careful? They will not fight at all unless they believe they can win, and they are shrewd at such judgments. All the best warriors are tied to them.'
'Yes,' Sol agreed, perturbed. 'The good ones will not contend for mastership, only for sport. It makes me angry.'
'Why should they? Why should an established master risk the work of a lifetime, while you risk only your service? You must have stature. You must have a tribe to match his; only then will any master meet you in the circle.'
'How can I form a decent tribe when no decent men will fight?' Sol demanded, growing heated again. 'Do your books answer that?'
'I never sought mastery. But if I were building a tribe, or an empire especially, I would search out promising youths and bind them to myself, even though they were not proficient in the circle yet. Then I would take them to some private place and teach them all I knew about combat, and make them practice against each other and me until they were fully competent. Then I would have a respectable tribe, and I would take it out to meet and conquer established tribes.'
'What if the other masters still refused to enter the circle?' Sol was quite interested in this turn of the discussion.
'I would find some way to persuade them. Strategy would be required-the terms would have to appear even, or slightly in favor of the other party. I would show them men that they wanted, and bargain with them until they were ashamed not to meet me.'
'I am not good at bargaining,' Sol said.
'You could have some bright tribesmen bargain for you, just as you would have others to fight for you. The master doesn't have to do everything himself; he delegates the chores to others, while he governs over all.'
Sol was thoughtful. 'That never occurred to me. Fighters with the weapons and fighters with the mind.' He pondered some more. 'How long would it take to train such a tribe, once the men were taken?'
'That depends upon how good you are at training, and how good the men are that you have to work with. How well they get along. There are many factors.'
'If you were doing it, with the men you have met in your travels.'
'A year.'
'A year!' Sol was dismayed.
'There is no substitute for careful preparation. A mediocre tribe could perhaps be formed in a few months, but not an organization fit to conquer an empire. That would have to be prepared for every contingency, and that takes times. Time and constant effort and patience.'
'I do not have patience.'
The girl finished her work and returned to listen. There were no compartments within the cabin, but she had gone around the column to the shower stall and changed. She now wore an alluring gown that accentuated a fine cleavage and a narrow waist.
Sol remained thoughtful, not seeming to notice the girl though she drew her stool close to him. 'Where would there be a suitable place for such training, where others would not spy and interfere?'
'In the badlands.'
'The badlands! No one goes there!'
'Precisely. No one would come across you there, or suspect what you were doing. Can you think of a better situation?'
'But it is death!' the girl said, forgetting her place.
'Not necessarily. I have learned that the kill-spirits of the Blast are retreating. The old books call it 'radiation, and it fades in time. The intensity is measured in Roentgen and it is strongest in the center. It should be possible to tell by the plants and animals whether a given area within the markers has become safe. You would have to be very careful about penetrating too far inside, but near the edge-'
'I would not have you go to the mountain,' Sol broke in. 'I have need of a man like you.'
'Nameless and weaponless?' He laughed bitterly. 'Go your way, fashion your empire, Sol of all
