Blade seated the girl on the bed and struggled to comb and brush out the worst of the tangles in her hair. Sart hovered, complaining, until Blade sent him out of the room.
As he left Sart made a final plea. «This is not wise, master. It will surely get back to Jantor and Sybelline that you have taken a favorite. They will send the guards. I do not want you to be slain, master, and-«
Blade grinned. «That I believe. You worry about your own skin and for that I do not blame you. But remember that you pledged obedience to me. So obey.. OUT!»
Blade did what he could with her hair and tossed the comb and brush aside. Her regarded her. Not too bad. He sat on the bed beside her and took her hand. She curled over against him and reached up to stroke his bearded cheek.
After a moment he said, «Now, my little Norn, let's have some truth from you-nothing but truth. You will no longer pretend to be stupid and you will not persist in the lie that you're in love with me. That is not why you come again and again, and I must know why.»
She brushed her fingers through his chest hair. She let out a long sigh and said, «All right, Blade. You are too clever for me. But it is truth that I love you. I have tasted you. Now no other man will do. Certainly no common Gnoman, even if it were not forbidden. I would have you all for my own, Blade.»
When he cuffed her lightly, a look of ecstasy crossed her face. She brushed her fingers over the spot he had struck, as if it had been a kiss instead of a blow.
Blade knew then that she was telling the truth, but not all of it. He spoke gently. «If you lie again, the next blow will be harder. You come to spy on me, Norn. Is that not so?»
She pressed against him. Her hands sought him and Blade could feel himself being aroused by her touch. He pulled her hands away.
«Admit it, Norn. You spy, don't you?»
She nodded. «Yes. I spy for Sybelline, not Jantor. I am handmaid to Sybelline and she would know everything of you. But the other is also true-my body loves yours and so I must visit you again and again. I knew it was not wise, for now you have found me out, but I could not help myself.»
Her hands were plucking at him again. It was like flower petals brushing his penis. Blade felt a genuine excitement rising in him, the first in all his days of sexual activity. But he pulled her hands away again.
«Later for that. First you must answer questions. Why does Sybelline spy on me? What am I to her? What does she want to know?»
Norn pulled away from him and stretched out on the bed. She propped herself on an elbow, chin in palm, and regarded him for a long time before she spoke. The look she gave him, and her tone, revealed that she had entirely dropped the mask.
«All right, Blade. I did not come here to talk, but if you must talk let us get it over with. I do not know exactly why Sybelline spies on you through me, but I know that she has her reasons. She tells me nothing. I merely obey. My orders were to find out all I could about you, in any way I could. To find out if you are indeed the man you have boasted of being.»
He smiled faintly. «And what did you tell her?»
For the first time he beard her laugh. Her teeth were good. «I told her that you are indeed a man. In a few years, if you work steadily, the Gnomen population will be rebuilt.»
Blade did not show the frown he felt. That idea he did not like at alclass="underline" stud for an entire nation, quite literally the father of a country. This life was not for him. That very night, he thought, he would contact Lord L through the crystal and ask to be recalled to Home Dimension.
Norn lay back on the bed. She raised her knees and looked at Blade. «Please, Blade. Your slave is right, you know. If we are too long the other women will be come suspicious and report us. Please hurry.»
Blade laid down beside her. She might be a liar and a spy, but he didn't think she was lying about her need of him. If she really was enamored of him, he would be a fool not to exploit it. At the moment he was a sexual captive with no points of advantage, and he could be killed at Jantor's whim or at the whim of Sybelline.
Somehow Blade thought that his best chances lay with Sybelline.
He set out to torture Norn a bit. He penetrated and then withdrew. She moaned and clutched at him frantically. How different from the other Gnomen women he had been servicing like a prize bull or stallion. They all lay unmoving and would not look at him, would not have submitted at all but for Jantor's stern orders.
Norn continued to writhe and moan. «Please, please, Blade. I love you. Hurry-hurry-«
He teased her and held off. «You are not telling me everything, Norn. If we are to be friends I must trust you, and I cannot do that until you tell me everything. Now what is Sybelline up to?»
The girl closed her eyes and gasped. «I know little. This much I can tell you… Sybelline bade me to observe you and, when I thought the time was right, to warn you.»
Blade thrust into her. «Warn me of what?»
Norn groaned deep in her throat. «That trouble is coming. Trouble with Jantor. Sybelline wants you on her side and she will give you great rewards. But you must wait-wait and do nothing. If you act too soon all will be ruined. You are to wait and be obedient and cause no trouble. .»
«I can do little else,» said Blade bitterly. «I'm a prisoner and as helpless as any of you.»
Norn reached for him. She wrapped strong legs about him and tugged him to her.
«Not forever, Blade. I will be messenger. I will visit you again and again and when the time is right I will take you to Sybelline. Now-I have told you all my secrets. I know of nothing more. Will you go on denying me? I love you, Blade. Take pity. .»
Blade took pity. And for the first time in days actually enjoyed it.
CHAPTER 7
That same night Jantor sent an armed guard of twenty men to fetch Blade. Sart was permitted to accompany Blade. As they wound through the narrow, maze-like tunnels that connected the main sewers, Blade found it hard not to remain untouched by Sart's fear. The slave was trembling and sweating and his voice broke as he whispered.
«I warned you, master. I warned you. Jantor has found out about that woman, that Norn, and now he suspects you and Sybelline of plotting against him. We are finished, master. You will be killed and I will be sent to the five-mile pits. Oh, I warned you, I warned you.»
Blade's nerves were none too good. He was without weapons. His spear bar, the one he had taken from Sart, had disappeared the first night as he slept. But he did not like whining, and he cuffed Sart so hard that the sturdy Gnoman went down in a daze. Blade pulled him to his feet as the guards watched impassively.
«That will be all from you,» said Blade. «From this time on you will not speak until I give you leave.»
They entered a much wider and higher main sewer than any he had seen before. The cobbled trough was dry, covered with sand and some rank weeds that were not made of plastic. In the air, there lingered the effluvia of long-ago sewage. Blade and Sart, surrounded by the guards, made a right turn and continued along the main sewer. They passed a vast cavern in which fires glowed and sparks flew as metal clanged on metal. It was a forge.
Blade whispered to Sart. «You may speak: What do they make in there?»
Sart, sullen and unforgiving, whispered back that the iron spear bars were made there. He himself had worked there for a short time.
«Just the bars? Nothing else?» Blade had long been puzzled by their lack of weaponry. Granted that the Gnomen were none too bright, were creatures of the moment with a brief attention span and small intelligence, he wondered why they had not developed other weapons.