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use as a weapon, even a loose floorboard. But he could only stand there, fists
clenched in impotent frustration, waiting for whatever was happening outside
to sort itself out.
That did not take long. He had been awake and alert for barely a minute when
hammers sounded outside. They were working on the braces of the door, and
Blade could see it shaking. He flattened himself against the wall to the left
of the door opening. Perhaps he could jump whoever was going to be charging
through the door in a moment, get their weapons
"Blade!" came a shout from outside. Blade was silent. The shout came again.
Then the voice went on angrily, "Blade, are you there? We are from the Purple
River, come to rescue you. Nugun reached us! "
Blade started. In the next second the door toppled with a crash. Two Blenar
leaped over it into the hut. They whirled as they saw Blade crouched against
the wall.
"You're safe, thank the Spirit of Union. Nugun was afraid "
"Nugun? He reached the Purple River?"
"Of course. Would we be here if he hadn't?" snapped one of the men. "Now for
the Spirit's sake and your own life, come on with us and stop talking! We've
come with thirty men into a land where Rilgon can call out a thousand! Come
on!"
Blade moved. The two Blenar might not be telling the whole truth, but at least
they seemed willing enough to get him out of Rilgon's hands. For the moment he
would be content with that.
As the three men burst out of the hut, two of Rilgon's Blenar warriors came
dashing up, swords drawn. There was a brief and deadly flurry of clanging
weapons. One of the Blenar ran off screaming, left wrist a bloody stump. The
other folded in the middle and toppled, to lie face down beside the bodies of
two dead Senar. Blade bent down to snatch up the dead man's weapons.
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As he did so, a furious yelling and screaming burst out to his right. Blade
looked that way and saw a mass of Senar storming forward, with a dozen Purple
River Blenar slowly giving way before them. The
Senar struck desperately with their clubs and thrust with their spears, but
even when the blows went
home, the Blenar did not go down. Blade realized that the Purple River men
were wearing heavily padded, boiled-leather jackets and thighpieces, which
could easily turn aside a Senar spear point.
One of Blade's rescuers jerked his arm. "Come on. We'll have to cut down along
by the river and head north." Blade nodded; then a thought struck him.
"We can save the girl, then."
"What girl?"
"There's a city girl tied up for punishment down at the river end of the
village. She'll be flogged to death tomorrow."
"Oh, damn!" said one of the Blenar. "We can't take the time, Blade. She "
"She'll die tomorrow if we don't rescue her. I've already gotten one woman
killed since I came to
Brega. I'll be damned if I let another die when I could save her." He headed
down the path at a trot.
After a moment the two Blenar shrugged wearily and followed him.
The three men ran down the path to the clearing. Behind them the sounds of
battle suggested that the
Blenar were slowly retreating before the attacks of the villagers. As they
passed huts, Blade noticed
Blenar standing outside some of them, swords drawn; Senar some of them
women lay dead or dying on the trampled and blood-spattered grass. As the
three men passed, the Blenar on guard fell in behind them, one by one.
They reached the clearing just as a dozen of Rilgon's warriors burst into it
from the opposite side.
One of them ran straight at the bound girl, sword raised to run her through
and put her forever beyond rescue.
Blade bent, one arm dipping to snatch up the spear of a fallen Senar. Then the
arm straightened with a snap, and the spear flashed across the clearing and
into the warrior's back. He threw his arms up;
sword flying into the air, and toppled. Blade followed the spear across the
clearing, cut down another warrior who ran at him, and reached the girl. Quick
slashes with his own sword, and the ropes fell away.
As they did, the girl collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling up in her head.
For a moment Blade thought she was dead; then he saw a faint motion of her
breast. Thrusting his sword into his belt and dropping his shield, he got the
helpless girl up on his back.
When he raised his head, he saw that Rilgon's warriors had either fled or gone
down. Most of those who had gone down lay still on the tramped-down earth of
the path, but some were still writhing and moaning. Blade and two of the
Purple River Blenar moved among them, putting them out of their pain.
They had just finished doing this when the Purple River rear guard came up.
Behind them Blade could see a much reduced group of Senar, several of them
wounded, all of them hanging back at a safe distance. Without a word, the
Blenar leader pointed at the woods along the river. The rescue force formed a
double line and turned off the path.
They moved north along the bank of the river for nearly two hours, not
stopping or slowing below a fast jog. For all his iron endurance, Blade found
himself hard put to match the pace with the extra burden of the girl on his
back.
The two hours passed without incident, however. Perhaps they had outrun
warning of their presence.
Or perhaps the local Senar took one look at the force of grim-faced, armored
Blenar pounding along the riverbank and thought better of tackling them. There
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