The building where Blade had three luxurious rooms contained a number of suites which were reserved for high-ranking officers and n.o.bles, either stationed at the palace or visiting it. Blade never met any of the visitors, but he did meet several of the officers. One of them was Curim, and at first Blade suspected Tressana was playing another of her little games: putting Curim and Blade together like two fighting c.o.c.ks in a pit, and taking to her bed the one who came out alive.

If the queen was playing games, Curim had sense enough not to play along blindly. He didn't exactly embrace Blade like a long-lost brother, but he made it clear he wouldn't make the first move against the Englishman.

"I'd hold back even if you hadn't saved my life. I'm not your friend and you're not mine, but why be enemies? We'd just be playing into the hands of a certain party, who gets much pleasure from watching men battle it out." There was no need to mention who that "certain party" was.

It undoubtedly helped that Blade was in the officers' quarters rather than in the queen's bedroom. It also probably helped that the suits of armor and weapons sent over for Blade were not nearly as elaborate as Curim's. They were well made and serviceable, but they didn't have the richness of Curim's. In a land where fighting men showed their rank and wealth by the quality of their fighting gear, that meant Curim was still a good deal higher in Tressana's favor than Blade. As long as this was so, Curim had every reason to stay at peace with Blade. And as long as it would keep his back safe, Blade was just as willing to wear the less elaborate armor.

After a week, Blade was beginning to find life boring, and to wonder what came next. He seemed to be spending most of his time in this Dimension waiting for someone else to tell him what to do. He didn't like waiting around, especially when he had some important work to do.

In order to break the boredom, Blade willingly accepted Curim's invitation to a masked party in one of the open-air pavilions. "Not a big party, you understand," said the guardsman. "Forty, fifty people, everyone masked. That way, everyone can do more of what they want to do." The expression cut Curim's face left no doubt of what he wanted to do. Blade was tempted to ask him what the queen would say about this kind of party, but knew what the answer would be even if the guard captain was feeling friendly enough to tell him. Everyone knew about Tressana's fondness for good company in bed, and most people accepted it, just as the queen accepted it in her subjects.

No doubt Tressana would tell Blade what she wanted when she wanted it, and not before. Once again Blade felt angry at having to wait for someone else to act before he could get to work. At this rate he'd be s.n.a.t.c.hed back to Home Dimension before he even got to the queen's bed. That would leave the Keepers without their spy, Jollya without a weapon against her father, and the Project without any results from this whole mission. No, that wasn't quite right-there was the wire. But that was a pretty small return for the amount of work involved in sending Blade into Dimension X.

Blade decided to forget about the pressure of time and concentrate on having a good time at the party.

The smell of roasting meat drifted through the line of trees from the open-pit hearths on the far side. Blade walked down a gravel path with a wooden plate of meat and cheese in one hand and a leather cup of wine in the other. He'd taken them from pots and barrels everyone else was using, so he wasn't worried about poison.

Couples pa.s.sed hand in hand, and so did men playfully chasing women who weren't trying to run very fast. From beyond the bushes came squeals, sighs, and grunts as other couples entertained themselves in the protecting darkness. It was warm enough to go naked outdoors, and the smoke from the fire was keeping away the insects.

Blade felt like chasing someone himself, but wasn't sure if it would be a good idea. Tressana didn't care about the virtue of the palace women any more than she did about her own, but she might resent a wandering eye in a man she'd brought to the palace for herself.

Blade drained the cup and turned back from the path to the wine barrels, half sunk in a pond to cool them. He wore heavy linen trousers and a sleeveless black leather vest, with a black silk mask that covered his whole face all the way back to the ears. He knew he looked more like a motorcycle gang member than a warrior, but this was party dress for the palace guards.

Another couple approached, the man bare-chested and the woman wearing only a jeweled loin guard and a lot of veiling that threatened to blow aside every time she moved. Blade stepped aside to let them pa.s.s, and nearly stumbled over a woman sitting under a bush, arms clasping her knees.

