The time would surely come. He'd want to bed her, if only to humiliate her. He'd be lost in rut then, and she would still be clear and cool in her mind and body. She'd be able to pick her moment, then strike to avenge her own honor and that of her city.

Perhaps she could kill that piece of dung Blade outright.

If she could do that, she wouldn't care what they did to her afterward. She could certainly take his eyes or his manhood or perhaps both. After that she might have the chance to end her own life.

She'd thought sometimes of doing that in the prison. She'd even had opportunities. Now she knew that nothing would make her turn against herself before she tried to strike at Blade. Now she knew she might not die dishonored and degraded but in a way worthy of Peython's daughter and a warrior of Kaldak. She could almost feel grateful to Blade, that his death or mutilation would give her back her own honor.

Chapter 18.

Rehna fell asleep soon after reaching her climax. Blade waited until her even breathing told him she was dead to the world, then cautiously shifted his position to look at Kareena. She lay on her pallet by the window, her knees drawn almost up to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and her hair streaming across the pillow. Sometimes she whimpered or twitched in the grip of nightmares. She'd kicked off the blankets and the moonlight silvered her body, giving it back some of the beauty she'd lost during her captivity.

You'll have it all back, Kareena. All of it, or you'll be past suffering. He wished he could have spared her the final degradation of being here while he made love to Rehna, but Feragga had been insistent that Blade's stud service begin on schedule. The thought made him turn back to Rehna.

Now there was a smile on her small face. Blade was glad he'd been able to make her the first woman he took to his bed "officially." He hoped she would conceive by him, and not just because he knew that would make her even happier. Carrying his child would also help protect her from Feragga's or Nungor's anger after his escape.

Meanwhile, there were a few other things he could do to protect her. Quietly he sought her carotid artery and applied pressure with his thumbs. In a few moments Rehna was not just asleep but unconscious. Blade made sure she was still breathing, then slipped out of bed and started pulling on his clothes. At intervals he spared a look for Kareena. She was still asleep, but now she'd stretched out on her back, one hand under her head and the other out of sight under the pillow.

At last Blade was fully dressed and armed. He was wearing the loinguard once again, the Seekers having returned it to him that morning after determining it had no secret powers. The two maps of Kaldak were snugly hidden away in different pockets. He walked over to the head of Kareena's pallet, bent down, and whispered.

"Kareena, wake up. We're going to escape."

Only Blade's quick reflexes saved him from death or at least from losing an eye. Kareena's hand came out from under the pillow like a striking rattlesnake, and there was a long sharp piece of wire in it. The end of the wire struck where Blade's throat would have been if he hadn't already been moving. She struck again, opening a gash in his forehead just above his left eye, then he chopped down on her wrist so hard that her fingers went limp and the wire dropped to the floor.

"Kareena, stop it! We're escaping, I said!" He'd half-expected this, but nothing had prepared him for the sheer ugliness of Kareena's expression. She looked like a madwoman, and the nails of her usable hand clawed at his face. He felt more blood flow, saw her open her mouth to scream, and knew there was only one thing to do. He clamped one hand over her mouth, gritted his teeth as she bit it to the bone, then applied the same pressure he'd used on Rehna. After an impossibly long time she went limp and those mad eyes closed.

Kareena's being a dead weight was going to slow him down at a time when every moment counted, but the idea of leaving her behind never occurred to Blade. They were both going to be out of Doimar tonight, either dead or alive. Blade picked up Rehna's clothing and pulled it onto Kareena as well as he could. It was a poor fit, since Kareena was a good deal taller than the Seeker. It still made Kareena look enough like a Seeker to fool anyone who didn't look too closely or saw her in poor light. Since the halls of Feragga's tower were hardly lit at night and the guards were usually half-asleep, Blade thought there was a chance.

