He pressed the spear bar deeper into the man's flesh. For the first time the Gnoman showed fear. «You are going to slay me?»
«Maybe not. Do you know of the girl Norn?»
«I know of her. If she is anything to you I feel sorry for you.»
«Why? Where is she?» Blade scowled and poked again with the spear bar.
The Gnoman hesitated and his eyes turned shifty. «I had forgotten. It was whispered that she was something to you. If I tell you, will you spare me?»
Blade kicked him in the face. «You are in no position to make bargains. Tell me before the count of three.» He leaned on the bar.
The Gnoman guard, gasping for breath, spat out the words. «She is in the city, in the Hall of Entertainment, suspended over the mole rat pit. I would like to see that too, but I never will. It is said that the Morphi kept a hundred mole rats in that pit at one time. Starved them, studied them, watched them eat each other.»
Blade eased the pressure on the bar. «Jantor thinks I will come to save Norn. Is that it?»
«How would I know that, man Blade? I am only a sewer guard who does what he is told.»
Blade reasoned that for the moment Norn was safe enough. Uncomfortable, certainly terrified, but safe. Jantor was using her for bait, not for the mole rats. He would not destroy her until he was certain the ruse had failed.
He prodded the Gnoman. «How would you like to go up to the city and get your share of the sleeper women? Even join in the killing?»
The man grinned. «I would like it, man Blade. But how? My subchief gave me orders. If he finds me disobedient, he will kill me.»
«That is your concern,» said Blade. «You should be able to evade him. And if you do not take this chance, I will kill you now. So what do you say?»
«I will do it, man Blade. But what must I do?»
Blade took the man's bar and hurled it far down the tunnel. «Get up now. How are you called?»
«I am Dork.»
«Then listen well, Dork. You will lead me to the city level by the shortest way, avoiding the main sewers. You will walk two paces before me. No more, no less. If you turn, or drop your torch, or shout, or in any manner betray me I will put my bar through you from behind. You grasp all this?»
Dork nodded. «And if I serve you well?»
Blade prodded him back to where he had stomped out the torches. «Pick up one torch and light it from this one. If you serve me well, I will give you freedom when we are up in the city. What you do then is your own concern. You agree?»
Dork nodded. He lit the torch. «I will serve you, and hope my subchief does not catch me. It will be worth the risk for a chance at a Morphi woman.»
Blade prodded him again. «Then we go. You do know a short way up to the city?»
«Of course I know, man Blade. I have lived in the sewers all my life. And I will not betray you. For one, I do not want a spear bar through me and for two, I have been badly cheated by Jantor and my chiefs. I would kill you if I could, man Blade, but since I do not think I will get that chance I will serve you and also serve myself. I will show all that Dork is not to be cheated of his share of killing and loot. Mind it now-we turn off just ahead.»
As Blade followed Dork along an upward-slanting, narrow passage, dank and slippery underfoot, he debated whether to kill Dork when the guard had served his purpose. He decided not. One more rape or killing would not make all that difference in the vast carnage he knew he would find in the city.
Dork led him into a subbasement, up ladders and stairs into a full basement where maintenance sleepers lay about, so far unharmed by Jantor's hordes. They were one floor below city level now and Blade kept his bar point close to Dork's back. If the Gnoman had treachery in mind, it would come soon.
There was an open freight elevator stalled halfway between floors. Blade bade Dork haul boxes and they climbed by means of them atop the elevator. From that vantage, they could just peer out at ground floor level. They were in an apartment house and the front doors were open. Blade made Dork lie flat on his belly while he, Blade, popped his head up for a quick look. The sound of the dying city was now loud, now fading, as the Gnomen shattered the silence with their cries of fury and triumph, an incessant babble of savagery.
A score of sleeper bodies were piled in the lobby. Blade, in one fast glance, noted no females among them. They were all the beautiful male sleepers and they had all been mutilated-either the power stud behind their ears had been gouged out or the heads had been cut off. Jantor knew what he was about. Even were the power to come on, these poor corpses could not be reactivated.
The bodies were naked. The Gnomen would be casting away their denim breeches and donning Morphi garb. Blade ducked down and told Dork what he had seen. Dork nodded and said, «What else? The time of the Gnomen has come at last. I have kept my word to you, man Blade. Can I go now and see to my share of Morphi women and loot? You promised.»
«In a little time,» Blade promised. «I need you still. Come. We must go higher.»
Dork nodded. «Only hurry or I will lose out.»
Blade peered into the lobby again. A band of Gnomen rushed past the open doors, screaming in fierce glee. Several had the heads of Morphi males impaled on their spear bars. Many carried cans of intoxicant and drank as they ran. One Gnoman came staggering along with a case of the stuff.
Blade nodded in satisfaction. Drunken Gnomen would be easier to elude and trick. Dork licked his lips and said, «They will drink it all, the fylfot desecrating bastards, before I can join them.»
«Then hurry,» ordered Blade. He poked Dork with his bar. «Up the stairs.»
The stairs and some of the hallways were littered with Morphi sleepers. The males butchered behind the ears, the power stud gone, and the females stripped and well used.
Dork licked his thick lips again. «They have been here right enough, many of them. Now I must take their leavings.» He made a move toward one of the females.
Blade cuffed him hard. «Not before me. Try again and I will forget my promise and kill you. Up-to the top floor.»
There was a vacant apartment on the sixth floor. There were no sleepers-either male or female-though there were several in the corridor. Blade made Dork stand at a window and explain the city layout to him. As the man talked, Blade drew a crude map on the reverse side of the plastic parchment Wilf had given him.
Dork, in a frenzy to be gone, spoke rapidly and pointed out place after place, answered questions, chafing and grumbling as Blade insisted on a complete orientation. He pointed out the circular Government Building far across the city. «Jantor is certain to make his headquarters there,» he said. «He is cunning. He will de-stud the Morphi leaders before he does anything else.»
Blade agreed. In any case he must return to the Government Building sooner or later. The chute was there, and the chute was his only means of communication with Wilf and Sybelline waiting down in the power complex.
He prodded Dork. «Where is the Hall of Entertainment?»
The man pointed. «Yonder, to the left. It is not far. But if you think to save your Norn from the mole rats, let me warn you-for you kept your word and did not kill me-that she will be heavily guarded.»
Blade studied the structure. It covered several blocks, and was but four stories tall. It was a square building. From each corner colored pennants appeared to stand out in a breeze, but this was deceiving. They were of reinforced plastic. There was no wind in the plastic city.