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jewels. Blade snatched one off the table, held his breath, and tried to insert
it into the slot.
It slipped easily into place.
Now Blade pointed the muzzle at the ceiling, then thumbed the switch forward.
For a moment many years of dirt and corrosion resisted. Then the switch
snapped forward.
With a shrill whine, the metal tube started to turn.
Blade let out a war-whoop of triumph and danced around the room, waving the
tool until he collided with the table, which promptly fell over with a crash.
Blade ignored the pain in his shins. He'd never had the sensation of holding
in his hands the whole future of a Dimension before. He felt almost drunk with
delight.
As he'd suspected, the fire jewels were miniature power storage cells, far
beyond anything in Home
Dimension technology. Inserted into "dead" Oltec, they could make it "live"
again. The Kaldakans and the other cities of the Land would have more tools
and weapons than they'd ever dreamed of. Then if they could find a way to
recharge the power cells...
Yes, but how many of the fire jewels were there, and how many still held
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power? Blade realized that he didn't know, and the realization sobered him. So
did the appearance of Bairam and Geyrna, drawn by the uproar he'd made. Both
were stark naked, but they looked so contented that Blade knew he hadn't
interrupted their lovemaking too soon. The girl smiled and shook her head so
that her long dark red hair fell down over her bare shoulders. Then she saw
what Blade was holding, and her smiled faded.
"England-man Blade, that is-" Blade flipped the switch and the tool's whine
filled the room. "That is-it was dead. Bairam! It was dead! Now it lives!
But-" She didn't have the words for what she wanted to say. Bairam put an arm
around her and comforted her, although his own face was twisting and his mouth
hanging open.
"Bairam!" said Blade sharply. "Where is there a dead Oltec weapon I can have?"
"You can't have-the Law-" Bairam now seemed to be nearly as confused as
Geyrna.
"I must see if I can make other dead Oltec live," said Blade as patiently as
he could. "It is most important to make the weapons live again-"
"Yes," said Bairam, understanding dawning on his face. "If you make Oltec live
again, then the Law must be changed. What you did to the great-hawk will be no
breaking of the Law, not if there is more than enough live Oltec to go around.
And you-"
"Will not have a death sentence hanging over my head," finished Blade,
grinning at the boy. Whatever faults Bairam might have, he certainly wasn't
stupid. "Now where is an Oltec weapon?"
"In my rooms in my father's house," said the boy. "I have two of them. One is
not only dead but hurt.
The other maybe you could make-live again." He said the words as if he still
couldn't quite believe them, then turned to the girl. "Geyrna, I must-"
At this moment Saorm the merchant walked in. He took one step into his shop,
then stopped. Bairam bolted out the door, not bothering to put on his clothes.
Geyrna knelt, murmuring "Oh, the Law protect us, the Law protect us." Blade
lifted the tool and turned it on. As he saw his household totem of dead
Oltec coming to life, the man's eyes bulged until Blade thought they would
fall out of his head. Blade scooped up a handful of the fire jewels, turned
off the tool, and put it down by the fallen table. Then he followed Bairam out
the door before Saorm could recover from his confusion.
Chapter 7
Although Bairam was running fast, Blade caught up with him before they were
out of sight of Saorm's door. He seized the boy by the arm and whispered
fiercely, "Slow down, you young idiot! If you run, everyone will notice you.
We don't want that until we've tested the rifles."
"Yes, but if we don't hurry, Geyrna's father will spread the word all over
Kaldak. I think what you've done breaks the Law and-"
"If you hadn't bolted like a frightened munfan, we wouldn't have to worry
about Saorm! We could have stayed and told him what we'd done. Then he might
have kept his mouth shut. As it is-" Blade made a gesture of utter disgust.
The boy sighed. "I am sorry, Blade. But-I could not think as I should have.
I-"
"I know. Well not much harm was done this time. But you're going to have to
think first and then act, from now on. Do I have your word of honor on that?"
"Yes, Blade."
They returned to Peython's tower without attracting any attention or hearing
any unusual uproar behind them. Blade hoped that Saorm was on his knees along
with his daughter, and would stay there for a while.
The two rifles in Bairam's rooms each had a slot in the butt, about the right
size for one of the six-inch fire jewels. The slot of one rifle was a cracked
and corroded mess. Blade scraped the other slot clean with a knife and dropped
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the fire jewel into place. Then he raised the rifle, mentally crossed his
fingers, and pulled the trigger.
Fzzzzzzzttttt!
A beam of dazzling green light as thick as Blade's thumb lanced across the
room. On the far wall a six-inch circle turned black. Smoke curled up and hot
bits of stone sprayed the room. Blade fired again, the smoke made him cough,
and now there was a hole in the wall several inches deep.
Blade turned to Bairam, who was trying not to look excited and almost
succeeding. "The fire jewels in the Oltec must have lost power faster than the
ones used as ornaments-" he began. Then he realized that
Bairam was staring at him without understanding. Oh, well, time enough to
explain electricity later. Right now they needed more experiments.
"We must have more of the fire jewels," said Blade. "Do you know if there are
any more in-"
"There's my father's necklace," said Bairam eagerly. "I'm sure he wouldn't
mind-"
"I'm sure he would mind," said Blade, heading off the boy's enthusiasm. "Any
others?"
Bairam shook his head, then said reluctantly. "You don't want me to go back to
Saorm, do you?"
Blade nodded. "We need those fire jewels, Bairam. And you are a warrior of
Kaldak."
Blade's hint was enough. The boy pulled on some clothes and hurried out the
door. A minute later he came back, much faster than he'd left. Right after him
came Kareena.
She was wearing only knee-length trousers and a sword, and Blade thought her
bare breasts were even lovelier than before. He also thought she was angrier
than he'd ever seen her. Her face was an icy mask except for the eyes, which
blazed like hot coals, and her voice shook.
"Blade, you are going to die. Brother, you deserve to, even though you
probably won't. Our father is weak enough to think-"
"You will not speak of our father that way, Kareena," snapped Bairam. He
started to draw his sword, then remembered he wasn't wearing one. Blade
cautiously shifted his position to where he could cover the open door with the
rifle, without any danger of hitting Kareena or her brother.
"I will speak as I please, and you will not stop me. Not after throwing the
Law into the pigsties with this
Blade, giving him live Oltec a second time-"
"I did not give him live Oltec. He-"
"I will not believe you. You-"
"Kareena, only blood will wipe out what you just said. Let me get a sword
and-"
"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!"
Blade's roar silenced them as completely as if he'd shot them both dead.
"Thank you," he said. "Now, you are going to listen. Bairam, stop threatening
your sister. She has only made a mistake. When she learns that, she will
apologize. In the meantime I want no more talk of shedding her blood. I will
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