She was small, hardly more than five feet tall, and Blade wondered if she was even full grown. It was hard to tell, because she wore a silvery-green robe from ankle to neck and a black hood that hid her from the neck up. As she saw Blade standing over her, she looked up. Blade thought he heard her laugh.

"You're the traveling warrior, Blade of England, aren't you?"

Blade checked to see if his mask had slipped. This time the woman definitely laughed. "You'd have to bleach your skin and shrink a hand's breadth to really disguise yourself." Either the hood m.u.f.fled her voice or she had a cold.

She stood up. "Blade. Time for a woman?"

Blade smiled. He appreciated such a direct proposition. He also decided to accept. Caution be d.a.m.ned, and Queen Tressana too! Unless he was losing his virility, he'd be able to give the queen as much as she could hope for even if she summoned him tomorrow morning. Tonight he'd finally do something for himself, without waiting for someone to give him marching orders!

"You're a grown woman, not a girl?"

The body inside the robes stiffened and he heard a hiss of breath, like an indignant snake. "You're going to regret that remark, traveler Blade. I'm as much of a woman as you are a man, if not more."

This, Blade reflected, was quite possible. Finding out for sure would be pleasant. He found he was already mildly aroused by the antic.i.p.ation. The woman's sharp eyes noticed this. She stuck her fingers through the lacing of Blade's trousers, and for a moment he thought she was going to lead him away by his p.e.n.i.s. Then she pulled her fingers out, hooked them over his belt, and led him off into the bushes.

She led him a long way, past couples so busy on the ground that they ignored everything else, to an isolated pavilion by a large pond. The pavilion had a gra.s.s floor surrounded by a low stone wall. Blade was surprised to see that the roof and its supporting pillars were of iron-another display of wealth by some long-dead king of Jaghd.

The moment they entered the pavilion, the woman let go of Blade and started undoing the bra.s.s brooch that held her robe together at the throat. The brooch thudded to the gra.s.s, and with a quick shrug of her shoulders she made the robe rustle softly down into a heap at her feet. Blade stared. In spite of the darkness he could see she was wearing white trousers with an open crotch that left her whole pubic area bare. The pale triangle of hair was framed by another triangle of embroidery.

She came toward him, without removing her hood. Blade wondered if her face and legs were scarred or deformed. Certainly there was nothing wrong with what he could see. Her arms and shoulders were tanned and rounded out with firm muscles. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were small but nearly perfect, and her nipples had already risen.

Blade was still pulling off his pants when the, woman reached him. She knelt before him, adjusted her hood to clear her mouth, then took his erection between her lips and went to work with determination and skill. Blade gasped and tried to reach down to her, but she gracefully ducked her head without letting go of him. He gave up trying to touch her and concentrated on fighting for control. Somehow he knew that he had to hold on as long as he could, and not just for his own pleasure in prolonging the delicious agony. He had the distinct feeling that he was being tested, and he was going to pa.s.s the test or collapse trying.

Before long the woman realized she wasn't going to break Blade with her mouth alone. She began running slim, skilled fingers up and down the insides of his thighs and into every other place she could reach. Blade's gasps turned to groans of agony, but he held on. The woman was beginning to fight for breath herself when Blade finally gave up the struggle. She didn't try to swallow the hot jetting, but wiped her mouth on her hood and squatted silently until Blade had spent himself completely.

As Blade finished, something went rrrrip beside him. He was instantly alert, in spite of the warm fog of contentment filling his mind and body, and he looked down. The right leg of the woman's snug white trousers was split from knee to crotch. She was pressing her thighs together, trying to conceal the suddenly exposed skin. Blade couldn't see what she was ashamed of. Her white skin looked smooth, clean, and warm. He wanted to touch it, and found his erection beginning to return at the thought.

Then the moon came out from behind a cloud, and silvery light flooded the pavilion. Blade got a good view of the woman's bare thigh. A dark line ran down it and across the knee-a line that looked remarkably like a scar.

