"Come on, Kareena."

They'd taken no more than a dozen steps beyond the door when the trap closed. Two laser beams blazed down from a window across the street, striking just above the hole made by the waldo. A dry patch of climbing vine caught fire. The flames were almost as good as a flare for lighting up the street. Kareena screamed, started to run back toward the building, then pulled herself to a stop.

"Come on! They've got that way covered!" Blade shouted. Then another laser fired from their left, the beam going so wide that it was either a bad shot or a deliberate miss. Blade didn't care. Charging at even a bad marksman armed with a laser was simply committing suicide. He jerked Kareena around to the right, then pushed her toward the far side of the street. If she got close enough to the buildings, the snipers in the window couldn't see her.

Blade raised his own rifle, waited until the next shot from the left, and saw it go even wider than the first one. This was puzzling but it also gave him a target. A quick shot from Blade brought a scream and the clatter of a falling weapon. The remaining snipers in the window fired again, but now they seemed unsure whether they should aim at Blade or at Kareena. They missed both, then Kareena was close under the window. Blade came up behind her, pulled the pin out of a grenade, and got ready to heave it up into the window. If the Doimari were relying too much on their weapons and were too thin on the ground to meet a determined effort to break out- Something went whump in the darkness behind Blade, and something else went wsssshhhhhh in the darkness overhead. "Get down!" he yelled, and dove for the ground as the pavement around them erupted in flame and flying debris. Kareena was still on her feet when the blast caught her and dashed her to the ground like a doll. A second explosion went off, then a third and a fourth beside the building over the tunnel. Five, six, seven-Blade lost count and hugged the pavement, hands over his ears, not sure that his last moments hadn't come and only hoping the Doimari would wipe out half their own men with all the explosives they were throwing.

Dust was still settling around Blade when he saw dark-clad men converge on Kareena. She tried to get to her feet, one leg buckled under her, and she fell again with a throat-tearing scream of agony. She still had her sword and the courage to use it. A man who moved in too close screamed even louder than Kareena when her sword's point went into his groin. Then one man stamped down on Kareena's sword hand, another kicked her in the stomach, and several more fell on her.

As they did, Blade rose to his feet. He was an ice-cold killing machine now, mind and body united to serve only one goal: killing as many Doimari was possible before he went down himself. Firing from the hip, he swept the beam of his rifle back and forth. Doimari howled and fell on top of Kareena. Blade shut his ears against the cries, waiting for a return laser blast in his guts or a grenade explosion tearing him apart, vaguely surprised when neither happened.

Too late he heard footsteps behind him. He was turning, rifle still firing, when the net fell over his head and shoulders. He held onto the rifle with one hand and tried to lift the net clear with the other. A sudden jerk on the net pulled him over backward. He struck his head so hard that for a moment comets and fireworks blazed in the darkness. He felt utterly disgusted with himself at falling into a trap so quickly that he couldn't even give Kareena a clean death.

Then clubs smashed down at every exposed part of his body, and Richard Blade no longer felt anything at all.

"My name is Nungor," said a wavering, distorted voice in the distance. Blade could barely make out the words over the roaring and hissing in his ears. "Are you the man called Blade of England?" More roaring and hissing. "Are you?" Then silence, and suddenly a deluge of cold water descending from nowhere onto Blade's head. The roaring and hissing faded away, although they left behind aches and pains in a good many parts of Blade's body. He also discovered that his hands were bound behind his back with wire. Then he found himself staring up at a brown face with a dirty black beard and a dirty green patch over one eye.

"I am Nungor," the face said again. "Are you Blade of England?"

"Since you already know my name-" began Blade, then gritted his teeth as someone clubbed him across the shin. Nungor spun around and yelled at a man Blade couldn't see.

"No, you rat's b.a.s.t.a.r.d! The woman, the woman only! Feragga wants this one!" Then Nungor bent over and jerked Blade up into a sitting position. Blade saw that the man was no more than five feet four inches tall, but nearly as wide, and all of it was solid muscle with scars on every inch of exposed skin.

