«Yes. Seven of the women you have taken to your bed are with child. Seven! No man in the memory of Kaldak has done so well in his whole life. You have done this in less than a month. We must have your loinguard to study, to know if it holds your secret!»
Blade laughed. «I have said the secret is in me, not in the loinguard. Do you doubt my word, Feragga?»
«I do not doubt that you are telling the truth as far as you know it, Blade. But do you know everything? The Seekers doubt it and would like to study the loinguard itself. Now may they have it peacefully?» She left the implied threat unspoken, but Blade heard the rasp of swords being drawn.
If he gave up the loinguard, there'd be practically no chance of his ever seeing it again. One of Lord Leighton's key experiments would lack its final results, and the scientist would not be happy, to put it mildly. The work of getting a protective garment for Blade-and possibly another traveler-to take into Dimension X would be set back. The Seekers might even learn enough from the loinguard to develop some suspicions about Blade's origins.
Yet they could hardly deduce the whole Dimension X secret from one piece of strange alloy. Nothing short of the Dimension X secret itself was worth the trouble Blade would face if he didn't give up the loinguard. The Doimari were obviously prepared to take it by force. They might not want to kill the goose who laid the golden eggs-or in this case, the gander with the golden loins. But accidents could happen, and in any case Kareena might be horribly punished for his stubbornness. At best, he would probably be put under guard like a stud stallion, and his chances of escaping would practically disappear.
«All right,» he said loudly enough to be heard by everyone outside. «I give up my badge of a warrior of England for the good of Doimar. But it is unseemly for a warrior of England to be without his badge, so I must ask you to return it to me in five days' time.» Blade didn't know if they would agree to this condition, but he had nothing to lose by asking and everything to gain. He'd be able to make his getaway as he had planned and still return to Home Dimension with the silver loinguard.
There was no sound out in the hallway for a few seconds, then Blade heard Feragga's voice. «All right, Blade, we agree to return it to you in five days' time. Now let's have it.»
«There's just one more thing,» Blade said. «Let me get some clothes on. Then I will let you in.» He was damned if he'd face the crowd out there in his bare skin. His private parts were not going to be on public display for the Doimari.
Feragga and Nungor led the crowd into the room. Blade handed the loinguard to Feragga, who handed it to Rehna, the Seeker woman who'd trained Blade in using the waldoes. She looked so unhappy that Blade drew Feragga aside and asked why.
«Rehna has not conceived from your seed,» said Feragga. She sighed. «Yet she has had you in her, and she may have another chance. Consider my situation. Now I cannot bed you at all, for I am certainly past bearing children if I ever could. Your seed is abundant, to be sure, but you do not have enough to waste on dried-up old husks like me.» There was real pain in her voice.
Blade kissed her gently, ignoring Nungor's frown. «Do not call yourself harsh names, Feragga. There will be a time when duty is done and pleasure is our right. Meanwhile, you are the mother of all Doimar. You have twenty thousand children, and that is more than I will ever sire.»
Blade was glad to see Feragga smile, because his praise was almost sincere. Like too many rulers he'd met, Feragga was cruel, ruthless, and ambitious for power and conquest. Unlike some, she was not mad. Confronted with a Kaldak armed, able to defend itself, she might see reason and make peace. Then the work of Doimar's Seekers would in the long run benefit everyone in the Land.
However, she was still going to have to be defeated first.
Blade quickly discovered that in fact he was going to be kept in a gilded stall as Doimar's prize stud stallion, even though he'd given up the loinguard peacefully. He would have every luxury Doimar could supply and a different woman each night. He would also have very little privacy and therefore not much chance of escaping.
«You look worried, Blade,» said Feragga, when she'd finished explaining how he'd be treated. «Does any of this go against the Law of England? I would not have suspected you were the sort of Law-bound fool to think of such things.»
«I am not,» said Blade firmly. «You should know that by now. It is entirely Lawful for a warrior of England to give his seed to women of other lands, and even leave his children in them. But if I am to do this as you wish, I must have two things.»
«If they are in Doimar, you may have them,» said Nungor.
«Good. One is five days to go through certain rites. It is the custom of England for a man to perform them before he goes to his bride. They are said to increase his powers both to please women and to give them children.» Five days should be enough to finish his work with the Hovercraft and stock it with food, water, weapons, and spare power cells for the escape-not to mention getting the loinguard back.
«We are glad to honor the customs of England,» said Feragga. «What is the second thing?»
«I would like to have Kareena, daughter of Peython, here as my slave, to begin her Initiation and-«
«You don't mean to put your seed into her?» said Nungor sharply. «She is not worthy to bear children who will be the strength of Doimar.»
Apparently Nungor's suspicions weren't being lulled by the fact that Feragga was no longer planning to take Blade to bed. The man was simply suspicious by nature.
Feragga glared at Nungor and opened her mouth, but Blade spoke first. «Nungor, your tongue runs ahead of your wits. I have said nothing about giving seed to Kareena. I wish her to do some useful work as part of her Initiation, by keeping these rooms clean, waiting on the women I take to bed, and so on. If she has her strength back, it is time we put that strength to use. Like my seed, it should not be wasted.»
He let an edge creep into his voice. «And if I did wish to put my seed into Kareena, Peython's daughter, I would do so. You could not stop me. I would not call her unworthy to bear sons for any city. She is Peython's daughter, and although he fears the Law too much I have not heard that he is weak, foolish, or a coward. Neither is his daughter.» Blade caught his breath, realizing that he might have put himself and Kareena in danger but not caring too much. He'd be damned if he was going to kiss Nungor's arse forever!
Feragga gave one of her robust laughs. «Blade, you have said what I was going to say better than I could have said it myself. Certainly you can have Kareena to serve you. When you have taken all the women of Doimar who will share your bed, you can even put your seed into her if you have any left. Indeed, a child of Peython's daughter will not be unworthy of Doimar. When do you want Kareena brought here?»
«Oh, in a day or two will be soon enough,» said Blade with elaborate casualness. «I would like to teach her some of her duties before I start entertaining the ladies of Doimar every night.»
«It shall be done,» said Nungor, his face and voice both expressionless.
The last of the guards rolled off Kareena and rejoined his fellows standing around her. He didn't bother looking at her, let alone try to help her to her feet. She lay on the filthy straw until she felt she could stand up easily. She would not let these swine see her struggling to her feet, let alone ask one of them for help.
Gradually what strength she had left returned to her limbs. She was able to sit, then stand up. No one made a move to offer her any clothing, but she would have been surprised if they had. She'd been naked most of the time since they carried her out of the room where Blade stood, calmly betraying Kaldak to that bitch Feragga!