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forest. The Jaghdi have a great deal to learn about women, and I fear Queen
Tressana is not the one to teach them."
Silence fell again. Blade looked back at the valley, where the mist had now
lifted enough to show the ruins of the rogue plant. He hadn't won the whole
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war back there by defeating the plant, but he might have won Elstan's first
battle.
Chapter 17
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Blade won Elstan's second victory by following Daimarz's advice about
listening to the women of Elstan.
It was easy to listen to Haima Kao, Master of the Guild of Weavers,
particularly when she was talking to him in bed.
She was a large woman, heavy-boned and muscular rather than fat, with red hair
down to her waist and a hearty appetite for food, beer, and men. She met Blade
when he and Daimarz visited her house.
Blade wasn't expecting to have a particularly good time and, indeed, wasn't in
the mood to be anybody's guest. It seemed to him that the Master Woodcutter's
negotiations with his fellow Masters were taking forever, while Tressana's
army might already be on the march. Daimarz swore up and down that his father
was doing everything that could be done to persuade the other guildsmen
to unite with the woodcutters, but Blade continued to wonder.
Haima's lavish banquet improved Blade's temper quite a bit. Their hostess laid
on food and beer as though they were all eating their last meal. She talked
cheerfully about her work, the inferior skills of the younger weavers, the
people intriguing to get her out of the guild's mastership, her late husband,
and her lovely daughter Chaia. She talked so long and so loudly that Daimarz,
who was normally fond of the sound of his own voice, hardly got to say a word.
Blade was amused at his blood brother's growing look of frustration.
During the meal Haima didn't say anything about the war or the negotiations
among the Masters.
Then at the end of the meal, Haima rose and said, "Here's to a peaceful road
through the forest of
Binaark, when we've beaten the Jaghdi!" She emptied a quart pot of beer
without taking it from her lips.
Blade was tempted to change that toast to "If we win," but remembered his
manners. What was more, Haima was indicating that at least her guild, if not
the others, was willing to unite with the woodcutters in a campaign against
the Jaghdi. After a few more toasts to people and things he'd never heard of,
Haima turned Daimarz over to her serving girls and took Blade off to her own
bed for the night.
She was the third woman Blade had slept with in this Dimension, and he found
her in most ways the best company. She wasn't nervous like Jollya, and she
wasn't slightly mad like Tressana. She was simply enjoying herself. He enjoyed
particularly the fine pillow her magnificent breasts made, and the fact that
she laughed when she reached her climax. It wasn't the hysterical laughter of
Queen Tressana, but a deep, hearty bellowing. It was as if she was enjoying
herself so much that she simply couldn't find any other way to show it.
Afterward they sprawled on the furs before her fireplace and got down to
serious business. Haima unrolled a map pricked into deerskin with a hot needle
and Blade showed her the planned Jaghdi campaign.
"The army on the Adrim isn't going to be much of a problem by itself," she
said. "We can give up the lowland along the river and hold here with only a
handful of men." A work-calloused forefinger stabbed at a narrow pass leading
up from the Adrim into the central valleys of Elstan. "The Jaghdi cavalry is
the real problem. Solve that and we've won the war." She looked at the mark
Blade had made to show the planned Jaghdi camp. "That's the Kettle of the
Winds there. We use the cliffs behind the flatland for the
Stone Death."
"The what?"
"The Stone Death? Didn't Daimarz tell you?"
Her tone was so accusing that Blade felt he had to defend the woodcutter.
"He's been busy, Haima.
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His father needs "
"He needs to remember that you can be trusted now. The Stone Death is simple.
We take the man to
the top of one of the cliffs and throw him off."
"Oh." That explained why Daimarz had called it a "good death." It would be
quick, at least.
Haima looked at the map again, then closed her eyes as if she were trying to
conjure up a picture of the Kettle of the Winds. "That bitch Tressana has a
good eye for land. We can't come at anyone camped on the flats there."
"You could make your own camp there first."
"We might, if we had enough men. Until all the guilds speak with one voice, we
couldn't put more than two thousand men there." Blade realized that wouldn't
be enough to hold for long against several times as many cavalry. The Jaghdi
might not even bother to destroy them, and instead besiege them in their own
camp with half the cavalry while the other half continued to march through
Elstan.
"If we could just be sure of reaching the camp with enough of the Living
Fire " began Haima irritably. Then she saw Blade's blank expression and swore.
"Didn't Daimarz tell you about that either?"
She held up a hand to silence Blade's new attempts to make excuses for the
woodcutter. "One of these days I'm going to take that boy's pants down and
spank him until his ass is red!"
Without any prompting from Blade she went on to describe the Living Fire.
Blade recognized it as what the woodcutters must have used on those three
rogues. It explained the smoke, the tar-like smell, and the soot on the men.
The Living Fire was something like Greek fire or napalm. It was based on "rock
oil," it clung where it fell, and water only spread it. A good dose of the
Living Fire scattered over the
Jaghdi camp would probably make a first-class mess, and if it landed among
unsaddled rolghas&
Blade was so absorbed by the idea of panicking the whole Jaghdi army's mounts
that Haima had to run her fingers and lips over him for quite a while before
he would pay attention to her. When they'd finished this time, she raised
herself on one elbow and looked down at him. The firelight playing on her red
hair seemed to make her face and breasts glow.
"Blade, how long do you intend to stay in Elstan?"
Blade answered cautiously. "Until I must travel onward, or return to my own
land of England. If my queen orders me to return, it is my duty to go."
"And if those orders don't come?"
Blade had the feeling that she wanted to hear him say he'd be staying for many
years. He knew that she wasn't the sort of woman to forgive a lie, and that it
was impossible to tell how long it would be before the computer drew him back
to Home Dimension. Even more cautiously, he said, "It could be several years."
"Ah. Long enough to marry Chaia and give her children, then." Startled, Blade
could only nod. Haima went on. "Chaia is beautiful but willful. Those men
who do not fear her fear me. Only the most courageous of men would be
suitable husbands."
"Is Daimarz one of those men, by any chance?"
She laughed. "You see clearly. Yes. He was the first I would have chosen, as
soon as Chaia came of age. But he refused, and said so much against both her
and me that he drove away others. Now Chaia is two years past the lawful age,
with no husband. If you could take her and give her my grandchildren before
you returned to England, I would be sure of a place in the future of Elstan."
"How old is she?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]