"You are Blade of England, aren't you?" said Nungor, an edge in his voice. Then he shook his head. "It won't be you paying the price for not talking. It will be Peython's daughter." He pointed. Blade saw Kareena spread-eagled on the ground, wrists and ankles tied to heavy stones with wire. Blood oozed from around the wires. She looked as if she'd been run over by a truck, with face and thighs horribly bruised, a dozen cuts crusted over with dried blood, and a crude bandage on her left leg. Half a dozen men were standing around her, holding a variety of weapons and tools.

Nungor took Blade's hesitation for resistance and signaled to one of his men. A spear b.u.t.t thumped down hard on Kareena's bandaged leg. Unfortunately she was conscious. Blade saw her arch her body and bite her already blood-caked lips. The spear b.u.t.t came down again, and she gasped. It was coming down a third time when Blade said sharply, "I am Blade of England. What else do you want to know?"

He hoped he hadn't given in too easily, but he would rather let Nungor think he was weak than let Kareena be tortured anymore. It looked as if she'd already been through the mill to the point where she couldn't take much more punishment. As long as there was any hope, Blade intended to get both himself and Kareena out of the hands of the Doimari. That meant doing whatever might be needed to keep her alive.

Nungor jerked his head at the men around Kareena, and the spear b.u.t.t thumped harmlessly on the ground. "Very wise, Blade. Very wise. We may yet be able to talk."

"That is not yet certain, Nungor. You know you have Peython's daughter. Don't you also know that she's worth more as a live hostage than as a mangled corpse?" Normally Blade would have tried to deny that this was Kareena, but if Nungor knew who he was he would doubtless know who she was as well. Doimar's spies had done better work in Kaldak than Peython would be happy to hear.

"I know she is worth more alive than dead. But compared to you she is worth nothing at all. You have knowledge not only from Kaldak but from your land of England. Do not waste my time with arguing, either." He signaled to his men and they formed a circle around Kareena, hiding her. What happened inside that circle Blade never knew, but he never forgot Kareena's scream either.

Whatever else happens, I am not going to leave this Dimension without killing Nungor, even if it means my own death. That resolution calmed Blade, so that he was able to tell Nungor enough to save Kareena from further torture without revealing too much about the Kaldakan expedition. He would have liked to be able to lie about the discovery of the complex at the bottom of the shaft but decided not to risk putting Kareena in danger. There was also the matter of the b.o.o.by traps he'd left below, which Blade had no intention of revealing. Nungor seemed to have no more than twenty men with him. If half of them went down from the b.o.o.by traps and didn't come back up, it might be worth trying to wipe out the rest and escape.

"Did Bairam leave any traps in the tunnel?" asked Nungor at last.

Blade frowned, trying to look uncertain. "I heard some of his men speaking of doing this. I do not know if there are any, or where there are. They would not trust me with the knowledge."

"That is more wisdom than I would expect of Bairam," said Nungor. "Blade, I think you are lying." He raised a hand to the men around Kareena. Before they could move, Blade was on his feet. Nungor jumped back and drew his sword, obviously impressed at Blade's size and his feat of jumping up with his hands still tied behind his back.

"Nungor, hear me," said Blade. "You can chop Kareena into small pieces if you wish. I cannot stop you. I can keep you from gaining anything by it, however.

"I know the fighting arts of England. I can make you choose between killing me or dying yourself. When I am dead, all my knowledge of Kaldak and England will be dead with me. Even if I do not kill you, I wonder if you will live long after your mistress Feragga hears our tale. You will have done a foolish thing. I have not heard that Feragga of Doimar is gentle with fools, or keeps them long in her service."

That was only a guess, based on what Blade had heard of the ruling lady of Doimar. Apparently it was a good one. Nungor took another step backward, and Blade thought he saw the man swallow. Then the Doimari shrugged.

"Very well, Blade. It seems that you know how to put yourself in a strong position even when a prisoner."

"I have traveled in many lands, Nungor. If I had feared death, it would long since have taken me. As a warrior, I am sure you know this as well as I do."

Nungor jerked his head, acknowledging the praise. Then he pointed to one of the men around Kareena. "Yabo. Take three men and go down. Take bags and bring up as many fire boxes as you can carry."

