Master Of The Hashomi

It was almost a pity, Blade thought, that there would be no long marriage for them. A man could do worse than marry an honest whore like Esseta, in this Dimension or any other. She did not have «a heart of gold,» but she had a cool head and a clear eye, which were far more important.

Kubin Ben Sarif was shaking his head sadly as Blade led Esseta away from the altar of Junah. «Now I've seen everything,» he said. «My golden girl, a bride to this mighty man from nowhere.» He slapped Blade on the shoulder. «I'm glad for you both. She'll need someone to take care of her, now that I'm getting old.»

Esseta's eyebrows rose in her old impish ma

Kubin laughed and held up a hand to stop her. «Enough, enough. Junah be with you, Blade, and bring you back from the valley. You've been the best of my servants. Now I'd like to have you as a good friend.»

I also wish that could be, thought Blade. But it ca

The next day the Baran's army marched west, toward the desert, the mountains, and the Valley of the Hashomi.

Chapter 23

Once again the horizon Blade saw was dominated by the White Mountain with the plume of snow trailing from its summit. Behind him lay a journey across the desert and the mountains, almost retracing the journey he'd made to Dahaura.

This time he hadn't covered the route as a bound slave. He'd crossed the desert as part of the Baran's army of twenty-five thousand men. He'd made his way through the mountains at the head of four hundred of the best fighters in Dahaura. Now he looked down on the Valley of the Hashomi from a new position, half a mile above the hospital where he'd first awakened.

The hospital on its ledge and the valley spreading out below looked the same as the last time he'd seen them. More important, they showed no signs the Hashomi were alert and on their guard against the enemies approaching through the mountains.

It would make no difference in the end whether they were alert or not. They would die, and their valley would be swept from end to end. It would make a great difference to the Baran's soldiers and the women and farmers of the valley. If Blade had surprise on his side, not nearly so many of them would die in the next few days.

Blade looked behind him and waved one arm cautiously. Two men suddenly appeared where there'd seemed to be only bare rock, crawling forward to lie beside Blade and look where he pointed. One of them was Giraz.

«From the ledge where the hospital sits, it's a four-hundred-foot drop to the valley,» Blade said. «Only a bird could get up or down it. The only way in or out for men is through the tu

«But we can attack from above, eh, Blade?» said Giraz, with a thin smile.

«Yes. The Hashomi don't seem to have garrisoned the hospital. I'll take thirty of the best climbers down with me tonight. The last five hundred feet are all that really need mountain climbing. Thirty should be enough to take the bridge or at least block the tu

«And then?» That was a question Giraz had asked several times, and Blade gave him the same answer as before.

«Then we wait and see. The Hashomi can't heavily attack us without splitting their forces and weakening their hold on the valley entrance.»

«What if they decide to ignore us, Blade?»

Blade gri

Blade scrambled down the last few feet of the cliff, dropping to his hands and knees the moment he felt level ground under his feet. He peered into the darkness that held the ledge and the hospital buildings on it. The buildings were no more than formless lumps in the night. In one window Blade saw a faint yellow spark of light. That building, he remembered, held the doctors' quarters. He'd given it a wide berth, since the doctors would certainly raise the alarm.

Crawling on his belly like a snake, Blade crept across the twenty yards of open ground to the nearest building. Its shadow covered him, and he knew he was now almost invisible to any human eye. The silence and the darkness remained unbroken.

He turned and watched the rest of the men with him drop down the cliff. They moved as fast as they dared, with only the faintest scraping of booted feet and gloved hands on the rock. One by one they reached level ground, crept under cover, and without a word melted into the darkness.

Now Blade heard faint rustlings from the darkness. The men were pulling off their boots and putting on soft-soled, noiseless sandals and checking their weapons. So far so good. If the Hashomi had put a garrison in the hospital, it didn't seem to be at all alert.

Blade was rising to his feet, ready to signal to his men, when three robed figures slipped out from between two of the buildings. Instantly Blade's men sprang up and surrounded them. Blade drew his sword and dashed across to where the three were now flat on the ground. All three were women, and all three were still writhing and trying to kick and scream.

Blade was relieved to see that the men had obeyed his orders: «Kill no one in the hospital unless I say so.» Blade didn't want any casualties among the women.

Blade drew back the hoods from all three women. He recognized two of them, and one of them he'd bedded. He spoke to that one in an urgent whisper.

«I am Richard Blade, the man from Britain who came to the Valley of the Hashomi and then escaped from it. I have come with many armed men, to end the rule of the Hashomi. What do you say of that?»

The woman Blade spoke to seemed too stu

«Not unless they make themselves enemies to me. Mirna should have told you that.»

«Mirna no longer serves at the hospital, Blade»

Blade felt a chill of suspicion. «Has she been harmed?»

«I do not know. She was sent to serve at a hospital in the valley, that I know.»

That was as much as the woman could be expected to know, Blade realized. It was too bad that Mirna was not up here, ready to take charge of the women and out of reach of the Hashomi, but it could not be helped.

«We will let you go, if you promise to return to your quarters and tell your sisters that Richard Blade has come again, to help the women of the valley.» He didn't mention that he came in the service of the Baran of Dahaura, since that might confuse or frighten them.

All three women now had recovered enough to nod, and two of them kissed Blade's hands. He signaled to his men to let the women up. The women darted away, and Blade led his men off through the darkness.

The invaders advanced in spurts, half of the men keeping watch from under cover while the other half moved. It was slow but safe progress. They took half an hour to cover the three hundred yards to the mouth of the tu

Blade crawled to the mouth of the tu

Blade motioned his men forward. The first eight came up holding nine-foot pikes, brought down the cliff in sections and now screwed back together. The pikemen stepped around Blade and formed a double line, holding their pikes level. Eight bristling steel points now confronted any Hashom in the tu