It was the work of a minute to unlock Kareena's leg-iron. He spent another minute tearing Kareena's blankets into strips and tying Rehna hand and foot. Then he lifted Kareena over one shoulder, her legs down his back and her hair falling over her face. With most of her bruises hidden, she looked rather like a Seeker who'd drunk too much while Blade was entertaining her. In spite of being half-starved, she was also heavy enough to make Blade glad he'd already hidden most of his equipment in the Hovercraft.

Kareena's disguise got her and Blade past the first four sets of guards and safely out of Feragga's tower. They were halfway to the vehicle building when two more guards loomed out of the darkness. Blade recognized them as two of Nungor's picked men, and probably briefed by their suspicious chief. He decided that against these two a surprise offense was the best defense.

"Good evening, men," he said cheerfully, striding up to them. "I'm trying to get this lady home without anyone being the wiser. If you fellows will help me and keep quiet about it, you'll be a good deal richer."

One of the men laughed coa.r.s.ely. "Poking her out of her proper turn, eh? All right. It's no harm done to us, whatever Feragga may say." He looked at her robe. "A Seeker, eh? If she lives in the Seekers' tower we've a good walk ahead of us. Let me take a turn carrying her."

"Thank you." Blade handed Kareena to the first guard, while the second turned his back to keep watch. The moment the first guard's hands were filled with Kareena, Blade drew his sword and slashed the second guard across the back of the neck. He'd kept the edge razor-sharp and the steel went through flesh and spine as if it were straw. The guard was dead before he could even start to fall.

The guard holding Kareena was frozen with surprise for a decisive second. Blade wheeled on one foot and kicked the man in the groin with the other. He dropped Kareena to the rocky ground and doubled up, his face a death-mask and both hands clutching his ruined manhood. He made no effort to defend himself as Blade chopped him across the throat with the edge of one hand. He only fell down and lay on his side, gasping and choking until his breath rattled to a stop and the life went out of him.

Blade quickly checked Kareena for injuries. She was unhurt, except for a few new cuts, and still unconscious, but her Seeker's robe was too badly ripped to be much of a disguise any more. However, there were replacements ready to hand. Blade dragged both guards into the shelter of a ruined building and started stripping them.

When he lifted Kareena again, she was wearing the first guard's clothing. He himself was carrying a laser rifle and two grenades as well as a second sword. He still wasn't in a position to fight his way through serious opposition, entirely apart from the danger of waking the whole city. He was no longer largely at the mercy of Kareena's disguise and his own ability to lie.

Blade ducked and dodged through the streets of Doimar to the vehicle building. When it finally came in sight, he stopped and felt like cursing. At the entrance to one of the ramps from the vehicle rooms, four guards sat around a small fire. Four guards, where normally there was only one sentry walking back and forth.

Maybe it was Nungor's suspicions, maybe it was just a precaution now that war was so close. Either way it was bad news for Blade. He wasn't going to be able to bluff his way through four guards. If anything went wrong it would be almost impossible to deal with all of them before either he or Kareena got badly hurt.

Fortunately there was a simpler method of dealing with the guards. Blade put Kareena down, unslung the rifle, put a fresh power cell into it, then lay down in the shadow of a building. The moment all four guards were properly grouped, he opened fire. His first shot took the leader in the face and he fell sideways into the fire with his mouth still open. The fire's going out made the other guards harder to see, but not that much harder to hit. Laser weapons light up their own targets. Blade killed all three before any of them could give the alarm, although he had to use three shots to do away with the last man. Then he s.n.a.t.c.hed up Kareena, sprinted across the open ground, and plunged down the ramp.

Halfway down the ramp Blade felt Kareena starting to wriggle. Without breaking stride he whispered savagely, "Keep still, you crazy b.i.t.c.h! We're halfway done already! If you b.u.g.g.e.r things up now-!" She understood the tone if not the words and went limp again. She stayed that way until Blade reached his chosen Hovercraft. As he laid her down in one of the two couches in front of the control panel, she opened her eyes.

