A sniffer sounded like a cross between a centipede and a porcupine, but it was the size of a small pony. It was covered from throat to tail with two-foot spines. Their sense of smell was incredibly acute. If a sniffer were given any article that had ever belonged to a person to smell, it could trail that person over any kind of country for a week or more. When it caught up with its prey, it would close in rapidly on its thirty-eight legs and hold the person at bay, or even kill, with swings of the four-foot tail. The spines on the tail were poisonous.

«Do the Shoba's men have something that you wore?» asked Blade.

Twana nodded. «They took all my clothes before they put me in the wagon with the other women.» She shuddered. «Most of them were pleasure slaves for the Aygoon and his men. They beat me with silk cords and made me wait on them. One of them was an uldao-a woman who loves women instead of men. She made me…» She could not go on, but clung to Blade until the memories faded.

Finally she stepped away from him. After several deep breaths, she seemed to gain a good deal of self-control. «The soldiers have more than enough to send the sniffers after me. But they do not have anything of yours, so the sniffers will not be after you. You should go on alone and leave me. You have struck a mighty blow against the Shoba, and I am grateful. But there is no need for you to die by torture. You must… «

Blade pressed his fingers across her lips to silence her. «No, Twana. I will not do it that way. I will stay with you. Whatever danger comes after you will also come after me. Two people can guard themselves better than one.»

«Not with the sniffers…»

«Yes, even with the sniffers on their trail. Now, let us talk no more of this.» He was about to say, «If all else fails, we can go over the wall where the sniffers can hardly follow us.» Then he remembered that Twana was apparently in terror of the wall. There was no point in reawakening fear in her now.

«All right,» said Twana. «We shall go on. But let us not go to this village, either of us. If we go in daylight, certainly they will see us. The Shoba's men will come, and they will punish the village for helping us. They will punish the village even without the iron dragons, by killing their animals or cutting down their trees or throwing dung down their wells.»

«Then we'll go on to the next village and wait until dark. I'll slip in and get what we need, while you keep watch for the Shoba's men and the sniffers.»

Twana nodded jerkily. Blade seemed to have convinced her that there was something to do against the Shoba's men beside curling up and dying. Now that she accepted this, she seemed to be gaining courage and determination with each passing moment.

Blade looked at the sky. It was time that he and Twana moved on, to take advantage of the remaining daylight. He took her hand and led her away toward the south.

They reached another village as the sun was setting. This village had a wall of mud bricks topped with wooden stakes, but there were huts scattered around the pastures and along the shores of a small lake. These promised easier pickings for Blade, without getting the villagers aroused and on his trail.

Blade and Twana waited in the shadows at the foot of the hills until darkness came. The girl was obviously still nervous about being this close to the Wall-the way she said the word made the capital W obvious to Blade's ears. She kept looking upward, as though expecting something to leap down upon them from above. Once Blade saw another gleam of metal on top of the Wall, but it was miles away, and he could make out no details in the fading light.

Darkness came, and Blade went to work. With Twana keeping watch outside, he carefully went through each hut. By the time he'd finished, he had clothes, footgear, blankets, and knives, for both himself and Twana. He even found a goatskin water bottle and a long rope. He only stopped because there was no point in taking more than he could carry away.

They moved on through the darkness until the last faint trace of light from the village was lost behind them. At last, they came to a patch of low, spreading bushes and crawled in under them. Neither men nor sniffers could come at them now without giving warning of their approach and waking Blade.

Blade spread one blanket on the ground under them, then drew Twana close with one arm and pulled the rest of the blankets over them with the other. Gradually the blankets and their closely nestled bodies drove away the chill of the night. Gradually Blade also became aware of another kind of warmth growing in him. It was inevitable with Twana's supple, graceful body pressing so closely against his. It was also something he would do his best to fight. After her experiences of the past few days, sex was probably the farthest thing in the whole world from Twana's mind. Blade tried to pillow his head as comfortably as possible on a rolled-up fur hood and found himself drifting off to sleep. He'd been awake for nearly two solid days and on the move most of the time. Even his iron frame needed a rest.

Twana also seemed to be falling asleep. Her eyes drifted shut, and her breathing became slow and regular. One arm was thrown out across Blade's massive chest.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, Blade realized that Twana's hand had begun to move with what seemed a life of its own. Her eyes were still closed, but her fingers were creeping down across his ribs, stroking the tanned skin and feeling for the layers of hard muscle under it. Those fingers were very gentle, but very sure in their movements. The erotic warmth began to grow again in Blade.

Twana sighed and, without opening her eyes, pressed her cheek against Blade's side. He raised a hand and stroked her hair. Twana made a small sound that was halfway between a sigh and a giggle and pressed herself harder against Blade. Her hand now crept down over Blade's stomach, then dipped between his legs.

Blade gave a husky laugh. Apparently the last few days hadn't driven all thoughts of sex out of Twana's mind after all! The warmth he'd felt was beginning to center in his groin, and his breathing quickened as Twana's hand continued its travels.

Then her fingers closed with delicate firmness on his manhood, and suddenly he was swollen, erect, ready, with desire almost boiling over in him. He gasped and rolled toward the girl. She gave a long «Ahhhhhhh!» and threw both arms around him as they rolled together. Blade's lips sought Twana's and found them, while his hands cupped the small, firm breasts. The nipples had risen into long, almost jutting points that were as firm as if they'd been something more than warm woman's flesh.

They caressed and kissed and pressed against each other for what seemed hours, but could only have been minutes. Twana's breath was coming so quickly and so hard that Blade could hear her over his own gasps. The mouth under his was warm, almost hot, wet, demanding and seeking, but also giving generously at the same time.

Twana whispered and rolled over on her back. As she did, she clamped her hands in Blade's hair and drew his head down with almost painful force to bring his lips to her breasts. He was more than happy to keep his lips there, and his tongue as well. The nipples and the lovely breasts around them seemed to grow warm themselves under his kisses and caresses.

Then the flame in Blade's groin was blazing so fiercely that he could no longer bold himself back from trying to quench it. He raised himself until the muscles in his arms stood out in knots and cords. Twana saw him above her and saw that the moment had come. Her legs drifted apart, and she thrust her pelvis with its triangle of damp hair up toward Blade. He lunged downward, and it seemed to him that they met in midair and flew away together into the night sky. Never before had his first moment of entry into a woman brought such an overpowering assault on his senses.