It should have been impossible for Meera's passion to rise as fast as Blade's. In fact, she seemed to be fully blazing within seconds. Her fingers raked Blade's back and her lips roamed over every part of his face and throat she could reach. Then her teeth clamped down on Blade's ear, and in the same moment as the pain stabbed at him both he and Meera exploded in a whirlwind of a thousand flaring colors. That whirlwind swept away the rest of the world, and it was a long time returning.
Somehow Blade found himself lying on the sleeping mat beside Meera. A hand cupped one of her breasts while her arm trailed across his chest. Blade felt relaxed and contented. He thought the feeling was going to last until they both fell asleep.
Instead Meera's arm suddenly began to move, and soon slim fingers with natural talent were playing games along the insides of his thighs. Things took their inevitable course, and this time when they were finished Blade found he couldn't even think of sleep.
Meera was obviously in the same mood. She pulled Blade's hands onto her body and smiled at him. He kissed her and said, «Meera, if you're this curious about being a woman, perhaps I should have some of the minya root after all.» Meera nodded and jumped up. Even when she squatted down by the sack of food, she looked graceful.
The minya root was dry and powdery, with a sharp and not particularly pleasant flavor. Blade couldn't imagine anybody eating it for anything but its aphrodisiac qualities.
Whether it really had those qualities or not, Blade never knew. All he knew was that it was a long time before his strength ran out, and by that time Meera's curiosity was satisfied-at least for the night. They fell asleep in each other's arms, and it was noon before they woke up.
Chapter 12
Blade's search for a way to give the Forest People new weapons started off well. In fact, it started off so well that as he said afterward, «I should have known something was going to go wrong.»
Swebon gathered all the equipment Blade expected to need, telling people that an exploring party was going out, searching for land for a new village. Such a party would need much more equipment than ordinary hunters or raiders. As far as Swebon could tell, this «cover story» went over quite well.
Blade couldn't use the patch of kohkol trees where the villagers normally drew their sap. It was visited at least twice a week, and there was always a priest with the tree-tappers. There would be too much danger of someone stumbling on Blade and his experiments.
So Blade and Meera would have to plunge deep into the Forest and seek out a kohkol grove two days' march from the village. Swebon was able to give Blade detailed directions for finding it, but few others in the village even knew of its existence.
«I send you into danger by sending you there,» said the chief. «The Treemen seldom come as close to the village as the first kohkol grove. At the second, you will be in the High Forest, where the Treemen have been strong since the Forest began. I would do otherwise if I could, but I think you have more need to fear the priests and Guno than the Treemen.»
Blade nodded. «Then we shall just have to make the new bows before the Treemen find us.» He didn't particularly look forward to such a race against time, but he agreed with Swebon. The Treemen might be savage fighters, but they couldn't make the village dangerous for him.
By the time Blade and Meera had all their gear loaded on their backs, Blade was carrying close to a hundred pounds and Meera about half as much. Yet they couldn't reduce the load by another ounce without leaving out something Blade was sure they'd need sooner or later. Swebon would have been glad to send a trusted warrior with them, but Blade refused.
«We don't know that anyone except the three of us can be trusted in this,» he said. «Besides, why drag anyone else into this and put them in danger?»
Swebon shook his head. «Blade, if you ever wish to be chief of the Fak'si-well, a man who thinks of danger to those who might follow him, who will face it himself instead — no one will easily stand against him.»
«I do not wish to be chief of the Fak'si,» said Blade. «Only the maker of new weapons for all the Forest People.»
They were standing just out of earshot of the farthest treehouses of the village. It was early morning, with dawn still only a hint of light beyond the treetops. Blade was leaning against a tree, while Meera sat cross-legged among the ferns. Both were carrying their full packs.
«May the Forest Spirit bring you to success,» said Swebon, patting Blade's head and then Meera's. «And may it bring you back to us.»
«May it keep you also, friend Swebon,» said Meera. Blade gripped his staff with one hand and with the other helped Meera to her feet. Then they were gone into the darkness under the trees and Swebon turned back toward the village.
It took Blade and Meera three days to cover the two day march to the second kohkol grove. With the loads they were carrying, even Blade was slowed down and only sheer determination kept Meera on her feet. Blade was also careful to avoid leaving a clear trail for anyone to follow, and that slowed them down even more.
Eventually they came to the grove, with kohkol trees rising in a solid wall a hundred feet high across their path. A stream of clear water flowed out of the grove, and there was plenty of fruit, edible roots, and small game. They could live well here, for as long as they needed or at least as long as they could before the Treemen found them.
Blade was determined they'd also live safely, even if the Treemen did stumble across them. He set to work with ax and digging tool, cutting seven-foot poles and driving them into the ground. He sharpened the ends, bound them together with vines, then tied more poles across the top. When he was finished, they had a shelter six feet high and eight feet across, large enough to hold them and their gear. It was also tough enough to keep out any Forest animal and delay even an angry Treeman long enough for Blade and Meera to wake up and grab their weapons.
They had plenty of weapons. Each of them had a bow and quiver of arrows and a spear. Meera's spear was the one Blade had taken as a trophy from the chief's house in the Yal village. Blade also had the biggest war club Swebon could find in Four Springs village, a monster three feet long with a head bound in iron. He and Meera would be a match for three or four Treemen even without any new weapons, and in small bands the Treemen usually didn't press attacks on difficult or dangerous prey. It would be another matter if twenty Treemen showed up all at once, but such huge bands were still fairly rare.
When the shelter was finished, Blade lost no time going to work on his experiments. He tapped two kohkol trees and filled four gourds with the sap. With Meera's help he built a fire, then hung their iron pot over it, filled the pot with sap, and left it to boil.
Blade had guessed right about the kohkol sap. Boiled long enough, it became a remarkably tough and strong adhesive. It would stick almost anything to almost anything else, including Blade's fingers to each other. He discovered this while trying to retrieve a spoon which had fallen into the pot. He had to cut away the kohkol glue with a knife before he could use his left hand again, and he took a few pieces of skin along with the glue. After that Blade was more careful about handling it.
Once he knew he could make any amount of glue any time he wanted it, he started looking for wood to make the bow. He wasn't entirely sure wood was all he'd need-the famous Mongol bows used sinew and horn as well. Wood was certainly the most common material in the Forest, though, and the Forest People knew at least a hundred different kinds. Among them should be at least a few which could be laminated into a powerful bow.