The Towers Of Melnon

Blade saw that they were standing on the hard earth floor of an immense vaulted chamber. As the glow lit up the walls and ceiling, he saw the chamber was two hundred feet wide and a hundred or more high. Its walls and ceiling were not the universal green. They were raw, rough, stonelike material, sullen gray even under the green light of the torch, and grimed and crusted with age. Down here in the depths of the Tower of the Serpent there was no need to color things green or keep them clean. Then Blade saw the people standing nearby.

There were five of them, four of them wearing the loose work tunics of the Low People and one, a girl, entirely nude. One of the Low People stepped forward and raised a hand in salute to Bryg-Noz and the queen.

«We are ready,» he said.

But it was a she. It was a woman's voice, clear and cool. Blade could see the lift of breasts under the ragged and dirty green tunic-and the two short swords worn at a slender waist. A woman of the Low People, wearing swords and giving and receiving orders in the presence of the queen! Definitely the Peace Wisdom was not being followed here tonight!

One of the other Low People had a large sack slung over his shoulder. Now he lowered it to the ground and opened it. From it he took out a device somewhat like one of the administering wands. But this one was twice as long and twice as thick as the ones Blade had seen. It was silver gray instead of green, and around its butt end were a number of foot-long cylinders, like gigantic flashlight batteries. The man handed it to the girl Kun-Rala, who ran her fingers quickly over it, like an expert rifleman checking a newly issued weapon.

«Very well,» she said, and turned to one of the other Low People. «Start the-the girl.» Blade thought he detected a slight catch in Kun-Rala's voice as she said that.

One of the other Low People pulled out a standard wand and touched it to the naked girl. Only lightly, only briefly, and to the back of her knees rather than the back of her neck. So instead of screaming and falling to the ground to writhe in agony, she gave a little whimper. And then she turned and ran.

She ran out into the center of the huge chamber, toward the opposite wall. She went so fast that her white legs were nothing but a blur in the dim light. Blade wondered where she thought she could go. As far as he could see, there was no exit from this chamber except the stairs he had come down. And the girl was ru

But she did not run much farther. She was perhaps a hundred feet away and still moving when Kun-Rala snapped the great wand to her shoulder. One slim arm bent, and long fingers pulled back on a handle. There was a crack, a sizzling sound, the smell of ozone in the air-and the ru

«Well, Blade? Have the English such as the great wands?»

«Not precisely such, Your Splendor. But we have things that can do as well.» He was not going to admit that this-this death ray was far ahead of anything in England, or that the demonstration of it had nearly made him sick.

«Did you expect to find such as the great wand here in Melnon?»

He could not tell that lie with a straight face. «No, I did not.»

«Well, they did not exist until a few seasons ago. They were the idea of a worker of the First Rank, a very good idea, wouldn't you say?»

«I would. But what are they for? I can see that they are an immense improvement over the regular wands, but surely you do not need these for-«

«For administering the Low People? Hardly, Blade. These are for use on warriors. The warriors of the other Towers of Melnon. And on the Low People, if necessary.»

Swiftly, in clipped sentences, she told him of her real plans, and of how the great wands that could kill at a distance were the heart of them. She made the picture exceedingly clear to Blade-much too clear.

What she dreamed of doing was raising the Low People of the other towers in revolt against their High People. Perhaps they would not actually succeed. But they would shake and weaken the other towers so that they would be easy pickings for the warriors of the Tower of the Serpent.

«Armed with the great wands?» asked Blade.

«Perhaps. But I hope we will not need to use them elsewhere. They are for use mostly in my defense, and in the defense of the wise High People of Melnon.»

The «wise High People of Melnon» were those who could or would follow her lead, and submit to her absolute rule. She expected there would be many, after she had made the Tower of the Serpent supreme in Melnon. But she could not be sure of all her High People even then. And certainly there would be many who would balk beforehand, if they knew of what she was pla

«And of course it is always possible that the Low People of my own tower may learn of what is going on, and try their own revolt. They would kill both the wise and the foolish High People, and leave the Tower of the Serpent too weak to support my rule over Melnon. So I must defend myself against the High People who would attack me, and against the Low People who would attack my friends among the High People. Therefore, the great wands.»

The great wands, in short, would arm Mir-Kasa's private army, the instrument of her personal rule over both the Tower of the Serpent and the other towers. With them, such an army would be invincible and her rule unshakeable.

«No doubt of that,» said Blade. At least no doubt he felt like expressing to Mir-Kasa.

But where to build up this private army, so that it would be all ready for the day it might be needed? Where in the Tower of the Serpent could the necessary secrecy be maintained?

The answer was obvious. In the levels of the Low People, the degraded and dishonorable brutes whose doings no one of the High People could properly care about. So when Bryg-Noz was degraded and sent down among the Low People-quite properly-he was sent down with instructions and advice from Mir-Kasa. He did not need very many of these, for he was a highly intelligent man. And each time one of the High People was degraded, if Mir-Kasa trusted him or her she told them of Bryg-Noz, and sent them to him. He used them well. By now he had-

«How many, Bryg-Noz?»

A look passed between Bryg-Noz and the warrior girl Kun-Rala. It was a look of complicity. Blade caught it. Mir-Kasa, fortunately, did not.

Bryg-Noz shrugged. «Oh, at last count, more than two hundred.»

«Not badly done, my friend. But we need more.»

«Of course we do,» said Kun-Rala. «We know all about your thousand and more great wands in the secret compartments of the work chambers. But all it takes is one person with a loose tongue, and Nris-Pol or someone like him will have the tower howling about our ears. And you have as much to lose by that as we do. So don't urge us to move faster than is safe, I beg you.»

The look Mir-Kasa shot at the girl was filled with chill rage. Blade hoped Kun-Rala would learn to control her tongue and her temper better than this if she was going to be involved in a revolution.

Then the queen took a deep breath and shrugged. «You are indeed the ones in danger, so it is just that I defer to your judgment. But remember-it will go hard with you if I find that you delay when there is no danger. Come, Blade. Have you seen enough for tonight?»

«I have, Your Splendor.» He turned and followed the queen toward the stairs.