This time Blade did not try to pace himself or hold back or wait for the woman. He was past self-restraint and past good bedroom manners. He was past anything except releasing the raw passion that was once again building up in him.
It built up quickly now, and the release also came quickly. The woman's second spasm came with Blade's. For a very long moment there were only two maddened animals thrashing about on the bed, uttering animals' moans and cries, without the smallest piece of reason left between them.
The moment of release and madness passed for both of them. Blade mustered up enough strength to roll off the woman instead of sagging down on her and flattening her into the mattress. But that was the last strength he could muster up for quite a while. The frantic bout of sex on top of the fight, the run, and the leap across the moat had thoroughly drained him.
Eventually his fogged vision cleared and his breathing slowed to something like normal. He felt enough strength returning to raise himself on one elbow and look down at the woman sprawled on the bed beside him. Her mouth was still sagging open, but life and reason were returning to her eyes also. Finally her mouth closed, she raised a hand to push tangled and sweat-soaked hair back from her eyes. Then once again her face broke in that oddly appealing grin.
«Perhaps I should say, 'Well done,' as I often say to a warrior who has distinguished himself,» she said. «But perhaps other words are needed for this. There are any number of warriors in Gonsara strong in other parts of their bodies. But your strength extends farther than theirs, into one place more than theirs. Yes, you deserve something special.»
This seemed to require some comment from Blade. «Perhaps. But that is at your discretion-my lady.»
«It is indeed at my discretion,» said the woman with a grin. «I am Queen Jaskina of Gonsara.»
Chapter 18
This remark also seemed to require some response from Blade. He could not very easily bow while lying on a bed. Nor could he quite see the need to be courtly and formal to the queen under the circumstances. He contented himself with a deferential nod and a murmured, «I am honored.»
She patted him intimately. «As was I, my friend. And now perhaps you will tell me your name. We have not, after all, been properly introduced.» The grin was back on her face as she said that.
Blade held yet another mental debate with himself over what to tell her. If she was telling the truth about being Queen of Gonsara, it was beyond possibility for her to be an ally of the cult of Ayocan. If she was lying-well, he would face that when and if he had to.
«I am a warrior from a distant people, the English. My name is Richard Blade. I did indeed make an enemy of the cult of Ayocan. But that was in Chiribu, where I came across the mountains from my part of the world into yours. Now I serve King Hurakun of Chiribu.»
Without leaving out any of the crucial details, Blade told Jaskina of what he had done and what he was supposed to do. The queen listened in silence, her eyes fixed on Blade's face, and her lips drawn tight over her even white teeth. All during Blade's tale there was not the slightest trace of the ready grin in her face. And she only spoke once, after Blade mentioned killing Pterin.
«I wonder-do you think he knew who was killing him?
«I have wondered about that myself. I rather doubt it.»
«That is too bad. It would have made his death just that much harder. And the priests of Ayocan one and all deserve a hard death. Now perhaps we can see that they get it.»
We.
«You and I. At last King Thambral will have to believe that the cult of Ayocan is a deadly danger.»
«I did not think he was ignoring it before, your Majesty.»
«No, but he wished to be just and legal about dealing with it. And he wished above all things peace with Chiribu.»
«A good wish, I should think.» Blade had a vague and disagreeable feeling that hidden meanings were lurking in Jaskina's words. He wanted to draw more out of her.
«No doubt, under most circumstances. But peace with Chiribu, at the cost of ignoring such a deadly threat? That is not wise. And now the threat extends to the very existence of the Throne of the Red Ox.» Again Blade had the impression of hidden meanings.
And again he decided to test Jaskina. «Indeed it does. I don't know when the Death-Vowed will be turned loose against you and Thambral and perhaps others among the highly placed of Gonsara. But I suspect it will be soon. Certainly within a few days, perhaps even tonight. I think-«
«Indeed, it might very well be tonight,» said Jaskina slowly. «Well, my own household is well protected, as you know.» She pointed at Blade's thorn wounds. «Once the gate guards are alerted, not even the Death-Vowed will be able to get in. And if they do, I have you, as a second line of defense.»
«Your Majesty, I must go to the palace of King Thambral and warn him also. Otherwise his guards may not be alert, and the Death-Vowed may break through them and kill him.»
«Yes, they might.» The total calm in Jaskina's voice as she said that bothered Blade. «Indeed, they might. But-«
«Yes, your Majesty. But-«There was an edge in Blade's voice now, as suspicions grew in him.
«But I think if Thambral will not take proper precautions by himself, is there any reason to help him? The gods take small care for fools, so why should we do more than they?»
There were any number of possible answers to that question, but Blade gave none of them. Suspicion had become certainty. If Queen Jaskina was not on the side of the cult of Ayocan, she certainly had ambitions of her own. And she was as ready as any Elder Brother of the cult to see King Thambral's life spurt out under the swords and axes of the Death-Vowed.
This definitely was a surprise for Blade, and a thoroughly unpleasant one. It was what J would have called «a most infernally disagreeable complication.» Between one minute and the next, Jaskina had gone from probable ally to almost certain enemy. She was looking hard at him now, and Blade had to avoid meeting her eyes. If he had done so, she would have seen his new knowledge and his new hostility there as clearly as if they had been written on the wall in letters a foot high.
As it was, she did not see it and react to it until Blade had rolled out of bed and put a safe distance between himself and the queen. That was just as well. When Jaskina did realize what Blade was thinking, she screamed like a panther in its death agony. Then she rolled out of bed and dashed for the cord to summon the servants.
Fortunately the pillows on the bed were large and heavy. Blade snatched one up and flung it across the room after Jaskina, aiming low and hitting her in the back of the legs. She staggered, stumbled, and went down. Blade leaped over the bed, pain from his wounded leg stabbing through him. He reached Jaskina and fell on top of her just as she was reaching for the pull-cord.
She screamed again as he landed on her, and then all her breath went out of her in a whoosh. She went almost completely limp, but Blade did not let go of her. He didn't trust her out of his sight or out of his hands, and he began looking around the room for something to use to tie her up. Then he would have to get out of the palace as fast as possible. He had just decided on using the sheets from the bed when he heard the sound of several sets of running feet outside the door. Along with the feet he heard heavy breathing, and then two shrill screams. One was a woman, obviously not a mute, dying in agony and terror. The other was unmistakably the scream of one of Ayocan's Death-Vowed.