For the moment Blade had no time for her. He darted through the interior of the Hovercraft, inspecting his cached supplies. The bottled water and emergency rations were still there, although in a pinch he'd have been prepared to leave without them and take his chances on living off the land. The crate of hand grenades and the extra power cells were another matter. Without the first they might not be able to fight their way clear of Doimar, and without the second they certainly couldn't hope to reach Kaldakan territory.

Everything was in place. Blade brought the grenades forward and put the open crate on the floor between the two control couches. As he straightened up, he felt Kareena's eyes on him. For the first time in months, he was able to meet them.

After a moment she licked her lips. "Blade-are those men back there-dead?"

He snorted. "If they aren't, it's not my fault."

"You-killed them?"

"You don't tickle people with a laser rifle!"

She shook her head as if stinging insects were swarming around her face and blinked. "Then-we are escaping?"

"Of course." Blade resisted the temptation to add, "And we'd have been on our way long before this if you hadn't made me put you to sleep!" He had a fairly good idea of what she'd been through, and more harsh words were the last thing she needed now. Instead he held out a grenade to her. "You know how to use these?"

"Yes. Pull the ring on top, then throw it."

"Yes. Or hold it against yourself, if you're about to be captured. That way you'll die quickly and maybe take a few Doimari with you as well." He pulled out one of the maps of Kaldak and handed it to Kareena. "Take this, too, in case we get separated. It's a map showing all the rooms full of Oltec under Kaldak."

Kareena stared. "Thank you, Blade-I think. I'm beginning to believe this isn't a dream." She squeezed her eyes shut, obviously fighting back tears. He patted her hand, saw her flinch, and decided not to touch her again. It might be years before a man's touch didn't repel her, and if so this would be partly his fault.

However, feeling guilty never won any battles and might lose this one. Their escape was no longer a dream, but it might easily turn into a nightmare if he didn't get the Hovercraft moving soon.

Blade took several deep breaths, then sent his hands dancing over the controls without bothering to turn on the cabin lights. He'd memorized all the essential controls until he could use them in the dark. The motor started, then the fans whined into life. The Hovercraft started to shudder, then Blade fed more power to the fans at the same time as he cut in the propeller. In a single smooth movement the Hovercraft rose from the concrete and slid forward into the aisle.

Blade immediately learned that he wasn't as calm as he'd thought. He nearly ran the Hovercraft into an armored personnel carrier across the aisle before he could get it turned around. Slow and steady, Blade, slow and steady, he told himself. This isn't the place to use the Hovercraft's speed. He knew that most of his unusual nervousness came from the woman sitting beside him. He also knew that nervousness would do her no good at all. He took more deep breaths.

Then the Hovercraft was heading straight down the aisle. They pa.s.sed through the doorway into the next room and down its aisle, until the ramp to the surface appeared ahead. Blade gave the propeller more power as they hit the ramp. Then five more guards appeared at the top of the ramp, two of them with their lasers already raised.

"Down, Kareena!" Blade roared. He flung the Hovercraft up the ramp straight at the guards, wishing he had a machine gun mounted in the bow. He needn't have worried. The sight of the Hovercraft charging them was enough to defeat the guards. They scattered without firing, although not before one pulled the pin out of a grenade and dropped it on the concrete. It rolled down the ramp and went off abreast of the Hovercraft. The machine leaped and the roof of the cabin struck the roof of the vehicle building so violently that the top hatch was torn away.

Blade fought the machine back under control as the roar of the wind and the whine of the propeller and fans filled the cabin. Then he saw Kareena pulling herself painfully up to the open hatch with one hand, holding the grenade in the other. In the best war-movie tradition she pulled the pin with her teeth, then pitched the grenade into the middle of the fleeing guards. As the explosion cut them down she practically fell back into the cabin, her face pale but her teeth bared in a positively devilish grin.

"That was a foolish thing to do," said Blade. He would have said something stronger, but he needed all his concentration to steer the Hovercraft past the mangled remains of the guards. If a large piece got caught in the lift fans-!