"Yes, Shro Nungor."

Blade mentally erased the idea of trying to escape while Yabo and his squad were down the tunnel. Four down left sixteen on the surface-too many, unless matters got so desperate that it was simply a question of finding a clean death.

Yabo and his men marched out briskly and disappeared into the bas.e.m.e.nt. Blade sat down and leaned back against the nearest wall, working his concealed hands back and forth steadily. The wire was tight, but it felt brittle enough to break if he worked at it long enough. Maybe the Doimari wouldn't spring the trap in the tunnel. In that case by the time they got to the one in the shaft, they'd have more men down below and Kareena would have recovered a little strength. It wasn't completely impossible that Whrrrrummmmppppp!

A cloud of dust, smoke, and fragments shot out of the bas.e.m.e.nt like the blast from a cannon. One of the b.o.o.by traps had been sprung! Nungor's men jumped up with shouts and curses. One had his mouth open when a flying fragment hit him in the stomach and smashed him against the wall. Then a second explosion came, with a long hissing sound. A wavering blue light shone in the heart of the smoke cloud. Some of the power cells had been affected by the grenade explosions and were burning themselves out. Blade tried to take shallow breaths as the smoke and fumes filled the street. All around him, half-invisible in the murk, he heard Nungor's men coughing and choking. Then above that sound he heard a long drawn-out rumble, growing steadily until it seemed as if the earth itself would start shaking any minute.

Blade knew it was no earthquake. Through gaps in the murk he saw the walls of the building swaying and cracking, then shedding pieces themselves the size of a small house. Shaken by the waldo's attack the explosions last night, the b.o.o.by trap, and finally the power cells, the building was collapsing.

Then the roar increased until Blade had to open his mouth to equalize the pressure on his ears. The dust billowed so thickly that he could barely see Nungor's men around Kareena. Then he saw them break and run, as fear of the unknown overcame their fear of Nungor. Nungor vanished on their heels, shouting curses and waving his sword, and Blade was alone with Kareena.

He made one last furious effort against the wire on his wrists, felt metal gouge skin and flesh, then felt the wires snap. His hands were free.

Blade reached Kareena in three long steps and bent down to shout in her ear. "Kareena! Can you hear me?" He thought he saw her nod, even though her eyes were closed. "I'm going to cut you loose, and we'll try-"

Kareena's eyes opened, and she licked dust-caked lips. "Blade, you've got to run! I can't come with you. My leg-it's broken. Don't-"

Blade swore under his breath. He should have thought of this possibility, but he'd been too concerned with keeping the girl from being tortured to death. "Then I'll stay with you."

"Blade, you can't-"

"Kareena, I will. Now close your eyes and pretend to be unconscious again." He wanted to add, "And say your prayers," because he wasn't at all sure what mood Nungor would be in when he returned.

Slowly the crash and roar of the falling building died away. The breeze thinned the fog of dust until Blade could see nearly fifty feet. At the limit of his vision was Nungor, holding a laser rifle aimed at Blade.

Blade slowly stood up, shifting his footing as he did so that he was in position to strike down at Kareena's ribs with one heel. That would give her a merciful death, before Nungor could kill him with the rifle. Nungor could either kill them both or spare them both. Blade refused to consider giving the man any other choices.

His unspoken message seemed to reach the Doimari leader. Slowly Nungor lowered his rifle. "It seems your honor binds you to Peython's daughter, England-man."

"It seems so."

"Well, then I shall do nothing to you for now. Whether Feragga will be so gentle, I do not know."

"That is for Feragga to say."

"True."

Blade looked at Kareena and winked. He thought he saw her wink back. Then he turned to look at what was left of the building. A short stretch of wall about three stories high was the only thing still standing from a building eight stories high and a block square. It would take a Home Dimension engineering crew months to dig anything out from under that hill of rubble. In this Dimension it would take years. Whoever won the war might someday dig out the treasure below, but it would play no part in the war itself.

