[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

too fast, or jammed with ice which flowed down from the river's source in the
mountains. An army coming up the Adrim would find the Elstani ready for it.
After a month or two it would be completely cut off from its homeland, trapped
by the water level, the currents or the ice. The army would have no supply
source and the Elstani would only have to hold out for that month and a little
longer, then round up the starving survivors of Jaghd's fighting men. The fact
that the Jaghdi were all cavalry and that their rolghas ate ten or fifteen
Page 30
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
pounds of meat a day made matters even worse.
As for marching through the forest of Binaark no one had ever led an army
through it. The killer plants were dangerous enough to a man on foot, where a
single slip could kill him. But an army of men, even though they were armed,
equipped, and trained until they had at least a fighting chance against the
killer plants, could never make it through the forest. Any army would need
baggage and draft animals, as well as untrained servants, teamsters, and
laborers. A Jaghdi army would need thousands of rolghas.
There was no way of getting all these vulnerable targets past the killer
plants. Sending an army into the forest of Binaark would make the Charge of
the Light Brigade look sensible. A third of the army would die among the
killer plants, a third would die of starvation and disease, and the Elstani
would hit the survivors over the head as they staggered out of the forest.
The idea was ridiculous. There was no other word for it.
Sikkurad finally called on Blade late one hot afternoon, when Blade had just
finished running two miles. The sweat was pouring off him but he knew he had
all his strength back now.
"Lord Blade, I would speak with you;" said the Keeper. "In my library."
"I would like to bathe before I "
"Your life may hang on what I have to tell you." Sikkurad's voice was low, so
that only Blade could hear him, and his face was even paler than usual. Jollya
had a tan any fashion model would have envied, but her father remained as pale
as a mushroom no matter how much he rode in the sun.
The Keeper's words were so melodramatic that Blade would have laughed if it
hadn't been for the man's tone and expression. "Something to do with the
queen?"
"Yes."
Blade rose and followed Sikkurad into the library. Inside he sat down on a
leather-covered bench,
while the Keeper pulled a heavily-padded inner door into place behind the main
one.
"No one can hear us now. I trust my guards in most things, but I will not
trust even them in this matter."
"Very wise."
Sikkurad frowned. "Blade, do you think the queen wants you in her bed?"
Blade had to assume that this pointless question was meant seriously, but
found it hard not to laugh.
"I'd wager my manhood on it."
"You may be wagering your life."
"Perhaps. But I've wagered it before without losing it."
"Not against Tressana of Jaghd. For a woman she is something terrible. She
frightens even Keepers who have fought in war." Sikkurad pulled at his hair in
a distracted manner.
This time Blade had to fight down anger. If he had to sit here until Sikkurad
got his nerves under control and started making sense, they'd be here all
night. He stood up.
"Sikkurad, do you remember what I said in the prison? I do not like long talks
that go nowhere. You seem to want to tell me something of great importance
about Queen Tressana. Something where my life may even be at stake. But so far
you have told me nothing. Now tell me quickly, or I am going to go and take my
bath."
"You would not get past my guards."
Blake tried to bluff. "Perhaps not, unless I took you a prisoner."
Sikkurad swallowed but shook his head. "That would not save you or stop them,
even if I died. And if I died, how would you learn what I am about to tell
you? Without learning it, how could you help our people? Blade, I think you
will not let a chance to do much good pass simply because you do not like the
Page 31
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
way I talk. You are skilled in war, but you will work for peace as well."
Blade sat down, smiling. He'd expected his bluff to fail, but not quite so
thoroughly. Sikkurad's courage might be well hidden under all the roundabout
talk, but it was definitely there. So was an exceptionally keen eye for other
men's strengths and weaknesses. Blade would have been happy to see
Sikkurad's words "you are skilled in war, but you will work for peace
as well" carved on his tombstone, in this or any other Dimension. He
decided to listen to the man no matter how long-winded he was.
"I will work for peace when I can. But right now it seems that Jaghd is
preparing for war against
Elstan."
Sikkurad started. "You know? Who told you?"
Blade explained how he'd listened to the rumors, and gradually the Keeper
relaxed. Then he sighed, and began talking in short, jerky sentences. "You're
right. Tressana's war is coming. How soon, we do not know. Not too soon,
because she has asked you to the palace. It will need time, time for her to
learn your ways, deal with Curim, have her guards accept you. Jollya would be
happy to see you leading the men."
"No doubt," Blade murmured politely. This would all make sense if he listened
long enough.
"We must let you go. Now. So you must learn all you need to know here, today.
We don't have the
rest of the month. Tressana will be suspicious if we take it." "We?" Sikkurad
charged on as if he were deaf. "You must learn how Tressana will deal with
Elstan. Everything depends on that. If she will join their strength with ours,
well and good. If not, something must be done."
"About what?"
"Tressana's war, of course."
"Why the hurry?" It began to sound as if Blade was to spy on the queen. If
that was so he wasn't going to refuse completely, but he'd be damned if he'd
let Sikkurad hustle him! Trying to do intelligence work in a hurry was usually
unsuccessful and sometimes disastrous. "The Adrim won't be navigable again for
months, and if you're going through the mountains "
"Oh, we won't be doing either. We're going through the forest of Binaark. "
Blade ran the incredible words back and forth through his mind several times.
After a moment he decided to believe in the simplest explanation: Sikkurad had
said it and meant it.
"How?"
Sikkurad pulled down a scroll from a pigeonhole in one of the cabinets,
unrolled it on his desk, weighted down both ends, and motioned Blade to join
him. Blade saw that the scroll was a map. Then
Sikkurad began to speak. After listening for a few minutes, Blade understood a
good deal more about the history of this Dimension. He even understood how the
army of Jaghd was planning to march through the forest of Binaark.
As Blade suspected, this Dimension had once been devastated by war. Nuclear
weapons, chemicals, and bacteria had all been used freely, and not just once
but several times over the course of a century. In
Jaghd this was called the Time of the Burning. In Elstan it was called the
Time of the Dead. Among the barbarian tribes to the west of Jaghd it was
called the Time when the Gods Slept.
"No doubt there are other lands where it is called other things," said
Sikkurad. "The world before the
Burning was much larger than it is now. But we know nothing of those lands and
the men who may have survived elsewhere. Indeed, until Tressana came to rule [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]