Return To Kaldak

Sidas sat with his hands folded in his lap, his cigar burning itself out u

«I'm glad you told the truth,» he said. «I wouldn't have held back the lifters, no matter what. In fact, I've already decided to send the lifters. You see, Bekror sent me a serum formula given him by Voros. I had the formula studied by a few of our own people. They say Voros is telling the truth: it is indeed an antidote to the deadly germs Detcharn plans to let loose on Kaldak. So Veros has gotten all the help I can give him, no matter who he is.»

«You won't send people from-oh, the City Regiment? Wouldn't they do the job better than raw Tribesmen?»

«With the best weapons and Voros-Blade to lead them, those 'raw Tribesmen' will be good enough. Also, City people wouldn't follow Voros unless he was pardoned for his desertion. That would raise a lot of questions better left lying. If it is Blade come back, he's probably got good reasons for not wanting everybody knowing it. For the time being, I'll respect those reasons, though I did decide to send one man from the City Regiment to help Voros train his men.»

Sidas lit another cigar, and this time Baliza joined him, although she put hers down after a few puffs. She was afraid she would be sick all over again. «No, what I'd have done if you'd lied wouldn't hurt Voros. I'd simply have ordered you to sit in Kaldak during this fight. Under arrest, if necessary.» She could tell he wasn't joking.

«Then-I can join my-Voros-in the raid on the rocket base?» She hadn't realized until now just how badly she wanted to do this, and she still didn't know exactly why.

Sidas shook his head. «He's too likely to recognize you, and spend time worrying about keeping you out of danger. That's not a worry to give a man leading a raid like that. I know,» he said with a sigh. «Your mother, as much as I loved her, would never stop giving me that worry.»

«But if he's not my father-«

«Even if he really is just a man named Voros, it's still not a good idea. Do you think he'll want to be remembered as the man who led the Sky Master Blade's daughter to her death?»

Baliza had no answer to that question, then decided there wasn't any. «Very well. You're right. But-the Laws abandon me if I'm just going to sit on my bottom in Kaldak while this is happening! You will have to put me under arrest to make me do it, I warn you!»

«I don't expect you to do anything of the sort!» said the High Commander. «In fact, we've got work for you every bit as important as the raid. You're going to enter Doimar and bring out Feragga.»

Baliza must have looked as confused as she felt, because Sidas explained himself very carefully. Baliza was to enter Doimar, find out where Feragga lived, go there, and bring her to Kaldak. Since Feragga was crippled, this would mean stealing a lifter as well.

«You should be ready to take her by force if you have to. But as the Sky Master's daughter, you're the one person in Kaldak who might not have to. That's why you're going alone. If we sent in a squad, she'd probably kill herself rather than move an inch.»

«Assuming she comes to Kaldak of her own free will, what then?»

«A lot of Detcharn's enemies will rally around her if she's alive after the raid. She won't be if we don't get her out of Doimar. Detcharn will kill her if he survives the raid, and his friends will try if he doesn't. With luck, Feragga will be ruler of Doimar again.»

«It will take more than luck,» said Baliza. «It will take the consent of the Council of Nine.»

For the first time, Geyrna spoke. «I think that will not be such a problem as you might think.» Something in her voice. .

«You two worked this out between you,» Baliza exclaimed. «You-you've been playing with me all this time!»

Sidas tried to look ashamed. He wasn't very successful. As angry as she was, Baliza wanted to laugh. Finally she said, «All right. Feragga will make a good rallying point. Even if she doesn't, she shouldn't die at the hands of Detcharn's hired killers. I'll go, on one condition.»

«Yes?» said the other two, almost in unison.

«If I don't come back, if Voros returns, go to him and speak plainly about his secret. If he is-my father-ask him to forgive me for-what I tried to do. Tell him I honored and loved him as best I could, although not as much as he deserved.»

«And if he doesn't come back?» said Sidas quietly. Baliza remembered how many people her stepfather had sent out who hadn't come back. For the first time she saw clearly that he was growing old under that burden.

«Then let him be remembered as a warrior of Kaldak. He was that, whatever else he was.» They could all drink to that.

The lifter came to a stop a man's height above the ground. Baliza swung herself out the door and dropped into the long grass. She carried a heavy pack, but the grass and the damp earth made for a soft landing. She stepped out from under the lifter and waved to the two pilots. They waved back, then the lifter whined away across the field. It stayed low, and quickly vanished behind the trees dimly visible on the edge of the field.

The long grass and soft earth now made walking difficult. After a while Baliza gave up trying to avoid leaving a trail and simply plowed straight on. By the time she reached the edge of the field it was noticeably lighter. She was soaked to the skin from the waist down, and she also discovered that the grass was full of insects. She took her trousers off and picked the insects out while studying her map.

She was about two days' walk from Doimar by the shortest route, which she could not use. It brought her too close to the biggest training camp of the army of Doimar. The countryside there would be crawling with soldiers and the sky filled with lifters. So she would have to take a longer route. Call it four days' traveling. That should still get her to Doimar with plenty of time to find out where Feragga was and how to get her out of the city, before the raiders struck the rocket base. After the raid, the Doimari would be very much on the alert, not to mention quick on the trigger. Also, Feragga might be dead.

Things might go faster if she got help from the agents Kaldakan Intelligence already had in Doimar. Certainly they would have orders to do their best for her-Sidas had made that very clear.

«If they don't, I'll be asking why. And if they don't have some very good answers, they'll be envying Tribesman slaves before I get through with them.» From Sidas's expression, Baliza was glad she hadn't tried to lie to him. He wasn't cruel, but he was ruthlessly just in handing out both rewards and punishments.

«The Intelligence people owe us a big debt for their clowning around. If they'd done their work properly, we'd have learned about Detcharn's fever rockets a long time ago. We wouldn't have to be throwing good men into a fangjaw's mouth to do their work for them!»

However, the fact remained that the Intelligence people certainly hadn't lived up to their name. Would they be more trouble than help, when it came to snatching Feragga?

Right now, though, she had to get to Doimar, before she even needed to worry about anything else. When she'd finished getting the insects out of her pants, Baliza pulled a set of farm woman's clothing out of her pack. Turned inside out, her pack looked just like a Doimari carrying sack. To complete her disguise, she unfolded a broad-brimmed hat. It shielded her face from the sun and prying eyes. A concealed pocket in the brim also held a miniature laser pistol, where she could easily draw it with a gesture nobody would suspect.

An hour after sunrise, two things happened at once. Baliza reached the bank of the Pesto River, and three lifters flew overhead. One of them was towing a balloon-load of troops. Before they were out of sight, Baliza saw the lifters start to circle, while the balloon began to descend.