The second flash and thunderclap sent a ripple of fear through the whole herd. Blade was out in front when the third explosion turned the ripple into a full-scale stampede. Then the dark skies started pouring down rain so that in a single moment the visibility shrank from five hundred yards to fifty feet. In another moment the ground underfoot was slick with the rain, and as Blade turned his rolgha, the animal bucked and kicked and went down.
He and Lorma fell clear, but before he could get up his rolgha lurched to its feet and galloped off. Blade stood up, aware of pains in his right wrist and head, and shouted to Lorma.
«Run! Get out of here! Go, Lorma, go!»
She didn't move. Instead she crouched facing the oncoming herd, mouth open, her snarl inaudible over the rain, the thunder, and the swelling rumble of thousands of hooves. She was going to stay and die with him.
Blade knew he had only one chance. If he could run fast enough to keep ahead of the herd, the stampede might die down or break up before the main body of animals caught up with him. He turned, and as he took his first step he felt a pain in his head like a spike being driven into his forehead. He staggered, stayed on his feet, knew that he'd never be able to run with a head injury like this-then recognized the pain for what it was.
The computer was reaching out from England, calling him back to Home Dimension. He went to his knees as the pain increased, and groped blindly until his hand fell on Lorma's collar. She growled, recognizing something wrong with his touch, but he gripped the leather tightly. Through the rain he could see the approaching herd, but the animals now seemed to be running on a treadmill. Their legs churned up mud, but they got nowhere.
Then even the rain was blotted out, as the pain clamped down on Blade like a dog's jaws on a rat. He knew he was falling to the ground, he thought he was falling through it, then he couldn't even guess what was happening to him except for his deathlike grip on Lorma's collar.
Chapter 25
Blade came home from Dimension X with Lorma, the Queen's Jewels of Jaghd, a dozen amulets, and a bad cold. The first three were highly interesting to Lord Leighton and the other scientists of the Project. The last was interesting only to Blade himself, after the doctors established that the cold came from a purely Home Dimension kind of virus and not some exotic bug from worlds beyond.
It was annoying, nonetheless. It was one of those colds where you feel just bad enough to know that you want to feel much better. Blade was lying on the sofa in his apartment, treating himself with good Scotch, when the secure telephone rang. It was J.
«Ah, Richard. How are you feeling?»
«I could be feeling quite a bit better.»
«No doubt. The report on the amulets and the jewels has come through. I'm afraid the synthetic scent is of no particular interest. We can't even use it as a garden weed killer. All it's good for is what the Jaghdi intended-paralyzing killer plants. Lord Leighton says it's a pity you couldn't bring back one of the plants, or at least some seeds-«
«If I brought back everything Lord Leighton wanted to study each trip, I'd need a lorry.»
«No need to be testy, Richard.»
«Sorry, sir. But Lord Leighton's 'might have beens' are a trifle annoying at times.»
«True. He's happy enough about the jewels to forgive quite a lot, though. They're rather exceptional, both chemically and optically. They'll intensify a beam of light ten times better than anything we know now, and remain stable much longer.»
«So they'd be ideal for lasers?»
«Yes. Not heavy ones, perhaps, but the smaller industrial or surgical types-it would mean a whole new generation of them.»
«If we establish trade with Elstan.»
«I notice you didn't say when, Richard.»
«No. But then neither does Lord Leighton, even after the wire traveled both ways without any harm.» Blade then remembered something else. «What have you learned about Lorma?»
«Nothing one way or the other. It's true that this is the most intelligent animal you've ever brought back with you from another Dimension. At least it's housebroken.» J laughed as he remembered the clean-up job they had had after Blade returned with the Golden Steed from Pendar.
Blade was in no mood to laugh. «But we still don't know if teleportation between Dimensions is any closer?»
«Well, we have the wire, which traveled both ways without any harm. And we have an intelligent, though not human, creature, which also made the trip safely. Maybe we are closer.»
«How is Lorma doing?» Blade suddenly thought to ask.
«The vet is getting worried. She won't eat.»
«Tell him to try leaving her alone for a few days. I wouldn't eat either if that hairy nuisance was trying to make me.»
J chuckled. «I'll do that. And I hope you're right. I'd rather like to see the man confounded too. Good night, Richard.»
«Good night, sir.»
Blade poured himself some more Scotch and lay back on the sofa. What would they find in the Dimension of the killer plants if they found a way to go back there in a few years? He didn't think there was much to worry about with the Elstani, and even the Jaghdi might have put their house in order if Sikkurad stayed on the throne.
He probably would. The Keeper would use ten words where two would do as well as long as he lived, but in those ten words he'd talk sense. Sooner rather than later, the Jaghdi would recognize it. After Tressana's death and their defeat in the war, the Jaghdi would probably be much more concerned about a civil war than an unwarlike man on the throne. They'd be willing to accept the devil himself, and Sikkurad was a long way ahead of the devil. If Tressana hadn't made them too afraid of queens, they might even be willing to accept Jollya as her father's successor, and then…
Then the Elstani and the Jaghdi would go their own way, without his ever knowing what that was or being able to do anything about it. The only being from that Dimension whose fate Blade could affect was Lorma. The first thing he'd do would be to get her out of the hands of that blasted vet. And then? Blade sat up as he remembered his building didn't allow pets. Turn Lorma over to a zoo? Not bloody likely! Apart from the possible danger to the Project's security, being put in a zoo would be as good as a death sentence for her. She would want to stay with him. How to make that possible?
Of course! If he sold the apartment and cashed in some of his investments, he'd have plenty to buy a modest country house. Not a cottage, a full-sized house where he could live the year round when he was at home-and where he could keep Lorma. His salary would be enough to maintain it easily, as long as he wasn't too extravagant.
There might be security problems-someone might get suspicious about the strange cat and want to learn more and if the secrecy of the Project were endangered the whole notion might have to be scrapped. But he wouldn't assume the worst until he had to. As long as there was no danger to the Project's secrets from his periodically leaving the place empty, he suspected J would approve, and J's approval would be most of the battle.
Then he and Lorma could settle down in the country. He could do something for her, even if he couldn't do much for his own loneliness.
Blade poured himself more Scotch, pulled the telephone directory toward him, and started leafing through it toward the listing for real estate agents.