The two guards kept their eyes on Blade and their hands near their sword hilts until the door closed behind him. And four more soldiers stood behind Guroth as the captain came up to Blade.
«Welcome, my friend. What message do you have for me?»
Blade reached up and pulled off the eye patch and the head bandage. «My message is: I have come back.»
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
For a few moments Blade wondered if Guroth was going to drop dead on the spot from sheer surprise. The High Captain went white, then red, then purple. He seemed to be alternately strangling and breathing as though he had just run ten miles. Finally both his breath and his color returned to normal, and he stepped forward and embraced Blade with all his strength. Two of the guards let out shouts that sounded like Indian war whoops.
Blade gently pulled himself free of Guroth's bone-crushing embrace and put his finger to his lips. «The cheering can come later. At the moment nobody in all Pendar except you men know that I am here.»
«Including Klerus?» asked Guroth with a savage grin.
Blade nodded. «Including Klerus.»
Now Guroth looked as if he also wanted to shout and yell, but he caught himself in time. «Is it time, oh Pendarnoth?»
Blade did not need to ask «Time for what?» He knew that Guroth saw the situation as he did. «It is. How long will it take you to find out where Klerus is and gather enough men to deal with him and whoever he may have with him?»
Guroth frowned for a moment. «About an hour.»
«Good. Start now.»
For the first time Guroth looked at Blade with doubt in his eyes. «That soon, oh Pendarnoth? Without even asking the king?»
«If we take the time to ask the king, Klerus may learn that I have returned. And if he does, I don't think he will refrain from killing me. He is playing for stakes that have grown much too great.»
«I admit that seems wise. He certainly has a great many soldiers loyal to him. There will be a bloody battle if he calls them all to his aid. But if we strike at Klerus, and take the head off the conspiracy…»
Blade nodded. «The body will writhe around like a headless snake. It may make a lot of noise, but it will not be very dangerous. So send your messengers on their way at once.»
Guroth picked out eight men in a few minutes, and one by one they vanished into the darkness. Some went out the door, and some out onto the balcony and down to the ground on ropes. When they had all gone, Blade sat down and made a meal of the leftovers from the guards' dinner. Between bites of chicken and sips of wine he told the story of his adventures over the last month.
Guroth's face hardened as Blade described the treacherous desertion of the soldiers, then shrugged. «I do not think they lived long enough to get any reward for their treachery. None of them has been seen in Vilesh since your capture, and several of the officers have been reported killed. I suspect Klerus is having them killed off so they cannot tell of your capture.»
«But why shouldn't Klerus let the word out? It would be a terrible blow to the spirits of the Pendari.»
«Perhaps. But it might also make them determined to fight all the harder to avenge your capture. In any case, I do not think you were supposed to be captured. I think you were supposed to be slain on the spot. Dead men cannot escape or play games of their own. And if you had vanished mysteriously…»
Blade grinned. «No doubt General Ornilan, the Lanyri commander, thought the same. So his men carried out his plans, not Klerus'. Then he tried to win me over to work for him. Not only against the Pendari, but against Klerus. Obviously the Lanyri do not trust their own viceroy.»
It was Guroth's turn to grin. «Do you blame them?»
Blade used most of the rest of the hour to shave, scrub himself as thoroughly as possible, and don clean clothes and better weapons. Then he pulled a hood over his head. It was Curana's hood, the same one he had found on her body and worn the night of his meeting with Nefus and Harima. Now he would be wearing it as he went to avenge Curana's death on her murderer. Wearing it made him feel better than anything else could have done.
Before the hour was two-thirds gone, the messengers began reporting back, each bringing a handful of men with them. Some wore field gear, some wore palace outfits, all were armed to the teeth.
The last man brought in not only four of his comrades, but a priest of the Temple of the Holy Guardian. The priest was not exactly a prisoner, but he had about him the air of a man who had not come entirely of his own free will. He looked nervous and ill-at-ease, and kept looking fearfully about him at the grim gathering of armed men.
Blade took the priest and the soldier who brought him aside, into his bedroom. Then he asked, «What does bringing this priest here mean?»
«By your leave, Oh Pendarnoth,» said the soldier. «This priest was the one who told me where Klerus is now. But he seemed to guess why I wanted to know. Since I could not trust him not to run to his fellow priests and tell the whole story, I brought him along.»
Blade nodded. «A wise decision.» Then he turned to the priest. «Well, my friend?»
The priest swallowed hard and said, «It is true that I told him where Klerus is. He is in the cellar chambers of the Temple of the Holy Guardian, in conclave with his allies among the priesthood. And I know that it is your purpose, Oh Pendarnoth, to seek out Klerus and slay him. But you must not use blasphemous and sacrilegious violence against even Klerus within the holy space of the temple. All those of the priesthood, even I myself, would turn against you then.»
Blade frowned. He was rather weary of priests who set religious proprieties above the welfare of their people. But the priest's words seemed to imply a way out.
«My friend, do you mean that you share our hatred for Klerus and wish as we do to see him destroyed?»
«With all my heart, Oh Pendarnoth.»
«Good. If we swear by the most Holy Guardian to lay no hands on him within the temple itself, will you lead us to a place where we may take him as he comes forth?»
The priest appeared dubious for a moment. Then he said, «There is such a place. But Klerus' guards will also be there in strength. A great battle may arise.»
«Does that matter to you, as long as it is not within the temple?»
After a moment's hesitation, the priest shook his head. «It does not. I will lead you.»
Blade clapped the priest on the back. «Good. You have done well for Pendar and will do better before the night is over.»
In spite of his congratulations to the priest, Blade was far from congratulating himself as yet. There was much to do: reaching the temple without raising the alarm, setting the ambush, springing it, and fighting a pitched battle with Klerus' guards. Things could go disastrously wrong at any of these points.
Blade got his men out of the palace without trouble. The sheets of the beds and the cloaks and tunics in the chests provided hoods to cover their faces. A little work with their daggers and they took the Pendarnoth's Guard badges off their tunics. But even in disguise, fifty-odd armed men moving through the corridors of the palace could hardly escape attention.
But Blade and Guroth had replies ready. «We go about the business of the council,» they said to all challenges or questions. Since that was the phrase used by Klerus' own supporters when moving about at night, it dissolved opposition like acid. Blade could not help grinning under his mask at the irony-their best disguise was the same as that of their worst enemy.
Outside the palace they found the streets grimly dark and empty. A strict curfew was keeping people at home. The only living things moving were the scavenger dogs and cats, the patrols of the watch, and the workmen of the shops. The shops were ablaze with light and filled with the continuous clanging of tools day and night. Piles of weapons and long rows of siege engines stood outside them. All the arms workers were exempted from curfew. But neither dogs nor cats nor watchmen nor armorers were inclined to argue with fifty men armed to the teeth.