Finally the guards appeared satisfied with his credentials and handed everything back to him. One of them looked him over from head to foot as they did so, a searching look that made it hard for Blade to sit still in his saddle.

«Have you heard anything of the Pendarnoth?»

Blade came out with his answer smoothly and calmly. «Not a word. Is there some great news of our Father?»

«None,» said the guard. «And that is what is bothering many among us. He rode out to keep watch upon the Lanyri all but a month ago, and not one word of him have we heard since. There are tales that he is slain, captured, or even proved a traitor.»

Blade managed to shrug, although, he felt a chill inside him at the last words. «I have been too busy riding among the patrols of soldiers to listen to tales, I fear. So I could say nothing worth hearing on this.» The guard nodded and shouted up to the gatekeeper to open the gates. They rumbled apart, and Blade rode on into the forecourt of the palace.

By the time he had turned his horse over to the stable-hands and made his way out of the stables, it was nearly dark. So much the better. Here in the palace were both his best friends and his worst enemies, both of whom knew his face well. And he still didn't want to be recognized until he was safely surrounded by a dozen or so loyal men. Even that might not be enough if Klerus really called out all his hired killers and ordered them to the attack, but it was better than wandering about alone.

His grimy and battered appearance drew a good deal of attention as he made his way through the palace corridors. But it drew no challenges. The palace was obviously on a war footing now, all peacetime pursuits and ceremonial dropped for the duration. There were archers and scouts and soldiers of the various guards wandering about in such numbers that one more travel-worn scout was no more than another tree in a forest.

Blade made straight for the Pendarnoth's suite, although he could not be sure that Guroth and the men of his patrol would still be there. Klerus might not have launched a general purge of the Pendarnoth's guard yet. But there was no way to be sure he had not indulged in a few pin-pricks, such as routing Guroth out of his quarters. Blade hoped he would not have to conceal his identity through a prolonged search of the whole palace for the High Captain. Damn! He had been half-hoping that the intrigues would end and the fighting start the moment he entered the palace gates.

He approached the door of his suite as cautiously as he could without seeming to be sneaking up on it. He noticed that the masons had abandoned their work in the corridor. Dismantled scaffolding, tools, and loose bricks lay about helter-skelter. All of them were covered with a thick layer of dust. But the two soldiers standing outside the door were from Guroth's patrol. They no longer wore the gold-decorated equipment and embroidered clothing of palace troops. Now they wore full field gear, complete with strung bows, full quivers, well-worn riding boots, and even canteens.

Blade strode up to them with his scout's, badge displayed and his message bag slung over his shoulder. He raised one hand in greeting but kept the other hovering near the hilt of his sword.

«Hail, soldiers.»

«Hail, scout. What do you bring?»

«I bring a message for the eyes of High Captain Guroth of the Pendarnoth's Guard. Is he within?»

One of the soldiers bent down, put his mouth to the hole in the door, and shouted, «Captain Guroth! A scout with a message for you.» A moment's listening for the answer, then the door opened and a voice called from within, «Enter.»

The two guards kept their eyes on Blade and their hands near their sword hilts until the door closed behind him. And four more soldiers stood behind Guroth as the captain came up to Blade.

«Welcome, my friend. What message do you have for me?»

Blade reached up and pulled off the eye patch and the head bandage. «My message is: I have come back.»

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

For a few moments Blade wondered if Guroth was going to drop dead on the spot from sheer surprise. The High Captain went white, then red, then purple. He seemed to be alternately strangling and breathing as though he had just run ten miles. Finally both his breath and his color returned to normal, and he stepped forward and embraced Blade with all his strength. Two of the guards let out shouts that sounded like Indian war whoops.

Blade gently pulled himself free of Guroth's bone-crushing embrace and put his finger to his lips. «The cheering can come later. At the moment nobody in all Pendar except you men know that I am here.»

«Including Klerus?» asked Guroth with a savage grin.

Blade nodded. «Including Klerus.»

Now Guroth looked as if he also wanted to shout and yell, but he caught himself in time. «Is it time, oh Pendarnoth?»

Blade did not need to ask «Time for what?» He knew that Guroth saw the situation as he did. «It is. How long will it take you to find out where Klerus is and gather enough men to deal with him and whoever he may have with him?»

Guroth frowned for a moment. «About an hour.»

«Good. Start now.»

For the first time Guroth looked at Blade with doubt in his eyes. «That soon, oh Pendarnoth? Without even asking the king?»

«If we take the time to ask the king, Klerus may learn that I have returned. And if he does, I don't think he will refrain from killing me. He is playing for stakes that have grown much too great.»

«I admit that seems wise. He certainly has a great many soldiers loyal to him. There will be a bloody battle if he calls them all to his aid. But if we strike at Klerus, and take the head off the conspiracy…»

Blade nodded. «The body will writhe around like a headless snake. It may make a lot of noise, but it will not be very dangerous. So send your messengers on their way at once.»

Guroth picked out eight men in a few minutes, and one by one they vanished into the darkness. Some went out the door, and some out onto the balcony and down to the ground on ropes. When they had all gone, Blade sat down and made a meal of the leftovers from the guards' dinner. Between bites of chicken and sips of wine he told the story of his adventures over the last month.

Guroth's face hardened as Blade described the treacherous desertion of the soldiers, then shrugged. «I do not think they lived long enough to get any reward for their treachery. None of them has been seen in Vilesh since your capture, and several of the officers have been reported killed. I suspect Klerus is having them killed off so they cannot tell of your capture.»

«But why shouldn't Klerus let the word out? It would be a terrible blow to the spirits of the Pendari.»

«Perhaps. But it might also make them determined to fight all the harder to avenge your capture. In any case, I do not think you were supposed to be captured. I think you were supposed to be slain on the spot. Dead men cannot escape or play games of their own. And if you had vanished mysteriously…»

Blade grinned. «No doubt General Ornilan, the Lanyri commander, thought the same. So his men carried out his plans, not Klerus'. Then he tried to win me over to work for him. Not only against the Pendari, but against Klerus. Obviously the Lanyri do not trust their own viceroy.»

It was Guroth's turn to grin. «Do you blame them?»

Blade used most of the rest of the hour to shave, scrub himself as thoroughly as possible, and don clean clothes and better weapons. Then he pulled a hood over his head. It was Curana's hood, the same one he had found on her body and worn the night of his meeting with Nefus and Harima. Now he would be wearing it as he went to avenge Curana's death on her murderer. Wearing it made him feel better than anything else could have done.