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Blade turned to Bairam, who was trying not to look excited and almost succeeding. «The fire jewels in the Oltec must have lost power faster than the ones used as ornaments-«he began. Then he realized that Bairam was staring at him without understanding. Oh, well, time enough to explain electricity later. Right now they needed more experiments.
«We must have more of the fire jewels,» said Blade. «Do you know if there are any more in-«
«There's my father's necklace,» said Bairam eagerly. «I'm sure he wouldn't mind-«
«I'm sure he would mind,» said Blade, heading off the boy's enthusiasm. «Any others?»
Bairam shook his head, then said reluctantly. «You don't want me to go back to Saorm, do you?»
Blade nodded. «We need those fire jewels, Bairam. And you are a warrior of Kaldak.»
Blade's hint was enough. The boy pulled on some clothes and hurried out the door. A minute later he came back, much faster than he'd left. Right after him came Kareena.
She was wearing only knee-length trousers and a sword, and Blade thought her bare breasts were even lovelier than before. He also thought she was angrier than he'd ever seen her. Her face was an icy mask except for the eyes, which blazed like hot coals, and her voice shook.
«Blade, you are going to die. Brother, you deserve to, even though you probably won't. Our father is weak enough to think-«
«You will not speak of our father that way, Kareena,» snapped Bairam. He started to draw his sword, then remembered he wasn't wearing one. Blade cautiously shifted his position to where he could cover the open door with the rifle, without any danger of hitting Kareena or her brother.
«I will speak as I please, and you will not stop me. Not after throwing the Law into the pigsties with this Blade, giving him live Oltec a second time-«
«I did not give him live Oltec. He-«
«I will not believe you. You-«
«Kareena, only blood will wipe out what you just said. Let me get a sword and-«
«SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!»
Blade's roar silenced them as completely as if he'd shot them both dead. «Thank you,» he said. «Now, you are going to listen. Bairam, stop threatening your sister. She has only made a mistake. When she learns that, she will apologize. In the meantime I want no more talk of shedding her blood. I will break your arms before I let you touch her. Do you understand?»
«Yes, Blade,» said Bairam, u
«Good. Kareena, what I have done today may be so important that the meaning of the Law perhaps has to be changed. I have found a way to make dead Oltec live again.»
«You have-no! That is impossible.»
«It is not impossible, Kareena,» said Bairam quietly. «I have seen it myself. Look at the Oltec he holds. That is the dead piece which hung on my wall, isn't it?»
Kareena stepped closer and looked at the rifle in Blade's hands. «Yes. I–I recognize the marks.»
«And you knew it was dead?»
«Yes. By the Law, it was dead.»
«But Blade had made it live again. Take it from Blade, Kareena, and use it. You will see.»
Blade had doubts about the wisdom of letting someone in Kareena's mood have a live weapon, but he let her take the rifle. She raised it, aimed it out into the hall, and fired.
Fzzzzttttt!
Another bolt of green fire, this one just missing two servants passing with armloads of pots. They screamed, dropped their loads, and ran off down the hall.
Kareena stood with the rifle in her hands, shaking all over, eyes squeezed shut. Blade saw tears trickling out from under her eyelids, gently took the rifle from her, and handed it to Bairam. Then he took her in his arms and held her as he would have held a hurt child, although he was very conscious of the fine breasts pressing against his chest.
Kareena fought not to cry in front of Blade and her brother. Finally she stepped away from Blade and wiped her eyes with the back of one hand. Then she smiled. «I am sorry, Blade. For my anger and for my weakness. I do not know what you have done-it reaches deep into me. Now I wonder if indeed you are sent to Kaldak by the Sky Masters.»
The smile lit up her whole face. It could not make her thin features truly beautiful, but it made them enormously alive. For Blade that was more important than picture-book beauty. He smiled back. «Kareena, I did what I did because I have a busy mind and prying fingers. If I had not opened a new future for Kaldak when I started prying into the Oltec, you might have had reason to attack me.»
«Perhaps. But…» Her smile faded.
«Don't torture yourself over what's past,» said Blade briskly. «And keep smiling. You look much better smiling than when you look as though you would geld me on the spot if you had a knife!»
Bairam laughed. «Kareena, will you now believe me when I say that? Blade, I've told her many times that she could have six husbands if she only smiled a little. But no-she will look like the spirit of plague!»
Kareena sighed. «Bairam, if you talked less I might believe you more. I know that you tell the truth half the time. But which half?»
Blade hated to break up this reconciliation between Kareena and her brother, but he knew time was short. «Kareena, Bairam, I think it would be wise if we got some beer, then sat down while you told me all about how the Land came to be the way it is. We must put everything that has happened today before your father Peython. Otherwise Saorm will spread tales all over Kaldak. Even if there is no panic, the tales may reach ears which should not hear them.
«Right now I do not know enough about this city and the Land to be sure I will not appear foolish before your father. I do not want to appear foolish before him. He is not the man to forgive that, I think.»
The other two agreed heartily. Servants brought the beer, Kareena poured out three cups, and Blade settled down to listen to the history of this Dimension. There were few surprises, but a lot of things he'd already known made more sense after listening to Bairam and Kareena.
This Dimension once had an advanced civilization. Its people were sometimes called the Sky Masters, because they had flown through the sky in great machines, and sometimes the Tower Builders, because of the towers in their cities.
Whatever they were called, they destroyed their civilization in a great war. Atomic and hydrogen bombs, lasers, radioactive dust, bacteria, chemicals, and exotic war machines were all used. Many cities were destroyed, and most of the rest made uninhabitable.
Only the people in the mountains and on the most remote farms survived the war. It left many of them sterile, and too many of the babies born were horrible mutations. After a few generations of ruthlessly killing the worst mutations, the human stock was almost back to normal. Those mutations which remained, such as the blue hair of Kareena and Bairam, were considered marks of honor. Other animals were less fortunate. Some of the animal mutations were useful, such as the munfans. Other were a menace, including the great-hawks and the giant rats.
After several more generations, the radioactivity and chemicals faded away. People came from the mountains and the farms and tried to rebuild civilization in those cities which still stood. They found much of the Sky Masters' machinery still intact, but the knowledge of how to build or repair it was gone. When a piece of the Old Technology-shortened to Old Tech, then corrupted to Oltec-wore out, it could not be fixed. Some brave men and women tried to repair dead Oltec, but many of them died in accidents and learned nothing.
Slowly the supply of Oltec shrank, as one piece of equipment after another died. Slowly the cities began to fight over what was left. Slowly the Law emerged in most cities, slightly different in each one but with two points in common almost everywhere.
First, Oltec could be used only in the most desperate situations, when life or something equally valuable was in danger. Second, no one should try to repair a piece of Oltec or use any Oltec machine which wasn't lying around ready for the taking. The people of the Land would seldom climb the towers to look for it, and never went into cellars. Oltec not lying around ready at hand was Oltec they were not meant to use.