"You wouldn't think so, if you'd been stinking and hurt down where I was as long as I was," she said sharply. "And I won't take any more orders from you. You can't knock me out again, either."

"Then what are you going to do, Kareena?" The last of the guards' remains was behind them now, but they were still a good distance from the open streets, let alone the open countryside.

She laughed grimly. "I won't kill you. I promise you that. Or at least I won't kill you until you've helped me kill at least a few more Doimari."

"All right," said Blade. He steered for a moment with one hand, while handing her the laser rifle with the other. "Just don't shoot off our own propeller. I don't particularly want to get killed at all, but I'd rather be killed by you than by the Doimari!"

She laughed again. At least they seemed to agree on something. Blade concentrated on getting the Hovercraft onto a main street. The moment he found one leading the right way, he gave the Hovercraft almost full power. The staring faces of the few people abroad at night turned into white blurs. Gravel rattled like shotgun blasts on the hull and once Blade heard the whipcrack of a laser. The fans and propeller still whined as steadily as if they were fresh from the factory.

The Hovercraft was doing at least sixty miles an hour when it hit the Loga River to the south of Doimar. It went halfway across before Blade got it under control, but that was an advantage. Now they were out of rifleshot from the city, and he doubted if there were any mortars or waldoes alerted yet. He straightened the Hovercraft out and accelerated again, ignoring the cloud of spray which nearly blocked the view ahead. Out here on the open river they had plenty of room.

The Hovercraft was. .h.i.tting nearly seventy miles an hour when the last lights of Doimar disappeared in the darkness behind it. Blade slowed down to take his bearings, then absent-mindedly bent over to kiss Kareena. Instantly her eyes flared open and her hands turned into claws. Blade suspected that even now he'd lose an eye if he touched her. "Get some sleep, Kareena," he said roughly, then turned back to the controls.

He didn't blame her for looking at him that way, and he wondered why he cared so much that she did. Nonetheless he knew that if the light didn't come back into her eyes before he left this Dimension he would feel his victory was incomplete.

Blade, you are getting much too soft in the heart or the head or both for this kind of work.

Lord Leighton would tell him that. Even J might do the same. But neither of them would ever have to meet Kareena's haunted eyes.

Chapter 19.

Blade kept the Hovercraft on the river until dawn, following the route he'd planned after looking at the Doimari maps of the Land. The shortest route home to Kaldak lay through rough country. The Hovercraft might not be able to get through at all, and it would certainly be slowed down so much that the Doimari pursuers might catch up.

So Blade was taking the long way home, down the Loga River which flowed past Doimar to Lake Mison, across the lake, and then over the plains to the south of the lake into Kaldakan territory. As the crow flies, it was three times as long as the other route, but the Hovercraft wasn't a crow. On the water or on the plains Blade could use its speed freely.

There were still dangers, of course. If the Hovercraft broke down or ran out of power, Blade and Kareena would be a long way from home. Before they could walk back to Kaldak, the war might be over and Kaldak no more than a ma.s.s of smoking ruins.

A second danger on this route was the Tribes. Doimar had no settlements more than fifty miles downriver, and no city at all claimed the sh.o.r.es of Lake Mison. The Tribes roamed there freely, fishing, hunting, and fighting with each other. They sometimes respected the power of the cities' armies enough to leave their citizens alone, and sometimes killed them on sight. Blade hoped they could avoid the Tribes entirely. He and Kareena would be around Lake Mison for only a day or two, so their chances would be good.

Blade sent the Hovercraft racing down the Loga with an easy mind. Beside him Kareena gradually fell asleep in her couch, while the sky to the east turned gray with the coming dawn.

By the time it was full daylight, they'd reached the mouth of the Loga. Lake Mison stretched out before them, so wide at this point it was impossible to see the far bank. The rising wind was also kicking up whitecapped waves four or five feet high.

Reluctantly Blade decided against taking the Hovercraft out to one of the small islands in the middle of the lake. They'd be safer from the Tribes there, but they'd also have to battle the waves. Even if they didn't run into trouble on the way, they might find themselves stranded on the island until the wind died.

