Blade went on from there, explaining everything he could about the Wizard without mentioning the man's origins. He didn't need to. The strategy they'd be using against the Wizard would be the same whether he'd come from Renaissance Italy or fallen from the sky as the legends said.
Razence managed to keep up with Blade's explanations, although he was obviously having to make an enormous mental effort to do so. Several times he asked Blade to repeat something and twice he asked Blade to stop entirely. Finally he rose, shaking his head like a man waking from a particularly vivid dream.
«I cannot decide on this matter by myself. Our people now have seven leaders, and I am only one of them.»
«Seven?» Serana frowned. «Isn't that letting too many know too much?»
Razence shrugged. «It might be, except that we cannot keep that much secret for long, no matter how hard we try. So we contrive as best we can. Even the Wizard's magic-«
«The Wizard's mental powers, Haymi,» said Serana gently.
«The Wizard's powers, then,» said the little man. «Even they cannot watch seven men all at once. Nor can his assassins slay seven men in a single night.»
«I understand,» said Blade. «Very well. Have the other six come here tomorrow, and I will tell them what I've told you. Then we can-«
«But the danger!» exploded Razence. «The Wizard's magic eye can fall on us, and he will then know-!»
Blade and Serana broke into roars of laughter. After a moment Razence blushed and sheepishly joined the laughter. Finally he shook his head. «I am sorry, my lady, my lord. My wits have never been the fastest in Morina, and what you have told me has not made them any faster. I forgot that the Wizard can no longer see anything in Morina, except through the eyes of his hired dogs.» His face became a grim mask that made Blade very glad he was not one of the Wizard's spies. «But how shall I protect them when they come?»
«The same way you were going to protect yourself against us,» said Blade. «Call your guards and post them at the doors to the Fountain. Let no one in or out until the men have gone.»
«Yes, yes, I can do that,» said Razence. He seemed to be eager to show that he understood Blade, whether he really did or not.
«Also do not send anyone out to kill the Wizard's spies until you can kill them all at once,» said Blade gently. «Otherwise some will get away.»
«Yes, yes, that also is true,» said Razence. With a visible effort he straightened up. «Now, is there-?»
«Yes,» said Serana. «You can give us one of your private rooms.»
«One room?»
«Yes.»
«Together?»
«Yes.» Serana's voice now had a bite to it. «Haymi, you ask too many questions. Go have the room prepared, and also a hot bath and as much food as you can find. We've come a long way, we're soaked to the skin, and we're hungry enough to roast you in your own hearth if we don't get fed and quickly!»
«Certainly, my lady. It shall all be done. At once.» Haymi backed away, nearly tripped over his own heels, and vanished out the door.
Blade shook his head. It looked as if he might have to go on giving orders in Morina after all. At least he'd have to until the people here realized what was happening and started thinking for themselves. He hoped the other six leaders of the rebels wouldn't be thrown into such confusion, but he wasn't going to hope for too much. He pulled up a chair beside Serana and sat with his arm around her until a boy came down to tell them their baths were ready.
Bathed and with a meal of beef, bread, and wine inside him, Blade began to feel more like a human being. He sat on the great chest at the foot of the bed in their room and raised his cup.
«To a free Rentoro.»
Serana smiled and reached over to clink her cup against his then drank. «Now, Blade,» she said, «you are coming to bed.» It was a command, not a question or even a polite request.
Blade stood up. «I thought you'd be fit for nothing but sleep, after this night.»
«Perhaps I once thought so too, but now I find that I don't. Blade, do you remember how much we hoped to some day share a bed without having to deceive the Wizard? Do you think I didn't hope for that as much as you?» She slid off the bed and came toward him, unknotting the sash of her chamber robe as she came. The golden flowered silk slipped to the floor and she reached him wearing nothing but perfume and her golden hair.
Then her perfumed beauty was pressing against Blade, and her lips were on his as if they wanted to suck out his life. He could feel her trembling with desire, feel his own desire rising to match hers, as she led him toward the bed.
Chapter 19
Blade explained the Wizard's secrets and his own campaign plan three times the next day.
The first time he explained it to Haymi Razence and the other six leaders of the rebels against the Wizard in Morina. The second time he explained it to the four leaders of the rebels' strong-arm guards and assassins, who would be sent against the Wizard's spies and agents in the city.
Both times he had to go slowly, since he faced men who could hardly believe what they were hearing. Both times he was interrupted at almost every other sentence by a cry of surprise or some confused question. Both times he gradually saw belief awakening on drawn faces, then hope, then joy. He listened to wild cheering and was pounded on the back until he was sure he'd be black and blue. One of the assassins, a man as tough-looking as any Wolf leader, broke down and sobbed like a child.
Blade wasn't surprised. The Wizard had a peculiar method for dealing with opponents in the larger cities. He did not try to kill them off the moment they appeared. Instead he used the view-balls and his spies to keep watch on them. When they seemed about to become dangerous, he sent in the Wolves. Sometimes he struck only at the guilty men, sometimes at their families or friends as well. Sometimes he would even take a man's wife or child and leave the man himself.
Even when a group of rebels showed no signs of becoming dangerous, the Wizard would sooner or later strike it down. There was no way of predicting when this would happen. It seemed to be guided entirely by the Wizard's whims. In Morina the Wizard struck more often, because of the city's history. The Wizard's enemies there had been virtually destroyed five times in the last forty years.
So every leader Blade spoke to was a man under a sort of suspended death sentence-a sentence the Wizard might impose at any time. None of them could go to bed at night certain they would live to see another dawn. Now Blade had offered them hope.
The third time Blade explained the Wizard's secrets and the campaign against him, he had an audience of only one man. That man, however, was Count Drago Bossir, and he was worth ten ordinary Morinans.
«We must win him over, Blade,» said Serana. «If my brother himself were to come over to our cause, he could hardly do more for it.»
«I will do my best,» replied Blade. «But it seems to me that Count Drago must be half converted already, or he would not have taken the risk of coming here.»
«Do not for one moment let him know you think that,» said Serana urgently. «Then he will be as stubborn as an old mule, just out of pride.»
It seemed to Blade that the count had good reason to be both proud and stubborn-if only because he was still alive at eighty. He'd survived more of the history of the Wizard's rule than anyone else alive in Morina.
He'd been only two when Morina rose in its last great rebellion against the Wizard and the last great battle against the Wolves was fought outside its walls. His father and one uncle died in the battle, another uncle was burned alive, and his mother was carried off to be a plaything for the Wolves. He himself survived only by the Wolves' carelessness.