Emass was delighted. «Your Magnificence,» he kept saying, «this is a great stroke of good fortune. These people are your enemies, whom you would have had to destroy sooner or later. Here they are, dying by the thousands without you having to lift a finger or take the smallest portion of the blame.»
Blade shook his head. «Some of them may be your enemies,» he said. «But I suspect that a great many personal feuds are also being settled. You would be wise to bring the killing to a halt as quickly as possible.»
Durouman threw back his head and roared with laughter. «Blade, Emass-what am I going to do if you two stay around and keep giving me advice? You always make exactly opposite suggestions.»
«I do not know about Emass,» said Blade, «but you will not have to worry about me much longer. I have carried out the mission my king gave me-«
«And done a good deal more besides,» put in Durouman.
«True. But I have no more business here in Saram. I will be gathering a company of stout fighters before long, then riding south.»
«Are you sure you would not rather wait until we have fought the Steppemen?» said Durouman. «I would be glad of your sword beside mine again. Also, your journey will be safer when the Steppemen are broken.»
«I would be happy to join you,» said Blade. «But I was sent on this journey with strict orders from my king. He is not Kul-Nam. He will not have my head or title or estates if I do not return swiftly. He will merely not think me wise, and in England, to be thought unwise is to be thought dishonorable.»
«I will say no more,» said Durouman. «Is there anything I may do to speed you on your way?»
«There are things that will ease my mind,» said Blade. «First, there is-«
«Avenger's crew,» put in Durouman.
«Yes.»
«If it were possible, I would make every one of them a nobleman,» said Durouman earnestly. «That cannot be. I can swear solemnly that no man who fought under you aboard your ship will go hungry or homeless as long as he lives and I and my sons rule in Saram.»
Blade smiled. «Very good. Second, there is-«
«Haleen?» said Durouman.
Blade laughed loudly. «Has the Eagle crown given you the power to read other men's thoughts, my friend?»
«No. It is merely that you obviously care for her, and she for you. Why should you not therefore wish her in good hands?»
«True. I take it that you have a plan for her?»
«Yes. Princess Tarassa's son will need a nurse for some years, until he is old enough to be placed in the care of men. I was thinking of making her principal nurse to the young prince. She seems a very honest and wise young woman.»
«She is.» Wise enough, in fact, so that by the time the young prince no longer needed a nurse, Haleen would have the money and position to do whatever she pleased. Blade suspected that she would end up marrying at least a wealthy merchant's heir, if not a nobleman.
«Is there anything else I can do for those you must leave behind?»
«No,» said Blade sadly. «There are no others. Too many of those who have been my comrades in this land are dead.»
Haleen was waiting for him that night when he returned to the small palace that was his temporary home in the capital. He kissed her, but she wriggled gently out of his embrace and stood at arms' length, looking at him with an impish grin on her face.
«No, Prince Blade. Not until you have bathed. I am going to be a lady of some rank now, or so I have heard.»
«That is true.»
«Then I shall have in my bed no man who has not bathed first.» She raised one slim arm and pointed toward the bath chamber. «Go, my prince. Go and bathe.»
«Will you join me if I do?»
«In time, in time.»
That time was short. Five minutes after Blade climbed into the great golden bathtub, the chamber door opened and Haleen entered. She wore a pink silk robe that neither revealed nor clung but was somehow all the more enticing for that. Blade reached out toward her. She let him grasp her by one hand, then reached up with the other and undid the clasp of the robe. It whispered to the floor. Nude and lovely, she turned toward him.
Then she noticed the commando knife and belt hanging over one of the projecting ornaments on the edge of the tub. Her face clouded.
«You bathe with your knife?»
«I would rather not be without a weapon ready to hand until all the people who might want to send me after Kul-Nam are no longer dangerous.»
«I am not unarmed, Blade,» she said, putting her hands behind her head and giving her body a sensuous wiggle.
«No. But your weapons are no danger to my life.»
«You are that confident of your powers, Blade?»
«Are you planning to put them to a test?»
«I am.» Haleen put one hand on the edge of the tub and got ready to climb in. Then suddenly she jerked the hand back as if the tub had turned red-hot.
«Blade-what is the matter?» Her voice was half a gasp, half a scream.
«No-it's-«Blade managed to grunt. Then he could not have spoken a word to save his life. The pain was in his head, the pain that told him the time had come to return to Home Dimension. It tore at him, roaring in a way he'd never felt before. He saw nothing, felt nothing except the pain.
It eased for a moment, long enough for him to see an open-mouthed and staring Haleen, already fading away. The tub was still solid around him, the water hot against his skin, the knife and belt still hooked solidly to the ornament.
He had a moment to be aware of these things. He had another moment to raise a hand in farewell to Haleen. Then the pain crashed down on him again, and he was aware of nothing else.
Chapter 28
J's telephone rang shrilly. He pushed the file he was examining to one side and picked up the phone. Lord Leighton's voice sounded in his ear.
«Good evening, J. Trust I'm not disturbing you.»
«Not at all, Leighton, not at all.» That was truer than it usually was. Even if it had been entirely untrue, J would still have said it. Leighton hadn't changed a bit in all the time they'd been working together-he would have interrupted God if the impulse came over him. But he tried to do it politely now.
«Very good, very good. I'm afraid we're facing a rather serious problem with the underground complex.»
J winced. «Indeed? What sort of a problem?»
«You remember that Richard came back this time in a golden bathtub filled with water?»
J certainly did. The golden tub had been appraised at thirty thousand pounds by MI6's confidential experts on such matters. That would be a useful sum of money. But Leighton didn't sound too happy about the gold. Of course! The water.
«I gather the water was a bit dangerous?»
«It certainly was. Fortunately, the tub landed upright. But imagine what would have happened if it had overturned! We'd have blown circuits all over the complex and probably electrocuted ourselves and Richard as well. I'm afraid there's no alternative, J. We'll just have to move everything out of the underground complex to another site that's less vulnerable to flooding.»
For a moment J's mouth hung open as he struggled for both words and self-control. «What?» he began to explode. «Do you realize that will cost at least seven million-!» Then he broke off. Something in Leighton's voice wasn't quite what it should be for an announcement like this. He took several deep breaths, then spoke again.
«Leighton-is there by any chance a sly grin on your face at this moment?»
An unmistakable chuckle came over the wire. «I'm rather afraid there is, J. I couldn't resist the impulse.»
J resisted an impulse to tell the scientist exactly what he thought of the joke and another impulse to take a taxi to the man's apartment and smartly box his ears in the best schoolboy manner. When both impulses were firmly under control, he went on.