Джеффри Лорд: The Ruins Of Kaldac

Instantly Blade's thoughts were clear, even though he wasn't exactly sober. He wasn't worried about an assassin. If there was going to be an attack, it would have come already. What he suspected was waiting for him in the bed might be more difficult to handle. He bent over the bed, rested a hand on the curls of hair, and murmured softly to the bulge in the furs, «Hello, Kareena.»

The furs churned briefly, then Kareena's head popped out. She was smiling. «You would have been embarrassed if it had been Geyrna or some other woman.»

«I didn't think it was.» Blade sat down on the bed and took the hand Kareena stretched out to him. Then he bent over and kissed her upturned lips. They were rigid and cold under his for a moment. Then they trembled and broke apart. When he thrust his tongue slowly into her mouth, he felt her body stiffen. He didn't draw back, and after another moment some of the tension went out of her. Her own tongue crept up to meet his.

That saved a good many words. He now knew what she wanted-a night with him which would finish healing the wounds from Doimar. He didn't know whether he or any other man could give it. Well, in love as in war, a man could only do the best job he could do in the time available.

Without lifting his mouth from Kareena's, Blade slid one hand under the furs and down her body. Three fingers slid down the cleft between her breasts, while two others played with a nipple. Once more the response took a little while, but when it came it was gratifying. The nipple hardened, and Kareena gave a soft little whimper.

An inch at a time, Blade worked one hand down Kareena's body while he went on kissing her. After a while he had to lift his lips from hers, but by then her eyes were closed and she was breathing hard. Now he had two hands and his lips free, and he used all of them everywhere they could go.

He'd taken less time and trouble with women he knew to be virgins than he took with Kareena. He held himself back as if on a steel chain, although before long Kareena was not only obviously aroused but was trying to arouse him. The furs were thrown off, they lay beside each other on the bed, and Kareena's long-fingered hands were roaming up and down Blade's body with a life of their own.

Blade stopped worrying about Kareena's response now, but still held back from entering her. He wanted it to be absolutely right for her. Anything less would be hardly more than another rape, as far as he was concerned. He only hoped he could ignore the growing fire in his own body long enough.

Then Kareena's breath rattled in her throat, and Blade could make out distorted, half-coherent words. «Blade-please-now-before-«Her voice failed her, and she could only gasp. Smoothly Blade shifted position and, with all the care and self-restraint he had left, entered her.

She went rigid under him for long enough to make him wonder if he'd made a horrible mistake. Then her arms went around him, her thighs clamped hard on his hips, and her lips came up to nuzzle his neck. Blade immediately stopped worrying, and before much longer he stopped thinking at all. The world shrank down to Kareena's body under him, her skin and her breasts and the warmth which held him so closely, and finally her happy cry of release.

That was the first night. The second night was better, the third better still, and the fourth as good as any man and woman could wish. After that Kareena came regularly, and within a month Blade had given Kareena the same gift he'd given the seven women of Doimar. She was pregnant.

She wasn't sure whether to curse him or bless him. A child of her own was the dream of any woman of the Land. On the other hand-

«If this keeps me out of the war with Doimar, I'll never forgive you!» she said.

«Don't worry, daughter,» said Peython. «If I know Feragga of Doimar, she'll attack long before the child has grown enough to slow you.» His eyes met Blade's, and they shared an unspoken thought: If only we could keep Kareena out of the battle completely. However, they both knew her too well.

«I hope so,» said Kareena. «I owe the Doimari a debt, and the sooner it's paid the better.»

Peython was an accurate prophet. The morning after the party to celebrate Kareena's pregnancy, word came from the frontier patrols. The army of Doimar was on the march.

Nungor was already half-dressed when Feragga got out of bed. When she was barefoot and he wore boots, the top of his head almost reached her shoulder. She bent down to kiss him, rumpled his hair, then started pulling on her clothes. Through the door of the tent trickled the dawn light and the sounds of the Doimari camp coming awake.

Nungor heard the crackle of wood fires, the bubbling of stewpots, the curses of munfan drivers, and the growls and hisses of the munfans themselves. Sometimes he heard the crack of whips as Kaldakan prisoners were driven to their day's work. Once he even heard the whir and whine as the Seekers tested their new Oltec machine.

Nungor didn't quite know what to think about that machine. On the one hand, without the machine and the Voice equipment it carried, the hundred Fighting Machines the army had with it would not be so strong: This far from home, the Voices from Doimar could hardly get the Fighting Machines to walk straight most of the time, let alone fight well. But on the other hand, Nungor and his infantry had no control over the Carrying Machines, which were claimed by the Seekers. That made the whole affair of the machines eat at Nungor's guts like a meal of rotten meat. But Feragga had said it must be so, and then the best man at handling the machine turned out to be a Seeker! There wasn't much Nungor could do about Feragga even if he wanted to, but he could do something about that cursed Seeker! The man wasn't going to survive more than a single day beyond the last battle of the war, if Nungor had to kill him with his own hands!

Now another question nagged at Nungor. As the Doimari penetrated the frontier of Kaldak, there were few Kaldakans to be seen, let alone taken prisoner. Had Blade returned to Kaldak and told the people to retreat so far, instead of giving battle on the frontiers where the Fighting Machines would be deadly? Maybe he had. Even so, Blade had already lost all chance of victory before leaving Doimar, by showing how the Carrying Machines could be used.

«Think we'll meet them today?» said Feragga's voice behind him. He turned. She was ready for battle, complete with body armor. Since there was no one single set of armor large enough to fit her, she wore two fastened together. Nungor hoped this improvisation would protect her. The thought of losing her to the Kaldakans hurt, though not as much as it would have hurt to lose her to that cursed Blade!

«They have to turn and fight sometime,» said Nungor. «We've chased them three days' march across their own land and burned many of their farms. We're only two days from Kaldak itself. Peython's gambling with his people's loyalty. Or do you suppose this is Blade's doing?»

Feragga shrugged. «Don't underestimate Peython. He's the sort of man to come up with new answers when he faces new problems. I suspect we'll have to beat him not just once but several times before he gives up. Fortunately there won't be many more chiefs like him, so once we've got Kaldak we've got half the Land.»

«Pray that it be so,» said Nungor evenly. He was getting a little tired of Feragga's evading a discussion of Blade. He could understand why she was embarrassed at the treachery of a man she'd so nearly taken to her bed, even at the cost of her long comradeship with the War Captain. What bothered him more was not knowing if her spy network in Kaldak had broken down. If it had, they couldn't know if the Kaldakans were planning any surprises, and it was going to be hard for him to plan more than the simplest battle.