Tyan stepped closer to Blade and started to go down on his knees. As his mouth passed close to Blade's ear, Blade heard the First Consecrated say in a low, urgent whisper:

«Keep your face straight and play this out if you want to live to die in bed.»

Blade badly wanted to break out laughing instead. He stepped forward and raised both arms over his head as Tyan knelt on the grass before him. The shouts grew louder. People began running from all around the amphitheater to see what was going on. They too knelt as they saw Tyan kneeling before Blade, and their voices joined the uproar.

The crowd swelled steadily until there must have been five hundred people-soldiers, slaves, servants, the Consecrated themselves-crowding around Blade and Tyan. All of them were shouting at the top of their lungs, in the grip of a total hysterical adoration of the Champion of the Gods. They were beginning to give Blade another headache.

Eventually Tyan lifted his head to meet Blade's eyes and nodded slightly. Blade returned the nod. Tyan rose to his feet and gestured to quiet the crowd. Bit by bit the noise died away. When he could make himself heard, Tyan shouted, «People! Go forth from this place, and tell all you meet-the Champion of the Gods is come to Kano! Tell all you meet to take heart, aim true, smite the Raufi with greater strength, for Kano shall live!»

The cheers and the shouting exploded deafeningly all over again. Meanwhile Blade was bending over Katerina. To his relief she seemed to be awake and aware now, if still a little dizzy. He was helping her to her feet when Tyan came over to them and again spoke to Blade. The crowd was shouting so hysterically that this time he didn't need to whisper.

«If you help Kano live, my friend, so shall you. Otherwise-«Blade nodded. Tyan smiled thinly. The understanding between them was clear, and for the moment that was all they needed. The details could come later.

Tyan motioned his three trumpeters to clear a path. They complied, with trumpet calls and flourishes of their swords. As the path opened for them, Tyan led Blade and Katerina down it, away from the Mouth, away from the crowd, away into darkness and silence.

Chapter Twenty-Three

An hour later three heavily escorted sedan chairs delivered Tyan, Blade, and Katerina to the House of the Consecrated in the heart of the inner city. By that time, the rumor of the Champion's coming was running about the whole city. So were thousands of men and women, shouting, screaming, weeping in hysterical joy and relief and religious frenzy, waving torches and swords, letting off guns, broaching wine barrels, and generally making as much noise as the Raufi could have done in sacking the city.

Blade's head was throbbing and Katerina looked half-dead again. Tyan looked as tough and unruffled as ever. Blade had the impression that the First Consecrated would stay calm if the earth was threatening to open up and swallow him or the sky was about to fall down on his head.

Tyan did not relax until the three of them were locked in the innermost of his private chambers in the House of the Consecrated. The furnishings were austere, almost monkish. Tyan was apparently a man who took his vows of asceticism seriously.

«It gives little comfort to the body,» the man said, as he noticed Blade looking around. «But it is altogether proof against prying ears, and that gives much comfort to the spirit now. All the servants who enter here are deaf-mutes, and no others enter unless I know them to be absolutely trustworthy.»

«I do not suppose you include Jormin on the list of the trustworthy,» said Blade.

Again Tyan smiled thinly. His face did not seem designed for broad smiles, grins, or laughter. «By custom it is the right of the Second Consecrated to enter the private chambers of the First. It is also the right of the First to ignore custom when there is good reason for it. Does that answer your question?

«It does.»

«Good. Now-do you wish a drink?» Blade nodded. «Good. Anything that may be found in Kano can be prepared. I shall summon a servant.»

Tyan drank plain water, while Blade and Katerina took a light chilled white wine. As they drank, Blade had a chance to look more closely at the First Consecrated. The man was older than he'd suspected, closer to sixty than fifty. Now that he was no longer on public display, he also looked tired. Those deep eyes were red with fatigue, and there were nets of wrinkles in their corners and on the high forehead and scalp.

When all three had emptied their cups, Tyan smiled a third time. «I will not waste time wondering how you escaped from the very jaws of the Mouth of the Gods. You did it. That is sufficient for the moment. It is even more useful that your new woman disguised you so carefully that no one but myself appears to have recognized you. That was a remarkable feat in a very short time, incidentally. My compliments to you, my lady.» He raised his cup in salute to Katerina. She managed a faint smile.

«I shall be interested in hearing more of how you did these things, after the Raufi are no longer camped outside the walls. For the moment, though, you are the Champion of the Gods and we will all be much too busy.»

«I rather imagine so,» said Blade. «What precisely am I supposed to do?»

Tyan set his cup down and straightened up. «First, keep your mouth shut. I do not fear the people. By morning they will be so ready to believe in the Champion of the Gods that they will go on believing and never doubt, no matter what you say. But there are people like Jormin and his supporters among the Consecrated. There are also the Jade Masters. They could have reasons for doubting you, so do and say nothing to strengthen such doubts.»

«I shall be careful,» said Blade. He remembered what Arllona had told him, about the Jade Masters' possible willingness to betray Kano in return for their own safety. Should he mention that now? No, it wasn't the right time. Besides, the coming of the «Champion of the Gods» might keep the Jade Masters loyal, or at least quiet. He would keep his eyes and ears open, but for the moment he would keep his mouth shut about the Jade Masters.

«Second,» went on Tyan, «show yourself to the Consecrated and the people, so that everyone may know that you have truly come. That will start tomorrow morning, and I am afraid it will go on for a very long time. I do not ask you to enjoy being on display like a clown or a performing bear. I ask, however, that you endure it.»

Blade grinned. «I appreciate your concern, Tyan. It shall be as you say. I wish to live-and I wish Kano to live, also.»

Again the thin smile. «I am happy to hear that you can say that, whether you believe it or not. Say it again tomorrow morning, before the Consecrated, and before every other audience you may find in Kano. There are too many who believe that the gods have judged us and found us unworthy to survive. Such may not turn traitor, but they will hardly fight as well as they must if we are to be saved.»

«I shall.» There was something almost refreshing in Tyan's cool cynicism. It was certainly a contrast to the superstitious fears of the Ganthi that had so nearly killed both him and Katerina.

Tyan rose. «I can think of nothing else at the moment, but feel free to make suggestions. Now, however, it is time to begin preparing for the audience with the Consecrated. It will be at dawn, as custom orders.»

Blade was tempted to suggest what Tyan could do with custom. He badly wanted to go off somewhere and sleep, and Katerina looked about ready to fall flat on her face with sheer exhaustion.

Yet it would never do for the Champion of the Gods or his woman to show any common mortal weaknesses so soon. Blade suppressed a sigh and nodded. «Tell us what to do, and we shall do it.»