That wasn't a bad day's work, for two nearly helpless captives. Blade sat down and watched Nungor's men trickling back, under the lash of their chief's curses. None of them came anywhere near either of the prisoners.

Chapter 14.

The Doimari left Gilmarg before noon that day. Blade walked, his hands unbound but several rifle-armed guards always close at hand. Kareena was loaded onto the back of a munfan like a sack of loot. She was obviously in pain, but Blade noted that her broken leg had been thoroughly splinted. He knew she would have an uncomfortable trip, but it should not be a fatal one unless the broken leg became infected.

The expedition set such a pace that the towers of Doimar were in sight by noon on the fifth day. By then Kareena's bruises were healing, and her broken leg showed no sign of infection. It still gave her so much pain that Blade knew the escape from Doimar would have to wait until Kareena could walk or until he found some sort of vehicle.

Both choices had their dangers. The first would mean staying in Doimar at the mercy of a notoriously merciless ruler for weeks or even months. Apart from the danger to Blade and Kareena, there was the danger that Feragga would launch her armies and waldoes against Kaldak before the prisoners could escape with their knowledge. The second course could get them home more quickly, but this was far from certain. There might not be any vehicles. Even if there were, finding one could take as much time as the healing of Kareena's leg. It would certainly take a good deal of luck, or else the cooperation of the Doimari themselves in giving Blade freedom to explore their city.

Blade decided he'd have to try winning over the Doimari, and he could see only one way of doing this. He would have to pretend to change sides as soon as he could do so convincingly. After that, he would have a better chance of learning anything he wanted to know, including Feragga's war plans as well as how to escape.

There would still be dangers and disadvantages. The Doimari might learn too much about Kaldak from him while he was learning about them. He hoped to avoid that by mostly telling lies about England's Oltec. Thinking the man she loved was a traitor to Kaldak would make Kareena's captivity still more unpleasant, and there was nothing at all Blade could do about that. He had to be completely convincing, and he was afraid he could not be if anyone but himself knew that he was acting.

Finally, there was always the possibility that when the time came there would still be no way for both him and Kareena to escape. Then Blade would have to face an ugly choice. He could stay in Doimar and really betray Kaldak, or escape himself, perhaps save Kaldak, but condemn Kareena to a thoroughly unpleasant death. He knew she would ask him to leave if she knew the truth, but he still didn't like to think of facing Peython and Bairam after leaving her to die.

At least he wouldn't have to think about this any more for a few weeks.

Feragga of Doimar looked enough like her Shro (War Captain) Nungor to be his older sister, although she could easily have picked him up under one arm. She was inches taller and wider across the shoulder than Blade and probably weighed more. She still moved with an ease and grace which hinted that very little of her bulk was fat. Her round face with its oversized nose could hardly be called attractive, but she looked shrewd and tough, a leader who'd be no easier to fool than Peython. Blade could only hope that her eagerness for knowledge useful in her war would make her ready to meet his demands.

He stood before Feragga in the smoke-darkened chamber which served as her combination throne room and banquet hall, listening to Nungor tell of the battle in Gilmarg. Blade was still unbound and still closely guarded. Kareena sat tied to a portable aluminum chair. The room was bare of decoration and practically everyone in sight was either an armed fighter or a scantily-clad slave.

"Well, Blade of England," said Feragga. "You are not of Kaldak, so my war against them is not against you unless you wish it so. You can be a guest in Doimar, or you can be a prisoner. If you wish to be a prisoner, I have nothing more to say to you. It will then be those whose business it is to learn secrets who will be dealing with you and Kareena. When they are through, what is left of you will be given to our Seekers for Health to study."

Blade nodded. This was about what he'd expected. He still didn't want to appear to be giving in at the first threat. "You speak plainly, Feragga of Doimar. In England we value that. So I will speak plainly in return. What am I offered if I would rather be a guest?" He tried to shut his ears against Kareena's gasp.

"That is hard to say, Blade" replied Feragga. "It depends on what you do for Doimar. If you teach us all that is known in England..." She shrugged, implying that in such a case the sky was the limit.

Blade shook his head. "I cannot teach all that is known in England. I'm a warrior, not one of England's Seekers."

