«The Emperor does not trust anyone with weapons, except the nobles and those who serve them, the soldiers, and the constables. All others cannot even have spears or swords, let alone bows or muskets. All they can have is kitchen knives.»

«What about blacksmiths?»

«They all serve either the soldiers or the army. If they sell a single weapon to someone who cannot have it, they are killed. Melted iron is poured into their mouths, or-«

Blade held up a hand to stop her. He was no longer interested in catalogs of the ghastly punishments handed out to lawbreakers in Saram. What interested him was the military problem this law must create for the Empire.

«That means that towns without a garrison have no defense against the Steppemen except their walls.»

Haleen nodded. «That is true. Sometimes they do not even have their walls. You saw the walls that were falling down?»

«Yes. I couldn't understand why the people of the towns would let that happen.»

«Two years ago a town did rebuild its walls when they were falling down. Kul-Nam decided that the town was plotting against him. He had a dozen of the leading people tortured to make them confess that they were going to rebel.»

«They confessed, of course?» After a certain amount of torture, anyone would confess to anything. That was a basic fact of life Blade had learned years ago, long before he'd ever heard of Dimension X.

«Of course. The Emperor's army surrounded the town and stormed it. He even sent in the Corps of Eunuchs, who are the fiercest of all his soldiers. Everyone in the town was killed. Then it was burned. Kul-Nam does not trust the people of the towns.»

The Emperor was probably right. Unfortunately for Saram, that was his own damned fault! After the massacre, what else could he expect?