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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] "Stay or go, as you wish. But if you stay you will obey me. Now I have had enough of you. Go and amuse yourself while I sleep." Blade awoke to find Alixe astride him, trying to arouse him. He cuffed her away, not gently, and she began to berate him. Blade had had it. He seized her and laid her over his knee and began smacking her hard little buttocks with his open hand. He meant to hurt and he did. Alixe screamed at the top of her voice, interspersing the screams with foul oaths. He had never heard such filth pour from a child's mouth. He laid on all the harder. Sart came rushing in. He pleaded with Blade. "You risk our lives, master. She is Jantor's child and favorite. When you strike her, you strike Jantor. Please, master, I beg you. No more. It is sure to get back to Jantor and " One of the Gnomen women was waiting just outside the door. She had been waiting a long time, first in a long line, and she had grown impatient. When she heard the screams she could not control her curiosity and stepped through the hangings to see her herself. When Blade saw her, he lost his temper. He released the screaming Alixe and pointed at the woman. "OUT!" The woman scuttled for safety. Seconds later she told the other Gnomen females what she had seen and it passed down the line. Alixe sought the safety of a corner and sulked, rubbing her bottom. Blade glowered at her. Sart trembled and sweated. He would have fallen to his knees except that Blade hated that, and at the moment he feared Blade even more than Jantor. Fury and frustration burned in Blade. He dressed rapidly and spoke curtly to Sart. Pointing to Alixe, now quiet and watching with a cat-cunning smile, Blade said, "I am going out for a time. Take that little devil in charge while I am gone. If she causes trouble, you have my permission to beat her." Sart stared at him. "Going out, master? You cannot. It is forbidden." Blade used some Home Dimension words that Sart could not comprehend. "Forbidden or not," Blade insisted, "I go. I will try to see Jantor." He pointed to Alixe. "You are a curse and I can endure you no longer." Page 39 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html She made a face at him. When Blade stepped outside his apartment, there was a ripple of sound from the waiting line of women. He regarded them distastefully. How he loathed women all women. There was but a single entrance to his apartment. The tunnel outside it had a dead end and at the other end was a subchief with a guard of twenty Gnomen armed with the spear bars. Blade strode toward them. The tunnel was narrow, not more than five feet across, and as Blade approached the subchief moved to block it. He leveled his bar at Blade, point first. Behind him his men moved into position, all with their cruel bars at the ready. The subchief was taken by surprise. He had his orders concerning Blade, he knew how precious this big stranger was because he carried viable seed, and he knew that if anything happened to Blade that he, the subchief, must answer to Jantor. Until now Blade had caused no trouble. The subchief had scarcely seen him. His main task was to keep the women in order and see that there was no cheating in the line. The subchief thrust his spear bar to within an inch of Blade's chest. "You cannot pass. It is forbidden." Blade halted and scowled. He put his hands on his hips and stared at the man. "Take me to see Jantor. At once!" The Gnoman shook his head. "That also is forbidden. You cannot go to Jantor when it pleases you. Jantor is king. Jantor will send for you when it pleases him." Blade gazed past the man at the guard. Twenty of them. "You have plenty of men to guard me," he said. "You can spare one. Send him to Jantor. Tell him I must see him. Either I go to him or he comes to me." The Gnoman, like all Gnomen except Jantor, had a low level of intelligence. He scratched the hair on his chest, made the sign of the fylfot on his bald head, and regarded Blade with dull eyes. Blade put everything to the test. He pushed the man's spear bar aside with disdain and took a step forward. "You dare not kill me without orders from Jantor. You know that. Or perhaps you do not fear the five-mile pits?" A moment of silence. For an instant Blade thought he had gone too far, that the man would impale him on the bar. Then the Gnoman lowered his weapon. "I will send a man. But take another step and I will have you killed and face the penalty. You understand this?" Blade smiled. He was already beginning to cool down. "I understand that. But I would ask a favor. I am sick of my apartment and sick of women " One of the guards laughed and said: "I wish I might share that sickness." The subchief frowned and there was silence in the ranks. He turned to Blade again. "I am sorry for that, but I cannot help you." Blade turned on his charm. "You could permit me to stroll a bit, to stretch my legs and free my brain, to cleanse my nostrils of the stench of women." He pointed to the main sewer just beyond the guard station. "A few paces up and down, what could it matter? And I have Jantor's ear, as you know. I could speak well of you, or ill." Still the subchief hesitated. Blade cajoled. "Even if you send a man to Jantor you still have twenty, counting yourself. Ten before and ten behind. What can I do? How could I escape or cause you trouble even if I had a mind?" The subchief pondered this for what seemed to Blade an eternity. This Gnoman, like all the ordinary ones, thought in slow motion. But at last the man nodded. "All right. A few paces up and down, no more." Blade thanked him and added, "I will see that Jantor hears of your kindness." Torches flared up and down the main sewer. The tunnel itself was very like the one into which Blade had first dropped. As he walked slowly up and down he managed nearly a hundred yards before he was prodded back he noticed one of Page 40 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html the huge sewer lids overhead. There would be a kiosk up there, he supposed, and leaning against a nearby wall was a ladder. As he strolled past it a second time he examined it carefully. It would just reach the sewer lid. This must be one of the sally ports by which Jantor's men left the sewers and invaded the city above. Blade remembered the surprise he had felt when Jantor informed him that he had been watched from the beginning. How stealthy they were, these Gnomen, when it suited their purpose. But for that single clanging lid he might still be ignorant of their existence. He paced the permitted distance a dozen times before the messenger returned, breathless from running. Blade watched as the man spoke to the subchief. They were again at the entrance to the tunnel leading back to Blade's apartment. The subchief came to Blade. "Jantor has sent his answer. He cannot see you now. He is displeased that you sent to him. But he believes you that it is important and he will come to see you later. At no fixed time, but when he chooses. He warns you not to repeat this thing. He sends his love and desire to Alixe and longs to see her soon. That is all. You are to return to your apartment at once." Blade, having worked off his anger, felt that he had won a small victory, unimportant as it was. He had lost his head and his temper, but nothing had [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |