no true Sarmaian - too much hair, too rounded a head, much too tall. Blade put a hand to feel his mouth - he seemed to have all his teeth.
At last the man spoke. 'I am Equebus. Now that Mokanna is dead I am in sole command here. You know of me?'
Blade rubbed his sore mouth. He glared back. 'I know of you. You are said to be cruel - you are also a liar!'
Equebus raised his foot. Blade brought his manacled hand up into a defensive position. 'Kick me and I will tear your leg off.'
The Captain moved away to one side. He nodded and his teeth glinted pale behind the black beard. 'I think perhaps you would. So I will not kick you again - because if you touch my person I would have to kill you and that would be contrary to my Queen's orders.'
Blade glowered. 'I say again that you are a liar. You promised that I would not be harmed - yet I am beaten near to death. If this is the Queen's protection I can do without it.'
Chains clanked in a corner. Pelops was staring at Blade, his eyes wide with terror. Blade winked at him.
Torches flared in wall and ceiling sconces. Equebus pulled up a three legged stool and straddled it, leaning to study Blade in the wavering yellow glare. He took off his silver helmet, bejeweled and spiked, and cradled it on his knees. In his glance there was some puzzlement.
'I was angered,' he said at last, 'at the ease with which you handled my men. They are sturdy enough rascals and I have never seen them so beaten before. I did not admire, for I admire none, but I was impressed. You are a battleman such as has never been seen in Sarma. Is it true that you are also proficient in weapons?'
Blade, who worked out with battle axe and mace and lance in London, where most men chose tennis or handball, nodded sullenly. 'I am that. I would like to show you now if you will take off these chains.'
The cold dark eyes studied him. The thin mouth did not smile. 'That is not possible. I take you to Sarmacid on the orders of the Queen. She is quite anxious to see you, for a reason you will know soon enough. And in Sarmacid you will be given a chance to show off your skill and strength. You are to fight in the games when Otto the Black comes to the city. If it were not for that, and her Majesty's wish, you would now be as dead as Mokanna.'
Blade glanced at the cowering Pelops. The little man shook his head at Blade. Blade winked again and stared back at Equebus.
'I don't know what you're talking about.'
Equebus took a narrow scroll of parchment from his pocket and began to read the chicken tracks that passed for writing in Sarma. Pelops had begun to teach Blade to read and write in Sarmaian, but they had not made much progress yet.
Equebus read the scroll in a formal voice of authority. The gist of it was that one Richard Blade, known to be a stranger cast ashore by storm, and now training as a battleman at Barracid, be brought to Sarmacid at once to be held for the pleasure of the Queen.
Equebus smiled at that phrase. Smiled and cast a sly glance at Blade in his chains on the floor. 'There is more in that sentence than meets the eye,' he said. 'Which you will come to know for yourself.'
Blade hardly heard him. Zeena had done her work well. Perhaps she had even begun to spread Blade's lie about his twin brother. It would help. Thousands of eyes were better than just two - he might find the Russian agent, his double, if the agent was in this particular Dimension X.
Equebus was still reading. '... said Blade to be handed over on presentation of this scroll by Mokanna, Captain of Barracid.'
Blade allowed himself an evil grin, even though it hurt his bruised mouth. 'That is not the way Mokanna told it, Captain. I remember something about a slave rising, a frameup, and I was to be killed. Whatever happened to that little plan?'
In the corner Pelops groaned and his chains jangled as he made the T sign. Blade smiled at him. 'Stop worrying, little man. It's going to be all right. You heard the Captain - we're under the Queen's protection.'
Equebus tossed the scroll away. 'You are right, Blade. There was another plan. Before the rider brought this message in the Queen's own name. Until that time I had only received flag signals to find you. Which I did.'
Blade had figured it out long ago. 'So you cooked up a little scheme with Mokanna? Only he double-crossed you. And you triple-crossed him!'
Equebus stood up and kicked away the stool. His smile was superior. 'Mokanna was always a fool. I have known him since we were boys together in cadet school. He was twice a fool to match wits with me. I did not know his plan, nor did it matter. I distrusted him just because he was Mokanna. And I have spies here in Barracid just as he had spies in my fortress. This time my spies were best. Mokanna is dead. And you, Blade, live only because the Queen wishes it.' Again the odd sly smile. 'In the end, Blade, you may yet regret that I did not kill you along with Mokanna.'
Equebus clapped his hands. Armed men came into the hut to hustle Blade and Pelops away.
Blade pointed to the little man. 'What of Pelops? He is servant to me, and also friend. I would have him well treated.'
The Captain's shoulders moved in a contemptuous shrug. 'I care nothing for servants and slaves, even school teachers. He will be well treated - as well treated as you are.'
There was, Blade thought, something ominous about those last words.
Chapter Ten
The long line of weary battlemen wavered across the dusty brown plain like a crippled snake. They marched in pairs and a massive chain, half a mile long, stretched from front to back between them. Each man was attached to the master chain by his individual manacles. The slave patrol marched with them, prodding them with lances when they faltered. Captain Equebus rode ahead on the same white horse Blade had seen on the beach.
Blade and Pelops were in the middle of the file and linked together by the master chain. After the first day - it was
