«I don't see why I can't sit down with some of their warriors and make plans, at least. After all, we're going to need completely new tactics and weapons to storm a defended tower. That's never been done before, has it?»

«N-n-no.»

«I don't even know if they have what we'll be needing,» Blade went on. «I can find that out in a few days, and tell you what I've learned.»

«I-think-that's an excellent- hic! — idea.» That was all the agreement Blade got before Bryg-Noz had to make a dash for the bathroom, but it was enough.

So Blade spent the next several days talking with the warriors and workers of the Tower of the Leopard, and inspecting their work chambers. He knew that preparing this war was going to be almost easy, compared with some of the jobs he had done in Dimension X. He did not have to train a corps of fighters almost from scratch, nor reinvent weapons lost for centuries, nor train warriors in their use. He did not even have to build most of what he needed. Practically all of it was already on the racks of the work chamber. Heavy metal stakes, mallets, lengths of the incredibly light and tough lifter cord, chemicals to make smoke-it was all there.

Blade would have liked to introduce the bow, but decided against it. To be sure, the lifter cord would make excellent bowstrings. But to make bows and arrows and then train any reasonable number of warriors to use them well would have taken a good deal of time. And time was what they did not have. Every morning when Blade went out on the balcony to gaze toward the Tower of the Serpent, he was a little more surprised not to find two-thirds of it missing.

However, there was plenty of time and plenty of material to make thousands of six-foot pikes. Each man in the attacking force would carry a bundle of a dozen or so on his back, and hand them out to the Low People of the Serpents. They would be used by completely untrained men and women, and they would give Nris-Pol one more thundering great headache. A man armed with one of them would not, of course, be equal to a warrior with a sword. But he could certainly keep anyone armed with an administering wand at arms' length.

While Blade was setting up the war, Bryg-Noz had not been idle in political matters. A week after the first council meeting, the two men got together again over more wine and compared notes. Bryg-Noz seemed happy again, as far as Blade could tell.

«We've almost done it, Blade. Eight out of ten of the leaders will vote for war and give us free call on the resources of the Leopards.»

«What about the other two?»

«One is simply slow to make up her mind. Everybody says she'll vote for war when she does.»

«She'd better hurry up. Nris-Pol isn't going to sit and wait forever.»

«She will. The other eight are all pressing her to decide. It's the tenth one who's the problem. Ye-Jaza, the youngest one. She's incredibly stubborn and short-tempered. Nobody dares try to influence her, for fear she'll vote against everything they want to try for the next twenty years.»

«Is there anything to do about her?»

Bryg-Noz raised his eyebrows and looked at Blade. «Possibly. You are fairly-able-with women, are you not?»

The question so obviously had something to do with the matter at hand that Blade did not resent it. He nodded.

«They say that Ye-Jaza is-at thirty-a virgin. Now the tale goes that a woman is apt to be much influenced by the man who makes her a woman, if you follow my meaning.»

Blade shrugged. «It is quite often just that-a tale. It depends on the man and the woman.»

«Stop playing games, Blade!» Bryg-Noz took a deep breath. «Would you be willing to try seducing Ye-Jaza, and seeing if she will listen to you afterwards?»

Blade nodded. «I think the word is 'try,' however. If she's that stubborn and bad-tempered, perhaps that's why she's still a virgin. And suppose she takes it into her head to charge me with rape? That's a capital offense in the Tower of the Leopard, the way treason was in the Tower of the Serpent.» Blade drew the edge of his hand across his throat.

«I know,» said Bryg-Noz. There was a forced lightness in his voice as he added, «But didn't you once say you were the most expendable man we had?»

«I did,» said Blade. He couldn't deny it. But he could wish he had had the sense to keep his mouth shut on that occasion.

Blade had only seen Ye-Jaza once, at the meeting of the Council of Leaders. That brief glimpse had given him no clues as to her character. He remembered a small, slender woman, with a thin, almost bony face, and a mass of blue-black hair worn long like a young girl's. Not at all what Blade would call attractive, but definitely not ugly either. She had seemed to be staying remote and distant from the discussion. He suspected that she was a woman who knew her own mind much too well to be susceptible to any such simple-minded strategy as Bryg-Noz had proposed. But try as he might, Blade could not see that there was anything better they could do-at least without waiting indefinitely for Ye-Jaza to make up her own mind. They did not have time for that kind of waiting.

They did not have it, because Nris-Pol's position in the Tower of the Serpent was growing stronger each day. About every third day the underground group remaining in the tower sent over a messenger, and the messages always told the same story. Nris-Pol was strengthening the guards, and assigning to them warriors loyal to himself. Nris-Pol had caused seven prominent warriors who opposed him to be degraded to the Low People on false charges of treason and violations of the Wisdoms. Nris-Pol had caused four women who spoke against him to be sent to the pleasure chambers. Nris-Pol had done this, Nris-Pol had done that, Nris-Pol, Nris-Pol — always Nris-Pol.

One day Blade exploded in frustrated fury, «What the devil is Queen Mir-Kasa doing about all this? Can't she do anything against Nris-Pol?»

«She can keep herself alive,» said Bryg-Noz shortly. The strain was telling on him even more than it was on Blade. The lines in his face were growing deeper each day, and even his hair seemed to be growing grayer. «And that is about all she can really do. Unless-«

«Yes?»

«Unless she guesses what we are planning and what Nris-Pol is planning. She might-she's no fool. And if she does, she might be waiting for us to attack, so that we and Nris-Pol can destroy each other.»

Blade nodded. «Leaving her in complete command of the Tower of the Serpent-or what's left of it.» He shrugged. «If she knew what we were really planning, that would be very short-sighted of her. But I don't suppose she knows about our plans for raising the Low People.»

«I hope not,» said Bryg-Noz grimly. And there they had to leave the matter.

Fortunately, good news came before Bryg-Noz's hair had turned entirely white. Ye-Jaza invited Blade to a private dinner in her chambers.

«Marvelous!» said Bryg-Noz. «You can begin making an impression on her now. But for the Wisdoms, don't move too fast!»

«Didn't you say I had a way with women?» said Blade sourly. «Then leave this to my judgment.» Reluctantly, Bryg-Noz agreed.

In fact, there was no opportunity to move fast or slowly at that dinner. It was «private» only in the sense that there were no more than a dozen people there. They seemed to be there principally to provide an audience for Ye-Jaza, however. If she had been silent and remote in the council meeting, she was certainly not that way at the dinner. Her mouth hardly ever closed, except to chew her food, for the space of two whole hours. This might have been deadly dull, except that she at least had a well-stocked, even brilliant mind. Her conversation would have been fascinating if there hadn't been so bloody much of it! There was no opening all evening for Blade to do anything but sit back and be part of the passive audience for the autocratic hostess.