«Yes. You are the first man who is neither Rutari nor Uchendi to give any hint of such powers. If you have them, and can teach them…» The Wise One's lips were trembling. Obviously she felt the whole fate of her people was at stake in Blade's cooperation.

And if she feels that strongly about it, one slip and you're dead, Blade's training told him.

Yes, but consider how much I might learn, he replied. If nothing else, they have the kerush.

Which might destroy your mind.

True, but you've got to run a few risks in order to learn anything. And there's no danger to the Dimension X secret here. These people are centuries from having computers.

What about inter-Dimensional travel by telepathy?

What about it? I've resisted the telepathy of the Wizard of Rentoro, who could do it. If these people aren't at least as strong as he was, they're no danger to me, even with the kerush. Even if they do wind up traveling to Home Dimension, what harm can they do when they get there? The Kaldakans had lasers. These people don't even have bows!

I guess you're right. Go ahead, then.

«No honor the Rutari can give will be held back,» the Wise One was saying. «The storytellers will give your name to the children of the children of our children, and tell how grateful we were to you.» Ellspa licked her lips.

Blade wasn't a complete stranger to «recreational» drugs. He'd been involved in a couple of experiments to test the usefulness of LSD in his work. Also, while doing undercover work, he'd smoked his way through enough marijuana to know that he much preferred good Scotch.

However, he'd never tried mixing telepathy and drugs before, and would have preferred his first time to be under safer conditions. Since nobody gave a damn about his preferences, there was nothing to do but swallow the kerush seed and hope for the best.

Ellspa emptied a small sack of kerush seeds on to the floor in front of Blade and divided them into three equal piles. «These are the raw seeds,» she said. «Chew them slowly.»

It would have been easier to do this if the seeds hadn't tasted like oven-roasted peanuts dipped in roofing compound. Blade still obeyed, cautious about an overdose. By the time he'd swallowed the remains of the fifth seed, the first was beginning to take effect.

Blade felt as if he were sitting in thin air, several inches off the ground. His hands and feet were also separated from his wrists and ankles-he could see that clearly. Just as clearly, he could still feel them and control them. He could even pick up a sixth seed, chew, and swallow.

Then the Wise One raised her hand to warn Blade to stop, and she and Ellspa began taking their kerush. They took nine seeds apiece, faster than Blade. With one part of his mind he expected to see the two women float up off the floor like balloons. With another part, he realized that they were able to take a larger dose, or perhaps even needed it, with their greater tolerance built up over the years.

It was a relief for Blade to discover that the logical, rational side of his mind was still working. It was not quite so much of a relief to discover that he was getting an uncomfortably solid erection.

By the time the two women had finished their seeds, both were swaying gently, as if in time to inaudible music. Their eyes were wide, their breathing quick, and their mouths hanging open. Blade noted in an oddly detached manner that Ellspa's dark nipples were also erect.

Now Cheeky scurried between Blade and the women, then hopped onto Blade's lap. In Blade's present condition that was the wrong place for Cheeky. Blade winced, and Cheeky leaped up onto his master's shoulder.

(«You want female?»)

«What?» Blade's surprise made him speak out loud. He was hearing a voice in his mind, whether male or female he didn't know, and he had no idea who was «speaking. «

(«Use the spirit speech.») This time it was not a question but a command. It also had a very different «tone of voice»-call it a flavor-from that of the original question. Blade took several deep breaths to improve his concentration. He considered and rejected the idea of using mental pictures, as he did with Cheeky. Then as soon as he could be sure of not using lips, tongue, or vocal cords, he formed the words in his mind.

(«I have the spirit speech, if this is it. And I do want the females.») Actually he didn't really want the Wise One, but it would hardly be tactful to say so.

(«Yes. Old female not like it that way.»)

(«Cheeky!?») Blade's astonishment at realizing it was the feather-monkey speaking almost caused him to leap up and hug the animal.

(«It's me.»)

(«You took the kerush?»)

(«Yes. One seed.»)

(«We have better-telepathy-now?»)

(«Yes. You think-louder-now.»)

(«Much-louder.») It was the other mental voice, the one with the different «flavor.» Blade looked at the two women. It had to be one of them, but which? And had the Wise One heard him «thinking» that he didn't want her?

(«I am not offended, Blade. You are a young man, and Ellspa is a young woman. I cannot make you other than the gods have already done.»)

Blade was losing awareness of his body entirely now, as the kerush-induced telepathic links with Cheeky and the Wise One absorbed his whole mind. He was still conscious of Cheeky's paws placed on his temples, and a mental message with Cheeky's flavor to it.

(«I am to you like Moyla is to old female.»)

(«First Friend?»)

(«That my name?»)

(«Yes.»)

(«Then-I First Friend. Females not hear us now. You tell them I-First Friend.»)

(«Females-not good people. Should not know you are my First Friend, that we use spirit speech. That is a secret.»)

(«No secret! I First Friend. If females know I First Friend, they let me go to Moyla. You want females. I want Moyla. Moyla want me.»)

Blade couldn't help wondering if that one kerush seed had also increased Cheeky's intelligence. Perhaps it was because they were communicating in words instead of images. Or was it that the increase of his own telepathic powers now let him hear thoughts that Cheeky had always had?

(«You ask good question.») Cheeky had obviously «heard» the question in Blade's mind. («Now, you tell females I First Friend, I give answer to your question. No tell, no answer.»)

(«You blasted little feather-covered blackmailer!»)

Blade got the impression of wordless laughter, and the sense of a will as stubborn as his own.

(«Blade, we cannot hear your spirit speech or that of the Cheeky. Is it there?») A new mental flavor, which probably meant Ellspa. («Is this how you keep your oath?»)

Blade wished there was a mental door he could slam-hard-in the face of both Cheeky and those two witches. Apart from the women not being able to listen in while he and Cheeky were in telepathic contact, the situation was getting distinctly hairy.

Cheeky's intelligence seemed to have whole new dimensions. The first thing the little bugger was doing was using it to blackmail his master into revealing important secrets. If Blade conceded this point-that is, to tell the Wise One he and Cheeky were like her and Moyla-and let Cheeky have his roll in the hay with Moyla, what next?

And if he didn't, also what next?

Another nasty question. A lot depended on Cheeky's cooperation, starting with the research into telepathy, which might salvage the whole Dimension X Project, possibly ending with Blade's physical survival here. But if Cheeky spent the rest of this trip sulking and was uncooperative…

Besides, Blade liked the little fellow. He didn't want to hurt or offend him. He let that thought flow through his mind and into Cheeky's as strongly as he could. Then he added:

(«All right. I'll tell them that you're my First Friend, and you and Moyla can get your rocks off together. But if you ever threaten me this way again, it will be the end of us. You'll be turned over to Lord Leighton for experimental work, like the kind you had in Kaldak.»)