«Your people,» he said, «will be received among us, for Brother Nilando has convinced us that you are indeed friends. But they must at once withdraw into the forest and do their work there, that they may not be found in Tengran if the enemy's patrols come down on us.»
One of the women interrupted. «That will not save the town if the patrols do come. They will burn it for the sheer joy of seeing the flames.» She looked sullenly at Pnarr; Blade gathered she had been one of the last-ditch opposition to aiding the refugees.
«No, but it will save these people from perishing in those flames. And if they do indeed have ideas of how to fight the Ice Dragons and the weapons for such fighting, then we must save them.»
«Well and good,» said another man. «But what of their fliers? We cannot very well take them into the woods. And if they lie where they are much longer-«
Pnarr grinned and took up this perfect cue. «We're going to do something about that, Blade and I,» he broke in, ignoring the glare at the interruption. «We think we ought to take one of the fliers north to find the Ice Dragons' home. There must be some place nearer than the glaciers themselves where they stay between raids. If we can find it, we can go there and kill many of the Dragons and Masters at once.» That was the cover story they had worked out together. Mentioning the Ice Master would have been dangerous; mentioning aliens not only dangerous but futile.
Now the elders were turning to one another, discussing the idea, all except Nilando, who stared at Blade with a gaze that seemed to strip away the cover from the story and penetrate a long way toward the core of truth. Eventually the discussion petered out and the Sparrow looked at Blade and nodded.
«A wise idea. We have never had a flier before, but now that we do, it is well to get some use out of it before we must destroy it. What you need and what we can give, that you shall have.»
That was all, except that Nilando drew Blade aside as he was leaving the chamber. The Treduk leader's wide-set gray eyes bored into Blade's as he said,
«There is more to this than you are telling the council, is there not?»
Blade nodded.
«You expect to find perhaps more than Ice Dragons during your search?»
Again, Blade had to nod.
«Then the High Spirits of the Hills be with you. I do not know whether I should hope that you find what you seek, because I suspect that if you do, you will not be returning. And a man such as you, with the strange wisdom of a Graduk and the strength and courage of the Treduk, is someone we cannot spare without loss. Rena and I will both mourn you.» They clasped hands, and then Nilando was striding away, head up and shoulders back.
Blade and Pnarr still had many hours' work before they could take off. The fliers had to be moved to an at least slightly less exposed position in the mouth of a creek; town boats towed them there. The fuel had to be transferred to the flier intended for the mission; Pnarr took care of that, scrambling all over the fliers like an energetic cockroach, sweating, swearing, reeking of fuel and his bare chest and black trousers turning sickly green with the fumes and droplets. Survival gear had to be loaded aboard-rafts, emergency rations, tents, winter clothing, weapons, and so on; Blade took care of that. By nightfall everything necessary had been done, and it was time for both Blade and Pnarr to lie down in soft beds in a forest-screened lakeside cottage and get a sound night's sleep.
Pnarr did indeed lie down and sleep soundly the night through, but Blade's sleep was troubled and tormented by nightmarish visions of the aliens. At times they were insects, man-sized and multi-legged, waving bristling antennas and clicking mandibles and claws in his face, hideous things in garish shades of blue and red and slimy purple. At other times they were enormous bear-like things, but lumbering about on eight legs instead of four, with hairless ears sprouting from far back on their heads and long tentacles waving from sockets in their massive shoulders. And at times they were not even living creatures, but giant silver-shimmering cubes, with a fringe of jointed crab-like limbs sprouting from their lower edges, on which they moved and with which they reached out toward him, beeping and whistling all the while like a radio set gone berserk. Now that the long preliminaries were over and the moment of what he hoped would be a decisive thrust at the heart of the problem had come, the long strain and worry had finally caught up with him. It was only toward morning that he was finally able to get to sleep. It seemed only an hour or so beyond that before Pnarr shook him awake and led him out to the boat waiting to take them to the flier.
The sun was just breaking the horizon in a blaze of orange and luminous pink when the boat bumped against the flier's fuselage. The two Union people who had spent a damp and chilly night mounting guard aboard it greeted Blade and Pnarr, then eagerly scrambled down into the boat and shoved off, no doubt dreaming of warm beds and hot drinks. Pnarr pulled the main hatch open, threw in their gear, waited while Blade climbed in, then pulled the hatch shut behind them and sealed it. The pilot then went forward to the cockpit, while Blade headed aft to make a quick inspection and stow the gear. He had just passed the beamer turret when Doctor Leyndt stepped through the door from the rear cabin.
For a moment Blade could not speak, then he reached up and clamped both hands hard on her shoulders. «What the devil are you doing here?»
«I'm planning to come with you,» she said calmly, as though she were stating her plan to go into the kitchen for a cold drink. «I'm a doctor-remember-and that means I know more about the biological sciences than either you or Pnarr. I'm surprised you didn't think of that yourself. If there are aliens, you'll be able to find out much more about them with me along. And that's the whole purpose of the mission, isn't it?»
Blade nodded.
«If I weren't going to be useful I wouldn't have thought of coming along. If I had just come along because I wanted to be with you, you would have been right to send me back. Although,» more quietly, «I do want to be with you. Very much.» For a moment there was a mistiness in her eyes, then she recovered. «I had thought of waiting in hiding until you had taken off. But I realized that might look dishonest, so I came out now.»
Blade realized that he would probably find it easier to fight the aliens, with all their advanced knowledge and possible super-weapons, than this woman, with nothing but her straightforward honesty and logic. He couldn't at the moment quite bring himself to say in so many words, «Yes, you may come along,» but he did say:
«Better get into one of the passenger seats. Did you bring any gear?»
«Yes.»
«Good. I'd better go and tell Pnarr we have another person on board. He may need to revise his fuel calculations.»
Pnarr did, but it was a minor matter, Leyndt's extra weight being almost negligible aboard the huge flier. Nonetheless, Pnarr grumbled and swore at women in general and Leyndt in particular for another two minutes, then unlocked the throttles and began preparations for take-off.
The sun that burned in through the cockpit windows as they raced across the calm lake was now well above the horizon, promising another flawlessly clear day. As the acceleration pushed him steadily back into his seat, Blade felt a great sensation of relief, of annoying complexities dropping away like dirty clothes at the end of a long day's work. The time was at hand to test his theory, and if it proved correct, to somehow grapple with beings from beyond this world. He had to admit to himself that he had no idea of how to meet them if they existed. But equally he had to admit also that he would be disappointed if they did not exist, if his theory vanished into the empty cold air over the glaciers. So great was his desire to come to grips with an enemy that he found it hard to regard even the Ice Master as a worthy opponent.