"You seem to know as much as any Seeker in War or Seeker of Machines," said Nungor. This seemed to confirm Blade's guess that the Seekers were Doimar's "scientists." The city must have scientists to be able to go so far beyond the other cities of the Land in recovering the knowledge of Oltec. Again he shook his head.

"I have traveled in many lands besides England. A warrior must keep his eyes and ears open as he travels. Otherwise he does not live to travel far. While watching for enemies, one can also see many strange machines and new ways of war."

"That is the truth," said Feragga. "It is a truth which some in Doimar who think themselves wise do not yet admit." She glowered around the room without looking at anyone in particular. "So you do not know all that is known in England. You still know much which is not known in the Land. Will you teach it all to us in Doimar?"

"Yes," said Blade, smiling. "I have seen Kaldak, and now I have seen Doimar. I know which of the two cities is more fit to rule the Land." He bowed elaborately to Feragga.

Kareena made a strangled noise, then shouted, "Blade, you dirty-!" That was as far as she got before Nungor stepped up to her chair and slapped her twice. She spat in his face. He grabbed her hair with one hand and drew the other fist back for a blow which would certainly have knocked out most of her teeth.

"Hold, Nungor!" Feragga shouted. "Her insolence will be punished enough. Clearly she will be no proper slave, until she is initiated. But if you beat her now, she will not feel the Initiation as she should."

Nungor reluctantly let go of Kareena. "That is true, Feragga." Blade could have sworn he licked his lips, and several of the people around the room wore looks of obscene antic.i.p.ation. Blade suddenly knew that he had to try to protect Kareena from the Initiation, even at some risk to his cover story. It sounded like an ordeal which she might not survive in her weakened condition.

"Feragga, I ask as my first gift Kareena, daughter of Peython, as my slave. If this is granted, I will initiate her myself, according to the Law of England."

Nungor's eyes narrowed. "I thought you and she were sworn freemates?"

"Indeed I told you so," said Blade. He kept his eyes fixed on Feragga. He doubted that if he looked toward Kareena he could get this lie out with a straight face. "That does not mean I told the truth."

"No doubt. But if you lied to me then, why should you not be lying to Ferraga now?" said Nungor.

The little War Captain was much too shrewd for Blade's peace of mind. Blade smiled blandly. "I know the reputation of Feragga of Doimar too well to lie to her. Do you think me a fool, Nungor? Also, when I met you I had not seen Doimar itself. I could not judge which side I was on. Now I have seen your city and know better."

There was a long silence, in which Blade measured the distance between him and the nearest guard armed with a laser rifle. It was just short enough. If this attempt to save Kareena from torture failed, he was sure he could grab the rifle before anyone could stop him, then Feragga, Nungor, and Kareena would all die before he went down himself.

Feragga broke the silence with a harsh laugh. "Well, Blade, I see you are not going to be an easy man to buy, or a cheap one. Never mind. If you are worth your price, I shall not grudge it. When the time comes, Kareena shall be the first part of your price. A pity we can't get some work out of her in the meantime, but that is as it must be. Take her out."

Four slaves carried Kareena's chair out of the room. As the door closed behind her, a weight seemed to lift from Blade's shoulders. Knowing that Kareena would not be hearing any more of what he said would make the rest of this meeting far easier.

Feragga promised Blade a sword, living quarters, and food, women if he wanted them, and whatever knowledge of Doimar's Oltec he might need. In return he would teach the Doimari all he had learned on his travels or in England, particularly anything which might aid the Doimari in their war for the rulership of the Land.

When that war was won, the rewards would be great. Kareena would be only the first of them. Blade would have land and loot from Kaldak or any other city he chose, rank and power in the new Doimari Empire, and a place close to Feragga herself. How close? Blade wondered. From the look in the woman's eyes he suspected she might want him as a bedmate. From the look in Nungor's eyes, the War Captain suspected the same thing and didn't like the idea at all.

Blade left, fairly certain that Nungor was going to be his real enemy. Feragga was sufficiently eager for Blade's knowledge and perhaps his body to give him the benefit of the doubt. Nungor was suspicious and would have plenty of chances to confirm those suspicions.