Suddenly a chain of thoughts linked up in Blade's mind, like a string of firecrackers going off. The woman was small and blonde, with a scar on her right knee.

Tressana.

It could hardly be anybody else. Her Grace, the Queen of Jaghd, was taking advantage of the masked dinner party to test Blade. Blade wondered if he'd pa.s.sed the first part of the test. He was also determined to turn the tables and do a little testing of his own, now that he knew the woman he was dealing with.

Before Tressana could move, Blade was picking her up. She was less than half his weight, so he could pick her up as easily as a child. In fact he managed to hold her with one arm while with the other hand he tore at her trousers until she was naked from her neck down to her knees. The effect was strange and incredibly erotic. Blade found that he was completely ready, and decided not to wait any longer. After all, he was manhandling a queen, and if he didn't keep her too busy moaning to call for help things might become too lively for comfort.

He thrust into her, supporting her with one hand under her tight b.u.t.tocks and the other across her back. She gasped at the first penetration, stiffened, then started heaving herself back and forth so furiously that Blade nearly dropped her. At last he pulled her hard against him, her lips nuzzling his ribs, while she twisted and jerked her hips without moving the rest of her body.

Blade found it easy to outlast Tressana, although it was hard to keep her from shrieking out loud when her release came. He managed to keep one hand over her mouth until her spasm pa.s.sed, and then she went so limp he was afraid he'd suffocated her. The limpness lasted only until she realized that Blade was still inside her and still good for more. Then she threw her arms around his shoulders so fiercely that she drove all the breath out of him. For a woman of her size, Tressana was incredibly strong. She began to move again, and Blade was willing to let her do all the work she could. Making love in this position for long was a strain even for someone of his size and strength. Also, he was beginning to have to think about controlling himself.

Blade didn't lose control until Tressana had writhed and twisted twice more. By then they were both so slippery with sweat that Blade had trouble holding the queen, and she was holding on only by digging her fingernails into his skin. He didn't even feel the pain. He felt nothing except the woman in his arms and himself deep inside her, until his own release came like an explosion.

Blade stayed on his feet even after that, but he could no longer hold Tressana. He half-lowered, half-dropped her to the ground. Her knees buckled so that she would have fallen if he hadn't put his arms around her and held her against him.

Then she started shaking violently. Blade wondered if it was cold, fear, or anger. He hoped it wasn't anger, even though he knew he could take Tressana and a good many Jaghdi with him if the worst happened. Then he heard a small snort, after that a giggle, and realized that Tressana was fighting desperately to control her laughter.

Blade decided to help her. He gripped the bottom of the hood with both hands and ripped. The black cloth came apart and Tressana's blue eyes blazed out at him. Her face shone with sweat and her hair was damp and tangled as if she'd been using it for a mop, but those eyes held him. Then she grinned, the grin turned into another giggle, and the giggle turned into wild laughter. Before she could be overheard, Tressana s.n.a.t.c.hed the torn hood from Blade and stuffed it into her mouth to m.u.f.fle the laughter. Then she collapsed onto the gra.s.s and lay there writhing and rolling back and forth, completely out of control as she laughed herself weak over the success of her own joke.

Blade would have felt more like joining in the laughter if he hadn't heard the note of hysteria in it. He hoped it was just the aftermath of their lovemaking that was unbalancing her, not anything more serious. As the laughter died away, he knelt beside her and started sponging the sweat off her body with her trousers.

Suddenly she sat up and kissed him on the nose. "What was it that told you who I was, Blade?"

"I saw the scar on your knee," he explained.

"There hasn't been anyone telling you about what I like in bed, has there?"

"No. No one talks about it, that I've heard."

"And they won't, if they value their necks." The edge in Tressana's voice was as sudden as a sword being drawn. She sat up and stretched her arms over her head, then stood up and finished wiping herself off.