He turned the Hovercraft onto the hard beach running south from the mouth of the river and increased speed again. Kareena woke up, asked what he was doing, listened to his explanation, and fell asleep again. Blade was happy to leave her alone. Sleep would be better for her than anything he could do now.

Blade headed south along the lakesh.o.r.e until he was sure they were far beyond any territory the Doimari ever visited. Then he ran the Hovercraft up onto the gra.s.sy hillside above the beach, cut the power, and woke Kareena. She shook herself, climbed out, and stood in the long gra.s.s. The wind from the lake sent her hair streaming out behind her. Blade alternated between watching her and heating some emergency rations on the hotplate under the control panel. Otherwise he was prepared to wait, then listen to whatever she would say to him whenever she wanted to say it. Only after that would it make any sense for him to speak.

The hours of Kareena's silence still tested Blade more than some of the battles he'd fought. She moved around as stiff-limbed as a wooden puppet, her mouth tightly shut but her eyes wide and staring. It looked as though she wouldn't believe she was safely out of Doimar until she'd taken in every detail of the landscape. She drank some water but refused to eat or show an unnecessary inch of skin. She kept her boots on and made a hood for her face out of a spare piece of cloth. She even insisted on walking a hundred yards away from the Hovercraft to empty her bladder. Blade didn't care for her taking that risk, and said so.

"The Tribesmen are thinly scattered, but we don't know where they might pop up. So why take chances?"

Kareena said nothing in reply-at least nothing in words. Instead her mask broke again and a wild animal looked out at Blade. By sheer reflex he took two steps backward and dropped into karate stance. Before he could recover, Kareena was walking off into the gra.s.s. He didn't waste his breath chasing her or even shouting. She wouldn't hear words, and if he chased her she might break completely and plunge away into the wilderness. She was like a brutally-treated horse. She'd have to set her own pace.

By the time Kareena wandered off for the third time it was midafternoon. The wind was still rising, the waves were breaking hard on the beach, and the sky was turning gray. Blade hoped Kareena would come back soon and not let herself be caught outside the shelter of the Hovercraft by the storm.

By the time she'd been gone half an hour, Blade was pacing up and down outside the Hovercraft like a caged lion. He had to wonder if she might have finally run off. If so, the coming storm would make it almost impossible for him to pick up her trail.

Blade paced for a few minutes longer, then decided to throw caution to the rising winds. He hadn't brought Kareena this far simply to let her die in the wilderness. He went back inside the Hovercraft, and when he came out he was carrying a laser rifle and his jacket pockets were full of hand grenades.

Although Kareena hadn't left much of a trail he could follow, Blade knew which way she'd gone. He tramped up the hill, rifle in hand and eyes searching the landscape ahead. By the time the Hovercraft was out of sight behind him, the day had faded to a weird half-twilight and the wind was turning cold.

A mile inland he came over the crest of a low ridge and found himself looking down into a narrow valley where a few stunted trees grew among the rocks. Kareena was tied to one of those trees, her face pale and blood running down her chin. Seven men in ragged outfits of leather and fur were standing around her or sitting by a small fire. All of them had swords or spears, and one of them had a battered laser rifle as well.

Blade felt like raising his own rifle and blasting away but knew the men down there could easily kill Kareena before they went down themselves. He'd try diplomacy first, rather than brute force. The fact that Kareena was still clothed and apparently not badly hurt suggested that those Tribesmen might listen to argument.

Blade slung his rifle aside, but unb.u.t.toned the flaps over the pockets where he carried the grenades. They would be his ace in the hole, if he could use them without hurting Kareena. Then he stood up, his empty hands held in clear sight. The Tribesmen shouted and pointed, then the largest of them stepped away from the fire, repeating Blade's gesture. So far so good. Blade started down into the valley.