Blade wasn't seriously worried. He'd faced and beaten more formidable opponents than Nungor. At the same time, he felt that the gift he would like most in all the world or any Dimension was not having to tell anyone a single lie for a whole month!

In Feragga's own tower at least, the Doimari had the elevators working again. Blade was given a suite of three rooms on a high floor, with a guard at the door but no bars on the window. They weren't needed. Outside the window was a three-hundred-foot drop straight down to the courtyard of the tower.

Blade saw there was more metal in the furniture than he'd seen in Peython's tower. Otherwise there was hardly anything in his rooms which could teach him much about Doimar. He tested the lock on the outer door, discovered that it worked, and set it. Then he walked back to the window and looked down into the courtyard.

It was late afternoon, and the towers of Doimar were stretching long shadows across the lower buildings. The towers to the west were silhouetted against a reddening sky. In the courtyard a company of soldiers was drilling. Blade counted about two hundred men. They were going through the sort of close-order drill loved by sergeants in every Dimension, whether it makes any sense on the battlefield or not.

Blade also noted that every one of the men had a laser rifle and that many seemed to be carrying grenades. At one end of the courtyard a small group of men was standing around what looked like mortars or light artillery. There were no waldoes in sight, but Blade hadn't expected that any of Doimar's secret weapons would be on public display. Peython must have taken as much trouble to send spies into Doimar as Feragga had to send them into Kaldak, although he hadn't learned as much.

Blade thought of Kaldak, with at most one laser rifle for every four men or women of fighting age and no other Oltec weapons at all. It didn't really matter that Doimar's soldiers were wasting their time in close-order drill. Even without the robots, the weapons they already carried would give them an enormous advantage in firepower. They could probably win if they were trained to walk backward on their hands and fire their rifles with their toes! The idea of an army marching into battle like that made Blade laugh, but there was nothing funny about what would happen to Kaldak and the other cities of the Land when Feragga's army advanced.

To be sure, she would destroy the iron grip of the Law and its restrictions on the use of Oltec. She would also be destroying many lives and much wealth, and reducing to slavery the surviving inhabitants of any city she conquered. Doimar could only end up ruling an empire of ruins, inhabited by slaves or by outlaws determined to die rather than yield to their conquerors. In the process most of the civilization built up since the fall of the Sky Masters would be destroyed. The Land would sink back into barbarism, and this time the darkness would last not for hundreds but for thousands of years.

On the other hand, the defeat of Doimar would not mean the victory of the Law and its fear of Oltec. Kaldak was already well started on the road to exploring beyond the Law and making positive improvements in the Land. But it would have to go even farther in order to beat Doimar. Where one city went, others would sooner or later have to follow, out of fear or simply out of pride.

Blade knew where he stood. Doimar had to be stopped. The only question was how, and there was no point in even asking himself that until he knew more.

Sharp knocking on the door interrupted Blade's thoughts. He took his sword from the windowsill and faced the door. "Who is there, and what do you want?"

"Nungor, Blade. I have brought a woman for you."

"I-" Blade was about to say, "I did not ask for a woman," then stopped himself. If Nungor was bringing him a woman, it was probably to make Feragga jealous. Making relations between Feragga and her War Captain as bad as possible could do more good than harm, as long as it didn't put Kareena in more danger.

Also, this would be Blade's first chance to talk to a Doimari slave. From experience in many Dimensions he knew that slaves could be good sources of information on their masters' strengths and weaknesses. It was not only what they said, it was also what they didn't say.

"Send her in, Nungor. I thank you."

There were two girls, neither more than seventeen, both dressed only in dirty gray shifts. One was thin, almost gaunt, while the other was positively plump. There was also a boy who couldn't have been more than fifteen, wearing only a loincloth and clearly frightened half out of his wits. The moment Nungor closed the door, the boy scurried across the room to the corner farthest from Blade and cowered there, baring his teeth like a cornered rat.

Blade tried to soothe him. "Do not worry. I am not a lover of men. Even if I was, you are too young for me, by the Law of England."