A moment of stark terror, which told Blade that the threat had registered. Then a slightly contrite, («Sorry. Will do like you want.»)

(«Good, Cheeky. Now take your hands off my head. «)

The telepathic link with Cheeky faded. The one with the women grew stronger until it seemed that they were three bodies sharing a single mind.

(«Cheeky is my First Friend. He also desires Moyla. «)

(«I am not surprised to learn this. Moyla has thought so for some time. Also, she has desired the-Cheeky. «)

So Cheeky wasn't going to be turned down. Blade supposed this ought to make him feel better.

(«Of course. Do you not wish the Cheeky to be happy, since you are apparently quite fond of him?»)

(«I am fond of him, and I do wish him to be happy. I also wish you would not speak so freely about every thought I have. I do not intend all of them for you. I hope this is no breaking of my oath.»)

Ellspa rested a hand on the Wise One's shoulder. Silence followed as the two women consulted privately. Then:

(«We admit you would not be breaking your oath, to have thoughts of your own. But under kerush, it is not the custom of the Rutari.»)

(«The customs of the English are not those of the Rutari. Do you wish me to be as one of the Rutari while I am among you?»)

(«That is a question with no easy answer. Certainly not an answer we will find tonight.») The Wise One made a hand signal, and a stone fell out of the wall. It revealed a black hole and Moyla's face peering out. She saw Cheeky and stuck her head out farther, hissing softly.

Cheeky crossed the hut in three bounds, yeeeping in delight. Moyla reached down to help him, but he swarmed up the wall to the hole without any aid. He disappeared inside, and Blade rather hoped the kerush didn't make him sensitive to all of Cheeky's thoughts. After all, the little fellow did deserve privacy for his lovemaking!

Now Blade became aware that the Wise One had also vanished. Blade looked around the hut, but there was no sign of her. She must have gone as silently as a puff of smoke, and now here he was alone with Ellspa-and he suddenly noticed that she'd taken off her skirt. She sat cross-legged in front of him, naked except for her headband.

Well, why not? Certainly his erection hadn't vanished. Quite the contrary. Blade felt as if he was good for at least half a dozen women, and here was only Ellspa, bare and smiling and probably more than ready…

It took no thought for Blade to reach out and stroke her cheek. She raised a hand and curled long fingers around his wrist. Her smile widened, and she shifted slightly to give him a better view of her breasts. Blade thought he'd never seen such breasts-small but perfect cones, with nipples his hands positively ached to touch, and his lips too. He moved closer, ran both hands down Ellspa's shoulders to cup her breasts-

Across the left breast he felt a raised ridge-scar tissue? Blade looked at the breast under his hand. To his eyes the skin was smooth and flawless. To his hand, though, Ellspa's left breast felt as if there was a long scar across it, running on up to the shoulder.

A long scar, like the one on the Wise One's breast. Somehow the Wise One had made herself appear to be Ellspa, Blade thought.

The eyes of the woman facing him widened. She had «heard» what Blade was thinking, and she started to get to her feet, angry that her ruse had been discovered. But Blade's hands, with a grip like iron, clamped down on her ankles and held them, then jerked her toward him. Herbs, gourds, and everything else scattered as Blade pulled the woman feet-first into his lap. Then his arms went around her, squeezing her so tightly that all the breath wssssshed out of her.

She fought in spite of this, clawing at Blade's back and trying to bite his ear. But her struggles only stimulated him more, and meanwhile he held her with one arm and ran the other hand up and down her back. It was a very fine back, straight and smooth, and there was no deception in her nakedness. She was as bare as a baby.

Now the Wise One abandoned her efforts to present herself as Ellspa and started trying to wither Blade's erection. She imagined them surrounded by howling cold winds, foul-smelling bogs, fires, monstrous beasts with jaws dripping slime and tentacles glowing obscenely.

Unfortunately she wasn't able to break Blade's grip. And as long as Blade was holding in his lap a woman like the Wise One, the only way she could have got rid of his erection was by castrating him. Just to make sure she wouldn't get that idea, Blade started projecting the thought of the two of them locked together, the Wise One's slim legs clamped around his back, her lips flowing wet and hot against him ….

The anger went out of the Wise One in a single moment. In the next moment all the gruesome images faded away. Her mouth was nuzzling the side of Blade's neck, with her tongue licking his skin, while her hands went under Blade's loinguard and practically tore it aside. Blade raised the Wise One's head and kissed her hard, so that her lips opened and her tongue crept out to meet his. Then, with only the gentlest pressure of his hands on her shoulders, she lay back on the furs and let him into her.

The pleasure at finally being there was almost explosive. Blade didn't know how much was real and how much was the Wise One's telepathic projections. He tried to fill her with the image of her body writhing and twisting in climax. If she didn't get there before what was left of his control vanished…

Then there was no mind at all, only two bodies locked together, arms and legs taking on a life of their own, lips joining madly, then roaming up and down bare skin. Blade lost track of the number of times the Wise One shrieked and he groaned, because now it really didn't matter.

After a while he realized that the fire was burning low, that the hut positively stank of sweat, and that the Wise One was kneeling in front of him. Sweat was dripping off her breasts-her breasts, no doubt about it, he could see the scar. The deception was over.

Not the lovemaking, though. The Wise One bent over Blade and worked on him with her mouth until he was ready again. Then she sat back on her haunches to make way for Ellspa to step up to Blade.

The real Ellspa? Blade waited until Ellspa had lowered herself into place, then quickly ran his hands up from groin to shoulder, fingers probing the fine skin for scars. They closed over the lovely breasts with their stiff nipples, and found no scars.

The real Ellspa. Blade pulled Ellspa down toward him and put his lips where his hands had been. Ellspa rammed her pelvis down against Blade's neck and clutched his shoulders so hard her nails broke the skin. Then she cried out, a long sobbing moan that lasted until Blade closed his lips with hers.

A good start, Blade thought. Then Ellspa was moving on him again, and Blade matched her movements with his, because a good start was only half of it. The night wasn't over yet…