Blade was puzzled. What was the man getting at?

He crossed his arms on his chest and met Mokanna's glittering dark stare. He gazed beyond the man at the cluster of stone huts on the far horizon.

"You have come a long dusty way, Mokanna, to tell me that which I already knew! Come, man! You are a monster and I will not weep when you are killed; but you are no fool. Nor am I. What really brought you to spy on me?"

Mokanna laughed, a harsh sound, and drew the plaits of the whip through his fingers. "No, Blade, you are not a fool. I give you that. And you are right. I did not come to accuse you of sacrilege against Bek-Tor." He bowed to the image and made the T sign.

Blade waited patiently. He was curious - and alert. They were alone on the vast plain. Mokanna had the sword and whip. Was it murder?

Mokanna took a step toward him. Blade leaped backward in a defensive karate position. Lord Leighton's work on Blade's midbrain had been extensive. He forgot nothing. He brought all his skills into Dimension X.

Mokanna stopped, flicked the whip in the dust, and laughed again. "I do not seek to harm you, Blade. You have my word on that."

Blade barely kept the sneer from his voice. He did not really want to push the man too far at this time. His own position was not a strong one.

So he muted it. "I trust no man. Say what you must and leave me alone."

Mokanna shrugged his big shoulders, on which the black hair grew in profusion. He wore only a leather vest and short breeches of the same material. A chain of some silvery metal hung around his thick neck as a badge of office.

"I come here that we may speak in secret, Blade. There is a man called Equebus. You know of him?"

Blade's puzzlement increased. Equebus, the Captain of the Slave Patrol? The same who had made the pass at Zeena on the beach and been lashed with a riding crop for his pains? What had Equebus to do with him?

He nodded. "I know of the man. What matter?"

Mokanna prodded at his ugly mouth with the butt of the whip. "Much matter, Blade. Equebus came to me last night, after you battlemen were bedded down. We spoke of you, Blade. We wasted three torches in speaking of you. Equebus is also your enemy, Blade, as I am."

Blade smiled coldly. "So? In my land a man is known by his enemies."

Mokanna shook his head. "I do not understand that. Nor you. Nor this land you speak of. But I do understand Sarma - and Equebus. The man is ambitious. He wishes to be the first husband of the virgin Zeena."

"He comes a little late for that," said Blade. And could have kicked himself. It was a mistake.

Mokanna leered. "So that is how it is, eh? T had that thought myself, when the Princess was so concerned about you and that little man of yours, Pelops? Ah, I had that very thought. But it is not my place to think about such matters, so I forgot it. You are not just a stranger, a slave, who gave yourself up and begged mercy. You have known the Princess. You are married to her!"

Blade waited. He was still puzzled as to Mokanna's motives and could not see where all this was leading.

Suddenly the other man went into a gale of rough laughter. He slapped his hairy thigh with the whip. "Equebus is not going to like this when he knows - unless he already knows, or guesses, which is possible. But it still changes nothing, Blade. Equebus wants you dead. Last night he promised me money and promotion if I would see to it."

Blade retreated another step. Mokanna was fingering the hilt of his sword.

Blade said: "Are you, Mokanna? Going to see to it?"

The Captain frowned. He narrowed his eyes in thought. He half drew the sword, then thrust it back into the scabbard with a clang.

"I am tempted," he said at last. "Vastly tempted, Blade. I have no love for you. But if you are really married to Zeena it makes a difference. Are you?"

Having already made the mistake, Blade decided to gain what he could from it. He nodded. "Yes. I did not lie. By your Sarmaian law we are married."

"Hah!" Mokanna rubbed his chin. "So. Married. And you train here as a battleman while she goes to Sarmacid to sooth the Queen and prepare her for the news. That is about the truth of it?"

Blade nodded curtly. "In part. But I am to be a battleman and fight under Zeena's sponsorship. That is no trick. There will be no begging off. I must earn my way." He did not add that only by so doing would he achieve status and freedom enough to continue the search for his double.

Mokanna was silent for a long time, his brow creased in thought. Such deep thinking, Blade noted, was foreign to the man.

