other three. He wasn't sure if they understood him perfectly, didn't understand him at all, or were too surprised to say anything either way. When he'd finished, he looked at King Embor. Their eyes met and slowly, like a man waking from sleep, King Embor nodded.
«You have thought deeply and spoken wisely, Prince Blade. Are the warriors of England also trained as Kaireens?»
«We are given some of their learning, as are your warriors here in Draad. But I would not presume to claim for myself the high rank of Kaireen. No, I am just a man who has traveled far and remembered much of what he has seen in those travels.»
«You have not seen stolofs, though?»
«Not until I came to Gleor, and I am just as happy about that. I do not much care for those beasts!»
Neena laughed. «Every warrior of Draad could say the same. But few have the courage to admit that they are not as brave as they want women to think!» Her eyes caressed Blade.
«In any case,» Blade went on, «I have seen many other large and savage beasts. I have also seen some of them made weak and slow moving by breathing sleeping water. I am sure that a weak or slow moving stolof could not last for a moment against the warriors of Draad.»
«I hope you are right,» said Embor.
The High Kaireen nodded. «I hope we shall have a chance to discover if Prince Blade is right,» he said gently. «It will take a great deal of work. Much of it Prince Blade will do, but much also must be done by other men. For example, you will need a great quantity of peza leaves, will you not?»
«I shall,» said Blade. «Many basketfuls will be needed while I am learning. Then many more while I am making the strong sleeping water. I will also need much help when I begin making large amounts of the water.»
«This is certain,» said King Embor. «Well, any part of my house is yours to use, and the labor of any man or woman in it is yours to command.»
«I have other thought, on this matter,» said the High Kaireen. «With your permission?» looking at the king. Embor nodded.
«Very well. The peza tree grows throughout Draad, but it is truly abundant only in the Mountains of Hoga. To bring the quantities of leaves Blade will need to the royal house from the mountains will take many men many days. They will not be able to do other work, in the forests or the fields or the shops. The leaves themselves will not be fresh, and we do not know what this may do to Blade's sleeping water. Also, if many men are carrying baskets of peza leaves from the Mountains of Hoga to the royal house, people will see them doing this. They will wonder why this is happening, and they will ask questions. Sooner or later they will learn what is going on. Do we wish this?»
King Embor shook his head.
«We do not wish very many people to know what Prince Blade is doing. There are few of our people so wicked that they would steal the secret and sell it to Trawn-«
«That's nice to say, father,» put in Neena. «But I don't believe it. I don't think you do either.»
«Keep your silence for the moment, daughter,» said Embor, with a weary smile. «The gods give you better luck in keeping this girl silent than I have had, Prince Blade.»
Neena stuck out her tongue at Blade, and he grinned at her. «I doubt if the gods will have much to say on the matter,» he said. «Neena is as she is, and not much likely to change.»
«You see, father,» said Neena. «The gods have sent me a wise husband.»
«I hope so,» said King Embor. «As I was saying, a few of Draad will sell the secret in Trawn. But I can see many stealing it and then claiming that they have discovered it. That will give them much honor, and take away honor from you, Prince Blade.»
«Jealous men are dangerous enemies, that is true,» said Blade. «What does the High Kaireen propose?»
«There is a house high in the Mountains of Hoga, a strong house with a strong wall around it. It is used by Kaireens and others who wish to spend some time apart from the world, meditating and writing. Around the house peza trees grow so thickly that their fallen leaves cover the ground to the depth of a tall man's knees. If we were to send to that house several assistants, and all the things Blade may ask for, it might be a good place for him to work. He and all that he does will be far away from prying eyes and ears.»
«He will also be close to the mountains, where those of Trawn may raid,» said Embor.
«You forget the mountain clans,» said Neena. «They can send warriors and hunters to stand guard around the house. Those guards will keep their eyes and ears to themselves and their mouths shut. They are better servants than most of the lowland clans, father.»
«Neena, pray cease to tell me my business,» said Embor wearily. He gave the impression of having been over this same ground with his daughter many times before. Blade found it hard to keep from smiling.
«The High Kaireen's proposal seems wise to me,» said Blade. «We must not let ambitious men or traitors get hold of the secret of the new sleeping water. The first that those of Trawn learn of it must be the day we strike down their stolofs by the hundred!»
«To hundreds of dead stolofs!» Neena raised her beer cup in a toast, and the other three all drank with her.
As Blade and Neena walked back to their private chambers, Neena took Blade's arm firmly. Her grip was so tight that her nails dug into his flesh.
«Do you run off into the Mountains of Hoga to run away from me, or perhaps to some mountain woman?»
She was grinning, but Blade was not entirely sure that she was joking. Fortunately he had an honest answer ready for her.
«I seek no other woman than you, Neena. I need none, and do not see how I could.»
«Good. As long as it is that way, you and I shall live in peace. Otherwise I will be angry.» Blade did not feel like asking what she might do to him if she did become angry.
Chapter 18
The house that the High Kaireen gave Blade lay high up in the Mountains of Hoga, lonely and isolated. Only a few miles to the west was the tree line. Beyond the trees Blade could see bare peaks of gray and blue rock and even the white glinting of snowcaps.
He could seldom see that far, though. Two days out of three, gray mist or grayer clouds surrounded him. Then the house seemed to be alone in an otherwise empty world.
The days were often cool and the nights usually chilly. Blade did not notice this. He spent all the hours of the day and a good part of the night in his steaming hot workshop. Fires burned there around the clock, under bubbling pots of resin or boiling cauldrons of leaves. Smoke and steam rose up in clouds and swirled around Blade. Sometimes they found a way out through the crude chimney or the cracks in the boarded-up windows. Most of the time they didn't.