A feint with the point at Chamba's throat. The man's spear swung sideways to block it. Blade quickly reversed his spear, bringing the butt down across Chamba's right hand. He felt bone crack, saw the hand open limply and Chamba's spear dip. He swung his own spear down and then sideways like a club. Chamba's spear flew out of his left hand and landed twenty feet away.

Before Chamba could recover from the shock, Blade rammed his own spear point down into the ground. Then he leaped forward, one leg snapping out in a flying kick. The foot drove into Chamba's stomach. He rose completely clear of the ground, folding up in midair like a snapped twig. He was still doubled up when he hit the ground. Blade was on top of Chamba in a second. Three rapid chops with the edge of his hand-to the throat, to the temple, to the back of the neck-and Chamba lay still.

Again deafening cheering pounded at Blade's ears as he lurched to his feet and retrieved his spear. He turned toward King Afuno and raised it in salute, but made no effort to speak. The explosion of a bomb would have been lost in the uproar.

He waited until the crowd ran out of either enthusiasm or breath, then shouted across to Afuno. «Hail, oh, King. I have done as I had promised. With my own hands I have slain the blasphemer. This is my first lesson to the Zungans and my first offering to the Sky Father.»

More cheering, but not so loud or so prolonged this time. The crowd was obviously running down. Considering how long they had been standing in the hot sun, this was hardly surprising. Blade knew that his own head was beginning to swim from the heat and the fight. If he had to stand out here much longer, he was going to give the crowd another bit of entertainment by fading flat on his face.

He managed to raise his voice again. «Oh, King, my companion and friend Nayung is badly wounded. May I see him taken safely to his house and then return to approach you?»

Afuno nodded. «It is my wish that you go with Nayung, and my own doctor shall come to care for both of you. It is my wish also that you remain in the house of Nayung until I myself come. That will be after the death rites of my son. Then we shall speak of your fighting arts and of what you may teach the Zungans.» The king's face was expressionless. But even at this distance, there was no mistaking the interest and curiosity on Princess Aumara's face.

Afuno came to Nayung's house that night, heralded by another blare of horns. This did not wake Nayung, who was sleeping peacefully. To Blade's relief, the doctor had pronounced Nayung in no danger. He would merely have to stay off his leg for a few weeks in order to ensure that it healed properly.

Once out of the public eye, Afuno seemed to have a great dislike for royal pomp and ceremony. He squatted down on the floor, drank thirstily from the water jug, and fixed Blade with an unpleasantly searching stare.

«Well, Richard Blade of the English. Was Nayung telling the truth about you when he broke up my assembly?»

Blade nodded.

«The whole truth?»

Blade had to shake his head. Afuno grinned, showing a full set of white teeth. «I did not think so. But I do not blame either of you. You had to get my attention and speak fast. If all the people who come before me with petitions and requests were to follow that rule, it would be easier to be a king. But now we are alone. Say all that you need to say, and leave nothing out.»

As far as he could, Blade did so. Afuno had the gift of listening well, rare anywhere and still rarer in men of power. When he asked a question, it was either to keep Blade moving, or to clarify some point he did not understand. And he did not mind admitting that he did not understand. By the time Blade had finished, he found it exceedingly easy to understand how King Afuno had ruled the proud, martial Zungans for forty years without dispute.

When Blade had finished, Afuno again fixed him with a painfully searching stare. Then he nodded slowly and said, «It is well that you showed what you could do. Otherwise I might find it hard to believe. But you were knocking down the Ulungas' guards as though they were children. That was good to see, and I know many Zungans will feel the same. And what you did to Chamba!» The king laughed fiercely. «That man had the kind of hot head that can only be cooled down by cutting it off.»

Then Afuno's face sobered. «Do not think that I am grateful to you for forcing me to go against the will of the Ulungas. I know Chamba was telling the truth, but fortunately few others did, and they kept their mouths shut. That was well for them. But if the speakers had supported Chamba, it would have been difficult for me to recognize you and Nayung. And then it would have gone hard for you.

«However, the Ulungas may see that it would be wise to go on keeping their mouths shut. If that is the case, our problems will be smaller.»

Afuno rose. «In any case, Ulungas or not, I am going to take you and Nayung to Dorkalu with me tomorrow. There you will meet with the Great Mors and the On'ror who commands all the warriors of Zunga under me. The On'ror will pick good warriors to learn this new way of fighting from you. Then each of the ones you have taught will teach more, and so on. You are a gift from the Sky Father, and I will not slap his face by wearing you out asking you to do all the teaching yourself.»

Blade smiled. «Your Majesty understands very well the way to train warriors in a new way of fighting. It is what we do among the English also. But must Nayung come now? He will not be able to walk.»

«He can travel by litter. And you will need his advice about the laws and customs of the Zungans. Listen to him, for he is a wise man as well as an excellent warrior.»

«That is the way I see him also.»

«Then, so be it. We leave tomorrow at dawn.» Afuno raised a massive hand in a gesture that was part wave, part blessing, and strode out. Blade turned to Nayung and saw the Zungan warrior was awake and grinning broadly.

«We are off to a good start, Blade. But it is no more than that so far. And we have also been very lucky.»

«That we have.»

Warriors of the Royal Guard routed them out of their sleep while it was still dark the next morning, bringing food and beer and a litter for Nayung. They were on the move before the sun had cleared the walls of Brona, and the sky was still pink and gold as they crossed the field. The bodies of the slave raiders still swung gently from their poles, but three new poles had been added. The bodies swinging from these were Zungans. One body was headless.

Afuno saw the curiosity on Blade's face and grinned. «The one with no head is Chamba. I would have fed his head to the pigs, but they would get little food from it. There was not much in that skull of his. The other two are the warriors who ran from you when you disarmed them. That was the act of a coward, and there will be no cowards among the Zungans while I rule.»

Blade nodded, his face expressionless. He did not object to any of the punishments. But they were a sharp reminder of the harsh, bloody world in which he had begun to make his way.

Outside the gates of Brona the royal caravan formed up. Four hundred warriors, a hundred slaves, assorted free members of the royal household, and the royal family itself. More than five hundred men and women in all, and more than a hundred cattle. Some of these bore the platforms and litter, others carried supplies and equipment, others were simply driven along to provide fresh meat. The pace of the caravan was limited to the leisurely amble of the cattle. Tired as he was, Blade found that frustratingly slow.

Though the caravan moved slowly, it started early and kept on all day, with only one short break for water and food. The water came around in skin bags. It was warm and tasted foul, but after hours of marching in the sun, Blade was too thirsty to care. As he drank, he sensed somebody's eyes on him. Spinning around, he saw Princess Aumara quickly turn her graceful head away and go back to staring straight ahead. In the momentary glimpse he had of her eyes, he saw they were wide, brown, and once again filled with an unmistakable curiosity. But it was hard to believe this curiosity could lead to anything here and now, out on the plain in the middle of the entire royal caravan.