"A man must choose the winning side," Mokanna said at last.

Blade smiled and nodded. "If possible. It is not always so easy to know."

Mokanna grumblingly agreed. "But you are already half way to what Equebus aspires to. Position and preferment in Sarmacid. And you have known the Princess Zeena, married her, and she works for you in the city. You are far ahead in this matter, Blade. I will choose your side." He beamed at Blade as though he were bestowing an accolade.

Blade made a mock bow. "I thank you, Mokanna. You do me a great honor."

The sarcasm was wasted on the Captain. He waved a huge hand. "It is really nothing. But there is a slight problem - I have taken money from Equebus and made him certain promises. But one does not have to honor promises, or return money, to a dead man. You must kill him, Blade. This very night. It will be easy. I have arranged everything."

Blade nodded. "I would have bet on that."

Mokanna blinked, then went on. "There will be one small change. Instead of Equebus slaying you, as an escaping slave - for legally you are a slave - you will slay Equebus. It will be simple. Then, you will tell the Princess about me, describing me as your friend and the man who saved your life, and I will get the position in Sarmacid that Equebus seeks. It is agreed, then?"

"I make no promises," said Blade. "But I will listen. Tell me the details of this plan of yours."

Mokanna stared at the stone huts in the distance. Clouds of dust hovered over them now as the battlemen drilled and practiced killing with wooden swords and lances. "Come," said the Captain. "It is a long walk and I am hungry and dry. I will tell you on the way."

Blade joined him, still wary and keeping his distance. Mokanna laughed at that. "You need not fear me, Blade, until I find that you are not going to win. Then beware me."

A faint smile quirked Blade's mouth. "You are an honest rogue, Mokanna. I give you that. I may even have some regrets when the time comes to kill you."

Mokanna pointed away in the distance. Flags were fluttering from the signal pole in camp.

"Equebus," explained the Captain. "He is signaling from the black lake, where he and his men are waiting. He will be wanting to know how his plans go."

Blade said nothing. He must take Mokanna's word for it. Pelops could read the flags. Blade could not. It was a thing he must do - learn to read the signal flags.

"It is a simple plan," Mokanna was saying. "There's to be a slave uprising tonight in the huts. A conspiracy of the battlemen to kill me and escape. I myself have arranged it, for I have many spies among the slaves, and you are to be the leader, Blade."

"Me?"

"Of course. At least you will be accused of it. I have already paid my spies, with Equebus' money, to swear that it is true - that you are the ring leader. Equebus and his slave patrol will be waiting nearby. You will be taken, the uprising will fail, and you will be executed immediately. It is a good plan, yes?"

Blade agreed. "It was. Until you told me."

"Yes," said Mokanna. "Now it is a better one. I will tell you where Equebus waits and all you have to do is kill him. Be sure you kill him, Blade. I do not want him for an enemy."

Blade thought a moment. "One thing I do not understand, Mokanna. How came Equebus by this knowledge of me, and of the Princess Zeena? How did he know that I am here in Barracid, training as a battleman?"

Mokanna looked at him in surprise. "The flags, man. All Sarma knows. When the Princess disappeared a signal was sent to Sarmacid at once. Queen Pphira herself sent a signal back. Equebus relayed it to me. I sent another signal to Sarmacid to relieve the Queen's mind about the Princess. And Equebus has been signaling me every day to know of you. Simple? What was not so simple was to drive a bargain with Equebus."

Simple. Blade supposed it was. Zeena, when she arrived in Sarmacid, would find her mother the Queen in full possession of the facts. Possibly mixed with a few lies and some gossip. Well, Zeena would just have to handle it as best she could.

Flags. Poles. A primitive form of communication - and so effective. Blade felt a little stunned. For a people, a culture who had not yet guessed the secret of the wheel, the Sarmaians were pretty crafty.

He felt uneasy. Matters were beginning to slip out of his hands. He was being forced into doing things he did not really want to do.

"Of course," said Kokanna, "if Equebus kills you tonight I will have to swear that you did lead a slave uprising."