In any case, Konis won the war, as much as such a war can ever be won. It was left as the only relic of civilization in a world rapidly reverting to wilderness inhabited by savages.
Over two generations, Konis came to have only two groups that wielded real power. There were the scientists and learned people in general, the Peace Lords. They were busy trying to recover lost knowledge, and also kept control of the process of interdimensional travel.
Then there were the mercenaries, the formidable warriors who held the line against the barbarians and even extended the frontiers of Konis from time to time. As formidable as they were in war, the Peace Lords held them in contempt and showed it.
«That was a mistake,» said Blade.
«It was,» said Silora grimly. «Even some of the Peace Lords themselves realized it, my parents among them. They tried to change the minds of their fellow Peace Lords. Then when that failed, they joined the mercenaries in a rebellion. They thought it was only justice. I think what they really hoped was that it would be easier for them if someone else took over and ruled Konis. They were sick and tired of endless work that produced nothing.»
The mercenaries were of course only too glad to take over Konis and rule it according to their own notions. The Peace Lords soon found that one of those notions was treating all nonmercenaries as virtual slaves, particularly the women. But that was only the beginning.
«They had defeated and driven back most of the barbarian peoples on the frontiers by then. So they thought-why not use the dimension door to go raiding in other dimensions? They dreamed of more war and killing and loot and slaves they could keep themselves or sell in Konis to make people grateful to them.»
So the Looters were born. Frightened Peace Lords built a dimension door in the heart of the mercenary city. Then the mercenaries took the machines they had been using to fight the barbarians and went off to other dimensions in them, to kill and destroy and loot.
«Of course it wasn't quite that simple, or I wouldn't be here now and you and your people would mostly be dead. The mercenaries had been fighting nobody but barbarians for so long that they had lost the knowledge of how to use many of the weapons and machines they had. Also, some of the machines themselves were only powerful enough to fight against people who could not really fight back. I think of the ones with the purple rays, for example.»
So the mercenaries needed the help of the Peace Lords after all, to program and fight their machines. This meant that each expedition of Looters that traveled out from Konis through the dimension door into the unknown contained two groups who hated and distrusted each other. The mercenaries needed the Peace Lords and the Peace Lords usually had to leave hostages behind. So most of the time there was peace, at least on the surface.
But the Peace Lords seldom gave the mercenaries the best advice on tactics, or did the best possible job in programming the computers of the war machines. Some committed open acts of sabotage. The boldest of the Peace Lords plotted to find chances of running away entirely.
«For us, even exile in another dimension sometimes seemed better than living in Konis under the rule of the mercenaries. But the mercenaries knew this as well as we did. They did not trust us in positions where we could escape easily. Not many Peace Lords got into my position-one of three people on a fighting expedition in an almost new dimension.»
This was not surprising, considering how Silora convinced the mercenaries that she could be trusted. She convinced a succession of them that she had such an insatiable appetite for the most grisly sexual perversions that she would never run away from anyone who would give her what she needed. That succession ran from the Principal Technician of War himself down to the two other men in the crew of the command machine. Her painfully acquired skill in unarmed combat further convinced the mercenaries that she had accepted their values and way of life.
Neither Silora's tale nor that of her people was a very pretty one. But when he heard it, Blade had more hope than before of saving the people of Tharn, which was what mattered here and now.
Still-
«Silora, I think I see a way of fighting the-the next expedition from Konis, when it arrives. But I need to know even more about the way that expedition will move and fight. Can you tell me? Will you tell me?»
«How can I do otherwise?» asked Silora simply. «I would do it even if I could do otherwise. I would not speak before, because I thought you were another barbarian warrior who had enslaved a civilized people.
«It has been a dream among the Peace Lords for many years that the mercenaries would one day meet a people who could face them in war. You are only one man, but you are so terrible in war that you are almost an army by yourself. You are also very-very worthy-in things other than war. Anything I know, you will know too.»
It took quite a while for Silora to keep her promise. In spite of her intelligence, courage, and skill, she was not really a military expert. Blade had to draw much of her knowledge of Looter strategy, tactics, and weaponry out of her in bits and pieces. But it did come out.
When they were finished at last, Blade was tempted to take another day off for celebration and spend it swimming, lovemaking, and lying in the sun. But he did not know how much time they might have before the Looters arrived in Tharn in swarms. He had to assume that every day was precious.
So a week after landing by the lake, Blade and Silora took off again, heading west at full speed toward the lands of the people.
They arrived only a day after the triumphant return of the fighting expedition. Everyone in the New City was beginning to get worried over Mazda's «disappearance.» He had flown off into the sky with a Looter prisoner and superbomb. Perhaps the prisoner had somehow slain Mazda and was on the way to drop the bomb on the people?
Blade's return put at least those fears to rest. But there were mutterings when Mazda and King Rikard gave orders for the Looter woman to be treated as an honored guest instead of locked up and tortured as an enemy prisoner.
Blade got even louder and more persistent mutterings from his own son when they discussed plans for the rest of what now both called the Looter War.
«The Looters make camp, as a rule, in three widely separated sections. One section is the tents of the mercenaries. Silora expects that when the Looters come again from Konis to Tharn, they will bring several thousand mercenaries, their soldiers, as well as the various machines. Another is the tents of the Peace Lords, well-guarded so they cannot get out to attack either the mercenaries or the war machines. The third is all the machines except a few that patrol around the camps. The machines must be our number-one target. A few Looters can do more damage with many machines than many Looters can do with a few machines. Also, it is easier for them to replace men, up to a point, than to replace machines.»
«I see. What you wish to do is drop the captured superbomb on the machines, and then fight the living Looters as we fought the Pethcines.»
«That's about it.»
«What makes you think they will camp as Silora says they have done before?»
«They have no way of knowing that we have a superbomb. Also, their war leaders apparently do not like to make changes in the way they fight. That is a habit I have seen in many war leaders during my travels. It is always a bad habit.»
«I can see why it would be one,» said King Rikard. «Very well, you drop a bomb on the Looter camp and destroy most of their machines. How will you know when the Looters arrive and where they are?»
«Silora has shown me-«
«You trust Silora that much?» Father and son looked at each other sharply. Their stares collided with an almost audible crunch.