Blade was running toward the hole before the echoes of the robot's fall died. He approached the hole from the rear to avoid the laser but quickly saw he needn't have bothered. The robot's chest was crushed against a steel column, and the laser was sizzling and sputtering like all the frying pans in the world put together. Acrid gas poured up past Blade, and sparks and bits of molten metal dripped down into the water from the lower roadway. Blade sighted in on the robot's neck and fired his rifle. He kept firing until the rifle was too hot to hold. He let it cool off, then started firing again until the power cell was completely dead. By then half the robot's neck was black and distorted, and clouds of foul-smelling smoke told Blade of burned-out circuitry. By the time Saorm staggered up with the other rifle, Blade was sure the robot was helpless if not permanently wrecked.
He clapped the merchant on the back. «Saorm, I don't know what the Law says, or what the Law says I can say. But I say here and now-this day you've been a warrior and a friend. Let no one say a word against Geyrna's father in my presence.»
«Thank you, Blade. I-«Suddenly he went down on hands and knees, started shaking all over, then vomited into the hole. Blade let him alone. Tougher men than Saorm could have got the shakes after this weird battle. As long as he'd waited until after the fight, it was all right.
Finally Saorm rose, wiped his mouth, and looked down at the robot. «So we've won.»
«We've won today's battle,» said Blade. «But I suspect it was only the first battle in what could be a very long war.»
«The Law spare us that!» exclaimed Saorm.
Blade shook his head. «I do not think the Law will make much difference one way or another. In fact, I would say that today saw the end of Kaldak of the Law.»
Chapter 11
Blade examined the robot quickly, ignoring the danger of booby traps. He wanted the job done before either new enemies or the Kaldakans arrived. By the time he'd finished, he was even more sure than before that nothing would ever be the same again in this Dimension. Strictly speaking, the fallen machine was not a robot, a selfcontained mechanical imitation of a human being. Instead it was controlled from a distance by a computer or possibly a human operator, getting commands by radio and sending back visual and sound information from its sensors. In spite of its humanoid form, it reminded Blade of the remote-controlled waldoes in Home Dimension used for handling radioactive materials. Now if he could just find a way to disable or jam the radio equipment…
That hope soon vanished. The radio equipment was so sophisticated and apparently so nearly indestructible that Blade couldn't have figured out a way of defeating it with all the resources of Home Dimension technology available. Lord Leighton might have been able to improvise something, but Blade wasn't that kind of electronics expert.
Blade's grim look seemed to depress Saorm even more. The merchant was sitting on the edge of the hole, staring at nothing. It seemed he couldn't face the idea of a Kaldak totally without the Law.
«Blade, Blade,» he moaned. «If there is no Law, what will become of my daughter, who has already given herself to Bairam? Without the Law, how will he think of her?»
«He'll think of her as his bride, or at least a woman to be well treated. If the Law doesn't tell him that, my fist will,» said Blade. «I think Peython and Kareena will help me too.»
The idea that the passing of the Law would not necessarily bring dishonor to his daughter seemed to cheer up Saorm. He rose and began in a fumbling way to study the two laser rifles.
He was still at work when the rest of the expedition came up on foot, with Kareena in the lead. When she saw Blade standing unharmed, she gave a wordless little cry and ran to him, ignoring Hota's black look.
«Blade! Are you all right? We thought-«
«You were wrong,» said Blade wearily. He was too tired and too conscious of the need for haste to be polite. «I am all right. Are the munfans ready to go?»
«Yes. But must we leave so soon, when there is so much new Oltec to learn?»
She had a point. There ought to be some alternative to a headlong retreat, waldoes or no waldoes. However, they couldn't really afford to risk losing what they'd already gained in the hope of winning more. He explained the situation.
«So the Oltec machine had to be sent by men?» asked Sidas when Blade was finished. «Is it possible that-the Tower Builders still live somewhere in the land?»
Blade shook his head. «If the Tower Builders still lived, there would have been other signs of them long before now. Also, this war machine would not have gone mad. I think someone in a city has learned how to use these machines and is sending them against his enemies.»
«The Doimari!» growled Bairam. He cursed. «They have always lived under a weak Law. Now instead of being cursed, they find these to sweep the land.»
«We shall not keep the Doimari from sweeping the Land by throwing aside the Law ourselves,» said Hota firmly. «So before we do anything else, let us all take new oaths to the Law.»
«Before we do anything else,» said Kareena, «we shall let Blade of England finish what he has to say.»
«A man outside the Law?»
«A man who has beaten an enemy not even you could have fought. You are not outside the Law, Hota, but you will be outside my favor if you speak again before Blade has finished.»
It was probably just as well that no one heard what Hota muttered under his breath while everyone else was listening to Blade. «The rest of you should load the munfans with all the fire jewels they can carry and return to Kaldak as fast as you can. Then you should begin to search Kaldak for underground rooms with fire jewels and other Oltec which you can use against the machines.»
«What about you, Blade?» asked Sidas.
«I will stay behind in Gilmarg,» he said. «I want to look for more Oltec. I will start with what may lie at the bottom of the ladder in the room of the fire jewels. Though I am outside the Law, I know more about what to seek. I can fight or run better than anyone else if the Doimari send more Oltec machines.»
«Yes,» someone said, «but since you are outside the Law, you should not be left alone with all this Oltec. Someone within the Law must stay with you.»
«I can stay with you,» said Saorm. He had his color back now and was standing with a rifle over his shoulder. He looked like a self-confident combat veteran.
«No,» said Blade. «You were very valiant during the fight with the war machine, but I don't think you'd live through another such encounter. No, you must return to the city and help in the search there.»
Everyone seemed to be trying to look at everyone else at once. Although no one quite wanted to leave Blade alone in Gilmarg, no one was eager to volunteer to face Doimari, waldoes, and the Sky Masters alone knew what else. Blade was relieved to see that at least neither Bairam nor Hota had volunteered.
Sidas seemed about to speak, then Kareena stamped her foot. «Are none of you men? Then I will stay behind with Blade. No one can say that I am not within the Law.»
«So, you're finally going to let Blade bed you?» said Hota. He spoke loudly enough to be overheard but not so loud that anyone who wanted to ignore him couldn't do so. Blade saw Kareena silently grit her teeth and hoped Bairam would have the sense to do the same.
Instead Bairam drew his sword so violently that he nearly dropped it, then stepped toward Hota. Kareena tried to hold him back, but he shook off her hand fiercely.
«Hota, you will eat those-words.»
Hota's own sword rasped out of its scabbard. «You will eat my sword long before that, Bairam. You may be of Peython's blood, but I begin to wonder. Would Peython have a son ready to sell his sister to someone outside the Law?»