He led his men into the shaft car and sent it hurtling upward without even giving them time to brace themselves. Several were thrown off balance, went sprawling, and had to struggle to their feet.

As they neared the level of the queen's chambers, Blade called out, «When the door opens-charge! Hit them hard, before the bastards wake up to what's happening. We want to put them all to sleep before they do!» Grim laughter filled the car, and with it the rasp of swords being drawn. Then Blade felt the car slowing. The car slowed further, stopped and the door hissed open.

Blade's twenty-five men charged out of the car with a fury that would have made ten times their number give ground.

They screamed, they shouted, they hurled curses and the filthiest epithets they could think of, and they brandished their swords in glittering arcs. There were barely thirty men in the corridor facing them at that moment. Blade's charge smashed into those men like a battering ram.

Most of the thirty went down on to the floor in the first few moments. Not all of these were dead, or even wounded. The sheer physical impact of Blade's charging men swept a good number of the enemy off their feet. But if they were alive and unwounded when they went down, they seldom got to their feet that way. Blade and his men were all over them, slashing and stabbing. They kicked and stamped as well, and armor that could turn a sword could not always keep ribs from collapsing under the crushing force of a boot. The floor became littered with an increasing number of dead bodies, and the space between the bodies slowly became red and slippery with blood. Almost before Blade had time to realize it, the first defenders were down, dead, or running for their lives.

But these were far from the only warriors Nris-Pol had on the level, as Blade discovered a moment later. In fact, it seemed that Nris-Pol was keeping his main reserves around the queen's chambers. The other shaft door hissed open, Blade's other twenty-five men poured out-and then the enemy's counterattack came thundering down the corridor nearly a hundred strong.

It caught Blade's second group before it could deploy. Now it was the turn of Blade's men to be swept away or slaughtered before they could form battle lines. Screams, shouts, and the clash of weapons rose in a deafening pandemonium. A few of the twenty-five managed to run and join Blade's own group, but most died where they stood. In dying, though, they gave Blade the chance to reform his own men into a solid line. Not much time, but enough so that when Nris-Pol's attack came boiling down the corridor again, Blade could meet them. He met them with his swords dancing, and bellowing at the top of his lungs, «For a free tower! Down with Nris-Pol!» Then the two forces collided, pandemonium rose again, and Blade could no longer keep track of what was happening around him.

Blade suddenly found himself having to be in six places at once, leading counterattacks, shoring up his sagging line, worrying about what might happen if his men were taken in the rear. Occasionally he had the satisfaction of feeling his sword sinking deeply into an opponent, and seeing a gap in the other formation instead of his own. But the odds against his men were long to start with, and they got longer in spite of all that Blade could do. Soon there were only twenty-two of his men left, then eighteen, then sixteen. The enemy was still coming onward with sixty or more. Bit by bit, Blade led his dwindling numbers backward, away from the queen's chambers. He knew that he was leaving Mir-Kasa vulnerable, that his own death was perhaps only a few minutes away. But he was determined to keep himself and as many of his men as he could alive and fighting for as long as they could breathe and move and lift their swords.

The battle rose to a new peak, and then a totally new set of noises reached Blade's ear. The sound of running feet and sword-strokes was coming now from the rear of the attackers. Mixed with those were shouts of «Treason! Treason!» and then other shouts of «Mir-Kasa!»

Somebody was hitting Nris-Pol's men hard from the rear, and Blade would have given an arm-or at least a few fingers-to have known who it was. But he could see with his own eyes that Nris-Pol's warriors stopped their advance, looked nervously over their shoulders, and began to turn. The warriors directly opposite Blade's shrunken band began to step back and lower their swords. Blade made a quick decision, then stepped two paces out in front of his men. Again he raised his swords-now battered and blood-caked-and raised his voice to a roar.

«At them!» And he charged at the enemy's lines without bothering to look back to see whether his men would follow. He had been through enough with them this day to be sure that they would.

They did. The sixteen warriors, reeking of sweat and dripping blood, struck the enemy only seconds behind Blade. They struck before the warriors in the enemy's first rank could get ready to defend themselves. So that first rank and the two ranks behind it dissolved in confusion under the charge. Some of its warriors fought, some stepped aside, a few simply turned and ran.

Or at least they tried to run. Attacked from before and behind, Nris-Pol's men were now being packed tighter and tighter together. The mass of them filled the corridor from side to side, offering no room for a man to run and little room for a man to use his weapons. Blade and his men were hacking their way slowly into that mass, meeting less and less resistance each minute as panic began spreading through the enemy's ranks. Down the corridor Blade could see the line of swords approaching slowly, as the men still shouting «Mir-Kasa» did the same.

Eventually the two forces met. The greater part of Nris-Pol's men had died where they stood, but some had surrendered, throwing their swords on the floor and kneeling in submission. They seemed stunned and bewildered by what had happened, except for one or two who glared at Blade defiantly as he went around tying their hands behind their backs. One of them muttered, «Wait until our leader returns and steps forth among you. Then you bastards won't be walking so proudly!»

Blade did not have time to speculate on what this muttering might mean. One of the warriors from the other attacking force ran up to him and clutched at his arm. «Blade-Liza! Blade-Liza! Kir-Noz would speak with you. Come quickly, for he is dying!»

Blade thrust both swords back in their scabbards and hurried after the man. They found Kir-Noz a little way down the corridor, propped up against the wall of a small alcove.

Blood trickled from his mouth, in startling contrast to the whiteness of his skin. One glance was enough to tell Blade that the messenger was right. Kir-Noz had only a few minutes to live.

«How-how is my brother?» asked the warrior. His voice was low but clear. It seemed that he was putting all of his fading strength into making it so.

«He is wounded, but he will live to rule in the Tower of the Serpent.»

«Good. I hope so. You-must find-Nris-Pol. There is a room-in the Work Chambers-«

Blade's insides turned to ice. Had Nris-Pol found the great wands? He wanted to ask that question. But he found his dry tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth.

Kir-Noz answered the unasked question. «He says-a new weapon-there. Will kill-everybody against him. You first-he hates you like he does-Mir-Kasa.»

«How is Mir-Kasa?» asked Blade urgently.

«Took-poison,» murmured Kir-Noz. «She-is-dead.» Kir-Noz's head lolled sideways, and in a moment he, too, was dead.