He was patient. «If I knew I would not have to ask.»

Her smile grew. «Cut me down then and I will tell you. But I find it very strange that you do not know a Jedd when you see one. We have lived in this country as long as the world has been. Now you come, a stranger such as I have never seen before, and say that you have never heard of us. But cut me down first. Your snare is hurting my legs.»

Blade pondered it. She was only a girl, a naked girl without a weapon. There was no possible danger. He severed the vine and let her fall to the ground, all the while conscious that beneath his scanty loincloth of animal skin he was excited. He had adapted, all right! He was surging with want of her, with raw animal lust for her body. In a cooler moment he would have known and admitted the cause — Lord L's megavitamin therapy — but now he only wanted to penetrate her, then and there, and send his seed bursting into her.

He might have fallen atop her then and there, forced her, willing or not, had she not been too quick for him. She broke her fall with her hands, did a swift somersault, and had the caught vine nearly off her feet before he divined her intentions and sprang. She had one foot out of the loop and was running when he caught the end of the trailing vine and tripped her up. She fell with a crash into matted undergrowth and twisted to meet him, once again spitting and fighting like a wildcat. He hauled her rudely back by the leg. She raked his big chest with nails like talons. Blade, his ardor blunted for the time being, lost patience and clouted her alongside the head. Not too hard.

While she was unconscious he bound her with vines, then carried her back to the fires and dumped her on the ground. She was still out cold. Blade went back to roasting his supper, seemingly indifferent but watching her from a corner of his eye. When her eyes flickered open he gave her a few moments to recover, then he began to speak without looking directly at her.

«I will speak first,» he told her. «Then you will speak. I am master here and so it shall be while we remain together. That is understood?»

She nodded sulkily. «That is understood. You are master.»

«Good. What is your name?»

«I am called Ooma.»

«I see. Ooma. You said you were a Jedd — what is a Jedd? What does the word mean?»

She stared at the meat he was roasting. She licked her lips and dribble ran from the corners of her well-shaped mouth. «I starve. I will not talk until I am fed. You have meat. Give me some. I have not had meat in all the year I was a captive of the beastmen.»

Blade gave her a hard look. He dangled a piece of meat before her, then ate it slowly while she watched and drooled. Her eyes hated him.

«You will talk first, Ooma. Then you will have meat. Or you will not talk and shall have nothing at all.» Blade shrugged his big shoulders and smiled at her. «I do not care if you eat. It is nothing to me. I have plenty.»

She struggled against the vines binding her. Beneath the facial grime she was crimson with rage. Blade calmly speared a new hunk of meat and began to roast it.

Ooma said, «You are master. I will talk. But if you do not keep your promise and give me meat I will wait until you sleep and kill you. I promise it.»

He smiled sweetly at her. «And I promise you meat. I do not break my word. You will find that out, my girl. Now — what is a Jedd?»

«I am a Jedd. Jedd means mountain. And we are called Jedds because we are mountain people. Our Empress, a very old woman who is dying now, is the Jeddock.»

«Ah,» said Richard Blade softly, «an Empress? Tell me about that — tell me about the Jeddock.»

This, he thought, was more like it. Ooma could lead him out of the forest to something resembling civilization as he knew and understood it. Mountain people. An Empress. He listened with great attention, careful not to miss a word. When she had finished he untied her hands and gave her meat. She tore at it with cries of pleasure, gobbling and stuffing herself while the succulent juices dribbled down her chin. When she could eat no more she lay back, rubbing her belly and belching, and watching him with a new look in her green eyes.

«Who are you?» she demanded. «I have told you of myself and my people — what of you and your people? You are bigger and much stronger than the men of Jedd and much more handsome. You must come from a far place to be so different. Tell me.»

Blade would as lief remained silent, evaluating the information she had given him, but he needed her and wanted to keep her happy. He told his story, sticking as close to truth as was possible under the circumstances and keeping it simple. Ooma was not likely to grasp much about Home Dimension.

He pointed through a break in the trees at a full moon. Blood red and exactly at the zenith. «I come from another world, Ooma. Not that one, but a world much like it. I came by magic, in the time it takes you to draw a breath, though the distance in days of travel is more than all the leaves on all the trees in this forest. Do you understand?»

«No.» She scowled at him. «You lie to me. And you do not yet tell me your name, if you have one.»

«I do not lie,» he said calmly. «I have magic of my own, which I may show you if we remain friends. As for my name — it is Blade. That is what you will call me — Blade. Blade master. Try it, Ooma. See how it sounds.»

She frowned at him and showed her white teeth, but slowly she pronounced the words: «B-la-de mas-ter. Blade master.»

He nodded. «That is it. It has a good sound on your lips.»

«I do not like it. It has a sharp and cruel sound. And I do not think I like you, even though you gave me meat. You look at me strangely and it frightens me. I know what is in your mind, Blade master, and it shall not be. I will never give myself to you.»

She had a way of getting to the crux of things. Blade smiled. Though he still lusted for her, he had himself under control now. It would be criminally foolish to hurt or offend this child. He needed her more than she needed him, though perhaps she did not realize it. He tried to placate her. Without surrendering his dominance.

«You will not take that tone with me,» he said severely. «Listen. Do not fear me. I will not harm you. I will never touch you unless you wish to be touched. I want only for us to be friends, to help each other. You will guide me and answer all my questions and in return I shall take you safely back to your people.» He indicated the brooding dark forest encompassing them. «You will never get back to your Jedds alone, Ooma. There are too many dangers.»

For a moment, she gnawed at her red underlip with sparkling teeth, then nodded. «You are right. I will need you to get past the Api. If we get past them. They will probably kill and eat you and make a whore-slave of me, but I do not worry about that now. It is still four days' march before we reach the Api. So for now I will be your friend. You agree to this, Blade master?»

«Of course I agree. Have I not said I want to be friends!?»

«Then untie me. One friend does not keep another friend bound hand and foot. Or do they so in this world you say you come from?»

Blade chuckled. It was logical enough. «No,» he admitted. «In my world real friends trust each other.» No use mentioning that real friends were hard to come by and most friendship mere feigning. Things might be different in Dimension X, though he doubted it. He had discovered, at times to his sorrow and peril, that there were certain constants in all dimensions. This thought he could safely leave to the philosophers who might one day study Lord L's records. Blade had two objectives — survive and return.

He patted her sleek brown shoulder as he cut the vines binding her legs. «You are right, Ooma. I admit it and I set you free. And you need not be afraid of—»