"Well, Blade," she said when she was done. "You've been tested, as I'm sure you know." Blade was silent. She frowned. "You don't want to know if you pa.s.sed the test?"

Blade shrugged. "If I have, you'll tell me. If I haven't, you'll kill me. You'll do both in your own good time. Asking you won't change that. It would simply look as if I hoped for favor. I won't do that." He smiled. "You're fond enough of having men eating out of your hand as it is."

She understood the figure of speech and didn't seem to like it. For a moment Blade wondered if he shouldn't drop into fighting stance. Even a woman half his weight could do an embarra.s.sing amount of damage if she took him by surprise. Then she laughed.

"Oh, Blade, I think you've just invented another test for yourself and pa.s.sed it as you did the first one. You don't beg. I don't suppose you know how, in fact?"

Blade shook his head. "I don't. Part of it is simple pride. The rest is knowing that most of the things you have to beg for aren't worth having in the first place."

That silenced Tressana for longer than Blade had expected. When she spoke again, her voice was shaky. "Perhaps. And perhaps I am too fond of having men at my feet." She giggled. "Of course, I really prefer them in a few other places." She grabbed Blade's right hand and pressed it against those "other places." Then she knelt down and pressed herself against him so that his limp p.e.n.i.s dangled between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. When she felt that it was going to stay limp, she frowned and stood up.

"Nothing, Blade?"

He chose to make a joke of it. "Even if I did come from Elstan, I would not be made of iron."

She smiled. "Very well. I'll forgive you. Sometimes."

Blade didn't bother asking what would happen the other times. He suspected he could guess. He also knew he'd done a good enough night's work. He was or soon would be where he could start doing what the Keepers and Jollya expected of him. The job might be dangerous, but he could be sure that he wouldn't be bored while he was doing it. That was more than you could say for nine out of ten spying jobs.

Chapter 12.

Like other royal favorites before him, Blade never actually moved into Queen Tressana's ballroom-sized bedchamber. In fact, it was several more days before he even moved into her own building. Nonetheless, by noon of the day after the party half the people he met seemed to know of his new status. He doubted if anyone knew the details. Tressana would be more ruthless than usual in guarding the secret of how she had disguised herself and how Blade had discovered her ident.i.ty. But everyone seemed to have the general picture. Blade felt several pairs of eyes following him every time he went for a walk.

Apart from the looks and a few cautious words of praise, no one made a fuss over Blade's new status. He understood why. Royal favorites came and royal favorites went, and sometimes men who'd pa.s.sed their first test displeased Tressana so quickly that they were never moved close to her at all. Many people around Blade feared Tressana's displeasure if they hailed him too enthusiastically too soon.

Those who didn't fear Tressana undoubtedly feared Curim. Curim's looks alone would have let Blade know he was in Tressana's favor even if n.o.body else had done or said a thing. The captain of the Men's Guard didn't wave a sword and shout threats against Blade's life, limb, and manhood. He didn't have to. He simply looked through Blade as if he were part of the air and just as invisible. Sometimes he glared when he thought Blade wasn't looking. He no longer tried to pretend that he and Blade were at least united in not wanting to be Tressana's victims. He was still a victim, while Blade was Tressana's new favorite. They had nothing in common any more.

Blade was mildly annoyed with Tressana for not moving him closer to her as soon as she'd made up her mind, instead of leaving him in the same building with Curim. It seemed thoughtless, although he couldn't see that it put him in any great danger. By missing a few meals Blade managed to avoid eating food that Curim might have been able to get at with poison. This also gave him a lean and hungry look, which Tressana said she liked. As for any open moves, Blade intended to meet any challenge by chopping Curim to bits with the other man's own steel sword.

He was more worried for Jollya. It was even more likely now that she was in danger, if Curim thought he could hurt Blade by striking at her. He might even strike at her to hurt the queen, if he hated Tressana enough not to care anymore what happened to him. Blade was careful to be distant and even mildly hostile toward Jollya whenever they met, giving the general impression that they'd quarreled while he was Sikkurad's guest. She seemed to understand and began to behave as if she in turn had a grudge against Blade for taking Lorma.

