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She was still red in the face, but she looked steadily into his eyes.
“If I did not desire you, do you think I’d accept your food and lodging now? Do you think me so empty of pride?”
He stood up and then leaned over her. She raised her face and closed her eyes for his kiss. Her arms came up around his neck, and she rose. She worked her mouth against his and pressed her body against him.
He pushed her away. “You’re trying too hard. You don’t really want to kiss me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. Turning away, she began to weep. “Does no one want me? Do you reject me because I have been dishonored by those beasts in Itskapintik?”
Two Hawks turned her to face him. He said, “Ilmika, I don’t understand you. Are you doing this because you feel that your virtue was taken away by an act of force?”
“Don’t you know? There’s not a nobleman in Blodland who’d have me now, since my story is known.”
“So you’ll take me because I’m a commoner, and commoners don’t care about virtue in their women? Or a commoner should be delirious with joy to get a noblewoman, no matter what her state of virtue? I’m the last refuge, right?”
She slapped him hard. Then she came at him with her fingernails. He caught her wrists and held her away from him.
“You dumb bitch! I love you! I don’t give a damn about your virginity! I love you and want you to love me! But I’ll be go-to-hell if I’ll have a woman who thinks of me as being so low I can’t refuse even her! You’re not going to punish yourself by punishing me!”
He shoved her so hard she fell on the seat, and he said, “The offer is still good. Give me your decision when we reach Tolkinham. Meanwhile, I’m getting out.”
He slammed the door behind him. The rest of the night, he slept sitting on the floor of the aisle, propped against the side of a seat. He did not sleep well. When the train pulled into Tolkinham, he returned to the compartment. Gilbert was the only one in it.
“Where did Thorrsstein go?” Two Hawks said.
“I don’t know. I thought she went to say goodbye to you.”
Two Hawks pushed through the crowd on the aisle, drawing some black looks and muttered rebukes. Once outside, he looked through the station. She was gone. He thought of sending Kwasind to look for her, but an officer stopped him. He was handed his latest orders, which were to report to the Kreion Grettirsson. Two Hawks wondered why an infantry general wanted him. He hitchhiked a ride on an army car to the big camp outside Tolkinham and went to the Kreion’s camp. Grettirsson informed him that the Blodlandish Lyftwaepon was no more. The shortage of gas and oil was so acute that fuel supplies would be reserved for military ground vehicles only. Two Hawks was to serve as commander of a regiment of armored cars. That is, he would until the gas ran completely out. Then he would be an infantryman.
Two Hawks left the tent knowing that the island was doomed. Within a month or two, the Perkunishans would own Blodland.
During the four weeks of fighting that followed, Two Hawks heard about developments in Perkunisha. Despite triumphs abroad, all had not gone well in Berlin. The two sons of the Kassandras had been killed in a train wreck. The Blodlandish agents reported their doubts about the wreck being an accident. On hearing of his sons’ deaths, the Kassandras was paralyzed by a stroke. Six days later, he died of pneumonia. His male heir, a nephew, was assassinated on his way to Berlin. The Perkunishans accused Blodland of the killing and soon after accused it of having caused the train wreck. Blodland denied any co
The German’s ambitions were well known. He wanted to marry the Kassandras’ daughter. If he did, he would become Prince Consort—provided that the Grand Council made her queen. The Council was convening now, debating whether to crown her or to choose a Kassandras from a list of male nobles.
Meanwhile, the armies in the field conducted business as usual. The Protector of Blodland, Erik Leonitha, proved to be a brilliant tactician. Three times he defeated the invaders in large-scale battles. Each time, he had to retreat, unable to hold the ground he had won. The Perkunishans brought up new armies, strong with fresh troops and superior weapons. The enemy air force, no longer having Two Hawks’ planes to fear, made northern Blodland hideous with strafing and bombing attacks.
Then, the Blodlandish fuel supply was gone. The army retreated on foot to their last stand. The enemy planes harassed them, and the enemy armor bit at their heels. Two Hawks and Kwasind, riflemen now, made it to Ulfstal. Two Hawks was handed a note from Humphrey Gilbert. He read it, then said, “Kwasind, Ilmika is a nurse in the army hospital here. And before that she was working in an ammunition factory. She has guts. I knew I wasn’t in love with just a pretty face.”
Kwasind was not tactful. “She may have guts. But does she love you?”
“I don’t know. I’m still hoping. Maybe she’s supporting herself just to show me she can be independent. Maybe she’ll come to me as an equal after she’s proved she doesn’t have to take me because I’m the only one who’ll have her.”
“A woman is not the equal of a man,” Kwasind said. “You should have taken her and taught her to love you. What is all this talk about independence? A woman should be dependent upon a man.”
Two Hawks went looking for Ilmika that evening. He found the hospital, but it had been bombed and was no longer used. The wounded were in tents around the gutted building. It took him an hour to locate her in a large tent on the edge of the camp.
Seeing him enter, she was so startled she dropped a roll of bandages. She picked the roll up off the dirt floor, evidently intending to use it without sterilizing it. He said nothing about the bandages, since he had long ago learned that it was useless to protest. These people knew nothing of germs and did not want to hear about them.
“Greetings, my lord,” she said.
“Health to you, Milady. Dammit, Ilmika, don’t be so formal! We’ve been through too much for this my-lord-my-lady crap!”
She smiled and said, “You are right—as usual. What are you doing here?”
“I could say I came to visit with a sick friend.”
“Do you mean me?”
He nodded and said, “Will you marry me?”
She gasped and almost dropped the bandages again.
“Surely, you’re... You shouldn’t joke about a thing like that.”
He put his hands on her shoulders and said, “Why should I be joking? You know I love you. I couldn’t ask you to be my wife before because... well, you know all the reasons too well. But things have changed. Blueblood, class barriers don’t mean much any more. And if Blodland wins or loses the war, things will never be the same again. And if you can ever quit thinking like an aristocrat, look at me as a woman looks at a man, we can be happy.
“Can you do that?”
She did not reply. He waited until he could stand the silence no more.
“Say yes or say no!”
“Yes!”
He took her in his arms and kissed her. She did not seem to be trying to imitate passion this time.
A doctor interrupted them and ordered her to get back to work. Two Hawks said, “Ilmika, if things go badly tomorrow, I’ll try to meet you in Lefswik. I’ll be shipping out to Dublin from there if we’re defeated here—and I expect we will be. I have plans for us, but there’s no time to talk about them. Meanwhile, I love you!”
Tears in her eyes, she whispered, “I love you. But, Roger, I’m afraid of tomorrow. What if I don’t ever see you again?”
“Then you won’t. But it’ll only be because I’ll be dead.”
She shivered.
“Don’t say that!”
“Everything should be said.”
He gave her a final kiss and walked away, returning the doctor’s glare with a smile. On the way back to his quarters, he was stopped by a noncom, who told him he was to report to the Protector. Wondering what Leonitha wanted of him, Two Hawks followed the noncom to the pavillion-tent. He had to identify himself to two officer-guards before he was admitted. This security precaution was necessary, since assassination of high-ranking officers was normal procedure in war. In fact, the Protector had narrowly escaped being killed two days before. One of the unsuccessful Perkunishans had shot himself in the head before he could be taken. The other was too seriously wounded to kill himself. When he regained consciousness, he was hung upside down over a bonfire.