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Blade smiled, remembering Kareena's lips hot against him and her graceful red-brown body naked in the firelight. He doubted she would be happy with a celibate life, or would need to accept one, although he hoped she would not have to accept Hota just to keep peace in Kaldak. She would never be happy with a man who had more courage than sense, even if he wasn't a loudmouthed boor as well.
It was well past noon before Hota and the other scouts returned. «There ca
«Not unless they can hide themselves better than usual,» added Sidas.
«The warriors of a city without the Law ca
It was mid-afternoon before they got all the munfans untethered and on the move. They seemed more skittish than usual, and several broke their hobbles and tried to bolt. Even the most experienced hunters and munfan-leaders couldn't say what was bothering the animals.
The light was failing by the time they reached a safe refuge among the towers of Gilmarg, with a cracked roof overhead and crumbling vine-grown walls on three sides. Kareena decided against making any fires, and they ate a cold di
Blade took the first watch with the sentries, then rolled up in his blanket. He managed to sleep in spite of the chill and the sharp rocks digging into all the more vulnerable portions of his anatomy. Sometime in the darkest hours of the night he awoke to find Kareena curled up against him, one arm across his chest. He tried to move her, but she only pressed herself closer without waking up and made a noise like a contented kitten. He gave up, wrapped his blanket around both of them, and went back to sleep with her firm warmth resting against him. Hota might be jealous, but Blade's patience with Hota was just about gone. If the warrior said one more word out of turn, Blade was going to find it hard not to take him apart, Law or no Law!
It didn't take them long the next morning to find Saorm's tu
«There,» said Saorm. «Under the lower end of that stone. The tu
Hota poked the merchant in his stomach. «Too fat, eh? We should have marched you harder, made you ski
At first Blade doubted that Saorm was telling the truth about pushing the slab into place single-handed. Then he noticed several other slabs balanced more or less precariously around the basement. One of them fell over as he watched, nearly crushing Sidas. When the dust settled, Kareena had the men go around and push the rest of the slabs over, so they could go to work on the tu
One man might have pushed the slab into place, but it took the sweat of at least a dozen before it was clear. With Blade and Hota working together for once, the slab was then dragged to one side. Everyone stood around the gaping black maw now exposed, peering down the rubble-strewn slope until it vanished in the darkness. Blade noticed that while everyone wanted to look, no one seemed particularly eager to linger on the edge of the darkness.
To his credit, Saorm volunteered to be the first man down the tu
«The tu
Kareena gave him the kiss of honor. «Do not grieve, Saorm. You have done well. Someone else will have to finish your work, that is all.»
Kareena's words touched off a ferocious argument over who should have the honor of finishing Saorm's work. Blade was the first to volunteer to go down the tu
Saorm saw his chance to get back at Hota for his earlier insults. «You are larger than I, and the Law will not make you smaller. If I ca
«Then Blade ca
«I am smaller than either of you,» put in Sidas. «And I-«
«I am the smallest of the men,» began Bairam. «I-«
«You may be Peython's son, but you are not in the Law's favor either,» said Hota sharply. «You are not so much better than Blade.»
«I am-yah!» said Bairam, breaking off as his sister kicked him hard in the shin. Kareena glared at everyone, then started taking off her trousers.
«I am the smallest of all. I am of Peython's blood. And no one can say that I am at fault before the Law. So I am the best one to go down, and no one will stop me.»
When Kareena was naked, she bound her hair up, then let Blade tie the rope around her waist. When he'd done that, she picked up a rifle and vanished down the tu
«I'm all the way-down. The fire jewels-by the Law, there must be thousands of them! Big stone in the tu
«Be careful, Kareena,» shouted Bairam. There was no reply, except more clattering stones. Dust poured out of the tu
Then Kareena's voice came again, even more broken by coughing. «Can't-move-it. Almost-but somebody-push from above.» She sounded as if she was about to strangle on the dust.
By now Blade was naked, wearing only his silver loinguard. Hota moved to block the tu
Stone by stone, Blade crept downward, the air growing thicker and the light fading with each foot he descended. He was in a weird sort of twilight by the time he came to what had to be the obstacle. It was another slab of concrete, tilted so that it left only about a two-foot space clear. Blade wondered how even Kareena could have slipped through, and hoped the stains on the slab were Saorm's blood and not hers.
Fortunately there was enough light to let Blade see how the slab could be moved out of the way. He crawled up onto the slab and shouted down into the darkness. «Kareena! Get out of the way. I'm going to be throwing the stones off the slab. Then you pull out the ones underneath.»