So he paced the deck and turned steadily browner under the tropical sun that beat down day after day. He learned to identify the seabirds and the great silver and green fish that often paced the ship for hours on end, further toughened his iron physique with more weapons exercise and gymnastics, and occasionally spoke with Khystros. The man seemed to be brooding about something. Blade only hoped it wasn't his daughter's regard for the new guardsman that was troubling the Grand Duke. The Lady Alixa took little care to conceal the look in her eyes when they fell on Blade.

An evening came, when the sun set in a western sky as flawless as ever. But the wind was brisker; flurries of white crowned the rising waves, and the groan and creak of massive timbers and the whine of the wind in the rigging came louder than usual to Blade's ears as he walked aft. Tonight was his turn to guard the door of the Grand Duke's suite, a duty rotated among the guardsmen. He wore a boiled leather cuirass and helmet heavy enough to stop most blades but not subject to rusting in the damp sea air. He carried a straight broadsword and a heavy dagger. A long red cloak with a black lining flowed from his broad shoulders to the tops of his sea boots.

The moon rose, sickle-thin and pale, but the wind held steady. The last light drained from the western sky and the masts and sails faded to vague blurs in the darkness. Blade shifted his weight from one foot to the other for the twentieth time and pulled gently on the well-oiled sword to make sure it rested easily in its scabbard.

Then a soft voice called out behind him.

«Master Blahyd!»

He knew what he would see when he turned around, but still there was a shock in seeing Alixa standing behind him, her tanned arms hanging straight at her sides. She wore a loose, flowing robe of pale blue. The faint light flowing out of her half-open cabin door silhouetted her body inside the semi-transparent gown: long legs tapering to curving hips and a narrow waist, full, high breasts half exposed by the low neck of the robe, level shoulders that were wide for a woman. It was a body that sang songs of power and grace, beauty and softness.

It had an immediate effect, on Blade, an effect which did not escape Alixa. She pointed toward the bulge in the front of his breeches and said softly, «Then it is not lack of manhood that has kept you away from me this past week? No, I see that. I did not really think so, either. So what keeps you back now? My father sleeps, and the captain cares little what guard is kept over us.»

Blade started, suddenly aroused by more than desire for this lovely creature. Had she too noticed the captain's expressions? But she left him no time to ask. «Come, Master Blahyd. This may well be my last chance to taste a real man. There were few at Pelthros' court, and there will be none in Mardha. If we ever return from there I will be too old to find anyone to bed me except the jeweled fancymen who will bed with woman, man, ass, or dog for enough gold! Yes, Indhios means my father to remain in Mardha while he brews his plots. It will be long years before they ripen, and if they are carried through, my father and I may never return home. So come! Come give me some final bit of something clean and strong!»

She had raised her voice to a point where Blade found himself half expecting either sailors or the duke to awake. And she had raised her hands to the lacing of Blade's breeches and was stroking busily with her long, elegant fingers. Blade felt his breathing quicken. He realized that the woman beckoning him was no virgin. Or perhaps she merely had remarkable instincts about how to arouse a man-and a total lack of fear of the consequences.

He stepped forward and reached out both arms to seize her by the shoulders. She backed away towards her cabin door and opened it behind her. Blade followed her. In a moment they were inside and Blade reached behind him to close and bolt the door. Deftly she reached down and plucked his sword and dagger from their sheaths, then tossed them to the floor. They landed with a thunk on the thick rug. «Those will not be your weapons tonight, Master Blahyd,» she said with a chuckle.

She shrugged the gown off her shoulders. It flowed down onto the floor to lie in a pale blue pool around her ankles. Blade began stripping off his own gear and clothing. Only a fear of being overheard kept him from cursing loudly at bulky straps and buckles. She stood silently before him, her hands at her sides again, until he was as naked as she. Before she could move, he stepped forward and pulled her against him until he could feel the high, firm breasts flattening against his chest. His hands rose up to her shoulders, then drifted down the exquisite curve of her spine to cup the small, firm buttocks and press her against him, until he heard in her breathing an arousal beginning to match his own.

He lifted her as lightly as he would a child and lowered her onto the bed, then stood looking down at her for a moment. She looked back at him, her gray eyes wide and blazing with her own desire. He lowered himself onto the bed, hands reaching out to cup the breasts now thrust towards him, to feel the delicate nipples harden against his palms, to draw his hands downward toward the blue-black furring of her mound and hear her gasp as he pressed down there.

She rolled toward him and he rolled toward her and entered. At the first moment he knew he had been right in his guess; this was no virgin. She accepted him smoothly and sheathed him snugly, milking him with muscles at first delicately controlled, then wilder and wilder in their motions as she was swept away by her own rising tide. Blade felt his control slipping too, and in the end they came together, she thrashing wildly and locking arms and legs around him as he poured himself into her.

It was such a totally absorbing act that Blade, who could and sometimes did keep going virtually all night, felt no immediate desire for a repetition. He lay beside her in comfortable satiation until a gentle knocking on the door made him jerk upright and snatch for his weapons.

«Hsst,» came a soft voice from outside. «Brora here. If ye'd not be caught away from your guard post…» The sailor left the sentence unfinished, but Blade had no difficulty filling in the missing phrases. After hauling on a decent minimum of clothing, he turned back to the bed. Alixa stretched luxuriously and looked up at him.

«So soon?» She, obviously, was ready and willing to indulge in an all night bout.

«I'm afraid so.»

«You do wield a weapon mightier than your steels.» She wriggled all over at the memories. «Then go and take my gratitude if you can't take anything else for the moment. You have given me some powerful memories to take with me to Mardha.»

Outside on the darkened deck Blade was very conscious of Brora's eyes on him. The sailor had a natural decency that kept him from making too many inquiries. But he did say, half to himself, «Ye be a lusty and a lucky man, by Druk.»

Blade, even less willing to discuss the past hour, could only nod.