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Pugnarses, I believe, and Genal 
 No! I said. I felt the hurt, the agony, there, that I had never felt when a sword bit, when a leem s claws
struck.
She saw that. Triumph spurred her on.  They betrayed you! Pugnarses, because the fool thought to
wear the mail and sword of an overlord! And the other, because Pugnarses talked him into it, made him
out of jealousy of a girl 
 Holly! I said.
 Yes, she said, the venom biting.  A disgusting girl  cramph, Holly, who even now awaits my
brother s pleasure.
 And the two  Pugnarses and Genal? Again she moved those rounded shoulders, indifferent to their
fates. She had always taken what she wanted; she still believed she could take me if she tried hard
enough.  They are to be sacrifices. It is just. They presumed.
 Just! Is that Magdaggian justice?
 What do you, a Kov of Vallia, know of Magdaggian justice?
I gripped her shoulder.
 I would like to find those two 
 To kill them? To take your revenge? She let me grasp her and swayed into me, clasping me in her
arms.  Ah, no, Drak. No! Let them go. Escape. I have it all arranged. When Genodras returns and the
world is green once again  then we can ride!
 Where to? Sanurkazz?
She shook her head against my chest.  No. I have wide estates. No one will question the Princess
Susheeng. I will create a new identity for you, my Drak. We can return to Magdag. I have wealth enough
for us both, and to spare 
I had had, for the moment, enough of new identities.
She had been clever in not attempting to find a hauberk of width enough to encompass those shoulders
of mine, and an overseer of the balass was nicely balanced to move about the megalithic complex without
question within the hierarchical structure. I moved to the door. My face was set.
 Where are you  Drak! No! Please  NO! 
 I thank you for your help, Susheeng. I do not blame you for what you are. That is not of your
manufacture. I opened the door.  If you wish to call the guards, that is your privilege.
She ran to me, caught the gray slave tunic. Outside, a guard detail passed with a sacrifice screaming
between them.
 Drak! I will come with you!
We went out together. She preceded me, as was proper, and she led me through the maze of corridors,
avoiding the halls from which floated the horrid sounds of the rituals. There was nothing I could do for
those men of Zair now, here in a hive of mailed Magdaggian might. But my blood boiled and my heart
thumped the quicker, and I had to hold myself very stiff and straight as we passed those men of Magdag.
Genal and Pugnarses were chained together in a cell, awaiting their call to the sacrificial games.
They looked miserable and woebegone and defeated. I was glad to notice they did not look frightened.
They had had time to think, chained naked in a Magdag dungeon.
They saw me over the shoulder of the guard. Their eyes popped and they would have spoken out and
so betrayed me once again had I not struck the guard on his chin, above the opened ventail. I took his
keys and his sword.
I stood looking at them, as Susheeng hovered uncertainly at the door, peering with frightened eyes into
the corridor. I shook the keys before them.
 Stylor  Genal swallowed. He looked sick.  If you are going to kill us, do it now. I deserve it, for I
betrayed you.
Pugnarses, in turn, swallowed. He stared at the sword as a man stares at a snake.  Strike hard, Stylor.
 You pair of fools! I said. I spoke fiercely, hotly, angrily, feeling all the hurt in me.  You betrayed me
because of Holly. Did you not see the pile of corpses  of our own men? The group leaders dead, the
glorious revolution finished?
 We  croaked Genal.
 I persuaded Genal, said Pugnarses.  I wanted to be an overlord! I thought they would believe two of
us more than one alone. I must take the blame, Stylor 
 And see what the men of Magdag do in return, how they repay your treachery! My face, I could see,
made them believe all was over for them.  I can understand either of you doing anything for love of a girl,
and I suppose you thought she must choose one of you! Betraying a rival is a small thing to a man so
obsessed with a girl. But you betrayed everyone and everything we worked and struggled for. You
betrayed more than me, Stylor!
I lifted the sword. Both of them stared at me, unflinching.
I reached across with the keys, threw down the sword, and snapped open the locks.
 Now, I said.  Old vosk heads. We fight!
But first  there was Holly.
I handed the sword to Susheeng. She hesitated. A party of guards moved past a cross corridor. I
motioned to them.  A shout, Princess, and how do you explain this?
 She flung herself around, taking the sword, and almost, I believe, the impulse to cut us down mastered
her. Then she led us on. The swing of her hips as she walked ahead of us made a fascinating sight
 Wait here, she said outside her brother s palatial apartments within the megalith.  I will bring the girl.
When she had gone, Pugnarses said:  Can we trust her?
Genal said:  We have to. She, and Stylor, are our only hope.
 And when we get back to the warrens, I said,  what is to become of her then?
Genal looked at me, and away. He felt his disgrace keenly. Pugnarses, uncharacteristically, said:  At
another time, Stylor, I would have counseled:  Kill her! But I do not think you will do that. He eyed me.
 Do you love her?
 No.
 But she loves you.
 She believes so. She will get over it.
 And  Holly?
 Holly, I said,  is a sweet child. But my love lies far away from here, in another land, and I remain here
only because it is a stricture laid on me. As soon as I have finished my work, then  then, believe me, I
shall leave Magdag and all its evil ways far behind me!
I spoke with a passion that forced them to believe. Holly, following Susheeng meekly, came out then,
and she saw me and the color flooded her cheeks.
I merely said:  Hurry, Princess.
There was no time, as I saw it, for a traumatic and emotional outbreak. I wanted to get back to the
warrens. We all knew what would happen as soon as Genodras reappeared in the sky above Kregen
and the overlords of Magdag were freed from their superstitious imprisonment in the megalithic
complexes.
Susheeng, it was clear, still believed she could persuade me to accede to her plan. To her it would [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]