The crowd finally ran out of breath. King Rikard stepped back, looked Blade up and down, and slapped him on the shoulder, as one warrior chief to another.
«Father, come. We have much to say and we have no hope of saying any of it out here.»
He turned toward the door into the King's House. Blade followed, Krimon fell into step behind him, and the guards brought up the rear.
The inner chambers of the King's House were as cramped, dark, and stuffy as the chambers of any other building made of turf, stone, and hides. But they were much cleaner and less smelly. The people of Tharn might have to live for now in barbarians' houses, but their memories of what had been and their hopes of what might be again kept them from becoming barbarians themselves.
Blade sat on a bench of teksin slabs covered with furs, and was presented with a large bronze cup of strong beer. King Rikard swept a glance around the room, and all the guards except the gray-haired woman vanished like puffs of smoke. Krimon turned as if to follow them, but Rikard motioned him to a seat.
«No, Krimon, you stay. You have seen and heard the most since Mazda returned. Your advice is needed. Yours too, Anyara,» he added, pointing at the woman.
«Of all the people Anyara was the one who did most to raise me, next to my mother Zulekia. She has proved herself strong in war and wise in council as well. I owe her much, and Tharn owes her more, over many years.» Anyara bowed her head with sober dignity at the praise.
Rikard undid his belt, poured himself beer from another jug, and sat down on a pile of furs in one corner. He drank deeply, then grinned. «By law and custom I should call in the whole Council of the People to listen and speak out. I suspect they would do more speaking out than listening if I did.» The grin faded. «But there is nothing in law or custom to say what shall be done on the day of Mazda's return. I think we shall listen to what Mazda has to say first.»
Blade grinned. His son obviously had some of his own shrewdness. «I do not think so, either. But I will ask you to stop calling me Mazda, at least when we are alone. It makes me feel like an image set up in a temple, to be worshiped faithfully but not really much good to anybody.»
«All right, Maz-father,» said the king, smiling. The smile made him look quite a bit younger than his twenty-five years. The smile faded. «Krimon spoke of your having captured the Looter war machine and learned its secrets. I–I won't ask if this was true. I can't imagine you lying, at least not to the people. But tell us more. Tell us-have you found some way we can defeat the Looters? Is there any hope for us?»
«I honestly do not know,» said Blade. «I myself need to learn much more. But let me tell you what I have learned already.» He poured himself more beer.
«To start with, I believe there is a chance to make the purple ray of the war machines harmless. If we face the Looters wearing only things that once lived-wood, teksin, leather, cloth-the ray may not kill. I have seen things that make me believe this is so. But I cannot yet be sure. We must test this further.»
King Rikard's eyes widened. Blade knew he now had his son's full attention, and would not lose it.
Hours passed. So did much more beer and a large meal of roast meat and steamed porridge. The light that crept in around the leather curtains in the window began to fade and turn red. Blade went on talking, answering his son's questions and getting answers to some of his own.
Eventually darkness came down. King Rikard rose and stretched out his long muscular arms until his hands seemed ready to punch through the ceiling.
«Father, I know that you have more to say. But in a single day I can only hear so much of things that I can hardly believe. You do understand?» Blade nodded. «Then we can finish tomorrow. And after we have finished, will you speak to the whole council? They must all hear what you have learned, and decide what must be done.»
«Isn't it obvious?»
«Father, it is obvious to me. I know it will be just as obvious to the council when they have heard it. But they must hear it. Otherwise it will be said in Tharn that the return of Mazda is making the king return to the old ways of ruling. None wish that.» Anyara and Krimon nodded.
Blade grinned again. «I see you haven't much to learn in statecraft.»
«Thank you, father. Now-there will be a chamber ready for you in a few minutes. Would you care to do us the honor of taking one of the women of the King's House to you this night?»
Blade hadn't expected this. Handing a woman over to a male guest for his amusement was a custom he hadn't expected to find among the people, who were trying so hard not to be barbarians. Had his son really become so much the barbarian warrior chieftain as that?
Except-
Blade shot a look at Anyara. She was nodding enthusiastically, and so was Krimon. There was something definitely odd here.
«What does the woman have to say in this?»
Anyara and King Rikard both laughed out loud. «I see. You think we have gone back to the habits of the Pethcines, handing our women about as though they were swords or boots. It is not so. Even if I wanted to make it so, the first seven women I met would claw out my eyes and cut off my manhood with dull knives if I tried.
«But the seed of Mazda is precious and powerful. Many women of the people who are of an age to bear children would most gladly take that seed into themselves, in the hope of bearing a child of Mazda. Girl or boy, they would be happy with either. They know it will be a strong child. We need strong children, father. We need all the strong children we can get, so that in time we will have all the strong men and women we need.»
«Even children of the seed of Mazda?» said Blade.
«I do not understand, father. Is-is there something wrong with your seed? Certainly I show no signs of it if there is.»
Blade laughed. «You do not. But consider that you are King in Tharn because you are the only one sprung from the seed of Mazda. What will happen to you when there are a dozen or a score of such?»
«Or even hundreds. Why not be hopeful?» put in Anyara.
King Rikard shook his head. «It will be good for Tharn, even so. I am indeed the first. I am the son begotten from the Beloved Zulekia by Mazda during his first appearance. I am set apart from all others by this, and I always will be set apart. Also, I have already ruled a good many years. With luck and long life I will have ruled many years more before the first of your new children is old enough to bear a child or swing a sword. I cannot see what they can do before then that I need fear. What they do after that is far in the future. We have things much closer at hand to worry about.»
Rikard rose. «It grows late.» He reached out and clasped Blade firmly by one hand and the other shoulder. «It is time for sleep. Anyara will show you to your chamber, then leave you. Krimon, there will be a chamber in this house for you also.» Rikard strode out, the neuter following him. Blade rose and followed the woman.
Blade's chamber was low and even more cramped than King Rikard's meeting hall. Smoke from the grease-soaked taper that was the only light hung in the air. The floor was covered with hide mattresses filled with straw and a spectacular array of furs. On the wall hung a magnificently jeweled set of armor and weapons, obviously from old Urcit.
Blade shook his head. It was going to take some getting used to, this mixture of crude living conditions, relics of one civilization, and hopes for another one. Here in Tharn it was hard not to live in three worlds at once.