The exchange of peace gestures was the last bit of clear communication for several minutes. It wasn't that Blade didn't understand the language of the Tribesmen. It was a recognizable dialect of the universal language of the Land. The problem was that they hardly used the language to communicate, preferring an elaborate code of grunts, gestures, and headshakes which they seemed to expect Blade to, understand. Perhaps the Doimari or other city traders did, but as far as he was concerned the Tribesmen might have been speaking some South American Indian language he'd never even heard of, let alone learned! The computer's work on his brain was no help at all.

After a while the leader seemed to understand that what they had here was a failure to communicate. He waved his followers back and stepped close to Blade. Blade felt like gagging at the chief's smell.

"Your woman?" he said, pointing at Kareena.

"My woman."

"You are in land of Hoirccchhh." Or at least the name of the tribe sounded like that to Blade.

"I have heard of the Hoirccchhh," said Blade, hoping he'd p.r.o.nounced it right. "They are a strong and brave people."

The chief smiled. "Yes. Strong and brave. We take a price to come on our land. You pay with this woman for us, for tonight."

Blade saw Kareena stiffen and had to fight not to do so himself. The chief was asking for the right to gang-rape Kareena as the price of peace between him and Blade. Blade wondered if he hadn't wasted everybody's time trying to be diplomatic.

"My woman is not strong," he said in a level voice.

"Then why you keep her?" said the chief. "You are strong warrior, need strong woman to give you sons."

"She is strong enough for me," said Blade. He noticed that the seven men were now forming a circle around him. The man with the laser rifle was in plain sight, though. Also, the men were now all out of easy reach of Kareena.

"She strong enough for you, strong enough for us," said the chief bluntly. "You pay for coming on our land with her, or some other way."

Blade was tempted to play for time by seeming to agree, then Kareena raised her head. The trapped look in her eyes drove the temptation out of Blade. He wasn't going to add anything to Kareena's burden, even if it meant greater danger for him.

Unfortunately the chief seemed to take Blade's look as a sign of agreement. One of his men stepped toward Kareena, gripped her jacket with both hands, and tore it down to her waist. She hissed like a snake and closed her eyes. Then the man reached inside her shirt and started to fondle her breast, and she screamed.

Blade had never heard a scream like that from a living throat. He hoped he would never hear one like it again. His hand dropped toward the grenade pocket. Even without pulling the pin, he could throw one like a stone and take out the rifleman.

Then Kareena screamed again, and Blade stopped thinking of grenades or any other modern weapons. He wanted blood, preferably shed with his own hands. His control snapped completely but his skills didn't desert him. In the next minute the Tribesmen paid a grisly price for all that Blade and Kareena had endured in Doimar.

Blade leaped completely over the campfire to close with the rifleman. He tore the weapon out of the man's hands and drove the b.u.t.t into his face so hard it not only crushed his nose but also blinded him. The rifle broke in two under the impact but Blade hung on to the barrel and used it as a short spear. A swordsman screamed as the jagged end of the barrel destroyed his manhood, then fell over backward into the fire and screamed again. A man coming at Blade with a spear tripped over the fallen man and went down almost at Blade's feet. Blade jumped on his back and stamped down with both feet, cracking the spine like a twig. Then he drew his own sword and engaged two men at once.

That took him only a little longer. He slashed through a spear and one of the arms holding it. Then he closed with the man, grabbed him, and spun him around so that he took in his own stomach a sword thrust his comrade had meant for Blade.

Finally Blade dropped the dying man and broke the swordsman's neck with a karate blow. Five down, two to go.

The other two weren't standing to fight. They were running toward the crest of the hill, to get away or perhaps bring reinforcements. Blade s.n.a.t.c.hed a grenade from his pocket, pulled the pin, and threw. The grenade exploded just as it hit one man in the back of the neck, and his head and shoulders vanished in a b.l.o.o.d.y spray. Fragments and concussion knocked the last man off his feet. He was still struggling to rise when Blade caught up with him and pounded his head against the rocks until he lay still.