Blade also took the precaution of warning the queen one night about what Curim might do to Jollya. He was as casual as possible about it, since his refusal to ask her favors still interested Tressana. He also didn't want to arouse her suspicions.

He wasn't sure he was casual enough. Tressana rolled over in bed and ran her fingers down Blade's torso to his groin. "Did Jollya spread her legs for you in her father's house, Blade?" She held his p.e.n.i.s gently but firmly.

Blade shook his head. "I never asked, and neither did she. I don't know why, and now it certainly doesn't matter. What does matter is that if Curim does anything against Jollya, you may have to find new captains for both the Men's and Women's Guards. That might leave you unprotected, and the people around you in danger." He could have added that it would also risk chaos in her army on the verge of a major war, but he wasn't going to show that he knew anything about the war until the queen told him herself.

Tressana laughed. "I love it when you pretend to be as cautious as Sikkurad of the Animals. It's one of your best jokes." She squeezed his p.e.n.i.s, then started stroking it in a friendlier way.

Three days later Tressana sent Blade a steel sword of his own and an escort to bring him to her. Again the escort was commanded by Efroin of the Red Band. Along with the sword he brought a gilded helmet and a suit of armor with a chain-mail loin guard for Blade. Efroin laughed when he saw Blade pulling on the loin guard. "Is yours a royal treasure now?"

"Ask Tressana."

"Thank you, I'd rather die in battle. It's quicker and cleaner. I suspect yours is a royal treasure now, and Tressana always takes good care of the royal treasures."

"I'm not going to complain."

"Not if you're wise." Efroin slapped Blade on one leather-armored shoulder. "Blade, don't throw yourself away on Tressana. You're a fighting man, and I'd like to have you beside me sometime. Don't lose your temper when Tressana loses interest."

"Like Curim?"

"I wasn't going to put it that way, but-yes. He's put himself out of the running for anything except a weighted sack into the Adrim some night. Not that he'll be much of a loss. You would be."

"Thank you."

Blade was glad to have Efroin's praise. The Red Band commander seemed like a levelheaded, honest soldier. He'd be a good friend.

Tressana surprised Blade that night by saying very much the same thing, after she'd summoned him to her bedchamber. She'd greeted him sweaty and smelling of rolghas after a visit to the stables, but eager as ever. They made love twice before Blade was able to suggest a bath. They bathed together in a sunken marble tub almost large enough to be called a swimming pool.

"I'd better not ask too much of you," she said once they were clean. She lay back on the edge of the tub and reached out to Blade, who was still in the water.

"All I can give is yours," he said politely.

"I know, I know," she said. "I don't mean that." She tugged at his hair vigorously enough to hurt. "I mean, I've seen you use other weapons besides the one you use on me. You're good. You're too good a fighting man not to be put to work."

"I could fight against the barbarians," he said cautiously. He knew he might be on the edge of a big step forward, getting the information he wanted and gaining more freedom of movement. Eagerness could still spoil everything.

"Hardly that, Blade. They are not really a problem anymore. Certainly they're not worthy opponents for you. They have no notions of honor, for one thing, and you do. Besides, I'm not going to let you get that far from my bed yet, and I can't go west myself."

Before Blade could think of a tactful way of asking why, she slid back into the water. "Pick me up and let's try it here," she commanded. "That way you won't have to use up strength just holding me."

For that sort of thing Blade always had plenty of strength, even though he was no longer fresh out of Oxford. He sometimes wondered what he would have been able to do then with all the opportunities he had now.

Tressana was no weakling, either, and she used her strength and endurance in other places than the bedchamber. She sometimes spent eight hours holding audiences and reading pet.i.tions, then inspected soldiers, visited the stables, attended a state banquet that went on until after midnight, and came home to make love. Tressana was a working monarch, one of the most demanding jobs in any Dimension, and Blade respected her for it.

