Sutha arose, his manner suddenly brisk. He beckoned to Blade. 'Come here. I will show you the Power Pool. In this place it is safe to speak our true minds.
The only place in all Tharn. Here, in the Sacred of Sacreds, there are no eyes or ears except our own.'
'And who has admission to this place?' asked Blade as he followed Sutha around the sarcophagus to the circular pool.
'Only three. Until you came. Astar, Isma, and myself. And now you.' Sutha flicked a quick smile at Blade. 'You see? I give the fate of Tharn into your hands. As Honcho would have it.'
They halted at the edge of the little pool. It was. Blade judged, some twelve feet in diameter and the surface was unriffled, smooth as glass, dead and stagnant-looking as if nothing had disturbed it in centuries. Blade peered down into the crystalline depths. It was deep. How deep he could not guess.
By his side Sutha spoke quietly. 'What do you see, Blade?'
He saw a squarish, small, casket-like box. It lay glimmering on the bottom of the pool. There was no motion, no refulgence in the water, nothing to indicate the awesome power that Blade knew was contained in the box.
'This is the Pool,' said Sutha. As though he were entoning a litany. 'This is the Pool and that is the Source of all things. In that small casket is the Power!'
Some form of nuclear power, thought Blade, who was no scientist. The Tharnian version of atomic exploitation. Far more sophisticated than anything he knew about. And yet there must be more to it, infinite and complex refinements.
Sutha was reading his thoughts. 'It is the Power, but in itself it does not do the work of Tharn. We use the Power to dislocate and harness the magnetic fields. Do you understand these matters, Blade?'
Blade shrugged his huge shoulders. 'Not much of it,' he said gruffly. 'I am a warrior. A man of arms! What should I know of such things?'
Sutha was watching Blade closely. Blade smiled. 'What happens?', be pointed down into the pool, 'what happens if it is disturbed? Touched. Moved?'
The neuter spread his hand in a gesture of effacement. 'I cannot say. In millions of kronos it has never been disturbed. I can only tell you what is written. What is in the Book. If the Power is in any way defiled it will first destroy he who defiles it, then it will die. The Power will no longer exist! If that ever happens then Tharn will no longer exist.'
Blade was silent for a long time, staring down at the bottom of the pool.
'Clever Honcho,' he said at last. 'Cunning Honcho. If I had obeyed him I would have destroyed myself and Tharn at the same time. You would have been powerless, Sutha, in a very real sense.'
'It is so,' agreed Sutha. 'And Honcho could have led his Pethcines up from the Gorge to destroy us all.'
Silence. Blade shifted the heavy sword again. He pulled it half out of the scabbard, then slammed it back. He looked at the frail old neuter.
'I could still do it.'
Sutha smiled. 'You could, Blade. I am frail and weak and very old. Neuters cannot fight I could not prevent you. Here we are entirely private and no help will come. But are you so bent on self-destruction, Blade? And you would serve Honcho that far?'
Blade swore. 'I am going to take great pleasure in killing Honcho when the time comes. I hope it will be soon.'
There was a ledge of teksin brick rimming the pool. Now Sutha seated himself on it and crossed his thin legs. Blade fancied he detected a quirk of merriment in the old green eyes. And acknowledged that he was beginning to like, really like, this old man. In that instant Blade perceived something he had never really known before, had not even thought much about. It did not take only sex to make a man!
'It will be soon,' said Sutha. 'The sooner the better. But we must plan it carefully. You must follow, to the letter and all but the sabotage of the Power, the plan that Honcho laid out for you. But we will discuss that later, when Isma is with us. She will have to know. Now, in private and in safety - and we cannot come here too often or Isma will suspect - what is this nonsense about the Maiduke girl, Zulekia? Are all the men mad in this place from whence you came?'
Blade nearly laughed. 'Not mad, Sutha. Stubborn, perhaps. But I liked Zulekia. It is as simple as that. I liked and enjoyed her. I would not have, her harmed. Surely, with all your powers, it is not so difficult to save her?'
Sutha looked pained. 'I pray Astar you are not a simpleton, Blade. All my hopes and plans are useless if you are. But I will assume that you are not and that you can understand matters if I explain it properly. So pay careful attention.'
Sutha held up one finger. 'I cannot understand, possibly because I am a neuter, what is so important about one Maiduke girl who was born and conditioned only to obey and be destroyed when her time comes. Especially one who has committed the crime of karno and deserves to be destroyed. I cannot understand it, but I will accept it as your true wish.'
Blade nodded. 'It is.'
Sutha held up a second finger. 'Agreed. Now, Zulekia is in the Gorge Tower, Honcho's prisoner, and so beyond my power to save or harm at the moment.'
'I find that hard to believe,' said Blade. He frowned and pointed down into the pool. 'You have the Power!'
Sutha scowled. It was obvious that he was being very patient with Blade.
'I have the Power. Yes. Am I to use it then, to destroy Honcho and rescue a criminal girl at the cost of forsaking my major and important plan? The total destruction of the Pethcines?'
Blade grudgingly admitted that this would not be wise.
'Besides,' said Sutha in a musing tone, 'I am not so sure that I can destroy Honcho as long as he remains in his own Provo. He is cunning and also something of a genius. Look at the way he sent your mind, your intelligence
