«I do.»
They walked on in silence for a while. Lorma was staying so close to Blade that he had to watch his step to keep from treading on her tail. Blue sky was beginning to show through the clouds overhead.
«A word of warning, Blade. Our women are not those of Jaghd. They know their own minds and speak them. Remember that and listen to them.»
«The women of England are more like yours than those of Jaghd,» said Blade. «I will feel more at home in Elstan than I ever did on the other side of the forest. The Jaghdi have a great deal to learn about women, and I fear Queen Tressana is not the one to teach them.»
Silence fell again. Blade looked back at the valley, where the mist had now lifted enough to show the ruins of the rogue plant. He hadn't won the whole war back there by defeating the plant, but he might have won Elstan's first battle.
Chapter 17
Blade won Elstan's second victory by following Daimarz's advice about listening to the women of Elstan. It was easy to listen to Haima Kao, Master of the Guild of Weavers, particularly when she was talking to him in bed.
She was a large woman, heavy-boned and muscular rather than fat, with red hair down to her waist and a hearty appetite for food, beer, and men. She met Blade when he and Daimarz visited her house. Blade wasn't expecting to have a particularly good time and, indeed, wasn't in the mood to be anybody's guest. It seemed to him that the Master Woodcutter's negotiations with his fellow Masters were taking forever, while Tressana's army might already be on the march. Daimarz swore up and down that his father was doing everything that could be done to persuade the other guildsmen to unite with the woodcutters, but Blade continued to wonder.
Haima's lavish banquet improved Blade's temper quite a bit. Their hostess laid on food and beer as though they were all eating their last meal. She talked cheerfully about her work, the inferior skills of the younger weavers, the people intriguing to get her out of the guild's mastership, her late husband, and her lovely daughter Chaia. She talked so long and so loudly that Daimarz, who was normally fond of the sound of his own voice, hardly got to say a word. Blade was amused at his blood brother's growing look of frustration.
During the meal Haima didn't say anything about the war or the negotiations among the Masters. Then at the end of the meal, Haima rose and said, «Here's to a peaceful road through the forest of Binaark, when we've beaten the Jaghdi!» She emptied a quart pot of beer without taking it from her lips. Blade was tempted to change that toast to «If we win,» but remembered his manners. What was more, Haima was indicating that at least her guild, if not the others, was willing to unite with the woodcutters in a campaign against the Jaghdi. After a few more toasts to people and things he'd never heard of, Haima turned Daimarz over to her serving girls and took Blade off to her own bed for the night.
She was the third woman Blade had slept with in this Dimension, and he found her in most ways the best company. She wasn't nervous like Jollya, and she wasn't slightly mad like Tressana. She was simply enjoying herself. He enjoyed particularly the fine pillow her magnificent breasts made, and the fact that she laughed when she reached her climax. It wasn't the hysterical laughter of Queen Tressana, but a deep, hearty bellowing. It was as if she was enjoying herself so much that she simply couldn't find any other way to show it.
Afterward they sprawled on the furs before her fireplace and got down to serious business. Haima unrolled a map pricked into deerskin with a hot needle and Blade showed her the planned Jaghdi campaign.
«The army on the Adrim isn't going to be much of a problem by itself,» she said. «We can give up the lowland along the river and hold here with only a handful of men.» A work-calloused forefinger stabbed at a narrow pass leading up from the Adrim into the central valleys of Elstan. «The Jaghdi cavalry is the real problem. Solve that and we've won the war.» She looked at the mark Blade had made to show the planned Jaghdi camp. «That's the Kettle of the Winds there. We use the cliffs behind the flatland for the Stone Death.»
«The what?»
«The Stone Death? Didn't Daimarz tell you?»
Her tone was so accusing that Blade felt he had to defend the woodcutter. «He's been busy, Haima. His father needs-«
«He needs to remember that you can be trusted now. The Stone Death is simple. We take the man to the top of one of the cliffs and throw him off.»
«Oh.» That explained why Daimarz had called it a «good death.» It would be quick, at least.
Haima looked at the map again, then closed her eyes as if she were trying to conjure up a picture of the Kettle of the Winds. «That bitch Tressana has a good eye for land. We can't come at anyone camped on the flats there.»
«You could make your own camp there first.»
«We might, if we had enough men. Until all the guilds speak with one voice, we couldn't put more than two thousand men there.» Blade realized that wouldn't be enough to hold for long against several times as many cavalry. The Jaghdi might not even bother to destroy them, and instead besiege them in their own camp with half the cavalry while the other half continued to march through Elstan.
«If we could just be sure of reaching the camp with enough of the Living Fire-«began Haima irritably. Then she saw Blade's blank expression and swore. «Didn't Daimarz tell you about that either?» She held up a hand to silence Blade's new attempts to make excuses for the woodcutter. «One of these days I'm going to take that boy's pants down and spank him until his ass is red!»
Without any prompting from Blade she went on to describe the Living Fire. Blade recognized it as what the woodcutters must have used on those three rogues. It explained the smoke, the tar-like smell, and the soot on the men. The Living Fire was something like Greek fire or napalm. It was based on «rock oil,» it clung where it fell, and water only spread it. A good dose of the Living Fire scattered over the Jaghdi camp would probably make a first-class mess, and if it landed among unsaddled rolghas…
Blade was so absorbed by the idea of panicking the whole Jaghdi army's mounts that Haima had to run her fingers and lips over him for quite a while before he would pay attention to her. When they'd finished this time, she raised herself on one elbow and looked down at him. The firelight playing on her red hair seemed to make her face and breasts glow.
«Blade, how long do you intend to stay in Elstan?»
Blade answered cautiously. «Until I must travel onward, or return to my own land of England. If my queen orders me to return, it is my duty to go.»
«And if those orders don't come?»
Blade had the feeling that she wanted to hear him say he'd be staying for many years. He knew that she wasn't the sort of woman to forgive a lie, and that it was impossible to tell how long it would be before the computer drew him back to Home Dimension. Even more cautiously, he said, «It could be several years.»
«Ah. Long enough to marry Chaia and give her children, then.» Startled, Blade could only nod. Haima went on. «Chaia is beautiful but willful. Those men who do not fear her fear me. Only the most courageous of men would be suitable husbands.»
«Is Daimarz one of those men, by any chance?»
She laughed. «You see clearly. Yes. He was the first I would have chosen, as soon as Chaia came of age. But he refused, and said so much against both her and me that he drove away others. Now Chaia is two years past the lawful age, with no husband. If you could take her and give her my grandchildren before you returned to England, I would be sure of a place in the future of Elstan.»