Blade usually went with the queen when she inspected the soldiers. There seemed to be more of them around every day, with rolghas, draft animals, wagons, and all the other gear for an army. The harnessmakers, armorers, and the fietchers-arrowmakers-seemed to be working all day and half the night. Both the Men's and the Women's Guards had many new recruits, and both Jollya and Curim were too busy training them to have much time for Blade.

This was just as well. The busier Curim was, the safer everyone else was, and Blade had no information yet for Jollya. The war was coming soon and Tressana planned to use him in it, but until she raised the subject anything he said would look too much like prying. In a way he was almost back in the same situation he thought he'd left, waiting for someone else to make the first move. He did have to admit that Tressana's bed was a more comfortable place to wait than the places where he'd waited before.

It was nearly midnight, and one of Jaghd's rare summer rains was falling outside as Blade and Tressana dismounted at the door of a building Blade had never seen before. That didn't prove much, of course. He doubted if he'd seen more than half of the seventy-odd buildings on the palace grounds. But he found himself exceptionally alert as Tressana led him past guards almost too sleepy to present arms to their queen.

He called her attention to this, wanting to break the silence and try to judge her mood from her reply. She smiled. "Oh, it won't matter much longer. They'll learn to stay awake, from harder teachers than I could ever be."

Blade doubted that the Elstani could come up with anything worse than the tortures Tressana could order when the mood was on her, and he was sure that she would see to it that the sleepy guards were brutally awakened. But he nodded politely and followed her into the building. She seemed to be excited herself, as if she were antic.i.p.ating something more than enthusiastic lovemaking.

Blade followed the queen to the other side of the building, through a narrow door, and down a winding flight of stairs. After a few yards the stairs were cut out of the living rock, not even whitewashed. Tressana looked exotic and out of place here. She wore flared silk trousers, jeweled boots, a snug blue bodice that left her slim waist bare, a purple turban with an ornament of diamonds, and the Queen's Jewels of Jaghd.

These were Elstani jewels, the color of rubies but harder, set in a necklace of heavy gold links, wide bracelets, and two ma.s.sive earrings. Blade knew how heavy the gold was. Once Tressana made love to him wearing nothing but the Queen's Jewels, and it was three days before the bruises from the bracelets and necklace healed.

At the bottom of the stairs was a whitewashed room. On its far wall was a large map, and under it a wooden table and a chest. Blade looked at the map, and saw that it showed all the known lands of this Dimension. Then he saw a thick red line running from Jaghd to Elstan through the forest of Binaark. A second line ran up the Adrim, but Blade didn't pay much attention to that. He knew where he was now. This was Tressana's War Room.

"So it's war against Elstan," he said mildly. "Forgive me for sounding like an idiot, but how are you getting through the forest of Binaark?" If she was willing to bring him here, she'd hardly hold back any secrets, including possibly the one he wanted to know. Blade was taut with antic.i.p.ation by now, but hoped he was concealing it better than the queen.

Tressana explained her war plans as she moved about the room, unwinding her turban, taking off her bracelets and necklace, finally undoing her bodice and sitting on the table bare to the waist. Her nipples were taut, but Blade wasn't sure if this was s.e.xual excitement or the chill of the underground room.

The Jaghdi would strike at Elstan with two armies. One would march through the forest of Binaark, under the protection of amulets filled with the synthetic scent which would defeat the killer plants. That army would be mostly cavalry, with only enough men on foot to clear trails and protect the camps. The second army would sail up the Adrim, just as the Elstani would expect. That army would be mostly infantry.

"The Keepers will send their guards, and the cities and towns will send their watchmen," Tressana said. "That will keep any rebellions behind me from growing strong."

"Will these men fight?" asked Blade.

"Oh, well enough. But they won't have much to do. The rolgha riders will do most of the work."