«Curse your visions!» growled Swebon. Then he sighed. «Go on. What tricks have they told you to play on the Fak'si now?»
«No tricks,» said Blade quietly. «My second vision only told me that I should not worry if other tribes learn my secrets. In fact, the vision told me to give the secrets to them. So it does not matter what Meera learns or where she goes. I hope-«He broke off, because Swebon's face was twisting violently in both rage and surprise. For a long moment Blade wasn't sure the chief wasn't going to attack him.
Then Swebon took a deep breath. «Why, Blade? I ask only that. Why? The Fak'si have taken you in, been your friends-«
«I do not hate the Fak'si, Swebon. Do not think that. But I cannot hate the other tribes of the Forest People either. I cannot give the Fak'si the strong bow and the strong Shield of Life to help them fight the other Forest People. I must give these things to all the Forest People, so that they can all fight the Treemen and the Sons of Hapanu. Otherwise the wars among the Forest People will destroy them even faster than the Treemen or the Sons of Hapanu. What will happen if every raid like ours kills fifty people instead of a dozen? Do you want to see that come, Swebon?»
The chief seemed not to be listening. He sat with his head in his hands and his heavy shoulders sagging. Then at last he raised his head and looked at Blade. To Blade's great relief Swebon was smiling.
«Blade, I had a vision of my own, one that gave me much pleasure. I had a vision of the Fak'si coming to rule the Forest People, and myself coming to rule the Fak'si.» He shrugged. «But it seems that I cannot bring my vision to be without killing you. I will not do that.
«Also, you could be right. Certainly our raid against the Yal shed more blood than we often did in the past. In the future, with the new bows-who can say how much blood might be shed? And who would gain from it, except the Sons of Hapanu?
«Perhaps the time is here for the Forest People to become one tribe instead of four. Certainly that would be a better fate than the Sons of Hapanu and the Treemen killing all our men and making slaves of all our women. If we must be one tribe to live, then I will work beside you for this.»
They shook hands and patted hair to seal that promise, then paddled back to the village.
Blade had to let Swebon gather the equipment for the trip into the Forest and the experiments there. The chief could go anywhere and pick up anything without arousing the suspicions of the priests or Guno, or drawing questions from anyone else. Blade trusted him to work fast and keep his mouth shut.
Guno was another matter. Blade couldn't trust the chiefs brother-or rather, he could trust the man to do something against him. It was too bad that Guno was Swebon's brother, with his own reputation and circle of friends and allies. Otherwise Blade would seriously have tried to find some way of provoking a fight with the man and killing him. As it was, there was nothing to do but hope to succeed quickly and then come out into the open. After that he'd have more people to guard his back than Swebon and Meera.
Since there was nothing else for Blade to do, he returned to his houseboat and slept peacefully through the hottest part of the day. When he awoke, the shadows outside were getting long, but Meera wasn't back yet. This was a mild surprise.
Usually she spent the morning getting fresh food and water and the afternoon cleaning the houseboat and preparing the evening meal.
It was twilight before Meera returned, and by then Blade was beginning to wonder. Suppose the secret was out and Guno had struck at him through Meera? He was just about ready to arm himself and go out to turn the village upside down for Meera when she appeared on the bank. She held a bulging sack under one arm and two filled gourds in the other hand.
He helped her aboard the houseboat and unloaded her, then asked, «Meera, where have you been?»
«Beyond the village, getting food for us.»
«Isn't there enough in the village?»
«Not-not the kind I wanted.»
«What kind did you want?»
She looked up at him, her eyes meeting his so steadily that he had the feeling she could look right through him. It wasn't a sensation Blade particularly enjoyed, certainly not when it involved someone he was planning to trust with his life.
«I saw Swebon while I was in the Forest,» she said.
«Ah.» That syllable never gave anything away.
«He said you and he spoke together this morning.»
«We did.»
«He would not tell me why you talked, but I think he wishes us well.» She smiled shyly. «He said-you had your second vision.»
«So?»
«Blade, please! You said that after your second vision, you might take a woman again. Have you forgotten that?»
«No.»
«Then-Blade, I thought-it seemed to me that…» She pointed with an unsteady hand at the sack on the floor. «That is the minya root. To eat it makes a man and a woman-«
Blade laughed. «I see. You thought that even after the second vision, I might not want you because I could not want you. So you went and-«
She nodded, her eyes on the floor. «Or-you had been long without a woman, and sometimes then a man cannot-«
Blade laughed again, so loudly that Meera's head jerked up and she stared at him. «Meera, Meera, Meera, I ought to spank you again for doubting me. I will not need any minya root.»
Her face was sober as she replied. «I would rather be spanked by you than beaten by the priests or their women. If you did not take me soon, they would wonder if I was a witch who cursed your manhood. Then they would beat me, or worse.» She pushed her skirt down over her hips until it slipped to the floor, then stood naked before Blade.
Blade was already naked. Now there was a warmth in his groin that didn't come from the hot weather. The warmth grew as his eyes ran up and down Meera's body and he thought of not only looking but touching. He imagined his lips on her eyes and mouth, then moving down her throat and across her breasts, teasing her nipples into hard points, while his hands stroked her hips, crept to the inside of her thighs, felt the triangle of dark hair between her legs turning damp
Meera laughed softly. «I see you do not need the minya root after all.»
«Not when you are here in front of me, and I have imagined-«
«I know what you have imagined. Now-do it?» It was as much a question as a request, and Meera's voice was shaking. Her eyes were on the floor again. «Blade, do not make me beg. For-a virgin-this is not fit-but-I desire you.»
«And I desire you, Meera,» said Blade quietly, stepping forward to put his arms around her. She stiffened at his touch and her head jerked upward like a puppet's. For a moment he thought fear might have wiped out her desire. Then her lips were seeking his, found them, and drove out all his doubts.
Blade did everything he'd imagined, slowly, tenderly, making it last in order to give Meera time to awaken and accept him. After a while he realized that her breath was coming fast, her eyes were half-closed and staring at nothing, her nipples were solid against his hands, and she was pressing her belly steadily against his thigh. If Meera wasn't awake and aroused by now, no woman ever had been.
Blade took her by the shoulders and gently pressed her down onto the sleeping pad. Her eyes were now completely closed and her thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. Her legs spread wide at Blade's first caress of the inside of her thighs. By the time his hand was resting lightly on the dark, damp hair, she was lifting her legs and twisting her head from side to side. Her hair hissed softly on the matting, and sometimes she moaned.
Blade balanced himself above Meera-then suddenly her arms and legs seemed to coil around him like serpents and drag him down. He was deep inside her almost before he realized it. He felt her stiffen, heard her cry out at the first moment's pain, then heard her give a great sigh of relief. For a moment she lay still under him, then slowly her hips began to move in time with his own thrusts.